I'm poor and I need a place to crash!

[theoduck]

OK I started a new game because my beloved old character fell victim to the "can't rent Joan Allen's attic" bug. I blame Aventus Aretino!

So this time I'm trying to do Way Of The Voice/Horn of Jurgen Windcaller/Blade In The Dark straight away. Needless to say, the Mirmulnir fight at level 5 was interesting.

I also have a few mods installed -- including Warzones and Deadly Dragons. I have been trying to approach High Hrothgar by way of the road that goes by Valtheim Keep (bounty quest there) and Fort Amol. This road goes through (at least) two of the warzones.

Just past Darkwater Crossing I had my first random dragon encounter. It was a doozy; a Shock Dragon (from DD mod) and a fire-breather labeled simply "dragon." At level 10, the only way to survive this was to lure them out into the hotsprings between Darkwater and Windhelm, where the dragon dragon got into it with the combatants of a THIRD warzone (conjurers & atronachs vs. Stormcloaks). This left myself, Lydia & Faendal (I also have that NPC mod)* free to fight the super-buffed Shock Dragon.

Anyway, to the point: I am now level 11 and although I have 2 followers, I am loaded down with dragon loot and I still can't afford to buy Breezehome.

Can I still crash and store stuff in Riverwood? Faendal's house or Gerdur's (I followed Ralof)? I suppose I could go rescue Derkeethus now that I officially "know" where he is, but I'm having trouble keeping TWO companions stocked with arrows...

*You might THINK the mod for multiple followers is cheez, but YOU try going into a fight with 15-20 leveled bandits with just yourself and Lydia. Ain't gonna happen. Plus, the mod gets rid of endlessly-spawning bows and arrows for followers; you have to keep them properly outfitted.

 

[theoduck]

Decided to try Faendal's house. When you put certain things in a chest there (i.e. dragon loot), the items get the little "steal" icon beside them (I also have the SkyUI mod installed)...

When I remove an item from the chest, it does not get marked as stolen in my inventory

Lesson: dropping items off at Faendal's house does not "taint" them.

Now let's just see if they are still there when we come back from High Hrothgar.

 

[Laird Wingate]

If you travel to Markarth and start the Molag Bal quest you can crash at the "Abandoned House". It's not a great house, but if I remember correctly their is some storage space. Also noone is likely to break in, after all daedric forces are at work and that tends to scare people off.

 

[ac26xp]

Long before my character bought a house (in any keep), and even after he could easily afford one, he was storing all his loot in a barrel right outside the entrance to The Drunken Huntsman in Whiterun.

The loot stayed in that barrel for many... many... gaming hours.
It wasn't until I started to build my character's enchanting and apothecary skills that the need for a house with relevant "furnishings" became practical.

I imagine you could store your character's loot in any barrel.

AC

 

[Laird Wingate]

Just a head's up, at some point the game won't retain your loot in barrels or other containers. I don't remember the cut-off time, but their was a thread on the site about how long equipment would stay in containers.

 

[theoduck]

Thanks everybody! Faendal's house is working out fine. It probably helps that I am traveling with Faendal. Had another Deadly Dragon hit us outside of Iverstad. Spent 25 (real) minutes letting it set fire to the Alchemist's Shack (careful where you step -- Deadly Dragons breath creates areas where you don't want to step), popping out when it landed to get 1 or 2 shots. It got most dangerous once it was grounded. Since my 11th-level character can't take a direct breath hit (Deadly Dragons are not leveled -- always super-buff), the shack was essential.

Still haven't made it up to High Hrothgar as planned, but I might have enough loot now to buy Breezehome...

I filmed the whole Dragon fight. What it lacks in heroics it makes up for in pragmatism. If anyone's interested I can try to post it somewhere...

BTW, Once you get to Iverstad, do the Shroud Hearth Barrow quest. That'll take care of arrows for while because almost everything you fight in there has them.

 

[Dagmar]

If you're going to squat in a place you don't own, i.e. any home you haven't bought from a Steward, then you should be aware that all containers other than furniture (cupboards, dressers, end tables, and wardrobes) will eventually respawn their contents if you don't revisit the location often enough to reset the respawn timer.

 

[theoduck]

Thanks, D!

Problem solved. I bought Breezehome with the proceeds from clearing out the bandit lair with the mammoth trap and the transmuting spellbook.

...and this is what happened right after I moved in:

fl*ffin' Belethor! In case you are wondering: half a dozen Whiterun guards slaughtered, but the Grey-Manes' cow survived, even though the Snow Dragon was parked on their roof for part of the fight.

 

[Hunfar]

Long before my character bought a house (in any keep), and even after he could easily afford one, he was storing all his loot in a barrel right outside the entrance to The Drunken Huntsman in Whiterun.

The loot stayed in that barrel for many... many... gaming hours.
It wasn't until I started to build my character's enchanting and apothecary skills that the need for a house with relevant "furnishings" became practical.

I imagine you could store your character's loot in any barrel.

AC

I always wondered if Bethesda accidently placed some player-storage containers/barrels around Skyrim (ones that don't respawn) it's possible I suppose, depending on the method they used.

 

[ac26xp]

I always wondered if Bethesda accidently placed some player-storage containers/barrels around Skyrim (ones that don't respawn) it's possible I suppose, depending on the method they used.

I don't remember exactly, but my character was well over level 50 before he stored items in any container other than that first barrel, outside, to the right of the Drunken Huntsman west door.
Granted, he was going in and out of that barrel regularly, so maybe the "respawn timer" was continually being reset.

Happy gaming,
AC

 

[Dagmar]

All the exterior barrels in Whiterun respawn. Homes bought from a Steward are coded to never reset the interior which automatically overrides any individual container coding and is why all containers in those houses are safe. There are non-respanwing specific containers throughout Skyrim that look like and are named identically to the generic container counterparts that respawn, but without the CK there is no way a player can know.

 

[Hunfar]

All the exterior barrels in Whiterun respawn. Homes bought from a Steward are coded to never reset the interior which automatically overrides any individual container coding and is why all containers in those houses are safe. There are specific containers throughout Skyrim that look like and are named identically to the generic container counterparts that respawn, but without the CK there is no way a player can know.

Knowing the amount of bugs in skyrim I wouldn't be too surprised if some respawn codes failed to initiate. I'm guessing that's what causes bugs in the first place...?

 

[Hunfar]

Granted, he was going in and out of that barrel regularly, so maybe the "respawn timer" was continually being reset.

Happy gaming,
AC

That's probably it

 

[Dagmar]

The barrels that ac26xp used simply had their respawn timers reset before they ran down each time. Most of the exterior barrels in Whiterun are on 15 day timers and you reset them by merely being in their cell area. I use the ones by War Maidens in the beginning of a game because I'm in Whiterun at least once a week.

 

[MyNameIsJon]

Thanks, D!

Problem solved. I bought Breezehome with the proceeds from clearing out the bandit lair with the mammoth trap and the transmuting spellbook.

...and this is what happened right after I moved in:

I watched your video ... well, at least the first 90 seconds. Why did you stay huddled in that archway? Are you a coward like Throthgar, son of Bothvar?!

 

[theoduck]

I watched your video ... well, at least the first 90 seconds. Why did you stay huddled in that archway? Are you a coward like Throthgar, son of Bothvar?!

Bwahahaha! I should have explained this better. I have the Deadly Dragons mod installed. All random dragons are un-leveled. A single direct hit from one would have killed me at level 16, which I was in that fight. Stepping in one of those little snow puddles they put down can be fatal as well.

The only reason I put it up is because I don't think vanilla dragons attack cities while you are in them. That never happened until I installed that mod.

Another one hit Windhelm later on my first visit there to treat the vampirism I picked up traveling with Delphine. That fight (at level 21) was a little more 'heroic.'

The best thing about Deadly Dragons, besides watching them reenact scenes from Godzilla movies, is that if I get to a point where Dragons (or other critters) become too easy, I can visit the shrine on the second floor of Dragonsreach and give their stats a bump.

 

[Dagmar]

Dragons can attack inside a capital city without any mods.

 

[theoduck]

Huh. Played through most of a vanilla game and that never happened. Seemed kinda strange.

 

[theoduck]

I watched your video ... well, at least the first 90 seconds. Why did you stay huddled in that archway? Are you a coward like Throthgar, son of Bothvar?!

It's true that fighting a non-leveled dragon so early in the game becomes a big hide-and-shoot fest. Perhaps this will be more to your liking, because there's not really anywhere to hide.

Even at level 21, direct breath hits and bites are still an insta-die for Mehitabel, but at least I got whirlwind sprint for those times when the dragon gets behind me:

 

[MyNameIsJon]

Bwahahaha! I should have explained this better. I have the Deadly Dragons mod installed. All random dragons are un-leveled. A single direct hit from one would have killed me at level 16, which I was in that fight. Stepping in one of those little snow puddles they put down can be fatal as well.

Ah, well, that explains it.

I do not have Deadly Dragons installed. I have found dragons to be very easy in my game so far. Even if you are out in the open, just find a single tree and that will pretty much render them toothless. I am more afraid of Bandit Plunderers than dragons. Bandit Plunderers have killed me multiple times, but dragons ... never.

I may give that mod a try.