#this was inspired by my horrible addiction to skull-hoarding

[tiredela]

Congratulations! You've been given the opportunity to create a brand new NPC for vanilla Skyrim, completely with vanilla bugs.

Who would this person be? How did they get to Skyrim? What are some funny things they might say in passing? Would they be a follower -- and if so, how would they fight? If not, why? and are they safe? Feel free to elaborate and answer unasked questions about this critter. (: This can be related to your fic(s) and/or existing OCs or completely separate just for fun.

I wasn't tagged by anyone, but this looks like fun, so I'm doing it anyways :')

Her name is Invidiosa Maledictio, and she is just a normal Imperial mage doing normal Imperial mage things. Really. She lives in a modest shack near Ivarstead, and can be found outside during the day tending her chickens and her small garden (she lives self-sufficiently), but you can't sell her her own produce. In the late afternoon/evening, she goes back inside, where she sits and eats in front of a huge bookcase, occasionally casting candlelight or a low-level healing spell. At around 10 pm she goes down into her Top Secret basement that is conveniently hidden behind a chest, but you can't access it, as it requires a key, which for some reason can't be pickpocketed from her. She only sleeps for three hours every night.

If you talk to Invidiosa, you will learn that she has a deep grudge against one particular imperial soldier, but she never tells you their name, nor what they did to her. She asks you to kill them and bring back their skull as prove. From then on, every dead Imperial will have a skull in their inventory, but the quest will only update once you find the *right* skull. This may take some time, as the *right* Imperial will only spawn as a random encounter somewhere in the Reach. She will give you 5000 gold for bringing back the *right* skull. While this quest is active, if you give her any other skull, she will just say that it isn't the *right* one, but will still gladly accept it and give you 200 gold per skull. When you finish her quest, Invidiosa becomes a follower and a potential marriage candidate, and she will even unlock her basement for you! She also still accepts skulls, and will give you a neat 300 gold each.

If you decide to check out her basement, you will see that it consists of two rooms. In the first room, you'll find an arcane enchanter and an alchemy lab, as well as different ingredients, potions, and soul gems that you can take for free and use to create powerful gear and potions! This is also where she spends most of her time when she's in her basement during the night. In the next room, you'll find- oh. Oh. Huh. So this is where she stashes all the skulls you gave her. Interesting. Depending on how many skulls you brought her, this room may have more or less skulls, but taking a skull from there is considered stealing. If Invidiosa is with you in her basement, she will just say that "you shouldn't worry about these" and that "you two are friends now, and friends have each other's backs, right?". If you decide that you don't like this and you don't want to be friends with a skull-hoarder, and you subsequently attack her, be prepared for a tough fight, as she will unleash her high-level conjuration and destruction spells on you. Once she's out of magicka, you might think that you're safe because she only uses her fists to fight, but then you realize that she wears gloves with a glitched fortify unarmed damage enchantment, and she pretty much insta-kills you.

As a follower, Invidiosa will comment on pretty much every location you go to. She will feel the most comfortable in caves as well as crypts, where she will ask you if "you've found any skulls yet?" to "expand her collection". However, she absolutely hates Solitude and wants to stay far, far away from it, implying that there's someone else there she has a grudge against. She will also be reluctant to go to the College of Winterhold with you. Invidiosa has three idle lines that she likes to say over and over again when she's not in combat ("I heard there's a crypt not far from here. Let's check it out!", "You're the only one I can trust, and I'm glad to have you by my side" and "If you're dead, can I have your skull? I'd get a nice pedestal and decorate it with flowers..."). Speaking of combat, for some reason, her enchanted gloves suddenly un-glitch, which means that she (sadly) isn't able to insta-kill enemies with her fists. However, if you decide to attack her and she leaves your service, her gloves will once again glitch. You can't kill her because she's essential for some reason (likely a left-over from a cut quest).

As a spouse, Invidiosa will lose almost all of her individuality like any other spouse. She will still have preferences for where you two decide to live; she will absolutely hate Solitude with a burning passion and will ask you to move out anytime you talk to her (this is her only line), but will love any of the Hearthfire homes. She can be found at the alchemy lab or arcane enchanter if you have them in your home. Otherwise, she will just stand or sit around all day. She also sleeps more than three hours now.

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i don't think i'll tag anyone, just do it if you really want to 💪