WHO IS KAIDAN? Kaidan is a quest-aware follower, professionally voiced by Daniel Matthew Lemon. He is written to be a more immersive romantic option for the player. Advancing your relationship with Kaidan is not dependant on any questlines, instead, you are encouraged to interact with him and see the bond develop over time. STARTING OUT: Kaidan can be found in the Abandoned Prison and becomes a follower once freed. ---Note: The vanilla Abandoned Prison has a bit of a bug with followers, losing track of them when you leave. This bug should be fixed with the Unnoficial Skyrim Patch. Otherwise, a simple fast-travel when you're outside the prison will make Kaidan appear again. If you dissmiss him, he will return to the Dead man's Drink in Falkreath. Kaidan's gear can be found in a 'Prisoner belongings' chest in the same room as Cyrelian. You can keep the bow if you like, but he'll bug you a bit about his armour if you're carrying it around with you. You can craft your own set at any forge. Kaidan has his own follower AI system so while he won't add to your follower count, he also can't be controlled by mods like Amazing Follower Tweaks. You can still inspect and modify his gear to decide what he will wear and what weapons he will use. Keep in mind, he also will not automatically spawn arrows, you'll need to supply him with those. 100 steel arrows can be found in the same chest as his warbow. Resting: The Let's Rest option is available in pretty much any safe area. In this state, more dialogue options are available and Kaidan will use any idle markers in the area, eat, drink, and sleep. He will do this until you tell him to follow you again, so use this option if you want him to stay somewhere specific (your player house, a tavern, a campsite) rather than heading back to Falkreath. Romance: Put on an Amulet of Mara and have a chat to him. This will open up more romantic dialogue options that will progress over time. After the initial conversation about the Amulet, you don't need to keep wearing it for the relationship to progress. A marriage/wedding is being worked on and will be avilable in fututre updates, for now the aim was to create a roleplay-friendly relationship that feels organic. Investigation: Kaidan is in Skyrim digging up information about his past. This investigation is not a guided quest and a few clues can be found across the land, and are easiest to come by simply by working your way through the main quest line. Your ability to translate dragon runes will depend on how many words of power you know, or how far you are in the quest. You do not need all clues to complete the investigation; hell, if you can speak dragon and translate the clue on the sword yourself, go for it. Thuum.org can be useful. Appearance: Kaidan has custom hair, eyes, brows, and face-tint, however no alterations have been made to his vanilla race body. This means he's compatible with any body-mesh and texture mods you use and will not add unexpected nudity to the game. Don't have any body mods? Check out "Better Males" by Chris57 and FavoredSoul, author reccomended mod \\\\SPOILERS\\\\\ ---ROMANCE SPEED-RUN!---- Want to get to all the lovey-dovey stuff quicksmart? Or stuck and don't know how to move your relationship with Kaidan forward? There's a few ways to get there, but this is the fastest and most streamlined way. Personally I don't really reccomend it, it's a bit more fun to take your time, and mix up these conversations to suit your rp. But hey, this way is quick. 1) Once you have him as a followeer, ask what happened with the Thalmor and complete the conversation. 2) You will now need to finish off 2 random conversations you can have with him in the world. First, go to WHITERUN. He'll be a grouch about the defenses and let you know. Respond however you like. Ask him if he knows any jokes. He does. If it's any good or not is up for debate. 3)The second conversation could be one of a few interactions, but it's probably easier to fast travel to RIFTEN or WINTERHOLD. Speak to him very breifly in Riften about the socio-economic climate, or ask what he thinks of the College while you're out in Winterhold. 4) Find somewhere to rest with him. You have the dialogue option to ask him how he is. He will respond and ask you in turn. It doesn't matter how you answer. 5) Now, he wants to know about you. He has three questions: Where are you from, do you have family, and (if you have completed Dragon Rising) who were you before you discovered you were Dragonborn. Answer however you like. 6) Time to find out about him! Ask him what he's doing in Skyrim. He'll bang on about that for a bit. 7) You can then choose "Tell me about yourself" again, and ask him what his story is. He'll tell you a fair bit, but soon become reluctant to talk more. 8) This is where, if you hadn't finished the Whiterun dialogue and one of the other various conversations in the world, he would refuse to tell you any more about himself. But you can now assure him that he can open up to you. He'll tell you about the shadier parts of his past. 9) Asking him about himself one more time gives you an option to ask how his guardian died. 10) The next conversation won't be available unless you're out doors and not in any major city. He looks troubled! Ask him what's wrong, and finish the conversation. You have an option here to be a bit of a dick and tell him to leave. It's far less time-consuming to just use the nice response. 11) If you're not already, rest somewhere with him. 12) Time to put on that Amulet of Mara and get yo flirt on. Once you can ask him, "Have you ever thought about marriage?" you dont need to wear the Amulet anymore. You've got his interest. 13) Complete each new conversation prompt as it appears. In order: "I'm surprised you're not taken", "Have you ever been in love?", "I'm going to sleep." He will hit on you then. You can respond however you like. Yes, no, or a platonic snuggle, the quest will still move forward, but there's a chance his dialogue will vary depending on how you respond and have played your character. 14) He's got a present for you! Get your new necklace. He's being coy about something. 15) If you're out in the wilderness, you can ask him what he thinks your next move should be. But he's troubled by something, and is avoiding telling you want. Pester him about it till he admits what's on his mind. 16) After that revelation, you can ask him again how he feels about you, and you have the option to tell him you love him. Dawww. Finish that conversation and you got yourself a boyfriend. Kaidan will have more affectionate dialogue after that. 17) Wait for the Marriage add-on for him to pop the bloody question already. ////////// This is a walk-through for the INVESTIGATION, if you'd rather figure it out yourself, avoid this part. Sword - The Dovahzul runes translate to 'Search (the) Ancient Bones-Of-Enemies'. If your character is able to translate this Kaidan will suggest the dragons as old enemies of the Blades. Dossier - In the Thalmor embassy, a dossier on the Akaviri can be found. It will point to Northwind Summit as the next place of interest. Northwind Summit is a dragon lair in the Rift that can be acessed through Northwind mine. Northwind Hidden Cache - A hollowed out stone at the summit contains some items left behind by the previous residents. The real clue is carved onto the stone in Dovahzul. Translated, it says "Search Viinturuth Tomb". The Cairn - Viinturuth is a named dragon you can see being resurected by Alduin at the burial mound WNW of Agna's Mill. After the cairn has been opened and the dragon defeated, a chest is revealed to have been buried there.