How the heck did a giant get to lakeview manor?

[Frosty Mist]

Heard stomping, did not know where it was coming from and went to check there it was... but anyway here's my way of dealing with them:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=952357269

[gnewna]

Probably walked around the lake.

(Well, it's a random spawn that can happen outside Lakeview, but there's no settlements on the way from the plains around the Western Watchtower/Fort Greymoor area to Lakeview if you go around the western side of the lake, only Half-Moon Mill which doesn't have a guard, so it's not impossible one could wander round there without being noticed if the mill owners were asleep/didn't fancy confronting a giant. Nice couple, them, keep themselves to themselves, mostly, though they do like to have people for dinner sometimes.)

[Frosty Mist]

Originally posted by gnewna:

Well, it's a random spawn that can happen outside Lakeview, but there's no settlements on the way from the plains around the Western Watchtower/Fort Greymoor area to Lakeview if you go around the western side of the lake, only Half-Moon Mill which doesn't have a guard, so it's not impossible one could wander round there without being noticed if the mill owners were asleep/didn't fancy confronting a giant. Nice couple, them, keep themselves to themselves, mostly, though they do like to have people for dinner sometimes.)

Um they're dead lol which I kind of regret because there isn't anybody at the mill to sell me stuff anymore and I have to fast travel to + use heartwood mill instead.

[gnewna]

Can you not buy lumber in Riverwood?

[lupus_hegemonia]

Originally posted by Lord of Light:

Heard stomping, did not know where it was coming from and went to check there it was... but anyway here's my way of dealing with them:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=952357269

Easily explanation (I had the same encounter).
Around the area of your estate, there is a Giant camp (as far as I remember), and Giants are not just... standing there, they're walking around Skyrim. If you DON'T ATTACK them, they don't attacking you.

[Frosty Mist]

Originally posted by gnewna:

Can you not buy lumber in Riverwood?

Oh I think you mean the people who work the mill over there then. Good to know as well.

Anyway now that the vampire menace at half-wood mill has been extinguished(Hert killed by the ebony blade and Herm having Dawnbreaker stuck through him), might be joining the dawnguard soon.

[gnewna]

Oh, no, I meant Hert and Hern ('people for dinner', ho ho, I am such a wit, etcetera.) Just saying that I *think* if they're dead you can buy lumber at any mill, including Riverwood.

Originally posted by lupus_hegemonia:

Easily explanation (I had the same encounter).
Around the area of your estate, there is a Giant camp (as far as I remember), and Giants are not just... standing there, they're walking around Skyrim. If you DON'T ATTACK them, they don't attacking you.

No giant camps near Lakeview: http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Giant_Camps but one can spawn there anyway, as I said in my previous comment it's perfectly plausible that one might have wandered around the lake (I've seen them wandering almost up to Riverwood on the other side) but in game-mechanics terms, this is just one of the things that can randomly spawn at the spawn point just outside your house.

AFAIK, the giant who spawns outside Lakeview is actively hostile BUT only if you get close to him. Unfortunately, he tends to be right outside the door, so if you don't have the balcony door as an alternative exit, you might be a bit scuppered. Also I believe he may well kill your cow and/or chickens :(

[alexander_dougherty]

Prior to the hearthfires DLC, that spot was a giants camp, which meant it spawned giants, they didn't quite get rid of the underlying programming when they created the manor.

Note that modern lists of giant camps have removed this spot as a giant camp, I only remember it, because I did used to keep running into giants as I when from riverrun to the lake looting a couple of sites for items

[gnewna]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Prior to the hearthfires DLC, that spot was a giants camp, which meant it spawned giants, they didn't quite get rid of the underlying programming when they created the manor.

Hmm, you could be right but I don't think that's the case? Pretty sure it was just a sort of empty space, there's nothing on the UESP to suggest that without the Hearthfire DLC there's a giant camp there, unless they patched it out of the base game before I bought it or something? (Plus there's a necromancer just down the hill, I'd guess a giant camp there would cause them to aggro on each other all the time.)

And either way, I think it's just that they put a spawn point right outside the house for 'excitement' or something, as you can also leave your house to find a group of bandits attacking, or wolves, and the other two houses can also get the same attacks, plus draugr at the Morthal house.

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by gnewna:

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Prior to the hearthfires DLC, that spot was a giants camp, which meant it spawned giants, they didn't quite get rid of the underlying programming when they created the manor.

...I don't think so? Pretty sure it was just a sort of empty space, there's nothing on the UESP to suggest that without the Hearthfire DLC there's a giant camp there, unless they patched it out of the base game before I bought it or something?

And either way, I think it's just that they put a spawn point right outside the house for 'excitement' or something, as you can also leave your house to find a group of bandits attacking, or wolves, and the other two houses can also get the same attacks, plus draugr at the Morthal house.

No there was a small giant camp there, I used to run into it a lot, so I remember it, it was pretty irrelevant though. Just a giant and a big campfire.

[gnewna]

Huh, must've been patched out from the base game, then. Definitely wasn't anything like that in that area when I had my first playthrough (didn't get the DLC but bought Skyrim after they were all released and then kicked myself for not getting the Legendary version) and I spent a lot of time around there because it's so pretty.

[Frosty Mist]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Originally posted by gnewna:

...I don't think so? Pretty sure it was just a sort of empty space, there's nothing on the UESP to suggest that without the Hearthfire DLC there's a giant camp there, unless they patched it out of the base game before I bought it or something?

And either way, I think it's just that they put a spawn point right outside the house for 'excitement' or something, as you can also leave your house to find a group of bandits attacking, or wolves, and the other two houses can also get the same attacks, plus draugr at the Morthal house.

No there was a small giant camp there, I used to run into it a lot, so I remember it, it was pretty irrelevant though. Just a giant and a big campfire.

So as a way of saying it; "The manor was built on the former location of a giant camp and is haunted by one". XD

[Docsprock]

I dont recall any giant camp anywhere near Lakeview.

Plus, you can buy lumber in Falkreath, at the mill there.

[Aleksi134]

Even with mods that fix stuff giants still spawn on lakeview manor literally at the front door ready to kill all the non essential NPCs...

[♥ Barney ♥]

Pretty sure there wasn't a giant camp or a giant with a campfire near the lakeview plot of land. Bethesda would have planned out the Hearthfires dlc before releasing skyrim on 11/11 so was just a flat piece of land, also there is no mention of it on the elderscrolls wiki or google searches.

Anyway, I can see one getting up to Falkreath taking the back roads, but how did one get down into Blackreach....