• The Carriage:

How would one have the carriage follow the Dragonborn only so far as a road is present to travel on?

Would it be too complicated to have the steward mount and dismount the carriage?

Is it possible to have the player or npc sit next to the carriage driver?

As the carriage carries camp supplies and loot there will need to be justifiable space for these items to be stored and yet leave room for two more passengers. Also I don't want to justify portable crafting stations with the exceptions of cooking and tanning.

There would also need to be a weight limit set on storing loot in the carriage. I don't want to try and adjust for passengers, so the limit would merely explained as, "There is no more room to store that item." And there would be a barrel, a couple of sacks and chest in the back to represent the storage space as well as provide a means of separating items.

If possible the player can initiate fast travel to certain points along the road and the player and carriage will arrive at these points together.

• Bard:

The bard can merely explain that he is really good at staying out of sight while watching.

At caves and dungeons the bard could simple not enter and appear as if he has followed the Dragonborn out when the Dragonborn leaves. This will likely run into problems when the player exits from an interior at a location where there is not path down from the side of the mountain.

Exterior fights the bard could simply flee and seek cover as well as not be counted as part of any faction that enemies would attack.

I haven't looked at this part yet but I am assuming that Skyrim has regions marked the same way that Fallout New Vegas does. Lydia often comments on the nearby caves and ruins.

• Horses:

The bard and the guards will not be set a followers like Lydia and therefore will not be handled by mods that give horses to followers. I would like it to be that the bard rides in next to the steward in the carriage until the dragonborn buys him a horse. I have yet to buy a second horse in game, so I don't know what happens to the first horse when a second horse is bought in the vanilla system. I'd like to avoid touching the vanilla system, but use it for buying the bard's horse. Guards will come with their own horses once the Dragonborn can afford to hire the guards through the steward.

• Guards:

Gaurds will be hired through the steward for an initial fee and paid monthly from the treasury of the entourage.

Two guards will be the limit and the steward will insist on having two guards.

When more guards are required the steward will insist on finding a settlement so that more guards can be acquired.

It may take a couple of days to find more guards.

Guards will use One Handed weapons, Sheilds and Heavy Armor.

The steward will provide them with a unique cape to mark them in their role.

They will come with standard equipment, but may be given other items to replace their gear.

• Camping

Camp sites will need to be within a suitable range of dungeons and accessible by carriage.

Guards will take shifts. During night hours one guard will be seen sleeping and the other will be seen keeping watch.

The steward will prepare meals from available food stores. The guards, steward and bard will be seen eating at times and will consume prepared food. Resources will actually be used. Water must be kept in supply as well. The steward will insist on driving to the nearest available town/city to buy supplies once the supplies have run out.

The player must order the camp to be packed up before moving out.

If the player leaves the camp behind for long there may be a chance that the camp is raided and loot is stolen.

• Loot

Dungeons are to be scanned for remaining hostiles and remaining loot upon dialogue with steward. The bard could be used to interject if there are any remaining hostiles.

One guard will escort the steward and they can be seen entering and leaving the dungeon to unload loot based on the carrying limits of the individuals while the other stands guard over the camp and carriage.

The player can use the wait feature to pass the time. Can the wait feature be interrupted?

• Raids

On carriage while traveling

On camp while setup

Guards can be killed.

The steward and bard will flee and escape death abandoning the carriage.

If the guards are killed and the carriage is abandoned all loot will be lost and the carriage will need repairs before traveling again.

Thus the player should never leave the carriage behind unless it's parked in a city.