In Which Delga Visits Falkreath and Clears Embershard Mine of Bandits

In this session the biggest thing I learned was that Delga is not yet ready to deal with hagravens! So instead, I decided to go get set up for becoming thane in Falkreath. Which meant clearing out Embershard Mine!

Highlights

Play date: 11/3/2021
Session number in this run: 5
Slept in Jorrvaskr for the night
Got up the next morning and got Skjor to give me a job to do: Family Heirloom quest to go get the orcish warhammer back from Knifepoint Ridge
CAN DO
But first: went up to Dragonsreach to collect Silent Moons bounty from steward
Destroyed one of the lunar weapons to get the enchantment off of it, and also steel boots with a Resist Frost enchantment
Did alchemy and sold some potions to Arcadia
Sold assorted things to Belethor
Went back to Jorrvaskr and got block training from Njada
Gave a coin to Lucia (hi honey!)
Bought a few steel ingots from Adrianne
Scooted the cultist corpses out of the way because they’re still there
Fast traveled over to Ivarstead
Popped into the inn to resolve favor quest with Klimmek
Asked innkeeper for a lead on any work
Got dragon bounty for Northwind Summit; OH YAY excuse to go to Riften 😀
Rented a room and slept the night
Did round 1 of Shroud Hearth Barrow to find the guy pretending to be a ghost
Took his journal back to the innkeeper and got the Sapphire Dragon Claw
Got Temba Wide-Arm’s quest to kill ten bears
Went back to the barrow to do the rest of the dungeon
Cleared it out, got the word for Kyne’s Peace, and got WAY overloaded
Whirlwind-Sprinted my way back to Whiterun to sell excess loot
Did a little more smithing, and sold a bunch of things to both Adrianne and Belethor
Wound up with over 2300 gold
bought two rounds of Smithing training from Eorlund; leveled up from 12 to 13, and took Dwarven Smithing perk
Bought three more rounds of Smithing training
Went up to Dragonsreach to destroy a couple more items and get a Soul Trap enchantment, a Frost Damage enchantment, and a Fortify Conjuration enchantment
Met by courier with a Letter from a Friend for source of power in Silverdrift Lair
Decided to head out to get Nettlebane
Hunter and friendly dog on the way, south of Riverwood
Killed by the hagraven at Orphan Rock ouch, aaaaaaand thrown all the way back to coming out of Whiterun; right then so not quite ready for hagraven?
New plan! Go talk to the Jarl of Falkreath!
Went over the hills between Whiterun and Riverwood; very specifically avoided the hell out of the nearby giant camp (I think it was probably Secunda’s Kiss)
Did however kill an icewraith
Stopped at Anise’s cabin to see how she interacts; answer, “I’m just a poor old woman, dear, no need to trouble yourself with me!” Okay! Won’t trouble myself with you then!
Took out a frostbite spider
Met two hunters, a dog, and a horse (probably the hunters from Hunter’s Rest?)
Made it to Falkreath, and went to see the Jarl, got the quest to clear out Embershard Mine
CAN DO
Prompt from guard to look for the dog (Barbas!)
Took out random hostile Nord
Made it to Embershard Mine
Bandit at the entrance, while I took him out: “Now ain’t this a surpr—AGH!”
Cleared out the mine, and got a boatload of torches which is good because i don’t have a Candlelight or Magelight spell yet
Headed back towards Falkreath
HELLO DRAGON
Bandits also attacked while the dragon was attacking us
Lydia took out the bandits; I took out the dragon
Turned out they were the bandits from the unmarked camp by the Guardian Stones, because one of them had Treasure Map I
Very, very overloaded what with dragon bits
Passed a Stormcloak courier being hassled by a skeever, so we killed it
Oh hey logs at future site of Lakeview?
Made it back into Falkreath
Sold a boatload of things to Lod the blacksmith
Also got his quest to go lay out fresh meat for the “dog”
Went to talk to the Jarl
Got his payment for the bandit hunt and permission to buy property, and his prompt to go help his people to become thane
Sold a bunch more stuff including dragon bits at the general goods store
Returned to Whiterun
Khajiit were on hand so I got a couple more rounds of training in Sneak from Khayla to finish out level 13’s training
Bought a grand soul gem off of Ri’saad for enchantment purposes!
Went to Warmaiden’s and smithed a bit, which got me leveled up to 14
Sold smithed things to Elrindir
Went up to Dragonsreach to destroy the necklace of blocking and learn Fortify Block enchantment
Also enchanted my orcish bow to put the Soul Trap enchantment on it
Went back down near Warmaiden’s
Saved for the night

Commentary on crash space

It does occur to me to wonder what Lydia thinks about having to keep an eye on me if I’m crashing for the night in Jorrvaskr? Does she think it’s weird that her thane doesn’t have her own private sleeping space?For that matter, where the hell does Lydia sleep in Dragonsreach, anyway, prior to when you get Breezehome? Does she sleep in the guard barracks?

For that matter, what do the Companions think about their newest member having her own personal bodyguard following her around? They must surely be aware that their newest recruit was made a thane of Whiterun, and surely they must also know why—i.e., that she’s Dragonborn!

But hard to say, since nobody in Jorrvaskr reacts to Lydia following me around. Not even to the tune of “why is this person setting foot in our space? She’s not one of us!“ Or, perhaps, “the Dragonborn is one of us, are you worthy to be guarding her back?”

Lydia: “I swore to protect her and all she owns with my life!”

Companions: “We swore to fight at her side and sing her praises!”

Lydia: “Actually, that sounds pretty awesome. I think we can work with this.”

Thinking about whether Delga is actually used to having her own sleeping space at all. Maybe or maybe not? The impression I get from what I’ve seen of the Orc strongholds in the game so far is that they’re not exactly prone to giving their residents their own private spaces. Jorrvaskr may seem kind of okay to Delga with other warriors around her?

Still though this is not going to stop me from getting Breezehome when the gold balance allows! Need my own space to be able to stash all my loot. 😀

Let it also be noted for the record that Njada, the Companions’ Block trainer, seems to be a bit of a bitch as she makes snarky commentary at you about trying to figure out why you were approved to join them in the first place. She does, however, seem perfectly willing to take my money to train me.

Attempting to go get Nettlebane, take one

This did not go well. In no small part because the hagraven smacked the hell out of me with what was probably a Staff of Fireballs? Whatever it was, it killed me right good and crispy.

I need to remind myself that Delga is a melee character. I’m not ignoring Archery completely with her, mind you, and not ignoring magic completely either. But straight up melee fighting is going to be more her thing. Which means I need to remember to charge in fast when I can.

Also, a hagraven is a level 20 monster, so I may not be able to take her out quite yet regardless at close range.

Going to Falkreath, and clearing Embershard Mine

Nothing too terribly different here, either, from how I’ve played these before. Except for not focusing on archery and sneaking going through the mine, and instead just stomping up and walloping on bandits with my greatsword!

Nabbed all the torches I could get my hands on, as well as various and sundry other loot objects.

Next time

Scattered across this session, I got a lot of other pointers to other things I can do, and I’m not sure yet what of the various jobs I have queued up I’ll do next! But I have plenty to choose from!

Screenshots

No screenshots this time either.

Editing to add

11/18/2023: Added play date and session number markers.