In Which Delga Goes on a Bear Hunt and Assists a Daedra’s Dog

I came into this session mostly thinking that I’d work on getting Temba Wide-Arm her bear skins, and also doing that dragon bounty in the Rift.

The way it worked out, though, I also got a boatload of quests queued up in Riften, since being there to collect the bounty meant I was able to go talk to all the Riften NPCs while they were still actually alive!

And then I went to go do the Daedra’s Best Friend quest since I had the pointer for that in Falkreath. Very busy session all around!

Highlights

• Play date: 11/6/2021
• Session number in this run: 6
• Did some hunting on the Whiterun plains; killed at least one deer and got a point of Sneak off the effort
• Also found a stray dog and got it following me!
• Popped back into Whiterun long enough to smith a couple of things and sell them to Elrindir
• Bought a couple rounds of one-handed training off Amren
• Headed out again with Lydia and dog
• Headed towards Northwind Summit to do that dragon kill bounty
• Passed M’aiq the liar, also dead bandit thug, and living ride-able horse
• Did not ride horse
• Killed multiple wolves and bears en route to the Rift
• Stopped in Shor’s Stone to do a little smithing and talk to the blacksmith
• Got quest to clear Redbelly Mine of spiders
• Cleared out the mine; got reward from Shor’s Stone smith Filnjar
• Headed towards the other mine and Northwind Summit
• But lost the dog right about when I killed a troll? Not clear if troll killed the dog or what, I couldn’t find its body
• Did however clear the mine and kill the dragon, and get the word for Aura Whisper off the wall there
• MERIDIA’S BEACON IN THE BOSS CHEST! Hold that thought, Meridia, I’ll come be your cleansing light ASAP \0/
• Got overloaded so had to take my time getting to Riften to collect the bounty
• Took FOUR TRIES because trolls kept killing me just north of Riften
• Finally made it through on try number four when I got only one troll but also a cave bear
• Made it past the gate guard’s attempt to extort me with a successful Persuade check
• That’s right, asshole, the Dragonborn is fucking on to you
• Sold a bunch of stuff to Balimund; got his quest for the Fire Salts, also got five rounds of smithing training off of him in between doing the rest of Riften activity
• Went up to Mistveil Keep; chatted with Wylandriah and got her favor quest to get her items
• Chatted with Anuriel and got paid the dragon bounty
• Sold a bunch of stuff at the Pawned Prawn including dragon bits
• Chatted with Bolli and got his favor quest to take Kleppr in Markarth a purchase order
• Chatted with ladies at the alchemist shop and got both Hafjorg’s ore quest and Ingun’s ingredients quest
• Went out to the fishery; got From-Deepest-Fathoms to give me the Lexicon and the quest for Avanchnzel!
• Popped into the fishery; there you are, Wujeeta! Yes, you can have a healing potion! Here you go!
• Chatted with Alessandra at the Hall of the Dead and got her quest to take a dagger to the priest in Whiterun
• Sit tight, Riften, I’ll be back to take care of your skooma dealer problem and settle in to get that house
• Headed back out towards Ivarstead to kill more bears
• Passed Redwater Den
• Made it to the Alchemist’s Shack; harvested all the ingredients there and slept the night, then made a few potions at the table
• Encountered the Chicken Necromancer again, lololol–though this time was quicker, because Lydia got him before I even saw him XD
• Headed on west past Haemar’s Shame (hold that thought, I’ll get back to here)
• Passed pilgrim Faldrus on his way to the shrine of Azura; uh dude i think you’re going the wrong way? The Shrine is northwest of here, why are you going south?
• Also passed hunter and horse
• Cut through little bandit tower near Falkreath; took out three bandits there
• Made it into Falkreath
• Sold some stuff to Lod at the forge
• Sold some stuff to Zaria at Grave Concoctions; also bought her out of various ingredients for the quests
• Went into Dead Man’s Drink
• Refused to break into Lod’s house for Dengeir
• Got old warrior Thadgeir’s request to take ashes to Runil
• Went to Runil and witnessed the ceremony for the murdered girl
• Gave ashes to Runil, and got his quest to get his journal
• Got rumor from innkeeper about the missing hunters
• Asked the grieving father what had happened; got the story on the girl and started Ill Met by Moonlight quest (hold that thought, Hircine, I’ll get back to you)
• Started harvesting nightshade by the cemetery
• Went to go find the so-called “dog”, lol
• Got Barbas, started A Daedra’s Best Friend quest
• Followed Barbas towards Helgen
• Holy shit actual werewolves, two of them (pretty sure not anybody the Companions know? XD); took them both out in battle
• Followed Barbas through Helgen; a few bandits taken out there before we proceeded
• Made it to Haemar’s Shame; Barbas pretty much cleared the place, Lyds and I only had to fight a couple of opponents
• Got Vile’s demand to go get the Rueful Axe at Rimerock Burrow
• Got out of the cavern and saved for the night

Commentary

I was pleased to find a stray dog to follow me around, but the dog didn’t actually wind up staying with me for long? I’m not sure what happened, if the dog got killed or what–because I never found its body. I’ll have to see if it shows up at some point again.

My main first action for this session, though, was to head into the Rift to hit up Northwind Summit for that dragon bounty. And my train of thought here was also whoo excuse to go to Riften–and while I’m there, to also make sure I queue up the favor quests ASAP before any dragons actually kill NPCs there.

This went pretty damn swimmingly. Cleared out the mine in Shor’s Stone while I was at it, and then took out the dragon at Northwind Summit.

Let it be noted for the record though that actually going south towards Riften was actually harder than taking out the dragon! Because trying to go hand to hand with two trolls at once was apparently a bit much for my orc girl.

And I wound up getting pretty much all the favor quests at Riften queued up, and once I do them I’ll actually have all the favors done required to get to be thane of the Rift. I just have to deal with those skooma dealers first.

Meanwhile, also working on that bear hunt quest for Temba Wide-Arm in Ivarstead. And I started on the Daedra’s Best Friend quest, while also queuing up the Ill Met By Moonlight one.

In short, I have quests all over the damn place, and this is even before I’ve gotten to a point of joining up with the Imperials.

None of this session was new material though so I’m not going to go into it in detail.

Next time

I was still working on that bear hunt for Temba Wide-Arm, so I’m going to see about doing that. I think I’d made it to four bears.

Then I think I may work my way towards Knifepoint Ridge to do that Companions quest! And from there, start working my way towards Rimerock Burrow.

I’m thinking at this point that I’m not going to try to join the Imperials until I’m done with the Companions quest line. One major faction quest line at a time!

Screenshots

I tried a few screenshots but none of them were ones I wanted to keep! Maybe next time!

Editing to add

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