In Which Delga Explores Mzinchaleft and Recovers the Sword Grimsever

This was another short session, since it was on a work night! Main points of this one being talking to Kodlak and getting his quest to go take out the Glenmoril witches, and then recovering the sword Grimsever in Mzinchaleft.

Highlights

• Play date: 11/16/2021
• Session number in this run: 18
• Went to talk to Kodlak in Jorrvaskr, and he chided me for taking more vengeance for Skjor’s death than honor demanded
• He also told me the backstory on how the Companions became werewolves, and how he wants to go to Sovngarde when he dies, so he wants to be cured
• And he wants me to go wipe out the Glenmoril witches and bring him their heads
• CAN DO!
• Meanwhile, sold some stuff to Belethor
• Bought some ebony and steel at Warmaiden’s and made that Nordic helmet I wanted, then improved it up to Legendary, with the plan of handing the full armor set off to another of the housecarls
• Fast traveled to Bonestrewn Crest to take out the Blood Dragon there and get the word off its wall
• Boss chest at the lair had ebony gauntlets, WOO time to start racking up ebony armor
• Got the word for Frost Breath off the wall
• Went into Windhelm and stayed at Candlehearth Hall
• Oddly, innkeeper didn’t actually show me to the room like usual and just kept sweeping behind the counter, though i was still able to sleep in the bed? Whatevs!
• Went to the dock the next morning to get bounty money from Kjar for the quest i never actually accepted, but hey if he wants to throw me 1250 gold, who am I to deny him 😉
• Then boinged to Lakeview to do some building, hey Ogol and Rayya, y’all want a fireplace and a dining table? Here you go!
• Dropped off the Nordic armor set, assorted building materials, and the Orcish greatsword
• Boinged to Fort Fellhammer to hoof it to Mzinchaleft for Grimsever
• Began checking out the place after Lyds and I wiped out the initial round of bandits
• Went through the sequence of six puzzle rooms
• Dwarven Centurion Master boss at the end handed me my ass a couple of times before I finally took it out with ebony arrows and then a few final whacks with Volendrung
• Found Grimsever next to where the centurion had been docked
• Had to limit myself on how much dwarven metal to carry to get out of the place
• Saved for the night once I emerged

Commentary

Started off this session by having a conversation with Kodlak in Jorrvaskr. Turns out the old man knew what Aela and I had been up to, and disapproved of how many of the Silver Hand I’d taken out.

This is an interesting spot to get to in the Companions quest line, because it’s neat character development for Kodlak–excellent stakes, as he’s a werewolf who wants to lose his disease so that he can regain the right to have his spirit go to Sovngarde when he dies.

Also, this is the point where you can see that Kodlak also knows you’re a werewolf. One of the dialogue options you get is for you to tell him that you don’t want to remove the blessing of Hircine. I didn’t actually take that dialogue option, but according to the wiki, if you do take it, Kodlak tells you it’s not about what you want, because your own fate will be your own choice.

It’s interesting to me as well that in theory Kodlak isn’t the leader of the Companions. But he’s very stern and firm about this task being assigned to you, and how he won’t grant that any other Companion can come with me. For a guy who’s not officially the leader of this group, he sure was all about giving me orders! Heh.

For the immediate moment though I didn’t head out for Glenmoril Coven. Instead, I decided to go after Grimsever so that I could return it to Mjoll the Lioness.

Mzinchaleft is a place I visited as Alarrah, and playing through it this time was pretty much the same. The main notable thing going through this dungeon was that it was definitely a change of pace doing it as a non-sneaking character. And I had to strike a balance between archery attacks and Volendrung for that final centurion!

Note to self: when taking on the boss centurion in a Dwemer ruin, f’r chrissakes, use the ebony arrows.

But anyway, the sword was successfully recovered!

Next time

More building, more smithing, take two of a run through Cragwallow Slope, and hammerclanging some bandits!

Screenshots

Editing to add

• 11/28/2021: Galleries are finally now fixed, so here are a couple of screenshots from this session! This is Kodlak sternly calling me out for the level of vengeance Aela and I have taken against the Silver Hand.
• 11/18/2023: Galleries broke again, so restored the missing gallery, and also added play date and session number markers.
• 10/6/2024: Converted gallery to a native WordPress one.