Delga Playthrough

In Which Delga Becomes Thane of Haafingar

This session saw the conclusion of the Potema plot, and my officially becoming one of Elisif’s thanes in Solitude! With a side helping of battling necromancers at Fort Snowhawk.

Highlights

  • Play date: 12/11/2021
  • Session number in this run: 42
  • Went with Aela to Hall of the Dead to speak to Styrr
  • Got Styrr’s instructions to go to the Temple of the Divines and head down into the catacombs to find and destroy Potema, and bring him her skull
  • Headed down there with Aela
  • Killed twice by the Volkihar Vampire I met just after the initial gate and Potema’s initial greeting; got her the third time through though
  • Cleared the catacombs and took out Potema! Got a little close there as I ran low on healing potions
  • Discovered I could in fact climb down from the exterior exit, and wound up near the Dainty Sload
  • Came back into Solitude the back way and returned to the Hall of the Dead to give Styrr the skull
  • Styrr’s greeting triggered a second time on my way out? But he went back into the Hall of the Dead and I was able to proceed to the blue palace
  • Got Falk Firebeard to pay me for dealing with Potema and bought living room furnishings for Proudspire
  • Elisif offered me the thaneship if I’d help her people; quest auto-completed since I’d already gotten five people helped (three Bard College professors, Noster One-Eye, Angeline), though I still need to do an extra one to clear the quest
  • But yay I’m thane!
  • Went out to shops to sell a bunch of things, then went back and bought kitchen and bedroom furnishings for Proudspire
  • Then went to Proudspire and found Jordis, HI JORDIS; dropped off Shield of Solitude and Blade of Haafingar so I don’t have to carry them around
  • Set out with Aela on foot to wander and see what to do next
  • Passed three Imperials (no prisoner) en route to Dragon Bridge
  • Swung around eastward and followed the road to Fort Snowhawk
  • Attacked by skeletons and a necromancer outside the fort, so OKAY THEN decided to clear the place since I hadn’t done it before on this or other playthroughs
  • Killed by the arch necromancer I found first time through; got him on the second time through though!
  • Explored most of the fort but couldn’t find all the mages to clear it? Wikis say this is apparently sometimes a problem?
  • Boinged to Western Watchtower to sell stuff in Whiterun; flyby dragon at watchtower
  • Sent Aela home for now while I did crafting and training
  • Sold stuff at Warmaiden’s, Belethor’s Arcadia’s
  • Boinged to mage college; sold assorted staves and spellbooks to trainers, also got training from all five for level 48
  • Boinged next to Dawnstar to give the smiths the Night Falls on Sentinels book and also buy iron and corundum
  • Boinged to Windstad to do more building, opened storage room wing, built a lot of furnishings, HI LYDIA
  • Boinged to Solitude and sold more things, then went to Blue Palace and bought alchemy table and enchanter for Proudspire
  • Saved in Proudspire for the night

Commentary

Not a great deal new to say about this session, or at least the first half of it, since running the Potema plot and furnishing Proudspire is familiar territory at this point.

The one new aspect I’ll mention here is that it was nice to discover that when you go out of that back exit (because going back the way you came is tough because of revolving door traps), you apparently do not have to fast travel to get off that exterior ledge. Turns out I could climb down from there, and wind up on the road that leads back south towards Solitude.

Aela did not follow me down on the climb, she eventually caught up with me coming up from the south along the road. So apparently she did get out of the catacombs some other way? Apparently she had no problems getting past those revolving doors!

The more interesting part of this session was actually trying to clear out Fort Snowhawk. Since I didn’t have to do a battle for this fort during the war, it was still in the hands of necromancers and skeletons. However, the wiki said that the fort will go into the control of whoever won the war, or at least who holds the territory the fort is in. Since the Imperials now control all of Skyrim, in theory, this fort should be taken over by the Empire when I clear it.

The tricky part: actually clearing it. I wasn’t able to find all the necessary enemies, so even though I did take out the Arch Necromancer in the boss chamber, I still didn’t officially clear the place! According to the wiki, that’s a risk with this locale. Apparently the necromancers have a way of fleeing into the surrounding woods, so you might have to actually visit the place multiple times to clear it properly.

I’ll have to see what I can do about that just because it’d be nice to make that stretch of road safer to travel!

All that said, I did also like just having a new environment to try to clear. Snowhawk had an interesting twisty sort of layout, with multiple levels both inside and out, and a prison underneath the main structure. So I won’t mind going back again to try to clear the place later.

Next time

Down to two thaneships left to get: the Reach, and Eastmarch. I.e., Markarth and Windhelm.

Still pondering that plan of a rough circuit around Skyrim, counter clockwise, which would send me through Markarth first and then let me swing back towards Windhelm. And if I’m in the Reach, that also gives me a chance to go to Deep Folk Crossing for the third aetherium shard.

Then maybe I could swing back towards Raldbthar for the fourth shard, and then target Windhelm to do the murder mystery plot and see if I can get Brunwulf Free-Winter on board with making me thane there.

Screenshots

Small gallery this time! Just because I forgot to take decent screenshots inside Snowhawk.

Editing to add

  • 11/19/2023: Restored missing gallery, and added play date and session number markers.
  • 10/7/2024: Converted gallery to a native WordPress one.

As Angela Highland, Angela is the writer of the Rebels of Adalonia epic fantasy series with Carina Press. As Angela Korra'ti, she writes the Free Court of Seattle urban fantasy series. She's also an amateur musician and devoted fan of Newfoundland and Quebecois traditional music.