In Which Ysani Acquires More Stones of Barenziah and Interrupts a Summoning

Quested my way through both Rannveig’s Fast and Sunderstone Gorge–and once done with that, settled in to run the quests to take down the Wolf Queen Potema in Solitude, so I can work on getting two of the three remaining Stones of Barenziah! And getting the thaneship of Haafingar while I’m at it.

Highlights

Play date: 3/5/2022
Session number in this run: 40
Boinged to Western Watchtower to go to Whiterun
Cultists instead of a dragon, for a refreshing change of pace! Helped the guards take them out by throwing dremora at them
Mined the iron ore veins near the tower to get the iron
Talked to the Khajiit outside Whiterun and bought a few things from Ri’saad
Got iron, steel, and raw moonstone from Warmaiden’s, also ebony gauntlets to give to Argis
Quaff-traveled up to Heljarchen for building
Converted Small House room to entryway; also began building on the kitchen wing, and built more of the cellar
Dropped off a bunch of clothes items and other materials
Headed west towards Rannveig’s Fast on foot to do hunting with dragonbone bow with soul trap on it
Saw mammoth vs. sabre cat near Silent Moons Camp; mammoth had already killed the sabre cat, and boy did it get cranky when I got near enough to mine the gold vein the sabre cat was lying next to
So I ran away a bit, then called up a dremora to take out the mammoth, and then mined the gold vein
Onward! Found another sabre cat that’d just killed a deer; took that out
Took down an elk and another deer
Took out the bear at Greenspring Hollow
Close to Rannveig’s Fast, mined an iron vein
Once I reached the place, called up the dremora to help me with exterior ghosts
Kept hearing dragon overheard, probably Eldersblood Peak dragon; declined to engage for the moment, focused on Rannveig’s Fast
Cleared the place, then started hoofing it back to Whiterun with intent to do more hunting
Frost dragon showed up though, and I killed that with storm atronachs + dragonbone bow
Got overloaded with new loot and dragon bits; Whirlwind Sprint + drawn bow back to Whiterun
Sold stuff to get unloaded
Boinged to Lakeview to pick up the dragonscale armor and get it enchanted up
Dropped off Guildmaster and Nightingale Armor to bring down the weight
Boinged to Honningbrew to sell more stuff to Mallus
Boinged back to Heljarchen to merge materials caches
Hoofed it towards Sunderstone
Passed two Vigilants on the bridge near Fort Greymoor
Three Thalmor + prisoner, and muahahaha time to play Goad the Thalmor!
After that fun game, closed in on Sunderstone Gorge
Went past three Imperials having the “why’d you join the Legion” conversation
Spriggan who’d just killed a hunter; took her out with one of the dremora
Reached, ran, and cleared Sunderstone Gorge
Got the Stone of Barenziah; cleared four silver veins; got the first word for Fire Breath Shout, and other tasty loot
Overloaded when I got out so had to quaff-travel to Honningbrew and sell stuff
Then boinged to Solitude and sold more stuff to Gulum-Ei
Slept the night at the inn, then went to the Blue Palace the next morning
Hey Falk Firebeard, need help with that Wolfskull Cave problem? You do? ON IT
Went to go deal with the Wolfskull Cave problem!
Thief on the way, I wasn’t wearing any of the appropriate armor but nonetheless persuaded him to bugger off even though i had over 11,000 septims on me 😉
Ran and cleared Wolfskull Cave, though I got turned around multiple times trying to make it through the super-dark tower
Alik’r warrior encounter on the way back
Sold a bunch more stuff to Gulum-Ei
Leveled up to 57
Went to go report to Falk Firebeard that the problem was sorted and got his payment for that
Took the level up; took another Enchantment perk to work my way up the tree to double enchantments
Boinged back to Heljarchen for more building and saved for the night

Commentary

Here’s a thing I realized only after I finished running Rannveig’s Fast and wound up filling four black soul gems with the souls of the subjugated ghosts that Sild had taken over: that soul trapping them really isn’t any nicer than what Sild did to them.

So yeah. Gotta be careful about that in future playthroughs. Because the ghosts at this location very specifically apologize profusely to you for attacking you–it’s not like they’re bandits who are hostile on their own recognizance. They’re enslaved. So yeah, shouldn’t go tossing them into black soul gems. Note that for reference, Future Me!

On a much more entertaining note, though, this session I did get to indulge in Ysani’s favorite game, Goad the Thalmor! Because on the way to Sunderstone George, passed a trio of Thalmor with a prisoner, so I made a point of lingering in the area and finally just coming up to the one in mage robes to chat with him.

And to be all “y’know, I have the right to worship whoever I want!” Just to piss him off. ;D I do feel like Réjean and André were instrumental in delivering my argument!

And for a nice bonus, the prisoner got to run off! I hope he made it somewhere safely!

I do believe this increments the counter of Thalmor Killed During this Game to 11. Muahaha.

Other than these things, the session was pretty familiar territory. Little surprised I got lost going through Wolfskull Cave trying to get to the necromancer ritual, though! But this is what I get for the quest marker vanishing and my trying to avoid using a light source unless absolutely necessary. Because, y’know, trying to sneak and stuff.

Language commentary

Interesting terms observed:

Creux de Vertesource: Greenspring Hollow
Vif de Rannveig: Rannveig’s Fast
Gorge de Scindepierre: Sunderstone Gorge
Grotte du Crâne de loup: Wolfskull Cave

Most of these are pretty much straightforward translations, with the exception of Vif de Rannveig. All this time I’ve been interpreting the word fast in Rannveig’s Fast as a synonym of keep or hold. But as I look vif and fast up tonight, I’m finding that I may have been misinterpreting that word even in English.

None of the dictionary sites I checked tonight have fast as a noun in that sense. I see plenty of sources listing fast as a noun in the sense of ‘a time when you’re abstaining from food’, as well as ‘a thing that provides a fastening’.

But my sources for French definitions are only showing me adjective definitions, mostly. The only noun definition I’m seeing is a living person, which would not be applicable here.

So my best guess here, which is admittedly very hand-wavy, is that maybe the name Rannveig’s Fast is intended to refer to its proximity to Cold Rock Pass? Maybe it’s supposed to be guarding it? The problem with that is, though, that this only explains the name in English. And I’m not finding suitable evidence for French definitions that would link into that.