Ysani Playthrough

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.

Next time

Imma derp around until I get that courier from Falk Firebeard telling me that Potema problem isn’t as solved as we thought it was!

Screenshots

Editing to add

  • 11/21/2023: Restored missing gallery, and added play date and session number markers.

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.