In Which Ysani Escapes Alftand With the Dragon Scroll

This session saw the conclusion of the run through Alftand, and the acquisition of the “Dragon” Elder Scroll, needed for both the main plot and for Dawnguard! And, epilogue with returning to Fort Dawnguard and following up on further plot pointers there.

Highlights

Play date: 3/25/2022
Session number in this run: 60
Resumed Alftand at piston traps; Serana tried to follow me but got distracted by dwarven spiders, so since she kept attacking them I called up a couple of flame atronachs to help her; once the spiders were dealt with, she and the atronachs did in fact make it past the traps
Ran the rest of the dungeon, and stealth not really an option with Serana along! Particularly since she resurrected a lot of bodies, including the Orc and Altmer members of the lost expedition
Let her and the dremora take out the centurion, Sulla and Umana at the end just before Blackreach
Once in Blackreach, had my dremora take out a dwarven sphere at Sinderion’s laboratory
Triggered the crimson nirnroot quest
Used Sinderion’s enchanter table to destroy a few enchanted weapons found in Alftand, to pick up their enchantments and knock down my carry weight
Also did some alchemy at his alchemy table
However decided to just go straight to Tower of Mzark for now, will come back for crimson nirnroot later
One fight with chaurus and Falmer en route to the tower, otherwise made it safely there; two other crimson nirnroots found en route, so I got out with three for now
Got the Elder Scroll, and the knowledge from it inscribed onto the Lexicon
Came out of Mzark just near Heljarchen; stopped there to drop off a bunch of stuff
Hoofed it down to Honningbrew to sell a bunch of stuff to Mallus
Boinged to Thieves Guild and sold a bunch of stuff to Tonilia
Boinged to Fort Dawnguard to check in
Ohnoez! Dexion is blind! (And apparently awake even though it was the middle of the night, and he knew it was me when I came in? Lol)
However, got him to point me at Ancestor Glade
Crashed for five hours in nearby cot, then talked to Sorine to give her back the schematic
And she triggered the quest to find Florentius, and I got her to give me the quest for the next schematic
Saved there for the night

Commentary

This is a short post, really, but it was a short session so that’s okay.

And it turned out to be more of a surgical strike on Alftand and Blackreach than I’d expected. This, however, was kind of a side effect of a tough week at work and I felt like I didn’t have the energy to really go over Blackreach in depth to find all the crimson nirnroot. I was in more of a mood to just get in, get the Scroll, and get out.

As with Delga’s jaunt into Alftand, having Serana along as my follower pretty much diced any chances for stealth. Mostly. This didn’t stop me from sneaking, and Serana to her credit snuck pretty well along with me. But mostly, at the first sign of forthcoming Falmer, I just threw dremora ahead of me and let them and Serana take them out.

Which meant getting through Alftand was pretty easy, really. So was the small bit of Blackreach I scurried through, after the stop at Sinderion’s laboratory.

(Side note about that: Sinderion’s laboratory really is a nice little shelter to stop in once you hit Blackreach, since it’s got an enchanter table, an alchemy table, and an armor workbench all right there together. And there’s a cooking pot, not to mention a boatload of useful alchemy ingredients. You could even maybe catch a nap if you don’t mind the remains of poor dead Sinderion still lying in the room!)

Still though I wasn’t in the mood in this session to really tromp all over Blackreach. So I got to the Tower of Mzark as quickly as I could, stopping for one fight with chaurus and Falmer, and picking up a couple of the crimson nirnroot along the way. And once in the tower, it was home free to get the Elder Scroll and get out.

I did get out of the place with a hefty haul of loot, some of which I left at Heljarchen, and a lot of the rest of which I sold to either Mallus or Tonilia.

And getting to Fort Dawnguard to get the next steps of the overall Dawnguard plot set up was a nice stopping point.

Language commentary

Only one term of interest leapt out at me in the French dialogue, and that was Clairières de l’ancêtre, or Ancestor Glades. The plural of the next major locale I’ll be heading to for Dawnguard!

Next time

Before I take Serana off to Ancestor Glade, I think I’ll want to return to the mage college to pick up what I stashed there. Then I’ll grab that second schematic Sorine wants, and also rescue Florentius from Ruunvald.

Screenshots

No screenshots this time.

Editing to add

11/21/2023: Added play date and session number markers.