In Which Ysani Begins the Hunt for Auriel’s Bow

This is a double session post again, covering play from Monday 3/28 and Tuesday 3/29. Main action: going to Ancestor Glade, and from there to Darkfall Cave to begin the hunt for Auriel’s Bow!

Highlights

• Play dates: 3/28-3/29/2022
• Session numbers in this run: 63-64

Monday’s play

• Boinged from Fort Dawnguard to Thieves Guild, and sold a few things to Tonilia
• Boinged to Honningbrew, and heard flyby dragon on the way in to sell a few things to Mallus
• Boinged to Lakeview, and dropped off several things to lighten the load up a bit
• Started hoofing it to Ancestor Glade
• Killed en route: one cave bear, three bandits
• Mined corundum vein
• Started running Ancestor Glade, played out similarly to previous playthroughs; got the draw knife, attracted the moths, read the Elder Scrolls, and OH HEY that’s where I find Auriel’s Bow
• Started to head out and got the Volkihar attack squad; blew through them with Serana and the dremora
• Boinged to Dragontooth Crater to head for Darkfall Cave
• Surprisingly, no fast travel dragon–however, did get three cultists and a hagraven! And Serana resurrected the hagraven
• Passed two orc hunters fighting an elk that killed one of the hunters; the other hunter got testy at us when we got close, but I didn’t get close enough to engage
• Heard but did not engage a nearby Forsworn, on the way to the river we had to cross
• Did however engage with the cranky bear on the other side of the river; Serana fought it and killed it in the water
• headed onward to the actual cave and started running the place
• Got the moonstone veins mined, and had the bridge collapse out from under me
• HI SPIDERS
• Found camp with dead Breton who’d been studying trolls
• HI GELEBOR
• Went through the portal into Darkfall Passage
• Fought assorted Falmer and chaurus
• Got partway in and saved for the night

Tuesday’s play

• Resumed where I left off in Darkfall Passage at spot with a skeleton surrounded by assorted fungi
• Started fighting more Falmer and chaurus
• Killed once by a Shadowmaster Falmer and sent back to beginning of where the session started
• Second time through, got past that point and proceeded on past the landmark of glowing blue crystals and gleamblossoms
• Made it to the double bridges behind the waterfall, then to the latter Blackreach-y part of Darkfall Passage
• Actually lost track of Serana here somehow, she just vanished
• Grabbed a bunch of gleamblossoms and poison blooms
• Happened to see a live vale deer after i killed the vale sabre cat near the first wayshrine; it kept moving too quickly for me to get a screenshot though
• Did the first wayshrine with Prelate Sidanyis
• When i went through that portal, as hoped, Serana did catch up
• Stopped there to save for the night

Commentary

Something I wonder about every time I’ve found Gelebor for this part of the Dawnguard plot: he is absolutely unsurprised when the Dragonborn shows up asking for Auriel’s Bow.

His line to the player is:

Of course. You’re here for Auriel’s Bow. Why else would you be here? I can help you get it, but first I must have your assistance.

And this makes me wonder: have others come looking for the Bow before? He goes straight to that assumption, without any other possibilities such as oh, I dunno:

1. A lost group of Snow Elves sent me! I’ve led them here and they’re right behind me in the next cave back! Can you give them shelter?
2. I’m studying the structure of this cave system and dude, are you aware this place is about to be flooded? Are you sure you want to be camping out here?
3. THERE IS A PACK OF PISSED OFF FALMER RIGHT BEHIND ME RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

This strongly suggests to me that enough other adventurers have come looking for this thing in past times that he’s resigned himself to no other reasons anybody should stumble across him.

And that raises the interesting followup question of how many people he’s asked to kill his brother.

Because I should think that if he’s sent, oh, say, ten prior adventurers after the Bow and none of them have successfully killed Arch-Curate Vyrthur, that might be important information!

Also, noting for the record that I’m not sure which creeps me out more: Serana resurrecting Falmer, or Serana resurrecting chaurus. Because OMG SO MUCH SKITTERING.

Welp, this is what I get for traveling with a vampire necromancer. 😉

Other than these things, though, not much else new to report.

Language commentary

Interesting terms observed:

• Clairière de l’ancêtre: Ancestor Glade (lit. “Clearing of the ancestor”)
• Chevalier-paladin: Knight-Paladin (i.e., Gelebor)
• Les Trahis: The Betrayed (i.e., Gelebor’s name for the Falmer)
• Pichet de l’Initié: Initiate’s Ewer (lit. “Jug of the initiate”)
• L’archivicaire: The Arch-Curate (i.e., Vyrthur)
• Brillefleur: Gleamblossom
• Smilodon des vallées: Vale sabre cat
• L’Autel de l’Illumination: Wayshrine of Illumination (lit. “the Altar of the Illumination”)
• Val oublié: Forgotten Vale (lit. “Forgotten valley”)

Next time

It’s happy fun Quest Through the Forgotten Vale time!

Screenshots

Finally, a couple more screenshots!

Editing to add

• 11/21/2023: Restored missing gallery, and added play date and session number markers.
• 10/9/2024: Converted gallery to a native WordPress one.