In Which Faanshi Recovers a Lute and a Drum

This session basically finished up the Bard’s College quests, so that I could get the rest of the skill bumps off of those.

Highlights

• Play date: 5/17/2022
• Session number in this run: 9
• Headed north from Riften to go run Stony Creek Cave; killed a few critters on the way up
• Ran the place, though it took me two times as the boss bandit killed me the first time through (note: boss bandit was an Argonian, and I did get the Return to Kjar quest off of killing him, again without ever setting foot in Windhelm)
• Got the lute and other tasty loot from the place though
• Leveled up to 22; took Health bump and Custom Fit Light Armor perk
• Boinged back to Solitude to turn in the lute to Inge
• Got her to bump all my Stealth skills
• Sold some of the bandit loot to Beirand
• Boinged back to Whiterun for some crafting and other shopping; sold a bunch of stuff to Warmaiden’s, Belethor’s, Arcadia’s
• Destroyed three items on Farengar’s table for Fire Damage, Resist Frost, and Pickpocket enchantments
• Boinged to Falkreath to get within range of Halldir’s Cairn
• Flyby dragon
• Ran Halldir’s Cairn; killed once by draugr
• Leveled up to 23; took Magicka bump and next level of Stealth perk in Sneak
• Found steel plate armor in the boss chest, so gave that to Lydia even if it is boobtacular; it’s less goofy looking on her than the dwarven
• CAREFULLY jumped down the ledges in the trap door out
• Boinged back to Solitude; slept the night at the Winking Skeever
• Reported to the Bards College the next morning to give Giraud back the drum; got him to bump all my Combat skills
• Sold a few things to Beirand and also Sayma
• Saved for the night

Commentary

By comparison to the previous, this was a shorter session, really. In no small part because a bunch of my Skyrim time last night actually went to experimenting with it on the PC, so I didn’t get in all that much time with Faanshi!

And what stuff I did run with her in this round of action was all familiar Bard’s College stuff, so not a huge amount to write about here that I haven’t already covered.

I’m definitely finding it critical to work on leveling my Light Armor, One-handed, and Sneak skills as fast as possible. Just because they’re the ones that seem to be blunting the extra damage I’m taking by running at Master level difficulty. But I daresay I also need to work on leveling Illusion and Alteration. I really want Quiet Casting. And I need the Magic Resistance perks I can get off the Alteration tree, too.

Next time

Now that the Bard’s College is finished up, here’s what’s on the docket to do next:

• Letter From a Friend quest for Shriekwind Bastion
• Word Wall quest from Arngeir for Volunruud
• I have enough gold to do so so I could go buy the land for Lakeview and start building it
• Return to Riften and start the Guild action
• Consider whether I want to run the mage college before, after, or side by side with the Guild
• Start running the quests to get the pieces of the Razor

I’m already at level 23 with this alt, and I feel like I’m barely getting started with her. Possibly just because she is running on Master difficulty. It’ll be interesting to see how her leveling proceeds as I get in more time playing her.

Not sure what order I’ll tackle the above in, though. Kind of feeling like knocking down those two Word Wall quests, it’d be nice to clear Shriekwind Bastion before I get too farther along and the master vamp in the place becomes harder for me to take out!

Screenshots

Editing to add

• 11/22/2023: Restored missing gallery, and added play date and session number markers.