In Which Shenner Quests Through Blackreach

As expected, this session was pretty much the one for running Blackreach. Found all the crimson nirnroot, and got the Elder Scroll! And picked fights with a lot of Falmer.

Highlights

• Play date: 8/1/2022
• Session number in this run: 46
• Started running Blackreach
• Took out the Dwemer sphere by Sinderion’s laboratory
• Cleared the lab and started the crimson nirnroot quest; did some alchemy and enchanting while in there
• Leveled up to 55; took Magicka bump; took next Heavy Armor perk
• Mined the ebony vein in front of the lab
• Went over and grabbed the nirnroot right by the entrance I came through from Alftand
• Got spotted by the Falmer Warmonger from the nearby pit so took him out
• Realized Rulnik’s familiar and Gogh were both stuck on the laboratory steps (same bug I’ve seen impact Serana), so I went and Fus-Ro-Dah’d Gogh off the steps, which flung the poor guy a considerable ways; went over to heal him up
• Of course that was super loud and attracted a bunch of nearby hostiles, so Rulnik and Gogh mostly took them out but I also called up an Ayleid lich to help them out
• Resumed grabbing crimson nirnroot
• Wound up focusing on the southern end of the map vs. what I did with Faanshi
• Avoided the Hall of Rumination; did however pop into the War Quarters, the Silent Ruin, and the Derelict Pumphouse
• Fought the frost trolls near the Raldbthar lift, random Falmer in the exterior camps, chaurus, and the wispmother; did not confront the giant or the dragon
• Tried for the nirnroot on the rock spire near Raldbthar lift; killed me once as I misjudged my jump to that rock with Whirlwind Sprint
• Mined several geode veins, and finally got all 30 crimson nirnroot
• Hit Mzark; got the minor loot there, and the Elder Scroll
• Got out and fast traveled to Whiterun to sell a few things
• Saved there for the night

Commentary

This session honestly didn’t run too differently from Faanshi’s recent Blackreach session, which is one of the pitfalls of running two parallels playthroughs–I can wind up doing the same things in both sessions, fairly close together. (Hence the plan of sending Shenner to Solstheim soon.)

Still though I can note a few differences. This time I had both Rulnik’s conjured familiar as well as Gogh get stuck on the steps of Sinderion’s laboratory, the same bug I’ve seen other followers get nabbed by in earlier playthroughs. I had to do a full Fus-Ro-Dah on Gogh to get him off the steps, which wound up flinging him a considerable distance.

OUCH. Sorry, little goblin buddy. But I had no other way of getting you to move!

(Well, not that I thought of at the time. While writing this post, I did also just remember that Shenner’s run does have the debug console available! So I need to get familiar with the right console command to teleport an NPC to you.)

I felt guilty enough about Shouting Gogh around like that that I ran over to heal him up. I’m pretty sure he didn’t actually need it! But it seemed like the appropriate in-character thing to do.

Of course, the problem with throwing Shouts around in Blackreach: real good way to get attention from nearby Falmer and chaurus. So a little melee erupted at that point, one which I mostly let Rulnik and Gogh and their summoned beings handle. I threw an Ayleid lich into the fray, myself.

Then I went on the hunt for all the crimson nirnroot. This time at least I varied it up a bit by focusing on the southern part of the map, unlike with Faanshi where I’d more hunted around the northern part. I do at least appreciate that Blackreach is large enough, and there are enough crimson nirnroots all over the place, that you don’t have to get the same 30 ones every time! This allows for some variation.

I avoided the Hall of Rumination this time through, as well. Partly for the sake of varying things up, but also because that’s where the highest concentration of hostiles is in Blackreach. And I wasn’t really in the mood to pick fights with the Falmer servants.

I also didn’t go after either the giant or the dragon. But Falmer in the smaller camps, the frost trolls near the Raldbthar lift, an assortment of chaurus, and the wispmother were all fair game!

The only time I died this time through was carelessness on my part–because I tried to go for the nirnroot that’s parked on top of the tall rock spire near the Raldbthar lift, right in the middle of a waterfall. You can only get onto it by judicious use of a single word of Whirlwind Sprint. I misjudged and fell to my death. Ouch.

Took me a couple more tries to do it right, but I did eventually get it. Take that, hard to reach nirnroot!

Also, since I’d already pretty much ruined my chances for stealth anyway by throwing Fus Ro Dah around, I mined assorted geode veins just to extend my collection of soul gems.

Next time

Next main plot stuff to do will be to take the Elder Scroll back to the Throat of the World, so I think I’ll hold off on that for a bit. And normally I’d be heading back to Septimus to give him the lexicon at this point… though I gotta admit I’m kind of curious to see what would happen if I go to Solstheim first, and make my encounter with Hermaeus Mora there be my first encounter with him.

So I need to doublecheck where Shenner is at this point. It may be going to Solstheim time.

Screenshots

No screenshots this time.