In Which Faanshi Weds a Sword-Maiden

Yep, even though right now my Steam Deck is the cool new kid on my block, still haven’t forgotten I have a Khajiit in play on the Switch! So let’s go back and see what Faanshi’s up to, shall we?

Ah yes: marrying her housecarl from Solitude, Jordis the Sword-Maiden, finally! <3 <3 And oh yes: adopted a sister for Sofie, Runa Fair-Shield! With this session, as well, I officially sent Faanshi to Solstheim to get the Dragonborn plotline underway for her. Chosen follower for this expedition: Serana!

Highlights

• Play date: 9/18/2022
• Session number in this run: 58
• Ricked up in Riften
• Went to go talk to Maramal in the Temple of Mara
• Bought Amulet of Mara and proposed to Jordis! Then requested a wedding from Maramal
• Went off to derp around Riften to kill time
• Finally talked to Shadr about his debt with Sapphire
• Got Sapphire off his back, and HA! Doing it after I became Guildmaster meant she actually called me boss, and backed off of Shadr when I ordered her to
• Went out to the stables to tell Shadr he’s all good, and got his potion of invisibility
• Then went back in and sold stuff to Hafjorg at Elgrim’s Elixirs
• Dropped off books at Honeyside, and did some alchemy, then slept until wedding time ^_^
• Yay, married!
• Guests: Sofie, Rayya, and Endon’s wife Kerah from Markarth
• Jordis vanished pretty much as soon as we were done, didn’t even stop to ask me where I wanted to live?
• So went over to the orphanage and told Constance I wanted to adopt a kid, also told her I’m the Arch-Mage 😉
• Adopted Runa and sent her off to Lakeview to be sisters with Sofie
• Jordis showed up there and heh, suggested I could live with her
• Boinged to Heljarchen and Windstad for a building check
• Then boinged to Fort Dawnguard, and got Gunmar to train me five rounds in Smithing
• Bought stuff from both him and Sorine, including an extra Dwarven crossbow so i could go sell it to Calcelmo
• Hey Serana, you bored? Wanna go to Solstheim with me?
• But first, let’s go to Markarth
• Checked in with Calcelmo and he gave me 700 gold, but did not take the crossbow, WTF?
• Did a little smithing at Ghorza’s forge, then sold a bunch of stuff to Lisbet and Endon
• Boinged to Windhelm
• Bribed Gjalund to take me to Solstheim
• Got the greeting from Adril Arano
• Parked next to Glover’s forge
• Saved there for the night

Commentary

I think this might possibly be the first time, whenever marrying someone in a Skyrim playthrough, that I actually bought an Amulet of Mara from Maramal right there in the Temple. And, writing this, I am only just realizing for the first time that that dude’s name literally contains “Mara”. Heh. That seems like a convenient naming choice on the part of the developers! It’d be kind of hilarious if his name literally means “Priest of Mara”?

That’s totally going to be my headcanon until I hear otherwise. And that he totally claimed the name for himself when he joined the Temple. 😀

Anyway, I must also be amused at how Jordis must have reacted when Faanshi took her into the temple!

Faanshi: “Come, friend. Khajiit wishes to speak with the priests in the temple of the Mother Cat.”

Jordis: “The Mother–oh. Mara. You mean Mara.”

Faanshi: “To you she is Mara. To this one, she is the Mother Cat. Either way, it is very important today for Khajiit to seek Her guidance.”

(They enter the Temple, and Faanshi buys an Amulet of Mara from the priest.)

Faanshi: “And now for the final part of this important business. Sword-Maiden who guards Khajiit–“

Jordis: “Wait, what?”

Faanshi: “This one recognizes she is not of your kind. But of all those who guard Khajiit, you are most favored. It would do this one highest honor if you would consent to be her bride.”

Jordis: “My thane… my love… I thought you’d never ask!”

Big Catradora energy established. <3

Meanwhile, derping around Riften to kill time before the actual wedding reminded me that I still had Shadr to attend to. So I finally got Sapphire off his back about his debt, and discovered to my amusement that that plays out differently if you’re the Guildmaster! I was able to just order her to back off of Shadr. Awesome. It’s good to be the Guildmaster!

(I also noted that there was an option to demand to be cut into the deal, but I declined to take that. Khajiit may be a thief, but she is not unkind! And besides, I feel like Faanshi is extra special benevolent on the day her housecarl agrees to marry her.)

Also, to maintain that general benevolence, I also went back to the orphanage and adopted Runa Far-Shield so Sofie would have a sister while I tromp off to Solstheim! This time through I once more told Constance I’m the Arch-Mage, because yeah, still seems the wisest choice.

Jordis caught up with me at Lakeview and mentioned I could live with her. LOL. Jordis, my love, I own both the house you live in in Solitude and the house you’re officially steward of, unless you’ve got a house somewhere else you haven’t told me about!

It is perhaps a trifle cruel of me to marry Jordis and then immediately turn around and haul off to Solstheim! But for the sake of headcanon let us also assume that Faanshi and Jordis had a long talk about that, in which Faanshi pleaded for her understanding and to protect the children in her name. And to promise that while she goes off to Solstheim to look for the cultists trying to kill her, she will not go unguarded!

Hence, picking up Serana in Fort Dawnguard! For the sake of trying another new thing: to see what it’s like to have Serana as a follower again after the main Dawnguard plot is over. I’m also thinking that since Serana is Essential, and since I’m playing on Master tier difficulty, having her on hand for backup on Solstheim could be very, very helpful.

I suspect that she won’t have colorful commentary about Solstheim the same way she does the various places on the Skyrim mainland, mostly because Dawnguard came out before Dragonborn did, and giving her additional lines would have required more voice work? But it’ll be interesting to see if she throws any lines I haven’t managed to hear out of her before.

One other item to note here: when I went to Markarth to sell Calcelmo a dwarven crossbow, he didn’t actually take the one I brought him out of my inventory? Which was weird. But he did give me the 700 gold and the quest cleared, so okay then! Kind of wondering if this was because it wasn’t the original Dwarven crossbow that triggered the quest?

Wound up selling it to Lisbet, anyway. If he really wants it, he can go pick it up from her. 😉

And left off the session with reaching Solstheim with Serana in tow. And even if she doesn’t actually have recorded voice lines for it, I will be totally calling a headcanon here of her having some real strong opinions about being taken to an ash-ridden hellscape within range of a volcano. 😀

Serana: “I gotta admit, things have been awfully quiet in Fort Dawnguard since you left. I’ve missed you. And the others don’t really know what to do with me.”

Faanshi: “This one has likewise missed you, and is pleased you decided to come with her.”

Serana: “So where are we going?”

Faanshi: “The island of Solstheim. You may recall the odd cultists that have pursued Khajiit in her journeys across the land. One called Miraak has sent them. This one must find him and put a stop to this.”

And as they arrive at Raven Rock:

Serana: “Hey. Dragonborn. You might have mentioned the volcano?”

Faanshi: “This one… did not… realize there was a volcano. Mercy of the Mother Cat. This will not be good for the fur of Khajiit.”

Next time

Time for another round of getting settled into Raven Rock ASAP! And since this is back on the Switch, without the AE installed, I can start in on the necessary quests to get to the assassination plot ASAP!

Screenshots

Editing to add

• 11/23/2023: Restored missing gallery.
• 10/10/2024: Converted gallery to native WordPress one.