In Which Gyllerah Explores the Undaunted, Closes Breaches, and Fights Daedra

This is a multi-session post that covers a wide span of days, most of which were me just logging into ESO long enough to run writs. Main reason for this: distracted by firing up an Oblivion playthrough!

But when I wasn’t running writs, the main highlights here were:

1. Trying to join the Undaunted
2. Closing breaches for the Psijic Order
3. Fighting Daedra for the Fighters Guild

Play by play

• Play dates: 1/14 through 1/22/2023
• Session numbers in this run: 96-104

Play on the 14th

• Ran one full, then one partial, round of writs
• Decided to blip to Elden Root and find the Undaunted enclave
• Talked to a few NPCs there to take the appropriate pledge
• Was sent off to the Fungal Grotto dungeon in Stonefalls–only to discover that:
  1. It’s a group dungeon
  2. It’ll hand me my ass if I’m by myself
• Right then come back to this later
• Went back to Alinor and experimented with making a full set of ebon armor
• Logged off for the night

Play on the 15th

• Ran remaining writs from previous partial set, and then did a full new set
• Boinged off for supplies off of surveys a couple of times
• Went to Craglorn and ran two separate jewelry surveys
• Killed assorted duneracers and wasps while there (the giant type of wasp, which surprisingly were very good at knocking me down)
• Ran a clothier survey in Reaper’s March
• Fought a spriggan which summoned a thunderbug to fight me
• And then a group of Khajiit bandits, one of which kept summoning bears to come at me
• Clothier site was right near a farm so nothing attacked me there at least, good
• Switched back to the medium armor because I didn’t want the heavy armor occupying my inventory slots
• Parked back in the room for the night

Play on the 16th

• Writs were not ready to run
• So I boinged off to Vulkhel Guard for purposes of followup with the Fighters Guild
• Found the Guildmaster who directed me to go find a couple of NPCs on the beach, and check with them about a contract to take out the dark anchors
• Went to find the NPCs, Merric and Aelif
• Found them under attack by worm cultists!
• Merric went off to investigate word of another anchor, asked me to stay and assist Aelif
• Searched the cultists for evidence, which prompted the projection of a dremora, Doshia, who ranted about claiming Merric’s soul for something called the Mortuum Vivicus
• Welp THAT’S NOT OMINOUS OR ANYTHING
• Aelif sent me back to report to the Guildmaster
• Guildmaster rallied the guild and told me to catch up with Merric and Aelif at Skywatch
• Went over there to rendezvous with them; harvested a bunch of resources on the way
• Accidentally skirted through Phaer so had to avoid plagued peasants (note to self: come back and deal with the zombies later)
• Fought a wave of daedra, but ohnoez! Merric got nabbed!
• Aelif sent me off to find the tower where he got hauled off to while she ran off to rally the troops
• Bought the private room at the Skywatch inn while trying to find the way over to Buraniim
• Found the tower on Buraniim and broke into it to save Merric
• Fought several scamps and then Doshia herself, good hard fight!
• Merric was saved!
• Came back out to find the guild had arrived so reported to the Guildmaster what happened
• She sent me off to stand by while the guild investigates the Mortuum Vivicus
• Returned to Alinor and logged off for the night

Play on the 17th

• Ran writs
• Boinged to Stonefalls to look for and seal time breaches
• Found first one at Senie, where I killed several shalks and a few kwama workers
• Looked around Davon’s Watch for a Glenmoril Wyrd treasure locale but apparently I can only do those during the relevant event?
• Then boinged to Brothers of Strife and took out that breach
• Fished a bit while there
• Boinged to Vivec’s Antlers for the third, which was up on a tall ashy ridge, precarious!
• Returned to Alinor for inventory management and logged off for the night

Play on the 18th

• Ran some writs but didn’t have all the materials I needed
• So I boinged to the Alik’r desert to run an alchemy writ
• Locale was just northeast of the Divad’s Chagrin Mine Wayshrine so didn’t have to hunt very hard
• Saw a nearby dolmen fire off but didn’t get over there in time to join the fight, oh well
• Boinged off to the Rift to hunt for time breaches and also run an enchanter survey I had two copies of
• Found all three breaches, the last one of which was actually on the steps leading up to High Hrothgar :O
• Ran the enchanter survey both times, it reset as soon as I left the zone the first time
• Leveled up to 48 while derping around Skyrim
• Boinged back to Alinor to finish up writs and log off for the night

Play on the 19th

• Ran writs and it became unexpectedly exciting
• Because I was in the bank and I think I hit the wrong key, did something that totally pissed off the guards
• Couldn’t back out of it because I had just literally deposited all my gold–so I had nothing to pay the bounty
• Tried to persuade my way out of it but did not have a high enough perk or something?
• Guard killed me once and my bounty went up to 208
• Resurrected at the wayshrine
• Then boinged back to my inn room to get the fuck out of sight
• Boinged from there to Moonmirth
• Wandered around Khenarthi’s Roost for a while waiting for my heat to wear off
• This did prove lucrative as I found four different chests
• Killed assorted alits and thunderbugs
• Finally boinged back to Alinor when I was “upstanding” again
• Finished writs and finished building out level 48 gear
• Logged off for the night

Play on the 20th, 21st, and 22nd

• A bunch of writ running, basically, no significant action

About trying to get into the Undaunted

It probably would have behooved me to read up on the Undaunted before I tried to join them? Otherwise I might have known in advance that the Undaunted send you to group dungeons. And that those things will hand me my ass if I try to run them all by myself.

So I backed off on running the Fungal Grotto for now. This’ll have to wait till I reach level 50, I think. And also until I can get myself a companion, get Paul to run a dungeon with me (possibly with a companion of his own), or get guildmates in on this action. Or all of the above.

My main challenge here being, trying to find out who in the Swamp Haven guild has a play schedule that lines up with when I can play–evenings Pacific time, or on the weekends. Preferably on the weekends, when I have much greater latitude to stay up until stupid o’clock in the morning gaming.

I’ll get back to this soon enough. It ain’t like I’m hurting for stuff to do in the game, meanwhile!

Questing for the Fighters Guild

Finally started the Fighters Guild plotline, which started off with being summoned to speak to the Guildmaster regarding a contract to take out the dark anchors. She did not, I note, actually tell me who had contracted the Fighters Guild to take out said anchors.

I have the sneaky suspicion this will probably be significant later.

Anyway, this was a nice bracing start to the Fighters Guild plotline! I enjoyed running this, and it’ll be interesting to see where it goes.

Sealing time breaches

Running the plot for the Psijic Order to seal time breaches would be a trifle dull, I think, were it not for the Augur of the Obscure. As a character, he is delightful. <3

A few points of interest on the breaches I hit during these sessions.

Senie seemed like a place that had clearly been destroyed by fire, perhaps in an eruption? It is right by rivers of lava. Which just goes to show that the Dunmer propensity for living in ash-ridden hellscapes does sometimes bite them in the ass, even aside from Red Mountain’s major cataclysmic eruptions.

(And ah yes, the wiki says that Senie was in fact destroyed by a recent eruption of Ash Mountain. And that Dunmer and Argonian residents are tense at each other, prohibiting relief efforts. Presumably the Dunmer did not take it kindly when the Argonians all went “HAVE YOU CONSIDERED NOT LIVING NEAR AN ACTIVE VOLCANO?”)

I had a leftover Glenmoril Wyrd treasure map, and I think I discovered that you can only run those during the relevant Halloween event? Because I tried to clear this map, and got to what seemed to be the right place according to the wiki, but found no sign of the expected purple column of light.

I particularly enjoyed hunting for the breaches in the Rift, though. Partly because I’m finding it amusingly weird to be running around Skyrim in this game, and seeing all these familiar place names–and having to remind myself that they will not be the same locations I know from Skyrim. I’m all “oh hey look Shroud Hearth Barrow I can go in there and fight the guy pretending to be a ghost and get the sapphire dragon claw and a Shout word and–no, no, I can’t, wrong game.”

And the last of the three breaches in the Rift was right on the steps leading up to High Hrothgar, ha! Though the steps don’t actually go all the way up in ESO, they have a wooden fence erected across the steps just a short ways up. Presumably this is because High Hrothgar is not actually built out in this game? Though lore-wise, as far as I know, it should actually exist by ESO’s timeframe. So I gotta assume this is a purely OOC obstacle.

Or maybe the Second Era Greybeards are all going “all the provinces are fighting, yeaaaah, we’ll sit this one out, y’all call us when Alduin shows up in another eight hundred years, mmmmkay?”

Note to self: be more goddamn careful in the bank

I have no earthly idea what I did to piss off the guards in the Alinor bank. I was trying to talk to Tilanfire and put stuff back into my bank account?

But I think I must have accidentally tried to pickpocket a player in front of me or something? I don’t even know, since it happened so fast and all at once the nearby guard was wailing on me. Ow.

Between this and recently accidentally robbing Finnegil in the Plaza of the Hand, I really need to be more careful with where my pointer is sitting before I try to hit that A button!

This was certainly one of those times where having a couple living spaces came in super handy. It only occurs to me as I write this that I could have retreated straight to Moonmirth House without having to stop in my inn room first–or, I could have gone out via the wayshrine. And it had to be Moonmirth, definitely. Because my inn rooms in Vulkhel Guard or Skywatch would have put me right in the way of other Dominion guards. And that seemed extremely goddamn unwise.

Fortunately, I enjoyed wandering around the coast of Khenarthi’s Roost, and I did get some good loot out of it. I also got to see that the heat on a bounty does wear off pretty quickly. Good to know for later.

This is also a cautionary tale about getting at least one more living space in a rural locale, too. And now that I got 100,000 gold as part of a daily reward, I am a lot closer now to gettling Cliffshade!

Next time

Y’all will note that I have now crossed 100 sessions with this character, which definitely makes her one of my longest-running playthroughs.

Y’all will also note that I have not yet reached level 50. Nor have I finished the Main Quest!

I’m very close to the end of the Main Quest, though. And I’m currently kind of feeling like saving that until I clear out the Fighters and Mages Guild quests. So next action I do will probably be Fighters Guild? Or another round of Aldmeri Dominion action on Auridon. We’ll see!

Screenshots

Editing to add

• 11/25/2023: Restored missing gallery.
• 10/14/2024: Converted gallery to native WordPress one. Changed header graphic to the one I’m using on later Gyllerah posts.