In Which Kendis Aids the Remnants and Slays a Mad Conjurer

Basically, these two sessions were all about finishing up the overall Remnants plotline, and the Saints and Seducers plotline as well. I contacted Remnants agents and eventually helped rescue their captured comrade from the Thalmor. I got awarded a set of their armor. And I took out the remaining bandit camps, quested into the sewers in Solitude and defeated Thoron, and did the epilogue where I handed off the Sword of Jyggalag to Staada.

Play by play

Play dates: 2/9, 2/11/2023
Session numbers in this run: 31-32

Thursday the 9th

Picked up again at Lakeview
Did a little inventory checking then boinged from there to Whiterun to do a little shopping
Mounted up from there and began to ride east, to head for Purewater Run
Dragon right by the Western Watchtower!
Ri’saad’s Khajiit were in range so they got in on the battle
Afterwards Ri’saad was dropped down into that recovery crouch, I wish I could have healed him–but he was still absolutely willing to sell me stuff, because master Khajiit salesman, yes 😉
Also fought as I continued westward:
- Cultists
- Three different sabre cats
- One bear
Made it into the Reach
Discovered Dushnikh Yal for the map but did not trigger any orcs inside telling me to fuck off
Found the grave for the Spell Knight plot but didn’t trigger any hostiles; gotta wake up that quest to get that armor! Will get back to that
Reached Purewater Run and got in there to talk to Fijeh
Got directive to go find the other two agents in Karthwasten and Ivarstead
Headed to Karthwasten first; passed Kolskeggr mine so took out the three Forsworn on the road near there
Came up on Karthwasten from the back which I hadn’t realized I could do; found the agent there and got her note
Witnessed the locals vs. Silver-Blood goons confrontation; did not interfere
Since I was right there, found and took out Kinthal’s Saints camp; got journal talking about finding Thoron
Overloaded at this point so boinged back to Whiterun to see what I could sell
Went to Tundra Homestead and stashed a bunch of stuff there, and got a theme of Golden and Dark items going in that cellar
Came out again and immediately got Saints bandits pissed I’d killed Kinthal; took out all three of them, which gave me more Golden gear to stash in the basement
Boinged next to Ivarstead and talked to the agent there; got directive to return to Fijeh
But first boinged to Yorgrim Overlook to get near the Seducers camp there
Got Vampire Masquerade encounter so took out the vamps
Took out the Seducers camp and got the other Elytra Nymph
Rode over to Svarig’s bandit camp
Killed once; they overwhelmed me and it didn’t help that I was overloaded
Second time through, called up frost atronach and also dinged the Elytra to try out “I need help in battle”, which gave me and Yngvi and Lydia combat bonuses, nice
This time we took out the bandits; cleared the camp and got Svarig’s journal to move the plot along
Also checked the wrecked carriage while there for the Wraithguard and Sunder plot
Boinged back to Purewater Run to check in with Fijeh; got directive to hit the final area near Hendraheim and rescue the Remnant agent; also got the two fire scimitars and the cool armor
Boinged back to Whiterun to see if I could sell more things
Adrianne hadn’t restocked yet, but I bought a bunch of ebony off of her, which gave her the funds to buy a bunch of Dark items
Returned to Tundra Homestead to drop off more stuff–and as soon as i showed up: holy shit, two dragons
And also a stray dog, that I only noticed after I finished taking out both of the dragons
Paused to spend three souls I now had banked up and unlocked the rest of my pending Shouts
That got me a lot of dragon bits though, so I stashed a bunch of things in the chest by the forge
Also took the time to improve the Remnant gear up before the final fight
Rode out again, this time aiming for Hendraheim
En route: zombie horde, and Lydia, the dog, and I took them out
Caught up with Ri’saad’s caravan again as they were heading back to Markarth
Tried to get off Yngvi to talk to them but a wolf showed up and they killed it, and they got ahead of me because I was overloaded
Rode a little ahead and did take two; this time was able to talk to Ri’saad and tell him the bandits were dealt with and get his payment; also did more shopping with him
Proceeded to the crossroads near Hendraheim
Got there and triggered encounter with bandits and two sabre cats
Rendezvoused with the Remnants and tried to help them fight the Thalmor–but accidentally hit one of the agents with my fire scimitar and pissed him off, oops; he killed me
But not thrown back very far, just back to the nearby crossroads
This time random encounter was a farmer realizing oh shit he killed his wife, because oh shit werewolf! Lydia and Yngvi killed him
Second time through on the rescue, let the agents fight with the four Thalmor while I rescued their guy and let him loose; objective achieved!
Looted all the Thalmor while there because fuck those guys
Looted the fallen traitor Ismal and got his Boneshaver sword, and took his clothes for that matter
Couldn’t find Yngvi, so quaffed a potion to fast travel to Hendraheim and rendezvous with him
Dropped off all the elven armor in Hendraheim’s basement, and several weapons onto various racks to lighten the load
Boinged one last time back to Purewater Run
Why hello there Seducer bandits pissed off that I killed Svarig! Geez you guys get word fast, and where were you that I didn’t kill you at the camp?
Took out those bandits and looted their stuff, then went in and got final reward from Fijeh
Boinged back to Hendraheim to make sure I hadn’t stashed anything in the chest by that forge
Boinged back to Tundra Homestead and recovered stashed materials from that forge chest
Boinged to Lakeview to add those materials to my cache of materials there
Did some smithing work and that let me level up to 36; took Stamina bump and Glass Smithing perk
Built out other set of five safes in the cellar and a small number of furnishings in other parts of the house
Saved for the night

Saturday the 11th

Started at Lakeview
Boinged to Whiterun to sell things, then went out to the fishing spot nearby to fish
Got remaining initial round of needed fish
Watched mage fight across the river at the White River Watch spawn point, but was too far away to intervene or get the mages over there cranky at me, so fishing was uninterrupted
Rode from there over to get to where the juvenile mudcrab was
Killed a sabre cat on the way and it clipped right into the road, which was weird
Zombie horde on the way as well; they killed the stray dog this time 🙁
Made it to the juvenile mudcrab, though
Lydia and Yngvi went to town on the adults, so got a lot of chitin and crab meat
Rode from there over towards Greenspring Hollow; two sabre cats there, took them out and then looted the place
Found Drelas’ Cottage but did not intrude
Was distracted anyway by arrival of dragon, probably dragon off of Eldersblood Peak? Wiki says the cottage attracts dragons from there; took it out
Rode from there towards Skyborn Altar
Took out a frost troll en route
Cut through Labyrinthian and killed more frost trolls there
Made it up to Skyborn Altar and took out the Blood Dragon there; cleared boss chest and got second word for Frost Breath off the wall
Mounted up and boinged from there to Solitude
Sold a bunch of stuff to Sayma and Beirand
Attempted the sewers for the tail end of Saints and Seducers, and this played out pretty similar to when I did it as Shenner
I.e., was able to run most of the dungeon and then Thoron handed me my ass, killing me a couple of times
Went topside and made a boatload of useful potions
Came back down and did a few things:
- Switched into the Lord’s Mail
- Poisoned up both my scimitars with the fancy Lingering Damage Health + Paralysis potions
- And after I got killed a couple more times, remembered I do have the Slow Time Shout
The Shout in particular let me and Lyds prevail, and gave me time to get around Thoron’s summoned minions and take him out directly
Got all of the loot, including the sword and the Sheo-shaped amber
Got the courier to go talk to Staada only after I went to get Yngvi
Tried a different route to get to her this time and got sidetracked because wrong quest markers active 😛
Killed a few chaurus and mudcrabs, and finally found her
Gave her the sword, and then looted the camp when she vanished; found a journal written by Enthir of useful atronach forge recipes utilizing amber and madness, don’t remember if Shenner got that before?
Also got the various tasty conjure spellbooks
Boinged from there to Myrwatch, with the idea that I’d run thaneship of Morthal next
Fought a chaurus respawned in front
Then went in and did a little smelting
Saved for the night

Commentary

Playing out the Remnants plotline went pretty similarly to how I ran it as Shenner, in terms of actual action. But doing this plot as a Redguard definitely hits a little differently!

I think Kendis took to this a lot more than Shenner did. The Remnants are, after all, her own people. And I see her finding it extremely satisfying to be able to help agents of her own people in Skyrim. Particularly if it means she gets to make life annoying for Thalmor.

Extra fun as well to be wearing armor and carrying weapons made by her own people. It’s a little bit of home to carry with her as long as she’s in Skyrim.

Later, when I was at Tundra Homestead, I triggered the encounter with two dragons. I’ve had two dragons before, typically when I get a fast travel dragon + a dragon from a nearby lair, or fast travel dragon + “dragon + wagon and corpses + surviving dog” encounter.

But it still surprises me when it happens! And this time I’m pretty sure it was the mix of fast travel dragon + “dragon and wagon and dog” encounter, because I did get a stray dog–that I only noticed after I finished taking out both of the dragons.

Mind you, I didn’t see any sign of a burned wagon and corpses? But I might have just totally missed it. Because kinda busy killing two simultaneous dragons!

Sadly, the dog didn’t survive past its second session! It was slain while valiantly helping me fight zombies.

Second time through on trying to do the final Remnants vs. Thalmor encounter, I had the random encounter where a farmer realizes he just killed his wife and then turns into a werewolf. Lydia and Yngvi killed him. I hung back, kinda feeling like Kendis would be very reluctant to take out a fellow werewolf.

I keep being curious about Drelas’ cottage, but any time I actually find it in a playthrough, I never wind up entering because I feel bad about just walking into somebody’s house. Particularly out in the middle of nowhere. I mean, if I were Drelas and an armed stranger being followed around by another armed stranger came into my house without invitation, I’d attack them too!

Noting for the record that the Remnant scimitars that do fire damage are excellent weapons against frost trolls, though. 😀

The Saints and Seducers finale was definitely fun again, though I have got to remember to be ready with a boatload of useful potions when I go down there. And ideally, the Slow Time Shout as well. Deploying that is what let me get through the fight safely, finally.

I do not actively remember finding Enthir’s journal with atronach forge recipes for amber and madness. I didn’t remark on it in Shenner’s relevant post. If I saw it before, I must have decided it wasn’t noteworthy? And it’s kind of not just because most of its recipes are for summoning saints or seducers, or making scrolls or spellbooks to do so. And the spellbooks for all the relevant spells were right there on the table next to the journal, so.