In Which Finds-The-Way Becomes Thane of Riften and Robs an Estate

Swinging back around to Skyrim in German, and my Argonian, Finds-The-Way! Primary action in this: getting the rest of the instruments for the Bards College, hunting down skooma dealers for Riften and becoming thane, getting Honeyside and housecarl Iona, getting Shadowfoot Sanctum, robbing Goldenglow Estate, and running Darklight Tower to pick up Illia as my steward for Goldenhills Plantation.

Play by play

• Play dates: 9/9, 9/12/2023
• Session numbers in this run: 17-18

Saturday the 9th

• Started off in Lakeview; did a little inventory managing and alchemy
• Got Lydia on duty and set out to try to get to Hob’s Fall Cave
• Rode past Guardian Stones
• Got Blood Dragon while fighting wolves just prior to Riverwood, but it was a flyby
• Went on through Riverwood
• Saw mead revelers by the side of the road between Riverwood and Whiterun, but did not engage
• Stopped to fish by the crossroads near Honningbrew
• Re-discovered Battle-Born Farm, Tundra Homestead, and Whitewatch Tower for the map
• Took the for sale notice off of Tundra Homestead
• No bandits at the watchtower so kept going
• Re-did encounter with Cicero
• Had to wait outside the Loreius farmhouse though as we got there really late, and the husband and wife were asleep; waited for a while in the morning as well, then went in to converse with them
• Got Loreius to agree to help Cicero, and got Cicero’s happy payment
• And this time quicksaved so I wouldn’t have to do this again
• Because after fighting a sabre cat, I was yet again killed by a frost troll, but this time thrown back just to after finishing with Cicero; well done there, Past Me!
• Tried again; once again killed a sabre cat, but this time we took out the frost troll
• Marked Duskglow Crevice and Fort Fellhammer for the map
• Lydia decided to get into it with the bandits so we had to work on taking them out for a bit
• Found Driftshade Refuge after that and took out the two exterior Silver Hands since they also wanted to start some shit
• Listen mammals, I was just riding along minding my own goddamn business when you had to start shooting at me! I was going to leave you be, but just for that, my housecarl and I are coming over there to kick your asses and take your stuff
• Kept on towards Hob’s Fall Cave from there; killed assorted critters en route
• Finally made it there and ran the place without any problems
• Got all the spellbooks out of the chest midway through, and also got the Stone of Barenziah from the side chamber
• Took out the mages in the boss chamber with Lydia + flame atronach
• Got the flute and other boss loot and got the hell out
• Made my way towards Wayward Pass and killed more critters en route, including two sabre cats just past the pass that appeared to have killed a bandit
• Marked Nightgate Inn for the map
• Reached the road and saw Ahkari’s Khajiit coming by en route to Dawnstar, so stopped them and sold them a bunch of stuff
• Killed assorted wolves en route to the Windhelm stables
• Doublechecked but Ma’dran’s Khajiit weren’t there
• Got on the road past Kynesgrove
• Harvested 19 Jazbay Grapes to build up that stock for later when this alt goes to see Avrusa Sarethi
• Stopped to mine a silver vein and also corundum
• Marked Steamcrag Camp for the map
• Stopped to talk to Lydia and give her some bone arrows, because she was still stuck in her default gear and I needed to make her wake up the Daedric plate and better weapons
• Stopped by a thief but talked him off when I pointed out I was a member of the Guild
• Killed yet more critters, including a bear and a wolf that came at me simultaneously
• Made it to Stony Creek Cave, and stopped to do more fishing
• Fished up a generic enchanted ring for boosting Pickpocketing
• Didn’t get a goldfish or another glassfish, so just went into the water to grab goldfish since this pond had some; got three for later important fishing purposes!
• Paused to take a level up to 26; took Stamina boost and first perk in Alchemy
• Also realized something, probably the last bear I’d killed, had given me Bone Break Fever; quaffed Potion of Cure Disease to deal with that
• Headed into Stony Creek Cave–and killed by the bandits in the back, oops
• Second time though Lyds and I got them all
• Got all the loot from the back, including the Ruin’s Edge bow and the Bliss Bug in a Jar
• Looted fallen bandits on the way out
• Ducked into the side tunnel to take out the last bandit in there and get the lute
• Found an eighth fire salt for Balimund
• Got out again, mounted up, and boinged straight to Solitude
• Sold a bunch of stuff to Sayma and Beirand to unload, then headed to the Bards College to check in
• Found Pantea outside and Inge and Giraud inside; gave them all their instruments and got all their skill boosts
• This let me level up to 27; took Health Bump and Night Thief perk in Pickpocketing
• Boinged down to Whiterun to sell more things
• Boinged to Lakeview for some building
• Got Lydia back off duty for a bit, but realized I should have bought iron in Whiterun, oops
• Put a bunch of fish, including the goldfish, in the aquarium
• Got Lydia back on duty
• Made some camping supplies, then slept so we wouldn’t be traveling at night
• Headed out in the morning to go hit Shearpoint to get the Throw Voice Shout
• Got a non-flyby regular dragon before Riverwood, though it buggered off across the river a time or two to fight something over there
• Came back to our side of the river though, and Lydia and I killed it
• Couldn’t find Kara so fast traveled to Riverwood to get her back, then proceeded to the crossroads
• Passed the mead revelers and stopped to chat with them
• Killed a sabre cat en route to Shearpoint, then got two more as a pair at the spawn point near Fellglow Keep
• Hit Shearpoint finally, and found a frost-breathing Blood Dragon; took it out with some work
• Krosis popped out like he does, and that was a harder fight
• But we finally took him out and I got his mask and staff
• Got the words off the Word Wall and had enough souls to unlock all three 😀
• Got the boss loot
• Found Kara, mounted up, and fast traveled straight back to Whiterun
• Sold a bunch of stuff to get under carry weight
• Went back out on foot with Lyds to hunt for nirnroot on the plains
• Went near the bandits at the unmarked location but not quite enough to piss them off and make them attack
• Saw what looked like a mage fight in the distance, or maybe a bandit throwing frost attacks on something? Didn’t get close enough to see what was going on
• Found a few nirnroots and killed assorted mudcrabs
• Cleared Greenspring Hollow after taking out another sabre cat
• Followed water almost all the way to Orotheim
• Fast traveled back to Greenspring Hollow which made Kara catch up with us
• Mounted up and headed for the bridge near Redoran’s Retreat to do another nirnroot check
• Remembered I had a pending quest at Redoran’s Retreat to get Kharjo’s moon amulet, so did that!
• Killed once by the bandits but we were successful second time through
• Bandit chief had a couple pieces of insulated dragonplate on
• Got the amulet, and other boss loot including Treasure Map X
• Came back out again, mounted up, and headed for the bridge
• Zombies! Called up the atronach and Team Dragonborn took them out
• Got the nirnroot which put me at 11, 9 more to go
• Boinged back to Whiterun, sold a few more things
• Quaffed potion because overloaded again, and boinged to Lakeview; dropped off a bunch of stuff
• Boinged to Hendraheim and dropped off the Krosis mask there
• Saved there until next time

Tuesday the 12th

• Started in Hendraheim
• Went out on foot to take out Aesrael and get the Elven Hunter armor; this did not take long
• Boinged from there to Riften’s stables; no Khajiit
• Did some fishing at the spot near the Ratway
• Headed over to the fishery to talk to Viriya; got the first bounty to give Mila a goldfish
• Did more fishing at the main fishery spot; finally got a glassfish!
• Hunted down Swims and found him in Haelga’s Bunkhouse
• Gave him the fish and got his quest for the rainy weather fish, and the quest to get his lucky fishing hat back
• Talked to Wujeeta and got her to tell me about her skooma dealer
• Gave Balimund his 10 fire salts
• Went to Mistveil Keep to talk to the Jarl about the skooma dealer situation
• Got her directive to go investigate the warehouse; this likewise did not take long
• Appropriated all the skooma and the moon sugar, because after all I am playing a thief here, and also these mammals clearly cannot be trusted to handle these substances safely!
• Looted the two dead dealers on the way out
• Returned to the Jarl and got her objective to go take out the skooma dealers in their lair
• Headed out to do that–and as soon as i came out through the gate, Blood Dragon!
• Went into combat, and so did the Khajiit, who were now on site; no obvious casualties that I could see
• Once we were done, sold Ahkari the dragon bits and did other shopping with her as well
• Then mounted up and headed out
• At the first spawn point along the path to Shor’s Stone, ran into three cave bears, two frostbite spiders, and a wolf all at the same time, GEEZ WHO DECLARED IT HUNTING SEASON ON ARGONIANS AROUND HERE
• Managed to take out everything, then retrieved Kara and kept going
• Marked Shor’s Watchtower for the map
• Assorted other animals killed en route: another cave bear, a skeever, and a couple of different wolves
• Made it to Cragslane Cavern; outside bandit saw us coming
• Lydia and flame atronach took out the caged wolves and we all took out the bandit
• Headed in to run the place; killed once by the bandit leader, but second time through we prevailed
• Cleared the place, appropriated the rest of their skooma, and got all the other interesting loot as well
• Lyds sniped the wolves in the cages in the boss chamber, so got their pelts on the way out
• Kara managed to get herself stuck in one of the outside cages, snerk; got her out of there with the key I got off one of the bandits
• Mounted up and headed back towards Riften
• Camped for the night by Shor’s Watchtower (after looting it)
• Headed to Shor’s Stone in the morning
• Got the ore sample from Filnjar; also sold him assorted loot
• Talked to Azadi and talked him out of having a brawl; he gave me his note and disappeared
• Boinged back to Riften
• Sold assorted loot to Bersi and Balimund
• Went back to report to the Jarl and got her thanks
• Went to Elgrim’s Elixirs, and gave Ingun her nightshade and deathbel; also gave Hafjorg the ore sample
• Checked to see if she had any potions of invisibility; answer: no
• Headed down into the Ratway
• Sold a bunch of things, including the skooma, to Tonilia; checked to see if she had any potions of invisibility; answer: YES
• Bought Shadowfoot Sanctum off of Vekel the Man
• And and took his quest for the journals, since i’ll need to head to Yngvild eventually anyway for the Stone of Barenziah
• Left some things in the Sanctum’s armory room to get the load down, and some books on one of the bookshelves
• Sent Lydia home since I was about to be doing some thievery!
• But also realized I had an objective to go talk to the Jarl, so I did that
• Why yes I would be interested in a thaneship in these parts!
• Buy a property? I just literally did–oh whoops, wai, you don’t mean that one, never mind, WHY YES I CAN ABSOLUTELY buy a property that isn’t down in the Ratway, sure! Be back later with money!
• Headed out to hit Goldenglow
• Saw Lydia back in default armor heading back to Lakeview
• Also saw the fishery staff in a group heading into the city
• Swapped into Thieves Guild armor and swam over to Goldenglow
• Ran the place without anybody spotting me whatsoever, fuck yeah
• Burned the beehives, got in through the sewers, killed a bunch of skeevers
• Did not try to go upstairs to confront Aringoth because I wanted to stealth my way through this
• Got down into the cellar, nabbed the pelts lying in the back nook
• Made it past the final mercenary with both a 50 second Potion of Invisibility and the Bow of Shadows; paranoid, but hey, it worked!
• Got down to the safe, picked the lock on it, and got the Bill of Sale
• Also robbed the chest while I was there, and got back outside
• Had to swim back to shore to get out of the way of danger before I could fast travel straight back to the Guild
• Reported to Brynjolf, got paid, and got the objective to go talk to Maven Black-Briar
• Slept briefly in the Thieves Guild bed first
• Then got up and went to talk to the steward to buy Honeyside
• Then talked to the Jarl and got thaned up!
• Headed next to the Bee and Barb
• Talen-Jei was cranky at me but I gave him some flawless amethysts so he can make his ring for Keerava
• Went upstairs to talk to Maven and got orders to head to Whiterun to fuck up the meadery
• BUT FIRST, went to Honeyside! HI IONA
• Got her on follow duty briefly because I wanted to go run Darklight Tower, which I proceeded to do
• But first, got the courier with the note from Fijeh to kick off the Interception plot for the Remnants
• Got Snow-Shod Farm discovered for the map
• Reached Darklight Tower and ran it, pretty much same as previous playthroughs
• Surprise, Silvia! Your kid really hates the idea of you becoming a hagraven, and truth be told I’m not sold on the idea either, particularly the part where you want to kill me
• Helped Illia defeat her mother
• Sent Iona back to Riften and invited Illia to follow me
• Hit the nearby Forsworn camp and took out Linelle the hagraven, to get the pointer for finding Crowstooth at Arcwind Point
• Next, boinged to Goldenhills and offered Illia the position of steward
• Got her to hire farmhands but was then out of money so couldn’t proceed any further
• Boinged to Lakeview to check on building status
• Did a little bit of building with available supplies but didn’t have a huge amount of iron
• Did a bunch of smithing of leather armor items because I had a crapton of hides and needed the money
• Did a bunch of alchemy to burn through amassed ingredients
• Tried to boing to Whiterun only to realize fuck I forgot the goldfish for Mila
• Boinged back to Lakeview to get that, then boinged back to Whiterun
• Gave Mila her goldfish and got her 1 gold payment, heh
• Slept at Breezehome
• Got up the next morning and gave Ysolda her mammoth tusk
• Sold a bunch of stuff to Belethor and Arcadia to bring my gold balance back up some more
• Hit the Bannered Mare and talked to Mallus, got briefed on the meadery plan
• Headed over to Honningbrew to hit the place
• Grabbed a nirnroot out of the nearby stream on the way
• Parked in front of Honningbrew and saved there until next time

Commentary

Krosis at Shearpoint, as I’ve found to be typical in my playthroughs, was a good challenging fight. I kept having to dive for cover so I could throw heals on myself, since I’d run out of healing potions. And I had to periodically get behind Lydia and throw heals on her, too, because Krosis was flinging fireballs right and left. As he does.

(Note to self: really gotta doublecheck the enchantments on the Daedric Plate Lydia is wearing, and if she’s not already carrying something with fire resistance, fix that problem.)

And so far I gotta say, in terms of the places in Skyrim Finds has been to so far, she’s probably taking to Riften the best. Just because that is the place with other actual Argonians in it. As this is a playthrough without mods, as I’ve commented before, places where I can find Argonians are pretty damned scarce.

It doesn’t hurt, either, that Riften is the headquarters of the Thieves Guild. Heh.

I got the objective to return to the Jarl to see about getting thaned up sooner than I anticipated–because I’d not realized that if you bring Ingun back even some of the ingredients, that apparently does count as a favor quest! So between Balimund, Hafjorg, and Ingun, I was able to complete the thaneship requirements.

Also gotta say, wow it is helpful to be able to swim underwater all the way over to Goldenglow. Silent, watery stealth! Muahaha.

Stealthed my way through Goldenglow as is my preference, too. And since I knew I wasn’t going to be able to pass the Speech check to get Aringoth to turn over his key to me safely, I once again skipped that part and headed straight down into the cellar. And the combo of Bow of Shadows + 50 second Invisibility potion got me safely past the guards on duty down there. YAS.

Achievements unlocked

• Hard Worker: For chopping wood, mining ore, and cooking food

Achievements count as of this post: 17.

Level ups taken

• Level 28, Magicka bump, took first Enchanting perk
• Level 29, Stamina bump, took Apprentice perk in Alteration

Language commentary

Interesting terms observed:

• Dämmerlichtspalte: Duskglow Crevice (lit. “Dawn light crevice”, I think?)
• Festung Düsterhammer: Fort Fellhammer (lit. “Direhammer Fortress” on Google Translate)
• Schattenstollen: Refugium: Driftshade Refuge
• Höhle am Hobswasserfall: Hob’s Fall Cave (lit. “Cave at Hobs Waterfall”)
• Die Grundlagen der Verzauberung: The rudiments/fundamentals (seen on title page of Enchanter’s Primer)
• Totenbeschwörer-Adept: Adept Necromancer
• Zwergenpfeil: Dwarven Arrows
• Totenschrein: Wayward Pass (lit. “shrine of the dead”)
• Zum Nachttor: Nightgate Inn (lit. “to the night gate”)
• Dunstklippenlager: Steamcrag Camp (lit. “haze cliff camp”)
• Ring der Flinken Finger: Ring of Deft Hands (lit. “ring of nimble fingers”)
• Knochenbrecherfieber: Bone Break Fever
• Steinbachhöhle: Stony Creek Cave (lit. “stone stream cave”)
• Bretone: Breton (male Breton, specifically)
• Glückseligkeits-Käfer im Glas: Bliss Bug in a Jar (lit. “Bliss Beetle in a Jar”)
• Banditenmarodeur: Bandit Marauder
• Das Geheimnis von Prinzessin Talara, Band IV: Mystery of Talara, Part IV
• Banditenstraßenräuber: Bandit Highwayman
• Schwelle des Ruins: Ruin’s Edge (the weapon) (lit. “threshold of ruin”)
• Rabennarbenhöhle: Ravenscar Hollow
• Verzauberungsfibel: Enchanter’s Primer (lit. “Enchantment Primer”)
• Hackklotz: Wood Chopping Block (lit. “chopping block”)
• Lagerutensilien: Camping Supplies (lit. “camping utensils”)
• Nachtschwärmer: Reveler (lit. “night owl”)
• Schurspitze: Shearpoint
• Druckwelle: Throw Voice (the Shout) (lit. “pressure/shock wave”)
• Grünquellitchtung: Greenspring Hollow (lit. “green spring glade”)
• Sinnesfluch: Witbane (the disease) (lit. “sense curse”)
• Vulkanglasbogen: Glass Bow (lit. “volcanic glass bow”)
• Isolieter Drachenplattenbrustpanzer: Insulated Dragonplate Cuirass
• Isolieter Drachenplattenstiefel: Insulated Dragonplate Boots
• Fell: Deer Pelt (lit. “fur/pelt”)
• Verwesender Zombie: Putrid Zombie (lit. “rotting zombie”)
• Sterbliches Fleisch: Mort Flesh (lit. “mortal flesh”)
• Taschendiebstahl verstärken-Verzauberung: Fortify Pickpocket Enchantment (lit. “increase pickpocketing enchantment”)
• Lagerhaus: Warehouse
• Beinbrecherhöhle: Snapleg Cave (lit. “Legbreaker Cave”)
• Jarl Laila Recht-Sprecher: Jarl Laila Law-Giver (lit. “Jarl Laila Law-Speaker”)
• Felsrinnenhöhle: Cragslane Cavern (lit. “Rock Gully Cave”)
• Schlächter: Butcher (the bandit leader at Cragslane Cavern)
• Vekel der Mannhafte: Vekel the Man (lit. “Vekel the Manly”)
• Schützling: Protégé
• Literaturgeschmack: Literary taste (used in conversation with Vekel the Man re: the buyer for the journals at Yngvild)
• Schattenfußheiligtum: Shadowfoot Sanctum
• Gut Goldenglanz: Goldenglow Estate
• Kanalisation: Sewers
• Pergament: Parchment
• Mist: Blast (as in, a swear word)
• Prächtig: Marvelous, splendid (said by Anuriel when I bought Honeyside)
• Honigheim: Honeyside (lit. “Honey home”)
• Glückwunsch: Congratulations (said by Jarl Laila Law-Giver when she made me thane)
• Schwarzmarsch: Black Marsh
• Hochszeitring: Wedding ring (mentioned by Talen-Jei when I gave him the flawless amethysts)
• Großherzigkeit: Generosity
• Honigbräubrauerei: Honningbrew Meadery
• Reinwasserpassage: Purewater Run (lit. “Pure Water Passage”)
• Schnee-Schuh-Hof: Snow-Shod Farm
• Dunkellichtturm: Darklight Tower
• Opfergabe: Offering, sacrifice (used by Illia in Darklight Tower)
• Versuchsperson: Test subject (used by Illia to her mother, describing me)
• Hervorragend: Terrific, splendid (used by Silvia when her daughter claims to have brought her a subject)
• Späher der Abgeschworenen: Forsworn Scout
• Krähenzahns Lager: Crowstooth’s Camp
• Bogenwindspitze: Arcwind Point
• Mammutstoßzahn: Mammoth Tusk
• Karawanenführer: Caravaneer (used by Ysolda) (lit. “caravan leader”)
• Metprobe: Mead tasting
• Das Raffinierte: The beauty (used by Mallus when telling the player that the beauty of the plan is how Sabjorn is going to just give you the poison)
• Ungezieferproblem: Pest/vermin problem
• Schlau: Clever

I’m a little baffled as to why the translation for Driftshade Refuge, “Schattenstollen: Refugium” has a colon in it when the original English doesn’t. I have no explanation for that whatsoever. It also seems weird when compared to the other place names I saw for this pair of sessions! There is definitely not any obvious rule of naming style here to a casual English speaker’s inspection. Because this is what I’m seeing here:

1. A two-word name in English getting smooshed into a single word (Duskglow Crevice)
2. A two-word name in English remaining two words in German (Fort Fellhammer)
3. A two-world name in English remaining two words, but with a colon between them (Driftshade Refuge)

If any German speakers happen to read this, I’d very much like to know what kind of nomenclature rules might have influenced these translation decisions!

Meanwhile, the translation for Hob’s Fall Cave also makes me raise an eyebrow, since it seems to assume that it’s about a waterfall. And there is not a waterfall inside that cave. I’d always interpreted it as “fall” in the sense of actually falling, as opposed to “waterfall”. But hard to know for sure given that I don’t see a lore page for this location on the UESP.

“Totenschrein” is now the first place name in German Skyrim I’ve seen that is very clearly not a translation at all of the English name. But that said, it’s also not inappropriate, either. It’s the German translation for Wayward Pass, and given that Wayward Pass has a memorial to the dead right there, I think it’s a reasonable naming call on the part of the translation team. Especially if it would have made a much longer name in German.

I don’t get what’s going on with “Zum Nachttor” as the translation of Nightgate Inn, though. “Nachttor” translates to “night gate”, but “zum” translates to “to”. So the name turns into a directional phrase rather than a place name, at least to my English speaking read. Given how other inns in the game have been translated, I’m definitely confused as to why it’s not “Gasthaus Nachttor”.

I’d thought that “Bretone” would have been meant to be “female Breton” just because of the e on the end. But when I check the German-translated pages of the Elder Scrolls wiki, I see that “Bretone” is specifically for male Bretons, and “Bretonin” is for female Bretons. Examples: Delvin Mallory, Muiri.

Interesting, I wonder if “marodeur” is a French to German loanword? Because that totally looks like a French word. And ha, the page for this word on de.wiktionary.org seems to indicate that yes, they totally lifted this word from French.

Also interesting: the German translation of “Mystery of Talara, Part IV” apparently puts in the word “Prinzessin” to indicate Talara is a princess. Given that I have never actually read those books, I had no idea of who Talara was! So I guess that’s actually kind of a useful change…?

Of note here re: Ravenscar Hollow: “höhle” can apparently mean both cave and hollow.

Heh, apparently “Hackklotz” is an example of the word in German being shorter in Skyrim than the equivalent thing in English. Because “Hackklotz” means “chopping block”, and in English, the thing is called a Wood Chopping Block in the game. So clearly the German translation team thought the “Wood” part here was redundant!

“Nachtschwärmer” is an idiomatic translation, I think? Maybe in both the English and the German sense. It’s the word the German game uses for the three drunken mead revelers you can often run into in the game. The English game just calls them “Revelers”, but the German word here translates to “night owl”. The immediately relevant connotation you’d think of in English, i.e., somebody who prefers being up and about at night, does seem to be what the intention is here. But the German connotation also appears to lean more heavily on the idea of specifically partying at night, according to de.wiktionary.org.

Not sure what’s going on with “Druckwelle” as the translation for the Throw Voice Shout. “Druckwelle” actually translates to “shock wave”, which sounds to me like it ought to be more in the neighborhood of Unrelenting Force. But I wonder if this is another case where they went for a shorter word because a direct translation would have been too long? On Reverso.net’s page to translate “throw” to German“, they have a translation for the phrase “to throw one’s voice”, “seine Stimme zum Tragen bringen”, and that seems kind of awkward and long to distill down into a phrase for a Shout.

The translation for Glass Bow, “Vulkanglasbogen”, specifically adds in the “Vulkan-” part to indicate that it’s a bow made out of volcanic glass in particular. Which, accurate. I guess they wanted to make it clearer that this is not to be confused for the glass you can build with at the Hearthfire houses.

“Drachenplattenbrustpanzer” clocks in at 25 characters so it doesn’t take over the record for longest word observed–but that’s a great word nonetheless. 😀 And as a side note, I think I just figured out that I actually like the look of the insulated dragonplate armor better than the vanilla variety, just because the fur makes it a little less fugly.

I think “Verwesender Zombie” is supposed to be the German equivalent of what the English game calls a “Putrid Zombie”, but I don’t know for sure.

Ah, I was wrong, here’s another example of where the German translation is actually shorter than the English! If you kill a deer in the English game, it can drop a Deer Pelt. But if you kill that same deer in German, you get a “Fell” instead. I am not seeing that “Fell” specifically means “deer pelt”; it seems to just mean “pelt” or “fur” for any kind of animal. So I guess the translators didn’t want to go with “Hirschfell”?

Vekel the Man apparently becomes Vekel the Manly in German. Snerk. Of all the guys down in the Ragged Flagon, he’s not necessarily my top tier candidate for the most manly of them. ;D

I was confused as fuck about what “Mist” meant in a line of Brynjolf’s:

“Mist. Na ja, ich prüfe meine Quellen und rede mit Mercer.”

But when I checked the wiki I saw that this is a translation of this line:

“Blast. Well, I’ll check my sources and speak to Mercer.”

So “mist” here is basically “blast”. This checks against my usual sources. (Source) (Source)

Try saying “Honigbräubrauerei” (Honningbrew Meadery) five times fast! Also, “Schnee-Schuh-Hof”!

If you bring a mammoth tusk back to Ysolda, she has this line:

“As promised, let me show you a thing or two about bargaining. Don’t want some shifty merchant giving you a raw trade.”

In German, that comes through as:

“Wie versprochen, werde ich Euch etwas über das Feilschen beibringen. Wir wollen jo nicht, dass ein windiger Händler Euch zu einem schlechten Geschäft verleitet.”

The part of this that interests me is “das Feilschen”. Which looks like a noun to me, but if I look it up, I just get “feilschen” as a verb meaning “to haggle”. I have to play a bit with reverso.net to see it explicitly come up as a noun, as per this page. So the translation seems correct, and this just might be reverso.net not being quite as thorough as it could be with this particular word.

I’m entirely guessing at “Metprobe” meaning “mead tasting”, because that word as is doesn’t come up in search results on my usual sources. But I know that “Met” means “mead” and “Probe” can mean test or sample. So that seems like the correct interpretation here. (Note: in the original English line, Mallus just says “tasting”, so I guess the German translation team decided to get a little more specific? Maybe they didn’t feel like a tasting of mead was clear enough in context.)

“Raffinierte” is another word I’m guessing at, because that’s the word used where “beauty” is used in English. But again, this seems like it’s not a direct translation. If I’m reading this correctly, the context of this word more seems to be “ingenuity” rather than “beauty”. (Source)

Next time

I’ve already run Finds-The-Way’s next couple of sessions, so the post for those is going to feature running Honningbrew Meadery, running Avanchnzel, building and dragon fighting at Goldenhills Plantation, getting the Headman’s Cleaver, finding (and then losing) a Stray Dog, and last but not least, running the Interception plot with the Remnants.

Screenshots

Editing to add

• 11/25/2023: Restored missing gallery.