In Which Elessir Slays Mudcrabs and Commits Thievery

Back to Elessir! This session, his last from January of this year, was a mishmash of side questing, pretty much. Lots of fishing and thievery!

Play by play

Play date: 1/29/2024
Session number in this run: 45
Picked up again at Lakeview and did a little inventory managing
Then boinged off to Alchemist’s Shack to get within range of Sarethi Farm
Started hoofing it just because I was in the mood
Passed mead revelers and also Faldrus the pilgrim
Just east of the shack had a critter melee break out: Ancient Dragon, two wolves, and a frostbite spider
Made it over to the farm
Avrusa was still out, so I gave her the crimson nirnroot and the Jazbay grapes, all in one go
While I was having the conversation with her, Lucien and Serana took out a troll nearby, and killed it before I had to intervene! Way to go team!
Next stop: Bloodchill Cavern, where I dropped off the Armor of the Gods and also vale deer hide, since there was a display space for the latter
(Still not sure what the hell I did with the Draw Knife?)
From there, hoofed it over towards Dawnstar
Killed a couple of ice wraiths and some ice wolves en route
Reached Windward Ruins, and took out a giant frostbite spider and skeevers there
Shortly thereafter, also took out bandits from the nearby camp and a Blood Dragon
Looted the camp, and also the bandits
Overloaded at this point, so tromped slowly on over to the beach
Got invisible mudcrabs again this time, but only mostly, some of them I could actually see
Serana raised Seviur, LOL, as she does
Got his journal though and directive to return to Viriya
Killed a cave bear by the fishing spot, then fished and got all four arctic fish
Mined the quicksilver vein
Summoned Arvak and boinged to Windhelm
Told Serana and Lucien to stay outside while I robbed Brunwulf Free-Winter’s house
Which, oddly enough, was not locked; wikis do not mention this as a known bug, so I dunno WTF
Got in though and nabbed the items for the guild jobs, then got out again safely
Arvak’d back to Riften and turned in jobs with the Thieves Guild, which put me at four in Windhelm
Took two more jobs in Windhelm anyway even though I only needed one (for the extra gold)
Sold a bunch of loot to Tonilia, then went topside and sold stuff to Balimund and Bersi
Talked to Viriya outside the fishery to turn in her quest
Got the Alik’r Fishing Rod, and the quest to go take out Fangtusk in Windhelm–sorry, Lucien we gotta go back there one more time
Got the courier with the note from Swims-In-Deep-Water, so went in to talk to him
(Yes, Swims, I am so badass a fisherman that I have the fish you wanted right here with me)
Turned in the arctic fish to close that quest immediately, and proceeded to the quest for the underground fish
Popped into Honeyside and shelved a few of the books I was carrying
Continued sightings of both the puppies, which were still not following me other than showing up when I fast travel
Set out from Riften on foot and tried to head northward back to Windhelm
Got a game crash just shy of Shor’s Stone, and thrown back to the Riften gates
Heading north, take two! Heard mysterious bangs near the gate but didn’t see what caused it
Later passed the Khajiit on the way to Riften
Also spotted a Vampire Mistwalker looking for shelter, and being attacked by a bear; dispatched the bear
Killed a few more wolves
Lucien and Serana got into a fight, and I had to fire up the console and hit them both with StopCombatAlarmOnActor
Shortly thereafter, ran into dremora vs. Vigilants of Stendarr encounter; took out the dremora
Also found two dead Vigilants and nearby dead frostbite spider
Serana raised a goat that must have been lying dead nearby
Heard a bear roaring nearby, but it didn’t get close enough to engage
And suddenly saw that Rigmor the unicorn had in fact caught up with me; forgot I left her on follow! Handy, because I was overloaded again
Tried to camp by the road since it was late and dark at this point
Got message that camping there was illegal, but decided fuck it, camping anyway
Got same warning when I tried to start a campfire
Saw I had a camping perk available, and took that; boost to Stamina when using a walking stick, apparently?
Finally killed that cave bear, or at least a cave bear, just shy of Mzulft
Lucien started taking potshots with lightning at trolls just off the road, so had to kill the two trolls
Sighted Talsgar the Wanderer
Realized we were within range of Narzulbur, so tromped slowly up there and sold a bunch of stuff to their alchemist and smith
Used some deadwood I’d harvested for the campfire to make a walking stick and try that out
From there, hoofed it back down to the road and reached Windhelm
Went into the city to fish for an arctic grayling at the dock, then came back out again to go find and fight Fangtusk
Passed two snow bears but did not engage
Did engage with the Revered Dragon that showed up (amusingly, fought that dragon right after I found a Blood Dragon lying across the road)
Called up Fangtusk, killed him, and got the Vampire Ring and other loot
Returned to Windhelm, and LOL, corpse of Blood Dragon spawned right inside the gates
Too late to report to the steward at this point, so broke into the Atheron house
Waited by the brazier just outside the Palace of the Kings, because fuck Candlehearth Hall
Then went in to talk to the steward and collect that bounty
Boinged straight back to Riften at this point, and saw both puppies when I went into the Thieves Guild
Turned in jobs with Delvin and Vex, and got special job for Windhelm
(And Vex, you literally just told me to get Delvin’s special job done first and then we’ll talk, don’t give me shit about walking away from you without taking one of your jobs)
Went topside, and found a guard who was all “All hail the Dragonborn”
Another one warned me that Riften was not the safest place for a nighttime stroll; nothing to see here, just a peaceable normal citizen going to his normal citizen house
Confirmed Iona was still around at Honeyside; she was hanging out in her room downstairs
Did some enchanting at the enchanting table
Slept the night
Got up and talked to Viriya again; got her quest to do the fishing lesson in Markarth
Saved in Riften market until next time

Serana vs. mudcrab necromancer

A lot of this was familiar territory, so not too much to go into detail on.

I will however note that I got invisible mudcrabs when playing the fishing quest for going to the beach near Dawnstar, an issue I’d had in previous playthroughs. But this time, the problem was only partial! Some of the mudcrabs I could still actually see.

And it was a good thing I had Serana and Lucien with me. Because, being overloaded, the invisible mudcrabs got in some good licks on me.

And since I was in fact running Serana as a follower still, she raised Seviur during the fight, as she does! Too bad we couldn’t seize the opportunity to question him about what the deal was with the mudcrabs! I feel obliged to totally make this my headcanon for what happened there, though.

Elessir: “Whoa, hey, what are you doing?”

Serana: “I do need to keep in practice. And hmm, maybe I can make him tell us what he was doing here.”

Seviur: <necromantic zombie moan>

Lucien: “I think it’s blatantly obvious what he was doing here. Trying to raise mudcrabs just like you raised him. Is that really necessary?”

Serana, her lip curling as the corpse disintegrates: “True, he does seem to have been a rank amateur. Mother taught me to raise mudcrabs when I was twelve.”

LOL.

See, Serana? This vampire thinks I’m hot

I’ve seen a few vampires running for shelter in daylight before, but I think this marked the first time I actually saved one from a bear. And this also marked the first time I had a vampire NPC call me handsome! Which both surprised and amused me. This far in on Elessir’s playthrough, I can still be slightly surprised when I’m reminded that I am, in fact, playing a dude in this run.

I’m pretty sure Elessir wouldn’t have realized that the woman he saved from the bear was a vampire until he actually got a good look at her. I’m also pretty sure Serana absolutely knew the other woman was a vampire, even from a distance. And I’m now totally envisioning Elessir with a brief moment of surprise at a) whoa hey she’s a vampire, isn’t she, and b) she thinks I’m handsome? Well then.

Cue the large rakish grin. ;D

Camping mod is awfully finicky about where I can camp

I was rather confused about trying to camp and getting a message that pitching a camp where I was was illegal. I don’t know why, because I wasn’t anywhere near a city–unless the Campfire mod thought I was close enough to Shor’s Stone for that to count?

Got that same warning when I tried to start a campfire, too. And mind you, I’ve seen the game bitch about my trying to build the Anniversary Edition campsites too close to cities, too. C.f., previous issues I’ve had trying to pitch a camp near the Skaal village on Solstheim.

I’m still deeply confused though as to why the game, modded or otherwise, cares about where I drop a campsite. From a purely in-character standpoint, I’m not sure why any guards would give a flying fuck about my camping, regardless of how close I was to the nearest city or town? For that matter, if I’m camping by the open road, do any guards actually have jurisdiction over that?

Or is this a question of any guards anywhere in a Hold having authority over anybody within that Hold’s territory?

Still, why would guards care if a traveling party set up camp just off the road? I could get that some guards might be suspicious of campsites in the wilderness meaning bandits. Or perhaps, depending on the local allegiance, enemy troops. I could definitely see Rift guards, for example, being suspicious of campsites of seemingly innocuous travelers actually containing Imperial spies.

And hmm. Now that I’ve written that out, that actually seems plausible, and I’ve un-confused myself!

All that said, I’m also fairly sure Elessir would have zero fucks to give about any guards who might be all “it’s illegal to camp here!” The Dragonborn says otherwise, Chet. Do you really want to tell the Dragonborn where he can and cannot camp? I didn’t think so.

Elessir won’t admit it, but he does have at least a bit of conscience…

One of the jobs I picked up for the Guild during this session for Windhelm pointed me at the Atheron house in the Gray Quarter. I don’t think Elessir was happy at all about the prospect of robbing fellow Dunmer, especially fellow Dunmer in Windhelm.

But as he is a goddamned professional, he override his conscience on this one, and did it anyway. Which is I feel true to his namesake. Also true to his namesake: doing it quietly, and taking only what Vex sent him in for and nothing else.

(Heh. Had I thought of it at the time, Elessir would totally have left them some gold, too.)

… but not as much awareness of maybe how his followers might not want to freeze their asses off?

As I write this, it occurs to me that heh, Elessir would absolutely have waited outside next to a hot brazier all night rather than take a room in the inn run by the racist Nord woman. It may not have occurred to him, however, that maybe Lucien and Serana might not have wanted to join him outside.

Serana doesn’t care as much about the cold, a perk of being a vampire. But I can totally see Lucien giving a long, plaintive look at the inn while not actually complaining about the cold, particularly after he sees the stony look on the Dragonborn’s face.

Next time

I have one more set of Elessir notes in the backlog after this post, and that’ll cover some more thievery action as I do that special job for Windhelm; a bit more fishing, this time in Markarth; and kicking off going for the thaneship of the Reach.