In Which Finds-The-Way Slays Harkon and Also a Bunch of Mudcrabs

Moving along on getting Finds-The-Way’s posts finished up! Here’s her session from August 11th. Main action in this was finishing up Dawnguard, and also the quests for the Fishing content in the AE.

Play by play

• Play date: 8/11/2024
• Session number in this run: 57
• Picked up again at Lakeview with Serana
• Returned to Fort Dawnguard and got Isran to do the rally the troops speech
• Then boinged to Castle Volkihar
• Shadowmere was not present, oh wells
• Commenced attacking the castle
• Initially tried to help in the melee in the main hall, but then realized oh shit I was shooting my own people
• Backed off from the main fight, and proceeded to snipe a couple of side vampires I could hit without hitting my own team
• Then proceeded to taking out Harkon along with Serana
• This time through I just went ahead and shot him before he could pontificate; I imagine Finds rolling her eyes Indiana Jones style 😉
• Noticed during the battle that Harkon did hit me with Sanguinare Vampiris, oops
• Got achievement for killing Harkon and finishing the quest!
• Searched around the castle a bit on the way out, and as near as i could tell, there weren’t any Dawnguard casualties this time, fuck yeah
• Also noted several books had been blown off of shelves during my fights with the side vamps, so just went ahead and nabbed those
• From there, boinged to the balcony by Valerica’s lab
• Went back into the Soul Cairn and made a beeline for Valerica to tell her Harkon was dead
• Killed a few hostiles on the way there and back
• Got Valerica safely out and had final convo with her
• (Thanks for the offer of your lab materials, but actually I have a big ol’ barrel of ingredients of my own at home, I’m good)
• Parted ways with Serena at that point; ciao, hon, you’re a hell of a companion <3
• Boinged next to Dawnstar Sanctuary and confirmed no sign of Shadowmere there
• Oh well I guess the game doesn’t want me to have the spooky assassin horse now? WELP Arvak it is
• Boinged next to the Thieves Guild and sold a boatload of stuff
• Then went topside to turn in my rare fish
• Passed Bolli who asked if I was sick, and I was all OH RIGHT the fucking vampire
• Quaffed a potion to clear that problem up, as I wasn’t interested in turning Finds into a vamp at this late stage of her playthrough, not to mention I don’t want to try to do a vamp playthrough in German
• Found that the fishery was locked but I got in anyway? Carrying a key!
• Talked to Swims and turned in the fish, and got the Fang of Haynekhtnamet
• Next up: boinged to Bloodchill Manor and dropped off a bunch of stuff, including the Initiate’s Ewer, the Draw Knife, Auriel’s Bow, Harkon’s Sword, and the Ancient Falmer armor
• Went back outside to move on and HELLO SURPRISE REVERED DRAGON
• Started fighting with it only to find there were also three hostile bandits in the area
• Dragon got distracted fighting them, and as I ran over, they also got cranky at me
• So had to take out the bandits as well as the dragon, CAN DO SPORT
• Next stop: back to the Forgotten Vale to run the Paragon portals
• Got all the tasty loot, including the remaining Unknown Book and Auriel’s Shield
• Then boinged back to Bloodchill Manor
• Dropped off the paragons in the holders available for them, and put the shield in its appointed place
• Boinged next to the College of Winterhold
• Sold Urag the Falmer volumes and got his translations
• Also sold him the Dragon Elder Scroll
• Next, boinged back to Fort Dawnguard
• Confirmed Gunmar was, in fact, okay!
• And also saw a bunch of other NPCs around, so it indeed looked like we hadn’t lost anybody in the battle
• Found Dexion and gave him the other two Elder Scrolls
• Next stop: Windstad Manor
• Dropped books off on the shelves there, the translations from Urag
• But also discovered that the books I’d taken from Castle Volkihar were in fact marked Stolen, so did not shelve those yet
• Next stop: Bronze Water Cave for the first bit of the next Fishing quest
• Read the journal that pointed me at Alftand to get the plan for the Dwemer Fishing Rod
• Boinged to wayward pass to get within range of Alftand for that–or specifically, the tower, not the main expedition site
• Came across bandits fighting a peddler
• The bandits killed the peddler before I could intervene, and the peddler’s horse ran off, so I killed the bandits
• Sorry, peddler, but I’m going to have to take your stuff since you clearly will not be needing it now (but I’ll leave you your clothes and your dignity)
• Found where the horse had run to but left it be
• Went in from the bottom of the tower this time since that was a little easier and meant less traps
• Got the plan, got out, and boinged to Markarth to talk to Calcelmo (though I had to summon Arvak to do it, since I was overloaded and otherwise had no horse)
• Arrived in Markarth, and got courier with the note from Viriya about meeting her in Dawnstar for the final round of fighting angry mudcrabs
• But for now sold a bunch of stuff to Markarth merchants
• Invested in Lisbeth’s store
• (Would have invested with Ghorza, but this was an unmodded playthrough, and her investing is bugged in vanilla Skyrim, so)
• Then went in to talk to Calcelmo, and did invest with him
• Sold him the spellbooks I was carrying, then got him to agree to make me a Dwemer Fishing Rod
• Dropped off a couple of things at Vlindrel Hall
• HI ARGIS
• Then boinged back to Lakeview to kill some time
• Sofie greeted me at the door and asked if I’d brought her anything, so I gave her my Dagger of Damnation, LOL
• Decided at this point that if Shadowmere was AWOL, I’d just go back to riding the Dwarven Horse
• Boinged back to Markarth to finish up the 24 hours of waiting, and checked in with Calcelmo to get the rod
• Then boinged back to Bronze Water Cave
• Fished up the Aetherium Dynamo Cores and used them to get the axes as you do
• Saw dragon flying in the distance but it didn’t get close enough to engage
• Took out a couple of dwarven spiders that activated when I plugged in the cores and got the chest with the loot
• From there, boinged to Windward Ruins, and rode on Dwarven Horse towards the beach
• Passed Agrane and his reindeer fighting with what looked like wolves from afar, but didn’t have to run over to help
• Reached the beach and engaged in battle with the mudcrabs, as per previous playthroughs
• Lost three Dawnstar guards and nabbed their stuff to sell
• Talked to Viriya to follow up, and got objective to talk to the Jarl for my reward
• Rode over on Dwarven Horse into the town
• Got in late so slept at the inn, then talked to the Jarl in the morning
• Sold a bunch of stuff to Rustleif at the forge, and I invested in Rustleif’s forge as well
• Next stop: back to Riften
• Found Mjoll the Lioness and chatted with her so I could give her her sword! Which made her very happy
• Politely avoided pointing out that I was in fact the Guildmaster of the Thieves Guild
• Then headed down to the Guild and sold stuff to Tonilia
• One last stop at Bloodchill Cavern: dropped off a remaining set of the Dawnstar guard armor
• Got one more courier when I came out of the cavern, this one with Viriya’s note about helping her build her merchant stall
• Returned to Lakeview, gathered all the materials, and made what I didn’t have already (pretty much already had all the necessary raw mats)
• Lucia asked me for an allowance
• Boinged to Riften and gave Viriya all her building materials
• Boinged back to Lakeview and saved there

Commentary

The fight at Castle Volkihar was a bit of a mess, in no small part because I made the initial mistake of trying to help out with the melee in the main hall. This resulted in my realizing that oops, I was actually shooting at my own people! So I was all DAMMIT ME, STOP SHOOTING GUNMAR.

Fortunately, I didn’t kill anybody by accident. Also fortunately, I don’t think I had any Dawnguard casualties at all, this time through. Fuck yeah! Go Team Dawnguard! \0/

I could not for the life of me figure out what happened to Shadowmere. But I didn’t actually miss him much, I think. Arvak was perfectly acceptable as a means for getting around, as was the Dwarven Horse. And I couldn’t have taken Shadowmere to Solstheim, regardless.

Plus, Shadowmere honestly didn’t wow me all that much. I think this is mostly because of how I came in so late to playing Skyrim to begin with? So I had a combo of not being interested in playing the Dark Brotherhood for a while, and then the AE happened, and brought in unkillable Wild Horses, and the unicorn as well. So the whole idea of Shadowmere being this badass, resurrectable, potentially-a-Daedra kind of horse loses something of its impact, for me, in the game as it now currently exists.

That said? I can definitely get why Shadowmere for the longest time was the most badass horse available in the game.

For once I actually kinda liked the Ancient Falmer armor’s look on a character–I like the overall look of the stuff, but mostly haven’t ever really wanted to wear it. On Finds, I liked the look of it more than usual. But still not enough to make it her primary armor.

Heh, in this session Sofie hit me up for a present, but the only thing I had on me that I could give her was my Dagger of Damnation. So I gave her that. Probably not the wisest motherly choice? But well, assassin.

The kid happily ran off downstairs and started practicing with it on the training dummy. LOL. I imagine Finds yelled after her, “Sofie, remember to not soul trap your sister!”

And also making a note to herself to give Lucia her own powerful dagger. But maybe not Mehrunes’ Razor. ;D

This was the session where I saw poor Seren in Dawnstar still lying dead around the corner from Rustleif’s forge. AND I WAS NOT OKAY WITH RUSTLEIF AND SEREN NOT BEING ABLE TO TEACH THEIR CHILD ALL ABOUT SENTINEL!

Achievements unlocked

• Kindred Judgement: For finishing the Dawnguard questline and taking out Harkon

Achievements count as of this session: 48.

Language commentary

Interesting terms observed:

• Die Oberhand: The upper hand
• Gegenschlag: Counterstrike, retaliation
• Schlupfwinkel: Hiding place, lair
• Volkiharkathedrale: Volkihar Cathedral
• Ein freundliches Urteil: Kindred Judgment (the quest) (lit. “A friendly verdict”)
• Valericas Studierzimmer: Valerica’s Study
• Kleinigkeit: Token (lit. “small/little thing”) (used by Swims-In-Deep-Water when he offers you “a token” for bringing him the fish he asks for)
• Verehrter Drache: Revered Dragon
• Glanzstücksockel: Paragon Platform
• Portal zum Allerheiligsten: Inner Sanctum Portal
• Portal zum Aussichtspunkt des Vergessenen Tals: Forgotten Vale Overlook Portal
• Elfenzweihänder der Austreibung: Elven Greatsword of Expelling
• Portal zum Wald des Vergessenen Tals: Forgotten Vale Forest Portal
• Auriels Schild: Auriel’s Shield
• Portal zur Schwarzfallgrotte: Darkfall Grotto Portal
• Uralte Falmerbücher: Ancient Falmer books
• Berührung des Himmels: Touching the Sky (Unknown Book, Vol. 4)
• Tagebuch der schönen Agarwen: Diary of Faire Agarwen (Unknown Book, Vol. 3)
• Forschungsmöglichkeiten: Research opportunities (used by Urag when you offer him the Elder Scroll)
• Kurzsichtigkeit: Short-sightedness (used by Dexion Evicus to describe Harkon’s downfall)
• Untergang: Downfall (see previous)
• Die Betrogenen: The Betrayed (Unknown Book, Vol. 1)
• Tagebuch von Mirtil Angoth: Journal of Mirtil Angoth (Unknown Book, Vol. 2)
• Tagebuch eines Fischers: Fisherman’s Journal
• Alftand: Turmruine: Alftand Ruined Tower (lit. “Alftand: Tower Ruins”)
• Dwemerangelbauplan: Dwarven Fishing Rod Schematic
• Saufkumpan: Drinking buddy (used by the beggar Degaine if he has high disposition to you)
• Großartig: Wonderful, splendid (used by Lisbet when I invested in her store)
• Dwemerangel: Dwarven Fishing Rod
• Aetherium-Dynamoaktuator: Aetherium Dynamo Actuator
• Irkngthand-Kriegsaxt des Gefrierens: Irkngthand War Axe of Freezing
• Irkngthand-Kriegsaxt des Feuers: Irkngthand War Axe of Fire
• Schlammkrabben-Schwärme: Swarms of mud crabs (used when you report back to the Jarl of Dawnstar to relay that the mudcrab attack is dealt with)
• Helm der Pale-Wache: Pale Guard’s Helmet
• Rüstung der Pale-Wache: Pale Guard’s Armor
• Schild der Pale-Wache: Pale Guard’s Shield
• Bösartiges Gift der Ausdauer: Virulent Stamina Poison
• Extreme Anfälligkeit für Blitz: Malign Aversion to Shock (the poison)
• Ein paar Goldmünzen zum Ausgeben: A few gold coins to spend (used by Lucia when asking me for an allowance)

As I’d noted in a previous Finds post, I’d found a translation inconsistency of Festung Volkihar vs. Burg Volkihar. And my theory on this was that there is a “Castle Volkihar” zone as well as a “Volkihar Keep” zone.

I dug into this a bit further as of this session, since I saw the translation inconsistency again entering Harkon’s chamber for the final battle. I’d expect that “Burg” would mean “castle” and “Festung” would mean “keep”? But maybe not, because translation checking suggested that “Festung” can also mean “castle”. (Source)

When Isran gives his speech to the Dawnguard to rally everybody for the final battle, he has this line in the English game:

Now, we finally have the means to strike back!

In German, it looks like they tweak that a bit. Here’s the German line:

Jetzt haben wir endlich die Mittel für einen Gegenschlag!

This translates more or less to the same idea, except in German, the last few words translate to “for a counterstrike” rather than “to strike back”. So, using the idea as a noun rather than as a verb. From what I see on Reverso, this fits with other ways German uses the idea of striking back. (Source)

Harkon’s first line to Serana to kick off the final battle is one that confused me in German:

Serana, meine Geliebte. Ich sehe, dass Ihr Euch immer noch an der Gegenwart eines Tieres erfreut.

This is basically Harkon dropping some snark about Serana keeping a pet, i.e., me. However, the part here that confuses me is not the translation per se, but the part where I cannot find this line in English on the wiki. The wiki thinks Harkon throws this line:

So, you’ve returned. Is your… pet keeping you entertained?

But I’m almost positive I remember Harkon basically saying “Serana, my dear, I see you’ve taken to keeping a pet.” I cannot confirm this, though; I don’t seem to have a screenshot of it. And at least one playthrough video I looked up shows Harkon throwing the line reported by the wiki.

So I dunno what line I’m pinging off of, here.

Speaking of confusing things, I’m also bemused by the translation of the name of the final quest, Kindred Judgment. In German, this quest is named Ein freundliches Urteil, which translates to “A friendly judgment”. And, wut? That doesn’t seem appropriate to the storyline at all, and I’m wondering if the translation team was engaging in some deliberate sarcasm here.

I note with interest that “Tagebuch” is used for both “Diary” and “Journal” in the translations of the titles of the Unknown Books.

Next time

Finds-The-Way’s next post will feature running Shriekwind Bastion; a MIRACLE OF THE DIVINES as I decided fuck it, I’m resurrecting Seren; setting up Viriya with her new stall in the Riften market; and heading off to Solstheim to get Dragonborn adventures underway!

Screenshots