In Which Finds-The-Way Goes to Solstheim

Another catchup post on my now-finished playthrough of Finds-The-Way, my run of doing Skyrim in German. After this post, I’ll have nine more to do to finish Finds up.

Main action: running Shriekwind Bastion, resurrecting Seren in Dawnstar, and kicking off the Dragonborn plotline on Solstheim.

Play by play

• Play date: 8/13/2024
• Session number in this run: 58
• Picked up at Lakeview and since it was nearby, went over to run Shriekwind Bastion
• This went mostly as per other playthroughs, except for the part with the blood! See below
• Leveled up while running Shriekwind, woot! That put me at 61
• Dropped another perk point on Conjuration to work my way up to Twin Souls
• Took out the master vampire by hiding behind the door and throwing repeated dremora lords at him
• Because even at level 61 Finds was a little squishier than I liked, and she could do ranged attacks sure, but so could the vamp!
• Got the word off the Word Wall to finish the Find the Word of Power quest
• Fast traveled off the balcony back to Lakeview
• Lucia asked for a gift! Sorry honey, I don’t have anything for you this time 🙁
• Or at least, not in my inventory! (Note to self: get that girl her own fancy dagger)
• Next up: did a round of selling all the things
• Started in Markarth and hit as many of the merchants as possible, though I forgot to talk to Endon
• Then hit Solitude and sold things again to as many merchants as possible, but this time I remembered to talk to Gulum-Ei too
• Also invested in stores while in Solitude
• Next up: boinged to Dawnstar–and resurrected Seren, dammit, because I didn’t want her to be dead
• Boinged to Riften to check in with Viriya
• Enjoy selling stuff in your new stall, Viriya! Try not to punch Grelka
• (If she gets too annoying, just let me know, I can handle that problem for you, shhh)
• Got Viriya’s nice little amulet! Didn’t care about the waterbreathing as an Argonian, but hey, the other enchantments were still useful!
• Boinged to the College of Winterhold
• Took five rounds of training with Faralda, and sold more stuff
• Boinged to Whiterun
• Sold stuff to Ri’saad since the Khajiit were camped out
• Also sold stuff at Warmaiden’s
• Boinged back to Lakeview for a supply run
• Sorry Sofie, Dragonmomma can’t play right now, I have to go to Solstheim and kill Miraak. This’ll be a while, so y’all be good, okay? And there are dozens and dozens of gems in the cellar if you all need to buy supplies from Whiterun or Falkreath
• Off to Windhelm!
• Got the captain to take me to Solstheim by paying him double, as you do
• Landed in Raven Rock (Rabenfels)
• Got achievement for showing up in Solstheim!
• Greeted by Councilor Arano
• Started asking around about Miraak
• Went over to to the Earth Stone
• Talked to Neloth and got him to point me at Miraak’s temple
• Talked to Glover Mallory and got his quest to get the Ancient Nord Pickaxe back
• Also, my dude, I do totally notice your shadowmarks, hiya from the Thieves Guild
• So got his quest to get the bonemold armor formula back as well
• Bought my first stalhrim arrows from him, and some bracers
• Got the netch jelly quest from Milore
• Milore also pointed out I was sick
• Got the East Empire Pendant quest from Fethis
• Bought Nordic jewelry from him so I could do the little quest with the dead jeweler
• Went over to find the dead jeweler, then
• Attacked by the two reavers that had killed him, but both of them freaked out and ran off from me partway during the fight
• Started circling around for a way to catch up with them, and finally found them fighting a nix-hound
• At which point they finally decided to fight me again, and I took them out
• Next up: headed into the mine to run the place and do Bloodskal Barrow as well
• Played as previous playthroughs, though a little more slowly as I had to parse the German
• Made sure to get the pickaxe from Crescius before going into the mine, so was able to mine the stalhrim veins
• Grabbed the netch jellies from the alchemy table for Milore
• At the waterfall area, sent several rounds of dremora in in front of me to whittle down the Draugr Deathlords, so managed to make it through without dying!
• Had to Throw Voice Shout a few times just to clue in the draugr and dremora to fight each other
• At the puzzle door, it’d been a while since I’d last done it, so had to remind myself again how power attacks with a two-handed sword work
• Through the corridor of swinging death, got through that just by throwing Become Ethereal–admittedly easier getting through there without a follower!
• Finally made it to the dragon priest
• Had to bolster my lightning resistance with potion and jewelry, but once I did that, was able to take him out and get his mask
• Also got the Dragon Aspect word off the Word Wall
• Then went over to run the Winds of Change Black Book
• It was weird going back to Skyrim’s version of Apocrypha, after running it in ESO!
• Took the Companion’s Insight perk off the Black Book and returned to Solstheim
• Fought my way out through the reavers in Bloodskal Barrow and the built towers outside
• Got all their loot, including the red Dunmer outfit
• Found my first copy of Deathbrand so got the quest to launch that, and objective to find the map
• Very thoroughly overloaded after all of that, so Arvak’d up and rode back to Raven Rock
• Checked in with Glover about the pickaxe and resolved his objective for the quest
• Gave Fethis the pendant from the mine, and paused there until next time

Shriekwind Bastion is a bloody mess, and I mean that literally

I’m still noticing things in Skyrim, even this many playthroughs in, and even in unmodded playthroughs.

Case in point for this particular session of Finds-The-Way’s: in Shriekwind Bastion, in the little nook with all the boots in it, there’s blood dripping down from the ceiling. And I only in this session noticed it.

Yuck.

I couldn’t see anything obvious above me causing the dripping. And I don’t have a good sense of the geography of the barrow, so I’m not entirely sure of what chamber might be above. But if it’s the chamber with the vampire thrall in it, there’s enough of a bloody mess in there that it’s certainly possible it’s dripping down into the nook with the boots?

Again I say: yuck.

And I mean honestly, if you’re a vampire deliberately keeping boots as trophies of your kills, sheesh, at least put them somewhere they aren’t going to get any more blood all over them, wut?

PRAISE ARKAY IT’S A MIRACLE OF THE DIVINES

So yeah, this was the session where I just up and resurrected Seren, because I could not deal with the idea of her lying dead in the snow a few yards away from her husband’s forge.

WHILE PREGNANT. AFTER I BROUGHT HIM NIGHT FALLS ON SENTINEL AND EVERYTHING.

That was under no circumstances going to stand. So I hit her with “resurrect” in the console, and it’s a damned good thing I was still able to find her body, too. For once, it was useful that Dawnstar doesn’t actually have its own Hall of the Dead! And if dead bodies of NPCs in Dawnstar eventually do go anywhere, Seren’s body hadn’t had time to do so anyway.

I shall say for narrative purposes that Seren was simply badly hurt during the dragon attack! And that old Frida the alchemist had been tending her! And that under no circumstances had she been lying pitiful and dead in the snow.

Apocrypha in Skyrim vs. Apocrypha in ESO

Not gonna lie, after running Necrom in ESO, it was weird going back to Skyrim’s version of Apocrypha.

ESO’s Apocrypha is no less weird in ambience than Skyrim’s–but it’s also a lot bigger in scope, and a lot more unified. Skyrim gives you glimpses of specific parts of Apocrypha, but they are not interconnected. In ESO, Apocrypha is a whole traversable zone with a lot of reachable locations in it.

Skyrim’s Apocrypha also doesn’t have much in the way of actual population, either. There’s Miraak, assorted Seekers, assorted Lurkers, a few dragons, and of course, Hermaeus Mora himself. But in ESO, Apocrypha also contains an entire settlement of Ciphers, mortal worshippers of Mora. So ESO’s Apocrypha, while weird AF, also feels lived-in. Skyrim’s, by contrast, just feels stark and haunted.

Some of this, I’m sure, is due simply to ESO having the luxury of implementing their version of Apocrypha later, and building on what Skyrim did first.

But if you want to assume that both versions of Apocrypha should be considered canon, there are real interesting questions here about the changes in Apocrypha between the Second and Fourth Eras.

First and foremost: Miraak’s presence is hinted at in ESO, but he’s not an overt presence in that version of Apocrypha. So presumably he was keeping a very low profile?

Second: Does Cipher’s Midden still exist by the Fourth Era? By extension, do the Ciphers of the Eye still exist? Or did Hermaeus Mora get a helluva lot more finicky about what mortals he allowed into his realm?

Third: Did Mora also block off sections of Apocrypha? Did he turn his realm into the sort of individual little bits that we see in Dragonborn? I haven’t played through the Gold Road content yet, so I don’t know yet how that impacts Mora in ESO’s timeframe. But there’s a lot of time between ESO and Skyrim. Any number of things, even after the events of Necrom and Gold Road, could have influenced ol’ Herma-Mora in how he chose to handle his realm.

Or, alternately, if you want to assume that ESO’s version of Apocrypha also still exists by the Fourth Era, is that section simply not reachable from the bits we see on camera in Dragonborn? Are all the places reachable by Black Books their own little pocket bits of Apocrypha?

Lots to ponder here!

Achievements unlocked

• Outlander: For arriving on Solstheim

Achievements count as of this session: 49.

Language commentary

Interesting terms observed:

• Wimmerwind: Nördliches Bollwerk: North Shriekwind Bastion (lit. “Whimperwind: Northern Bulwark”, maybe?)
• Wimmerwind: Aussichtspunkt: Shriekwind Overlook
• Rabenfels: Raven Rock
• Viriyas Amulett: Viriya’s Charm (lit. “Viriya’s Amulet”)
• Gjalund Salz-Weiser: Gjalund Salt-Sage
• Unwetter: Storm, bad weather
• Erdstein: Earth Stone
• Alte(n) Nord-Spitzhacke: Ancient Nord Pickaxe
• Rumtreiber: Hustler, layabout (used by Glover Mallory to describe his brother Delvin)
• Schattenzeichen: Shadowmarks
• Rezeptur: Recipe, formula
• Knochenrüstungen: Bonemold Armor (used by Glover Mallory when talking about his bonemold formula)
• Hehlerware: Stolen goods
• Rieklinge: Rieklings
• Burg Karstaag: Castle Karstaag
• Knochenrüstungsrezeptur: Bone Armor Formula
• Stalhrimpfeil: Stalhrim Arrow
• Leichte Stalhrimarmschienen: Stalhrim Light Bracers
• Aschengras-Schote: Ashen Grass Pod
• Bergbauausrüstung: Mining equipment
• Sammlerstücken: Collector’s items
• Echtheitszertifikat: Certificate of Authenticity
• Hugin Eisformer: Hugin Ice-Shaper
• Nixhund: Nix-Hound
• Rabenfels: Mine: Raven Rock Mine
• Urgroßvaters: Great-grandfather
• Schnurstracks: Straight, directly (used by Aphia when chastising her husband Crescius)
• Steinschlag: Rockfall
• Notizbuch: Notebook
• Bergleute: Miners
• Schatulle der Ost-Kaiserlichen Handelsgesellschaft: East Empire Company Strongbox
• Makelloser Diamant: Flawless Diamond
• Ost-Kaiserlicher Anhänger: East Empire Pendant
• Stalhrimvorkommen: Stalhrim Source
• Netchgelee: Netch Jelly
• Melonennase: Melon Nose (used in one of the insults in the Throw Voice Shout)
• Blutskaldenhügelgrab: Bloodskal Barrow
• Blutskaldenklinge: Bloodskal Blade
• Drachenform: Dragon Aspect (the Shout)
• Schwarzes Buch: Black Book
• Schwarzes Buch: Wind der Veränderung: Black Book: Winds of Change (lit. “Black Book: Wind of Change”, for some reason wind is singular in the translation)
• Wissenshunger: Hunger for knowledge (used by Hermaeus Mora when he tells you to sate your hunger for knowledge in his endless library)
• Sucherüberreste: Seeker Remains
• Schleicherbeschützer: Lurker Guardian
• Quell der Magicka: Font of Magicka
• Einsicht des Gefährten:: Companion’s Insight
• Plündererfürst: Reaver Lord
• Haknir Todes-Mal: Haknir Death-Brand
• Plünderermarodeur: Reaver Marauder
• Dunmerkleidung: Dunmer Outfit
• Orkischer Pfeil: Orcish Arrow
• Plündererstraßenräuber: Reaver Highwayman
• Geständnisse einer dunmerischen Skoomasüchtigen: Confessions of a Dunmer Skooma Eater (the book)
• Zauberbuch: Eisstachel: Spell Tome: Ice Spike
• Merkwürdiger Kerl: Strange character (used by Glover to describe Crescius, where in English he’d say “quite a character”)

If I understand “Wimmerwind” correctly, there’s a connotation shift here between English and German. German has the verb “wimmern”, but that means “whimper”. Which is very different from “shriek”!

Mind you, I’m not a hundred percent sure of “Wimmer” meaning “whimper” here. But I can’t find any other good translation of it. “Whimper” as a noun in German also becomes “Wimmern”, same as the verb, so that doesn’t help either.

There’s a bit of idiomatic translation difference when you’re chatting with Glover about the Thieves Guild. When you ask if the Guild has a problem on Solstheim, in English Glover says:

I’m all alone out here, with no one to watch my back.

In German, this becomes:

Schaut mich nicht so an. Ich bin ganz alleine hier draußen, völlig ohne Rückendeckung.

That last bit in particular, “völlig ohne Rückendeckung”, translates back to English as “completely unprotected”. So same idea, but just different phrasing. I like that.

“Knochenrüstungen” is another example of “same idea, different phrasing”. In the English game, when you’re asking Glover what Esmond Tyne did, Glover mentions his formula for “improved bonemold”. In the same dialogue in German, though, the term “Knochenrüstungen” is used. That translates to “bone armor”.

I kind of love the word “schnurstracks”, used by Aphia when she’s calling her husband an old fool who’ll get himself killed. 😀 In German, she puts it like this:

Crescius, Ihr seid ein alter Dummkopf, der schnurstracks in sein Verderben rennt.

This translates back to English as:

Crescius, you are an old fool who’s heading straight for disaster.

Specifically, “in sein Verderben rennen” seems to be an idiom for “heading for disaster”. (Source)

In the original English, the phrase Aphia uses is “you’re going to get yourself killed”. So again, same idea, different phrasing!

Interestingly, the stalhrim veins in Bloodskal Barrow are tagged with the word “Stalhrimvorkommen” in German, which translates back to “Stalhrim Source”. Which is the term used in the English game for a specific location on Soltsheim, not just for stalhrim veins in general.

“Mal” is a little interesting here, just because I’m used to that word meaning “time” in German. However, in Skyrim, it seems to be used as the translation for “brand”. Which appears to be idiomatic. (Source)

Voice acting commentary

Neloth’s voice actor in German Skyrim sounded fine. But just fine. He did not have the glorious conceited assholery of Dwight Schultz’s performance in English!

Hermaeus Mora, on the other hand, sounded spot on! A little better than he did in the base game content, in fact. I’m not sure if this means they got a different actor doing him in German for the Dragonborn release? Possibly! Since that DLC did drop later than Skyrim’s original release.

Next time

Finds-The-Way’s next post will feature more action on Solstheim: trying out Teldryn Sero for the first time; running Fort Frostmoth; kicking off Kolbjorn Barrow; and kicking off the assassination quest.

Screenshots