In Which Finds-The-Way Hunts More Netches, This Time for Sheogorath

Another round of backlogged Skyrim catchup, for the tail end of Finds-The-Way’s playthrough! Lots of side questing on Solstheim here, mostly featuring hunting netches, but also Deathbrand action!

Also includes some opinions on Teldryn Sero, and how exactly the Morag Tong know this Dragonborn is in the Brotherhood anyway.

Play by play

• Play date: 8/20/2024
• Session number in this run: 64
• Discovered I’d forgotten to save from the previous session, oops!
• So re-did improving the stalhrim fur armor in Severin Manor
• Also decided to try the stalhrim greatsword I’d picked up, and dropped off a bunch of stuff
• Got courier with the next letter from Ralis as I came out of Severin Manor
• Took the next pendant to Fethis
• Reported back to Kolbjorn Barrow and ran the next round
• Killed all the new draugr, and got the waterwalking boots
• Went back out to talk to Ralis, and paid him his 3,000 gold
• Then headed east and stopped at Fort Frostmoth, mainly to get the supply of moon sugar I’d forgotten to nab before, but also to check the other rooms with loot so I could get another of the pendants
• Came out of Fort Frostmoth and headed towards Tel Mithryn, but was killed by an encounter with three Morag Tong assassins
• Thrown back to coming out of the fort, and re-did the encounter with the assassins
• This time, since I was not really digging the greatsword, shouted to call Durnehviir and get him in on this action–which helped a lot, LOL
• Afterwards found two of the three assassins and looted them
• A lurker had spawned out of the water nearby, so had to fight that too
• And also fought the three ash spawn near the final Deathbrand location, and got the third Deathbrand armor piece
• Stopped to talk to Revus, and bought his resonance gem off of him
• Did not bother to buy the nix-hound
• Proceeded to Tel Mithryn, talked to Elynea the alchemist, and got her quest to repair the ailing mushroom house
• Went in to talk to Neloth and got his quest to find the missing Varona
• Went back outside and triggered Talvas’ quest to help him with the ash guardian he tried to summon; agreed to kill it for him, and did so
• Went back in to talk to Elynea and get her pointer to find Varona
• Went back out and found Varona, and yep she sure was dead
• Killed the ash spawn around her as well
• Revus came running over to jump in on that action, but got beaten down into bleeding state
• Hit him with a Healing Hands spell, which made him run back into the battle, ha
• Reported back to Neloth and got quest to find him a new steward
• Tried to talk to Talvas to tell him the Ash Guardian was taken care of, but he was in the room with the staff enchanter, which was still blocked off to me at this point
• Returned to Raven Rock
• Picked up a couple of taproots out of my ingredients stash, since I already had two
• Confirmed Milore did not have a third taproot, oh wells
• Sold Fethis the next pendant
• Swapped over to a full set of the Shadowed Netch leather armor because Glover had a set for sale, and I bought it
• Went into the Retching Netch and recruited Drovas as Neloth’s steward
• Ran the Put a Fork In It quest for the first time, see below
• Found the final Deathbrand site, took out the two reavers there, and looted them
• Got the armor piece and the key for the barrow, and nabbed a couple of stalhrim items in the nearby boat as well
• Then swung back through Raven Rock and up behind it to try to find the path to the other netch
• Found Torkild pretty much right behind the city, so did the encounter with him and took him out
• Eventually found the other netch, not far from the Skaal Village; took it out and got the branch of the Tree of Shades
• Proceeded on to the Headwaters of Harstrad to get one final taproot and then dip them; took out a few spriggans doing so
• Went back through the Skaal Village and sold stuff to Baldor
• Checked in with Wulf to resolve his quest and get his skill bumps as the quest reward
• Proceeded to Gyldenhul Barrow and ran the place pretty much as per usual
• Teldryn was locked out of the final battle because he didn’t get into the treasure room with me before the gate dropped, but nothing I and my summoned dremora lord couldn’t handle
• Got the two scimitars and all the rest of the local loot
• Returned to Tel Mithryn and gave Elynea her taproots; she sent me over to use the third one on the house
• Checked in with Talvas and let him know yes I’d taken care of the Ash Guardian
• Got him to teach me the spell
• Also tried to go ahead and make the Staff of Sheogorath, but realized I had only one heartstone, which Talvas had just given to me–and I needed two
• Used the final taproot on the house
• Checked in with Neloth to resolve the steward quest, and got his quest to bring him a briarheart
• Returned to Elynea to tell her the house was dealt with and resolved that quest
• Returned to Raven Rock, and got cornered by Mogrul
• Threw him an Intimidate check and he backed off right quick, accepting half the gold owed and my not killing him
• Next up: since I had to go to Skyrim anyway for the briarheart, grabbed a fuckload of things to take home
• Arvak’d back to Windhelm, and then to Lakeview
• HI KIDS! DRAGONMOMMA IS HOME FOR A LITTLE BIT
• HI HOUSECARLS
• Dropped off a fuckload of stuff at Lakeview
• Got a gold diamond necklace from Sofie! <3 (Somebody’s been taking jewelry lessons maybe? There was enough material down in the cellar for her to practice with!)
• Did some crafting, to drop some enchantments on the Shadowed Netch armor and also to burn through some of my backlog of alchemy ingredients
• Went back out again and did a circuit to hit various places
• Stopped at Tundra Homestead to drop a bunch of armor onto the mannequins there
• When I came out, got another courier with the next letter from Ralis
• Went to Honningbrew and sold Mallus a bunch of stuff
• Entered Whiterun after hours and sold stuff to Elrindir at the Drunken Huntsman
• Didn’t want to bother to sleep in Breezehome, so just waited until morning outside Warmaiden’s
• Then sold stuff to Adrianne and Ulfberth, and also to Belethor and Arcadia
• Then boinged to Solitude to sell more stuff
• Sold stuff to Gulum-Ei, Sayma, Endarie, and Angeline
• Boinged to Hendraheim and dropped off the one dragon priest mask I had from Solstheim so far
• Came back out again—and, dragon!
• Since i was still overloaded, shouted for Durnehviir again
• Got some impressive dragon on dragon fighting to watch with that
• (But daaaang I didn’t get good screenshots)
• Durnehviir’s arrival alerted all the Forsworn, so I went on down into Lost Valley Redoubt to fight them
• Called Durnehviir one more time to mop up most of them
• Took out the Briarheart and got his heart for Neloth’s quest
• Boinged to the College of Winterhold next and tpook five rounds of Destruction training with Faralda
• That took me almost but not quite to level 63
• Sold as much of the jewelry I had on me as i could
• Boinged to the Windhelm stables and confirmed Dwarven Horse was still there, and noted that I’d need to move it once I got to the point of winding the playthrough down!
• Returned to Solstheim, and dropped off remaining unnecessary things at Severin Manor
• Saved there until next time

More on Teldryn Sero

I got to see a few more of his lines in this session, though I had to do a little translation work in places to understand what he was saying.

When I went to Lakeview, Teldryn threw a line about being impressed by the house, and not having realized I was so wealthy. Heh. (Just you wait, son, until you see the rest of the houses I own.)

He was not terribly impressed by Whiterun, and noted that Blacklight was a real city. LOL.

He didn’t have any snark for Solitude per se. But he did note it as being the home of the East Empire Company–and he did have snark for them.

Overall, the impression I had of Teldryn at this point (an impression that has since borne up in running him in a Tuxborn test run) is that snark is a big defining aspect of his character. Or at least, complaining is! So I’m not entirely sure I actually like the guy. More on this to come when I post more on Tuxborn stuff.

Greatswords: not for Finds

I started off this session thinking I’d try the stalhrim greatsword I picked up, only to not really like it much. I’d forgotten that I tend to find Skyrim greatswords really clumsy, and more so now that I have ESO to compare to.

Also, it felt like Finds, as an assassin, would definitely not favor greatswords anyway. There’s not much subtlety or stealth to a greatsword!

How the hell do the Morag Tong know I’m Brotherhood, anyway?

This being the first time I’d ever brought a Dark Brotherhood character to Solstheim, this was also the first time I actually triggered the encounter of being attacked by Morag Tong assassins. If you trigger this encounter, the Tong are pissed at you because they’re legitimate in Morrowind, and they consider you an unlawful rival.

Which raises the question for me of, how exactly do the Morag Tong know you’re a member of the Dark Brotherhood? Realistically speaking, sure, every random guard knows every little detail of everything you do in the game! So clearly this same game logic is extending to cranky Morag Tong NPCs.

Narrative-wise, though, that makes no goddamned sense. I’ve always taken issue with faction-based armor in Skyrim, for that very reason. If you’re a member of a law-abiding faction, that’s one thing. But if you’re a member of the Thieves Guild or the Brotherhood, the last thing you want to do is advertise your affiliations to the world. Random Skyrim citizens should have no idea whatsoever that you’re a member of the Brotherhood.

And by extension, an organization of assassins that doesn’t even operate in Skyrim should have even less idea. The only way I can see that making sense at all is if the Morag Tong actually have spies in Skyrim explicitly keeping an eye on the Brotherhood… which, to be fair, is kinda plausible. Dunmer society definitely would encourage spying. And since Skyrim hasn’t exactly gone out of its way to make Dunmer refugees welcome following the eruption of Red Mountain, I could definitely see certain Dunmer citizens being absolutely willing to slip information to the Tong.

Especially in Windhelm. Where a Dunmer could easily have noted the unusual sight of an Argonian lurking in the vicinity of the Aretino house.

It’d be hilarious if Rolff and Angrenor in Windhelm, who’re obsessed with the Dunmer in the Gray Quarter being Imperial spies, completely ignored Dunmer doing actual spying for the Morag Tong. And it’d be extra special hilarious if Suvaris was in fact spying for them. Spying for the Empire? Oh my no. But spying for her own people’s assassins? Fuck yeah.

Also, clearing out Ashfallow Citadel on Solstheim gives the Morag Tong a built-in excuse to be very aware of the Dragonborn’s activities. So I could see any surviving Morag Tong on the island hitting the spy network as soon as word of the Dragonborn’s actions there gets back to Raven Rock. And then the Tong decide to take action, once they realize that the Dragonborn is a member of the Dark Brotherhood.

Though really, I’d think that the Dragonborn slaying half a dozen Morag Tong assassins in Ashfallow Citadel should by itself be reason for additional Morag Tong to come after them! But the attack encounter only triggers if you’re a member of the Brotherhood, so.

Shadowed Netch armor

During this session, I wore the Shadowed Netch armor for a bit. Glover had a full set for sale, so I bought it!

And I did like it pretty well on Finds. I suspect she probably appreciated the helmet, even if it looks goofy. Just because Solstheim has got to be hell on the Argonian physique. I mean, sure, the Hist bioengineered the Argonians into existence, and the lore does say that the Hist deliberately built adaptability into them, including the ability to regulate their body temperature.

But an environment being survivable doesn’t mean it’s pleasant. I figure during her entire time in her run, Finds had to be taking extra care of her scales in general to keep them from drying up too much in Skyrim’s cold environs. And more time on top of that, when she went to Solstheim!

And neither Skyrim nor Solstheim are exactly bustling markets for Argonian scale care products. Finds probably had to spend a lot of time at alchemy tables just making her own balms for her scales!

Put a Fork In It quest

I’d already established a bit of “find things I hadn’t done before” action in this playthrough by recruiting Teldryn Sero as a follower. But that wasn’t the only new-to-me thing I did in this playthrough. This time, just because Discord friend Mangouste had reminded me of it, I ran the quest called Put a Fork In It. This is another AE quest, to get the so-called Staff of Sheogorath. Not to be confused with the Wabbajack, the other Staff of Sheogorath! This one is apparently, lore-wise, the emblem of Sheogorath’s power.

So this made yet another thing I hadn’t tried before and which I was trying for the first time in a German playthrough. But since it didn’t actually involve talking to Sheogorath, that wasn’t as much of an impediment as you might otherwise think, since it meant I didn’t have to worry about parsing new dialogue.

The quest is trivial to start. You just have to find a note and the Fork of Horripilation in the Retching Netch, in Raven Rock. It took me a few minutes to find them, though. And I had to doublecheck the wiki to confirm that they were actually up on the ground level of the building by the door, not down in the main area of the inn.

The note–which was in fact written by Sheogorath!–instructed me to take the Fork of Horripilation and go kill a couple of netches with it. So then I went out netch hunting.

I had to kill two specific netches, too, so this wasn’t a thing I could have done just by finding the nearest passing netch hunter party. The first of the two was on an islet just south of Raven Rock, so I didn’t have to go far at all. And I was rather amused that the Fork could actually damage a bull netch!

But hey, weapon of Sheogorath! So who the fuck even knows, LOL. According to the UESP, Skyrim gives it a unique enchantment that’ll let you damage the netches–but afterwards, the Fork becomes useless. Which definitely is on brand for Sheogorath.

Overall, though, this quest was mostly meh. The Staff of Sheogorath does have a tasty enchantment on it, as per the UESP wiki:

Targets that fail to resist are paralyzed for 10 seconds: Paralyze in 75ft for 10 secs Stagger Push, 100 pts

But by and large I’ve never been much for staves in Skyrim. So doing this quest as Finds was mostly only interesting because I hadn’t done it before.

If you’re running a modded Skyrim and your load order includes Legacy of the Dragonborn, then both the Fork of Horripilation and the Staff of Sheogorath are displayable artifacts in the museum. So in that scenario, the quest is worth doing. Outside of a LOTD playthrough, though, I think it’d only be useful if you’re explicitly playing a staff-wielding mage and you want that staff. As always, YMMV.

Achievements unlocked

• Solstheim Explorer: For discovering 30 locations on the island of Solstheim.
• Soul Tear: For learning all three words of Soul Tear.

Achievements count as of this post: 54.

Language commentary

Interesting terms observed:

• Ahzidals Stiefel des Wasserwandelns: Ahzidal’s Boots of Waterwalking
• Schatzjäger: Treasure Hunter
• Todesmalstiefel: Deathbrand Boots
• Gesichtsausdruck: Expression (used by Revus Servani when he asks you if you’ve ever seen a silt strider before)
• Schlickschreiter: Silt Strider
• Stäubchen: Dusty (the Silt Strider)
• Einheimischen: Locals
• Tel Mithryn: Trankmischer: Tel Mithryn Apothecary
• Mistkerl: Fetcher
• Quellgewässer von Harstrad: Headwaters of Harstrad
• Hochmagier: Master Wizard
• Aschenwächter: Ash Guardian
• Diener(in): Steward
• Rätselhafte Notiz: Mysterious Note
• Gabel der Gänsehaut: Fork of Horripilation
• Auge von Ciirta: Eye of Ciirta
• Todesmalrüstung: Deathbrand Armor
• Stalhrimkriegshammer: Stalhrim Warhammer
• Leichter Stalhrimhelm: Stalhrim Light Helmet
• Ast des Baums der Schatten: Branch of the Tree of Shades
• Zweigling-Erdmutter: Spriggan Earth Mother
• Oberlauf: Headwaters
• Gyldenhulhügelgrab: Gyldenhul Barrow
• Blutschwinge: Bloodscythe (the weapon)
• Seelenreißer: Soulrender (the weapon)
• Aschenwächterzauber: Ash Guardian spell
• Stabverzauberer: Staff Enchanter
• Erinnerungsspeicher-Zauber: Memory storage spell
• Dornenherzkrieger: Briarheart warrior
• Wohlhabend: Wealthy (used by Teldryn when he’s admiring your house)
• Schwarzlicht: Blacklight, the city in Morrowind that Teldryn Sero is from

Elynea has a line in the English game where she bitches about Neloth insisting on her fixing his house:

That fetcher told me to fix his house.

In German, this line becomes:

Dieser Mistkerl hat mir gesagt, dass ich sein Haus reparieren soll.

And it amuses me deeply that “Mistkerl” is being a more direct profanity than “fetcher” is in the English game, LOL. Reverso basically translates this directly as “bastard”, “son of a bitch”, or even “motherfucker”! (Source) I suppose trying to make “fetcher” translate more directly to German would pose challenges?

Apparently there is a direct translation, “Holer“, but this has the meaning you’d expect in English outside the context of Skyrim. So it makes sense to me that they’d just use an existing word that means the thing that “fetcher” is being a euphemism for in English. It gets the point across!

I noted in a previous post that “Diener” is the translation of “Steward”, but I’m noting it again here because the objective to get Neloth a new steward explicitly used both the masculine and feminine versions of the word:

Finde einen neuen Diener oder eine neue Dienerin.

So I guess it’s nice that the translators tried to be gender-inclusive here?

Voice acting commentary

I already noted in previous posts that Neloth’s German voice actor decidedly lacks Dwight Schultz’s flair for the part, and that stood out for me again in this session. He didn’t sound nearly so lofty and full of himself as he should have! I’d be real interested to know if he comes across differently to actual German speakers, though.

Mogrul sounds not only different to me in the German build, but also actively weird. The German build gives him a higher-pitched, weaselly-sounding voice, which didn’t seem appropriate to an Orc at all.

Next time

Closing in on finishing up writing about Finds-The-Way’s playthrough, finally! After this post, I have three more sessions of hers to cover. And in her next one, I’m going to actually cover two of the three, in which I finished up all the side questing on Solstheim.

Screenshots

Editing to add

• 3/24/2025: Oops, left out the achievements for this session! Added a section for that to this post.