In Which Delga Defeats the First Dragonborn

As expected, this session let me take out Miraak and save Solstheim! Go me!

Highlights

• Play date: 1/24/2022
• Session number in this run: 83
• Did some crafting in Severin Manor to prep for going after Miraak
• Called up Dremora Merchant to sell him more stuff
• Slept the night, then got up to shop, and OH HI REVERED DRAGON
• (Geez, I can’t go outside on this island without a goddamn dragon showing up)
• (Safely dispatched same, though)
• Sold stuff to vendors, then proceeded out of town
• Khajiit near Old Attitus Farm
• Krosulhah’s skeleton dropped out of the sky by Tel Mithryn? Apparently the game still hasn’t cleaned it up properly?
• (Sidebar: definitely alarming to have an entire dragon skeleton fall down out of the sky in front of you)
• Hostile dual-wielding imperial south of former Bujold’s Retreat campsite
• Made it to the Skaal village, and shopped a bit with Baldor
• Then went to talk to Storn, who proceeded to meet his tragic end
• Frea sent me off to kill Miraak
• Went over to the temple like I did with Merawen and just read the book right there
• Got ahead of Iona, but that was okay, she wasn’t coming to Apocrypha with me anyway
• Miraak down!
• Returned to Skaal village to let Frea know; she gave me her final “don’t let Herma-Mora rule you” advice
• Returned to Raven Rock to clear out Severin Manor; bye Raven Rock! It’s been real!
• Back to Skyrim! Arvak’d to Windhelm
• Began circuit of selling all the things
• Hit all the Windhelm vendors after waiting the night by Niranye’s booth
• Arvak’d next to College of Winterhold
• Trained with four of the trainers (I’m maxed out on Phinis so trained with Tolfdir twice)
• Sold a bunch of stuff to everybody
• Paused to summon Dremora Merchant again
• Went to atronach forge and made some salts
• Arvak’d to Riften to have Iona stand down
• Sold to Balimund and Bersi and Hafjorg
• Dropped off a bunch of books and also the Stormfang greatsword at Honeyside
• Arvak’d to Whiterun
• Sold stuff to Elrindir and Adrianne
• Saved for the night

Commentary

So that’s three for three for defeating Miraak. Take that, first Dragonborn!

Getting through that level of Apocrypha, and the final conflict with Miraak, is familiar territory at this point so I’m not going to go over it again in depth on this post. Still though a few interesting notes I want to make for later.

1. Having a shield did seem to help some against Seeker attacks
2. When Sahrotaar gives you the ride to where Miraak is, there’s always a bit in the middle of his flight when he pauses to fight Seekers and Lurkers, and the game keeps telling you to use X to target while on dragonback; I have yet to try this, and should next time!
3. Getting that last word of Dragon Aspect and then actually using the Shout in battle with Miraak is very helpful
4. So is conjuring up a Dremora Lord! I had the spell, thought I’d make use of it, you ain’t the only Dragonborn here who can call in backup for help, asshole

Meanwhile, it does continue to amuse me that Apocrypha, made of endless stacks of books, nonetheless mostly lets you walk out of there with the same damn books you can find anywhere else in the game. There are a few notable exceptions—certain spellbooks, and also Song of the Alchemists—but by and large, if you find books as loot in Apocrypha, chances are you’re coming back out of there with five more copies of The Yellow Book of Riddles.

This does not exactly lead me to be impressed by the library of the Daedric Prince of Knowledge and Fate, is what I’m sayin’ here.

Let’s see, what else? I do wish there was some way to appoint a housecarl or steward to look after Severin Manor on the Dragonborn’s behalf, because it does seem kind of shitty to just vanish out of Raven Rock once you’re done saving the island from Miraak. I wish I could pay somebody to watch over the house for me and keep it safe for the occasions when I do need to come back to visit!

(Though I’m not entirely sure Delga would? Because Orcs? Kind of thin on the ground on Solstheim. The only other one of her people that she’s seen on the island is Mogrul, and he’s an asshole. So not exactly inclined to hang out with the guy.)

But once Miraak was dealt with, it was time to clear out the manor of all the stuff I wanted. And begin the circuit of visiting all the places to sell stuff off.

Next time

Finishing selling stuff off–and then, heading to the Throat of the World to see about that Elder Scroll reading!

Screenshots

No screenshots this time. I did take a few but they were variations of things I’ve already screencapped: i.e., the passing of Storn, and talking to Frea after taking out Miraak. So nothing new to show here.

Editing to add

• 11/20/2023: Added play date and session number markers.