In Which Elessir Becomes Thane of the Reach

Super quick catchup post for Elessir’s Skyrim playthrough, dating from early March of this year. Main action here was a bunch of thievery in Markarth, but also becoming Thane of the Reach! Because Elessir is talented and can multi-task.

Play by play

• Play date: 3/5/2024
• Session number in this run: 47
• Picked up with Elessir in Lakeview
• Headed out from there to saddle up and ride into the Reach
• Saw the shadow of a dragon fly overhead as we got down to the road, but it was a flyby and didn’t attack
• Saw hunter and horse shortly thereafter; hunter was taking potshots at deer
• Passed the general area of skeletons
• Spotted Faldrus casting Flame Cloak, I think Faldrus must have taken out the skeletons?
• Saddled up again and rode onward
• At the crossroads near Hendraheim, found Sond and Bottar, so paid them to mark Deep Folk Crossing on my map
• Then headed on from there, and made it to the spot at the river where I had to fish up Ri’saad’s aged flin
• Fished that up and noticed Rigmor had run off
• Whistled for her twice, but she ran past me both times
• Finally stopped a short ways ahead, so I trudged over to her (overloaded at this point) and mounted up
• Rode into Markarth to sell stuff and check in with the Jarl
• Told Igmund I’d taken out the Forsworn leader as instructed
• Got the quest to get his father’s shield, once again at Dead Crone Rock
• But first, I needed to rob Ogmund’s house
• Got over there and told Serana and Lucien to wait outside–just as Ogmund showed up to go into his house, snerk
• So waited right there by the door until after midnight
• Then snuck in and nabbed the items for Vex–but also misinterpreted whether I needed to steal more stuff to satisfy the Bedlam Job
• So got out of Ogmund’s house and then went over to hit the Smelter Overseer’s house; got a bunch of random stuff from there too
• Then trudged back out to the stables to mount up and boing to Riften
• Checked in with Delvin and Vex to turn in their jobs
• Sold all my random stolen things to Tonilia
• Got two more Markarth jobs to round out the set
• Tried to boing to the Western Watchtower to intercept Ri’saad, but by the time I reached it he’d moved on a little along the road
• Tried to catch up but got attacked by a Dark Brotherhood assassin, so had to take him out
• Then caught up with Ri’saad’s caravan and gave him the aged flin to resolve his quest
• Got objective to ask Viriya for more fishing work
• For now though boinged to Reachwater Rock for a bit more fishing, to try to fill out the set of cave fish
• Got a direfish, but still needed a vampire fish
• Also got a bunch of random junk and got overloaded again
• Mounted up outside and boinged to Solitude
• Sold a bunch of stuff to Gulum-Ei
• Slept at Proudspire
• Got up in the morning and sold a bunch of stuff to Sayma at Bits and Pieces as well
• Then boinged to Dead Crone Rock
• Took out a few hostiles just outside
• Then got in and took out a few of the Forsworn inside the place, as well as the final respawned briarheart
• Got the shield and other loot out of respawned boss chest, then boinged back to Markarth
• Got in fairly late, so hit the Treasury House to do the new round of jobs
• Was not actually sure if I’d find anybody still alive in there, but did spot at least one sleeping NPC
• Nobody spotted me or Serana or Lucien though!
• And I didn’t even have to lockpick my way in, the door was open
• Got the items, got out again
• Rented a room at the inn and slept until morning
• Then checked in again with the Jarl to tell him I had his father’s shield
• Got permission to buy property in the city, so bought Vlindrel Hall on the spot and all its furnishings
• Also got pointer to become thane
• Already had 4/5 favor quests fulfilled, so went out to take care of number five and visit my new house
• Left the Vvardenfell glass helmet the Jarl gave me on the mannequin in there
• The fifth favor was easy: gave a gold coin to the cranky beggar
• Then reported right back to the Jarl and got thaned up
• HI ARGIS
• You look strong and capable, but I already have two followers, so my dude, I need you to hang out right there and guard my new house
• Boinged back to Riften to check in with Delvin and Vex
• Got special job to talk to Endon back in Markarth
• Got the fishing quest to make a feast for Gisli in Solitude
• Saved on the Riften docks until next time

Commentary

All of this was familiar territory, so not too much new to say for this post.

I will note, though, that it was weird that I kept calling Rigmor the unicorn and she kept running past me. I don’t know if the mod got confused as to where it thought I was in relation to the unicorn, or what. Or if it was confused because I was overloaded. Either is possible!

While robbing Ogmund’s house, I lost track of how much I needed to actually satisfy the Bedlam Job as well as Vex’s Sweep Job. I must have missed the notice that I’d satisfied the Bedlam Job as well? Pretty sure I didn’t actually need to go rob the Smelter Overseer’s house, is the point.

Which is not to say Elessir didn’t enjoy it, because he totally did. 😀

I did have a moment of oh right, though, when I found the guy actually alive (albeit sleeping) in his house. Because I’d also lost track of which playthrough it had been where the overseer actually died! I.e., it was Finds-The-Way’s playthrough where that happened, not Elessir’s.

It is admittedly hilarious to be robbing the hell out of Markarth while at the same time working to become thane of the Reach. Well, I suppose Elessir’s philosophy is, no better way to get to know a people than to break into their houses and steal a bunch of their stuff!

Next time

Elessir’s next post will feature more thievery!

Screenshots

No screenshots this time.