• Skyrim,  Skyrim Together Playthrough

    In Which the Dragonborns Fight Thalmor and Rescue Esbern

    This one is way overdue, over two months at this point, but I’m posting it anyway to get it out of my queue! This is the last session Dara, Mel, and I ran in Skyrim Together Reborn, on December 3rd.

    This is all main Skyrim quest action, primarily featuring raiding the Thalmor Embassy, and then proceeding to rescue Esbern from the Ratway. With a side helping of general Skyrim Together shenanigans, as we do.

  • Finds-The-Way Playthrough,  Skyrim,  Uncategorized

    In Which Finds-The-Way Slays a Thalmor Assassin and a Cruel Headmistress

    Double session post for Finds-The-Way! Main action here: meeting Paarthurnax; running Volunruud; committing some light thievery in both Whiterun and Solitude; taking out J’datharr the Thalmor assassin; taking out Evethra the mad mage; acquiring the greatsword Shadowrend; showing up for a fishing contest and taking out the bandits who tried to ambush her; acquiring the hammer Nerveshatter; slaying Grelod the Kind at the Riften orphanage; and slaying Crowstooth and Alvasorr the Rat at Arcwind Point.

  • Kendeshel Playthrough,  Skyrim

    In Which Kendeshel Becomes Thane of Eastmarch and Haafingar, and Goes to Wyrmstooth

    Now back to Kendeshel! This is a mix of vanilla Skyrim content as well as modded stuff. Vanilla action includes some side questing, but also running Blood on the Ice in Windhelm; buying Hjerim; becoming thane of Eastmarch; taking out the Thalmor assassin threatening Malborn; clearing Lost Knife Hideout and getting the Headman’s Cleaver; retrieving the White Phial in Forsaken Cave; slaying Potema; buying Proudspire Manor; and becoming thane of Haafingar.

    This post contains spoilers for three of the mods I’m running in this playthrough: major spoilers for Legacy of the Dragonborn and Wyrmstooth, and minor post-plot spoilers for Moon and Star. Legacy spoilers are specific to the Excavation of Windcaller Pass quest, and Wyrmstooth’s spoilers are for the beginning of its overall plot. Read with caution if you’re not already familiar with these mods.

  • Kendeshel Playthrough,  Skyrim

    In Which Kendeshel Meets a Dragon and Begins an Excavation

    Time for catchup with Kendeshel and Legacy of the Dragonborn! Main Skyrim action covered here: clearing Kolskeggr Mine of the Forsworn; meeting up with Delphine and Esbern at Karthspire, and in parallel, running the Crypt of the Heart quest; going to High Hrothgar and meeting Paarthurnax; rescuing Gogh the goblin; running Wolfskull Cave for the Potema quest; helping out the Hall of the Dead in Markarth with a cannibal problem; and running Dead Man’s Dread.

    Also significant spoilers in this post for the Legacy of the Dragonborn Skyrim mod, including location of the last two members of the Explorers Society that I needed to recruit; further action with the Shattered Legacy quest; and the first part of running the quest The Excavation of Windcaller Pass.

  • Kendeshel Playthrough,  Skyrim

    In Which Kendeshel Becomes Thane of the Pale and Saves Esbern from the Thalmor

    Back to Kendeshel’s Skyrim playthrough. Main game action: saving Dawnstar from nightmares and becoming Thane of the Pale; beginning the building of Heljarchen Hall and getting Gregor as housecarl; acquiring Azura’s Star; running the Thalmor Embassy; and saving Esbern from the Ratway.

    This post contains minor post-plot spoilers for Moon and Star and Project AHO, involving characters you can encounter after running Moon and Star, and location of the AHO. And minor spoilers for Legacy of the Dragonborn, involving functionality available in the Safehouse and the locations of a couple of items for Tools of the Trade.

  • Kendeshel Playthrough,  Skyrim

    In Which Kendeshel Hunts a Mysterious Criminal and Lost Relic Hunting Tools

    This post covers running the Moon and Star mod’s plotline in Kendeshel’s Skyrim playthrough, and as such, contains massive spoilers for that mod. If you haven’t played this mod yet and think you might want to, you should hold off on reading this post for now.

    I also have up a spoiler-free review of the mod if you’d like to read that instead.

    There are also spoilers here for Legacy of the Dragonborn, covering how to find the Hall of Secrets and how to launch the Tools of the Trade quest to find a bunch of useful items.

    And since the screenshots for this mod do involve spoilers for Moon and Star, the screenshot gallery is password-locked. You can find the password at the bottom of this post.

  • Kendeshel Playthrough,  Skyrim

    In Which Kendeshel Takes Windhelm for the Empire

    This is a single session post, because I want to give myself space for commentary for Kendeshel finishing up the civil war in Skyrim–and also, for having significant plot kick in for Legacy of the Dragonborn. Side helping here of running more of the mage college plot as well.

    Spoilers here for the Legacy of the Dragonborn mod: services available from particular NPCs, the beginning of the “Shattered Legacy” plot, and some hints about backstory for Auryen.

  • Kendeshel Playthrough,  Skyrim

    In Which Kendeshel Fights for the Imperials and is Inducted as a Companion and a Bard

    This is a big chonky post, covering two days’ worth of action in my Legacy of the Dragonborn playthrough. Main items of interest here are beginning to find recruits for the Explorer’s Society; helping Whiterun fight off a Stormcloak attack; recovering a fragment of Wuuthrad for the Companions, and being formally inducted into their number; returning Olaf’s Verse to the Bards College and being formally inducted into their number as well; taking Fort Dunstad for the Empire; and recovering missing instruments for the Bards College; and finding the Minor Lord’s Mail.

  • Kendeshel Playthrough,  Skyrim

    In Which Kendeshel Joins the Imperial Legion and the Companions

    I thought I was done with commentary on Project AHO, but not quite. Got a couple more minor spoilery comments about the AHO in this post, pertaining to rewards given in that mod and how they apply to my playthrough moving forward, as well as Kendeshel’s mindset after her experiences with that plot.

    Also, spoilery commentary in this post about Legacy of the Dragonborn as well, as this features the Shadows of One’s Past quest for that mod.

    Aside from that, action in this post that isn’t mod-specific includes getting the Daedric plate armor, cleaning out the first Saints bandits camp for the Saints and Seducers quest, joining the Imperial Legion, joining the Companions, running Dead Men’s Respite, doing the civil war champions fight, and running Korvanjund to get the Jagged Crown.

  • Kendeshel Playthrough,  Skyrim

    In Which Kendeshel Returns a Horn, Saves a Tree, and Adopts a Daughter

    This is a three-session post, since a bunch of this action was my doing some followup with Project AHO stuff–but only because I wanted to find a certain character from that plot and get him stolen stuff. But I also saw another notable NPC from this plot back out in the world, and that has, shall we say, implications.

    So some minor spoilers here for post-end of the Project AHO plot.

    The rest of this action is me also getting in some standard early Skyrim playthrough stuff that I usually have done by now in a typical playthrough, but which have been postponed due to major mod action! Namely: finally returning the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, running the Mind of Madness quest to get the Wabbajack, running The Blessings of Nature to fix the Gildergreen, and last but not least, adopting Lucia in Whiterun.