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In Which Finds-The-Way Finally Finds the Dark Brotherhood
I have fallen behind on my playthrough posts again, in no small part because I’ve been in a headspace where I’ve been way more interested in just straight up playing. But I have continued to take notes for blog fodder! So here’s some catchup dating from mid-December. This is the Skyrim session in which Finds-The-Way finally gets to encounter the Dark Brotherhood. ‘Bout goddamned time, says Finds!
And there’s Thieves Guild action in there too, and the obligatory German language geekery.
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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.
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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.
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In Which Kendeshel Takes Fort Greenwall and Joins the College of Winterhold
This is a single-session post, but I had a lot of commentary on it, so keeping the length down by focusing on a single session! Main action here: setup of quests in and around Riften; getting Wujeeta to tell me about her skooma dealer; helping Largashbur with their initial giant attack; reporting to the Imperial camp in the Rift and getting orders to lean on Anuriel; blackmailing Anuriel for info; helping Hadvar’s squad commander the wagon for supplies; taking over Fort Greenwall; killing another dragon in Solitude; joining the College of Winterhold; discovering the Eye of Magnus (not to mention Jyrik Gauldurson) in Saarthal; taking out the Seducers bandits camped near Fort Kastav; and reporting to Hadvar to help him break into the fort.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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In Which Kendeshel Recovers Her Freedom
This post is the second of a series covering my playthrough of the Project AHO Skyrim mod. Spoilers major and minor abound here, so be advised before you proceed. Note also that I found at least two significant loopholes in the mod’s story structure, and I go into great depth about those here.
In general this post is one of my longer ones, so buckle in for a long read if you want to have a look.
If you want my non-spoiler take on the mod instead, you can find that in Review of Project AHO mod (non-spoiler version).
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In Which Finds-The-Way Joins the Bards College and Stops a Summoning
Catching up with my Argonian character Finds-The-Way in my German Skyrim run. Main action: getting Goldenhills Plantation, joining the Bards College, recovering Noster Eagle-Eye’s helmet, running Dead Men’s Respite, running the Over the Edge plot at Dragon Bridge, reinstating the Burning of King Olaf Festival, stopping the Potema ritual in Wolfskull Cave, and getting the Wabbajack.
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In Which Kendis Slays Harkon and Does Side Quests
Main action in this post is finishing up Dawnguard, then also doing a bunch of side questing. And forgetting that if I’m going to do the quests to de-wolfify Vilkas and Farkas in the Companions, and I’m on a non-modded build, I have to do Farkas first. Oops.