In Which Delga Visits the Throat of the World

This session was mostly about moving the main plot along a little further–and going to the top of the Throat of the World to meet Paarthurnax and learn more about what to do to stop Alduin!

Highlights

• Play date: 12/16/2021
• Session number in this run: 47
• Tried to boing from Solitude to Windstad–got killed by bandits as soon as I came out of fast travel, and got thrown back to just after coming through the Solitude gates
• So tried again, and this time Calder and I killed the bandits; I took out two of them and I think Calder shot the third one, but I couldn’t find a third one’s corpse?
• Did a little crafting and smithing; got Lyds to buy me more logs, but I was low on iron so couldn’t craft much besides a couple of decorations; improved a few armor and weapon items
• Sent Calder back to Windhelm for now, and boinged to Western Watchtower
• Flyby dragon
• Sold some stuff to Adrianne and Belethor and Arcadia
• Boinged to High Hrothgar to find out from Arngeir about Dragonrend
• Went up to see Paarthurnax; chose a few different dialogue options this time for variety! And determined that the “I don’t believe in destiny” option fit Delga kinda well in a “orc who makes her own way” kind of fashion
• Got Paarthurnax to point me at finding an Elder Scroll, and also meditated on Fus
• Got the Zelda easter eggs, and the Notched Pickaxe! Also mined the ebony and malachite veins
• Boinged next to Mzulft for convectors 1 and 2 for Arniel; picked up a lot of dwarven metal while there
• Headed south towards Shor’s Stone
• Mined iron vein
• Hostile creatures: three wolves, two cave bears
• Reached Shor’s Stone and was met by a courier! Had letter from Quintus to follow up on the White Phial, and also Letter from a Friend for Shriekwind Bastion
• More hostile creatures: three frostbite spiders, cave bear
• Killed by necromancer at small ruin west of Shor’s Stone; came back at the convector though, and then just went ahead and killed her (lady, I was trying to leave you alone)
• Got a few more bits of dwarven metal there too; went back over to Shor’s Stone to smelt them
• Went south to Riften, made some leather armor and sold a few things to Balimund; improved ebony boots for Calder
• Dropped off Zelda gear at Honeyside
• Boinged to Windhelm
• Scooted poor Susanna the Wicked a little closer to one of the actual graves in the graveyard since her body isn’t vanishing
• Then went to Hjerim and found a display case that actually took the Axe of Eastmarch
• Saved for the night

Commentary

Nothing hugely new here either, aside from poking around Hjerim a little further and trying to figure out where I could actually store or display the Axe of Eastmarch.

I found that the weapon had problems with display on weapons racks in Honeyside as well, suggesting that that weapon is itself buggy, as opposed to the weapons racks in Hjerim being the problem. I’ll be interested to try a few more weapons there to see if the racks hold them correctly.

As said in the highlight notes, the main interesting thing this time through about the conversation with Paarthurnax is that I took a few different dialogue options this time. I wanted to see what they were, and how Paarthurnax responded to my choices. The one I liked the most was the one where he challenges the player about why you want to destroy Alduin, and whether you have any reason above and beyond “it is my destiny”.

I went with the “I don’t believe in destiny” option, because it seemed actually appropriate for Delga. This is an orc woman who specifically bailed on her people’s traditional role for women, i.e., submitting to being one of potentially several wives to a chief. She made this decision even before she discovered she’s Dragonborn, which means that even before learning that about herself, she clearly believed in making her own fate.

And learning about her status as Dragonborn and coming into her power just underscores that. So that turned out to be a nice satisfying little boost to Delga’s narrative.

And oh yes: I’d like to note my vexation that I tried on the three items I stole from Ulfric, only to discover that the bracers are buggy when worn by a female character. I can’t see the entire bracers on me, I only see the part of them that covers my hands! AUGH.

Next time

Now that I’ve gotten the main plot far enough along that I’ve learned Clear Skies, the next question before me is what I want to do the most:

• Start Dawnguard
• Go check in with Delphine and Esbern and see if I can do some of the optional Blades stuff since that’s new to me still
• Proceed to look for the Elder Scroll
• Follow up on the White Phial and get that quest resolved
• Finish up the Lost to the Ages quest and get that last aetherium shard, and go visit the Forge

Not sure which I’m in the mood for yet! But it’ll be one of these things.

Screenshots

Editing to add

• 11/19/2023: Restored missing gallery, and added play date and session number markers.