Doing All the Things: Skyrim Edition Pt. 2 - Picking Sides

It's been a while since I last checked in with my magical romp through Skyrim, and I have good news! Run-ins with spiders have been far and few between since then. Sure, there has been the occasional one to show up at the most horrible time ever (I'm looking at you, dropping-down-from-the-ceiling-spider in that one room in Hag's End...well, not looking looking, because ew...), but other than that it's been surprisingly arachnid free, so hurray! Instead, I've had an exciting week of exploring Dwemer ruins, collecting more books, and even picking sides.

The more one wanders Skyrim's countryside and discovers yet more ruins, caves, forts, and so forth, it really drives home just how much there is to do in the game. I've been spending a lot of time around Solitude in particular and it is just a massive cluster of places to go do stuff. Usually killing stuff, but stuff nonetheless.

Approaching Fort Dawnguard

Oddly, the most fun I've had in the region wasn't even a physical place, but being trapped in the mind of a long-dead Septim emperor, Pelagius III. Sheogarath, Daedric Prince of Madness, was paying him a visit, and I wound up getting swept up into the whole thing, hanging out with the daedra for a bit. Sheogarath really is one of my favorite characters in video games. He has a ton of personality, and he's mildly insane himself, so you just know you're in for a fun time with him around. Someone really needs to make a buddy cop drama starring this guy and a Malkavian vampire as his partner. Oh, the hijinx they could get up to together...

Running the gauntlet of tasks Sheogarath had me do was simple enough, and he even gave me his magical Wabbajack staff after. I'm not sure if it's officially a daedric weapon or not, but if it works remotely similarly to how it did in Pelagius' mind the results will be random. I'm almost afraid to actually try and use it. My luck I'll shoot someone and they'll turn into a spider.

When not in the mind of dead emperors or seeing all the sights and sounds around Solitude, I've been dashing to and fro trying to get to as many of the major cities as possible. So far, I've made it to Windhelm, Dawnstar, Falkreath, Morthal, and even Riften. There was no real logic to where I was going. It was mostly a matter of thinking to myself, "I'm gonna gooooooo... here next."

Poor guy lost his mammoth buddy. Almost want to give
him a hug...

My time in Windhelm did get me thinking about which side I wanted to take in the civil war, however. It's the home town of Ulfric Stormcloak, leader of the rebellion, after all. At the beginning of the game, we don't really know much about the Stormcloaks. It's just a bunch of their leaders getting ready to be executed. The whole situation probably got more than a few people thinking, "Hell, yeah! I'm going to be a freedom fighter and join these guys! We'll show those evil Imperials!"

Not so fast.

Upon entering Windhelm it's hard not to feel that things aren't quite right. There are a pair of Nords giving a Dark Elf a hard time, and even when they're done, if you walk a little further into the city you'll find yourself in The Gray Quarter. That area of Windhelm is bleak, and one quickly realizes that the Stormcloaks are a bunch of bloody racists. Have a chat with Ulfric and you can see that this attitude runs all the way to the top.

After seeing all of this, I decided that I wanted no part in his "Skyrim for the Nords" über alles nonsense. So, off I went back to Solitude for a visit with General Tullius so that I could help the Imperials instead. The Empire isn't without its flaws, but on the whole I think they'd do a better job of running Skyrim than Ulfric and his cronies.

Badassed, deep-voiced chit chat time!

The decision wasn't quite as easy when I started having dealings with the Dawnguard. When the time came to choose whether to be a vampire or a vampire hunter it took a while to make up my mind. While it is tempting to become a creature of the night, I've always been a bit lazy about the upkeep involved in a busy vampire lifestyle. Having to constantly run around feeding on people would eat into valuable Dwemer ruin exploration time, and we can't have that. Moreover, vampires tend to be much more in-your-face in how they approach combat what with their shapeshifting and blasting magic all over the place. By contrast, going the vampire hunter route would jive with my stealthy rogue ranger approach a lot more, not to mention it gives me an excuse to use a crossbow, which is pretty sweet.

So far, it sounds like I already had my mind made up, and it really shouldn't be that hard of a decision. However, there was one spanner in the works that was tripping me up: Serana. Upon meeting her, and freeing the young lady vampire from her prison, she was strangely likable. Every other vampire I'd come across thus far would have liked nothing better than to kill me on the spot, but here she was up for conversation, and generally came off as a pretty nice person.

What an unfortunate way for a
horse to die...

After escorting her back to her family's castle and meeting her dad, I was forced to make my choice as to which side I would take in the vampire conflict. My biggest worry was that the only way I'd get to do more quests with Serana would be to join the vampires, and, really, her dad's a bit of a dick as it is, so I was becoming even less inclined to join their ranks. Nonetheless, the perceived loss of Serana from my group did make me pause for a moment before choosing sides.

In the end, I decided to stay with the Dawnguard, as their playstyle seemed far more up my ally. I went back to the fortress to talk with Isran and we continued to rebuild his forces, and with the vampires in possession of an Elder Scroll, we'd need to hurry up and get the guard back to full strength. As luck would have it, Serana eventually came to Fort Dawnguard to help us. It was a huge relief, as now we can quest together again, so I'm quite pleased about that.

Sheogarath.  Great Daedric Prince, or greatest Daedric Prince?

Where my travels will take me next, I'm not quite sure. The more places I go, the more things I wind up putting on my plate. I've got a civil war to fight, a vampire plot to foil, a ghost needs my help scouring dwarven ruins, an ancient amulet to rebuilt, tasks to complete for the Greybeards, and the list just keeps on going. I'm actually half tempted to put all of that on hold, and go help out the Thieves Guild in Riften for a bit. Whatever direction I take, I'll be sure to keep you updated in my next installment of this series.

Other Installments of Doing All the Things: Skyrim Edition

- Part One: Getting Started
- Part Two: Picking Sides
- Part Three: Of Werewolves and Vampires
- Part Four: The F Words
- Part Five: Parenthood
- Part Six: Doing all the Things was a Terrible Idea