[Skyrim: Dragonborn] Part 7 - Heartbreak and Ash Spawn

Ruthlessly decided to ignore the main quest due to homesickness. I was actually tempted to jump ship back to Skyrim when I decided to run a few side quests around Raven Rock. I ended up undertaking The Final Descent quest-- side note, isn't that a movie title or something? Horror? Or am I just mixing up Final Destination and The Descent? REGARDLESS.

Got a cool blade, a Dragon Priest Mask, and a new shout.

Archery would almost break this game, if it wasn't for the fact that you need to know how to use it. For example, trying to get the chest in the center of the chamber and then frantically spam-shooting at the Ringwraith Dragon Priest caused my death. Hiding around the pillars and sneak-shooting him while Vorstag, Meeko, and Serana distracted him? Caused HIS death. I gave his awesome shock-empowering mask to Vorstag, charged Vorstag's Staff of Sparks up, and now can watch awesome Static Shock-like effects.

I also found a Black Book (Winds of Change) and pwned it, getting an awesome active effect where I can't hurt my companions even if they get in the way of my arrows.

I headed back to Raven Rock and ran several other quests, notably beginning March of the Dead, cleaning out the creepy Dunmer temple, and finding a folio of The Lusty Argonian Maid for someone who is presumably a lady of Raven Rock.

Near the end of this questing streak, I ended up finding a small house belonging to a Nord man named Hrodulf. And at the same time found a love story that breaks my heart. Hrodulf was obsessed with the the noises coming from underneath his house, but he finally figured out what was going on-- they were Dwemer ruins. He was on his way back to his lover Bjornolfr when he died next to his boat, on the shore, presumably killed by a Burnt Spriggan. Next to him is a gold diamond ring and an Amulet of Mara. Or maybe he was killed by a disease from the ruins-- he sounded fairly insane toward the end of it, and did manage to send Bjornolfr one last, bloodstained letter, after all. A letter that brought Bjornolfr all the way from Skyrim, where he was killed by bandits while trying to find his lover.

They're so close, yet so far apart. I want to at least reunite their bodies, but because Bjornolfr is down a flight of stairs, I can't, since the game mechanics don't allow it, and no amount of console commands seem to help. I finally gave Bjornolfr the Amulet of Mara and gold diamond ring, and moved on.

-- 131 hours in