Skyrim 100% Maximized Legendary Playthrough - 270. Ansilvund
3Today we visit the last non-quest locked location that contains a Stone of Barenziah, and that's the Nordic ruin of Ansilvund. We fast travel to Stoney Creek Cave, where it's just a short walk to the south. Arriving there we have quite the fail trying to silently snipe the necromancer standing outside, but we silently kill for fun, not because these enemies actually endanger us. So even if an assassination attempt goes wrong we can still take them out old school style.
Inside, Ansilvund is one of my favorite dungeons. I wish I could more properly define why some Skyrim dungeons are fun and why others have that, "Oh, it's just another X dungeon, more of the same" feel, where X is just Nordic, Dwemer, Falmer Cave, etc, but this one definitely falls on the fun end of the spectrum.
In this case part of it is the whole Lu'ah Al-Skaven story that unfolds throughout the dungeon. Lu'ah's husband, a Redguard, was killed in the Great War, and the Imperials burned his body. I guess Lu'ah was already a necromancer back then, because she's bitter it robbed her of the chance of trying to raise him. Equally bitter at the Empire's abandonment of Hammerfell, she's now seeking revenge. She's located the tomb of Fjori and Holgeir, and she thinks she can use Holgeir's body to return her husband to her (not sure how that works when the body is a desiccated draugr corpse, but whatever). She's also trying to raise all the draugr within to form an undead army to get her revenge on the Empire - standard necromancer stuff.
The dungeon has the interesting mechanic where Lu'ah somehow knows where you are at all times and will occasionally speak to you. Apparently she mistakes you for her therapist, because she'll use some of these opportunities to tell her story and vent her frustrations. Other times she'll just threaten you and raise a bunch of draugr at once to try to kill you. It's a cool mechanic used elsewhere in the game, but in this case where Lu'ah controls a bunch of other necromancers and the draugr they've raised, it poses the question of why she doesn't put the entire dungeon on high alert and send everyone after you at once. I know that kind of mechanic would kind of be unfair to players - at least for people not playing an unkillable demigod like our character - but I really would love to see it just once in an RPG. You go into a dungeon, tip someone off accidentally, and literally every mob in there starts rushing your position. I actually have a funny story from my World of Warcraft days along those lines, but I'll save it for another day.
I also like the mechanic where the solution to the pillar puzzle to open one of the doors is encoded in the book "Of Fjori and Holgeir". It's a little ruined by the fact that there are still carvings in the puzzle room that show you the correct sequence, just like every other dungeon, but it's still a nice touch. I know Bethesda wanted Skyrim to be accessible to a wide audience - and they obviously succeeded, based on its popularity - but I do regret the handholding approach it takes to its puzzles.
We finally arrive at the boss room, which is supposed to be this massive fight with Lu'ah as well as the raised corpses of Fjori and Holgeir. However, F+H die as soon as Lu'ah does, and she goes down to a single backstab from us, so it's a little anticlimactic. We're then treated to a scripted scene where the ghosts of F+H thank us for freeing them and give us the Ghostblade as a reward. Another trophy for our wall.
After looting everything we exit, and an Elder dragon immediately shows up to play. He makes the mistake - as many dragons do - of landing right in front of us. Two power attacks of our daggers, Feast and Famine, and he's just more bones for our stockpile.
We head back to Whiterun for the standard sort n' sell, and with absolutely impeccable timing the courier we've been waiting for to kick off The Wolf Queen Awakened is there to deliver the note from Falk Firebeard. So next time we're off to Solitude to take care of this quest and be one step closer to Proudspire Manor.
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