Atreyu’s Photo Diary – Skyrim Part 27

Part 26 Here
Chapter List Here

WARNING: ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM SPOILERS!

Falmer, a Forgotten Vale and Frozen Foes

We emerged ready to bring our quest to a close. All we needed to do was return to Darkfall, grab the bow and be off again.
Some cultists had other ideas for us though.

I was starting to feel like I had made too many enemies on my unexpected trip north…

One of them was carrying a recipe for the Atronach forge, but I could not read it.

On the way to Darkfall, we passed a camp guarded by Vampire Thralls and Death Hounds.

I considered exploring the Moldering Ruins, but having learned my lesson from before, and believing we had more pressing issues to attend to, we left it alone.

I mounted Arvak and sped off towards Darkfall.

I was temporarily distracted by a large group of Forsworn who were stood at the side of a troll over two dead spriggans. It was curious, and I wondered why the troll seemed to be calm. It glowed slightly green, but if it had been under spriggan control, I wondered why it wasn’t attacking the Forsworn.
It did however decide to attack me, so I summoned Kenny to fight it off for me.

On further inspection of the scene, I saw three dead orc hunters scattered about the road. Clearly the Forsworn were watching the path and picking off lonely travellers.
I was still none the wiser about what had happened regarding the troll, but I couldn’t let these people go about murdering innocents.
Kenny and I slaughtered them all.

We reached Darkfall and I took the route I had previously opened. I saw the bridge which had snapped under my weight.

I imagined that the bow would be hidden somewhere around the altar I had discovered there. Instead of finding a bow, there was a new surprise.

A living snow elf greeted me.
He introduced himself as Knight Paladin Gelebor, guardian of this wayshrine.

I asked about the bow. He informed me that he could help me get it, but first I would have to kill his brother.
It was an unusual request, so I pressed for more information.
He told me that I would have to find five more Wayshrines in a secret valley, and fill a ewer with the waters in them in order to gain access to an Inner Sanctum where I would likely find his brother.
In the valley I would have to fight through the resident twisted Falmer, who he referred to as the Betrayed. Apparently, they had corrupted his brother and he was becoming as dangerous as them. He would have to be killed.
As far as I knew, these were the only two normal Falmer in existence, so it seemed poor taste to kill one of them, but it had to be done.
Gelebor opened the Wayshrine for me revealing a portal which would take me to a passage which would lead to this Forgotten Vale.

I emerged out the other side in another dark cave, though this one had a number of odd glowing plants scattered about it.

It wasn’t long before the beauty gave way to horror as an unbefore seen type of flying Chaurus burst from its cocoon.


As expected, Falmer also stalked the passages.

It looked as though others may have tried to pass through this way at cost.

More of the glowing plants. I decided to take some of the Gleamblossom to grow in my garden.

In these old caves, it seemed as though the Falmer had grown stronger than the ones I had previously met.

They had built huts from what looked like giant chaurus type insects.

I found another explorer deeper within the cave who had met his end.

I had noticed the traps too, but I was thankful for the hint that there was a secret barrier I needed to open.

It wasn’t hard to find after all and behind it I began to unveil the secrets the Falmer wanted hidden.

A interestingly coloured sabre cat. It didn’t seem bothered by our presence at first. But that did not last long.

The caverns opened into a wider space, with more of the amazing scenery Skyrim had to offer.

And more of the unusual animals.

Here, I found the first Wayshrine.

As Gelebor had told me, the spirit watching over it only saw me as a snow elf initiate on a pilgrimage.

He opened the wayshrine for me, so I could fill my ewer.

Inside it, a new portal opened alongside one leading back to Darkfall. This new portal would take me to the vale.
Serana and I entered.
The secret place, unseen by anyone but the Falmer for who knows how long was marvellous.

Here, the Falmer were at home and felt free to roam above ground. Yet they still were not welcoming to strangers.

I had to search about for the remaining wayshrines, finding interesting architecture and countryside.


There was also a large amount of precious materials to be mined here; gold, silver, quicksilver among others.

The wayshrines were spread out around the landscape. As before, each one I opened revealed portals to those previously visited.


Some travelers had perhaps managed to get this far before me.


This one carried an unusual book. I decided it might be wise to take it to Urag at the College of Winterhold to see what he thought of it.
I explored and found another shrine.

Grabbed my water and moved on.

The life here was unusual. What was that?

Whatever it was, it was not friendly.

It looked like a cross between a giant and a frost troll.

It carried an amazing amethyst.

It seemed a unique find, so I kept it.
I found the fourth wayshrine near a large frozen lake.

This prelate had gotten so good at opening the shrine, he needn’t look at it while he did it.

I walked further along and approached the lake believing it to be the way to the next shrine.
To my surprise, as I travelled across it, a pair of dragons burst from beneath the ice and turned on me.



They were a truly fearsome pair. The first dragons in some time that had provided me a challenge in combat.
I decided to even the odds and called for Odahviing. He did not come.
It was not long before Serana had fallen wounded.

After much healing and avoiding the flames I found the strength to call for Durnehviir, who appeared at once.
The dragon Naaslaarum seemed surprised to see his arrival.




The fight wore on and Durnehviir was beaten.

I was now alone fighting the two beasts.
Finally, their first casualty was Voslaarum.

Serana rejoined me and we were ready to regroup against the last dragon.

He was still a formidable opponent, but was unable to win now that the tide of battle had turned.



It turned out that the twin dragons had been guarding a word wall.

I probably would not have noticed if they hadn’t appeared.

The last wayshrine was to be found on the other side of a mountain passage.

As before, it was inhabited.

Here, the Falmer had made their homes among rickety bridges on high cliff edges and narrow walkways. This was a good place to practise some Fus Ro Dah.

Out in the open again, we found a Falmer village.

While I nosed about, Serana rushed off. I found little of worth, but I came out to this scene.

I’m not sure what had happened, but it seemed I had missed some extreme action.
I killed the Falmer who had Serana on the ropes and we walked on.
We left the village gate and just outside found a Betrayed that neither of us had killed.

Looking across the way, we saw who we suspected was the culprit.

On closer inspection the evidence seemed clear.

The giant warned us to back off. It seemed fair that it wished to defend its home, so we obliged,

We returned to the village and found that our way forward was through it.

Of course it was populated.

I found another of the strange books in one of the huts.

From what I could tell, it was the fourth volume, which meant I was missing at least two…
Moving on, we finally reached the last wayshrine.


We gathered the last drops of water that we needed and started towards the Inner Sanctum.




We found the place which would be opened using the ewer water.

Fortunately, it worked as it should.
Inside we were greeted by yet another unusual sight.

Frozen Falmer.

I don’t know what had happened here, but even their pet chaurus had been frozen in the ice.

Once we had begun getting used to the frozen forms stood all about like statues, we were once again surprised when once of the elves managed to free itself from its ice prison and attack us.

As I struck it down, it shattered on the floor, clearly not completely thawed.

Among the frozen elves were a number of dead.

They did not wake. We passed through the corridors with no further icy ambushes.

We came to a throne room.

Arch-Curate Vyrthur, Gelebor’s brother, sat among his statue-like followers almost as though he had been waiting for us. He guarded himself behind a wall of magical ice.

It turned out that his plan required that he get hold of Serana for her blood and it was incredibly convenient that I had delivered her to him. I however, was of no use in his plan, so could be disposed of.
He used his magic to begin unfreezing his people.



We defeated the first wave, so Vyrthur began pulling the ceiling down on our heads.

Then calling upon stronger opponents to face us.



With his guards beaten, Vyrthur attempted to crush us once and for all by pulling apart the entire room.

I was knocked down, but Serana came to my aid.



As I regained my senses, Serana ran off to confront Vyrthur, who seemed to have weakened himself.


At this point we realised that the snow elf was also a vampire, who had been controlling the Falmer, not the other way around.

He had felt betrayed by Auriel, and so wanted his revenge. That’s what this had all been about. All he needed was Serana’s blood. We were not about to let him take it.


He was a powerful warrior and fought well, holding his own against the two of us. Just as his followers before him, he fell to my blade.

I liked the look of his armour, so I helped myself.

As Vyrthur fell, a shrine opened and Gelebor arrived on the balcony.

Here he revealed the bow, finally available to be taken.


He told me that he could also bless elven arrows to truly unlock the power of the bow. I gladly accepted the offer.
I dragged Vyrthur’s corpse into the shrine. He did not deserve special treatment, but I did it out of respect for Gelebor, the last of the snow elves.

Now that we had the bow, Serana and I agreed to return to Isran, get the troops together and march against the Volkihar.

Before doing so, I returned home, having far too much weight to carry about. I left there some mementos of my recent adventures.

Part 28 ‘Prophecy, a Prison and gaining Passage’ Here
Chapter List Here