#ustengrav

RATING: 7/10

Sometimes I like to jokingly call a dungeon my ‘wife’. With Ustengrav, it feels very much like she is.

Every time I go to Ustengrav I am delighted and surprised by something I did not notice before. From the little chain I found in a room I’d never touched before that opened up a secret chest room to the fact if you get stuck between the doors when doing the Whirlwind Sprint puzzle there’s chains that open them, or the fact this was my first time taking it slow and doing her legitimately (and discovering her anew as I do) there’s always something to enjoy about Ustengrav.

It’s really one of the dungeons that makes you wonder what this tomb would have been like back then. And yet, come the end of the day, she occupies the same niche as BFB and the Thalmor Embassy; done over and over again. She might not teach as much as BFB, but the shout-puzzles are a good way to coax the player into using them with more frequency.

Tonight we're in Dragon Bridge, at the Four Shields.

Ustengrav was disappointing, but not a complete waste of time. We set out bright and early, all ready to fight out way through a horde of draugr. Inside, there's a stairwell that goes down a little ways, and then it opens into a large chamber with some pillars. We saw a pair of Necromancers controlling maybe a half dozen dead bandits. The bandits had pickaxes, and were digging at spots along the wall.

Of course, they attacked once they saw us, but it wasn't a hard fight. Taking out the magicians first made it easier. They had a decent amount of loot on them and some supplies, so we were able to load ourselves up with sellable goods before taking a look around.

Turns out there'd been a cave-in at some point, and any tunnels leading further into the tomb were blocked. Those necromancers had the dead bandits digging out the passageway down for them.

Damn.

Well, like I said, it wasn't a complete bust, so we went back to the house to think.

I can't sit still and think to save my life, apparently, so Lydia helped me build some weapon racks for the front of the house. We chatted about what could be done, and she said that I actually had quite a list of things we could do. I couldn't recall many, but she said that it was at least four times that.

I didn't believe her, but then Erandur started listing things off from where he'd been doing some alchemy in the main room. Valdimar joined in - He'd been going over the stitching on his armor at the table - and then Lydia kept going!

I admitted that all right, they had a point, I had a lot I could do. All I had to do was pick one.

Since they apparently remember things better than I do, I asked what they thought might have the best reward while I started loading up my pack with goods for Sayma's.

They said that since we were going to Solitude, we might as well start there. The biggest prize was probably going to come from the Palace itself, and Falk Firebeard did say there were some bandits that needed taken care of in a cave somewhere near Dragon Bridge.

So, once we crossed over to Solitude and finished with our trading, we set off to find the bandits.

I didn't know exactly where they were, just a vague direction, so we spent some time wandering around the mountain where we thought they were. A dragon circled us, but was thankfully focused elsewhere.

We found something that looked like it used to be a shrine, and, at the end of the road, the Thalmor Embassy.

As soon as we realized what it was, we turned around and went back down the mountain. I know Lydia and I didn't leave any survivors at Northwatch Keep, but I don't want to take any chances. There's another road leading to the top, so we'll try that tomorrow.

It started to rain, so even though it's early, we decided to come here and pack it in. No sense getting soaked through, then going up a snowy mountaintop to freeze to death while we try to find a cave.

At least we made out all right with what we got from Ustengrav and the extra books.

I do want to talk with Valdimar, but if it's something upsetting I don't want to do it here with a bunch of people around. Besides, he's clearly having a good time. He and Lydia are regaling Erandur and the other patrons with tales of what we saw in the Dwemer ruins.

I should start paying attention, though, because I know I didn't fight off THAT many Dwarven metal spiders.

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Ustengrav, with Team Dragonborn (3/3)