Skyrim is truly a masterpiece in more ways then one.
Below is a picture that could prove it all:
A Mammoth taken down by giants, hmm interesting…
Anyway, Skyrim is truly one of the best open world RPG’s I’ve played in a long long time. With being the best it comes with some wrong doings. Certain “cave missions” are a little redundant and have a “so called friend” helping you doesn’t really help you much, but then there are side quests that could really have you at the tip of your thumbs (or keys) when playing them.
The Dawnstar Dream mystery has to be one of my favorite quests in the game “Thus far.” For people that are playing skyrim they should know that if the game is done “in a more straight forward manner,” you will find some missions a lot harder then others.
We here at Gaming@Play we are not the type to do anything linear. I had the pleasure of reviewing this game and i could tell you I rocked with hard missions down south first, before setting out to the north to become an imperial (if you’re wondering I just didn’t believe in the ways of the rebellion even though the Jarl of Solitude still wants Talo’s worshiped).
During the Dawnstar quest I happened to find a priest hanging around in one of the pubs in Dawn Star and so i decided to say hey lets take a go at it.
He asked me if I would like to help him solve a dream crisis that has been basically giving Skyrim nightmares for a very long time. He seemed to be a priest of Mara. So we decided to go together on a short journey to destroy a skull.
Side note: Some of the quests are hard to understand, but its all the more fun, because you start to “understand” a quest as you go through one. This makes it more fun for leisurely players that don’t care about a story, they just care about the game. It also makes it more interesting for the hard core gamer’s that want one hell of a story to tell their friends about, thus either way this game creates that type of atmosphere.
We continued our journey up the hills of a beautiful mountain.
If you look closely at the picture I am a battle mage wielding an orchish sword. The Sword has been enchanted with the power of fire, but I was out of soul jems to replenish its energy. with the other hand I have alteration magic called “Fast Healing.” This is giving a quick advantage in case I get attacked along the way. I am also wearing heavy armor which feels, well, HEAVY.
Side Note: Be very careful when choosing what type of armor you wear. Heavy armor bogs your ability to carry important items like dragon bones for main quest of the game. Even potions, books and weapons are harder to wield with heavy armor. You could just as easily kill an enemy with light armor then heavy.
The priest and I continued up the mountain till I coincidentally attacked him.
After attacking him. I quickly used my healing hands alteration magic to heal my partner. He actually thanked me in a rude way. In Skyrim you can quickly press a button and it will become a favorite magic so you don’t have to go through the main menu to access your magic. I have my favorite magic specifically designed to suit my needs.
Side Note: Make sure that you don’t favorite all of your magic, because some magic you just aren’t going to use. You have to use the magic that specially fits “you” as a character.
We continued until we got attacked by a snow spirit outside the cave.
I really wasn’t prepared for this. being a level 27 battlemage at the time I thought that I could take on anything. Well I was wrong. I quickly changed left hand to to congure a “fire beast” and then right to “Fire Bolts.” I shot as many fire bolts as I could still it was only knocking small points of health off of the spirit. I even through a sword swing with no avail. I thought “damn I was going to have to start this quest all over again because I forgot to save.” I quickly changed my magic back to “fast healing” and my “fire beast” kept throwing fireballs at this spirit, but still the spirit was quick and overwhelmingly fast. I sprinted around him and “shot a fire shout” at him. This significantly damaged the spirit. I noticed my health was getting low so I went into the menu and replenished my health with a few potions I had. Once I was back in action I switched to “fire bolts” and kept blasting them from afar. Finally, the spirit fell and I don’t know who had the last hit, was it me, the priest or the conguration? Whoever it was, it shows the strength of some of the enemies in Skyrim. No matter who you are or what level you are, you still are vulnerable to enemies.
Side Note: Don’t get down when you cannot defeat an enemy the first time. Only when you walk through certain doors does the game save. So make sure to save before you know your going into a fearsome “battle” or “boss.” If you lose the first time, you will know exactly what to do the second time. What’s great about Skyrim is the ability to save anywhere anytime.
As we continued I spoke to the priest and quickly made sure I had my quests in order.
Once in the cave. We have to find a book entitled Dreams (or something like that). The priest and I had the key to the library which had bundles of books mostly burnt. He instructed me to look upstairs while he looked downstairs. I searched like crazy through dozens of burnt books until I found the book we needed. I found it up the stairs along a narrow path on the left. Anyway, once I found this book I found that I was going to have to take this potion to put me in a deep sleep and release the measma while in the dream. This was the key to getting through the force field which led to the skull that was causing nightmares through Dawnstar. I was intrigued on how well this quest was being played out. My partner was actually helping me as to in the past, I did most of the work except in the werewolf battle (This will not spoil any of your gaming experiences).
After finding the book we went further into the cave to be attacked by a few enemies and find the potion I needed to fall into my deep sleep.
Once we continued I found a little area where I could make some potions and improve on my alchemy. I also found that ingredients were spread out through this part of the cavern. Hargravers claws, dragon flowers and more. Remember, I had heavy armor making it difficult for me to carry all these extra ingredients, but they were needed to become a good alchemist.
Side Note: When doing alchemy, DON’T BE AFRAID TO TEST OUT INGREDIENTS. When testing different ingredients you can find different potions that will substantially help you through important battles. You will find ingredients such as fire salts, moss and others. If you find the right combination you will find that you could create potions that will make you invisible during battle. You will find things that will give you that edge battle like you wouldn’t believe.
After drinking the potion something incredibly weird happened. I fell asleep to be in this alternate universe.
All of a sudden everything became blurry. People were talking to each other in a different sort of tongue at first. What I found really interesting is that the environments were the same as before (as in Pegasuses dream*). The stone floor was new and the beds were freshly made. The same cave I was in seemed to be completely different. I was absolutely intrigued by the concept and art. Anyway, my job was to release the Mieasma (I think that’s how it’s spelled) once I did that which was fairly easy. All it was, was a chain I had to pull. This allowed the priest and I to break through the force that was holding back the skull that needed to be destroyed. Once I opened the door, it became obvious that we were going to have to fight our way through to get this damn skull.
After the long and brutal undead fight I found myself at a enchantment station with the priest following.
Once the gate was open to take the skull and undo the odd ritual that was created around the skull which allowed the dreams to linger around Dawnstar I made a pit stop. During the fights I picked up a few common soul gems along the way. To enchant an item at any point in the game you have to destroy the item that has an enchantment. Then you can apply the enchantment to anything else that isn’t enchanted, anything from stamina to fire. Each enchantment has it’s own ability. If you enchant your sword with fire (using a common soul gem) then when you attack the person your fighting with that weapon will burn with every thrust. In this particular picture I really didn’t need to do anything.
Side Note: If you want to replenish a particular item of its power then you can simply open your main menu and press a specific key as long as you have a petty, common or great soul gem.
Got something to say? Go for it!