Here are some of the best random encounters in Skyrim. In this list, I have included events that complement the lore and the stories of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Each and every one of these is unique, and I only will include a few that I think are the best.
Babette sneaks out for a snack
All of us have had the urge to go for a snack in the middle of the night, right? That is true with our friend Babette as well. Despite looking like a child, Babette is actually 300 years old. She was bitten by a vampire at the age of ten and retained the look of a child.
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Being a vampire herself, her palate is, shall we say, a bit eccentric. You see, she prefers human blood to what you and I might consider a snack at 3:00 AM. Assuming you aren’t a vampire like Babette here, that is.
You may encounter her in the wilderness at night, searching for something better than what Nazir cooks at the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary. This encounter makes Babette’s character less linear, and I found it to be a nice touch.
The Drunken Dare
The quest ‘A Night to Remember’ is certainly one of the more memorable ones in the game. The quest’s name itself says so!
In your drunken ravels, you may have done many things that you have no memory of. One such happening has consequences that chase you. You may encounter an Argonian who will demand that you pay him a sum of 10,000 Septims. That’s quite a hefty sum of Gold.
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While you were drunk, you and the Argonian had a deal. He was to steal a cap from a bandit chief in a camp, and you were to pay him 10,000 Septims if he succeeded. This is all according to the Argonian, though, as you have no memory of such an incident. So, he’s tracked you down for the Gold he’s owed.
Now you have a few choices. Either refuse and make him turn hostile, or give him Gold that can buy two houses in the game. You can also persuade him into only taking 750 Gold. That seems like the only reasonable option here, to me.
A Fan of the Gourmet
In your travels, you may encounter a passionate collector of herbs and ingredients. He is a huge fan of the Gourmet, an author, and also one of the greatest and most mysterious cooks in the province. The fan’s name is Balbus, and he wishes to meet the Gourmet face-to-face and impress him with the vast assortment of ingredients he’s collected.
If you’ve completed the quest ‘Recipe for Disaster’, you can tell Balbus that you are, in fact, the Gourmet and he will believe you. He’ll be quite ecstatic and give you the ingredients he collected as a gift. I like to think that you’re doing a good thing here by pretending to be the Gourmet. There is no chance that Balbus would actually meet the real Gourmet, anyways.
No one crosses the Black-Briar family
After reaching Riften and completing the quest ‘Promises to Keep’ in a certain way, you can unlock a unique encounter in the world. After learning about the whole fiasco regarding a horse from Louis Letrush, you can inform the matriarch of the Black-Briar family about it.
That is… to rat Louis out by telling Maven that he plans to steal the mare from the Black-Briar lodge. Maven simply orders us to continue on helping Louis, and she tells you that she would take care of the problem eventually.
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After the conclusion of the quest, a response from Maven is not apparent. But there is a chance you can encounter Louis on the horse he stole from the Black-Briars. Nearby, there will also be a hired thug who will say ‘Maven Black-Briar sends her regards’. And he will kill Louis if you don’t intervene. This is why you shouldn’t steal from one of the most powerful criminal families in the province.
Sond and Bottar
This is a rather odd encounter, albeit short. In your travels, there’s a rare chance that you might encounter two children named Sond and Bottar. These two fearlessly roam the roads of Skyrim and even serve as merchants. By paying them one Septim, you can learn about a Dwemer ruin that they explored.
It’s quite unusual for two children who don’t have much defense against the many dangers that await travelers in the region of Skyrim – and who wouldn’t want to see some of the most beautiful locations in Skyrim? But Sond and Bottar don’t seem to be taken aback by the dangers at all.
