The Treasure of Riverwood Manor: Easter eggs

Easter eggs

There are many Easter eggs in this mod. You will likely discover most of them during the treasure hunt.

Books

M'aiq's Thoughts about Skyrim

There is a special book written by M'aiq the Liar. It contains numerous funny allusions to the developer Bethesda and the game in general. Reading the book will increase the Speech skill infinitely.

Skill Books

There exist five special skill books about the Schools of Magic. The names of the authors refer in part to famous real people, writers or musicians.

Chickens

There are a lot of Easter eggs in this mod that are related to chickens. According to an in-game loading screen, the chickens in Riverwood Manor's garden were once cursed by Molag Bal and are able to talk. They are immortal and selling rare alchemy ingredients to the player.

Many ghostly chickens can be found in various locations. There is a strange switch in the Ancient Well System that summons a ghostly chicken every time it's activated. As a side effect, the player's Conjuration skill increases very quickly. Up to ten chickens can be summoned this way. The summoned chickens then follow the player everywhere for a period of ten minutes. They can be killed but this may take some time as they have a large health pool. Attacking them will increase combat skills very quickly.

In addition, there is a Conjuration spell that summons a chicken that can be used to practice combat skills.

Messages from a Chicken

There are five special notes you may collect during exploration. Each of them is referring to chickens in some funny way.

Naming of NPCs and Creatures

Many names in this mod refer to the real name of the mod's author. So are the names Marcellus, Marcus, Cillian, Celli, Myrcella all modifications of the same French name or are modified or real nick names.

The Vampire Lestat

In the secret passage that leads from the lower rooms outside to the hut of Glasha gra-Morgul, there is a hidden character, the vampire Lestat. It is an allusion to the character of the same name by Anne Rice, also known from the film adaptation with actor Tom Cruise.

The fact that Lestat feeds on rats according to his diary is the exact opposite of the fictional character, where it is his companion Louis who feeds on rats for some time, which Lestat more or less makes fun of. Another Easter egg in this context is that the rats in his cell can talk and will greet the player when the cell is entered.

Tombstones

There are two tombstones in this mod. The first one you will likely discover in the sewers when entering the sewers on your first visit in Riverwood. The tombstone in the sewers has the following description: Jean-Baptiste Lully 1632–1687. When activated it will play a short excerpt from Lully's "Triumphe de L'Amour - Prélude pour la nuit" and an epitaph will be added to your inventory. Jean-Baptiste Lully was an Italian-born French composer, instrumentalist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France and became a French subject in 1661. He's some of the favorite musicians of the author of the mod.

The second tombstone you may discover in the Riverwood Cave. It has the description "Todd Howard 1971-2021" on it and is related to Todd Andrew Howard (born 1971). Todd Howard is an American video game designer, director, and producer. He is well known as director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, where he has led the development of the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls series. When the tombstone is activated, it will spawn a hostile ghost with his name immediately attacking you. A scripted message will say that you have to "defeat this bastard". Even though he's only Level 1, he has an enormous health pool of a whopping 5000 points and is equipped with a wooden sword. Although he will do almost no damage to you, it may take some time to kill his ghost on low levels. After defeating him, you can loot his ash pile for a note titled "Message from Bethesda". It refers to the 10th anniversary of Skyrim and shows a picture of Todd Howard and the quote "It just works!" a well known meme referring to Todd Howard talking about a feature in Fallout 4 in which he said "It just works".

Vanfriddh

Vanfriddh's name is a reference to the username of the mod's author. Furthermore, there are many allusions in this context to well-known memes from the computer game Skyrim. The fact that Vanfriddh got an arrow in the knee, as you can read in Vanfriddh's Journal and in the Strange Note, is a well-known quote from the computer game. Some books and notes in this mod keep pointing out that while Vanfriddh was a Dragonborn, he wasn't exactly a good character. So he betrayed his companions for example as you can read in the book "The Cursed Ones" and the treasure hunt, initiated by him through his note in the basement, may be a pain for the player and again and again he makes fun of the player in his treasure notes. Vanfriddh's Diary reveals a funny and absurd story about his pact with the hagravens. It also contains birthdays known by the mod author using the Tamrielic calendar here.

Wanted Poster

A Wanted Poster can be found in an end table in the house of Riverwood Manor and shows a picture of the mod's author's avatar.

Links

> Main Page > Player Homes > Quests > NPCs > Creatures > Equipment > Weapons > Spells > Books
> Ingredients > Potions > Locations > Special Features > Gameplay > Easter eggs > Changelog