I'm completing the main quest for the third time ever, and this is the first character of those that has not and will not meddle with the College of Winterhold. I need to find Septimus, but I don't want the College. Is there any way to bypass joining the College and still get the information I need?

Needless to say that just walking to Septimus' camp is not an option. I may know who he is, but my character doesn't.

My first character, first playthrough, when *I* didn't know who Septimus was, found him accidently while exploring islands, sand bars and ice flows.

I thought it rather odd that I can suddenly ask him about an Elder Scroll.....

So you are playing a character that has absolutely NO curiosity and would never wander around just to see what's on the other side of this hill? Gonna be a boring game for you.

Pistolero didn't say that. He said that what he knows, doesn't necessarily mean that his characters has the same knowledge of Skyrim. So from RP-perspective it really doesn't make sense that his character would travel north just for the sake of finding Septimus if he doesn't know where to find him.

I don't think there's any option. I plan to do MQ with my current character as well once in the future and he'll probably join (because he'll have to) and once he finds out Septimus' whereabouts, he'll leave for good. I don't see any other alternative, maybe there are some mods out there but I haven't searched for them.

break from the RP and go to the grotto on your own. I can explain how I got there because of my character's curiosity, What I would have difficulty explaining is how I knew to ask him about the scroll. My only way would be to "assume" he suggested if I help him, I might be find a scrole. Or RP that he just up and talks about it.

Hmmh...

I think I'll just head on to Septimus' camp on my own. My character has discovered the location as I once stumbled upon it, so I guess my character would remember a crazy old man with a huge Dwemer apparatus with him. A bit of an excuse but I have no other choice. I really don't want to join the College since nearly all my other characters have.

For my last character that did this, I waited until she got a tip about a shipwreck along the coast, then from there, she wandered up the coast to see if here was anything in the area to be seen, and made her way north. That at least got her in the general vicinity for eventually stumbling on it.