It was his first mission with the Dawnguard, they were supposed to scout out the tomb of an ancient vampire in Falkreath Hold and exterminate it if it was still there. They had seven men including himself. Only three of them were veteran vampire hunters, two Nords named Karl and Sven, and one Breton named Elara. Sven and Karl were both suited in full sets of steel plated heavy armor other members of the Dawnguard wore, Sven wielded a silver greatsword and his twin brother Karl had a Dawnguard war hammer. Elara was a priestess of Arkay and a mage, she wore hooded monks robes over leather armor, and had a wooden staff with a round white orb set into the top. The other four vampire hunters had yet to fight the undead, but most of them had once been mercenaries. Except for Agmaer, he was just a farm boy and the other members of their group were quick to remind him of it.
The ruins they had been sent to investigate were north west of Falkreath, just off the road. The tip had apparently come from the Arch Mage of the college of Winterhold herself. However when they arrived all they managed to find were a few spriggans, which Karl was able to handle with ease.
"Well this was a waste, should have known better than to trust that damned mage." Grumbled Sven, ignoring the glare Elara was giving him from the entrance.
"Isran believed her, so I doubt her information was off. Maybe we are at the wrong ruins?" Responded one of the other vampire hunters, a Dark Elf named Relmyna.
Sven kicked one of the gnarled roots sprawling across the stone floor, "This is the one she marked on the map, so it has to be it right?" The question had been directed towards Agmaer, and Sven expected an answer.
"U-um-I-I think so, sure?" he managed to stutter out, immediately looking at the ground in embarrassment, and noticed something different about the ground where Sven was standing. Sven just let out a laugh at the novice's reply and turned to his brother.
"Lets get out of here, we're not gonna find anything and I want a drink."
"Aye, same here. But I'm not paying for you this time...eh what are you doing lad?"
Agmaer was on his knees brushings aside weeds and dirt, the other vampire hunters were know watching him chuckling to themselves and making snide remarks.
"Hey what are you doing Agmaer, did you miss your pa's farm so bad you wanna try and grow something here?" asked Swings-his-Sword, an Argonian in light armor with a silver sword on his belt and crossbow on his back.
"Hold on you all, I think he's found something" shot Elara, the only one that usually sided with Agamaer. He had cleared a good amount of the floor and Elara noticed there was something carved into it. "Stand back, I can handle the rest." Agamaer nodded and stood, trying to dust of his hands on his pants. Elara raised her hand and allowed a gout of fire to flow from her finger tips, burning the remaining roots and scattering the rocks and dirt. When the flames died out the carving was more visible, it was a large symbol of Arkay, carved into a large stone circle which was cracked down the middle. Through the gap Elara could make out a set of stairs.
"Good job boy, help Karl and Azurk move the stone out of the way." Azurk grunted ad went to one side of the stone, However Karl waved Agamaer away saying,
"Don't need help from some no good milk-drinker who's only ever swung his pa's axe." and with an oomph lifted the other half of the and rolled it out of the way. The stair case spiraled down fa enough that the bottom was obscured by darkness. A blast of cool damp air rushed up as though the tunnel was exhaling, releasing a breath it had been holding for Gods knew how many years.
"Well," spoke Relmyna after and uncomfortable silence, "anyone got a light?"
None of them had any torches so Elara led the way with a conjured mage light, the small white ball bobbing up and down as they descended into the ruins. Agmaer was at the back of their line so he could barely see the light, he was nervous but the darkness behind them kept him from stopping. They finally reached the bottom of the long stairwell, and passed though a small archway into a long tunnel with torches that sprang to life by themselves as they entered. He had barely made it into the tunnel when the exit was sealed by a set of iron bars that slid up from the floor.
"Damn it boy! What did you do?" Growled Azurk in his deep orcish accent.
"I-nothing!"
"Leave it to you to screw it up Agmaer." said Swings-his-Sword as he shook is scaly head in disappointment.
"But I didn't do anything!"
Sven strode forward and gave the bars a hard tug, "No good, they aren't going anywhere."
"Stand aside brother, let a real Nord handle it." Karl said with confidence as he pulled his hammer from his back. Elara grabbed him by the shoulder and shook her head.
"Karl save your strength, if there is a vampire down here then we can't afford to risk you getting injured because you wasted all of your energy on something like this. There is probably another way out further into the crypt."
Karl stared at her for a few seconds, and then sighed as he lowered his hammer, "Fine, after all you lot would be doomed without me to have your backs."
As they progressed through the tunnel they reached a massive iron door that was sealed by a large metal door bar. Azurk lifted it and from its place on the door and set it on the ground, then they stepped into the massive chamber on the other side. In the center was a pool of water that had almost dried up, but glowed with silvery light. Above it was a large ebony coffin suspended by silver chains that were bolted to the walls. Eight shrines to Arkay were set up around the chamber, faint beams of golden light shone from the shrines onto the coffin. On the other end of the room was a black door with another symbol of Arkay carved into it and to the right was a small room with a skeleton seated at a table. Sven was the first to speak. "Do you guys think inside of that is where the vampire is?"
Elara nodded, "Yes, but it doesn't look like he is going anywhere. What I want to know is why go through so much trouble to seal one vampire, it would have been easier to just kill it. Spread out and look for anything that might reveal a clue as to who is in that coffin." Agamaer separated from the group and went to investigate the skeleton. Looking closer at it he could see it was wearing rusted chain mail with some rotting cloth hanging from it in scraps. The body was slumped over the table and Agamaer could see a book was clutched to its chest. Carefully he pried the book from the skeletons bony hands and opened it. Most of the letters were smudged but still readable.
4E 445 Midyear 22,
I am Tobias Iron-Hand, Divine Crusader and champion of the Nine. It has been 2 months since I have sealed myself in this chamber to lock away the monster that would threaten the good people of Skyrim. His name was Surtr Ice-Veins and in life he was one of my closest friends and the champion of Cyrodiil. However, when one of his servants turned him into a vampire the kinship between us was lost. I could not best him in battle, he always was a stronger warrior, even with the relics of the divines I was only able to weaken him enough to seal him away. I have given the relics to one of my subordinates and sent him back to the priory, for I must stay here and pray to Arkay to keep the monster weakened and prevent his escape. My food supplies are running low and I know now that I will perish long before my foe. I ask those that may find this tomb leave while the can, for if the holy powers that keep him sealed fade, no one may escape from his terrible hunger.
Agamaer read the last sentence again and felt a chill run down his spine. He knew that none of them could hope to slay the vampire, and that the more time they spend here the less likely it was they would be able to leave. He stared walking towards everyone to let them know what he had found when he saw Karl bump into one of the shrines causing it to smash to pieces on the floor.
"KARL NO!" shouted Agamaer but it was to late, the damage was done.
"Huh? What is it now milk drinker?" Asked the nord, quickly realizing what it was he had broken. The rest of the group had heard the shouting and were coming over to where Agamaer and Karl stood.
"What is it? What happened?" asked Elara, before he could answer each one of the shrines stopped glowing and one by one they exploded.
"What did you do Agamaer!?" Shrieked Relmyna, and Agamaer quickly shook his head and said, "Nothing! Karl broke one of the shrines, but we need to leave fast. The vampire here is-" Agamaer was cut off by the sound of the chains snapping and the coffin falling into the water. The water was shallow so the coffin wasn't submerged, it stood straight up in the mud, and slowly the lid began to open.