After we talked, we split the remaining septims and went on our ways. Lana went up back to Dragonsreach, whilst I went to Arcadia's Cauldron to get some private tutoring.
It was pretty fun, and also quite hard. Arcadia was a nice woman, and was an expert in the art and science of mixing chemicals and essences. The shop always had orders in from the populace for medicines and soaps, and Arcadia let me sleep in the storage room. The hard part was coming to terms with the fact that I had to learn about an entirely new kind of 'science'.
The study of magic.
Apparently, every single thing in Tamriel has a certain divine energy called magicka in it. From mountain stones to master vampires. To use spells, magicka is collected from within and turned into spells through the use of concentration and knowledge of the physical world. This also applied to alchemy, where mixing the magical essence of different things resulted in different effects when introduced to a living thing's body. Some poisons, however, were still completely chemical.
Learning the two books I bought was also hard. It took a few late nights of study and practice to finally get it working. Oakflesh would allow me to protect myself quite easily without the use of heavy armour, and summoning a familiar can help me fight my battles.
Not to brag, but my familiar is one of those giant sabrecats. He's a very good boy, and I named him Bob.
I also bought a very basic set of armour from Warmaidens. A pair of padded baggy trousers, leather boots, iron gauntlets and a black gambeson. I sold my imperial gauntlets and boots for a septim. The gambeson came with a leather potion belt, and I lined it with a few potions that I made: a potion of healing, a potion of strength and a small bottle of paralysis poison.
After my tutelage had ended and three days had passed, I decided to have a look at one of the many billboards in the town for a job, as my coin was running low. The board was a little tattered from the rain, but there still hung a few posters. One job opening as a barkeep at the Bannered Mare. One poster notifying the public about a raise in taxes. Finally, one job to investigate disappearances taking place in the plains district. Ten septim reward.
Now that sounds interesting.
I took a closer look, and noticed that it bore the symbol of Whiterun on it. The poster described three disappearances of three people in the past two weeks. One man, and two women. They disappeared one night after the other, and naught but a trail of blood and cloth was left.
Before, I would have shuddered at the thought of taking on something like this. However, that was then, this is now. I'm confident in my potions, my sword and my magic. It's not like this will be much of a match to a dragon, so I won't get absolutely torn to shreds by whatever criminal or monster did this.
I hope.
I walked to the guard barracks by the city gates. The sun came out from behind the clouded sky, blanketing Whiterun's golden roofs in its warm light. The market stalls were bustling with customers and hagglers, filling the air with chatter. The guardhouse, which I almost never noticed was there in the first place, had an air of authority around it. The streets were quieter around here, and the piercing gazes of the guards stationed on the watchtowers enforced it.
I went into the guardhouse, and was met with one of the sergeant guardsmen.
He was a bald, bearded man, with pale skin and freckles. He was draped in the yellow and white scale armour of Whiterun's garrison, with a short sword hanging at his hip. He nodded at me as I walked in, eyeing the sword at my back and the potions at my hip. He took a sip of his mead.
"I've come about that poster. The missing people?" I said.
"Oh? That's good news." The sergeant guardsman said, his deep voice crackling like fried meat.
"What can you tell me about the disappearances?"
The guard raised his eyebrows and puffed out his lower lip with a sigh.
"Well, first off. We only find blood and torn cloth at the scenes of their struggle. The people missing were all young." The sergeant took another sip of his mead between sentences. "We've searched high and low for them, but we found nothing. We reckon they're dead."
Okay, now this is starting to seem a little scary. I'm sure I can at least spot the criminal as he does his thing, though. Don't have to get in to the thick of it.
"Okay. Where and when did the last disappearance take place?"
"Down one of the ways between the house gardens, by the Warmaidens. Five houses down and surrounded by tundra cotton. Can't miss it. It was just two days ago." The sergeant guardsman said. "If you're thinking of catching the culprit, staying around there at night might be good."
I thanked him, and left the barracks for the crime scene.
I guess its time for my first 'hunt', eh? Not to lie, but I was more pulled in by the reward amount. I remember doing that mysterious killer quest in Windhelm when I played Skyrim ages ago, and I found it fun. Well, that was in a game. This is real now, and I can't help but feel a crawling under my skin when I thought about what vile person would leave no trace. Well, it may not even be a person. Who knows what it could be?
I guess I'll find out eventually.
The sun reached its highest point in the sky above as I made my way to the scene of the crime. Just as the sergeant guardsman said, it was between two house gardens with planted tundra cotton surrounding.
There wasn't really much around to look at. Sure, there were darkened stains on the stone pavement, but I'm sure that no one would just let a whole load of blood and bloody clothes stay on the streets outside their house.
Or maybe the guards cleared it up.
Whatever happened, there isn't exactly anything around to look at. I guess I'll just come back at night like the sergeant said. I'll see what I can find then.
With that brief investigation, I went to the Bannered Mare to pass the time.
After a few ales, horker steaks and a whole load of honey-nut treats, the sun finally set and the two moons rose. It was a strange thing to get used to, seeing two giant moons in the sky. I'm not going to lie though, it's pretty cool to see. The skies are so clear, too. I spent a lot of time indoors at night, but this is the first time that I'm going to be outside in the moonlight.
I began to walk down the street leading to the Warmaidens.
It was completely silent, apart from the odd crowing bird and the scurrying cat. A soft breeze blew through, carrying with it the scent of soil and fertiliser from the plains district. Strangely, there were no guards either. My hair stood on edge.
Something is watching me.
I think.
Might be the ale. Drinking probably wasn't the best idea.
I looked around, eyeing the gardens and the tundra cotton. There was naught but a brown cat, which was sat upon one of the fences and looking up to the sky. I looked up to the sky too, sinking into the twinkling blue and purple blanket of stars in the sky.
You know, sometimes I think that coming here wasn't such a bad idea. Not that I had the choice, anyway.
Huh, déjà vu. Have I thought about this before?
Just then, my inner thoughts were interrupted by a quiet crunch of stone beneath leather behind me. I spun around instantly, reaching my right hand up to my longsword and readying my Oakflesh magic in the other. I eyed the dark, and puffed out a sigh.
Although it was dark, the moonlight illuminated the furry figure of a white cat. Wait, a cat? Hold on, I'm certain that I heard a stone grind underneath a boot.
Yeah, there's no mistaking it. It's a distinct sound. Someone else is out here.
I drew my sword with an audible ring of the steel and cast Oakflesh. From my hand, the crawling sensation of my skin turning to wood spread across my body as my flesh turned to oak. I gripped my sword with both my hands and took a few steps out into the open. I looked around, my eyes darting at every angle.
Just then, I caught the slight flash of chainmail in the light of the moon. The white cat hissed and scurried away. I found myself face to face with the sergeant guardsman. His face seemed to be twisted strangely, and it was much paler than before. His eyes gleamed with a hint of orange, and he stretched his arms out with a sharp grin.
Quite literally sharp.
Shit.
"To think you'd actually come out here at night!" The sergeant said with gesticulation. "The wolf slayer himself!"
"Sergeant." I said, trying my best to not let my voice waver.
"Scared?" The sergeant asked, letting his arms slowly fall down to his sides. He tilted his head down and looked up at me with a sickening grin, bearing his thick fangs.
"You should be."
I felt my legs grow heavy and my stomach begin to drop.
A fucking vampire. Why else would the sergeant have suggested that I investigate at night? Guards don't usually do that, right? They usually tell you to stay safe indoors at night. How the hell didn't I notice?
I squeezed the grip of my sword, feeling my oaken flesh press into the leather.
I need to focus.
"Fuck you." I said.
"Oh, now, now. There's no need to curse!" The vampire sergeant said, lurching his head up to the sky.
Suddenly, his expression was as blank as slate. He peered at me with a gaze of ice, before speaking in a perfect Nordic accent. "Disrespect the law, and you disrespect me."
I held back my urge to run away as he pierced his eyes into my soul. No words came to my mouth, and I felt as if I were frozen in place. There was no doubt he could kill me in an instant. I really shouldn't have taken this quest.
The sergeant took a few steps back, switching back to his disgusting grin.
"Of all the prey I've come across, you're the most foolish yet brave out of all of them." The sergeant hissed. "They usually run by now, and that's when I tear their spine out."
He gestured the action with his hand, tensing his forearm to reveal an unnatural array of veins and muscle.
"Monster." I said.
It was very hard to think of what to say. My fight or flight response was jumping all over the place.
"I'm not a monster, wolf slayer." The sergeant said, his face drawing a serious expression. "I'll die if I don't eat."
The sergeant began to walk around, gesticulating and slowly walking around as if talking to a huge audience.
"It's all natural. The wolf eats the rabbit. The bear eats the wolf. The human eats the bear, and the vampire eats the human." The sergeant said. "The cycle of life, my brave fellow!"
"I don't care." I said.
"Well, clearly you do! I can smell it."
Shit. The smell of fear is probably leaking from me.
"Oh well, young lad. Enough talk. I'm starving." The sergeant said.
With those last words, he suddenly lurched. The next thing I knew, I was thrown backwards. I felt my body slam into the stone with a thud, and pain shot throughout my back and chest. I painfully scrambled to my feet, and looked down for a brief moment.
There was a huge tear in the centre of my gambeson, with drips of blood pouring out from a splinter of my oaken flesh. I looked up, eyeing the glistening white teeth and piercing orange eyes through the shadow of the nearby house. The sergeant's chainmail rustled as he slowly walked towards me.
I threw my hand down with a thunderous crack as I tore a hole in reality. Almost immediately, my sabrecat familiar, Bob, came pouncing out of oblivion. Bob closed the distance instantly, and jumped at the vampire's neck. I watched the sergeant's surprised expression as he tried to duck away, only to take the full weight of the ethereal sabrecat on him.
As they struggled, I stumbled forward while popping the cork off my health potion. I gulped it down, feeling the heat and tearing pain as the gash in my wooden chest closed. By coincidence, my flesh began to return to normal as well.
Suddenly, Bob was thrown off the sergeant. The sabrecats skidded backwards, landing perfectly beside me. It let out a stomach-churning roar, filling the streets with its sound. We came to an impasse, staring each other down.
"I didn't hear anything about you being able to use conjuration magic, wolf slayer." The sergeant sharply said, his voice crackling.
"Scared of cats, vampire?" I said, drawing a disgusting grin across my face.
That's a bad habit of mine. Grinning during fights. The sergeant definitely wasn't a fan of it.
The sergeant hissed, furiously lurching forward again. This time, I was ready.
I ducked to the side, feeling a powerful rush of air fly over my buzzcut head. I swung my sword up, catching the vampire at his wrist. It cut deep, just enough to reach the bone. I lunged backwards, watching as Bob pounced at the sergeant. There was a thunderous crack as the vampire shoved his fist into the sabrecat's ribcage, sending it back to oblivion.
"It's just me and you now, lad!" The sergeant yelled, closing the distance between us almost immediately.
I did what I always do, and thrusted my sword forward. I pierced the air as the vampire stepped to the side, throwing his clawed fist at my face. I yanked my hand towards my face, deflecting his claws off my iron gauntlets just in time. I skidded as the impact sent me backwards, and blood streamed off my cheek as one of his nails caught it.
Just then, I found myself with my back against the city wall. I darted my eyes around, finding no ways of escape. No matter where I run, there'd be no escape anyway. Not with this monster.
Shit. I'm going to die here. It's only been what, four days? Fuck.
There was a thud, and the sergeant recoiled. I watched as he slowly turned around to face the alleyway. There was a bolt with purple fletching sticking out of his back. I looked beyond the vampire, eyeing the silver glint of an axe in the moonlight.
It's the Dawnguard.
There was a click, and another bolt shot out at the vampire. The bolt slammed into the sergeant's chest, catching him by surprise and sending him stumbling back. I took my chance, and ran towards the vampire with my sword pointed forward. The sword pushed against my hand as its tip smashed into his back, struggling to pierce through the chainmail that the sergeant wore. The vampire grunted, spinning around to confront me. I stumbled back, and just then I felt my magic return to me.
I threw my hand up into the air, and reality tore open. The sergeant looked up and his eyes widened.
"Die, scum!" I yelled out as Bob came falling through the tear in reality towards the sergeant.
The entire weight of the sabrecat pushed the vampire to his knees as he found his head within its mouth. The sabrecat flailed its head violently, slowly beginning to sever the vampire's head from his neck.
With a spray of blood and the thud of a head hitting the floor, it was over.
It was also disgusting.
I hunched over, catching my breath.
"You. You're definitely Dawnguard material." A deep and gritty voice sounded out from the alleyway.
A big man stepped out from the shadows and into the moonlight. He had green skin and two pointy teeth sticking out from his lower mouth. His hair was grey and knotted into a ponytail, and his darkened iron lamellar plates rustled as he came to a stop by the vampire's body. He sheathed his crossbow at his waist, and folded his arms.
"Stand tall, man. You ended that scum rightly." The orc said.
I puffed out a few more breaths before standing straight. I felt a few nudges as Bob came and rubbed its ethereally furry cheek against my leg. The orc looked at me with a grin.
"Good man."
"You with the Dawnguard?" I asked, sheathing my sword and patting Bob on the head.
"I am. We're vampire hunters. We search and destroy bloodsucking scum wherever we find them. Just like this one." The orc said, pointing down at the mutilated corpse and the bits of sizzling flesh scattered around.
Jeez. You know, I'm glad my familiar is my familiar. I wouldn't want to go like that.
"I figured." I said. "How did you know where to find us?"
"It's easy. These lesser vampire scum always use trickery to get their pray. I heard word on the road about some missing people with no trace left behind. Some investigation here and there, and I find that nobody has ever seen a certain guard here in the city before." The orc said.
Oh, that makes sense. I forget that there's not always a straight questline here. Anything can happen, and I can talk to anyone too.
"Fair enough. What's your name?" I said, patting Bob on the head as it slowly disappeared back to oblivion.
"Durak. What's yours?"
"Josh."
Durak held his hand out.
"The Dawnguard is looking for anyone willing to fight against the growing vampire menace. What do you say, Josh?"
Let's think about this. It would be useful to get trained enough to be able to fight vampires comfortably. I'd probably get to travel around a lot, which means more information collection about where this champion of Sheogorath is. I'd also get a free place to stay with nice scenery, which is cool. Oh, and I might meet Serana. I remember her.
The downside, however, is that I risk my life and limb fighting and hunting vampires much stronger than the one I just faced. I'm going to have to go through hellish training and conditioning to be able to match them, and not to mention all the vampiric gargoyles and death hounds.
Well. It's not like I have anything better to do.
I reached my hand out and clasped his forearm.
"You can count me in, Durak." I said.
"Hah! Isran's going to like you. I was going to head back there now anyway, so let's go." Durak said. "Got any belongings?"
"Nope. This is all I have." I said.
"Nothing left to lose, eh? All the more reason to join the fight." Durak said.
And with that, we began to leave.
After leaving an informative letter to Lana at Dragonsreach and leaving the vampire's remains with the guards, we made our way to the stables. The tired stables owner was more than awake and happy to sell us a horse once Durak waved a few septims his way. Durak had his own horse, and I now had my own horse too.
I totally didn't name her Cat.
I'd never ridden a horse before, so the journey was quite a challenging one. My legs and core were burning, and not to mention that my gluteus maximus was aching. I honestly had a better time riding in the personnel carriers back in military academy in my old world.
Despite the distracting aches, I learnt much about the Dawnguard whilst we made our way to Riverwood to stop for the rest of the night.
The Dawnguard were quite wealthy, despite the fact that their fort was in ruins. The money they made selling stuff like vampire dust to alchemists and scrap hound collars to smelteries made them their wealth. Not to mention all of the loot they get from clearing out the occasional vampire cave. Vampire hunting seemed to be a profitable business.
There were also several more members, with a garrison of thirty men and women and two offensive divisions of ten skilled vampire hunters each.
We reached Riverwood in the earliest hours of the morning, and stayed at The Sleeping Giant Inn till dawn. It was nice to see familiar faces as we were leaving. The garrison reinforcements had also arrived a few days ago, and a number of guardsmen walked around with their eyes on the skies.
As we rode out, I eyed a number of shabbily dressed men and women in wooden stocks. They had bits of food and dirt across their faces and hands, which stuck out from the pillory. A lifeless expression was present across their soiled faces.
Oh, I see.
The bandits from the mine. Looks like those few words I said at Dragonsreach got here really quickly. The influence a few well placed words here and there can do is scary. I really need to get it into my head that things work like real life here.
Oh wait, it is real life.
The journey from Riverwood to Riften was quite long and uneventful. After crossing a river and entering the forests, we'd just about reached Riften as the moon began to rise. Durak said that we'd continue riding, since the fort was only half an hour away.
Eventually, we made it to Dayspring Pass. It was a small little crevice lit by a brazier between the mountain rocks, just wide enough for us to lead our horses in on foot. I stared in awe at the beauty of the canyon.
It was full of life, despite it being night time. Small little yellow glowing bugs floated around, illuminating the cavernous surroundings. There were loads of yellow and red trees, with red bushes at their base. The two moons rested its gentle light across the rest of the uncovered canyon, presenting Fort Dawngaurd's stone walls in all its crumbling glory.
We took a scenic route through the cave, winding around a road and coming out into the open. The night garrison looked down at us as we made our way up the path, waving at Durak. Durak waved back. I also waved, because why not.
We had officially made it to Fort Dawnguard.
A new life awaits.
A/N: Hey everyone, thanks for all the support. As usual, a new chapter will be out sometime next week. Stay tuned.