Ok so when I first posted this story back in June 2020 I did not add any author notes, now I am going to put one in for anyone coming into this story for the first time.
Welcome to my Skyrim fic. This story will focus on the Dawnguard DLC. Along the way, I plan to put in other stories that will help flesh out characterization in others, most notably the Dragonborn.
Who is our Dragonborn for this story? According to the description, he is not exactly a Noble Nordic Warrior. I shall explain a little more till the end of this chapter.
Please enjoy and review, I love to hear your thoughts and ideas.
Beware the Dragon's Wrath
Chapter 1: The Dragonborn Comes
The cold dry air breezed through the snowy tundra, the forests lush with green and flowing rivers, the mountains pierced into the clouds. As it always has been in the harsh lands of Skyrim.
The morning sun rose from the East, in the Dawnstar hold, someone stepped out of the Windpeak Inn. An Imperial male named Ren, an odd name for an Imperial. But it was his to keep.
He donned a black-cloaked cuirass, along with black fingerless gloves and boots. A hood covered his head and a mask hiding the lower half of his face. His black fringe curtained his onyx eyes. He sported a bandolier filled with knives, a quiver of arrows on his back with a bow strapped to the body. And finally, he had a sword attached to his waist.
As he stepped down from the inn's entrance, a guard was coming his way. And the guard, in fact, was not a Pale guard, but an Imperial Soldier. He was on his routine patrol and boredom and stagnation can get to a fellow.
"Someone stole your sweetroll traveler?" The guard said to Ren as he passed through. Ren could not be bothered by the jab. He made his way to the side of the inn where his horse was waiting for him. The dark horse Allie from Whiterun. Now on horseback, the hooded Imperial started to head south.
It has been about two years since Ren first stepped foot in Skyrim. He came into the northern lands of Tamriel for his own agenda. And after he had done what he sought out to do, he was ready to return to Cyrodiil. But in a terrible twist of fate, instead of crossing the border, he ended up in a carriage headed for Helgen.
And long after, Ren had fulfilled his destiny to defeat Alduin the World-Eater, for he was the Dragonborn.
After Alduin's death, however, Skyrim had not changed much. The state of unrest did not stop, the ceasefire would not last for long. With the agreement from the council at High Hrothgar, the Stormcloaks took over Markarth while the Empire had Dawnstar and Winterhold. As for Ren, he wanted no part of it. While in truth he did not agree with the Stormcloaks, he had no interest in siding with the Empire for the civil war.
And while across Skyrim the people have sung praises for the Dragonborn, he never felt deserving of such noble and grand treatment. He never saw himself as a good person, not when the reason he came to Skyrim in the first place was not righteous at all. He did not come to Skyrim to make a new living, or to find glory amongst noble causes. And it was certainly not to fight the World-Eater.
He came to Skyrim for revenge. That was what he sought for his whole life, nothing but revenge. Wrath was all that he was. And when revenge has been attained, there was nothing left inside him.
Until his prophecy had been unfolded, to fight Alduin as Dragonborn and save everyone, which he did. His journey as the Dragonborn did change him for the better in some way, but when it was all over the nothingness he had before came back.
All he had been doing thus far was going for bounty after bounty, taking up any work he can. It was stagnating for him, empty and hollow. He really needed something more in his life now.
It was not long however till something caught his attention, in the distance, thick smoke was rising. Ren's eyes squinted in suspicion. His horse galloped faster towards it, judging from where the smoke was coming from and his position being south of Dawnstar, Ren knew what was burning.
Soon, his horse slowed to a stop. Ren got down from Allie and rubbed her neck to soothe her down, he set his gaze on the Hall of the Vigilant, now destroyed. Ren's impression of the Vigilants of Stendarr was that they were…ironic to say the least. They talk about the mercy of Stendarr yet they do not practice any mercy.
But they were still good people, they mean well in their own way, doing what they can to help good people. And whatever happened to them was underserving. Smoke fumed from the ashes in the hall, the roof had caved in, and there were patches of blood on the footpath. Ren suspected the battle must have occurred just last night.
Ren's left hand gripped his sword, slowly pulling out revealing the razor-sharp dragon bone blade. He held his sword in a reverse grip as he cautioned towards the hall, something laid dead by the porch. It had the body shape of a canine, like a hound. Its skin was rotten and darker than the night sky. The maw was filled with sharp teeth. Its dead eyes glowed red. Ren figured this was some undead dog crafted some necromantic magic, a death hound he would call it.
He pressed forward into the ruined hall. Poking his head in, there were more patches of blood everywhere, and there were bodies. From one end of the hall, he could see a few bodies of Stendarr Vigils, the couple of corpses closer to Ren were different. They were dressed in grey and red robes, Ren gripped the shoulder and turned one of the bodies over to reveal the face.
Ren immediately stepped away and let out a growl behind his mask, the glowing amber eyes and the fangs from the agape mouth was clear enough to him.
"Vampires." Ren stated.
It was clear that nothing in the hall was alive, Ren put his sword back in the sheath. He stepped out to inspect the front of the building again, and he found something else. There were tracks on the snow leaving the ruined hall, heading down south again. The tracks consisted of boot prints and paw prints, which led Ren to infer that some of the Vampires that attacked the Hall of the Vigilants had left the scene.
He saddled up and hurried down the road, following it in the direction of the vampire tracks. All the while he had a sinking feeling in him, the tracks were heading towards Whiterun.
Night has already fallen, and Whiterun was already under attack. By the stables, two Whiterun guards were engaging in battle with two Vampires and their three thralls. The Vampires hung back while their thralls, comprising of bandits, charged the battle.
The thralls readied their weapons and they clashed blades. The first guard swung a slash at the thrall coming for him, his sword cut through fur armor and gashed the thrall's chest. The entranced bandit groaned in pain, before he could strike out the guard thrust his sword into his gut.
The second guard had his own troubles, the remaining two thralls went for him. The guard parried the downward slash from an iron sword, using his shield he struck the first attacker in the face knocking him back. The other thrall took his chance, gripping his steel Warhammer tight he made a wild swing, hitting the guard by the side. The guard's standard armor could not provide much protection, and he felt the sheer pain in his ribs.
The two thralls side by side began to gang up on the injured guard, but another warrior of Whiterun rushed into the fight. Just before the steel Warhammer could make another impact on the guard, a woman clad in ebony armor stepped in between with her ebony shield raised. She blocked the strike from the hammer surprising the thrall, followed by an ebony sword right through the thrall's shoulder. The woman bashed her shied into the thrall's face stunning him before her ebony sword slashed him down.
The woman in ebony armor was Lydia, a housecarl turned thane of Whiterun.
As she helped up the guard she saved, they heard the screams from the first guard. They turned to see the first guard on the ground filled with ice spikes, and the immortals had drained him with their vampire magic.
"Monster!" The surviving guard shouted but was responded with an ice spike coming his way, and he narrowly brought his shield up to block the attack. The first vampire cast his draining spell on the guard along, leading him to cry out in pain as he tried his best to push forward to attack.
"Die now mortal!" The second vampire unleashed lightning bolts on Lydia, and she endured the pain while charging in with her raised ebony sword. Before the vampire could cast his vampiric drain on Lydia, an ebony arrow pierced itself into his throat, after a few gurgles the vampire laid limp on the ground.
Lydia turned her gaze to where the arrow came from, a hooded shadowy figure across the dark road sprinting in fast while nocking another arrow to a dragon bone bow. Allie the horse was closing in behind. Lydia was awed and relieved, she knew who had come, the hood and mask were obvious enough to her.
Ren while running fired his arrow right into the last vampire, piercing into his knee. The vampire hissed in pain tumbling forward, yet another arrow lodged into his shoulder and he fell to the ground. The vampire hissed out louder in pain, "How dare you mortal?!"
The Whiterun guard stepped away in agony, the vampiric drain had done its work. The last vampire could not get up as Ren stomped his foot right on his chest and pointed a drawn arrow at his face.
"Who sent you?" Ren asked, his voice showed no emotion.
The vampire spat, "I do not speak to meat."
Ren's stare grew more intense. He pulled the bow back further, "Who. Sent. You. I won't ask again."
Before either could give way, the sound of pained neighing caught Ren's attention. Immediately Ren shot the arrow straight into the vampire's eye socket killing him. Lydia and Ren turned to the source of the neighing. It was Allie, a couple of death hounds had pinned her down, biting her neck and leg.
"Allie!" Ren shouted, Lydia ran ahead using her shield knocking off the death hound biting Allie's neck. The other death hound released its grip on Allie seeing it was the only one left, it tried running away but a couple of ebony arrows stuck themselves into its torso killing it quick. Lydia finished off her foe, kicking it in the jaw before running her sword into its neck. Ren rushed over to the fallen horse, his hand glowed brightly with a restoration spell. He and Lydia knelt by Allie's head.
"Shhh." Lydia tried to soothe the horse stroking her forehead. Ren cast his healing spell on her injured neck, the bloodied bite marks and the red on the ground were a terrible sight. Allie kept snorting in pain keeping her eyes on Lydia for comfort.
"Thane Lydia." The surviving Whiterun Guard went over holding his side.
"Get the rest of the guards out here, and find yourself medical attention at the temple of Kynareth." Ren said to him. The guard did not recognize him with the hood and mask.
"Who do you think you are trying to com-"
"Do as he says. Go." Lydia cut in, ordering the guard.
"Y-Yes Thane." The guard complied and ran inside the capital.
Now with the two on their own, Ren asked Lydia, "You alright?"
"Yeah." Lydia answered.
"You're fitting into your new title well Thane."
Lydia gave him a look, "It's your title as well, and since you prefer me to call you by your name, I'd prefer you do the same."
Ren made no answer, focusing his attention back on healing Allie's wounds.
"Ren." Lydia concernedly said, his eyes darted back to her. "Allie will be fine."
"Mmm." Ren mumbled.
She reached out to his face, pulling down the mask and removing his hood. He gave her a glare for doing so, but Lydia had seen that look on his face too often to be intimidated. Now his whole face was revealed, a rather average face with no scaring, his hair was on the long side reaching to the base of his neck, his hair bangs covered his forehead.
"Now Whiterun will know who has returned," Lydia said.
"Tch." Ren clicked his tongue.
"Just where have you been?" She asked.
"Busy."
Lydia did not like that answer, "Busy? Busy with what?"
"Helping wherever I can. Bounty hunting."
"No one hearing from you for two months is what you call helping?" Lydia leaned forward. Ren's eyes drifted away from her, he did not answer her question. But Lydia could see the knitted brows on Ren's face. That same face he pulls, deep in thought and reflection. The face she had seen a handful of times when she traveled with him.
When they first met, Ren was not what Lydia thought of the Dragonborn at all. Not like those square-jawed mighty heroes in storybooks, he was not a towering warrior in hulking heavy armor. For one thing, at merely twenty-one back then, Ren was four years younger than her. His physique did not have the Nordic height or the muscles of a giant, but his body was at peak conditioning and his muscles were the leanest as it could get.
While he was not how she imagined, Lydia was completely proven wrong when Ren showed his skill in battle. And more often than Lydia cared to admit, Ren would be the one to protect her from foes beyond her. But one thing that Lydia noticed was when Ren was by himself, he would always be so deep in thought and he would hardly open up. While she respected his privacy, she did hope that Ren would open up to his friends and allies across Skyrim.
But Lydia knew that he cared, in his own way. After all, he recommended Jarl Balgruuf to make her Thane of Whiterun, and the ebony armor set she was wearing was crafted by him.
"The Hall of the Vigilant has been destroyed," Ren said while he healed Allie's injuries on her leg. "Vampires attacked it, I've been tracking them down this morning which led me here."
Lydia's eyes perked up, "The Hall of the Vigilant? In the Pale Hold?"
"Yes. It happened overnight. There was a battle in the hall, Vigils of Stendarr and vampires laid dead there, if there were any survivors they must have fled the area." Ren said removing his glowing hand off Allie. "I'm suspecting this is all connected, the vampires earlier are wearing the same armor, like a faction."
Allie snorted as she slowly got up on her feet. Lydia held her reins leading her into the stables. She said to Ren. "You know yesterday, an Orc came to Whiterun. He asked me if I wanted to join a group called the 'Dawnguard'."
"Dawnguard?" Ren's eyes narrowed.
"Vampire hunters." Lydia settled Allie down in the stables. "They are stationed in a fort far east in the Rift, in an area called the Dayspring Canyon."
"Are you going to join them?" Ren raised an eyebrow.
Lydia shook her head. She then asked him. "But what are you going to do?"
Ren's eyes went pensive before he made a decision. "I'm going to rest up here for the night." Lydia's face lit up at that. "Then I'll check out the Dawnguard, see if they have a lead on this vampire faction."
Lydia nodded, "We'll leave at first light?"
"No, you're needed here."
Lydia immediately frowned, she gripped his shoulder. "Come on Ren, let me come with you again. It's been too long."
His eyes turned conflicted. "Y-You're not my housecarl anymore. You don't have to guard me anymore."
"That doesn't matter Ren."
"Look, you are needed here in case something like this happens to Whiterun again." Ren took her hand off his shoulder. "Plus Allie needs you."
Lydia and Ren stared at each other for a moment, the woman knew the Dragonborn would not let her travel with him. Lydia shook her head and sighed, "As you wish my Th- ugh I mean Ren."
Ren grimaced and put up his mask and hood. He turned to head inside the Whiterun capital. "I'm sorry." There was a muffled whisper which Lydia managed to hear.
The sun has already risen. In Breezehome, Lydia woke up in a dainty yawn. "Ren?" Lydia called as she stepped into the master bedroom. But he was already gone, and she could only sigh in discontent.
After a day, the hooded Imperial arrived at the fort that Lydia spoke of, he double-checked the mark on his map that she made for him before, it was the right place. An insignia looking like the Sun on a flag was another giveaway.
Ren wasted no time and went in. He was already greeted with an argument before him. A Redguard man with heavy armor which Ren assumed was the Dawnguard armor, and a Nord man which Ren can tell straight away was a Vigilant of Stendarr.
"Why are you here Tolan? The Vigilants and I were finished with each other a long time ago." The Redguard said with no welcome in his voice.
The Nord, Talon, said, "Isran, you know why I'm here. The Vigilants are under attack everywhere. The vampires are much more dangerous than we believed." Ren remained in the shadows, waiting for them to finish their conversation.
Isran said condescendingly, "And now you want to come running to safety with the Dawnguard, is that it? I remember Keeper Carcette telling me that Fort Dawnguard is a crumbling ruin not worth the expense and manpower to repair. And now that you've stirred up the vampires against you, you come begging or my protection."
"Isran, Carcette is dead. The Hall of the Vigilants…everyone…no one made it. You were right, we were wrong. Isn't that enough for you?" Tolan implored.
Hearing the tragic news, Isran's voice softened. "Y-Yes, well…look I never wanted any of this to happen. I tried to warn you all…I'm sorry."
Ren decided it was time to make his presence known. He took off his hood and he stepped out of the shadows. Isran called to him, "You there at the back. Who are you? What do you want?"
Ren opted to avoid the first question. He said behind his mask, "I'm investigating the vampire attacks myself. I've been to the Hall of the Vigilant wreckage." That perked Tolan's attention.
The Imperial continued, "There was an attack on Whiterun as well but we managed to kill them all. I'm suspecting this is all coordinated, that a vampire faction of some kind is involved."
"Divines," Isran said in agitation. "Are you here to join the Dawnguard then?"
"I'm here to help." Ren kept his answer vague.
"Alright, I'm going to need someone out there, take the fight to the vampires while we get the fort back into shape." Isran said, "Tolan was telling me about some cave the Vigilants poked around in. It may be related to these recent vampire attacks."
"This confirms my suspicions then."
Tolan then spoke, "Dimhollow Crypt. Brother Adavald was sure it held some long-lost vampire artifact of some kind." Ren pulled out his map for Tolan to mark the location.
"Good enough for me then." Isran cut in. "Go see what the vampires are looking for in Dimhollow Crypt, if our luck holds they might still be there."
"I'll meet you at Dimhollow." Tolan added. "Least I can do to avenge my comrades."
Isran objected, "Tolan I don't think that's a good idea. You Vigilants weren't trained for-"
"I know what you think of us Isran." Tolan snapped at him, "That we're soft and cowardly. That our deaths proved our weakness." Isran took a step back. Tolan continued, "May Stendarr grant that you don't have to face the same test and be found wanting. I'm going to Dimhollow, I'll meet you there." And with that, Tolan went on ahead.
Isran then finally realized the important piece of information the masked Imperial did not give. "Hey hold it boy." The Imperial turned to him. "You still haven't told me who you are. Take off that mask, who are you?"
The Imperial clicked his tongue and let out a long sigh. Shit
He finally complied, taking off the hood and the mask. His firm gaze on Isran was enough to reveal his identity. Isran gawked, "It's…It's you? The Dr-"
"Yeah, yeah it's me. And my name is Ren. And I'd rather keep who I am a secret."
"A-Ah right."
Ren put his mask and hood on once more, exiting the fortress.
It took him a whole lot longer than he would have liked, but Ren had arrived at the cave. There was a torch just laying by the entrance, which was not a good sign.
Where is Tolan? Did he go inside? Ren pulled out his bow from his back and headed in. The caverns inside still had a coat of snow as he crept in. He froze he heard a male voice.
"These Vigilants never know when to give up. I thought we'd taught them enough of a lesson at their hall."
Ren silently pulled out an arrow from his quiver. He then heard a female voice.
"To come in here alone, a fool like the rest of them." Poking his head out he scanned the cavern, Ren spotted them. Tolan laid dead by the entrance of a tomb, with him were two vampires, one of those deathly hounds, and two dead vampires as well.
The male vampire said, "He fought well though, Jeron and Bresoth were no match for him."
"Ha! As if those two are of any worth, they got what was coming." The female vampire said. No one saw it coming when an ebony arrow pierced right into her head, dropping her instantly. The other vampire and death hound were caught surprised.
"Who's there?!" The vampire's hands readied his spell, one with the ice spike spell, the other with the vampiric drain. The death hound was running toward the darkness where the arrow came from, but another arrow sped through the air and right into its head.
Now the vampire could where it was coming from. He spotted a silhouette rushing around to flank him. "I see you mortal!" The vampire launched a volley of ice spikes. Ren kept running around the cave dodging the spikes. One spike came for his face, Ren pulled out his sword deflecting it away. Finally, Ren took cover behind a boulder. "You can't hide from me fool. You might as well step out and accept what awaits you." The vampire said confidently stalking towards the boulder.
"Hmph." Ren had an idea, it would be very easy to bait him. He came out of his cover, his sword held in a reverse grip again. The vampire felt like he had his foe was surrendering in fear, but Ren simply pulled down mask, revealing his snarling mouth.
"Yol…"
Vampire had no clue what was about to happen.
"Toor Shul!" Ren shouted and a massive burst of flames erupted from his mouth. The vampire screeched as the flames engulfed him, burning him till he stopped screaming. The flames dissipated, the vampire had been burnt into a charred and smoking corpse, and there stood Ren baring his teeth.
Ren went over to Tolan's body. He knelt down reaching to his eyes to close them. Ren had a fist clenched up. I couldn't save him.
There was nothing else he could do, he had to push on.
Creeping through the ruins, Ren started to notice. These tombs looked nothing like those he had seen before, nothing like those ancient Nordic ruins across Skyrim. The structures looked more like a fortress or a castle under the mountain. Soon enough he found himself by what appeared to be a balcony before a giant cavern.
"I'll never talk vampire." He heard someone below him. Ren snuck up to the edge to peek down. Another Vigilant of Stendarr was at the mercy of two vampires. "My oath to Stendarr is stronger than anything you can inflict on me."
Before Ren could draw his bow, the vampire slammed a steel axe onto the Vigilant's skull killing him quickly. Ren gritted his teeth Dammit!
"You sure that was wise Lokil?" The other female vampire said, "He might have told us something."
"He knew nothing." The male vampire, Lokil said pulling the axe out. "He served his purpose by leading us to this place. Now it is up to us to bring Harkon his prize." The two started to cross the bridge towards the circular platform.
Harkon? Prize? What are they after? Ren's eyes narrowed. He climbed down from the balcony, opting to go in straight for these vampires on the bridge. He drew out his dragon bone sword, the vampires heard the sprinting behind and turned around.
"Fus!" A force blasted into them and they tumbled back. The woman vampire had no hope when the blade slashed through her chest, and with a quick spin of his sword Ren severed her head clean off. Her body fell off the bridge and into the water below.
Lokil recovered from his stumble and cast his vampiric drain on Ren. Immediately he felt the pain and resisted with a fireball spell, Ren threw the ball of fire and it impacted Lokil. The vampire reeled back in pain, seizing the chance Ren dashed in swift and made a brutal gash across Lokil's knees. Burnt and immobile, Lokil fell on his back and Ren decided to a little interrogation.
Ren stomped a foot on Lokil's face and pointed his sword at his chest. His voice turned low and menacing. "Time to talk, who sent you?"
"Argh! You dare mortal scum?!" Lokil choked out.
Ren stomped on his face harder. "Focus vampire. Eventually, I will get my answers, one way or another I will get them. What little amount of time you have left depends on you making my time a little easier."
Lokil could only groan in pain. Ren asked, "Now tell me, who is Harkon? What is the prize you are after here?" Ren noticed the slight gasp coming from Lokil, he knew he was getting somewhere. "Did I hit somewhere sensitive? Answer me."
"I…I…" Lokil wheezed. "I will…not betray Harkon!"
Ren's eyes narrowed again. "Fine, to Oblivion with you." He thrust his sword right into Lokil's chest and twisted it. With another pained wheeze, Lokil went limp. Ren yanked his sword out and flung the blood off the blade, he put his mask back over his mouth and proceeded forward.
Standing on the circular platform, Ren began to inspect his surroundings. With a quick use of his detect undead spell, the area has been checked clear. Ren turned his attention to the post at the center of the platform. The orb on the top looked like a button of some kind, Ren figured if anything it may help in his investigation. The button required his entire palm to push it down.
As he did so, a spike instantly shot out from the orb. He roared out excruciatingly. "Aarrrgghhh! Ahhhhh!" His blood ran down the spike and it retracted into the post. Ren panted in pain, using his other hand he charged up a healing spell and released on himself. The hole started to seal up but the injury still left its damage. Ren carefully removed his glove off and he wrapped a bandage around his hand.
Purple magic began to light up on the markings around the floor. The post started to rise up revealing what was underneath it, a monolith of some sort.
What in Oblivion? Ren cautiously inched towards, pulling his sword out in a reverse grip once more. Using his free hand he knocked on it to hear the sound inside, it was hollow. The purple aura around him disappeared, the front half of the monolith started to sink back into the ground and what was inside was revealed.
A woman sleeping with her arms in a cross fell onto the ground. She picked herself up and Ren stepped away, his grip on his sword tightened. He began assessing everything, the unique clothing she was wearing, the Elder Scroll strapped to her back, and the orange glowing eyes when she opened them.
Oh great. Ren scowled in his mask.
Ok so we have a little taste of what our Dragonborn, Ren, is like for this story.
Let's start with what I will not make him out to be. I am not going to make him some all powerful Dragonborn where nothing can harm him. He does not know all the weapons or every single magic spell. He is not going to be Thane of all the nine holds. He has not met all the Daedric Lords. He is not going to be that towering armoured warrior where every farmer, every miner, and every civilian will know him. He defeated Alduin but barely by the skin of his teeth.
He is an Imperial from Cyrodiil, he is kind of on the young side, considering all the things that can happen in Skyrim. He may be on the young side, but he has been fighting for a long time in his life (Not going to spoil). And he is like an anti-hero, I won't spoil much but it is tied to his origins, how he behaves, his story arc with Serana, and why he came to Skyrim to begin with.
His combat skills; proficient in one-handed, archery, light armour, some smithing.
His magic skills; he knows a bit of alteration, some restoration and illusion spells. For destruction magic, he will be a fire specialist.
Thank you for reading and hoped you have enjoyed this chapter.