The Rift, a beautiful collection of golden-red leaves scattered around, the beauty of autumn in perpetual sight. Carrying on past Riften to the entrance of Dayspring Canyon, the snow-capped peaks towering high above, Artemisia start preparing herself for the wrath she would soon unleash.

Steadily making her way through the glade, she turned onto the path and beheld the valley beyond. There, in the distance, a large stone castle, with numerous turrets and sharp gothic architecture stuck out against the pale mountains it was nestled under. The winding, gentle slope down and around covered with foliage and detritus, small rabbits hopping away in the grass and the sounds of swords clashing and archers releasing bows long in the distance.

Making her under the impressive archway masonry of the large tower, Sia thought to herself that it truly would be a shame to wreck the whole castle, perhaps she would just take out the leaders and let the rest fend for themselves if all were as odious as she feared.

'You there, little girl, fancy yourself a vampire slayer huh?' a tall, broad-shouldered orc, hefting a large double-handed steel greataxe, standing beside a number of what looked to be recruits all in standardised leather armour all milling around some straw dummies.

'Clearly you have no idea who I am do you? I may not be the tallest but size isn't everything' checking this orc up and down mentally categorising the easiest way to take him down. Perhaps a quick knife in the neck or maybe a force shout and an arrow for style, she mused, standing perfectly still almost deciding to attack now and begin the deliverance of her wrath.

'Archmage! You actually came, Isran wants to see you, Durak let her pass, she is the archmage and is exactly what we are waiting for!' Agmaer panted running down the hill nearly doubling over in exertion.

'If I wanted to you would be dead where you stand, perhaps you shouldn't judge by what you see, besides you cant even see my face. Those who hide their face are either frauds or masters, no in betweens. Now take me to see this idiot "Isran" I have been looking forward to this!' moving ahead slipping around the imposing orc and pulling ahead of Agmaer.

'Archmage! Hah would never have guessed such power could come in such a small package but you shouldn't speak such ill of Isran, he will show you why he is our leader.' Durak exclaimed watching Agmaer lead Artemisia up the hill not even barely aware that they had just let a fox into the henhouse.

Striding through the imposing double doors into the keep, Sia saw what was mildly described as a heated discussion between what looked to be a priest and a stocky redguard in heavy armour and a greatsword strapped to his back.

'Why are you here, Tolan? The Vigilants and I were finished with each other a long time ago.'

'You know why I'm here. The Vigilants are under attack everywhere. The vampires are much more dangerous than we believed.' The priest, now known as a Vigilant of Stendarr shouted back incredulously unable to understand how this was even being questioned.

'And now you want to come running to safety with the Dawnguard, is that it? I remember Keeper Carcette telling me repeatedly 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 for my pardon?' bellowed who had to be Isran, Sia could not think of anyone else who would shout at a Vigilant clearly begging for aid and it matched the idea of him that she had created in her head before this.

'Isran, Carcette is dead. The Hall of the Vigilants... everyone... they're all dead. You were right, we were wrong. Isn't that enough for you? And look around, the walls and halls are in ruin, this place IS crumbling and instead of helping us you run off on your own leaving us to fend for ourselves! And now they are all dead; I hope you are finally happy now that you got one over the Vigilants!' Tolan cried out nearly breaking into tears at the grief of his fallen brethren.

'Well it is what it is, none of you were ever trained for combat. Besides the archmage has decided to finally grace us with her presence down from her college high in the clouds. Looks like someone has decided to heed my words at least.' He remarked with a very smug look clearly believing that his summons had managed to convince one of the pre-eminent powers of the land to come to his beckon.

'Hah! Heed your words?! Are you so conceited or perhaps think so much of yourself that I, Archmage of the College, Thane of Whiterun, Thane of Solitude, Friend of the Companions, Confidant to Jarl Elisif the fair, many more epitaphs that you can even dream of and my personal favourites THE last Dragonborn and Bane of Alduin Himself! You truly believe that *I* am here to help you?!' finishing her mini-rant and relishing the look on his face changing from its previously smug expression and quickly falling as her speech went on before settling into the current scowl adorning it.

'How dare you speak like that to me! Dragonborn or not I am the one that has identified this threat and am the only one doing anythi-'

YOL-TOOR-SHUL – his words blissfully cut off as he was engulfed in a steady stream of blistering hot dragonflame that blasted all around him eliciting high-pitched screams that horrified all in attendance, but which was like the sweetest song to Sia's ears. Some would have thought she may have more restraint but seeing him shout at the poor Vigilant, his paltry letter and the manner he had just spoken to her had the dragonborn erupt in all her fiery glory.

The flame soon ended but instead of seeing a pile of ash like many would have feared, unbeknownst to them, Artemisia had controlled her flame, pulling back its most destructive tendencies and simultaneously directing it all around Isran's armour to leave him completely stark naked and his body blackened and singed.

Sia quickly doubled over bellowing in full-bodied laughter as she beheld the outline of what was once a proud Redguard and who was now trying to hide his body from display as he quickly turned tail and run up the nearest stone staircase but not without escaping from the shout, 'no wonder you're so angry all the time, you are clearly compensating for your issues!' she got out between laughs.

'Ahhh, I haven't laughed like that in a very long time, that felt very very good! Well it was nice meeting you all but im going back to my college now, enjoy saving yourselves.' She cheerily called out turning about and clearly intending to leave before she got dragged in any further.

Unfortunately for Artemisia her life could never be so simple as Tolan ran ahead blocking her path and clearly trying to get her to stay.

'Please Arch-mage, Isran thought we're soft, that we're cowards. He believed that our deaths proved our weakness. Stendarr grant that he does not have to face the same test and be found wanting but Brother Adalvald was sure that a nearby cavern, Dimhollow Crypt held some long lost vampire artifact of some kind. We didn't listen to him any more than we did Isran.'

'And so what, I want no part of this. I have sacrificed years of my life to helping people sort out their stupid problems and making me save everyone single-handedly all the time. Time you did it yourselves.'

'Please, the Vigilantes are all dead, hand marks crushing necks, bodies gouged out and ripped apart! We were killed for what Adalvald knew I'm sure of it! There were even a few dozen of us there, surely something like this must be worth investigating at the least' Tolan begged knowing that someone who could melt heavy armour with just a breath and retain the control to not cook the person wearing it was definitely powerful enough to combat this threat.

'Ughh fine! I'll help this time again but I swear and by Akatosh by my witness, should this turn out to be even remotely trivial I will kill EVERY. LAST. ONE. Of you all! Do I make myself clear!' slipping a throwing knife into her hand and putting the point right under Tolan's neck faster than anyone could blink.

'Yes! Yes I understand please, I beg mercy' he cried.

'Good. Now tell me where this crypt is and get out of my way!' withdrawing her knife and stepping back a touch to create the slightest bit of distance should she need to shout her way past.

Pulling out a small copy of a map of Skyrim Tolan quickly showed Sia where Dimhollow crypt was to be found.

'I'm going to Dimhollow Crypt. Perhaps I can be of some small assistance to you. At the very least allow me the chance to avenge my fallen brothers.'

'Whatever, you can even go bash your skull against a wall for all I care, this had better be worth it.' And with those final remarks Artemisia pushed past the Vigilant who was still in her way and stormed out of the keep, grabbing hold of a saddled chestnut mare near Durak and leading it down the pass not even giving him a second look.

While her rage was slightly assuaged by nearly turning Isran into cooked chicken she began to ponder on how powerful a vampire, or a few, had to be to kill dozens of Vigilantes. It was indeed a troubling thought that occurred to her for nothing in her travels made her think of anything else that could have done this. Pulling together her thoughts of what she knew of vampires, silently praising her wisdom for being as up to date as she could on all the knowledge the college had on powerful creatures, she knew there were a number of classifications that differentiated one vampire from another.

First there are the ferals. Those who contract the base and most common form of Sanguinare Vampiris and do not treat it in time for whatever reason and thus turn into weak minded beasts that know nothing except the next pang of bloodlust. Then there were the more standard and common type of vampires. Those who shied away from the sun due to its burning effects but retained their mental capacities mostly and served under more powerful vampires. Most people who are turned directly by a vampire fall into this category but while potentially a threat in a big group, individually a group of humans should be able to fight well, especially if its in daytime, even if the battle took place indoors.

Age then plays the next big differential between vampires after this distinction between vampire and ferals. The longer a vampire lives, the more they mature and gain competency over their powers. The more they have time to learn how to wield it effectively and become stronger. Much the same as an Altmer child and elder, just by the passing of time, one gains strength and clout.

Then came the so-called master vampires. These are either those more common vampires who are truly ancient and have lived for centuries or, and what began to be a slight twinge of apprehension in Artemisia's mind, are those the college named "half-bloods". The "half-blood" is able to roam in the sun without burning to a crisp but is still severely weakened. This is because they are turned by so-called "pure-blood" vampires and as such, a half-blood is much stronger than a common vampire, has stronger vampiric powers and gains a secondary form of travel, that of a bat. Artemisia feared that if it was a group of half-bloods, and it very well could for the Vigilantes would be no match for them and the end result would be almost exactly what Tolan described, then this would indicate the machinations of a pure-blood. The college theorised that half-bloods were not commonly seen as they would all serve in a court under the pure-blood that probably created them all. Therefore, if it is their work than some greater intrigue is truly underfoot that had Sia groaning to herself that, perhaps, just maybe, she truly was needed after all. Although nothing could make her regret how she treated Isran as everything she had seen and heard made him seem a bully and Sia hated those with a passion. However, she did feel, a teensy tiny part of her admittedly, that perhaps she could've been a bit less harsh on those around him, especially as they would've had to put up with him for as long as they did.

The last category of known vampire, the pure-bloods, are the most dangerous of all. While Sia had tangled with a deadric lord or two across her life, she had never had any interaction with Lord Molag Bal. It was from he that the curse of vampirism had descended and those he directly bestowed the gift were by far the most deadly of any vampire and they would only strengthen with time like any other making an exponential difference between a pure-blood and any vampire. The reason they were most deadly were they had abilities unique to their kind. Not much is known about them except that they have all the abilities of lesser vampires, albeit augmented, a vampiric drain-life ability and a secondary form, that the college called the 'Vampire lord'. A more regal beastly image that fully utilised the strength, speed and instincts of an apex predator without the baggage of human emotion or the slowness of a humans thought.

Now while Artemisia truly did not think even a pure-blood could compare to Alduin, after all he was the literal prophesised end of the world, old devourer of souls himself, she did know that she would be hard-pressed to come out of a fight unscathed and that it may force her to delve into far more of her strength than she wished.

Sighing to herself, she turned out of Dayspring Canyon and began her long ride to Dimhollow hoping beyond all hope that this artefact was a poor rumour. She would also happily settle for the enemy being a gaggle of rogue vampires that she could pick off one by one, no half-bloods or pure-bloods involved. Then she could go back to the college, perfect her advanced fire runes and finally dedicate herself to her passion, the exploration and advancement of destruction magicks. She could even start to make inroads on her long-delayed side-project, that she does begrudgingly admit in private has little hope ever of success, of combining standard spells with dragon shouts to create a new branch of magick unparalleled in strength and likely destructive capabilities.