A/N: I thought about holding off a bit on this chapter but figured the last one didn't have too much going on and was just a set up, this one'll have a bit more action.
Even though he was delayed by his lessons on how to use a crossbow and finding out just where exactly Dimhollow Crypt was, Halfdan was still surprised to find that vigilant Tolan had made it there before him; given he rode Shadowmere there with great haste. He was, unfortunately, unsurprised to find the fool had perished at the entrance to the crypt although it seemed he'd managed to slay at least two vampires before going down, two bodies slumped close to his corpse.
Halfdan observed from the shadows as two more vampires, these still walking, and an undead-looking dog Halfdan recognized as a 'death hound' stood over the bodies discussing amongst themselves. He listened in on their conversation but the vampires did not reveal what their mission's objective was, he did catch a name, however. Harkon. Seems like he's the one in charge of these runts, maybe a brood leader? In any case, he's not present at this place but he must be quite powerful to command enough vampires to raze the hall of the vigilants and raid this place.
Halfdan quickly dispatches the vampires and death hound, making sure to set their corpses and Tolan's on fire to make sure they don't rise again. His stealth and assassination skills make this light work for him. Ever since joining the Companions, he tried to avoid using sneaky tactics like this against most foes as it was not their way and Halfdan wished to leave his past as an assassin behind him. However, against certain foes, such as vampires or daedra, Kodlak had warned him that anything goes. Honor demands courage, but not foolishness is what he'd said.
This suited Halfdan just fine.
He quickly made his way deeper into the tomb, dispatching more undead, draugr and vampires alike on his way; thankful for the crossbow he'd brought from fort Dawnguard and Baldr, the runed skyforge steel sword gifted to him along with the wolf medallion to recognize him as an official companion. The Blade of Woe he inherited from that woman was not as effective against undead and especially vampires who healed almost instantly from weapons that weren't made of silver or enchanted with some form of sun or restoration magic.
Mehrunes Razor was effective, however, he preferred not to use that weapon anymore unless it was absolutely necessary… The daedric lord of destruction had too much influence on Halfdan already and he wanted to leave that version of himself behind. He would've discarded the weapon altogether were it not for Kodlak convincing him forgetting the past would not erase it, and the dagger was safer with Halfdan than anyone, as few people could resist the corruption of Mehrunes Dagon as Halfdan had. Besides, he felt dark days approached Skyrim and Mehrunes Razor was a powerful tool that could be used against the forces of darkness as Halfdan had already proven when he slew the night mother with it and ended the dark brotherhood once and for all… But that's a story for another time.
As he progressed through the ruins, Halfdan noticed how the stonework and architecture started to look very different from most other nordic crypts. The flowing nordic patterns gave way to a harsh, gothic, and elegant style he'd never seen anywhere else before. Finally, he reached a balcony overlooking a large, cavernous chamber that had a round stone platform in the center, standing above a dark lake and illuminated by moonlight that filtered through a large hole in the cavern's ceiling. Stony sculptures of strange demonic-looking winged figures were posted throughout the chamber, including two on either side of where Hafdan stood. A stone bridge led to the platform from a walkway just below the balcony Halfdan had reached.
Halfdan hears a voice below him and instinctively crouches before peeking below at a pair of vampires and some of their mortal thralls standing on the walkway interrogating a shirtless tied-up nord.
"I'll never tell you anything, vampire. My oath to Stendarr is stronger than any suffering you can inflict on me." The half-naked nord spat at the vampires.
"I believe you, Vigilant. And I don't think you even know what you've found here. So go and meet your beloved Stendarr." One of the vampires, a male nord, spoke with a hint of amusement before swiftly ripping out the vigilant's heart with his bare hand and crushing it, blood splattering his face.
The other vampire, a female dark elf, steps forward and stares cautiously at the smirking nord vampire. "Are you sure that was wise, Lokil? He still might have told us something. We haven't gotten anywhere ourselves with-"
"He knew nothing. He served his purpose by leading us to this place. Now it is up to us to bring Harkon the prize. And we will not return without it. Vingalmo and Orthjolf will make way for me after this." Lokil wipes the blood from his face as he starts crossing the bridge to the large platform at the center of the chamber.
"Yes, of course, Lokil. Do not forget who brought you news of the Vigilants' discovery."
"I never forget who my friends are. Or my enemies."
Halfdan quickly leapt into action as the last of the small group turned their backs to his location. He pulled out a scroll containing aoe sunblast spell and quickly cast it at the vampires on the bridge. The blast took them by surprise and the vampires shrieked in pain while their thralls were blinded momentarily. Halfdan used this opening to quickly close the distance, leaping down from the balcony and dashing sword-in-hand at the cluster. He dodged under an axe swing from one of the thralls, kicked another out of the way, and swiftly decapitated the female vampire. The male, Lokil, seemingly older and stronger than most of the vampires he'd faced earlier in the crypt, recovered quickly, however. He nimbly dodged Halfdan's thrust, aimed at the vampire's heart.
He disappeared from sight, growling as he did, and circled Halfdan; remaining invisible as his thralls engaged the lone vampire hunter. Halfdan dodged and parried the two thralls, tactically remaining on the bridge to avoid being surrounded in the wider area of the island in the center of the chamber. He wanted to avoid killing the thralls if possible, he just needed to eliminate the vampire in order to free them. His sharp reflexes and enhanced senses alerted Halfan to the vampire's presence behind him just as Lokil was thrusting a clawed hand at his back. Halfdan lept in a backward somersault, making the vampire clumsily stumble forward. While midair and upside down, Halfdan launched three small daggers in the general direction of the vampire; hitting him and breaking his invisibility.
"Stupid fucking meat! Do you know who I am? I've lived for over a thousand years, I will not fall to a boy playing vampire hunter." He pulls out the thrown daggers from his back. "I'll enjoy drinking you dry…" He lunges at Halfdan while hissing, his thralls following close behind.
While the vampire spoke, Halfdan had subtly placed a fire rune spell under his feet, his mask hiding his mouth as he quietly spoke the incantation, which exploded as he lept back and the vampire dashed right into it. The thralls were knocked back unconscious, while the vampire writhed in agony as he was set on fire. Halfdan wasted no more time in putting it out of its misery by decapitating it.
He sighed, sheathing his blade before checking on the thralls. Still breathing. They'll live. He left a small health potion for each of them to drink when they woke up, then continued to the stone island in the chamber. The vampires went through a lot of trouble going after something important here, he intended to find out what. The edge of the island was lined with elegant stone archways which, again, were much narrower and sharper than ordinary nordic architecture. Not being a student of history himself there was little knowledge Halfdan could gain from this observation other than these ruins must've been left behind either by non-nords, or are from a different period than most of the ancient structures that dot Skyrim.
He approached the center of the island where a small thin stone pillar poked out of the floor. Approaching it, Halfdan noticed an imprint of a hand at the top of it. He tentatively placed a hand on it only to immediately regret it as a long spike pierced straight through it, the pain making him howl and drop to a knee. Some sort of spell kept his hand on the pillar as it seemed to drink the blood seeping out of Halfdan's hand. Finally, the spike retracted back into the pillar and released his hand. Halfdan quickly stumbled back gripping his hand as he heard rumbling and magical purple light started emanating from grooves on the floor. Braziers that were strewn throughout the island were lit in purple flames.
The rumbling stopped and Halfdan quickly bandaged his hand haphazardly and drank a healing potion which at least was able to stop the bleeding. Looking around, he noticed that, oddly, some braziers remained unlit. He quickly figured out it was because they weren't aligned with the grooves through which the purple light was coming out of. Perhaps this was one final puzzle to unlock the secret of this place, or maybe it was tied to some ancient ritual or something.
Only one way to find out.
After aligning the braziers with the light, each one was automatically lit with purple fire; once the final one was in place the ground began rumbling again. Suddenly, he felt the floor begin to cave in and Halfdan instinctively jumped back to an archway at the edge of the island and held it for support. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw the floor sink in tiers of rings, the outermost ring being the largest and nearly the circumference of the island; and the smallest at the center, the last and deepest one to fall. A stone monolith was revealed to have been underground the whole time.
Once the rumbling finally stopped, Halfdan felt secure enough to release his grip from the archway and tentatively approached the strange monolith. He observed it curiously, noticing it devoid of any markings or runes to indicate clues as to what it was. Cautiously, he placed a hand on its face to see if he could sense any magic; but as soon as he made contact the monolith reacted and he quickly retracted his hand.
That's when the true nature of the object was revealed as the stone face in front of Halfdan slowly sank into the ground and revealed a hauntingly beautiful woman. Long black hair was mostly loose with an elegant braid tying some of it behind her head, revealing a soft, feminine face. She wore an elegant long-sleeved red linen shirt under a leather corset with dark trousers and boots, while a black-band silver choker adorned her neck: the type of clothing a traveling noble would wear perhaps.
Could be due to his heritage, but Halfdan's senses had always been sharper than most and by her pale and stiff look, as well as her smell and the pose in which she was frozen, he could tell she was dead. But he'd never seen a corpse as well preserved as her, and he can't imagine she'd been buried here recently, given the worn look of the stony ruins all around them.
Suddenly her face twitched.
A/N: Sorry for the sudden cliffhanger, next chapter Halfdan officially meets Serana. Word of warning, she'll be quite different from most versions I've seen out there, mainly she'll be a bit more evil than vanilla (and VERY different from the SDA mod) but deep down she's still good, just more morally ambiguous at times.