Jump Chain Gothic 7 - Skyrim 1 - Dawnguard

Part 6

Markarth. Skyrim.

The city-state of Markarth was situated deep within a part of this country known as the Reach. It was part of the Druadach Mountains that made up the border between Skyrim and High Rock. A place that would have taken us sometime to reach if not for the probes I'd sent out to better map this land, Forestwind's local knowledge, and the ability of the Mako to handle rough terrain.

Markarth, was actually built on the original dwarven settlement, once known as Nchuand-Zel, which was built around a large rock formation with twin rivers flowing between the lower valley and the upper path.

While the city itself wasn't the safest place you could find yourself, going outside of the city meant entering some very hostile territory, this part of the country was filled with bands of those Forsworn nutters, and the Divines only knew what else.

The seat of power in Markarth was the Understone Keep, that place contained an entrance to Nchuand-Zel, which could be found underneath the city, and it was the focus of my interest since I'd come here primarily for dwarven metal.

While in Solitude I'd been able to acquire the enchanting and alchemy equipment I'd desired, and all of that stuff was now safely stored in the Cosmic Warehouse, there was no sense lugging so many items across the country when I didn't have to.

I'd also brought a lot of books about this land as while my Bosmor did have a lot of local knowledge, there were plenty of magical items in this part of Nirn that I wanted to claim, and she might not know where to find them all. I knew of them from playing the game, but the details could be different in reality.

My interest in dwarven metal mostly had to do it being one of the better metals my blacksmith perk allowed me to work with. Also I was curious to see it if it could replicated, or if their was some magical, or at least partly mystical, involved in the process of its creation. If so I'd like to learn what that process was.

Nchuand-Zel had been a major dwarven city back in its day, so it should be able to supply with me plenty of the metal, which I could melt down and turn into ingots, anything I made from the metal would be inferior to real dwarven metal craft, so hopefully we'd find some good stuff while exploring the dwarven city, such as real arms and armour.

I planned to fill my Skyforge, a warehouse addon I'd gotten for this Jump, with the dwarven metal, which should be within the rules since I'd only be storing materials for blacksmithing in that area. Still I'd check with Jump Chan if given the chance.

"Oh good morning," the old man greeted. "Forgive my foul mood. We lost another mercenary to that damned spider. My research is halted until she's taken care of, and I can't find anyone competent enough to get rid of her".

The robed guy must have seen a small group of well armed and armoured people coming over and had amused that we were looking for work. It was clear that he was hinting at the idea that we could take care of his problem.

"Perhaps we could be of some help," I offered.

The scholar went on to tell me about the big ass spider that had appeared without warning and had started killing anyway who tried to go down into the dwarven ruins. I had no love for spiders and while I'd dealt with a Frostbite Spider before I figured that I'd make use of Cameron. Better to have her terminate the creature for me.

"I would be in your debt," then man who I thought was called Calcelmo, replied "and you will be paid for his services".

The money didn't matter, but I'd take it anyway so as no to appear suspicious.

(Line Break)

Markarth. Skyrim.

"Stay out here," Cameron instructed when we approached the entrance to the cavern where Nimhe had made her home "This won't take long".

I listened as the sound of a battle ensued, Cameron fired the energy weapon she was keeping hidden in her armour, and that was about it. I'd ordered her not to vaporise the monster in case Calcelmo wanted to confirmed the spider's death.

"You can come in now" my bodyguard called out "the monster is dead"

The sight of the massive spider carcass made me shiver. I'd never seen such a massive spider before, the one in that cave of vampires seemed much smaller when compared to this monster, which had to be the size of the bus.

I turned to see Cameron, who was busy vaporising the egg sacs that littered throughout the room, preventing Nimhe's progeny from hatching. Which was a good thing or the young ones would soon be born and they'd head up to the surface in search for food.

Given the sheer size of the spiders and they amount of young they had I had to wonder why they weren't a more common sight. Perhaps they weren't a natural species, but rather a mutation caused by the magical energies of this realm.

Before I noted that the big door on the opposite side of this chamber was heavily covered with the spider's silken webs. Upon closer inspection I found a carcass that was still wearing the uniform of an Imperial soldier. Forestwind approached the body and examined the corpse.

Soon she handed me a note which was addressed to someone called Salonia. The soldier had apparently been hired to guard an expedition into Nchuand-Zel. The soldier's name was Alethius. I wondered if he'd died doing his job or if the whole expedition was now dead and dried up in cocoons.

"Are we going to enter the ruins?" Cameron wondered as she approached me "Or can we get the metal you need around here".

I was itching to delve further into the ruins right now, but I knew that it was best to let Calcelmo know the spider would no longer be a problem.

"We'll go deeper underground" I said "But let's check in with the guy whose supervising this site before we do".

(Line Break)

Markarth. Skyrim.

The old man was beyond grateful as as he paid us, he ranted about how he would be able to get back to work, finally. I waited until he was finished before showing him the note.

"Hmmm," he commented as he read it over. "Where did you find this?".

I hadn't. I wasn't in the habit of touching dead bodies. I didn't recall normally being so squeamish about certain things, however it was to be expected for my personality to change over time as every Jump changed me even if I took on no new memories, and this time I did have some new memories. Granted they were about a basic magical education, but the human mind was a funny thing.

"On a corpse in the spider's lair," Forestwind replied.

Hopefully this robed guy hadn't been overly attached to the dead man.

"He must have been someone from Staubin's little group," he stated while putting the note away "A brave scholar, but not very wise. I assume you're anxious to do some exploring of your own?".

Indeed we were.

"Very well," he said "You've proven your usefulness and skill. If you find anything useful, please bring it to me, including any notes you may find from Staubin's group. I doubt he's alive. It was weeks ago when they wandered into the ruins, but there's a chance they uncovered some useful information before meeting their demise".

Time to go exploring.

(Line Break)

Dwarven Ruin. Skyrim.

Nchuand Zel was amazing. Currently we three explorers stood atop a ramp gazing out over the underground city. Various buildings and towers reached great heights despite the fact they had been built without a sky overhead, and they were all connected by narrow bridges.

The entire city was built within an underground cavern that was lit by some sort of bio-luminescent mushrooms that lined the ceiling and walls of the cavern. So that even without my special sunglasses I would be able to see where I was going.

I made a mental note to harvest this species of mushroom as while its bio-luminescence was impressive, and an organic light source could prove useful in the future. Which didn't take long as the stuff was everywhere.

Still I was glad of the glasses as they allowed me to see in great detail. I had never seen anything like it before. It far surpassed the expectations I had from playing game. I was so glad that I had come to this great Dwemer city.

"Cameron keeping scanning" I ordered "And Cortana, use my glasses to record. I want to be able go back over this later".

As a group we began to descend the ramp, Cameron, who was best suited to the role of meat shield despite not being made of meat, was taking the lead with Forestwind at the back, protectively sandwiching me between them.

Before long Cameron, whose machine senses out performed even mine, held up a hand, signalling for us to stop. Then she pointed toward a stooped figure that was prowling around on the platform below us.

"Falmer," my bosmer guide whispered.

It made sense that she'd know a lot about the Falmer, given what I'd created her for. I also knew a bit about them as well. They were once a great race of elves, who were called the Snow Elves because of their choice of habitat, which had been the snow-covered mountain ranges of Skyrim and Morrowind.

In the past they had fought against the Nords, the Chimer, the ancestors of the Dumner aka the Dark Elves, and the Dwemer, aka the Dwarves, in order to maintain their hold on their lands, but when it looked like defeat was imminent, they asked the Dwemer for help. Which had been a mistake.

Their elven cousins agreed to hide them within their underground cities, but they tricked them, feeding them some sort of fungus that caused blindness. From then on, the Snow Elves became slaves to the Dwemer.

The Dwarves were gone now, but after centuries of living below the ground, the Snow Elves were now the Falmer, a grotesque, blind race who prowled the shadows, who were willing to eat humans, and they struck fear into the hearts of those who dwelled on the surface.

They roamed the ancient ruins as well as caves that they had found access to because of their proximity to the underground cities, and any unprepared explorer who delved into the depths often found themselves at their mercy.

I watched as Forestwind readied her bow and took the Falmer out silently before the ugly creature had even realised that we were here.

"Boss, if you want to keep exploring, then we need to move on" my bosmer whispered to me "They'll notice he's dead soon and they will start looking for us"

Before long we entered one of the buildings, and we quickly took care of any Falmer that we came across as we crept through the ruins. This building appeared to be a residence of some sort, as it was divided into various living areas. I figure at some point in the past that several family groups had probably dwelled within the building.

The building was filled with traps not set by the dwarves, that my newest companion easily disarmed, and it quickly began apparent to me that the Falmer had set up their own dwellings within this building. They lived in odd looking tents, which I had no desire to examine.

It was here that we found two corpses, who in life had obviously belonged to the expedition that had died down here. One was a guard, the other appeared to have been a mage or scholar, perhaps both.

Forestwind discovered a diary on the mage, and reading it allowed me to learn that this man had been named Stromm. He had opted to stay behind with the guard to research the dwellings further and had written his findings within his diary.

I pocketed the book with the intention of giving it to Calcelmo, as well as a few artifacts that we'd found within the quarters that hadn't appealed to me when I'd decided what to keep.

While I was here for metal, and there was only so much of that we could carry even when my women now had pouches of holding as well. We had to worry about weight limits and I didn't have much use for cups, bowls, and plates of dwarven metal, although I did take some as they wouldn't take up to much room in the Cosmic Warehouse. Having a dining set of dwarven metal did appeal to me so I even took some sets of cutlery.

"I think that's everything of value in here," I commented.

We took one last look around in case we'd missed something important. It didn't look as if we had.

"Come one, boss. Let's get out of her before meet the same fate as these poor sods," my Bosmer said "I don't much like the feeling of being trapped down here".

Since she was a wood elf it made sense that she wouldn't be at her best when deep underground. She hadn't seemed bothered by Dimhollow, but I could tell that this place was getting to her, so it would be best to leave as quickly as we could.

(Line Break)

Dwarven Ruin. Skyrim.

Back out in the caverns, we found the next portion of the passageway to have been flooded. So we waded through the murky water and then swam to the next building, well Forestwind and I swam, Cameron sank and then climbed out of the water.

Inside the next part of the city, along with several more Falmer, we found weapons, armour, and many inactive Dwemer automatons. I knew that some of these ancient creations still worked in the ruins, even hundreds of years after the disappearance of their creators, and I also knew that no one understood how they worked,

As we explored, we encountered a few more dead guards from the previous expedition as well as another researcher. After one of my women finding his notes on his corpse, I discovered his name had been Erj.

Within this part of the ruins I found plenty of dwarven metal that I could recycle later one, but I didn't take the armour due to weight concerns, and because I could make my own suit if I so desired.

Before long we continued on to the next building, and this one was full of steaming pipes and dozens more Falmer. Thankfully the nasty creatures only had arrows and swords, so they weren't much of a threat to people who had energy weapons, and kinetic barriers. Plus I kill with my mind.

It wasn't long before we found ourselves in a room that contained the corpse of a guy called Staubin

"Staubin knew that they were too outnumbered by the Falmer to fight their way out" I explained, while holding out the notes for the other to read "He wanted to turn the automatons on".

We had phase cloaks so we could easily leave if we wished. I hadn't used them yet as I nothing here was really a threat.

"I don't want to battle one of those giant centurions," Forestwind told me "I've heard horrible tales. They're stronger than six men and spit steam that will melt your flesh off".

That didn't concern me too much, but I could see value in the machines.

"If there's going to be a full expedition down here then we need to clear out the Falmar" I told my companions "We can turn on the defences, sneak out and then let the Falmar and the centurions destroy each other, then anyone else coming down here will only need to deal with the survivors".

And they'd know how to turn the defences off as I could leave instructions.

"The plan has merit" was all Cameron had to say on the matter.

We moved on and soon found what we were looking for as we climbed a ramp. We took out a lone Falmer and then let ourselves into a small room which had lever in the centre of it.

"That it, boss?" Forestwind asked.

It might be one of their lifts, but if it was that was fine as it would just led to more exploring.

"I think so," I replied

Which my mind powers I pulled the level. It was a bit stiff from years of remaining in one position, but after putting some real mental energy into the task I succeeded. Loud mechanical sounds filled the space around them as pumps and gears began to work again, and whatever mysterious machinations that controlled the automatons began running.

Now safely out of phase we began retracing our steps out of the ruins. When we reached the cavern, the sounds of battle filled the air. Falmer fought Dwarven spider machines, mechanical warriors who appeared out of metallic spheres, and giant centurions in the visage of the Dwemer themselves. As we were safe we got to spend some time watching as the Falmer and the automatons fought.

On the way out we found one of the spider things, it was inactive, however it looked intact. Cameron went out of phase long enough to pick up the dwarven creation

"You want to bring it with us, don't you?" I asked.

Even after decades Cameron rarely expressed interest in anything other me, so when she got it into her CPU to pick up a hobby I liked to encourage her.

"I wonder how they work," she replied. "I'd like to take it apart".

That was fine by me. I knew that the automatons went inactive if you removed them from their home, and even if Cameron did figure out how to switch it back on it wouldn't be much of a threat.

"Okay, but if they start replicating and trying to consume the universe I'm going to give you such a spanking" I warned.

Cameron was unconcerned by this.

(Line Break)

Markarth. Skyrim.

We found Calcelmo back in main cavern of Understone Keep exactly where we'd left him. I doubted that he'd left his post since he'd gone down to the ruins, and while the trip hadn't seemed to take very long, we'd actually been gone for hours.

The old man was thrilled with the notes and diaries that we had found, though sad to hear of the fate of his former research partner. He handed over a bag of coins, and gushed that these notes would be added to his own research immensely.

I then went on to explain that I'd turned the defences on, and that I knew how to switch them back on again. He was fine with this as he could hire some sneaky type to go do that for him.

He also noticed that metal spider than Cameron was carrying about

"What are you going to do with it?" he asked.

"I want to take it apart. See if I can figure out what makes it work" she said.

With that we left, and Cameron ignored the robed mans mutterings about how if he'd not been able to figure it out then she never would.

(Line Break)

Volunruud. Skyrim

While we were heading back to Fort Dawnguard, we had the Mako so the trip would take hours at the most, and only because we had go around so many mountains. So we had time to stop off at a few places of interest even if that meant taking a less than direct route home.

While planning where to visit I'd noted that Cameron lacked an enchanted weapon, which wasn't normally much of an issue, however I had noticed that back when we'd been fighting Potema's spirit that mundane weapons, even advanced ones, couldn't harm her.

Allnel Forestwind had her Nightingale blade in case of encounters with more spirits, but should we encounter more ghosts then Cameron, who couldn't even cast spells, would be a real disadvantage.

With this in mind I used our maps, probes and my Bosmer's knowledge of this world to find Volunruud, which I knew to be a tomb containing a word wall for the Aura Whisper shout, as well as the treasure and dead body of the Tongue Chieftain Kvenel.

According to one of the books I'd had time to check out the ruin was supposedly the final resting place of one "Tongue Chieftain Kvenel", among others. Replicas of his two weapons were the key to his burial chamber. Not that this was a concern for me as my companions and I simply went out of phase in order to get through the door.

My concern about Cameron not being able to fight spirits turned out to be valid when we encountered the ghost of Tongue Chieftian Kvenel, whose Shout knocked me on the ass, despite me using the Force to cushion myself, and when my Terminator moved to prevent the spirit from killing me she simply moved through the spirit.

Lucky for us all I was quickly able to get to my feet, and with my lightsaber I made short work of the spirit, who simply couldn't match my experience and ability to know my foes moves in advance thanks to my precog powers. Which admittedly were not perfect, but that was why I wore armour and had personal shields.

"On this sacred ground did Fredo sacrifice her life so that her many children could escape and someday vanquish her enemy" I read from the World Wall.

While I couldn't perform any Shouts, I was given a translation of any writing I focused on by one of my perks. As such I understood the dragon tongue. I'd considered trying to learn a Shout, but that would be a time consuming task, and I had a lot to do while in this world.

"Find the weapons" I ordered.

Before long we had what we come for. Eduj the sword and Okin the war axe. I'd only intended to give the sword to Cameron, but she took both, replacing her generic steel weapon with Eduj, while quickly devising a way to keep Okin dangling from her belt in a way that would allow her to easily reach for it.

I'd planned to strip the axe of its enchantment, or let Morgana do it, but I let Cameron keep the axe since she'd use to protect me, and besides she rarely wanted anything for herself.

My enhanced memory, which while not perfect was a powerful tool, let me know that the sword did frost damage to health and stamina, which I guessed in real life harmed and slowed down anyone struck with the weapon.

The axe did the same, which made Cameron carrying both of these weapons seem a bit silly to me. So I decided to find her another war axe if possible, one with a different enchantment, or to make one meant for her alone to use.

However that could wait as we had plenty more to do.

(Line Break)

High Gate Ruins. Skyrim

When we entered the ruin, the first thing we saw was a pair of dead draugr, then a bit further in, we found a woman who wore nothing more than sleeveless, bare-midriff fur armour. She had be totally immune to cold to be wearing that in this sort of weather.

"You three look ready for a fight" she said. "I'm Anska. Are you here to help?"

She continued talking before anyone could ask what she wanted help with. Not that I needed to inquire as I knew what was going on here.

"I've finally located Vokun's crypt!" Anska almost shouted out "The scroll I'm looking for just has to be here".

The woman paused briefly, looking hopeful.

"If Vokun is as powerful as I think, I may need a little help um ... dealing ...with him" Anska admitted "In return you can have anything except the scroll, of course".

Since I'd come here for Vokun's mask so our goals were in sync. In the game Vokun's mask was a steel dragon priest mask obtained by killing the Dragon Priest Vokun within High Gate Ruins. The artefact's enchantments increased your Alteration, Conjuration, and Illusion skills by twenty points when worn. I didn't know how that worked in reality, but I was eager to find out.

"We can work together" I said.

This greatly pleased the local lady.

"Great, with the four of us this should be easy" was her opinion.

This time I led the way deeper into the dungeon, finding a huge room with several draugr. I was not surprised when Anska started casting Destruction spells, and between that and our Dawnguard crossbows we made short work of the enemy.

My group had to use our crossbows as it wouldn't do to show off our special equipment or abilities, in front of a local unless we really had to. I'd rather not draw too much attention to myself, but if needs be I'd use my powers.

While I had the ability to wipe people's memories, there was really no need to do that if I didn't have to, and missing memories were themselves capable to attracting the attention of others.

When the draugr were defeated we continued on, finding a two-level room with a trapdoor and levers on pedestals

"This looks like some sort of lever puzzle" Anska said, mentioning the obvious "We'll have to figure out the correct order to flip them"

There were symbols above us on the next level which allowed to quickly open the way, and went down the stairs, entering some catacombs, and made our way along, killing more draugr as we moved.

The undead barely even slowed us down. We had so much fire power between us that we were more in danger of shooting each other than getting hit by one of the zombies.

Eventually we came across another puzzle room, where we had to fight two Deathlords, but fortunately, one at a time. After fighting them we found that a lever had been revealed, which opened up a way into a short corridor, which in turn lead to a set of double doors, and these opened without our aid as we approached them.

I had time to notice a Word Wall, but nothing else, before a sarcophagus exploded and a Dragon Priest emerged.

"That's Vokun, the guardian of the scroll," Anska said. "We must get past him".

Before the Dragon Priest could do anything I threw Caliburn using my mind powers at the undead thing, which soon reduced it to dust. My timing was good as the undead boss had been in the process of summoning something when I'd thrown my magical sword.

Telekinesis was an actual spell in this world, so if asked I'd just say to the local woman that I'd been practising the spell, and that my sword was enchanted to deal a lot of damage to the undead. The second part was totally true, just not in a way that Anska would understand.

"Good riddance!" Anska yelled out "Let's find the scroll. It should be in here somewhere".

After recovering the mask and the staff, both of which were valuable, I checked out the Word Wall, which didn't react to me, however I could read it.

And lo did mighty Heimverlund come from the brutal north, like a storm of unbridled vengeance from Sovngarde itself.

Then while looking around I saw a scroll on a nearby table, and I picked it up.

"Is this it?" I asked

"Yes, yes, that's it!" the local lady called out.

Anska ran over to me and took it.

"I cannot thank you enough for all of the help" she said,

She reached into her pack, and was soon handing me a Conjure Flaming Familiar spell tome. Which was a spell I didn't know, and would like to learn.

Leaving Anska to study her scroll, my companions and I found the "back door", and headed backed to the Mako, which I'd parked nearby while under cloak.

(Line Break)

Fort Dawnguard. Skyrim.

As soon as I got back to the fortress I was more or less interrogated by Isran. I wanted to go and see Morgana right away, but alas I wasn't able to.

"You're going to tell me why a vampire showed up here looking for you" he demanded.

That wasn't a question, and that was good as I didn't really have an answer for him, not one that I could give without exposing that I was much more than I seemed to be. So far I'd been able to hide my otherworldly nature from people, or at least limit how much they saw.

"Fine let's go have a little chat with it, shall we?" Isran said his voice somehow even colder than normal "Maybe it will explain what in Oblivion is going on".

Following the Redguard we went down some stairs, as we moved I could hear Isran muttering to himself.

"I knew it would come to this one day, and no one listened to me" he whispered.

When we entered what I assumed to be the dungeon I was disgusted by the scene before me. Dried blood was caked on the floor, and there were horrific torture devices all around as well tool of torment hanging on the walls. Thankfully none of the stuff looked as if had been used in a while.

Serana was locked upside a cell and I inspected the vampire for signs of injury, I found none. Clearly Serana had let herself be locked up, and she didn't look at all concerned about being behind bars.

Given her mastery of magic I didn't think this cell could contain her if she wished to leave. Also I figured that she must have told Isran something he wanted to hear otherwise at least some of the Dawnguard would have gotten themselves killed trying to slay her.

"This vampire showed up just before sunrise" the Redguard informed me.

Isran's voice was full of hatred. I was no fan of vamps either, but he made my feelings seem like mere dislike when compared to how much he loathed the blood drinkers.

"I'm guessing this has something to do with Dimhollow Crypt" Isran went on to say "Says it's got something real important to tell you".

While I noticed Isran's refusal to refer to Serana as a being I didn't comment on this as in truth I didn't really see them as people either.

"I'm guessing you weren't expecting to see me again" the female vampire said.

Now that my eyes had adjusted better to the low light levels I saw that Serana was now wearing a set of expensive looking leather armour. She had no weapon on her, I figured that she had surrendered them to the Dawnguard, or maybe she just conjured them as needed.

"I'd rather not be here" she said while glancing at Isran "but I needed to talk to you".

Well that was obvious, she wouldn't have come here for tea and cake.

"So why are you here?" I asked.

There was no sense wasting time on small talk. I knew why she was here, but to get the ball rolling she needed to explain things to Isran.

"It's important, so please listen" she pleaded "Its about me, and about the Scroll that I was buried with".

Harkon wanted to blot out the sun and to do it he needed a special bow and an Elder Scroll, we'd get to that at some point.

"The reason I had it, and why I was down there," Serana said, sounding a little ashamed "It all comes back to my father".

Her tone of voice made it clear that she was displeased with Harkon.

"I'm guessing you figured that part out already, but my father's not exactly a good person" she went on to say "Even by vampire standards".

This wasn't anything I didn't already know, but I didn't think rushing Serena would help, so I let her talk.

"He wasn't always like that, though" she then said "There was..."

She seemed to be struggling to find the right words.

"An event" she went on to say "He stumbled onto this obscure prophecy, and just kind of lost himself in it".

Again I didn't press her to keep speaking. Instead I let her take her time. Isran thankfully did the same.

"It was pointless and vague, like all prophecies" I was now being told "The part he latched onto said that the vampires would no longer need to fear the sun. That's what he's after. He wants to control the sun, so that vampires can control the world".

According to my Judgement Day Perk he would destroy the world within months if I didn't stop him. Which I would, as if needs be I'd just blow his castle.

"Anyway," Serana continued "My mother and I tried to stop him. That's why I was sealed away with the Scroll".

That sounded stupid to me because even if the Elder Scrolls couldn't be destroyed then the thing could have been put into a box along with something heavy and then dumped into the sea.

Also it didn't explain why Serana had been locked up with the scroll. I knew that it had to do with her blood, but as of yet she hadn't bothered to explain that, in fact she might know that yet.

"So I thought you might want to know about a vampire plot to enslave or destroy the entire world," Serana finished.

Well she wasn't wrong. This was something people needed to know about.

"You've heard what it has to say" Isran said impatiently "So tell me why shouldn't I kill this bloodsucking fiend right now?".

Serana had an answer.

"Because you're going to need my help" she said.

Also because I was pretty sure that if he tried she'd use her magic to kill him.

"Why, because of that story about the prophecy? About some vampire trying to put the sun out?" Isran ranted. "Do you actually believe any of that?"

Yes, because I'd seen all this play out before.

"She risked her life by coming here" I pointed out "She wouldn't have done that on a whim".

Isran wasn't totally convinced by that logic

"Maybe it has a death wish. Maybe it's just insane. I don't really care," Isran said irritably "It's a vampire".

The two of us stared each other down for a few seconds before Isran relented.

"It can stay here for now" he then said "but if it so much as lays a finger on anyone here, I'll hold you responsible. Got it?".

If Serana decided to start killing people I was sure that I could stop her. I had powers she couldn't even imagine, but given my last fight with Master Vampire I'd rather not fight her if I could avoid it.

"You hear me?" Isran was now saying to the vampire "Don't feel like a guest, because you're not. You're a resource, an asset. In the meantime, don't make me regret my sudden outburst of tolerance and generosity, because if you do, your friend here is going to pay for it".

Serana seemed amused.

"Thank you for your kindness. I'll remember it next time I'm feeling hungry" she said cheekily.

Serana then changed the subject, before Isran could get upset.

"Oh and, in case you haven't noticed, I still have the Elder Scroll" she informed us "Whatever it says, I bet it will help us stop my father".

She then folded her arms.

"But of course, neither of us can read it" she then added.

From what I remembered from the game, the Dragonborn could look at an Elder Scroll without going blind, but that didn't mean he could read all of them. He'd just used one to look into the past while at a wound in time. Still he had a better chance than most people.

Thankfully he wasn't the only option. Which was good because he or she was most likely working to defeat Alduin, and didn't have time to help us. My Judgement Day Perk was also letting me know that the dragons would end the world as well if not stopped. That wasn't my concern really, however it did mean that I needed to end the vampire crisis quickly so that I could leave if needs be.

"Moth Priests are the only ones I've heard of who can read the scrolls" Isran was saying "They spend years preparing before they can do it, though, and even when they do it costs them their sight, at least".

The leader of the Dawnguard had more to say

"Some Imperial scholar arrived in Skyrim a few days ago" Isran went on to say "I was staking out the road when I saw him pass by, maybe he or she was a Moth Priest".

I wondered when he'd found the time do that as he seemed to be a very busy man. He had lots of people to yell at and someone had to have been fixing up this castle.

"Do you know where he's staying now?" Serana asked

I could hear the hope in her voice.

"No" he said "And I am not going to waste men looking. We're fighting a war against your kind and I intend to win it. You want to find him, you're on you own. Try talking to innkeepers and carriage drivers in the big cities".

With that Isran walked away, leaving the two of us alone.

"So do you have any idea how to find a Moth Priest?" Serana asked.

I remembered that Dragon Bridge had some connection to this part of the quest line, but I wasn't a hundred percent sure.

"We can discuss that later" I told her "Hold on I'll get the key to..."

Before I could finish speaking Serana cast a spell on the door of the cell which unlocked it.

"I also mastered alteration fairly quickly" she said.

Now I was even more glad than ever that she was on my side. I'd hate to have to fight her.