Leaving the inn the next morning, I take a deep breath of the fresh, cold air before setting off down the road northwards. It's very quiet out this morning – I only pass the occasional guard and traveller until I reach the snowline, when a massive white bear throws itself out of the wilderness alongside the road. My first attack with my sword merely bounces off of the creature's matted fur. It opens its big-toothed mouth to bite at me, and I take the opportunity to slash open its face, using its mouth as a way of bypassing the tangled hair. The bear roars in pain, and I hack again, slicing its face wide open and finally killing it.
Not much further down the road, another assassin leaps out at me from a bush. The Khajiit's white fur, dyed in tiger stripes, ripples in the frozen wind as she slashes at my neck with her daggers; but my attack lands first, slitting her abdomen in two as my sharp blade slices easily through her leather armour.
Leaving the body behind me at the crossroads, I follow the cobbles westwards towards Dawnstar. As I near Fort Dunstad, a trio of spiders crawl across the road, spot me, and decide they're hungry. Proving them wrong, as I jog through the wooden walls around the fallen masonry, I glower at the Imperial soldiers who, instead of helping me against the spiders, are threatening me. Why occupy a fort through which the main road passes, and then threaten the travellers with death for 'interfering with Imperial business'? If this is what they are like when people are just walking past, how do they treat the caravans that deliver their supplies? Do they accept the food then behead them?
Beyond the fort, and after mincing another pair of spiders, I check my map to find out where exactly this Dimhollow Crypt is. I am glad that the cartographers marked practically everything on it, but it makes it a little difficult to find one particular place. I spot the marker about halfway up the track to a shrine to Mehrunes Dagon. Tucking the map back into my bag, I head up a track in the snow towards the mountains. At the end of the track, I find the ruins of the Hall of the Vigilant.
The rafters are still smoking, and outside the corpse of a great black hairless dog lies. The corpses inside are smothered in flies, but the dog is insect-less. On the floor inside, I find a rather interesting book about Arkngthamz, which I tuck into my bag. I think I'll check that place out at some point.
Leaving the ruins behind me – and a blue flower on the step – I follow the tack back toward the road and follow the track where it splits to climb the end of the mountain range. Up a couple of short flights of shallow steps, I find a door into the mountain, facing an excellent view towards the ocean.
Let's see how good I am at using a crossbow then. Pulling it out of my satchel, I head into the first cavern, from which echoes an interesting conversation.
"These Vigilants never know when to give up." Oh dear. "I thought we'd taught them enough of a lesson at their hall." Vampires. And it doesn't sound like Tolan is alive anymore.
"To come in here alone… a fool like all the rest of them." A female vampire answers her male companion.
"He fought well though. Jeron and Bresoth were no match for him."
"Ha! Those two deserved what they got. Their arrogance had become insufferable."
"All this talk is making me thirsty." The male complains. "Perhaps another Vigilant will wander in soon."
"I wish Lokil would hurry it up." The female retorts. "I have half a mind to return to the castle and tell Harkon what a fool he's entrusted this mission to." This could be worse than we thought…
"And I have half a mind to tell Lokil of your disloyalty."
"You wouldn't dare. Now shut up and keep on watch."
From the entrance to the cavern where I am hiding, I can see a great iron gate, closed of course, and in front of it are the corpses of a pair of vampires, another of the dogs – and Tolan. Another of the hounds still lives, and the two vampires are lurking in the shadows nearby. Readying my crossbow, I aim towards the male and press the trigger. The bolt flies true, striking the vampire and killing it in one blow. This of course alerts the female and the dog, both of which dash towards the corpse.
Reloading, I shoot the dog, alarming the female, who raises one of the corpses and starts to search in my direction. I move further into the cavern as I reload, and manage to shoot the female just before she bumps into me. Now the group lie dead, I straighten up and search the cave for a way to open the gate.
In a tower at the other end of the cave, I find an urn, a chest and a chain, which I pull on, opening the gate. I follow the passage through to a large room, at the end of which a set of stairs leads to a small graveyard. As I approach the stairs, a skeleton rises from the ground in front of it, and another pair from the graves, alerting the vampire lurking nearby. The trio of skeletons are easy to deal with, and the vampire doesn't take many more shots to kill either. Isran was right – these crossbows are powerful. I only have about 50 bolts left though, so I'll have to be careful to hit every time.
Opening the next gate, I pass through into a room with sarcophagi embedded in the floor and four around the edge of the room. In one corner is an enchanting table, so I use it to add a flame spell to the crossbow before following the next passage into a large room filled with burial alcoves. Inside, a vampire and her dog are fighting a pair of Draugr she'd awakened, so I let them fight it out. The vampire and the hound prevail, but they still don't live much longer, as they are peppered with bolts as quickly as I can load them. There are three side passages in this room, each blocked by an iron gate. The first contains a chest with a very sturdy lock. It takes a little while, but I manage to get it open, to find the only thing worth taking inside is a sack of coins – the armour is weaker than what I wear, and the battleaxe isn't worth much either.
In the second, a sarcophagus stands at the end, out of which bursts another Draugr, which I shoot dead before it reaches me. In one of the alcoves along the side of the passage is a magic bow, and an axe in another, both made inaccessible by the iron bars encasing the short space down the middle. I wish I had a telekinesis spell, but I have to make do with using Unrelenting Force to try to blast them against the back of the alcoves hard enough to rebound out of them and within range of my arm. It takes a little while, and a lot of effort, but soon both items are in my bag and I'm pulling the chain to open the third passage.
This third is much like the second, only instead of a coffin, there is a pedestal with a pair of potions on it, and in the alcoves along the wall are more potions, which I Shout out.
Following the passage deeper into the crypt, I reach a room with a pool in the middle, submerging the graveyard the room contains. From this pool rise another trio of skeletons, which are weak against the bolts of my crossbow. Their deaths alert a vampire who had been hidden in the murk, and she comes splashing into the pool, raising a skeleton – which provides no protection against another bolt, launched into her sternum with enough force to drive it almost the whole way through.
As the raised skeleton turns to dust behind me, I head up the dirt ramp into a set of passages lined with empty burial alcoves – obviously they're so old even the skeletons have rotted to dust. In short side passages, I find lone vampires, who have already been weakened by the spiders who were the previous occupants of the tunnels. My satchel is starting to get weighed down by all the loot gathered from the corpses of the vampires and the other creatures I encountered on the journey here, so I chow down on some cabbages I'd found as I follow the passage into a sort of balcony above the flooded graveyard. In this area, two of the ugly black dogs lurk, who spot me at about the same time as I spot them. The first runs gaping maw-first into a bolt, and the second is so eager to maul me it runs into the wall beside the doorway, giving me enough time as it recovers to reload my crossbow and drive a bolt into its heart.
In the next room, blocked by a massive iron gate, a vampire battles a giant spider – and wins. I peel some of the glowing mushrooms off of the pedestal the gate lever sits on, then give the lever a tug and shoot the vampire dead. I never thought I'd be grateful to spiders for helping me kill enemies!
Behind the hairy, bloody corpse of the spider is a small door, through which I pass into a small entry area into an absolutely massive cavern. As I reach the opening onto a balcony, taking a scroll on the way, I catch voices coming from the area below.
"I'll never tell you anything, vampire! My oath to Stendarr is stronger than any suffering you can inflict on me."
"I believe you, Vigilant." Comes the response. "And I don't think you even know what you've found here. So go and meet your beloved Stendarr." From where I'm hiding, I can't see anything, but judging from the pained cry I just heard, the poor Vigilant has been killed.
"Are you sure that was wise, Lokil?" Asks a female voice. "He still might have told us something. We haven't gotten anywhere ourselves with –"
"He knew nothing." Replies the first vampire. "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."
"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."
Peeking over the edge of the balcony, I get a good view of the chamber – and by the Nine, it is huge! In the centre is a large circle created by archways, with a bridge leading to on one side and from on the other. From where I stand, the balcony continues along the wall towards a set of stairs down into the cavern. Following this trail, I find a hidden space near the stairs with a pair of wooden coffins – one of which lies open – and a chest containing a small amount of money and a potion.
I head onto the bridge and shoot dead a thrilled bandit patrolling the edge of the arch circle. The vampires, of course, come running, and the first casualty of the pair is the male, who must be Lokil and the leader of their 'expedition'. The female is a little more intelligent than her boss; instead of making a beeline to the corpse of the thrall like Lokil had, she comes in search of me, attempting to cross the bridge but not succeeding, since the bridge is my hiding spot.
Once I am sure everything in the cavern is dead, I slide the crossbow into its sling on my back and inspect the area encircled by the arches. There are five unlit braziers set into grooves along which they are easily pushed, and in the centre is a button. This must be the thing that the vampire artefact is kept in. I reach out and press the button.
As the button sinks into the pedestal upon which it stands, a massive sharp spike slams up and through the palm of my hand.
Thankfully the spike merely pushes the contents of the inside of my hand out of the way, but as it retreats back into its hidey-hole it leaves a gaping wound. As I cast a healing spell, a heatless purple fire-like glow appears in a circle around the centre, with an arm of the glow spreading along one of the brazier grooves. As an experiment, I push the brazier, and it slides into the next socket and ignites with another purple flame. Ok, I think I've worked it out.
I work my way around the circle, pushing the braziers around until they light, and soon all five are lit. The button in the centre rises into the air and the floor sinks a little, revealing an octagonal pillar. Putting my hand on it, the front drops away – and a woman falls out!
I'm unsure whether I should help as she stumbles to her feet, so instead I ask:
"Are you alright?"
"Uh…" She groans, then blearily focuses on my ash-skinned face. "Where is… who sent you here?"
"Who were you expecting?"
"I was expecting someone… like me, at least." There's something about her eyes….
"Are you a..?"
"Vampire, yes." She seems to have recovered from however long she was in there. She tucks a loose strand of pitch black hair behind her ear and folds her arms.
"Why were you locked away like this?" And for how long? I haven't ever heard any stories of a woman hidden in a pillar before, so either she was hidden away in complete secrecy, which is nigh impossible, or it was such a long time ago that the stories have died.
"That's complicated." She answers. "And I'm not totally sure if I can trust you. But if you want to know the whole story, help me get back to my family's home."
"Where do you need to go?"
"My family used to live on an island to the west of Solitude. I would guess they still do." She starts to step away from the pillar, then does a double take, turning back to me. "By the way, my name is Serana. Good to meet you."
"Lethandhrel." We shake hands, her pale, almost white skin casting a sharp contrast against my dark grey, then set out to explore the rest of the cavern.
No sooner have we set foot upon the solid ground on the other side of the second bridge, than the two stone gargoyles on a raised platform opposite us explode into life, and come screaming towards us. The combined attacks of my burning crossbow bolts and Serana's icicle attacks soon deal with the beasts, and we are free to travel around the edge of the cave wall, where I find a pair of malachite veins. After mining these out, I lead Serana the stairs towards the exit passage and into the next room.
This room is almost pitch dark, what little light there is is cast by a few small braziers scattered around the raised half of the room. As I climb the steps towards a lever in the middle of the room, I spot an alcove with a chest and a spell tome, so after pulling the lever and opening a gate in the next passage I jump down, retrieve the spell book and loot the contents of the chest. Unfortunately, this means Serana is on her own against the group of Draugr and skeletons that rise up when the gate opens. I soon return, however, and deal with the Draugr while she scatters bones all over the room.
Soon, we are jogging along the passage, leaving the scattered remains of the undead behind us – and stumbling into a great room where all the walls are lined with stairs leading down to a large square fire-pit, covered with an iron grid and two scorched victims. From where we stand at the top of one flight, we have a great view of the occupied throne on the other side and the Word Wall in the corner.
From the way the occupant of the throne is sitting, I can tell that it is probably a live Draugr, as the dead ones I've seen have been more slumped, and facing forward in the seat. Aiming my crossbow at the thing, intending not to take the chance that I am wrong, I pull the trigger and send a bolt flying across the room and into the Draugr's chest. Unluckily, this isn't enough to kill it, and it stumbles to its feet while the other, hidden occupants of the room shamble into action and begin searching for us.
Serana and I prove no match for the group of undead, leaving them in various heaps scattered across the room as we make our way towards the Word Wall. When I touch the Wall, the Word seeps out as usual, and embeds its knowledge in my mind. Now I know that if I use the Word 'Gaan', I can drain an opponent's energy, tiring them quicker than ordinary battle.
Opening the doors at the side of the passage, I discover the next passage leads up a set of stairs to an iron grate. Raising it leads to the exit and out into the crisp Skyrim night.
A little way down the slope is a track, no more than many footprints and hoof-prints in the snow, which I follow north-east down to the road just south of Fort Dunstad. Great – not only am I going to have to put up with stupid Imperials who can't tell the difference between walking past and fiddling with, but I'll be with Serana too, which won't help their attitude at all.
Luckily, we pass through fast enough to satisfy the soldiers, and we travel along the road towards Dawnstar. As we fight a trio of hungry wolves, I realise I haven't actually been to Dawnstar before. Following the road, I find that going straight would merely lead us to the docks, so I turn, spot the inn off of a branch in the road to the right, and head inside.
"It's a curse! It has to be!" Is the first thing I hear upon entering. I step closer to the bar to discreetly eavesdrop. "I've got to get out of this town!"
Two women are talking with a Dunmer priest.
"Irgnir, get a hold of yourself." One responds to the other's upset cry. "They're just dreams. Please tell her, Erandur."
"Listen to your friend Fruki." The priest reassures. "They are just dreams, my dear. I assure you that it is quite normal."
"It's the same dream over and over again." Irgnir replies. "You think that's normal? It's evil, I tell you!"
"Erandur, she has a point. You keep telling us no harm will follow these dreams, but they must be an omen."
"Give him a chance to speak." The innkeeper pipes up. "He's trying to help us."
"Everyone, please." The priest raises his voice enough for everyone nearby to hear. "I'm doing what I can to end these nightmares. In the meantime all I ask is you remain strong and put your trust in Lady Mara."
"I… I will." Stutters Irgnir. "Thank you."
The trio scatter as I head up to the bar.
"Need a room?" The innkeeper asks me. "Don't worry – nightmares don't seem to happen for travellers. Name's Thoring – welcome to the Windpeak Inn."
"I'd like to rent a room." I remember no-one ever let me rent one for my companion too.
"Sure thing. It's yours for a day." All the innkeepers respond to my rental with the same phrase. "I'll show you to your room – right this way." He leads me to a room to the right of the bar.
Sure enough, there is only one single bed in the room. At least there is a chair for Serana. If I remember right, vampires can cope with sunlight, they just don't regenerate. I'll have to make sure Serana doesn't take too much damage during the journey tomorrow.