I glanced around, taking note of the circular center of a spacious square courtyard, dominated by what looked like a large sundial. Paths spread out to the corners, where plots of earth suitable for gardening waited. Short flights of no more than ten stairs lead to small landings and doorways that appeared to lead to other parts of the castle. This place had been set up to sit and enjoy the beauty of the gardens that had once been here. The plots of earth were choked by long-dead plant matter, brown and black with decay.

"This was my mother's garden; I used to walk through here after evening meals. It... do you know how beautiful something can be when it's tended by a master gardener for hundreds of years?" Serana reached out to touch the rotted branch of what remained of a tree, sorrow lining her face. The decayed wood crumbled to dust in her hand, and the Nord vampire stared at the grit that coated her palm with an almost numb expression. "She would have hated to see it like this."

"It's like we're the first to set foot here in… well… a really long time," I said softly.

I approached the center and noticed that the sundial was actually a moondial. I had never heard of the like, but that's the only thing it could be. Instead of hours of the day, crests were made out of some sort of milky blue stone signifying the phases of the moon. The style pointed at the symbol for the new moon, with the waxing and waning cycles marching around the circle.

"Some things have been torn out…" I noted; neglect wasn't the only thing that had destroyed this place. A few of the moon crests had been pried out of their spots and taken away.

"You're right. Those stairs used to lead into the castle's great hall." I followed her pointing finger with my eyes, and noted that instead of a wooden door, it was an archway filled with rubble. "My father must have had it sealed up." Her expression became bitter. "Trust my father to neglect, or outright destroy, whatever didn't serve him. Knowing him, there was probably a good deal of spite involved in sealing away Mother's garden when she left."

She turned slowly, surveying the courtyard again, then her expression grew thoughtful, "Wait..." She jogged back to the moondial and circled it, eyes on the empty spots where the missing crests should have been. "Something's wrong with the moondial here. The dial is askew, and some of the crests are missing. I didn't even know the crests could be removed."

The dial was… askew…? I perked up and studied the moondial with a more careful eye. That had to mean that moving parts were involved! I gave the style in the center an experimental shove, but it didn't budge. Made sense though; we were still missing pieces.

Eagerly, I asked, "What can you tell me about the moondial? What makes it so special?"

Serana chewed on her upper lip thoughtfully. "Well, as far as I'm aware, it's the only one in existence. The previous owners of our castle had a sundial here, and obviously, that wouldn't appeal to my mother... you know: as a vampire."

I nodded to show I understood.

"Anyway, I knew that she persuaded an elven artisan to make some improvements. You can see the crests that show the phases of the moons: Masser and Secunda." Serana put her hand on her hip and tilted her head as she eyed the device.

"At the risk of insulting your mother's intelligence," I stated carefully, "I doubt that tracking moon phases over the course of a month would work the same as tracking hours in a day. Especially not with two moons at different phases."

Serana shook her head, confirming my thoughts, "That's the thing... What would even be the point of a 'moondial?' I always wondered why she didn't just have the whole thing ripped out. But she loved it. I don't know... I guess it's like having a piece of art, if you're into that kind of thing."

A slow, sly smirk pulled at the corners of my mouth as I connected a few more dots. "You said that this was your mother's garden. Obviously, she would spend a lot of time here, and she loved the moondial. What if she was doing something to the moondial that no one knew about?"

Serana's eyes widened, "Could be… Hard to say. But if you're right, then we need to find the missing crests! We need… hmmm… looks like the crescent moon, the half moon, and the full moon crests. Let's look around; even in this mess, they should stand out. The stones that represent the moon seem to be slightly luminescent."

She was right, though it took nearly an hour. Serana's sharp eyes found a half-moon crest in a small fountain that had been made as a landscape feature. It was covered in algae and took some rubbing and washing from the trickle of water to get the crud off. It settled into place with a promising click.

I found the crescent moon crest on the eastern landing, near a two-person table. Serana took it and clicked it into place too, as I continued searching for the final piece. The full moon crest turned out to be in a fenced-off garden area just below where I found the crescent moon. It was half buried under decayed mulch from the long-deceased garden plants.

"Ready?" I asked, holding the full moon crest poised above the final spot.

Serana nodded, hope flaring in her eyes; "Let's do this."

The final crest clicked into place. There was a brief pause, and then there was a soft whirring sound as the style began to rotate. I moved back to join Serana as the point swung from the new moon crest, to the full moon crest. It came to a stop and then seemed to settle. There was a soft grinding noise, and the stones between the style and the crests sank to form a descending staircase into the earth. Serana and I shared a triumphant look.

I sent a silent prayer of thanks to Stendarr that we hadn't needed blood for this puzzle. One horrific wound like poor Helskr's was more than enough for one lifetime. As it was, I still had uncharitable thoughts about Valerica based on that construct alone.

"I'd bet the tunnel runs under the courtyard and into the tower that used to be her lab," Serana led the way down the stairs. "We're probably going to meet up with some more guardians down here; whatever my mother could put into place that would last throughout the centuries. Ready?"

I drew Dawnbreaker and nodded. Through the door, we found ourselves in a short, almost completely dark hallway that ended in what initially appeared to be a blank wall. Serana summoned a tiny flame to light three ancient candles sitting on a pedestal, and a pull chain was revealed. The wall, cleverly constructed to conceal the outline of the door, soon lifted to reveal a room containing a table in the very center.

"Eurgh," I whispered.

Millennia had stolen most of the horror away, but there was no mistaking the discolored human femur laying all alone on the table. Nor the wood that was stained dark by what could only have been ancient bloodstains. One corner was piled, chest high, with discarded human bones. Another table in an alcove sported similar grisly mementos of what went on down here.

My view of Valerica took another hard plummet.

Serana made a low, horrified sound. "I've… I've never even seen this part of the castle before," she half whispered.

The Nord vampire reached out to the leg bone as if to offer comfort to the long-dead soul that it had once belonged to. Her fingers couldn't quite bring themselves to touch the memento of death. Her hand trembled, and she eventually let it drop, finally settling for closing her glowing amber eyes and shaking her head in regret.

"She's… she's like... him. Maybe not in all ways, but the same cruelty is there." Serana took a deep shuddering breath and then looked abruptly up at me, fear springing to life in her eyes. "I didn't know, Lasirah. I swear I had no idea…"

"I know you didn't," I spoke the words gently to stop a panic attack in the making. "You've already made that clear, even before now."

"I... wait, when…?"

"Helskr;" I reminded her gently; "the memory you received of his injured hand. It was very obvious that the contraption that freed you was not something you knew about."

Serana's face twisted with distaste, "We were a family once… and then in the blink of an eye, we were like strangers. Maybe I've been a naïve little girl, believing that my mother was still better than… than my father."

There was nothing I could say to that, other than to rest my hand gently on her shoulder as she looked around the room of horror that we had discovered.

Serana suddenly couldn't look me in the eyes. "Do you think about the time when you will have to kill me? I mean… this looks like a glimpse of my future."

I shook my head decisively. "No, I don't think it will come to that for you: not since you showed me how human you are, back in Dimhollow." I stepped in front of her and looked directly at her face, despite her eyes being averted. "You may have been asleep in that coffin for thousands of years, but you haven't degraded."

"You said the Elder Scroll preserved me," she reminded me quietly.

"Yes, but that was long after you rose." She gave me a raised eyebrow, silently asking me for more of an explanation. In answer, I gestured at the bones piled in the corner. "In regular vampires, the loss of humanity happens upon the death of the human and the raising of the vampire. The… really sick stuff that vampires get up to is a learned behavior. But their humanity and compassion wink out like a blown-out candle the minute Sanguinare strips them of their life and replaces it with undeath. I don't think that's the case with your family."

She was silent for a long time, seeming to mull over some very dark thoughts. Finally, she took a deep, shuddering breath and seemed to steel herself, "Let's keep going. Be careful, Lasirah. There's no telling what she's left around."

Out the back of the room, we went up a flight of stairs sporting similar splatters of ancient blood. Here, we entered the remains of a massive dining hall. I had been to the Temple of the Divines in Solitude once, and it had sported buttresses as high as this, though the thick layer of dust was a definite switch. A long dining table stretched the length of the room, and seated all along it were six skeletons slumped in their chairs. As we stepped inside, the door swung shut, the braziers flared to life, and the skeletons animated with inhuman hisses.

Another battle, more scattered bones, some ice spears, and fired arrows later, and the room was as silent as it had been when we had entered.

At the south end, we found a flight of stairs to a room filled with cobwebs and more spiked bone chimes. As soon as Serana had joined me and we took a few cautious steps into the darkened room, there was a swell of magic. With low whooshing sounds, two braziers came to life, revealing the figure of a crouching gargoyle.

I was already moving as the beast shed its stone skin with a scream. Even as its reptilian eyes focused on me, I was lashing out with Dawnbreaker. The tip of the blade cut a shallow wound across the beast's chest, and I remembered, belatedly, that the damned things were tough. They also didn't catch on fire as the undead did.

The gargoyle's deep growl made the air shiver, and it lashed out at me with glowing red claws. Oh right… They could do that too. I felt the impact against my armored chest, and I was knocked back a few feet. The armor protected me from the health-draining effect, but the blow was strong enough to drive the air from my lungs.

Serana fought back with her ice spears and her own health-draining abilities as I struggled to get my lungs to remember how to work again.

I finally dragged in a deep, wheezing breath and drew my bow. I took careful aim… and downed the creature with an arrow to the eye socket.

"Did your mother keep gargoyles around?" I wheezed.

She shook her head with a frown, "Not that I ever saw. Though she had a bit of a thing for magical constructs; she found them fascinating. It's no surprise that she would use them to guard this place, though. It looks like once they go dormant, they can stay that way indefinitely."

Signs of decay and destruction were growing more and more widespread the further we got. Past the gargoyle, we found ourselves in a stone stairwell that had collapsed in several areas, choking our path with fallen debris. Battling our way past dozens of skeletons; I stopped counting after the tenth one. Several screaming gargoyles later, we passed a destroyed shrine to Mara, the goddess of love.

Part of the neglected building had collapsed and fallen upon the shrine, cracking it across the middle and half burying it in stone and debris. I paused to touch the statue's cheek in sorrow. This place had not felt the touch of love in a long, long time. It seemed fitting that this part of the castle represented the destroyed love of a family so well.

We passed several rooms with other grisly signs of death and cruelty and each time we did, we encountered several more skeletons in the hallways.

I guess I don't have to ask what happened to the poor thralls who helped Valerica build that secret tunnel. The thought was grim as Dawnbreaker cleansed yet another animated skeleton with a burst of fire.

Eventually, we passed through double doors into a spacious room with two coffins standing at the back of the room. The moldering remains of red velvet still lined the interior. Three more gargoyles were put down, and we were left with a room that seemed to be a dead end.

"There should be a secret entrance nearby," Serana murmured. "I've been keeping track of where we are against memories of what this tower looks like from the outside. We're not nearly high enough to be at the end."

After exploring a bit, I stopped at a fireplace bracketed by two candle holders. I smirked. It was just too cliche; like being in one of those ridiculous spy novels that young men were so fond of. That ridiculously lucky, clever, always-gets-the-girl Imperial spy in those sordid stories… who was he? Oh yes; Bund. Janus Bund. I shook my head wryly and gave the right candlesticks a wiggle. It didn't move. Undeterred, I grabbed the left one, and it rotated easily in my hand. If this got any more cliché, I would expect a balding villain to step out and start monologuing. He would be petting a fluffy white Alfiq Khajiit, of course.

To my relief, no such thing happened. The hidden passageway opened up to reveal the stairwell leading to the top of the tower.

Seven flights of stairs later, I was roundly cursing Valerica under my breath and massaging my aching calves.