Another quick little thing, I know hunting down all the Dragon Priests is not technically part of the main quest but I thought I'd throw it in for some flare.
Serana
My father's face haunted my sleep, I saw myself when I was a child, when our family was together and happy, before Molag Bal took it all away, before the prophecy consumed my father's life. I saw him in the castle, plotting his next move, pouring over maps and books.
Suddenly, I shot up in bed, breathing hard. It took me a moment to realize where I was at and that I was safe, or as safe as I could be. I got out of the bed and headed toward the stairs intending to go outside for some air, but I stopped when I heard voices.
"-just can't sleep," I heard Torbin saying "I keep on seeing Alduin and now Harkon."
"Are you sure she's trustworthy?" I heard Ahtal ask "The girl I mean."
"She hasn't given me any reason not to think so," Torbin replied "If she was going to kill me, she would've done it by now, she's had plenty of opportunities."
"Are you sure she isn't just tricking you to get the Elder Scrolls?" Ahtal asked "It's something to think about. Can you trust her to get the job done, to kill Harkon if need be?"
"I hope she doesn't have to make that decision," Torbin said "It's not that I don't trust her to make the choice, but I don't want her to. If it comes to that, I'll do it."
"I'm just saying, I'd keep your eyes on her," Ahtal said "Last thing Skyrim needs is to have to bury the Dragonborn."
"I plan on dying of natural causes many years from now." Torbin laughed
After a few moments, Torbin decided to try sleeping again and I heard him heading for the stairs, so I slipped back into bed, not wanting him to know I had heard them. I didn't feel like going outside anymore.
I tossed and turned most of the night but finally managed to fall back to sleep for a few hours, with more nightmares haunting me.
"Serana," Torbin's voice tore through my sleep and I felt him shaking me "Serana, wake up."
I opened my eyes to find Torbin standing next to my bed, looking as though he hadn't gotten much sleep at all. He was already dressed with a fresh shave and a neat trim in his hair. His weapons hanging on his waist and his signature, brooding look plastered to his face.
"Whenever you're ready," He told me, heading towards the stairs "Come down to the dining room, I've got a few things for you."
It didn't take me long to get dressed, I hadn't taken off much when I went to sleep. I grabbed the sword Torbin had given me, strapping it to my waist and heading down the stairs. Torbin was waiting for me by one of the doors to the side, I hadn't seen what was inside it yet.
He smiled when he saw me and motioned for me to follow him, opening the door and slipping inside with me behind him. I shut the door on my way in and turned around, my eyes widening in amazement. There was a collection of all sorts of bows, swords, war axes, shields, and armor stands.
Off to the side was a cabinet with what maps of dragon heads drawn in various spots, some of them were crossed off. There were two cases on either side of an armor stand, one was empty, but the other held a handful of masks. I could tell they held some sort of power and the design seemed very old and Nordic, but I could not place them at any time period I knew of.
"Careful with those," Torbin said, nodding to the mask "They're Dovah Sonaak."
"They're what?" I asked, confused "Did you just speak in Dragon?"
"Dragon Priests, they rose when the dragons did," He explained "Paarthurnax told me of them when I brought him the mask of Krosis, the first one I found. He seems to think the best thing to do will be to hunt down all of them to help weaken Alduin's foothold in Skyrim, but so far I've only killed six."
"How many are there?" I asked, looking back at the masks
"Eight," He answered "I know one is with him, guarding his entrance to Sovngarde. But the other is unaccounted for entirely, I haven't managed to find even a rumor of him. No name, no location, no history, nothing."
"Sounds like you've got quite a busy schedule." I remarked
"That's one way to put it." He sighed
I could sense that this was a tense subject for him, and next to dragons, Torbin probably would've much rather dealt with vampires. I decided to change the subject and asked him where he had gotten all the weapons.
"Accumulated over the years," He said "You'd be surprised how quickly you come across powerful weapons in Skyrim these days."
"What about this?" I asked, pointing to a Dwarven sword "There's an enchantment on it, I can feel the power."
"That was Mercer Frey's sword," He told me "The man I told you of on the road to Dragon Bridge."
"You never told me what happened to him?" I asked, finding myself curious
"The maggots and rats have probably gotten him by now," He shrugged "Help yourself, any type of weapon you feel like, I've got it."
I looked around before my eyes fell on a sealed case. Inside, there was a solid black staff with what looked like a screaming man on the top. Almost absentmindedly, I found myself reaching to open it before Torbin's voice tore me back to reality.
"No no no!" He said quickly, flinching as I reached for it "Not that! Trust me, you want nothing to do with that."
"What is it?" I asked him, confused by how much it seemed to scare him
"Wabbajack," He said "Each time you use it, it does something random, and it isn't always helpful."
"Where did you come across something like that?" I asked him, turning away
"I just can't seem to walk away from crazy, old, mad men." He sighed
I let the matter drop and continued looking around. One of the weapons racks had several different types of swords on it and, finally, my eyes fell on a sleek ebony blade. I had never held a sword forged of ebony, but the balance was impeccable and the blade was razor sharp. I picked it up and gave it a few practice swings, hearing Torbin chuckle behind me.
"That was one of the first blades I ever forged," He said fondly "I didn't much feel like selling it so I decided to keep it. Illa helped me enchant it, the blade will stay sharp for twice as long as any normal blade."
"Does it have a name?" I asked him
"No, it doesn't," He smiled "If you think of one, you're more than welcome to name it. Here, Ahtal is far better at making swords than bows, but he'll still make the best bow you'll find this side of Skyrim."
He tossed me a sleek, black bow also forged of ebony. He grabbed two quivers of arrows and handed me on, tossing the other over his shoulder.
"Careful with those, they're made of dragon bone," He told me "Ahtal perfected the design a bit. They're modeled after your classic steel arrow tips, but he carved barbs into the back of the head and twisted the heads a bit as well."
"Dragon bone?" I asked as I pulled one out to look at it
"Aye, takes a lot of it to make any swords or things like that, but you can make plenty of arrows quick enough," He nodded "Ahtal's design on the head will pierce plate three hundred yards away, and you'll need a damn surgeon to close the wound. Nothing cuts like dragon bone."
"I didn't picture you using a bow." I commented, continued to look around
"Not everything demands a sword," He shrugged "I keep one named Zephyr attached to Midnight's saddle. Now that is quite a tale."
Torbin hadn't lied, he had every type of weapon imaginable, and each one had some thrilling tale behind it, some not so thrilling.
"I'll tell you one thing," He said when I was finished and he had locked the room again "We have to keep this place guarded, I've got a lot of dangerous things."
"I wouldn't doubt it," I told him "Any stops to make on the way?"
"Nope," He said "Uthgerd's got everything under control."
We saddled our horses and headed out, traveling as far as we could before resting. It only took a few days, I took the time to get to know Torbin better, asking him questions about his family and whatnot, but I couldn't get him to open up about that. Each time I brought it up, he seemed to shut me out, answering my questions with single words or just a simple grunt.
We didn't run into much trouble, a hunting party of vampires or two here and there, I learned that Dawnbreaker was especially effective against the undead. There were a few times where I had to feed, so Torbin would track down a few bandits or something. One night, I was almost ready to pass out from lack of fresh blood, and he used his own.
"Absolutely not." I said, in disbelief at the idea
Truth be told, I wanted so bad to taste his blood again. It might've been his dragon blood, but it gave me so much energy, made me feel powerful, and I didn't trust myself to only take a little bit. He insisted, telling me that there wasn't another way to do it, and I knew he was right.
He took the glove from his left hand, revealing an already faded scar across his palm. He drew his knife and cut it deep, reopening what appeared to be a very old wound.
"Done this before?" I asked him
"Not for a vampire." He remarked, offering me his hand
With no other option, I drank his blood. It was the same feeling as the first time, intense energy, like I could've taken on an entire army and won, it was amazing, and I almost couldn't stop.
When I was finished, Torbin wrapped a bandage around his hand and put his glove back on, acting as if what had just happened was no big deal, but I knew that I had hurt him, he'd gone a bit pale in the face.
"We're you and Valerica close?" He asked me one night
"Before my father became obsessed with the prophecy, my mother and I got along fine," I told him "She loved alchemy."
"So you always got along?" He asked
"Like the best of friends," I said "I wouldn't hesitate to share anything with her."
"But then it all changed?" He guessed
"It was very sudden," I remembered "Like one day we were a normal family and then the next….I just didn't even know who they were anymore. Whenever I'd try to visit my mother in her garden she'd always shoo me away, said she was much too busy."
"That's why we're headed there?" He asked me
"She had to be up to something in that garden," I said, determined to be right "Hopefully, she left a clue to tell us where she went."
After what seemed like weeks even though it was only days, Castle Volkihar finally came into view. Torbin fashioned a small raft out of some driftwood and we floated up the side without any of the guards noticing.
"There," I said, pointing to an old dock "That's our entrance. My father destroyed this part of the castle and had it blocked off, he'd never think to look here."
"I hope he doesn't get smart all of the sudden," Torbin said, drawing his sword as we stepped onto the dock "It's bad for my image."
"What do you mean?" I laughed
"Heroes make a killing off stupid bad guys." He smirked
I heard a small clicking sound I knew to be skeletons, probably placed here by my father in case somebody wandered over.
"We've got trouble," Torbin said, indicating for me to take the lead "After you, milady."
We took them down pretty quickly, Torbin did most of it. By the time I had picked off the archer up top, Torbin had already rushed in, burning two of them up with a fire shout and was just reaching the top of the stairs where the final one stood, waiting. They battled for a moment, with the skeleton going on the immediate offensive, rushing at Torbin. I raised the my bow to try and get a shot on him, but Torbin caught the skeleton's blade with his and slashed his midsection with his axe, stomping on him for good measure after.
We opened the door and slipped inside, shutting it behind us. The basement was dark and empty, it was also very cold. As we started down the stairs, Torbin turned to me, speaking in a whisper so as not to alert anything that was below us.
"Did you spend a lot of time down here?" He asked me
"I liked exploring, my parents almost never let me out of the castle," I said "So yeah, I poked around down here a lot, it was a little quieter back then, guess a little vampire girl was enough to scare off the rats."
"That sounds pretty lonely." He said
"It was, " I shrugged "But I got used to it."
"You sound like you were a weird little kid." He teased
"I was," I chuckled "But I think I turned out okay. What about you, what were you like as a kid?"
"Not much to tell," He shrugged "I helped out on the farm, helped my father in the fields, my grandfather too before he passed, hunted with my father, went with him to the traders in the big cities."
Just then I heard a hiss from down below us before a Skeever made a run for us. Torbin cut downward and removed his head in a swift, decisive motion. We headed down the final set of stairs and Torbin opened the door, trying to be quiet about it. It didn't matter anyways, the second the door opened, we were greeted with five Death Hounds, baring their teeth and growling. I shot one in the head while Torbin bashed another off into the water on our side with his shield, coming up and cutting across the chest of another.
I went for the other two while Torbin headed after one that was attempting to get away. As I cut down the remaining two, Torbin finished up with his right before he was ambushed. A bald Elf in rags dropped down from the balcony above him, stabbing wildly with her knife, trying to get at him. He moved at the last second but she managed to ding his armor, he rammed his head into her's, causing her to stumble backwards as he plunged Dawnbreaker into her heart. She screamed so loud that the both of us flinched, fearing she'd alert every vampire in the castle.
A split second later Torbin's axe was in her skull.
She had dropped what appeared to be a journal fragment on the ground, which I picked up to read. The letter revealed that she had been a feral vampire rejected from the castle many years before, and that she had been lying in wait, plotting her revenge.
We headed upstairs and found a lever, lowering a bridge below us, which led us into another part of the catacombs. I remembered the place well and I led Torbin through a few more Death Hounds and over to the second lever, where we lowered the other half of the bridge leading up to the courtyard.
"We made it," I said as we stepped outside, halting in dismay as I saw the condition it was in "Oh no, what happened to this place? Everything's been torn down, the place just looks dead. We must be the first to set foot here in centuries."
Torbin sheathed his weapons and I headed up one of the small sets of stairs, looking around for anything that could help us. I noticed that the passageway had been blocked off, no doubt my father's doing. I was lost in the sea of memories that came flooding back to me as I remembered all the times I had spent here with my mother.
"This used to lead into the castle's great hall," I told him "I used to walk through it after evening meals."
As we continued to look around, we came upon my mother's garden. The plants were withered and rotted away, looking as if nobody hand tended them in years.
"This was my mother's garden," I said to Torbin "Do you know how beautiful something can be when it's tended to by a master of hundreds of years? She would've hated to see it like this."
He stayed quiet, which I was grateful for. I didn't want pity or sympathy, I just wanted to be left alone to relive old memories, from when things weren't all that bad. It was then that I turned around and noticed something unusual about the moondial.
"Wait," I said, walking towards it "Something's wrong, the crests are missing and the dial is askew. I never even knew the crests could come out. I think maybe my mother is trying to tell us something."
"What's so special about the moondial?" Torbin asked
"Well, as far as I am aware, it's the only one in existence," I told him "The previous owners had a sundial, but Mother didn't like it, had an Elven artisan make some adjustments, you can see the phases of the moon."
"Does it work?" He asked
"That's the thing, what's the point of a moondial?" I said "I always wondered why she didn't just have the whole thing ripped out, but she loved it. I don't know, I suppose it's just like owning a piece of art if you're into that sort of thing."
"So what exactly are we doing to it?" He asked
"Hard to say, maybe we could try finding the missing crests." I suggested
"What happened to the courtyard?" He asked as we began looking around
"If I had to guess, I'd say my father destroyed it," I told him "He wiped out every remnant of her."
"Then just walled it off?" Torbin asked
"Appears so," I shrugged "Maybe he wanted to put the past behind him, perhaps if he spent more time with us he could've appreciated the beauty for himself."
Torbin went quiet again as we scoured the courtyard in search of the missing crests. We found the first one on the balcony overlooking the garden, lying next to a table. The second one, we found a little deeper in my mother's garden, and finally we found the third one sitting on the rock inside the small pool to the side.
We put them into the dial and it spun around a few times before the floor fell away, revealing a spiral staircase going downwards, to what I could only hope was my mother's hiding spot.
"Very clever, Mother," I said, impressed "I've never been in those tunnels before, but I'll bet they lead right under the castle."
"I wish you knew," Torbin muttered "I'll bet and most likely have gotten me into more trouble than I care to remember."
"Perk up," I laughed, elbowing him in the rib "At least we're getting closer, now let's get moving."