Yes, a new chapter only one day after posting another one. The thing is that yesterday I was lucky, I had plenty of free time and was with my head full of ideas.

Vardall and his group spended some time traveling from High Hrothgar to Riften. They did several things during the way, killed several bandits and dangerous animals and creatures, such as Trolls. They explored a Nord crypt called Angarvunde that was on the way, inside they took several treasures to sell and even founded a word wall with a new shout to Vardall. The word was Raan, from the Animal Allegiance shout. But Vardall still needed to absorb a dragon soul to earn the knowledge to use the shout, that problem was solved two days later when they're attacked by a dragon. Working as a team, they killed the dragon and Vardall absorbed his soul, he learned that Raan means Animal, and that using this shout, he could make the animals close to him help him in battles and calm down hostile animals. This proved useful, as they were never more attacked by bears, wolves, frostbite spiders and sabercats, as Vardall always used the shout.

Vardall also liked a lot the landscapes of The Rift, as much of it is composed of lush, autumn-colored valleys and rivers, surrounded by mountains to the south, east, and northeast. The Rift itself is also located atop an immense plateau, giving this place it's own charm that Vardall loved. But not just from wonders the Rift was made, as just like Arissa told them, with the civil war, many people, not just on the Rift, were being constantly attacked by bandits, making the life outside Riften more miserable. This was another reason for Vardall to kill all those bastards he founded on his way. He was trying to better control his anger, but sometimes it was difficult to do that, after seeing such suffering. At least by killing these bandits, they were making Skyrim a safer place, one death at a time.

After a whole week of travels, they finally arrived in Riften. The Dawnguard stronghold wasn't on Riften, but it was close by, near the Stendarr's Beacon. But even so they stopped in Riften to explore the city and take more supplies. Just from its outside, Vardall could see Riften means business as he saw the big walls and gate protecting the city, very different from Whiterun's regular gate and the gateless Falkreath.

"You said this place was the home of the Thieves Guild, right?" Vardall asks Arissa.

"Not just the Thieves Guild, but Riften also is the home of the Black-Briar family." She answered. "They are the most powerful family of Riften and one of the most powerful of all Skyrim. They are led by the matriarch, Maven Black-Briar. She has eyes and ears for all the city, has the Thieves Guild in her pockets and has connections to the Dark Brotherhood. You say one bad thing about her family, she'll make you disappear without a trace."

Vardall crosses his arms. "Hmm, she doesn't scare me. This Maven sends thieves or assassins after me or any of you, I will send their corpses back and pay her a little visit."

"Look, I know that. But let's not try to get into any confusion, okay? Let's just get in, buy some supplies and leave." Arissa was right. More trouble would only mean more delay to them. Agreeing with Arissa and after persuading a guard to let them all enter the city without paying the "visitors tax", Vardall and his group finally enter Riften.

From all the cities he visited until now, Riften was easily the most... devoid of beauty. The city didn't reflect the natural beauties of the Rift, as the entire city is bisected by a large canal, with the majority of its buildings made of wood, completely vulnerable to a dragon attack. In the center of the city was a marked area, walking until there, Vardall was able to hear a curious chat between two guards.

"What's this whole talk about a crazy Khajiit?" One of the guards asked the other, who laughed. "Not just a crazy Khajiit, but a blue Khajiit."

The other guard seemed non-believer. "A blue Khajiit? Have you drink too much mead again?"

"No, no, I'm serious. A few days ago, that Khajiit approached us, saying he had murdered his friend. We didn't believed, so he took us until the supposed body was. But arriving there, it was nothing. We thinked it was a waste of time and went away, but the Khajiit begged us to arrest him. After he offered gold in exchange to keep him in jail, we obviously accepted. That cat is crazy, but not dangerous. We just have to keep him in jail and he pays us."

The other guard was . "Paying you to keep him locked? Now that's easy gold."

"Totally agree." The two guards then went away. Vardall turned to his friends. "Did you guys hear that?"

Sofia nods. "Yes. A Khajiit that plays to stay in prison? I thought Khajiits usually pay to avoid prison."

"Don't forget the fact they say he's a BLUE Khajiit." Lucien talks. "That's certainly what I call strange."

Vardall thinks. "Hmm... I think I will check this out."

"Wait, seriously?" Arissa asked.

"This is not something we hear every day. I think it's worth taking a look." Besides, Vardall didn't have many contacts with Khajiits outside the Khajiit caravans. He certainly wanted to take a look.

"I'll go alone. I think a bigger group would only draw unnecessary attention. I will come back soon." He then delivers his gold bag to his friends to buy some supplies and sell all the things they collected on their travels. So he takes some information and goes to Riften's jail. Inside the jail, Vardall still needed to convince a guard that he had authorization to be there, which wasn't too hard. Giving a look on the jail's cells, right on the first cell on his left, Vardall spotted the mysterious blue Khajiit. He was sitting on a chair, talking with a... dragonfly inside a jar?

"I still don't know, . You're good at this game."

As soon Vardall approached the cell bars, the Khajiit noticed him. His previous expression, calm and even happy, was replaced by an expression of fear, guilt and even... relief.

"Have come to kill me at last, have you?" He asks as he approaches the cell bars. "Thank the Gods, I can bear the guilt no longer."

Vardall was now even more confused. "Excuse me?"

"I know I must die. Beware though, my new found honor demands I defend myself."

Vardall lifts one of his eyebrows. "Do we know each other?"

"I am in no mood for jokes. Strike me down! Take your revenge!" The blue Khajiit seems to advance towards the cell bars, trying to catch Vardall. He quickly reaches his greatsword and at the same time prepares a lightning spell on his left hand. Calming himself down, Vardall takes his hand far from his weapon and dismisses his spell. "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. Who are you?"

"You don't remember?" The Khajiit then sighs. "This is my fault also. I am your so-called friend, Inigo. I am the one who killed you. I tried, anyway. I am guilty! Kill me!"

Vardall was confused, but decided to play along, at least this time. "You didn't made a good job, didn't you?" He crosses his arms. "Why are you here?"

"After I shot you, I realized my mistake and tried to turn myself in." Shoot him? This all bringed some memories about Leliana, but Vardall ignored them and continued to hear Inigo. "But your body was gone, the guards did not believe me."

"They said you were wasting their time, so you paid them to place you in this cell." Vardall remembers the conversation between the two guards. Inigo lifted both his eyebrows. "Yes! Exactly! This is where I belong. I need to repent."

"Look, Inigo... I'm not the man you think I am." Vardall says sincerely, but Inigo doesn't believe it.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's you. I heard tales of a remarkable adventurer, both brave and resourceful, matching your description. I knew it was you, it had to be! So I wanted, knowing you're coming after me to kill me."

"Inigo, again... I'm NOT the man you think I am." Vardall insisted, but Inigo didn't sound very convinced. "Ah, it seems your memory is lost. Let me remind you..."

So Inigo told Vardall he and the man he thinks Vardall is were hired by a Lord called Dupan to kill his brothers. Dupan promised lots of gold to both Inigo and his friend, and said that if only one of them returned, that one would also earn the share of gold that was of the dead one. Inigo sadly says that by that time, he had a severe problem with Skooma addiction, which Vardall already knew was a type of Khajiit drug, and also had many debts to pay. So he chose to kill the other man and take his reward to himself together with his own. Inigo said it was not an easy choice, as he and the other man deeply respected and trusted each other.

"But did you get your reward?" Vardall asks Inigo.

"No." He sadly answers. "Dupan was killed by one of his sisters and I went up without anything."

"Are you still hooked on Skooma?" Vardall asks.

"No. I'm done with that stuff. I want to die with my senses intact. Kill me now, I'm ready." Inigo t rully seems to be accepting death. This doesn't seem right. Inigo sounded like a good and nice person that only made some terrible life decisions. He also looked like someone very skilled, someone you would want to have fighting at your side. He didn't deserve to die or just rot in some prison cell.

"No." Vardall answers sincerely. "I will not kill you."

Inigo sounded disappointed. "But I deserve it! I'm ready!"

"Someone like you doesn't deserve this. Come and fight with me."

Inigo was confused. "Fight with you?"

Vardall smiles. "Yes, Inigo. Found your redemption with me, or in the blood of our enemies."

Inigo's spirit sounded renovated. "Or I could die defending you... Yes, I accept! I feel lighter that you have given me this opportunity. I will be like old times."

"Just look where you aim that bow of yours." Vardall jokes. "I already had enough arrows on my body for a lifetime."

"Please, don't make jokes with that, my friend." Vardall notices what he did. "Sorry." It seems Inigo still thinks Vardall is another person, but that didn't disturb him for now. "I just need to get you out of this cell"

Using some lockpicks Arissa gave to him and tried to open the cell door. After several tries and several broken lockpicks, Vardall finally gave up. This lock was too advanced for him, he needed to train more. Using his plan B, he tells Inigo to stay away from the door and melts the lock with a fire spell, opening the door.

"There you go. Now, where are your gear?"

"Right here." Inigo talks as he walks to a chest inside his cell and opens, revealing...

"An Ebony armor!?" Vardall yells. He knew how not just good ebony was As an armor and weapon, but expensive.

Inigo smiles. "Yes. It was a gift from my older brother, Fergus." So Inigo wears his armor, also taking an ebony sword and an ebony bow from inside the chest.

"Here, take this." Inigo then throws a bag to Vardall. As he catches it, he notices it was pretty heavy.

"What is this, Inigo?" Opening the bag, Vardall sees several Septims, at least 10.000. He widens his eyes as he looks back to Inigo. "What the..."

"This is another form of compensation for you, my friend. This is all the money I would use to pay the guards to stay in this cell. Now that we're back together, my money is your money."

"I... I don't know what to say..." Vardall was speechless. "Is not necessary, my friend. Just accept."

Vardall accepts with a big smile, also making a mental note to repay Inigo someday for all his gold Vardall spends. Inigo also takes a book with him, called Inigo, The Brave, and he also carries with him that dragonfly inside that jar, who he calls Mr. Dragonfly. Vardall found this a little strange, but didn't question it.

Earning another companion after saving him from a cell. Vardall remembers Sten now. He hopes the Qunari is doing fine for now. Sten also provided one of the best experiences Vardall ever had in his life, as after the end of the Blight, Vardall traveled with Sten to Par Vollen. Normally, outsiders weren't allowed to enter Par Vollan, mainly mages. But with Sten's help, Vardall was permitted, yet with heavy reluctance. Also helped that the Qunari didn't find out Vardall was a mage.

But past memories were from another time. Leaving the cell, Vardall still needed to persuade some guards of why he was exiting with a prisoner, but it was no trouble and they finally left Riften jail.

Inigo takes a moment to breathe the air of Riften. "Many people may not think this, my friend, but I find the smells of Riften incredible, mainly on rain."

"It must be the smell of wet wood." Vardall and his new friend chat a bit more as they go to Riften's market. Arriving there, he sees Lydia, Sofia and Lucien, but no sign of Arissa.

"I'm telling you, Vardall walking alone is like a child in a toy shop. Last time it was a rogue, this time a big blue cat man." Sofia jokes, as Vardall approaches them with Inigo. Lydia and Lucien turn their attention to them.

"Vardall, who is he?" Lydia asked confused. Vardall didn't even have to talk as Inigo already told who he was. "Hello, my name is Inigo. A pleasure to meet you."

"Inigo... It sounds like Indigo." Lucien says. "What the color of your fur looks like."

"Good observation, what's your name?" Inigo asks.

"This is Lucien Flavius." This time, Vardall makes the presentations. "This is Lydia, my Housecarl, and this is Sofia." He presents everyone, less Arissa.

"A pleasure to meet all of you." Inigo says politely. "You are travelling now with interesting companions, my friend."

"These are not everyone. Talking about that, where's Arissa?"

"She said she was going to talk with someone, but didn't say who." At the moment Lucien finishes talking, Arissa appears and walks until them.

"Ah, there are all of you." She obviously notices Inigo. "Who is he?"

"Hello, you must be Arissa. My name is Inigo."

"Inigo, huh? Nice to meet you."

Vardall looks at her. "Where did you go?"

"Oh... I went to see the Thieves Guild. While I don't make part of the guild, I still have good friends inside them. One of them is a Redguard woman called Tonilia. With her I can sell and buy stolen items, sometimes even at a bigger price."

Vardall lifts his eyebrows. "That was smart. So how did we earn it?"

Arissa throws a bag of coins to Vardall. "See for yourself." The bag was quite full, not as much as the one Inigo gave to Vardall, but a good amount.

"Thanks, but you can stay with these. Inigo here already gave me a bag totally full of gold." Everyone, mainly Arissa, wided their eyes. "What?"

Vardall shrugged. "Fun story. But... I will tell you on our way to Fort Dawnguard."

"Fort Dawnguard?" Inigo asked. "Are you a vampire hunter now, my friend?"

"No, no. Still no, anyway. I just wanted to check that place." Vardall answers sincerely. "Well... This is interesting." Inigo says. "Let us go, them."

Vardall smiles. "Yeah, let's go, everyone." So they all left Riften behind, now with yet a new friend.

# # # # # # # #

Passing near Stendarr's Beacon, the group finds the entrance to Fort Dawnguard. They all see themself inside a really beautiful canyon. Within the canyon, the initial path lies within a narrow ravine that leads straight towards a breathtaking view of a glacial waterfall overlooking a small lake. By the lake are some remnants of a fisherman's camp among several samples of Spiky Grass found by the shore.

"It really warms my heart to still discover such beauty in Skyrim." Inigo was marvellous with everything.

Following a marked way, Vardall and his friends soon see the Fort Dawnguard, completely huge and imponent. They passed through some Dawnguard members and entered inside the fort. Once inside, they all could see how big it was still here. Right in front of them, in the center of a great room, were two men arguing about something.

"You must help me, Isran." The hooded man said.

"So now you want my help, hmm?" The stoic Redguard answers with a bit of sarcasm in his tone. They both finally notice Vardall's group approaching them.

"Who are all of you?" Isran asks.

Vardall spoke for his friends. "I heard you're looking for vampire hunters."

"You heard right. I'm glad the recruitment is working." He says. "All of you look pretty capable of defending yourselfs."

"Not just to defend ourselves, but to kill vampires. After one of them left this little gift on my face, I wanted to act." Vardall says, pointing to the huge scar down his right eye. That wasn't entirely true, since Vardall actually liked his scars.

"Fair reason. I'm still rebuilding the order, so we need people outside, taking the fight to the vampires. I think I have the perfect mission to all of you." So he turned to the Nord man. "What was that cave you're talking about, Tolan? Dimhollow?"

"Yes, Dimhollow Crypt. I'm sure that place holds some type of powerful vampire artifact." Tolan says. "Here, let me mark on your map."

"Go and look around that place. With luck, the vampires will still be there." Isran says.

Vardall nods. "We'll give a look around." While preparing to leave, Vardall hears a familiar sound to him.

"I'm hearing barks?" Vardall didn't want an answer and went in the direction of the barks. Crossing even more Fort Dawnguard, Vardall goes to a small place and sees a dog lying there, looking sad. He was like no other dog Vardall had ever seen. He was different from a Mabari, more like a wolf and with bright eyes. His fur also was marvelous, with a mix of black and white that was beautiful. He was wearing armor that looked very cute on him.

"Hey, boy... What's the problem?" Vardall calmly approaches the dog, who doesn't seem to react to his presence. He gently pet the dog, trying to make him feel better, which works a little as the dog barks with joy.

"You're a cute one, aren't you?" He notices that Isran followed him and was watching him. "What's his name?"

"His name is Bran. He's a Husky. I brought him here to hunt vampires, but the problem is that no one has time to take him to hunt. Perhaps you can do this."

Vardall looks at Isran with a big smile on his face. "I would love to!" He then turns his attention back to Bran. "What do you say, boy? Wanna go hunt some vampires?"

Bran barks happily and gets up, being very energetic. He then starts licking Vardall's face. "Good boy! Good boy!"

Vardall loved that sensation, as it had been quite some time since he had such a moment with a dog. This makes Vardall a little sad, as he remembers from Sif, his old Mabari hound. The dog who was his best friend, and who was taken from him. Vardall takes a deep breath as he puts those memories away into his mind, focussing on the present.

Bran licks Vardall's face a little more, making him laugh. Getting up, he can see all his friends looking at him.

"I think I made another new friend." Vardall says, smiling.

"A very cute one! Lets just hope he doesn't have problems with Inigo." Sofia then looks to Inigo. "Nothing to worry, my friend." Inigo says.

"Nah, he is a good dog, I'm sure. He'll follow us now to that Dimhollow Crypt."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go." Lucien says. Everyone agrees and all of them leave Fort Dawnguard, with Bran following Vardall closely.

Inigo is simply THE. BEST MOD. FOLLOWER. He's perfect and super charismatic, even better than some people IRL.

And only to talk, in Dragon Age: Origins, I always name my Mabari dog as Sif. The name is because of Dark Souls, a series that I'm also a great fan.