2nd of Second Seed
Bugger everything! We're off to find these vampire hunters out east of Riften. Kaidan and I were camped out on a bluff on our way back to Frostfall when we were swarmed by vampires. I've never seen so many in one place. They're normally solitary or at most few. This was a whole pack of them. Kaidan and I were back-to-back, for a time, fending them off. We both took a potion to make sure neither of us contract their wretched disease, but we were hard-pressed to keep them off us. Out here in the wilderness, no less. Had either of been less skilled, we'd either be thralls or dinner now. Skyrim is finally starting to heal from the war and become a more prosperous place. I won't have that disrupted by these blood-sucking leeches. Ulfric's mission to Bruma is going to have to wait. This needs to be dealt with now so I can pursue other goals unimpeded.
4th of Second Seed
Kaidan and I met with this Isran. Isran's rude, almost to the point of being insulting – worse than Ulfric and Galmar, which is saying something. I didn't get much respect from the bearded monkeys until Ulfric and I traded some punches and shouts. I don't see that working on Isran. I don't understand what his problem is. If the Harbinger shows up and says let me help you with your fight, the more considered response would be to say welcome and thank you. Not this brusque, arrogant attitude.
One of the Vigilant of Stendaar was there. It seems that their hall was raided and burnt by vampires. The only other that I've met turned on me with just the slightest provocation from Molag Bal. Their equipment is quite possibly worse than gear worn by the Storm Cloaks. Robes and amulets against vampires. They trust in their god to protect them. I think we've seen how that turned out since this fellow seemed to be the last of them. He was all but begging for Isran's help and Isran didn't seem willing to grant it. Since Isran's busy being asinine, I've offered to go poke around this Dimhollow Crypt to see what I can uncover.
We'll head back into Riften to send couriers to have everyone meet us at the inn in Morthal. When I mentioned the inn in Morthal, I got another of Kaidan's lazy smiles and sideways looks. "You know, my beautiful dragon, I don't believe that we've tested out their beds yet." I told him that he's insatiable and he laughed. "Oh, aye... I'm the one with the hunger, am I?" We are apparently doomed to do a lot of things much more slowly than my previous breakneck pace, these days simply because we have to keep stopping at inns to test the beds and drink plenty of mead. I was a bit surprised when he gave me a serious look. "You know why don't you? After all the fighting, I need to hold you. I need feel you next to me, warm and safe and alive, so that I know I'm not dreaming." Kaidan, my love, have a bit more faith in me, in my abilities. You've watched me shout dragons into submission, block a blow from minotaur before delivering one of my own, breathe fire like my larger kin, and leap off waterfalls. You've seen me do these things and come through all of them unharmed.
We talked for a while and he explained that he's seen me do somethings that nearly stopped his heart a few times. Eric never spoke about any of these things bothering him, so I hadn't really thought about it, until Kaidan brought it up. Then again, most everything Eric knew about fighting, he learned from me or one of the other Companions. I don't know that he'd ever thought to question it. I know that I'm not nearly as big as Vilkas, Farkas, Skor, or Kodlak but I did learn quite a lot of my fighting style from them. All of the Companions seem to favor impressive displays of sheer brute strength, even Athis. It does a lot, without ever saying a word, to intimidate an opponent. I know that I've leapt like that only to have my opponents turn and run, forcing me to chase after them.
I can see where it might be heart stopping to watch your partner do things like leap off the top of wall and land on an opponent, or just dive into a knot of bandits. I'm a good ten stone and some in my full kit, so when I drop from the top of wall, its a heck of a blow for an opponent to absorb. I do tend to save that for some of the tougher ones because, if they happen to survive the initial impact, it does tend to knock a lot of the fight right out of them. If I can catch them with my weapon on the way down, I can sometimes cleave right through them. I've promised to be more careful, and he seems to be satisfied with that.
6th of Second Seed
Everyone got to Morthal yesterday, but Kaidan had us to wait an extra day and let them rest. This has made the Merry Band very happy. It seems that I've been driving both them and myself far too hard for a while now. I do wish they'd said something to me sooner, but Kaidan says that they're too loyal to say it. He's probably right about that and they do seem to be appreciative of the rest. It also gave us some time to discuss the plan. My plan is simple since I have no idea what might be in this crypt. Draugr, spiders, and vampires to be sure but there may be other things, so it's best to keep the plan simple. We stick together, kill everything that twitches, and then everyone takes a potion once we're out of there to make sure no one's been infected.
With that taken care of, everyone wanted to know how things went at Jorrvaskr. I said it was good to spend the night there after good dinner and that they seem to like Kaidan. I got a bit of a look from Kaidan at that so I'm wondering what Farkas said to him. I'll have to ask later and find out. We had a nice day together at the inn before getting some rest. Kaidan's definition of rest is not restful, highly enjoyable, but not restful as there's very little sleeping involved. I asked what he and Farkas talked about. "He knew about my tattoo and told me if I hurt you, he'd skin me alive." I told you that man was smart and that almost no one gives him enough credit. Of the two of them, Vikas and Farkas, Farkas is the one I wouldn't want to have to square off against. He sees everything. If there's even a hint of an opening, he'll see it. You have to be perfection incarnate to get past him. I learned that much in the training yard. Kaidan explained to Farkas what he'd told me about leaving the cult, rather violently, to Farkas and this seemed to settle the matter. I broached the matter of adding to his tattoo and showed him my sketches. Talesin says it might be possible to use my dragon fire to burn it away. That's something Talesin and I will have to work out - how to catch it and focus it so that it burns the ink but not Kaidan. Talesin says it will likely leave some scarring, but facial tattoos aren't that unusual here so a tattoo over the scar might also be possible. We curled up and slept for the few hours that remained until dawn.
We set out for this crypt just after sunrise since this seemed like wise precaution when dealing with vampires. We get inside and stop to listen to a couple of the vampires talking. They've been having Vigilant of Stendarr tartare for dinner. I hate these creatures. They were good men, if misguided. If werewolves are the hunting hounds of Hircine, these things are the hunting hounds of Molag Bal. Once they quit talking, we killed them and their foul pets, the death hounds. We made our way through the place, killing draugr, death hounds, and more vampires.
Finally, we reached an overlook where we could see the vampires torturing one of the Vigilants. I leapt over the balcony and charged the vampire, but I still wasn't fast enough to save him, may his soul find peace with his god. Dawnbreaker was more than equal to the task of ending this vampire though. I got a bit banged up by the thrall and all the fledglings before Kaidan and the rest of the Merry Band caught up with me. These small injuries were the price of making the attempt, but I couldn't watch him die like that without at least trying to save him. That's just not who I am, I had to try but I still got a lecture from Kaidan. I chugged a couple of potions and went off to poke around this cavern to see what's so special about this place.
Jenassa brought me the notes the Vigilant had on him. I read them, but they're not that helpful. Anyone with eyes can see this was the work of another filthy necromancer. I just hope it's not another Potema. There's a big platform with these weird braziers and column in the center with a big button on top. I realized that I'm probably about to stop Kaidan's heart again as I start walking toward the button. I pushed it and immediately howled in pain as a giant spike drove through my gauntleted hand. Healing potions don't work on armor. Now I have to make new gauntlets. While I'm standing there, trying to remember if I have any daedra hearts left in the forge, this purplish fire sparks up. I go to lean against one of the braziers to get a better look at my gauntlet to see if its repairable and the thing slides. When it does, it clicks into position and lights.
I started shoving the others around until I got each one to light up. When I finally get the last one lit, this horrible grating noise starts as the central pillar rises out of the floor. When the slab opens, the body of a woman with an Elder Scroll falls out. I started to reach for the scroll when what I had taken to be corpse, stands up and asks me who sent me. She's not attacking so I leave Dawnbreaker sheathed. I can feel the rest of the Merry Band and Kaidan's anxiety ratcheting upward so I keep my hands out and steady. I say that the Vigilants of Stendarr sent us and she just frowns. Since she hasn't tried to bite me yet, I ask cautiously if she's a vampire and she says that she is. She's clearly not the run of the mill vampire. I've never actually had one of them talk me other than to say something stupid like, "It's lovely when dinner just walks right into your arms." I'm thinking that this could be useful, if she's willing to provide information. My next question is why she's been locked away like this? She says that she doesn't know me, doesn't trust me, but that she needs to get back to her family home. That leads right into my next question, about where her home is. It turns out that it's the big castle on the island off the coast near North Watch Keep, where we rescued Eorlund's son. I tell her that I know the area well and I've seen the castle off the coast. I ask her how long she's been stuck in there so she asks me who the high king is. I tell her that's Ulfric since we managed to kick the Empire out of Skyrim. She asked what Empire. Hmmm, what's older than the Empire? I ask if she knows who the Companions are. She says that she's heard of them. That narrows it down some. She says yes so i ask if she knows who the Harbinger is. She names someone who I don't recognize but I file it away to check on. There are some sketchy spots in the early records and this might be one of them. This does narrow it down to somewhere between four thousand and five thousand years ago. That's a long nap.
We go to leave and promptly get attacked by the gargoyles. There's a bit more fighting, a dragon priest and another word wall. I hear her ask Kaidan what's wrong with me while I'm standing there, learning the word. Hmm.. There might be more to what he's says happens when I'm learning a word from these walls than I've assumed. I need to sit down and think for a bit. The only thing I could think of was to go back to Morthal. Kaidan promptly hauls me out to the stables for a conference, where he tells me that I'm insane for bringing a vampire who hasn't had a snack in at least four thousand years to a city full of people. Fair point, but she hasn't exactly tried to make meal out of any of us and if she does, we can deal with it. Kaidan is practically grinding his teeth in frustration. I told him that I have a feeling that she's going to be important. He starts to say something and then stops. I can practically see the gears spinning like some Dwermer contraption before he asks me if this a quostiid ahrk prodah. Close, more like quostiid uv prodah. I tell him that since he's used the right idea at least in dragon tongue, he gets a small reward. "Oh, I think I see where this is going." Then I got another one of those lazy smiles so I placed a hand on his chest and batted my eyes at him before giving him a smile of my own, "Just wait until you actually say something correctly and see what you get." He tried to reach for me, but I ducked and slipped past him, laughing and went into the inn.