7th of Midyear
I had to dump some more gold to get the ship to take us back to Raven Rock. House Redoran is happy to see me, as always. They've offered to let me buy a house there, but honestly, I'd still be spending plenty of time at the inn. I've already told the miners that if they find ruins to just send a courier. I'll come and we'll clear them out. We'll head out the in morning to see if we can catch up to this fellow at Horker Island.
Modyn Veleth, the guard captain, heard I was here at the inn and came by to pay a visit. He asked about Erik so I told him the whole thing with the not-Erik. It may be years, if ever, before I can try to pull him back from where ever it is that he's ended up. We sat around, talking and swapping stories. I've warned him to be on the look out for vampires and Thalmor. I told him about cleaning out the ship and them kidnapping the Skaal smith. He said that with the mine open, they've been hiring on more men because they expect the reavers to make a try for the mine. He's going to ask for some more so that they can patrol looking for Thalmor landing parties.
He asked if what he'd been hearing about the torture chambers was true, so I rolled through my litany again of what we found in the basements of those forts. I went into the gory details of why I left my lunch under a bush at Fort Neugrad. What ever the Empire might have been once, it isn't that any longer. He agreed that it's been in decline since the last real Emperor but that he was shocked to hear it had become so terrible. He's not particularly sympathetic to the Empire since they basically abandoned Morrowind during the Oblivion Crisis.
There's a lot of resentment there among all the Dunmer toward the Empire. Sadly, they're not any fonder of Ulfric. Ulfric's got some work to do to repair that relationship. The state of the Grey Quarter isn't exactly giving them a lot of reason to trust Ulfric. I told him about the expansion of the city and the repairs that Ulfric was already making. I also told him about some of the Dunmer joining the Stormcloaks. Much of the Nord resentment stems from so many of the non-Nords not fighting for our shared home while expecting the Nords to provide protection and security. There's a couple of drunken louts who go through the Grey Quarter causing trouble but everyone else seems to get on. I've also told the Dunmer in Windhelm that if those two keep on to just dump those two jackasses into the harbor when the tides going out.
House Redoran might make good allies in the fight to come. They've been very good about supplying me with ebony and in turn, I've been very good about supplying people I know and like with ebony armor and weapons. I asked if he knew any of House Telvanni because we'll need to have magic to counter the Thalmor. I get on well enough with Master Neloth and his apprentices, but Neloth, from what I've been told, is an odd-ball even among the Telvanni. Indoril, Dres and Sadras are the other Dunmer Great Houses. There are hosts of minor ones, but most of those are aligned to one of the Great Houses. Modyn said he'd ask around and see what he can find out.
9th of Midyear
We got to Horker Island and there's no Gunmar anywhwere. We've missed him again. We're catching up through. Now we're maybe a day behind him. The hunters he was working with her said that he'd gone back to Skyrim to check out Fallowstone Cave for another bear. This one is one that he told them he wants to trap. I've told Kaidan that we might be awake for a while this time. If we hadn't stopped at the inn, we might be done with this chase. Kaidan's not happy about it but sees the sense in just finding Gunmar and not running ourselves and the horses ragged by chasing after this animal trainer.
10th of Midyear
We got to Fallowstone and Gunmar was there. Finally. Of course, Isran's been unspeakably rude to him too. I told him that I'd offer him the same deal that I made Sorine. Gunmar asked what that was so I told him that if he's too rude to any of us, I'll be punching him repeatedly. He's already gotten on my nerves. My limit for crusty jackasses is set to one and Galmar Stone-Fist has prior claim to that spot. Gunmar laughed and said that if we'd help him, he'd see what Isran wants. Gunmar asked for help trapping the bear so we tied up a goat in the cage but the bear wouldn't take the bait. I had Kaidan hold the other end of the cage open and I attacked the bear and got him to chase me. He followed me into the cage so Gunmar dropped his end and I rolled out as Kaidan lowered the other end. With the bear trapped and loaded onto a cart, we're all off to Fort Dawnguard. We're moving slowly though because if the cart goes faster than an amble, the bear gets upset.
14th of Midyear
We're back at Fort Dawnguard - finally. Yes we still have the bear. I had to point out to Gunmar that we'd have been here days ago if that bear were just pelt. Gunmar gave me a look but agreed. Isran is being his usual delightful self. He made us all stand under a sunlight spell to make sure we're not vampires. I think Sorine told him I was ready to punch him. He was a bit more civil right up the point that he demanded to know why "it" was there asking for me. The "it" in question is Serana. Serana says we need to find a moth priest who can help read the scroll. I wasn't about to leave Serana with Isran. I trust Isran with her about as far as I can heave a mammoth. We went straight to the College in Winterhold. Urag says there was a moth priest there but that he's left for Dragon's Bridge. Kaidan looked at me and grinned, "We're criss-crossing again." Now it's off to Dragon's Bridge. At least we can visit the bath house there. After a few days of ambling along on that cart with that bear, I think we all smell a bit like the bear.
16th of Midyear
We got to Dragon's Bridge and the priest recently left, so we went in pursuit to see if we could catch up. We found his wagon and his dead guards along with some dead vampires. Fortunately for us, one of them had a copy of their orders that said he'd been taken to Forbears Hideout. We went to find this Forbears Hideout and it was more vampires and more death hounds. Since the vampires thought everything was under control, they left a bunch of thralls and fledglings so we mowed through them pretty quickly. It took some tinkering with the barrier that they around the moth priest to collapse. He attacked us but we fended him off until he came to his senses. He's willing to help us and is impressed that between us we've got two Elder Scrolls. He said that he'd make his own way to Fort Dawnguard. I'll be surprised if he makes it unless he runs into one of the garrisons who might offer to escort him. We're taking a day at the Four Shields and going to the bath house. I'd like to get the smell of bear off all of us and a bed off the ground sounds lovely.
19th of Midyear
We're back at Fort Dawnguard. The priest Looked at the scroll and it seems like we'll have to go find a third one. Why is it always some impossible relic? It's never "go find a beach pebble" or "plant an acorn" or any other reasonably simple task. Oh no... The gods hate us, I think. It's go find the thing that no one knows where it is and aren't even sure it really exists. That run through Black Reach for the Dragon Scroll was rough on all of us. I don't know what we're going to have to do to get this new one but I'm guessing it will be something just as difficult and just as dangerous.
Serana thinks her mother has it and that she's hiding in her father's castle. That's the good news. We have to find her mother without tipping off her father or any of his lackeys that we're in the castle. If they get a whiff of us or hear us, it's going to be like ringing the dinner bell, except that we're the main course. We're off to go sneak into the castle. I'm not exactly stealthy so we'll go hole up in Northwatch Keep and try to sneak in to the castle a bit after sunrise when they should all be asleep.
21st of Midyear
We've made it to Northwatch Keep. We've cleared out the elves again and turned all their prisoners loose. We're barricaded into a room near the top. We'll get some sleep and see what things look like in the morning.
22nd of Midyear
We made it onto the island without being detected. It was along and nerve wracking jog around the outside to get to an old, unused service entrance that Serana knew about. We had to go poking around her mother's old garden and found a moon dial that took us into another part of the castle once we were able to locate all the pieces and reassemble it. We've been killing undead and gargoyles. I see why they use the gargoyles as guardians. Those things hurt if they happen to catch you with their claws. We also have to be careful to keep the noise down and try not to get injured. No one wants the smell of fresh blood to bring Harkon and his lackeys to us.
23rd of Midyear
Want a good definition of nervous? Spend the night in a castle full of vampires. We're still inside the castle but we found her mother's workroom and laboratory. Her mother is apparently a skilled and powerful necromancer judging by things in here. We're hunting for her notes to see if we can find where to go from here. There only seems to be one path in, through a secret door in a fire place. We've been checking but we haven't found any hidden doors or other exits so it has to be here somewhere.
24th of Midyear
Oh, gods! Where to even begin. We found her mother's notes and she's gone to the Soul Cairn. As a living person, I couldn't enter. I could either have Serana do some awkward partial soul trap or become a vampire. Serana turned me. The hunger, the need to feed is almost too much. Kaidan's now incredibly attractive in a completely different way. He smells so incredibly delicious. It makes my mouth water just to be near him. It's tests my control not to just nibble a bit. I know that I can't because I wouldn't be able to stop at a nibble. If he tastes half as good as he smells, I'd devour him.
He's not afraid of me, but he should be. I've been careful to keep my teeth away from any part of him that's not covered in armor lest my control slip. I cannot... will not hurt him. He's been steadily comforting me, reassuring me and that's kept me moving through this madness. We found her mother, Valencia. We had to kill three of the guardians who mantain the energy field that keeps Valencia bound in place. Along the way we've had to fight various hostile spirits and other things that populate this horrible place. I've picked up a spectral horse, Arvak.
Finally, I got an enemy I know how to fight. There's a dragon in the Cairn. Durnehviir. He's surprised that I bested him. I told him that I've already beaten Alduin and he was surprised. Not that Alduin was gone since all the dovah sensed that but that this joor was responsible. He's given me his name so that I can call him when I'm away from this horrible place. He misses the blue sky and open air and will come fight beside me for a time in exchange for flying over Skyrim again. I told him that i'll call him. When we invade Summerset that I'll definitely call him. He's not been there before, but looking forward to it.
Once we were able to release Valencia, she gave us the third scroll. We made our way out of this gods forsaken pit back to the castle. Kaidan says that we must go find Falion, the mage in Morthal to see what can be done about a cure. He hates this distance between us but understands that I'm trying not to hurt him. The need to feed is almost overwhelming and he's so enticing, it's doubly difficult. I can't wait to be shed of this. I don't dare go back to Isran in this condition.