Atreyu’s Photo Diary – Skyrim Part 25 - ♠

WARNING: ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM SPOILERS!

Spirituality, Lost Souls and Skooma

Back in Tamriel, our options were to walk all the way through the secret passages again or somehow get down from a high balcony.

While Serana walked, I leaped off in Ethereal Form.

I then had to swim most of the way around the island to find the shore once more.

Overhead I saw some strange huge birds. They looked monstrous, so I felt no guilt in shooting one down.

Curious undead hawks.

Having now got both Elder Scrolls, I could return to Fort Dawnguard, but first I wished to find the man Sorine had requested I recruit.

I approached Ruunvald, and was ambushed by a team of vampires.

Perhaps they had stalked me since I left Castle Volkihar, or maybe they wanted to see Florentius dead before I could hire him.
Either way, I put an end to their mission.

The excavation site looked deserted from the outside.

I found a diary of one of the Vigilants.

The ‘vacant look’ it mentioned suggested something was wrong here. I had met too many mystical creatures and gods by now to assume this was normal.
Inside the cave, I could see more than a ‘vacant look’.

The Vigilant’s heads were all but glowing!
As I approached, they turned hostile and I had no choice but to cut them down.

Something strange happened to the body as it fell.

I told Serana to wait at the entrance, while I crept through. These Vigilants were good people, clearly under a curse and I wished no harm to any more of them.
I began to creep silently through the tunnels.

My efforts were proving successful as I reached the deeper temple.

I entered and could see in the distance someone kept in a cage being tortured by the cursed people. I assumed he was the one I was looking for.

I threw my voice, having the guards search a corner while I dashed over to free the man.
The gate was locked beyond my skill however and I would have to find a key.

The guards were returning.

I was found and they attacked.

One of them was Minorne, a person mentioned in another diary I had skimmed as I snuck through the passages. Praise Minorne it had said. She must be the reason.
If I could beat her, maybe the others would be free of their curse.
I cut her down, but as I did so, her followers simply died with her.

Perhaps it would have been easier for me to cut my way through the tunnels after all, however I felt I had the moral high ground having not done so.
I took the key from Minorne and freed Florentius.

He was happy to have been rescued, though seemed to thank Arkay as much as me. He agreed to join the Dawnguard, though I could see why some may not trust him. He constantly spoke as though Arkay was whispering in his ear.
Perhaps he was, but I couldn’t be sure.

I returned to Serana, seeing all the dead that had fallen with Minorne and had her rejoin me.
Outside, seeing the night sky, I remembered a promise I had made.
I summoned Durnehviir, so that he might enjoy a few moments of freedom.

In thanks, he taught me a new word for a Soul tearing shout.

My adventures had me carrying a great deal of extra baggage, including 107 soul husks.. so I opted to visit Lakeview before going to Fort Dawnguard.
My bard was dancing on the chairs.

I did a small amount of decorating.

Fort Dawnguard awaited me, so I made my way.

On the way, I called my new dragon ally once more to enjoy the sky.

He taught me the second word of the shout.

In a shack I found a butterfly trapped in a jar. I took it with me.

Further along the road, I was accosted by more cultists.

They seemed to be getting more desperate to end me!

I met a Wood Elf who was selling skooma on the roadside. I politely refused.
Strangely, further down the road, I met a Khajit doing the same.

Again I thanked him and went on my way.

As I closed in on Dawnguard, I called Durnehviir once more, who taught me the final word to the Soul Tear shout.

As he flew about overhead, an Orc approached me selling skooma.

I was curious about why so many skooma dealers were operating on this road and questioned the legality of it.
I hadn’t intended to start a fight, but I should have realised the orc would take offence.

However flawed my judgement, the orc had not realised that I, as well as being extremely well armed, had a dragon guardian circling overhead.

The orc did not last long in his predicament.

Around the corner I saw a dead Khajit at the bottom of a waterfall.

Either it was suicide, or he had taken a nasty fall.

Back at Fort Dawnguard, it looked like Florentius friends had made themselves at home.

I entered the Fort and began looking for the Moth Priest.
I met Sorine, who asked me retrieve another schematic she had located in Gallows Rock.

I also found Florentius who seemed ready for war.

I bought some tomes from him.

I found Dexion and was ready to show him the scrolls.

Unfortunately, in his haste to read the first one, he had blinded himself, possibly for life.
I was now forced to find an alternate way to read the scrolls.
He told me of a Moth Priest ritual that I would have to enact.
I would have to go to the Ancestor Glade, find a Moth Priest’s knife and somehow use moths there to read the Scrolls.

So, as we left, we found more vampire scouts watching the fort.

Clearly the Dawnguard watchmen were not doing a good enough job.

Sorine’s crossbow plans were closer than the Ancestor Glade, so I made my way towards them first.
We passed through Shor’s Stone where a young woman named Sylgja asked that I take a package to her father Verner in Darkwater Crossing.

She explained she would normally do so herself, but had suffered an injury while in the mines.

I agreed, despite being the slayer of Alduin, the hero of the Civil War and possibly the only mortal to return from two afterlives…
Perhaps it was because she was pretty…

There were a lot of bears on the road this night, we killed and soul trapped many.
One of them had killed a stag, which Serana thought would be a good idea to resurrect.
I wasn’t sure why.