Atreyu’s Photo Diary – Skyrim Part 22 - ♠

Part 21 Here
Chapter List Here

WARNING: ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM SPOILERS!

Dawnguard, Dragons and Designs

I hurried back to Fort Dawnguard and was surprised to find it under attack!

A small scout party it seemed, but enough to cause a stir among the Dawnguard.

Isran himself led the defence and once they had been beaten, I caught up with him to talk.

He told me things had gotten serious and he needed help from some of the best people he knew. He asked me to find and recruit two old allies, Sorine Jurard and Gunmar.

I head out immediately.

Gunmar was not far off. I found him near Ivarstead hunting a dangerous bear which had been attacking villagers.

When I had convinced him of the seriousness of the situation, he agreed to join, but not before he had dealt with the bear.
I looked towards where he seemed to be heading.

This bear would be no trouble for the two of us.
And it wasn’t.
Gunmar walked into the nearby cave. Clearly that wasn’t the bear he meant.

Inside three more bears were living. A huge golden coated one seemed to be Gunmar’s target.

Not being pleased at our intrusion, the animals attacked us, but we won.

Gunmar said he would meet me back at the Fort. I began my journey to find Sorine.

As I approached the place I thought I would find her, a dragon attacked a Forsworn camp that I was passing.

The dragon overpowered them, but once they were gone I became it’s target.
I however, had much more practice than the Forsworn.

Sorine was researching around some Dwarven ruins.

She told me that she couldn’t leave because some mudcrabs had stolen her satchel with the things she had collected in it.

I had a little look around.
Her hunch was right. I found the bag just on the shore.

With her possessions returned, she set off for Fort Dawnguard.

I would make my own way there too.
As I travelled I found a place called Darkfall Cave. I’m not sure why, but I decided to explore.
It was much like any other cave, little of note.
I came to a rickety bridge. On the opposite side I could see a few items worth taking. I looked over the side. Perhaps this was why it was called Darkfall.

I grabbed the loot and started back across the bridge. It broke under my feet whisking me down a rough current, carrying me to places unknown.

I finally stopped my plummet in an extremely dark cave. Looking around I could see it was full of nasty spiders.

Other people had clearly shared a similar fate to me and so far had paid a worse price.

Ah trolls. The place only got worse.
I went the only way I could.. towards the trolls.
Unknown to me, the women had set up defensive measures…

After a brief dash for my life, I was in the troll’s cave.

There was an interesting altar down there.

Guarded by more trolls..

The shrine of Auriel.

Could have been built in a better place I imagine.

A secret passage led me to…

the dead women again..

but seemed to also open an exit route.

Thankful to be out of that silly place, I reminded myself not to go poking about in caves without reason.

A thief attempted to mug me, but was himself confronted by a sabre cat.

Shortly afterwards I received a message from the courier.

I returned to Fort Dawnguard, where defences seemed to have been bolstered.

Inside, Isran was cautiously awaiting the arrival of his new recruits.

He used some strange power to check that they were not vampires before giving them their orders. He mentioned something about armoured trolls which intrigued me.

Myself, he summoned to help him interrogate a vampire hostage.

I was surprised to see who it was!

Serana had come of her own will to warn us that her father was more dangerous than ever and she feared what he could do.
I convinced Isran that she was here to help as it was obvious he was keen to draw his blade over her.

We decided that we needed to find a Moth Priest to read Serana’s Elder Scroll in order to discover what power it contained.
Serana asked to come with me, probably not comfortable staying under Isran’s watch.

Before leaving, I spoke to Sorine, who asked me to retrieve a schematic for a better type of crossbow from Knifepoint Ridge.

I also bought a new spell from her that might be helpful.

I also spoke to Gunmar..

.. who asked me to kill a Master Vampire at Broken Fang Cave.
He gave me a suit of Dawnguard armour.

And I purchased one of his trolls!

So my new merry band set out.

As we left the Fort, we were attacked by vampire scouts again.

Odd that they would attack one of their own.
As we left the cave, a second group assaulted us.

M’aiq kept his head down, while we fought.

I stopped by Lakeview to make a few upgrades before starting the search for a priest.

There was little to do, so we moved on quickly.
Some weapons and shields were left lying on the path suspiciously.

I expected to be ambushed, but nothing came of it.

I decided that the best place to look for a person who could read the Scroll would be the College of Winterhold. We passed by Riverwood, where I nodded to Faendal as we crossed paths.
Coming out the other side of the village, I looked back to see a dragon threatening it.

I lured it away before it could do any damage and found I was facing it alone.

My team caught up with me long after it was dead.

They both seemed out of their comfort zone, her in the light, he among greenery.

Further along the path, I found some Imperials preparing to execute a Stormcloak captive.

I charged in to help, but was too late.

I’m not sure why, but some nearby Stormcloaks seemed to think I was with the Imperials and attacked me.

We hurried on, and soon after another dragon challenged us.

As I fought the dragon, some Vigilant’s of Stendarr attacked Serana and my troll.

They had been killed before I was finished with my foe. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but perhaps the Vigilants had attacked the vampire woman on sight rather than question her associates.

Approaching Winterhold, yet another dragon had taken perch at the Word Wall I had fought the dragon priest Krosis so long ago.
Serana and my troll had fallen behind again, so when more vampires ambushed me, I decided to see if I could use the dragon to help.

The plan worked to an extent, and by the time Serana had arrived, the beasts were dead.

I wondered where my troll had got to and discovered his body not far from where I had just been fighting. I have no idea what happened.

The last stretch to Winterhold was oddly populated.
Louis Letrush was running somewhere again. Alone I noticed.

I also met the Courier, who had no mail for me and a wandering bard who at first wished to attack me, but fled when Serana retaliated.

At Winterhold, before asking questions, I gave Serana some better equipment.

I went to the library and asked Urag about Moth Priests.

He said one had recently been through and was now on their way to Dragon Bridge.

Serana and I went there straight away and began to ask around. A guard and the owner of the lumber mill were no help, but a little boy called Clinton told me they were heading south. If I was quick I would catch them.

Fortunately Snowberry was waiting for me. I don’t know why she was here, but it was helpful.

I rode at speed to catch the priest, but found my efforts in vain.

Another vampire attack.

I followed a trail of blood to find where the priest had been taken.

On entering the cave, I could immediately see where the priest was being held.

Surrounded by guards and gargoyles.

We fought through the vampires and their thralls. The gargoyles did not wake.

Their leader Malkus was the last line of defence.

I had to discover how to release the priest.

In a chest I found a useful spell.

Malkus had been carrying this object, which I assumed was what I needed.

It worked…

But as soon as he was released, the priest attacked us!

When beaten, he came to his senses and told us he had been under vampire control for a moment.

We told him what we needed from him and he said he would return to Fort Dawnguard and meet us there.

Isran would be pleased that we had secured the Moth Priest. Before returning to him, I decided to complete the errands of the other Dawnguard members.

I travelled to the cave where the Master Vampire was hiding and we successfully cleared it out.

Our next stop was Knifepoint Ridge to collect the schematic.
As we drew near, we were ambushed by more of the strange Cultists. Though these were much stronger than the ones I had encountered before.