Atreyu’s Photo Diary – Skyrim Part 28

Part 27 Here
Chapter List Here

WARNING: ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM SPOILERS!

Prophecy, a Prison and gaining Passage

The time had come to retire my clunky worn heavy Dragon bone armour and fit something slightly more comfortable.
I refurbished and reinforced the snow elf gear, making it my own and feeling much more myself in the better elegant outfit.

The pressing issue was to deal with the Volkihar, so Serana and I had to make our way towards Fort Dawnguard.
Once again, passing Riften a dragon attacked. I wondered if there was a nest nearby as this seemed to be a common spot for their assaults.

I arrived at the Fort as the Dawnguard lunched. I passed Sorine the schematic for the crossbow before going to the commander.

Isran was amazed to see me arrive carrying Auriel’s Bow, but the sight of it spurred him to move.

He rallied the Dawnguard together and roused their spirits for battle.

Full of energy, the vampire hunters began their charge.

It was almost as though the vampires were expecting us to move. A group of four of their more powerful members cut Serana and I off from the rest of the Dawnguard as we followed.

The battle was tough, but the vampires last ditch effort was not enough.

Isran was to wait for our arrival at Castle Volkihar before leading the attack.
I decided it best to rest up before the push, so we stopped at my home in Riften. It was late, and the darkness would be an advantage for the night walkers.

I woke to find it was Sundas, a sign of fortune I thought.

We completed our journey, bringing Serana home to have her take it back by force.

The Dawnguard, led by Isran were ready for battle when we arrived, itching to go.

Together we charged, as a number of the vampire clan came out to meet us, flanked by gargoyle and death hound guardians.

It was time to test the power of the weapon I had worked so hard to gain. The sky was cloudy and I could not see the sun, so I cleared it with a dragon shout, revealing my target.

I drew the bow, with the wrong arrow…
Nothing happened, so swiftly I reloaded correctly.

The arrow struck true and moments later, the sun itself unleashed its power upon the undead enemies.

We had defeated the first wave and now could move inside.

I thought it must be odd for Serana to see this people she had grown up with slaughtered this way.

Inside, the fight raged on as the Dawnguard filled every room and cleared out the Volkihar.

I used all my new anti-undead abilities to quicken their defeat.

With the clan wiped out, it only remained to confront Harkon himself. Isran guarded the door to the Cathedral while Serana and I pressed on.

Harkon, of course was expecting us.

Harkon attempted once more to appeal to us to surrender to him, probably still wishing his daughter had joined him from the beginning. Here we were. Him, her and the bow. This battle would decide whether he could complete his false prophecy or if we would rid the world of his threat.
He asked me to hand over the bow. When I refused he opted to attempt to take it by force.




Seeing father and daughter in mortal combat was truly sad.

Harkon used his powers to summon gargoyles and undead to fight for him. I showed him my own conjuration skills by calling in Kenny and Flamborghini.





Kenny and Flamborghini had done their part, so I called upon Hakon One-Eye to aid me.


Once again, soon enough it came down to myself and Serana pushing against Harkon and whatever he could find the strength to summon.

Finally, it was over. A final blast from Auriels Bow and Serana’s hands ended him.

The war was won.
Harkon was dead.
Isran came in to thank us. He welcomed Serana as one of the Dawnguard.

Harkon carried with him a bottle of blood potion. I took it as a memento…

..along with his sword.

Serana asked what would happen now. She accepted her place among the Dawnguard, but wondered what we would do next.
I suggested we carry on adventuring and she was happy to hear it.

I found myself once again in a situation where I was at a loose end.
I recalled having been given a letter about a source of power at Dead Crone Rock. So that was to be our first port of call.

It had been repopulated by Forsworn, so we fought our way through the jumped up bandits.

The wall at the top of the structure revealed to me the word ‘run’ for the Dismay shout.

We also had bounties to collect. A giant was our first.

Near to the giant’s camp was an abandoned prison, which felt as though it required exploring.
Inside I found a curious note left by a guard which essentially spoke of a plan to allow the inmates to die.

Further in, what must have been a dead prisoner held his own note.

Whatever the plan had been, it seemed that it had not worked.. the prisoners were still here.


The first, though not particularly welcoming, did not attack until a second ghost came to support it.

The prison held little of interest besides the restless spirits.
Perhaps the secret trap door might lead somewhere more exciting.

It did not… I popped up outside again, feeling as though time had been wasted…


This had clearly been the prisoners escape route. I wondered what happened that they did not make the short distance.

On to the College of Winterhold where I showed Urag the strange tomes I had discovered in the Forgotten Vale.

He was pleased to see them and offered me 1,000 gold a piece along with translated versions by my old friend Calcelmo: ‘Touching the Sky’ and ‘The Betrayed’.

There I thought these were as yet unseen writings.

Serana and I decided to continue helping the Dawnguard by finding more of Sorine’s schematics. The first she guided us to was in the Rift Watchtower.
As well as the usual bandit inhabitants, a dragon took a chance on us.

With us both throwing destructive spells its way, it soon gave in and fled.

The schematic we found was similar to the previous one. This time though the explosive was fused with ice.

Sorine next sent us out to Halted Stream Camp.

Again, bandits had taken over the empty camp since I had last been here.
Serana and I cleared them out together as vampire and werewolf.

The schematic this time was similar again, but providing explosive shock damage.
One of the bandits, an orc, carried an axe with a unique strength against animals.

We returned the plan to Sorine, who had located another. She said it was in Bloodskal Barrow.
This would mean that I would have to leave Skyrim and travel to Solstheim.

Finally, it seemed that the time had come to seek out the cultists, who had been quiet of late.
I told Serana to stay with the Dawnguard, as I felt it best to now travel alone. She had been through quite enough.
I went to Windhelm, where I thought to find a ship that would take me the distance to the distant island.
I found the one I was looking for.

I boarded her and approached the Captain, Gjalund Salt-Sage.

I expressed my interest in making the journey, but he was not keen to oblige.
Apparently, the cultists had travelled to Skyrim aboard his ship and he was unhappy about being partially responsible for the damage that they had caused since being here.
I told him that they cultists had come for me and that he owed me personally.
Feeling that I may be able to offer payback against the cult, he agreed to take me.

Part 29 ‘
Mind-Control, a Madman and Miraak’ Here
Chapter List Here