Melchior pt.13 - Scrolls at Dawn

We dropped off the Stormcloak soldier in Whiterun, then trekked east to Ft. Dawnguard.  It was a largely uneventful journey, although we encountered a couple of giant frostbite spiders and an angry spriggan mother in the countryside near Riften.  They were nothing Carcette and I couldn't handle.

We finally passed Riften and headed into Dayspring Canyon, where we unexpectedly came upon two vampire scouts lurking near the glacial run-off pond!  We took them unawares as they were focused on spying on the Fort, but they put up a vicious fight.  We barely managed to put them down, then hurried through the civilian refugee camp to warn Isran that we were finally under direct surveillance by Ienarath's forces.  We hypothesized that the dark queen had been disturbed by my recent appearance in Blackreach... the chess pieces were maneuvering.

Inside the fort, we came to find out that our Moth Priest ally, Dexion, had lost his sight and could no longer read the Scrolls!  What were we to do now, after all that work collecting them?  He suggested I seek out an "ancestor glade" somewhere in the pine forests, where I could perform a special ritual using canticle tree bark and ancestor moths to read the Scroll myself.  I agreed, hoping I wouldn't go blind or mad.  We were also asked by the Dawnguard to keep an eye out for any more dwemer crossbow or firebolt schematics.

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Melchior pt. 12 - Blackreach Expedition

Woo-hoo!  Back in Markarth, uncle Throngvir convinced the jarl to let me have a place!  Vlindrel Hall would be the new seat of the Vigil and my private residential quarters would be there. We'd take on an altar girl and a housecarl, Gia.  I also invited Vigilant Ulric from Winterhold.  Spent a couple weeks getting the place up and running, then headed back to the college to continue researching the scrolls.

Turns out a brilliant but mad scholar sequestered up in the northern ice fields knew more. He agreed to help, provided I got a dwemer artifact for home.  From Blackreach.  That meant Ienarath.  This would be a perilous undertaking!

I stopped off at the Breezehome Priory for Carcette, and we recruited Lydia's Stormcloak soldier boyfriend too as we might have need of some serious muscle. Then we hiked north to the Aftland ruins and delved in!  There were frightening dwemer constructs in the ruins but we managed to subdue them.  Further in were some khajit junkies in hiding... I tried to Calm them down but they were too junked up, perhaps possessed by daedra, and attacked us in a frenzy. Sadly we had to put them out of their misery.

Finally we delved through some falmer territory and gained entrance to the legendary, sinister subterranean kingdom of Blackreach.  We took refuge in an abandoned research station for some much needed rest.  Next "morning" we began to explore the largely uncharted territory, very cautious to avoid any undead patrols of Ienarath. But we did skirmish with several falmer parties, and an odd dwemer automaton here and there.  The dark, spooky, eerily-lit-by-fungi expanse revealed many wonders.

Finally we discovered the Tower of Mzark, and unlocked the Animunculous as the mad scholar had instructed. Inside was an Elder Scroll!  We carefully retraced our steps and emerged triumphant back to the surface world. I could now return to Ft. Dawnguard to debrief them on Ienarath, and go back to Paarthurnax to read the Scroll at the Time Wound and help the Blades deal with Alduin. 

We emerged and got our bearings - just a couple leagues north of Whiterun! Not far from the old Hall of the Vigilant.  And look and behold, Stendarr had seem for to lead a pretty young Vigilant up to meet us in on the mountainside!  She joined our party and we returned to the Breezehome Priory to recuperate and plan, and sell our spoils to fundraise for the Order.

Melchior pt. 11 - Blades against Akatosh

In light of the unhospitable welcome (read: attack) Emma and I received at the temple of Akatosh, Carcette and I agreed that our Reformation of the Vigil should ally with the Blades as well as the Dawnguard.  So she and I set forth to visit the Graybeards once more, as Esbern had entreated me to back in the Hall of the Blades he and Delphine were restoring.  We stopped at the Eldergleam Sanctuary on behalf of the Temple in Kynareth along the way, and got some sap to help restore the Gildergleam tree in Whiterun, then continued on to the Throat of the World.

Arngeir bade me meet Paarthurnax who turned out to be a dragon! He was Alduin's younger brother, and had been waiting for Alduin to re-emerge from the time wound for generations, to kill him.  He wanted me to go learn Dragonrend.  i would have to return yo yhe college in Winterhold to inquire further.

But first I needed to perform a task I had been neglecting for too long.  Isran wanted more help from the Vigil so Carcette and I went in search of Florentius by way of Forrt Greenwall, where we got drawn into a massive battle over Shor's Stone by the Imperials and Stormcloaks!  We put our thumb on the scale for our fellow Nords, and after a long and bloody afternoon, chased the Imperials back eastward. We then tracked our brother to an excavation site the Vigil had recently discovered... Runvaald.  We headed in. There were several vigilants in there but they seemed... charmed somehow. Creepy.  We pressed through and they became hostile!  Stendarr's gifts helped me calm some of them into a befuddled reverie but a few of them had to be put down, sorry wretches, along with the guards and a megalomaniacal sorceress who held them in thrall.  Finally, we found Florentius and convinced him to help the Dawnguard.  Now Carcette and I needed more absolution for killing or brethren... a few more bodies amongst the foundation of our reformed Vigil.

Back to the college then.  Urag found some info for us, I would evidently need to figure out how to discern the transmundane.  Wat.  Saving that for later.   Thought I'd instead take a vacation back home to Markarth to gather my thoughts and retreat from the constant horrors of the last few months.

Melchior pt.10 Mage's College

Back to reality, we stopped back in Riverwood to check up on Delphine, and tell her what we found in the Thalmor embassy.  She asked us to help find Esbern in Riften, which probably meant dealing with the Thieves' Guild or the Blackbriars.  Unpleasant propects.  I returned to the Breezehome Priory to prepare, and recruited Lydia and her Stormcloak boyfriend to accompany me.  I figured we might have to kill some lowlifes, a distasteful task that would be hard on the stomach, but it had to be done for the greater good, and more importantly I didn't want that blood on the hands of my fellow Vigilants if it could be avoided.

So we headed out, I made contact with Brynjolf from the guild in Riften, and indeed he confirmed that someone matching Esbern's description had been living in the sewer warrens.  We headed down, fighting off a couple ruffians, and found Esbern's secret lair.  We convinced him to come back with us to Delphine, and work on re-forming the Blades, but our discussion was interrupted by Thalmor agents!  They'd tracked us down and found him!  We barely managed to escape with our lives, and fled back to Delphine, who then also fled her home in Riverwood (reasoning that if she stayed, the Thalmor would torch the town to get at her) and we headed out to seek the ruins of the Blades' ancient base in the Reach.

We had to fight off some savage Forsworn along the way, but finally found it!  An interesting fort, with lots of fantastic stone carvings inside.  They tried to recruit me to their quest for a draconic exterminatus, but I didn't know how I felt about that. Stendarr was silent at my augers.  So I resolved to pay a visit to the temple of Akatosh to learn more about the Alduin-Akatosh dichotomy.  Were the dragons more daedric, or more divine?  I needed to know to decide whether the Blades' cause was as just as the Dawnguard and the Vigil.

I decided to head to the Temple of the Divines in Solitude and maybe then the Mages' College's legendary library in Winterhold. I took Emma by carriage to Windhelm and we hiked north. It was a mistake to leave in the afternoon - it quickly grew cold and I collapsed from hypothermia before we could set up camp for the night!  Luckily Emma was able to drag me to a sheltered area build a fire set up camp and saved my life.  Next day we continued on more cautiously and reached the small town.

Upon gaining entrance to the college, we were roped in to some of their business. We had to explore some ruins as a condition of acceptance in their intro course, and somehow awoke a draugr behemoth which all the freshman students felled together. Then we found some kind of artifact - the Eye of Magnus they called it.

Next we were sent on an errand by their librarian, Gorbash, who said if we helped him recover some stolen books from a rogue cell of sorcerers, he'd help is track down the Dragon Elder Scroll for Serana.  So we headed off to Fellglow Keep northeast of Whiterun.

Upon nearing the keep, a dark shadow passed over us. It was an adult blood dragon circling overhead, slowly descending!  We began to sprint towards the keep's outbuildings, hoping to hide from the hunting wyrm... but as we approached we came upon the scene of a melee!  A dozen draugr pressed in on a few beleaguered mages - had one of their fell, unsanctioned experiments backfired?   They fought valiantly, but could be seen to pale when they noticed a couple of paladins sprinting their way with a dragon in tow!

We hammered the draugr into the anvil of the sorcerers then fled as the dragon thundered down into the fray. It worked!  The villains and abominations sapped each other's strength, and we had but to wait, then sweep in and mop up the survivors.

Finally we delved into the keep.  The college mages were foolhardy enough with their research, but this rogue cell was downright explicit in its intentions to cavort with daedra and raise the dead!  We penetrated to the dungeons, slew some captive vampires they were experimenting on, rescued the misguided mage who'd stolen the books (he'd have to repent later) and slew a few necromancers and elementalists on our way to secure the contraband tomes.

Stopped by the temple of Akatosh on the way back to the college. They were hostile zealots!  Guess I could help the Blades in good conscience!

Melchior pt.9 Supressing Morthal's Monsters

Emma and I headed up to the Jarl's court the next morning.  Lurking around throughout the day's bustling business and social events, we surveilled the court and settled on a likely suspect: a mysterious dark-eyed "foreign advisor." Sure enough, Emma searched his room and found damning evidence - a coded note with orders from Harkkon!  We confided in the Jarl and he authorized us to solve the problem... we ambushed and slew the vile creature in the dinner hall.  A glorious moment for the Vigil, in full public view.

After a day of R&R, it was time to start thinking about helping Serena. She needed a Moth Priest, so Giathianniaoles and I headed to Dragonbridge where one was rumored to be.  We made our way northeast through the snowy foothills, putting down a frost troll in a strange ruin where we then stopped to camp.  The next day we continued our frigid soujourn, and finally reached Morthal the following evening.  There, we decided to stay a couple days to thaw our bones, and recuperate from the fright of our troll encounter.  We met some of the locals, and learned of a ghost girl who's family perished in a fire, and of another possible vampire menace... this one ancient and not necessarily connected to Harkkon nor Ienarath.

Investigating the haunted house that evening,  I bumped into a fellow Vigilant of Stendarr, Thrayn!  He was investigating the ghost too. Together we canvassed the town, determined how to find the little girl's ghost, and found here.  In dealing with her, we discovered that a lower vampire was behind the arson, tracked her and put her down, and solved the case!  Jarl Idgrod was pleased.

While walking through town the next day we covertly noticed that we were being stalked by another low vampire, but we boldly confronted him.  He attacked, we fought him, and the town guard arrived to help slay him.  Evidently there were crosshairs on our backs now!  It was time to strike before any more assassins came after us.  

With the jarl's blessing, we gathered up a small angry mob, and at their head we tracked down Movarth, battered our way into his lair at noon, and butchered him and his brood and thralls!  Idgrod was so happy, she awarded our order a property in town.  We had now expanded to a second priory, known as Whitehowl Retreat.  Our rebuilding after the Hall incident was starting to pick up stream.  

I left Thrayn and Gia to set up the new priory, and Serena and I continued over the next few days to Dragonbridge.  We got there, and a little kid confirmed seeing someone who matched the description of a Moth Priest just south of the bridge. We tracked him but just found a broken wagon, a dead guard, and a dead vampire... clues suggested the priest had been abducted by Serana's father's men. We went to the cave we thought they had retreated to, and slew a vampire guarding the priest!  He was possessed by some fell power, but we slapped him out of it and he agreed to to to Ft. Dawnguard with us and read Serana's Scroll. So we hiked back to Dragonbridge, took a carriage to Riften, and made our way back to Isran to confer.

The Dawnguard blacksmith lady wanted us to go recruiting again, this time for an eccentric priest of Arkay.  I convinced Isran this was a good idea, as the Moth Priest read the Scroll.  He concluded that we needed more scrolls, as this one just talks of Auriel's bow.  But then Serena asks for help visiting her mom in the Soul Cairn, so she and I and Keeper Carcette headed to Serana's family home, she snuck us into the castle, we found her mom's secret lab, traveled to the Soul Cairn, got her mom to help us and give us the next scroll, defeated an undead dragon, and returned.  All in a day's work!