Finally, we made it back to the Hall and I arranged to meet the wise paladin Keeper Carcette for confessional. She administered the rites to absolve me and took me through therapy for several weeks. As part of it, we went on a walkabout to reintroduce me to the world. We got in a tiff with some bandits, scared them off, and patrolled all around the valley.
Eventually, Carcette decided she ought to keep mentoring me, and we headed out for a spiritual retreat at a recovery center in Helgen. But as we approached the town, a Dragon flew out overhead, having just leveled the town! Crazy times indeed. We headed back to Whiterun to warn the Jarl, but it was being attacked by the dragon! I and my fellow Vigilants bravely helped the Town Guard slay it, and the Jarl rewarded the Order of Stendarr with a property in town! We would use it as a satellite priory. Oh, also I was apparently something called... Dragonborn?
Eventually, Carcette decided she ought to keep mentoring me, and we headed out for a spiritual retreat at a recovery center in Helgen. But as we approached the town, a Dragon flew out overhead, having just leveled the town! Crazy times indeed. We headed back to Whiterun to warn the Jarl, but it was being attacked by the dragon! I and my fellow Vigilants bravely helped the Town Guard slay it, and the Jarl rewarded the Order of Stendarr with a property in town! We would use it as a satellite priory. Oh, also I was apparently something called... Dragonborn?
I took Carcette down to check out the priory. A Dawnguard recruiter was there; we made friends and decided to go check out their movement. There have been reports of an uptick in vampire attacks lately after all. Getting involved would be a good way to honor Tyranus. We took a carriage to Riften, spent a couple days there preparing for a hike, met a nice lady trying to reign in the thieves' guild named Mjoll, and headed out East.
Through the rocky passes, almost at the edge of Skyrim itself, we came to the sheltered valley containing Fort Dawnguard! Outside, an orc named Duran practiced with a crossbow... he looked alarmed to see us, saying the Hall of the Vigilant had been attacked. What?!? We turned around and rushed back home at a breakneck pace for two days. It was true! The place had been laid to waste, our brethren lay slaughtered in the snow along with a couple vampire fledglings. 'Noooooo!' we howled. We held each other and mourned; Carcette was broken up over not having been there to protect her flock. We then gave them a proper burial and returned to Ft. Dawnguard with grim determination. We were both on a mission of absolution now.
Through the rocky passes, almost at the edge of Skyrim itself, we came to the sheltered valley containing Fort Dawnguard! Outside, an orc named Duran practiced with a crossbow... he looked alarmed to see us, saying the Hall of the Vigilant had been attacked. What?!? We turned around and rushed back home at a breakneck pace for two days. It was true! The place had been laid to waste, our brethren lay slaughtered in the snow along with a couple vampire fledglings. 'Noooooo!' we howled. We held each other and mourned; Carcette was broken up over not having been there to protect her flock. We then gave them a proper burial and returned to Ft. Dawnguard with grim determination. We were both on a mission of absolution now.
It turned out some Dawnguard were former Vigilants who wanted to pursue more radical methods than the Order countenanced, so needless to say after our horrifying experience, we fell in with them. Vigilant Tolan was there leading that contingent. Isran, the Dawnguard leader, was bitter that Carcette had once told him the fort was too broken down and it wasn't worth the effort to reform the Dawnguard. Now she had changed her mind of course, so they came to an uneasy truce. Tolan wanted us to help investigate Dimhollow Crypt to uncover why the vampires attacked our Hall of the Vigilant in the first place, so we geared up with crossbows and headed out after him.
At the crypt, it appeared Tolan had gotten there before us and impetuously went in! He must've been ambushed by vampires who we overheard talking about him, still snacking on his blood. We charged in, in a fury! We staked and hacked apart two vampires on Tolan's body, issuing a benediction for his soul, then headed deeper in. We managed to solve a srange puzzle chamber, unearthing an ancient vampire. Somehow she seemed confused, and I sensed Stendarr willing me to spare her. I let her go back to her family castle, then went back to report to Isran about it. He said we needed to build up our forces, and sent me out to recruit a hunter and an engineer. Carcette went back to the priory to organize the remnants of our personnel, and sent Emma out to join me in recruiting around Skyrim.
Emma and I rounded up a couple of likely candidates, and being near Ivarsted, decided to climb up for a visit to the Gray Beards. But in town preparing for the climb, I overheard the innkeeper complaining of the nearby barrow being haunted... a good job for Emma and I, only this time we'd be more prepared! Turned out to be just a rogue robber, cleverly using a potion to fake seeming "spectral" to scare off the local townies. We got rid of him, which was good for the Vigil's cred with the locals.
Then we headed up the mountain, climbing for two days and enduring a bitter cold camp-out over night. Reaching the top though, the Gray-Beards explained some things about being Dragonborn and helped me harness my thu'um. So then we went back down, back to Ft. Dawnguard, and were sent out on a couple more missions, to find some Dwemer crossbow schematics and hunt down a couple known vampires. Finally we finished our errands, I returned Emma to the Breezehome priory and Carcette wanted to accompany me back to Ft. Dawnguard. Once we got back there, we discovered Serana (the ancient vampire) had come forward to ally with the Dawnguard! Isran was skeptical, but we might need her help, plus she had an Elder Scroll so we went with it. Strange times indeed.
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