When Stars Turn Black

Dear Kousei,

I was afraid of penning down the contents of this letter for you to read. However, I understand that you would not appreciate being left out of something vital... even if the bottom line is this: I have delayed recruiting Sorine Jurard. I hope you'll forgive me for not going according to the plan. I know that our ordeal in Volkihar Castle had affected you (yes, it had also affected me), and thus you would do what you can to prevent the Vampire plague from spreading. But something else tugged at my soul after I left Fort Dawnguard. Please at least read my words before you try to behead me for being sidetracked.

I intended to reach Sorine Jurard as quickly as I could, but when I checked my inventory, I saw that my Frost Resist potions had run low. So had my ingredients to brew said potions. With the Vampires at our heels wielding their Frost-based spells, it would be unwise to go without Frost resistance. I was able to replenish my Thistle branches without any trouble, but I could not find enough Purple Mountain Flowers or Snowberries for the purpose -- at least on the more accessible parts of Skyrim. Rather than attempt to reach Sorine Jurard with a weakness the Vampires could exploit, I resolved to first visit Skyrim's northern reaches and obtain the Snowberries I needed.

And Snowberries weren't the only ones I found.

It was already well into the night when Lydia, Meeko, and I came across a scene of a tragedy. I don't know if you would have called perishing in an avalanche as tragic as losing your humanity to a Vampire. For one, I was already quite hardened by those facets of everyday life in Skyrim. Or so I thought. I mean, with war, Dragons, Vampires, and natural calamities that could swoop down anytime and anywhere without warning, death was as common as Snowberries in Winterhold and Windhelm.

Was he wearing this for a particular someone, I wondered.

Lydia and I attempted to revive the refugees, but it didn't take much to see that they were already beyond help. And while I was examining one of the dead men, I saw that he was wearing an Amulet of Mara. If you are not familiar with their purpose (aside from fortifying Restoration, that is), let me explain. I found out from the priest of Mara in Riften that inhabitants of Skyrim would declare their eligibility for marriage by wearing the Amulet of Mara. The priest had also mentioned that such seemingly superficial show is in fact an attempt to find happiness where darkness seems to shroud everything else.

Uh-oh, did Sanguine tell you about me?

You can laugh at me for what I did next. Instead of looting the dead refugees' belongings as I usually do, I had my Housecarl help me dig a decent grave for them. We then stood vigil over them for the rest of the night. I do not know what drove me to do it. I mean, they were only refugees, even if one of them did have an Amulet of Mara with him. But I knew we had to move on. Even then, I seemed to have temporarily lost my bearings and simply wandered where my feet wanted me to go. That was when I discovered the Shrine of Azura, and the lone priestess who maintained it, Aranea Ienith.

Before "what" happens? Can't Azura make it a little bit clearer?

In the cryptic manner seers usually have, Aranea did not waste time in telling me that it was fate, not curiosity, that led me to the Shrine. Furthermore, she claimed that she had seen a vision of me ascending the steps before I was born... because Azura had chosen me as her Champion. You know I'm not one to simply eat up such flattering statements, especially considering that Azura is of the likes of Sanguine, who you can say had also dubbed me as his "Champion" in a different sense. Nonetheless, I found myself unable to refuse when Aranea (speaking for Azura) abruptly tasked me to go to a fort "threatened by water, but not yet touched by it" and seek out an Elven mage who could turn the brightest star black. Thankfully, I did not have to decipher the first part of the riddle. The priestess helpfully told me that it most likely pointed to a location in Winterhold. Good, I was on my way there.

On a side note, I did stay to chat with Aranea for a little bit even after she gave me the mission. When I asked her why she was all alone in serving Azura, she said that her fellows had abandoned her because they feared to face the visions of the Deadric Prince (Princess, you mean?). Then she interspersed another prophecy in her words, about tragedy, war, and death, before "it" happens. But time was running short, so I just put the prophecy at the back of my mind and left for Winterhold.

He certainly looks shady.

As for the mage himself, asking around in Winterhold led me to The Frozen Hearth and face-to-face with Nelacar. He wasn't too keen to give up his secrets so easily, and my patience was running shorter than usual. However, some coin was enough to make him talk, and the results were pretty interesting, if not downright disturbing. Aranea Ienith didn't exactly tell me about what to expect from the mage except that he was an Enchanter. I thought that Nelacar was a follower of Azura, or that he at least knew Aranea Ienith, but apparently, I had my assumptions wrong on both counts.

Now I see what Azura has to do with this.

Turns out Nelacar was once the protege of a Sorcerer named Malyn Varen, who specialized in the research of Soul Gems. That would have been fine, if not for the fact that his methods were... questionable. You see, a desperate man dying of illness and a man obsessed with immortality are deadly when fused into the same person, and Malyn Varen was precisely just that. He began to focus his experiments on the Daedric artifact Azura's Star, which functions as an unbreakable Soul Gem. Like normal Soul Gems, it does not accept souls of sentient beings, and Malyn Varen sought to twist its properties so it could accept his soul and thus ensure his immortality. But Azura, like all Daedric Princes, was not to be easily trifled with, and she cursed him with increasing madness the more he furthered on his efforts.

I am now on my way to Ilinalta's Deep, a location mentioned by Nelacar. He said that Malyn Varen retreated there to continue his nefarious research, and he most likely took Azura's Star with him. Nelacar warned me not to take the Star back to Azura, claiming that she was evil and the cause of Malyn's madness. I said nothing, but secretly I was thinking that Malyn Varen was the cause of his own madness, if he wasn't already mad to begin with. Besides, Nelacar wasn't as clean as he thought himself to be, and the thought of giving the Star (should I be able to retrieve it) to him fills me with foreboding. You realize that I cannot just let Malyn Varen carry on with what he is doing, Kousei. Tampering with the laws of nature to achieve immortality makes him as bad as the Vampires. I hate to think of what will happen if he chose to ally himself with Lord Harkon. If I succeed in taking Malyn Varen down, at least that will be one less thing for us to worry about. Please stay safe, Kousei. My thoughts go to you and your well-being, as always.

Yours truly,
Kiya

The Heart of the Vampires

Dear Kiya,

It's been a few days since we reached Volkihar Castle, and I am still shaken by what I saw there. I cannot possibly know what you felt then, as you looked so calm and collected (and I tried my best to do so, too), but I am certain that you felt as scared as I was. We thought that bringing Lady Serana to the castle was not going to be easy, but it was more than that. It all started so well, so serene: We walked from Solitude to the west towards the shore without much strenuous killing. We needed our strength for the encounter, and we have had enough rest upon reaching the shore. Apparently, though, arm strength was not what we needed then.

I don't think even your arrows reach that far, Kiya.

I... I have to row?

It was quite a short trip towards the looming castle. I was the one who rowed the boat, which is not to say that I have stronger arms than you do, but because I wanted us to be prepared when ambushed in the middle of the river. I would be useless in those fights. You, on the other hand, have a repertoire of ranged spells and arrows you can use from the boat. Fortunately, we did not encounter any enemy threat. Surprising, given that I felt an eerie feeling in that area, as if several eyes were watching us.

What are those things on the bridge?

If I did not know that Castle Volkihar was the heart of the vampire threat, I would have called it beautiful and majestic. It is a structure fit for a king, with its large, thick walls, high-reaching towers, and a location far from the mainland, making it hard to siege with proper lookouts in the towers. It looked peaceful and serene from the shore, didn't it? Forgive me for thinking so far out from the severity of the situation, I knew I needed to focus for any ambush. Fortunately, as with the ride we did not encounter any of our enemies. Moving forward, we noticed that there were statues of the same gargoyles we encountered at Lady Serana's resting place. We proceeded a lot slowly this time, in case those statues made of stone come to life again. 

...Uh oh. Not them again.

The vampires at the foot of the castle recognized Lady Serana at once and said, "Serana has returned!" If Lady Serana has lived for quite a long time, I would think that these vampires who recognized her have lived far longer than that. It is a good thing they die to swords and spells. 

They let us enter the castle immediately, and we were greeted by a courtroom full of vampires eating human meat and drinking blood. It was disgusting and intensely disturbing at the same time. All of them, feasting and drinking on a human body. This is why we need to destroy them, Kiya. They are a menace to the people of Skyrim, killing innocent people in order to sustain their infinite hunger. 

Lady Serana and her apparent father exchanged words, and he gave us an audience. He wanted to give us a reward for bringing his daughter back to her, as well as the Elder Scroll that was with her. At first I thought it was a cruel joke, to make us think of a reward before he lets loose his 'court' of vampires on us. We knew better than to let our guards down at that point, but we might as well have. He offered us the power of the vampires, the ability to live forever. I know we did not prepare for this. "What if we refuse?" ran through my mind.

Please don't eat us.

...Then you spoke up. I froze in my place, unable to move nor speak. The same words I had thought of a few moments ago came out of your mouth, in a more defiant tone. You did not flinch nor moved one step back in fear as Lady Serana's father transformed himself into a monster, to show us the power of their immortal blood. He was fearsome, and for a moment there I was grateful that we have not encountered vampires such as he. Another thought immediately came to mind: What if the rest of them are like that? Some of the vampires we've encountered are immensely difficult to kill without transforming (such as Ancient Vampires), so what if they transform into that? 

Fortunately, the Lord of Volkihar did not punish us for refusing his offer then and there. He banished us from the castle, sending us to the shore oustide Volkihar castle. That might be the last time we get out of there alive, for all I know.

Harkon, you mad?

We immediately traveled to the other end of Skyrim, towards Fort Dawnguard. We only made a few stops before reaching our destination, one where you had to exchange your robe with a better one. Time was of the essence. 

Upon reaching Dawnguard, I immediately noticed that it was quiet. Too quiet. I sensed that something was wrong. I could tell that you had noticed it, too, as you were quickening your steps towards the fort. Turning a corner, we were immediately ambushed by a group of vampires, all of which were already wielding deadly weapons or readying their spells. I immediately covered you with my shield and let you take a much safer ground and cast your spells from there, like we always do. There was so much of them that it made me doubt Fort Dawnguard's safety.

We were able to defeat them all, fortunately. I gave the ones bitten by the vampires Cure Disease potion to prevent Vampirism from spreading, and you healed those that were wounded. Later, Isran immediately sent us on a mission to recruit his old friends into Dawnguard. I was reluctant on agreeing with you when you told me we had to split up in order to find these people faster, but it was a sound decision. It felt weird to see you turn and go, but it had to be done, for the sake of Skyrim.

Even your beard might fall off with all the worrying you do, Isran.

Please do write to me as soon as you can. I intend on reaching Gunmar within the next few days. Be careful, as these vampires, as we now know, are getting harder and harder to kill.

Regards,

Kousei

To Solitude

It's been quite a few days since traveling from Fort Dawnguard, and I am still angry. That joke Kiya shamed me with with that absurdly tall Riften guard still gets in my nerves whenever I remember it. This is no time to make fun of your comrades! A large part of Skyrim is starting to succumb to the Vampire threat, and there I was in Riften, getting heckled by my companion and a guard. A guard! For the life of me, I cannot fathom how anyone would have time to play jokes on someone during these dark times! Just a few days ago, though, Kiya had given me a grand soul gem with an apology for what she did. After a few moments' of deliberating with myself, I accepted the apology and declined the soul gem, taking instead a petty one, for the cause of my anger was, indeed, petty.

After Riften, it was a fairly smooth travel across Skyrim towards Morthal. Encountering several vampires with Lady Serana seemed awkward, but she fought them as well as Kiya and I did, and that got me thinking if she is really on the wrong side of things. I kept thinking of how she must have felt when she slew her fellow vampires as if they were nothing, like Nords killing Nords in a battle. Nevertheless, I pity her for her long captivity. 

"Kousei? Where are you? I can't see you."

We kept a steady pace from Morthal towards Solitude, the home of the Imperial Army. Kiya proposed that we enter the city when we get there. I had my own reasons not to go inside, and I know Kiya knows this. I have a short temper, and being surrounded by Imperial soldiers makes me want to Shout at them and hack them all to death. She kept insisting we enter Solitude, dousing my hesitation with her enthusiasm. 

"Seriously, Kousei, where are y--oh, there you are. You blend well with the darkness, you know."

For one whole night, we traveled. Nearing the city right before dawn, we swam in the river to stay as quiet as we can. We saw no dry land with which to cross it, so we had no choice but to swim across. I let Kiya scout the river, as her enchantments let her breathe underwater. I even took an illumination of her underwater, and hurriedly so, as I cannot stay there for long. If I did, she wouldn't have to scout so far ahead of us.

Underwater at night is scary.

Well, there's a bridge. Should we use it?

Nope, not going to use it.

It was already morning when we finally reached Solitude, and this was what greeted us: A crowd at the entrance of town, cursing, throwing rotten food at a man chained at the wrists, screaming, "Traitor! Traitor!" while the ones on the high ground took their positions. I noticed a kid crying about his uncle going to die. They announced that this man in chains opened the gates for Ulfric Stormcloak, letting him flee from the scene after he killed the High King. He defended himself, saying the Ulfric defeated the High King in single combat, that it was the way of Nords. I turned and stared at Kiya, looking for something, but she just shook her head, like she knew what I was going to do. 

Those are really pretty flowers.

It was painful to watch as this man, staying true to his Race, said, "On this day... I go to Sovngarde," as they chopped his head off. The crowd cheered, as though they really killed Ulfric with this... murder. It was as though the war will end with the death of an insignificant man who did nothing wrong. They are afraid, and gladly think that his death is a already a victory. Let them think that one small victory in their own city will mean a lot in the end. We'll see.

Opening doors for someone is a crime now.

 It was only after the crowd dispersed was I able to get a look around the city. Huge walls surround it, defending it from any kind of siege. Imperial soldiers training everywhere. Nobles' children running around. I must learn what I can in this city, but maybe next time. Kiya insisted on visiting the forge.

Feminine swing? I doubt that.

It surprised me when she proposed that she teach me the art of making Orcish armor. I've heard it's a lot stronger than Dwarven ones, so I immediately agreed. She was so adept at making it that I couldn't help but think: Who can imagine that someone wearing a mage's robe and a pretty face can pound a heavy hammer to Orichalcum and mold it to something so strong? I wonder where all this skill comes from. I am enchanted by her, and somehow, I feel different just staring at her. 

The headgear's a bit silly, but definitely better than that hideous Dwarven one.

As we finish making the armor, she makes me put them on, and immediately I feel a lot stronger. A bit heavier, yes, but I do not mind the weight of it all. If we are in battle, I will not even notice the difference. What matters is that I can take a lot of punishment from our enemies to keep Kiya and Lady Serana safely attacking at a distance. I thanked Kiya for the knowledge and skill, but she dismissed it, and said something about it was the least she could do to make up for what she did before. I quietly agreed, but not before thinking that I already accepted her apology.

Orcs have a surprisingly awesome taste (in fashion, that is).

In a few days we will be moving to Volkihar castle, with much preparation for the vampires that dwell there. We do not know if this is a trap set up by Lady Serana, however innocent she may look, but it's best if we prepare for it first. I need to discuss with Kiya what we have to do next without Lady Serana noticing anything. The next few days will be as tricky as improving your armor without breaking it.