A Week of Firsts

My Dearest Kiya,

This has been our first few weeks without each other. I've always felt safe and assured when I know you're behind my back, watching and protecting. Do not worry, you know I am very capable of hunting enemies alone, having lived my life traveling by myself. It's just that something is different, with you not being here with me. For the first time in a very long while, I felt lonely.

Of course, you know how it all started. Isran made me go on a mission to protect the Jarl of Riften, which was quite close to the Fort. I know it's been quite a while since I wrote a letter to you, and this mission would not have taken me more than three days to finish, but I got distracted. I stayed a few days inside a crypt I've never been before and fought new enemies. It was a week of firsts, as both tales I am about to tell you were new experiences to me.

Let me first tell you about the mission Isran sent me to deal with, a vampire amongst the Jarl of Riften's advisors. I set about quickly to Riften, as Isran had wanted (he really got upset at the sight of us kissing, eh?), because for each minute I delayed this quest, the vampire will have more time to pounce on the Jarl and drink her blood. 

I arrive there to find a strange new city in front of me. Riften seems pretty decent and simple. The people are quiet, modest, and peaceful, unlike the people in Windhelm who hate each other. I started to like the place as soon as I went inside. I headed straight for Mistveil Keep after asking some of the guards where I could find the Jarl. They helped me on my way cheerfully, solidifying my fondness for the city. Where else could you find guards who were willing to point directions like that?

Wouldn't it be easier to kill the guy first before I show you proof?

I met Jarl Laila once I found the Keep, but only after the customary threat from her housecarl. She calmly listened to Isran's information of a threat on her life as I relayed it to her, then told me to find proof that this advisor of hers really was a vampire threatening to kill her anytime soon. I had already sniffed him out, knowing their usual smell of blood and human meat and their general disgusting odor. Serana and her family probably were the only vampires not to smell like that. 

Don't turn around, don't turn around...

I tried going to the advisor's room and searching his belongings, but he seemed smart enough not to keep any incriminating evidence within the reach of other people. I knew then that the only way I was gonna be able to prove that this advisor was a vampire was to look inside his pockets and take whatever I could find--probably a vial of blood, or a note of orders. I owe it to your combat style, Kiya, that I thought of this method.

And so it was the first time I sneaked, stalking the advisor around the Keep. When I got the chance that I was not being watched by anybody, I snuck behind him and took a look inside his pockets. Behold, I found a letter with the order to destroy the Jarl of Riften! Thank the gods he did not turn around then. I snuck my way out of the room and immediately showed the letter to the Jarl, who ordered the execution of the advisor. Not wanting to fall out of the Jarl's good graces, I carried out her instructions and killed the advisor pretty quickly. He might have been a real advisor too, albeit a vamprie one, as he did not put up much of a fight.

Your guards don't want the dirty work?

I rushed out of Riften to head towards Fort Dawnguard in my hopes of seeing you after only a few days of being apart, but I came across a--friend--that needed help. Captain Valmir told me he wanted me to go find a mask (and I doubted my ears when I heard it--a mask?) inside the crypt he was camped in front of. Being "a friend of Skyrim" as he put it, I agreed readily, but reluctantly. Why did he want a mask? Why was he not getting it himself? I'll find out soon enough.

If you were a "true friend of Skyrim", you will accompany me inside.

As I traversed the length of the Crypt, I found several draugrs and spirits coming at me, wielding weapons from their previous lives. The journal I found shed some light regarding these undead. They were the ghosts of Dragon Cultist who killed themselves during a siege several years ago. I am now very doubtful of Valmir's intentions. If these were Dragon Cultists I destroyed, would that mean this "mask" he wanted belonged to their master. I pressed on.

I have no idea how I can hit ghosts with my sword.

I arrive at the end of the crypt in an empty room. As soon as I stepped in, though, all of draugr in the room woke up and broke their coffins open. At the center of the room, a Dragon Priest opened its coffin and immediately conjured its minions. It was the first time I encountered such a menacing being. I had to defeat it first and clean up the remaining draugrs. I used my potions to  great effect against his fire spells and summons. I defeated him after a long, hard-fought battle (if you were here, you'd take care of the Dragon Priest and I the draugrs), and destroyed the rest of its minions. I checked the Dragon Priest's corpse, or the corpse of its corpse, and I was right to think that the mask Valmir wanted belonged to this Dragon Priest, Rahgot.

I think you should take care of that hole on your chest before you take me on.

I retrieved the mask, and immediately rushed outside. I'll have answers from Valmir. I found him wearing a different armor than before, as he was conversing with an Imperial soldier. I knew it! He fooled people into going inside the crypt to retrieve the mask for him by posing as an ally. The soldier attacked Valmir, and losing my temper, I attacked him too. With one swing from my daedric sword, I felled him.

He's not a soldier, I tell you!

The Imperial soldier, not knowing I went inside the crypt and retrieved the mask, thanked me for helping him get rid of an impostor and went on his way. I felt relieved that he did not accuse me of anything too, for I am avoiding confrontation with a real soldier. If that happened, it would have been another first, too.

I deny any knowledge of that ice spike's origins.

I long to see you back at the Fort, Kiya. We will need to regroup for our next move against the vampires. That, and because I miss you. Please write soon.

With Love,
Kousei