Loredas, 28th of Last Seed, 4E 201

I didn’t think I’d end the day a vampire hunter, but here we are.

This sort of thing seems to be happening to me a lot lately.

We woke up a bit later than usual, had breakfast, then went to tell the Jarl what happened. I showed her the journal, and she was furious! Movarth is an ancient vampire that threatened Morthal in the past, and he’s supposed to be dead. He’s probably come back here to finish the job. She asked if I’d be willing to hunt him down. She knows where his lair is, and said she’d send people with me if I agreed.

Lydia and I exchanged glances. Fighting Laelette wasn’t easy, but if we had help, why not?

I agreed, and we left to fight him.

I was expecting a small group of guards, but instead there were townsfolk outside, armed with axes and daggers?! Lydia reminded me that Alva had control over many of the guards. They couldn’t be trusted.

Ah.

But they knew where Movarth’s old lair was. He used to hole up in a cave shockingly close to the town. I’m sure if I climbed on top of the stony outcrop that covers the mouth of the cave, I could see the whole place – It was only a few minutes walk!

It’s not hard to miss, though. There’s a faint but still obvious path, with stone piles covered in blood and bones here and there along it. Might as well have added “Vampire Den” to the signpost.

Lydia and I went into the cave alone. We told everyone else to keep watch and slay anything that came out that wasn’t us.

The cave spiraled down almost right away, and there were two of those horrible giant spiders guarding the way down. They were easy, and as we went deeper, we found a number of humans, the vampires’ thralls, milling about. One man was burying bodies in the floor of the cave – Clearly victims the vampires had fed on.

As we went, I decided to use more magic. I’m not that fast at healing magic just yet, so I tried to stay back as well as I could. The quarters were pretty tight, and I couldn’t just throw fire around like I’m used to. Lydia’s a bit mad that I keep burning her, anyway. So, I tried raising the thralls we killed, and it worked! They weren’t that great in a fight, by they got a few hits in and were mostly good as a distraction so that Lydia could come in with her sword!

She hates fighting beside the zombies, but she admitted that she preferred that to getting her armor scorched all the time.

We found Movarth in a large central room with a dining table and a tall, throne-like chair at the head of it. He was sitting there, with three or four vampires around him. It was hard to tell, because all Oblivion broke loose when I blasted two columns of fire at them.

They came at us, and I pulled back into the tunnel, then up a narrow wooden catwalk that let me blast them from above while Lydia and the zombie thrall hacked at them from below. The vampires did have weapons, but mostly relied on magic to fight us.

They weren’t prepared for Sparks! I learned that Sparks can damage your magicka reserves, and I guess they either didn’t know that, or never imagined that a mage would be stupid enough to come after them.

Good thing I have Lydia around. I’m allowed to be stupid!

It was a hard fight – I had to kick back more than a few healing and magicka potions as we went along – But we did it! I took as much as we could carry and made sure Lydia was healed before we went to explore the rest of the cave.

She wasn’t sure why we had to. We’d killed Movarth and had more loot than we could carry, but we hadn’t found Alva. Alva still had control of the guards. Leaving her alive would leave the town vulnerable. With her master dead, she was the one in charge, and there would be no stopping her.

We found Alva in a small cavern in the back that was set up with beds and dressers. She fought like a wildcat, but the wolf familiar I summoned took her attention while Lydia and I set on her. My magic was mostly spent, so I used the Axe of Whiterun.

Should I be using a symbol of office? Maybe not, but it’s enchanted with Sparks, and it works great against vampires trying to drain away our life force.

At any rate, we got rid of her, and the few remaining thralls infesting the place.

As we left, Helgi’s ghost reappeared at the exit of the cave. She thanked us for helping her, and that she could hear her mother calling to her. Then, she disappeared.

Outside, I was glad to see that no one was hurt, so we all went back to town to report to the Jarl. She was pleased with me, and said that if I managed to help her citizens out, she would make me a Thane. I had already helped quite a few, and she needed me to fulfill one more task for someone, whatever it may be.

I don’t want to stick around for that – We have a prisoner to rescue – But I went to talk to Falion and see what’s up with him. He was home this time! He’s a bit of a grouch, but I can’t blame him. He said that everyone else in town thinks he eats babies, sacrifices children, blah blah… Typical stuff from people who don’t trust magic. He doesn’t seem to like the College of Winterhold – I wonder why?

But you’d think people in town would calm down about him. He has a… Daughter? Apprentice? Anyway, a young orphan girl named Agni lives with him, and she’s very excited to learn magic. I bought a bunch of spells from him, and even though we couldn’t unload the armor we’d picked up, I was able to sell the magic robes and such that we grabbed in the vampire den. I even got to try his enchanting table!

I couldn’t enchant anything, but I did sacrifice a weapon we picked up that neither of us are going to use so I could learn the enchantment.

It was getting late, so we left for the inn. On the way there, we ran into a member of the Dawnguard, and he invited me to join their vampire hunting crew.

I mean, it sounds profitable, hunting vampires. There were a fair number of very valuable magic items, and they tend to have a lot of gold from looting their victims. I said I’d think about it, and he marked the location of their headquarters on my map.

But a strange thing happened just now – Grom, Jarl Idgrod’s housecarl (I think) was drinking at a table, and I sat down to talk with him because he looked worried. I wondered if he felt bad about the guards falling under Alva’s command, or maybe a bit guilty about how everything went down.

He said he was worried about the Jarl. Her visions were getting more frequent, he said – stronger, too - and that he was afraid the people might do something or that she would finally be lost to them, and thus unfit to rule. Maybe she was already unfit? Maybe it was time for her to step down?

I didn’t know what to say, but then he handed me a letter and asked me to deliver it to a man he knew in Solitude, Captain Aldis. For his eyes only. I didn’t want to get involved, but the only reason anything got done about the vampires and the murders was because people who weren’t superstitious (me and Lydia) came in and listened to her. She may be old, and she might get visions, but she’s not mad, any more than that boy is.

So I agreed, and of course I read the letter as soon as he left the building. It’s short, and says that it’s getting worse, and that it’s time to act.

I thought so. This letter’s not going anywhere. Morthal’s had enough upheaval and tragedy. The last thing it needs is a coup.

We are headed to Solitude, though. It’s the next hold on the road to Northwatch Keep, and Lydia says that we’ll be able to sell our goods there, no problem! She said it’s bigger than Whiterun, and home to the High King or Queen of Skyrim.

I’m excited to get on our way, so I’m going to turn in, and we’ll be on our way tomorrow.