Nate slept better that night than he had in a while. Today for a change, he awoke with the rising sun. The morning was crisp and clear. Crawling out of his little tent, he saw Tolan sitting by the fire with freshly made coffee. Tolan greeted him, then asked abruptly. "Did you have trouble sleeping?" Shaking his head, Nate set to work taking down his tent as he replied. "No. Just... got the rest I needed." Tolan huffed, uttering out in a low voice. "You see a dragon and you sleep well?" Nate chuckled, retorting bluntly. "There is always something plaguing Skyrim. You get used to it. When I was kid. It was a mix of trolls and giants attacking farmers. Now it is big lizards." Tolan raised an eyebrow, asking perplexed. "You are not a little bit worried that the dragons will kill us all?" Nate buckled his stuff to Walter's saddle, answering with a shrug. "Nope. From what I heard back there... It's the Dragonborn's problem." Tolan shook his head, telling him flatly. "You should care. You are apart of this world." Nate rolled his eyes, grumbling out as he moved to get himself some coffee. "Why does being a part of this world mean that I have to fight to live in it? How many years are we going to fight the same battles before we learn to get along?"

Tolan straightened up, pointing at him as he said seriously. "For others to live peacefully, some must fight to protect them. Whether you choose to believe it or not. There are fowl creatures and demons that this world will be better off without. Once they are dealt with, everything will fall into place as Stendarr intended." Nate finished pouring himself a cup of coffee, then after taking a sip, he retorted bluntly. "Stendarr isn't the only god with his hands in this sandbox. If the gods wanted to build a utopia... they would have snapped their fingers and made it happen. But it's not... So, what does THAT tell you?" Tolan lifted his chin, answering faithfully. "It means we are here to prove our worth. To spread the message." Nate snorted, taking another sip, before stating firmly. "That's a cult answer. An answer fueled by the logic that YOUR way is better than someone else's." Nate started to walk away when Tolan snapped out firmly in return. "Your father believed in Stendarr!" Nate clenched his jaw for a minute, then turned around to tell him flatly. "Yes. He did. But he didn't go around pestering others to change religions. A true follower has faith that others will come to them when they are in need. If you must force them... then who are you trying to convince of the faith. Them. Or yourself?"

Tolan glared at him, uttering out. "What you speak is blasphemy! It is written that we should travel and spread the word through our deeds." Nate gestured to him, stating out. "Exactly! Through your deeds. Not through mass genocide and invocation of fear!" Tolan rose to his feet, pointing a stern finger at Nate as he growled out. "Oh, you are lucky you are not my son! Or I'd have you working in the Hall of the Vigilant until you understood the cause for what it is and not what others tell you!" Nate opened his mouth, only to have a large hand cover it. Leaning over his shoulder, Dumbuk grumbled out to them in a tired and blunt tone. "Enough! It's too early to be talking about this crap... We are here to kill some vampires. So, can we kill some vampires? Please?!" Tolan dumped his coffee on the fire to put it out, muttering out bitterly. "Fine. Saddle up. We are moving out now." Tolan stormed off to his horse and Dumbuk waited until he was out of range before dropping his hand from Nate's mouth. Nate turned to look at Dumbuk, bitterly muttering out. "For the record. I was winning." Dumbuk rolled his eyes, pulling down his tent as he told him dryly. "There are no winners in a fight like that. He's going to believe what he wants. You will believe what you want. You'll butt heads like stubborn goats, until you both die of thirst or starvation. Trust me. The only way to win... is to kill the other one. Then glorious silence."

Nathan chuckled, moving closer to help Dumbuk pack up. Handing his coffee off to Dumbuk for him to finish it, he told him reluctantly. "I guess, I see your point." Dumbuk finished the coffee in almost one gulp, then told him in a discreet whisper with a smile. "Just between us... I think your dad would have been a Dawnguard had Isran split off from the Vigilant before he... you know." Nate nodded, patting Dumbuk's shoulder. He understood what Dumbuk meant, but he wasn't sure what his dad would have done. Finally mounting up, they rode the rest of the way to the Hall of the Vigilant. Riding up on the gates by mid-day. The Vigilant Hall was set at the base of a little mountainside. Two large stone based watchtower structures with wooden covered roofs stood on either side of a large iron gate. The iron gate was hanging by a single hinge and looked as if something big slammed into it. From farther inside, thick smoke billowed up from a structure that could be barely seen. Tolan stroked his horse, saying aloud in a grim voice. "Oh, Mercy... Look at the place..." Dumbuk withdrew his weapon, telling Nate seriously. "Be on your guard. There might be some stragglers."

Nate tried to encourage Walter in, but he reared and backed up with terrified whinnies. His unrest causing the other horses to panic a little. Nathan used a spell to calm Walter, then dismounted. Withdrawing Dawnbreaker, he told them all lightly. "I guess, we are going on foot." Nathan slowly walked through the snow toward the gate and stopped. Kneeling, he looked over the footprints that went in and out of the place. Walking up next to him, Dumbuk kneeled to look for himself and grumbled out. "Oh, great... Gargoyle. That explains the gate." Nate huffed softly, nervously saying aloud. "Perfect... Just what I need. To be looking for a six-foot-tall stone statue." Dumbuk pointed to the tracks, telling him confidently. "No. One set goes in, and one set comes out. It left with them." Nate relaxed a little in relief, while Tolan told them hopefully. "Let's just see why they came here in the first place." Dumbuk got to his feet, shrugging out. "You hunt them. They attacked you for it. Don't need more of a reason for that." Nathan moved through the gate first, scanning the area for any signs of life. Just inside the gate, there were bodies of the Vigilant in the snow that was stained of their own blood.

There were even a few husky dogs in padded blue armor with the crest of Stendarr on it. By a small cluster of dogs was a much larger black dog with massive jaws of sharp fangs for teeth. The blood red eyes of the dog were unsettling to look at. Behind him, Dumbuk tapped the dog in the ass to see if it would move, upon informing Nathan coolly. "Death Hound. A vampiric dog. Vicious bastards. And strong. Don't let one of these fuckers bite you. He'll never let go and drain you dry." Nathan looked around at more of the bodies both human and dog, regaling to Dumbuk tensely. "For a vampire attack... there is a lot of blood around. Are we sure this isn't a set up?" Tolan glared at Nathan like he was implying something about him, but Dumbuk calmly answered. "Only a strong vampire can control a gargoyle and Death Hounds. Maybe they weren't hungry? Maybe the gargoyle made quick work of them? Gargoyles don't eat. So, it could have plowed right through them." Nathan shrugged and carried on up the hill, saying softly to himself. "I guess..." Nate past the burning stable, where the bodies of dead horses rested in their stalls with their throats slashed open. Up here the smoke was heavy in the air, but the flames were no more than smoldering piles of ash.

The forge had been destroyed. Along with the greenhouse and storage shelters. Everything had been set ablaze. The door to the hall had been busted into, but any trace of the door had burned away. Dumbuk stepped inside first to look at the remaining support beams. The remaining beams holding up what was left of the roof were thick enough that the fire had gone out. Leaving them charred but stable. The stone floor was covered in ash with piles of fallen roof and burned furniture was everywhere. All that remained of the bodies were burned corpses. Nathan gestured with his sword to the rooms, telling Dumbuk. "We should check for any survivors. Just in case." Dumbuk nodded, answering coolly. "I'll look up here. Check downstairs." Nate crossed the large open area, making his way to the steps leading down into the basement. A sudden crack of a beam collapsing to the floor nearby made Nate jump. His foot hit a bucket on the steps, before he tripped over it and tumbled down the wooden steps to the stone floor below. The loud clatter of the bucket and Nate's yelping had prompted Dumbuk to call out cautiously from above. "Nathan? Are you alright?" Nathan groaned, swatted the bucket away as he answered stiffly. "Ya, I'm good."

Stiffly getting to his feet, Nate dusted himself off as he ventured around the basement to check the rooms. Seeing a room of bunk beds, he slipped in to see if anyone was here. It was strange to see the room almost untouched. There was just a few papers and books scattered about the floor. Were they looking for something? Nate moved through the room, looking over the bunks. Sliding a hand along the wooden frame, he saw that people had carved their names into it. Some beds had four to five names written along the top and bottom frames. Had the owners died and been replaced by other people? Kneeling to look at a bottom bunk, Nate's hand stopped on his father's name. Sighing, he dropped his hand from the name and shook his head to clear his emotions. He didn't want to deal with that now. He started to turn away to leave, until he noticed a symbol carved onto the wall above his dad's bunk. Nate ran his hand over it to clear the dust. It was an upside down triangle with a line across the bottom point. The Alchemic symbol for Earth. It was a strange place to put it, but his dad had done it because his initials was carved above the line in the triangle.

Sheathing his sword, he ran his hand over the stone wall. His dad had always liked hiding things around the house when he was younger. A kind of treasure hunt using symbols to help Nate remember them for when he went to the Mage guild. When the wall gave him nothing, Nathan uttered out. "Come on, Dad... What are you trying to tell me...?" Nathan thought hard about his dad. Eventually, digging up a memory of his dad telling him through a chuckle. "It's only hard because you are thinking about it too hard. Sometimes the symbol is obvious. Just like magic. You can know a spell, but you don't have to force the magic out to preform it. Just let the magic flow from your fingers." Blinking, Nathan softly said to himself. "Earth. Ground...?" The second it hit, Nate snapped his fingers and said excitedly. "Floor!" Dropping to his knees, he looked under the bed. Seeing nothing, he reached under and ran his hand over the stones. When his fingers touched a stone that moved, he dug it out. Pushing it aside, he reached in the hole and locked his jaw. He prayed there was nothing living in the hole. Feeling something smooth and leathery, he pulled it out carefully. Sitting on the floor by the bed, he dusted off the little journal.

In the hallway, Dumbuk slipped into the room, starting to inform him casually. "Nothing. Everyone is dead. Tolan is insisting we bury them. Did you find anyone?" Nathan gestured to the floor of scattered papers, telling him a little excitedly. "I think they were looking for something." Dumbuk tensed, asking with concern. "Why? What would they need?" Nate shrugged, unbuckling his dad's journal as he answered honestly. "I don't know... but I think my dad did." Dumbuk stayed in the doorway, while Nathan opened the journal. A piece of paper slid out with his name on it, but Nate flipped through the journal first. The journal had sketches of things that Nathan had no idea what they were. While the whole book was written in what appeared to be gibberish. Nathan growled, slumping down as he grumbled out. "Oh, fuck me..." Dumbuk raised an eyebrow, asking lightly. "Something wrong? Can't you read it?" Nate gestured to the book, telling him sourly. "No. My dad wrote it in code. And without the key to know what means what... It's lost. I used to know my dad's key word... but that was a long time ago." Dumbuk smirked, puffing up his chest as he told him confidently. "Give it some thought. I'm going to help Tolan bury the dead. You learn anything. Let us know."

Nathan could only nod. Whatever answers they needed were here. He just had to find them. Carefully opening the letter, Nathan took a deep breath and began to read to himself. "Nathan, I'll never forgive myself for the distance I put between us after your mother died. I can only blame myself and ask for your forgiveness. Please understand that I had to track the vampire down. I didn't want him coming after you next. While you are safe behind the university's walls... I know you are like your mother. And eventually, you'll wonder. I've tried to make this world a better place for both of you. But it's a fight that I have come to accept will claim my life. I love you, Son. I wish I could give you a safer life... but all I can really do is prepare you for what is to come." Nathan rubbed his eyes before the tears could fall. Grabbing the ring around his neck, he played with it absently as he read on. "A few months ago, I noticed information was being leaked from the Vigilant. I don't know who can be trusted anymore. I believe a Vampire thrall is among us. So, I'm leaving this information with you. I've taken measures to make sure that my possessions find their way to you should I die in my mission tomorrow. My hope is that with it... you will seek out the Vigilant and find this journal. Inside is critical information on what Lord Harkon is after. He knows I have this information and will do ANYTHING to get it."

Nate inhaled slowly, looking around anxiously, before reading on. "I am a descendant of one of the original Dawnguard soldiers of Riften. My father passed this secret to me and now I'm passing it to you. I was hoping to find the Dragonborn and give this task to him... but I fear time is not on my side anymore. I can't wait. The crypt has been found. The Elder Scroll must be moved and taken to the college in Winterhold. It will be safe there. If Lord Harkon gets it... I fear what will happen to the world. My father told me how to get it. Show this journal to no one. I'm sorry, I never told you this... but you were just a boy. Whatever you think of me. I'm sorry. Stay strong. Protect yourself. No matter what... I am proud of you. Love, Dad." Nate's hand shook as he folded the letter back up and sniffled. Nate fought the urge to cry as his eyes teared up and throat constricted. Pulling his sleeve over his hand, he wiped his nose and grumbled out in a wispy broken voice. "Thanks, Dad... but you didn't give me the key. So, how am I supposed to-" Nate stopped talking as he leaned forward enough that his eyes realized something. Sitting up, he grabbed the swinging necklace around his neck and lifted it up to read the engraving inside the band. 'Dawnstar.'

Nate lowered the ring, smirking to himself. Fishing a paper from his bag, he began to translate the first chapter of the journal. When he finished, he chuckled at the first sentence. 'Head to Dimhollow Crypt.' Folding the translated paper into his pocket, he stuffed the journal into the depths of his bag and headed out to find the others. Exiting the gate, he saw them burying the dead and told them firmly. "Time to go. Mount up. We've done all we can here." Tolan pointed to a few more of the bodies left to bury, but Nate quickly told him. "There is no time. We have to head to Dimhollow Crypt. That is where they are headed next." Tolan folded his arms, bluntly asking. "And how do you know that?" Nathan swung up onto Walter, answering wickedly. "I can talk to the dead. Let's go." Dumbuk chuckled with amusement, heading to his horse as he said happily. "Anything to keep from digging anymore." Tolan didn't look any happier with Nathan's statement though. To Be Continued...