skyrim fast travel to dawnguard

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Skyrim survival mode: How to enable survival mode and survival mode tips in Skyrim: Anniversary Edition

How to survive a harsher Tamriel in the Anniversary Edition.

Survival Mode in Skyrim is a particularly unforgiving experience, but for players who like a challenge, it's a great way to experience something new in the 2021's Anniversary Edition.

This page explains everything you need to know about Survival Mode in Skyrim, such as how to enable Survival Mode , survival mode differences - including changes to travel and camping - as well as our Skyrim survival mode tips .

A feature which ties nicely into the addition of survival mode is fishing - which you can also use in a non-survival mode playthrough.

On this page:

How to enable survival mode in Skyrim, and what to do if not in settings explained

What is survival mode in skyrim survival mode changes, including fast travel, explained, skyrim survival mode tips and tricks, from survival mode camping to cooking.

Survival mode can be found in the Settings are of the menu, by selecting Gameplay then enabling Survival Mode.

If it is not in the settings, then you are likely in a new save - and you have to complete the tutorial of Skyrim first.

Once you complete the 'Unbound' intro quest with either Hadvar or Ralof, you'll receive a pop-up notification about Survival Mode. It gives you a brief explanation on what to expect from the mode: such as you needing to eat, to be more wary about catching diseases, the need to sleep, etc before asking you whether you want to enable it or not. If that sounds like fun, you select yes.

From there on out, you'll be playing Skyrim on Survival Mode - which means it's a fair bit harder, but who doesn't love a good challenge?

Nonetheless, if Survival Mode turns out to be too difficult, it's easy to turn off. Head to Settings, go to Gameplay and you'll be able to disable it without having to worry about any consequences.

The opposite of this is also true, as you're able to enable Survival Mode on any previous saves you have started or imported into the Anniversary Edition.

Survival Mode in the Anniversary Edition is a new, exciting way to make your time in the continent of Skyrim a little more challenging and fun.

When enabling Survival Mode, players will need to meet certain requirements in order not to get sick and die. These requirements are: be well-fed, warm, physically well, and well-rested.

However, these requirements won't always be easy to meet as Survival Mode puts a heapload of restrictions on you. These are:

No Fast Travel: You want to just do a quick trip to Riften to pick up something you forgot? That's no longer possible in Survival Mode. You'll have to walk!
Reduced Carry Weight: Skyrim's carry weight restrictions are already pretty unforgiving at times, this makes it so you really do need to just pack the essentials.
Level Up via Sleeping: In vanilla Skyrim you can level up wherever and whenever, but here you can only do so after you sleep.
Reduced Stamina/Mana: If you're hungry, cold or fatigued, you'll suffer from a reduction of Stamina or Mana, represented by the darkening of the Stamina/Mana bar.
Warm/Cold Meters: Depending on whether you're hot or cold, you'll be shown a Snowflake or a Sun at the top of your HUD. This can affect you to the point you can die if you don't cool down or get warm.
Health: When in Survival Mode, health doesn't come back after waiting for a little while. You'll need to eat, sleep or use a health potion in order to get back to tip-top shape.

There's a lot of factors to consider with survival mode - here are some tips and tricks to help you along the way:

Want to know what's affecting you right now? Head to Active Effects in the Magic menu and you'll see what being hungry, tired and cold does to affect your gameplay.

Don't enter water when cold - you'll more than likely catch a disease and there's a high chance you can die and lose your progress.
Warm soup can heat you up - In the frozen tundra with nowhere to go for another 10 miles? Don't fret, eat some soup. It'll not only keep you fed, but will keep you nice and toasty. If that doesn't work, there's always a torch to keep your bones warm.

Cook your food - sometimes it gets desperate when you're in a dungeon and there's no food to eat but the raw fish you caught outside, but it's always better to cook your food before eating it. Just like real life, eating raw food can lead to food poisoning in Skyrim.

Fishing is the best way to get food quickly and easy, as long as you know where the best fishing spots are.
Craft camping gear - Included in the Anniversary Edition content through the Content Creation Club, crafting camping gear will make it so you're able to set down camp in the wilderness, giving you a warm fire, a place to cook and a place to settle in for the night.

The colder you get, the slower you are. It also affects your stamina and how fast you swing your weapons and the effectiveness of your stealth.
Travelling in a horse and cart to far off places will make you tired and hungry, so don't get into one if you're already pretty fatigued and hungry, otherwise you risk dying on the journey to your location.

12. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition Dawnguard

The Dawnguard are a group of vampire hunters living in a very large fortress near Riften known simply as 'Fort Dawnguard'. This faction is at war with another large group, a faction of vampires from the north of Haafingar known as the 'Volkihar Vampire Clan'. Much like the Civil War you can become a part of this conflict and be instrumental in resolving it. Alike to the Civil War you must choose which side to join and remain loyal to them. All related achievements can be unlocked in one playthrough regardless of which side you choose.

There are '5' achievements involved with the main Dawnguard questline; three for completing all of the major quests for either faction, one for learning all three words of the 'Soul Tear' Shout and one just for using a powerful new weapon called 'Auriel's Bow' once.

Note: Random vampire attacks do not occur in the Special Edition version of Skyrim so there is no need to prioritise this questline, in fact because of the subsequent enemy faction attacks that do occur after choosing your side in this conflict I would recommend leaving it for later.

Finding the Dawnguard

Once you reach character level 10 you will be sought out by the Orc ranger 'Durak', he is a representative of the Dawnguard, and he asks you to join their cause and visit the leader of the Dawnguard.

> Your quest marker will point you to a small unmarked cave near Riften that leads you to 'Fort Dawnguard'.

The quest marker may be glitched, to help it point to the right place deactivate the Dawnguard quest in your journal, fast-travel to Riften Stables or the Black-Briar Lodge then reactivate the quest.

> Find the main road leading east from Riften and look for the entrance to the 'Dayspring Canyon'.

Warning: If you still have Lycanthropy there is a small chance that members of the Dawnguard will attack you on site. Either cure your Lycanthropy (after unlocking the werewolf mastered achievement of course) or just reload a previous save.

> Once inside SAVE, make your way towards the fort, after you discover Fort Dawnguard look to the left to see Durak practicing his crossbow skills. If you ask him about the weapon he's using, he will give you a crossbow and some bolts for free. Move on towards the entrance to the keep and a Breton Vampire Hunter named 'Celann' will think you're a fresh recruit and welcome you inside.

> Go inside and you'll find the Dawnguard leader 'Isran' talking with a Vigilant of Stendarr named 'Tolan', they refer to the Vigilants being attacked and the death of 'Keeper Carcette'. After some dialogue Isran will task you with finding out about an important vampire artifact in 'Dimhollow Crypt. Tolan will offer to help and say that he'll meet you there, SAVE.

There is a potential bug here that causes Isran not to talk to you, or the next quest failing to start. The only known fix is to reload a previous save.

This concludes the Dawnguard quest and immediately initiates the next quest 'Awakening'.

> Head outside and look for Dimhollow Crypt on your map, it's located northeast of Morthal, a little west of the Lord Stone, fast-travel out to your nearest location, most likely your Windstad Manor house, or Fort Fellhammer.

> Once inside Dimhollow Crypt SAVE, sneak forward to find two vampires talking and a death hound guarding the gate. Kill them and you may notice poor Tolan's dead body on the ground next to a couple of dead vampires, it seems that he took them out before he fell. Find the small tower in southwest corner and go up to pull the chain at the window to open the gate to the northeast.

> Move through and take care of the single leveled vampire and some skeletons. Use the lever to the right of the western gateway to open it and move through. Take a right and head north, you'll find a vampire and death hound battling with some draugr. Either let them weaken each other first or just wade in and attack, or sneak past them. SAVE.

> Use the chain on the side of the door to the west, open it, move through and SAVE. Proceed on to a waterlogged room. Kill the skeletons, the vampire and any death hounds and frostbite spiders before moving up and through into the crypts.

> You'll be attacked by another vampire and some death hounds before reaching a closed gate with a high level vampire fighting a wounded frostbite spider behind it. Use the lever to the left to open the gate and finish off the survivor. Then proceed through the door into 'Dimhollow Cavern'.

> Once inside SAVE, you'll find a vampire named 'Lokil' interrogating 'Vigilant Adalvald', he'll kill Adalvald before you can intervene and the vampires below will continue talking. Meanwhile sneak down the right side and towards the centre structure.

> Kill Lokil and the other two vampires here then SAVE, activate the button in the centre and your hand will be skewered.

The light will shine through to the next groove to the east, this time push the brazier inwards. The line will shine again to the groove to the north, push the brazier in towards it to connect it up. Then again, to the northwest, push this brazier outwards, and the final one needs to be push inwards.

> Observe as the ground lowers and reveals a stone monolith, activate the monolith to release a 'Mysterious Woman' inside. Talking to her reveals that, although she is a vampire, she may be able to help you with something greater than a mere vampire threat. Talking with her further reveals that her name is 'Serana' and she was imprisoned here a very, very long time ago, and she will reveal more if you take her to her home.

As a possible glitch; Serana will not talk, reloading a previous save is the only known fix.

Complete "Awakening"

> Serana becomes a follower at this point, SAVE and find the small stone bridge to the northeast. You'll be introduced to a new enemy called 'Gargoyles' here.

Gargoyles don't have any particular weaknesses and they are immune to paralysis and poisons. Destroy them, then proceed up the ledge to the southeast.

> Go through the wooden door and through some tunnels. You'll come to an open room, climb the steps ahead and then look to your right to find a lever in the middle of a circle, activating it will unleash some draugr and open a gate to the north.

> Take out the draugr and move through the gate, you'll come to a large arena-type room, SAVE. Go down and you'll face multiple skeletons, draugr and a high leveled draugr, possibly even a Dragon Priest. Kill them all and approach the Word Wall to the northeast to learn a word from the 'Drain Vitality' Shout.

> Now find the iron door atop the main stairs to the north and go through, pull the chain to the right of the closed gate to open it and move through out into the open world.

> Once outside SAVE, your next destination is 'Castle Volkihar', found to the west of Solitude, but in order to get there the first time you have to reach the 'Ice Water Jetty'. Your map marker will show you where this is, fast-travel to the nearest location and make your way there on foot.

> Activate the small boat there in order to reach the castle, once at the castle SAVE. Cross the bridge, Serana will thank you for taking her this far, but she urges you to stay your hand in the castle and be calm. The 'Watchman' will recognise Serana and open the gate for you. Move inside and enter the castle.

It's possible that the Watchman may not see Serana and just keep repeating that ' you're not welcome here ' this can be fixed either by reloading a previous save, or fast-travelling away then returning via the jetty again and making sure Serana engages you in conversation halfway across the bridge.

> Once inside, and before moving forward make a very important SAVE. A vampire named 'Vingalmo' will greet you and he'll soon turn and announce Serana's return to her father and everyone else in the hall below.

> Now, proceeding down will result in a conversation with 'Lord Harkon', a very powerful vampire lord. Once you have started this conversation you cannot withdraw without losing the opportunity to join the vampires. You must make your choice now; either remain loyal to the Dawnguard and refuse Harkon, or accept his 'gift' and you will be made into a vampire lord.

Do not worry about the 'vampire mastered' achievement or any other achievement, if you decide to remain with the Dawnguard Serana will give you the gift of the vampire lord ability in a few quests time, and you can still complete the Dawnguard quests and all achievements regardless of which side you join. Once you make your choice however, you are bound to that side of the conflict for good.

Note: If you are still a werewolf; siding with Lord Harkon will cure you, and the only way to become a werewolf a second time is to talk to 'Aela the Huntress' in the Jorrvaskr in Whiterun. Make sure you either have the 'werewolf mastered' achievement unlocked, the option for a second chance from Aela, or that you are siding with the Dawnguard before continuing.

Each side is about the same in terms of quest length and difficulty (Dawnguard has a slightly shorter first quest), you can be a vampire lord on both sides and you will also have full access to 'Auriel's Bow' and the 'Summon Durnehviir' and 'Soul Tear' Shouts on both sides. Both Fort Dawnguard and Castle Volkihar have almost equal facilities such as safe storage, alchemy lab, arcane enchanter, and smithing utilities. You will gain Serana as a follow on both sides and have access to all the same loot at the end.

However, each side has the following differences:

Remaining with the Dawnguard

Advantages:

The ability to smith crossbows and bolts.
Access to five Dawnguard followers.
The ability to buy 'Armoured Trolls' to accompany you.
Side-quests offering the unique 'Dawnguard Rune Hammer, Shield and Axe'.
You can sell the Elder Scrolls to Dexion for 6,000 gold.

Disadvantages:

You will be randomly attacked by leveled vampires, but only during eclipses.
You will be randomly hunted down by a 'Vampire Assassin' with a writ for your death.
You will be limited to how much you can increase your vampire lord potential.

Siding with Lord Harkon

Side-quests offering exclusive and incredible enhancements to the vampire lord ability.
You will be attacked by Dawnguard Scouts whenever you visit Castle Volkihar.
Random Dawnguard Vampire Hunter attacks will become a common event wherever you go.

To be honest, the best way to decide is simply to ask yourself; do you want to be a more powerful human, or a more powerful vampire?

Make your choice and then please follow the relevant questline below.

Staying loyal to the Dawnguard

> If you actively refuse Lord Harkon by saying ' I don't want to become a vampire ', or if you take too long to answer, he will cast you out of the castle and you'll find yourself back out on the jetty.

This concludes the quest 'Bloodline' and initiates the Dawnguard-specific quest; 'A New Order', make sure it's activated it in your journal.

A New Order

> Fast-travel back to Fort Dawnguard and SAVE, make your way to the fort where you'll be attacked by some vampires, kill them then find Isran and speak to him. Tell him about Serana and the Elder Scroll, he'll be worried and now he feels the need to recruit some new help. It becomes your task to find this new help: a Breton Master Thief named 'Sorine Jurard' and a Nord Master Blacksmith named 'Gunmar'.

> Firstly find Gunmar, he can be found at any one of nine randomly selected locations in Skyrim or Solstheim.

> Fast-travel out to the nearest location you can to his marker and you'll usually find him in sneak mode hunting a bear. Talk to him, he needs help with the bears in a nearby cave before he'll agree to help you.

> Head towards the cave and kill any hostile creatures outside before entering the cave itself. Once inside SAVE, help Gunmar kill all the bears inside the cave then talk to him and tell him to go to Fort Dawnguard.

> Next track down Sorine, she can be found looking for Dwemer artifacts at a set location north-northwest of Karthwasten, just south of Mor Khazgur. Fast-travel to her nearest location, find her and talk to her.

> After some explanation Sorine agrees to help, but she requires at least one 'Dwarven Gyro' before she leaves. Either use your speech skill to convince her or give her a gyro. If you happen to have one on your person you will hand it to her automatically, otherwise locate her lost satchel just down by the river to your southeast, take at least one gyro from it and give it to Sorine.

> Now return to Fort Dawnguard, once there SAVE and find Isran, he will be inside the fort on a balcony above Sorine and Gunmar. Isran will make sure none of you are vampires then give some orders.

This concludes the quest A New Order and automatically begins the next quest 'Prophet'.

Dismiss any followers you might have now.

> Be sure to activate this quest in your journal. After Isran's speech, he drops the gate in front of you but use the spiral staircase to the east to reach him and speak to him.

Due to a possible glitch, Sorine, Gunmar and Isran can become stuck in a 'busy' state after his speech. To fix it go outside, wait 24 hours then return and go up the staircase.

> Ask Isran what you can do to help, he'll give you a couple of side tasks then follow him as he walks around the corner.

You'll find Serana has come to the fort and wishes to speak with you. Listen to her as she reveals her father's sinister plot to use an Elder Scroll to destroy the Sun itself. This is too far, even by vampire standards, and she wants your help to stop him. Now speak again with Isran, he is not pleased about working with a vampire but he'll tolerate her, for now.

Talk back with Serana, she explains that although she has the Elder Scroll with her, neither she, nor anyone else she knows of, can actually read it. This moves you on to the task of finding a 'Moth Priest', to read the scroll.

Serana will become a follower at this point, now leave the fort via the spiral staircase again. Your next objective is to ask around Skyrim about Moth Priests. The easiest thing to do is fast-travel to the College of Winterhold. If you have never been to the college before, either speak to carriage drivers outside of main cities or see the beginning of the College of Winterhold page to find out how to gain entry.

> Enter the college and SAVE, don't follow the quest marker, use the door to your right instead, enter the 'Arcanaeum' and speak to the Orc librarian 'Urag gro-Shub'. Urag will inform you that there is indeed a Moth Priest in Skyrim, he recently visited the college then left for 'Dragon Bridge'. Dragon Bridge is found to the southwest of Solitude, just south of the Statue to Meridia, head out there now.

> Once at Dragon Bridge SAVE immediately, you could be attacked by multiple vampires here and some of the townspeople may be killed, if you care about their survival, kill the vampires then check for any bodies or ash piles, if any named characters have died, reload the save.

> Find the only child in town, he's called 'Clinton Lylvieve', he will reveal that an old man has just left town heading south across the bridge. If Clinton will not reveal the information due to a glitch , or if you have already adopted him, just proceed on over the bridge anyway.

> Run across the bridge to the south and down the road to find a broken down carriage. Search the dead body of the vampire to find a note, read it to reveal that the priest has been taken to a nearby ruin called 'Forebears' Holdout', head there now on foot.

> Forebear's Holdout is just to the east, SAVE and keep this save until you leave the cave. Enter, move in and turn left, kill a couple of death hounds then go around to find a short tunnel into an enclosed area with a fire. Kill the vampire thralls here then sneak up either staircase to approach the blue light.

> If you're not noticed, you'll overhear a vampire called 'Malkus' talking to another vampire. Kill them and search the corpse of 'Malkus' to find the 'Weystone Focus' from his body.

You should see the Moth Priest 'Dexion Evicus' inside the magical barrier, due to a possible glitch he may be outside of the barrier. If you manage to speak to him before dropping the barrier, he will be permanently hostile to everyone; you can use Bend Will Shout if you have it to calm him down and then proceed as normal. Or you can try reloading the previous save outside of the cave then repeat the sequence to see if he is now inside. Alternatively you can try killing the vampires around the barrier then talking to Dexion and sending him to Fort Dawnguard without ever dropping the barrier.

> If Dexion is in the barrier as normal ascend the nearby stairs and place the Weystone in the altar. This will drop the barrier around the Dexion. He will still be enthralled by the vampires and turn hostile, so beat him down until he submits. Now talk to him about the Elder Scroll, and ask him to help. He'll accept so tell him to go to Fort Dawnguard, where you are also to go to now.

> The only way out is the way you came in, so go back outside then fast-travel back to the fort, be prepared however for a potential vampire attack when you arrive.

> Go into the fort and SAVE, find Dexion and Isran in the main hall, talk to Isran, he will give Dexion the Elder Scroll to read.

> Dexion will read the scroll out loud, he speaks of a powerful weapon called 'Auriel's Bow', and of the rise of a ' Dread lord ', he also speaks of the day and the night becoming one at a time when the dragons have returned. After these cryptic messages he reveals that to know more we must find more Elder Scrolls, one speaking of dragons, and one speaking of ancient blood.

This ends the quest Prophet, and begins two new quests, SAVE.

Seeking Disclosure

This quest involves the finding of the two missing Elder Scrolls, the Dragon scroll and the Blood scroll. The Dragon scroll is found as part of the Main Story of the base game, and also during the Daedric quest 'Discerning the Transmundane'. If you have not completed these quests yet please navigate to the 'Elder Knowledge' section of the Main Story page and the 'Oghma Infinium' section of the Daedric artifacts page for all information.

If you've previously retrieved the Dragon Elder Scroll, but you now no longer have it in your possession (under books not scrolls), then it is highly likely that you sold it to 'Urag gro-Shub' at the College of Winterhold. Go back there now and buy it back from him for 4,000 gold, or, if you are Arch-Mage, you can persuade him down to 2,000.

> Once you have the Dragon Elder Scroll, the quest will update and acknowledge that you have found it.

> Your only task now is to find the Blood Scroll, the concurrent quest below 'Chasing Echoes', will lead you to the scroll.

Chasing Echoes

> Turn to Serana and speak to her about the Blood Scroll, she believes that her mother 'Valerica' may have it. After some dialogue, suggest to her that her mother may be hidden in Castle Volkihar itself. Serana deduces that this is the most likely place and she knows of a secret entrance that will lead to an old garden in a courtyard that her mother once tended.

> Exit the fort via the main entrance and fast-travel back to the castle. Head left (north) around the shore. You'll come to an old dock, kill the augmented skeletons here and go up the stairs to enter 'Volkihar Undercroft'.

> Once inside SAVE, kill the critters and death hounds as you make your way through the tunnels and sewers, find some stairs to the northwest and kill the feral vampire there. Activate the lever to open the way below you.

> Proceed through and try not to fall off the narrow walkway as you fight more skeletons and death hounds, turn left and go through the next gruesome area. Break through the spiders web above then kill the giant frost spider before pulling the lever to drop a drawbridge down to the narrow walkway from before.

> Head back down to the walkway move left across the drawbridge and go all the way to find the door to 'Volkihar Courtyard'.

> Once outside SAVE, follow Serana as she reminisces about the old garden her mother used to tend. Notice the shiny object in the nightshade garden when she talks about it. She then goes to the 'Moon Dial' in the centre and says that there is something odd about it.

> Pick up the 'Full Moon Crest' from the garden to the east, then grab the 'Half Moon Crest' from the pool in the northwest corner, and finally pick up the 'Crescent Moon Crest' up the stairs to the northeast by the table.

> Return to the moon dial and select the missing slots around the dial, the correct crests will automatically be inserted. The dial will rotate unlocking some stairs that descend into the ruins beneath Castle Volkihar. Go down and enter the ruins.

> Use the chain to the left to open the way then SAVE and proceed forward to find a macabre scene of skeletons having a banquet, destroy them all and move up the stairs. Kill a Gargoyle and move up more stairs to find more skeletons. Kill these skeletons and go up more stairs.

> Destroy another Gargoyle before SAVING and ascending yet more stairs. Destroy the skeletons and move on to find more stairs and skeletons ahead. You'll soon come to a room with a mezzanine that contains a Gargoyle in front of a chain on the wall. Activate the chain and destroy the Gargoyle that consequently attacks.

> The chain opens a gate just to your northeast, move through and kill the skeleton and Gargoyle up the stairs, open the next gate with the chain and kill the skeletons in the next room. Move around, cross a bridge, kill the skeleton, go through the door, through the next room, through another door finally reaching some double-doors, SAVE

> Enter the room, three Gargoyles will attack, destroy them then find the unlit candlestick on the southeast wall. Turn it to open a secret passage through the fireplace. Go up a series of stairs to reach a room with a strange circle in the centre.

> Serana will talk to you asking you to find her mother's notes, find 'Valerica's Journal' on the top shelf of the middle bookcase in the southwest of the room. Talk back with Serana, she'll deduce that her mother most likely went into a mystical place called the 'Soul Cairn', a place where all souls reside after disappearing from soul gems.

> To access the Soul Cairn Serana lists some special ingredients she needs, then she mentions that she needs her mother's blood, remind her that she shares her mother's blood and then go look for the ingredients:

Pick up the 'Finely Ground Bone Meal' from the table to the left of where the journal was, just to the left of the alchemy set, below the mammoth skull; it's in the grey bowl, different from normal bone meals. Now grab the 'Soul Gem Shards' from the top of the small wardrobe, just up the stairs where all the other soul gems are, in the same type of bowl. And finally find the 'Purified Void Salts' on a shelf on the northwest balcony, along from the arcane enchanter.

> SAVE, then return to Serana who'll be standing next to the 'Portal Vessel', activate the vessel to place the ingredients inside. Talk to Serana and she will offer up her blood and the portal will open.

Please read ahead before making any decisions:

> You cannot simply walk into the Soul Cairn, talk back with Serana after attempting to go in. She will reveal that in order to enter the Soul Cairn you'd either have to be a vampire lord, or partially trap your soul into a soul gem and offer it to the cairn.

You do not need to become a vampire at this point, in fact, to avoid an extra quest to cure yourself afterwards, I recommend you wait until after the final quest when you can request Serana to make into a vampire lord.

> Ask Serana to soul trap you, then head into the Soul Cairn. Once inside SAVE, this completes the quest Chasing Echoes and activates the next quest 'Beyond Death'.

Beyond Death

> Make sure to activate the Beyond Death quest, it may be advantageous to complete a few small tasks as you go, in order to gain the use of an undead horse named 'Arvak'. Move forward towards the quest marker, notice some 'Soul Husks' on your left as you descend, pick them, they can be eaten to reduce the negative effects of the Soul Cairn (see your 'Active effects' in your magic menu).

> Move down the misty path passing a few souls on the way, destroy the 'Bonemen' that attack you. Then find a soul of a man standing in a misty dell, he'll talk to you about losing his horse Arvak, then disappear.

> Continue on towards the quest marker, go through the gap in the giant wall, and along the path, you'll be attacked by more bonemen, destroy them then you'll eventually reach a magical barrier where Serana's mother is trapped.

To make travelling a little quicker, head over to the east and locate the 'Skull of Arvak' inside a small archway and guarded by 'Mistmen':

How to get Arvak Mount Skyrim Dawnguard (Arvak's Skull Location) - YouTube

> Kill the mistmen and bonemen around it then take the skull. With the skull in hand activate the miscellaneous objective to return the skull, it will mark the soul of Arvak's rider to your northeast. Talk to him and he'll give you the power to 'Summon Arvak', equip it from the Conjuration list of your magic menu then use it to summon Arvak.

> SAVE, then use Arvak to reach the first tower to your north. Find the glowing pool marked by your map, jump into it to teleport yourself to the top of the nearby tower. Work your way further up and kill the powerful archer Keeper.

> With the Keeper dead, SAVE, then use the portal there to get back down. Summon Arvak again and make your way to the southern tower. This next Keeper will be tougher, he'll be sat on the ground floor on the north side of the tower. Dispatch him in your preferred style, then SAVE.

> Summon Arvak again and head northwest to the final tower. This will be the toughest Keeper, and he'll have some bonemen friends to help him. Use a power or two and your best Shouts etc to defeat them all.

> With the final Keeper destroyed, SAVE, summon Arvak once more and return to Valerica. Talk to her then move through the door into the 'Boneyard'. Here the undead Dragon 'Durnehviir' will attack you.

> Durnehviir is similar in power to that of a Frost Dragon, however he has a potent 'Drain Vitality' Shout which eats away your health quite rapidly and a unique Shout called 'Soul Cairn Summon' which allows him to summon various bonemen enemies to aid him. Counter him with fire spells, if you can, and let Serana and Valerica take care of his minions.

> Durnehviir is cursed with 'undeath' and you cannot truly kill him, when you do 'seemingly' kill him however he will disappear and you won't absorb a dragon soul, nor be able to loot his corpse. Follow Valerica now over to where the Blood Elder Scroll is kept. Talk with her about Durnehviir and then she will open a box for you to retrieve it.

> Talk again with Valerica until the quest prompt changes to say 'Return to Tamriel', then make sure to also talk about retrieving your soul. Valerica will tell you where it is; activate this objective from the miscellaneous section of your journal.

> Now head back outside the way you came in. Be careful not to attack Durnehviir on your way back , he will be waiting for you on a broken wall and he'll engage you in conversation. If you have accidentally turned him hostile, reload the previous save. He explains his plight and asks you to summon him once you return to Tamriel. You will be given all three words of the 'Summon Durnehviir' Shout now, SAVE.

> You can Summon Arvak again if you like and make your way over to find your soul gem to the west. Find a small black fort and head inside, kill a few Bonemen and find a small portal in the ground in a room to the northeast. Jump in and retrieve your 'Soul Essence' from the chest on the roof.

Complete "Beyond Death"

Seeking Disclosure - Continued

> You can reactivate the quest Seeking Disclosure in your journal if you like. Use the door to the southwest that leads to the 'Volkihar Balcony', this allows you to fast-travel back to Fort Dawnguard.

> Go into the fort, once inside SAVE, find Dexion. Unfortunately it seems he has now gone blind from reading the first Elder Scroll, and consequently he is unable to read the other one. He does offer a solution however; you are to go to the 'Ancestor Glade' and find a special knife called a 'Draw Knife', then with this tool, you can harvest bark from a 'Canticle Tree', then use this bark to attract the 'Ancestor Moths' to your person and perform a ritual that will enable you to read the Elder Scroll.

This ends the quest Seeking Disclosure and automatically begins the next quest 'Unseen Visions', be sure to activate it in your journal.

Unseen Visions

> Leave Fort Dawnguard, once outside SAVE. This is your first opportunity to begin learning the 'Soul Tear' Shout for the related achievement. Firstly you need at least '3' dragon souls to unlock the Summon Durnehviir Shout. For information about finding some easy souls check the Dragon Souls, Lairs and Shouts section of the Miscellaneous Achievements page.

Absorb a dragon soul

> Continuing with the quest at hand; fast-travel to the closest location to the 'Ancestor Glade', it's located just to the east of Falkreath. The easiest way to reach it is to find 'Peak's Shade Tower' east of Falkreath then follow the main road northeast. After a bandit ambush with the wooden bridge that spans the road look further along for a fallen tree and a stone marker, there's a faded dirt track here leading south, follow this as it winds up the mountain encountering a few bandits along the way to 'Ancestor Glade'.

Before entering make an important SAVE and keep this save until you leave the glade.

> Once inside SAVE, there's no enemies in here yet, so no need to sneak, use the ledge on your left to get up and across the log bridge, move through the tunnel. As a possible glitch Serana may not have entered with you, since you need her for the quest, reload the previous save or try waiting a few hours. Follow the marked path down into the water and retrieve the Draw Knife from the sculpture.

> Use the knife on the nearby 'Canticle tree' to harvest some bark, this will attract the first batch of moths to you. As a possible glitch you may not be able to harvest bark from the tree, try either leaving the glade and re-entering, or reloading your previous save. You must now look around for swarms of moths and walk into them to gather more around you, do this seven times to gain enough moths. The second swarm is in the pool just to the northwest, the third up the stream to the west, then go up the stairs to find the fourth. Further up then back down to the east to find the fifth under the waterfall. Continue on this ledge to find the sixth near a tree, then go up the stairs to your southwest to find the final swarm.

> Return down to the pool and stand in the beam of light in the centre. SAVE before reading the first scroll; the Blood scroll from your 'book' menu. You will then automatically read all three scrolls, this will reveal a map of the western part of Skyrim, it highlights Markarth to the southwest, Solitude to the northeast and a strange white symbol to the north that must mark the location of Auriel's Bow. Talk with Serana.

> You know the location of the bow to be 'Darkfall Cave', Serana recommends that you leave with her immediately to find it. This concludes this quest and automatically begins the next quest 'Touching the Sky'.

Touching the Sky

> Before you may even break dialogue with Serana, you will be attacked by several vampires and their thralls. Take care of them and exit the glade the way you came in, you may encounter additional vampires on your way out too.

> Activate Touching the Sky in your journal then fast-travel to the nearest location to Darkfall Cave that you have, it's located to the southwest of Dragon Bridge, northwest of Karthwasten, and just south of Mor Khazgur.

> Once inside SAVE, you may want to invest in some light. Move forward sticking to the right, continue along the path, kill the frostbite spider and cross the bridge, it's a dead end, so return over the bridge and jump down to go on a little ride.

> Allow yourself to be swept down the stream until you end up with all the spiders at the end, kill them then SAVE. Push forward, you'll reach a little camp, find a chain behind the wooden shelter straight ahead (north), pull it to open the secret passage to your right. Go through.

NOTE: Many glitches can occur throughout your journey to Auriel's Bow, almost all of these occur because certain characters that you will meet and Serana will have incomplete scripts running. To avoid these glitches always allow everyone to finish their dialogue properly and SAVE every time I prompt to or more. If you become stuck, if you are unable to complete any of the tasks I mention, fall back on a previous save and try again.

> You'll enter an open area with a stone dome in the centre, SAVE and talk to 'Knight-Paladin Gelebor'. Gelebor is one of only two remaining 'Snow Elves' left in the world. He will give you Auriel's Bow as long as you kill his brother 'Vyrthur' who resides deep in the 'Inner Sanctum'. To get to the Inner Sanctum you must first fill a 'Ceremonial Ewer' with the water from '5' different 'Wayshrines'; those of Illumination, Learning, Radiance, Resolution, and Sight. Gelebor will make the Wayshrine rise out of the ground and give you the 'Initiate's Ewer'. After all dialogue has ended you can ask some more questions if you like or enter the Wayshrine and activate the portal to 'Darkfall Passage'. (The portal may not have spawned visually, so just activate the back wall).

> Use the portal and enter Darkfall Passage, begin the long trek through many Falmer and Chaurus, to reach the first Wayshrine; the Wayshrine of Illumination. The way through has only one way, so just make sure to SAVE periodically and destroy any 'Chaurus Hunter Cocoons' before they hatch.

Also be wary of many traps, there is a particular chest out in the open in a peculiarly well-lit dell, it is a lethal trap, so leave it.

> You'll eventually come to two strange chains on the wall, activate the one on the left, and kill the new 'Vale Sabre Cat'. Once in the next open area SAVE, you're ultimately looking for the bridge high up that leads to the northwest corner.

> Cross the bridge to find the first Wayshrine, talk to 'Prelate Sidanyis' there, then activate the font inside the Wayshrine to fill your ewer. If you are a vampire you will be subject to the weaknesses of the Sun on the other side, so wait for night time then use the portal to enter the 'Forgotton Vale'.

Forgotten Vale Map

Courtesy of Gamebanshee.com

> Once inside SAVE, move through the passages and be careful not to fall off as you emerge on a narrow ledge. Ascend the ledges to enter a large open valley, you'll appear at point (A) on the above map. Move down and kill the Vale Sabre Cats here and head towards the quest marker on the furthest right, number (2) on the map, to the north.

> Find 'Prelate Athling' and he will open the Wayshrine of Sight for you, fill your ewer, but do not use the portal this time. Instead turn southwest to find a pass; number (3) on the map, go through and you'll be ambushed by frostbite spiders. SAVE then exit the pass and take a left to find the Wayshrine of Learning (number 5 on the map).

> Talk to 'Prelate Celegriath' and then fill your ewer. Again do not use the portal, turn southwest and cross the river to find a narrow snowy pass leading up, go up and through an archway. You'll emerge on a frozen lake, make an important SAVE here, you're about to be attacked by two unique dragons called 'Naaslaarum' and 'Voslaarum'. (It may be a good idea to summon Durnehviir here to help you).

> Stick the right as you make your way north-northwest towards number (7) on the map. As you approach the Word Wall the dragons will attack, kill them and learn a word of the 'Drain Vitality' Shout from the unusual wall, SAVE.

> Continue north to find your fourth Wayshrine; the 'Wayshrine of Resonance', talk to 'Prelate Nirilor' to access it. Fill your ewer, avoid the portal, and then look southwest for a hard-to-find snowy pass; If you stand right next to Nirilor and look southwest you will see a snowy tree right ahead, go forward and behind this tree to the southwest is the pass, hug the rocks on your right and continue towards the quest marker.

> You'll soon pass a few Moonstone ore veins. Go down and take a left before the stone bridge, kill the Falmer outside the entrance to 'Glacial Crevice'.

> Once inside SAVE, stick to left and kill the Frost Troll and Falmer as you ascend the southwest side of the cavern. The Unrelenting Force Shout is particularly useful during the next few sections of the cave. Be careful not to fall off as you kill more Falmer before passing through an icy tunnel to the left. Open a gate and avoid the tripwire, continue up the ledges on the left and kill more Falmer and a Chaurus.

> Cross over to the right side and killing the Falmer from the hut to the left, move through the next gate and SAVE. Avoid the tripwire before moving through and killing another Falmer, ignore the spiraling descent and head through the gate, pass some tents and head up the ledges.

> Kill a Falmer outside and proceed south, fight more leveled Falmer as you carefully navigate along the narrow ledge and across a bridge. Go through another tunnel to the northeast to find a way back out to the Forgotten Vale.

> Once outside SAVE, you'll find an elaborate Falmer village crawling with high level Falmer. Avoid the tripwires and navigate your way up the various make-shift bridges and find the way forward behind the south-eastern most tent. A little further you should find a tent with the special Falmer book called the 'Unknown Book, Vol. IV' inside, go through the tent to the left of this one dropping down to the ground to find the gate forward.

> Go through the gate and SAVE, then proceed through the tunnels avoiding a dangerous tripwire as you go. You'll eventually reach the final Wayshrine; the 'Wayshrine of Radiance', talk to 'Prelate Edhelbor' to open it for you. Fill your ewer then turn northeast to find a stone bridge.

> Cross the bridge, then climb the stairs past the statue, fill the water basin using your full ewer. Observe as the water filters towards the door unlocking the mechanism. Open the door to the 'Inner Sanctum'.

> Once inside SAVE, you'll find lots of Falmer and Chaurus completely frozen stiff by some magical force. Open the door to the north and proceed through to find more frozen enemies and a tunnel leading to 'Auriel's Chapel', go through.

> Once inside SAVE, drop down and move towards the marker, after you approach 'Arch-Curator Vyrthur' he will speak to you then the frozen enemies will begin thawing and attack you. Defeat a wave of 'Frozen Chaurus', then some weaker Falmer, stay away from the centre of the room as Vyrthur will drop pieces of the ceiling down to harm you, as another wave of Falmer attack.

> Defeat them, then Vyrthur will summon an 'Ancient Frost Atronach', more pieces of the ceiling will fall, this time targeted at you, and a wave of higher level Falmer will also attack. After they are all dead Vyrthur will stand, you'll be temporarily unable to open your journal or use anything offensive, while Vyrthur destroys the temple with a mighty explosion and you'll be knocked back.

> Vyrthur will run away, after you come to your feet SAVE, pursue Vyrthur, you still can't attack yet, but you'll find Vyrthur just up ahead injured. After some dialogue with Serana and Vyrthur you'll be returned control of your weapons and journal and Vyrthur will attack.

> Although Vyrthur is a vampire, he is still vulnerable to poisons, and particularly vulnerable to fire. Use this knowledge and your other preferred means to destroy him and you may wish to loot his body for the only set of 'Ancient Falmer Armor' in the game.

> Turn now to the Wayshrine where Gelebor has appeared. Speak to him and he will be assured of your worthiness to carry Auriel's Bow, it will then appear behind him inside the Wayshrine, take it.

This concludes the quest Touching the Sky and automatically activates the final quest 'Kindred Judgment'.

Kindred Judgment

> You can use Auriel's Bow immediately (if it is daytime) but you only have 'Sunhallowed Elven Arrows'; these arrows cause bursts of Sunlight that damage everyone around you, this will hurt, but not kill Serana. Simply equip the bow and some arrows, then aim directly at the Sun. You can ask Gelebor to change any Elven arrows you have into Sunhallowed Elven Arrows for free. Similarly Serana will change Elven arrows into 'Bloodcursed Elven Arrows', these can be used to blot out the Sun until the next dawn, this is useful to negate all the negative effects of sunlight on vampires.

Use the special power of Auriel's Bow

> SAVE, then speak to Serana, she concludes that the only course of action is to kill her father; Lord Harkon. Now be sure that the Kindred Judgment quest is active in your journal and use the portal back to Darkfall Cave.

> Use the tunnel to the south, take a right at the fire, go up the ledges and pull the chain to open the way. Burn through the cobwebs then take a right towards the waterfall. Take a right again then head up and out into the open.

> Fast-travel back to Fort Dawnguard, SAVE when you arrive and be wary of vampire assassins. Proceed into the fort, and find Isran, talk to him and then he'll give a speech to everyone in the main hall, talk to him again and he will launch an assault on Castle Volkihar.

> Once inside SAVE, battle your way through the vampire host in the main hall and make your way towards the quest marker. Use the chain to open the portcullis in the northwest. Finally head into the Cathedral to confront Lord Harkon, do not go into sneak mode before talking to Lord Harkon.

> You'll find Lord Harkon awaiting you in vampire lord form, he will engage you in conversation, do not give Harkon Auriel's Bow , he will just betray you leaving you at a major disadvantage. He will conclude that both you and his daughter Serana are both threats and attack. Do not try to summon Durnehviir inside the cathedral, it can cause a major glitch.

> Harkon will use 'Vampiric Drain' on you, he'll summon skeletons and gargoyles and he'll occasionally turn invisible or into a swarm of bats. Stay on him and let Serana take care of his minions or summon some of your own. Harkon is immune to poisons, undead turning, fear spells and the Wabbajack, he is also highly resistant to frost but highly vulnerable to fire.

When he is low on health he will flee to his blood altar and regenerate behind a magical shield, this shield can only be broken by Auriel's Bow, normal arrows will break it so don't waste your Sunhallowed ones. When Harkon is finally defeated he will curse his daughter and turn into a pile of red ash, SAVE.

If Lord Harkon fails to die after depleting all of his health; try saving then reloading that save, or alternatively reload an earlier save and fight him again.

Complete "Kindred Judgment"

You can loot Harkon's ash pile for his 'Vampire Royal Armor', his special katana, and some other high end treasures. Isran will appear now and talk to Serana, he thanks her for her part in the Volkihar Vampire Clan's downfall.

After this many new quests become available with various members of the Dawnguard. The blacksmith at Fort Dawnguard; 'Sorine Jurard' will now stock 200 Elven arrows to be made into either Sunhallowed or Bloodcursed Elven arrows. You can buy an 'Armoured Troll' from 'Gunmar' for 500 gold, and recruit 'Ingjard', 'Celann', 'Durak', 'Beleval', and 'Agmaer' as Dawnguard followers.

You can also sell the Elder Scrolls back to Dexion for 6,000 gold.

Bear in mind that you can only do the things above if you have not become a vampire.

Additionally; random vampire attacks will only ever occur during eclipses now.

After this point you can ask Serana to make you into a 'Vampire Lord' , when you accept you will be purged of Lycanthropy and all other diseases, and you will receive the 'Vampire Lord' ability. Please refer to the 'Vampire Mastered' section of the Miscellaneous Achievements page for all information regarding vampire lords.

When you are levitating, you have a magic ability in your right hand called 'Vampiric Drain' which sucks the life from any living creature. To gain experience points for the vampire skill tree use this ability on anything except: rabbits, foxes, undead, Dwarven constructs and summoned entities.

This is the first opportunity to go for the 'vampire mastered' achievement. There are two ways to go about this; much like mastering the werewolf skill tree, mastering the vampire lord skill tree can be done in the same two ways: either change into vampire lord form every so often and work gradually towards unlocking the perks, or make a save now, then go on a rampage in all the major towns and cities, killing innocents and guards to gain as much XP as possible then reloading your save.

Acquire 11 vampire perks

Joining the Volkihar Vampire Clan

If you accept Lord Harkon's reward of blood, you will be purged of Lycanthropy and all other diseases, and you will receive the 'Vampire Lord' ability.

> You will black-out, when you awake you will be inside the 'keep' in front of a font of blood. Lord Harkon will bid you to turn into a Vampire Lord in order to teach you the ways of the vampire.

See just above for the controls while using vampire lord power. Also please refer to the 'Vampire Mastered' section of the Miscellaneous Achievements page for all information regarding vampire lords.

You can ask a few more questions, otherwise tell Harkon you're ready and he'll direct you to 'Garan Marethi'.

This concludes the quest 'Bloodline' and initiates the vampire-specific quest; 'Bloodstone Chalice', activate it in your journal.

The Bloodstone Chalice

> Talk to Garan, he will give you the 'Bloodstone Chalice' in order for you to take it to a place called 'Redwater Den' and fill it up from the 'Redwater Spring'.

> Continuing with the Bloodstone Chalice quest, you'll have to find Redwater Den, it's located to the northwest of Riften, to the east of Treva's Watch.

> Redwater Den is an illegal Skoomer dealership, when you approach you'll notice some lookouts, do not attack them if you want to do this quest the easy way, they will think you're just after some Skooma and ignore you. Locate the trap door around the back and enter.

> Once inside SAVE, walk in and the 'Doorman' will stop you, he'll warn you to keep your weapons to yourself then open the door for you. Move forward to find the 'Dealer' behind the desk, you can persuade her for a free sample if you like, otherwise move past all the booths to your right and find a locked gate.

> You have a choice here; you can either just start killing everyone now loudly as you make your way to the 'Bloodspring' or, if you are more stealth orientated, you can sneak all the way through to the spring.

> Whether you choose to sneak or not you can follow these directions: Make a SAVE before picking the expert lock then sneak through the shadows. Sneak your way up the sides and onto the wooden planks around up to the top. Sneak past or kill the guards as they patrol and find the lever to drop the drawbridge.

> SAVE then sneak across the bridge and go down avoiding or killing the guards, make your way around and descend further past more guards and a skeleton. Pull the chain at the bottom to open the secret passage, move through and SAVE.

> You'll come to a kind of crypt area being patrolled by Death hounds who are more likely to detect you if you are still sneaking. Make your way northeast to find the door to 'Redwater Spring'.

> Once inside SAVE, in here you'll find more Death Hounds and vampires patrolling around, sneak through to the right and you'll hear some vampires talking, sneak down the left side and be very careful to avoid a shadowy grate in the floor when you enter the room with two pillars in the middle, it's a trap!

> Go up the spiral ramp to the east, turn left and make your way around the room to find a chain in an alcove, pulling this chain opens the gate straight ahead and the gate just to your left, go through the gate to your left then forward and through the other newly opened gate.

> Once through SAVE, sneak or fight your way through the next series of corridors, you'll find vampires (some asleep in the coffins) and Death Hounds all along the way. Pull the chain to open the next gate then go through the iron door.

> SAVE and avoid the pressure plates as you move forward, you'll come to an open room with a patrolling thrall and skeleton. Find the left-hand coffin on the northwest wall and open it. SAVE before pick pocketing the 'Redwater Wellspring Key' from 'Venarus Vulpin'.

> Sneak over to the master locked door in the south and open it. Move in to find the Bloodspring itself.

> Approach the spring and activate it to fill the Bloodstone Chalice. The imperial vampire 'Salonia' and the vampire bandit wizard 'Stalf' will enter the room and begin talking. Do not attack them until they finish talking. If they fail to begin dialogue you have to strike first to fix it. Salonia says that she was sent here by Vingalmo and Orthjolf to kill you and return the chalice, Stalf notices that she said 'I' instead of 'we' and so they fight each other.

> Whatever the outcome; you must make sure both of them are dead, then use either one of them to fill the chalice with their blood. This will update your objective to 'return to Garan Marethi' and unlock the door at the back of the room.

> Move through and SAVE, you'll come out behind the counter in Redwater Den, pick the lock to the side and exit the den. Return now to Castle Volkihar.

> SAVE before you enter the castle. As a possible bug everyone may attack you for no reason, try exiting the castle, waiting 24 hours then returning or reloading the save before you entered. Find Garan and tell him what happened, he will explain about you being attacked and the quest will be complete.

> This next quest will begin automatically after the previous, be sure to activate it in your journal. Find Lord Harkon in the castle and speak to him. He thanks you and wants you to accompany him as he addresses his court. Do not leave the castle.

After the speech he gives you, and everyone else, the task to find a 'Moth Priest'.

> At this point everything in the Castle is free for you to take if you wish, you may want to grab a few 'Potions of Blood':

After a certain amount of time, your vampire powers will increase and it will become harder to talk to normal people. These potions are good to sate your appetite for human blood without having to actually feed making you appear more friendly to people.

Serana will also offer herself as a follower at this point. Your next objective is to ask around Skyrim about Moth Priests. The easiest thing to do; is to fast-travel to the College of Winterhold. If you have never been to the college before, either speak to carriage drivers outside of main cities or see the beginning of the College of Winterhold page to learn how to gain access.

> Once at Dragon Bridge SAVE, find the only child in town, he's called 'Clinton Lylvieve', he will reveal that an old man has just left town heading south across the bridge. If Clinton will not reveal the information due to a glitch , or if you have already adopted him, just proceed on over the bridge anyway.

> Forebear's Holdout is just to the east, enter and SAVE, move in and turn left, kill a couple of dogs then go around to find a short tunnel into an enclosed area with a fire. Kill the Dawnguard soldiers here and their 'Armoured Troll' then sneak up either staircase to approach the blue light.

> If you're not noticed, you'll overhear a Dawnguard called 'Vanik' talking to his lieutenant. Kill them and find the corpse of a vampire called 'Malkus', take the 'Weystone Focus' from his body and make an important SAVE.

> Ascend the nearby stairs and place the Weystone in the altar. This will drop the barrier around the Moth Priest 'Dexion Evicus'. He will turn hostile so beat him down until he submits. Now go into your magic menu and equip your 'Vampire's Seduction' power.

> The only way out is the way you came in, so go back outside then fast-travel back to the castle, be prepared however for a potential attack by Dawnguard Scouts when you arrive.

> Go into the castle and SAVE, find your thrall Dexion and Lord Harkon in the main hall, talk to Harkon, he has given your thrall an Elder Scroll to read. Command Dexion to read the scroll.

> Dexion will read the scroll out loud, he speaks of a powerful weapon called 'Auriel's Bow', and of the rise of a 'dread lord', he also speaks of the day and the night becoming one at a time when the dragons have returned. After these cryptic messages he reveals that in order to know more we must find more Elder Scrolls; one speaking of dragons and one speaking of ancient blood.

> Turn now and talk with Lord Harkon, ask him where the scrolls are to be found. He reveals that one was hidden by his wife and the other is in the bowels of an ancient Dwemer ruin. This completes the quest Prophet, and begins two new quests, SAVE.

This quest involves the finding of the two missing Elder Scrolls, the Dragon scroll and the Blood scroll. The Dragon scroll is found as part of the Main Story, and also during the Daedric quest 'Discerning the Transmundane'. If you have not completed these quests yet please navigate to the 'Elder Knowledge' section of the Main Story page and the Discerning the Transmundane section of the Daedric Artifacts page for all information.

> Find Serana in the Castle of Volkihar and speak to her about the Blood scroll. She believes that her mother 'Valerica' may know the whereabouts of the Blood scroll. After some dialogue, suggest to her that her mother may be here in the castle itself. Serana deduces that the most likely place would be the courtyard.

> It may be a good idea again to wait until night and then exit the castle via the main entrance. Jump over the wall to the right and head around the shore. You'll come to an old dock, kill the skeletons here and go up the stairs to enter 'Volkihar Undercroft'.

> Once inside SAVE, kill the critters and Death Hounds as you make your way through the tunnels and sewers, find some stairs to the northwest and kill the feral vampire there. Activate the lever to open the way below you.

> Proceed through and try not to fall off the narrow walkway as you fight more skeletons and Death Hounds, turn left and go through the next gruesome area. Break through the spiders web above then kill the giant frost spider before pulling the lever to drop a drawbridge down to the narrow walkway from before.

> Pick up the 'Full Moon Crest' from the garden, to the east, then grab the 'Half Moon Crest' from the pool in the northwest corner, and finally pick up the 'Crescent Moon Crest' up the stairs to the northeast and by the table.

> Return to the moon dial and place the crests in the correct slots on the ground, it selects them for you. The dial will rotate unlocking some stairs that descend into the ruins beneath Castle Volkihar. Go down and enter the ruins.

> Use the chain to the left to open the way then SAVE and proceed forward to find a macabre scene of skeletons having a banquet, destroy them all and move up the stairs. Kill a leveled Gargoyle and move up more stairs to find more skeletons. Kill these skeletons and go up more stairs.

> SAVE then enter the room, three Gargoyles will attack, destroy them then find the unlit candlestick on the southeast wall. Turn it to open a secret passage through the fireplace. Go up a series of stairs to reach a room with a strange circle in the centre.

> Once inside SAVE, this completes the quest Chasing Echoes and activates the next quest 'Beyond Death'.

> Make sure to activate the Beyond death quest, it may be advantageous to complete a few small tasks as you go, in order to gain the use of an undead horse named 'Arvak'. Move forward towards the quest marker passing a few souls on the way, destroy the 'Bonemen' that attack you. Then find a soul of a man standing in a misty dell, he'll talk to you about losing his horse Arvak, then disappear.

> Continue on towards the quest marker, go through the gap in the giant wall, and along the path, you'll be attacked by more Bonemen, destroy them then you'll eventually reach a magical barrier where Serana's mother is trapped.

> After a lot of dialogue, SAVE, you'll be tasked with freeing Valerica; the only way to free her however, is to kill all three of the 'Boneyard Keepers'. These Keepers are to be found on three separate towers quite far apart in the Soul Cairn. To make travelling a little quicker head over to the east and locate the 'Skull of Arvak' inside an archway that looks like this:

> Summon Arvak and head northwest to the final tower. This will be the toughest Keeper, and he'll have some bonemen friends to help him. Use a power or two and your best Shouts etc to defeat them all.

> Durnehviir is cursed with 'undeath' and you cannot truly kill him, when you do 'seemingly' kill him however he will disappear and you won't absorb a dragon soul, nor be able to loot his corpse. Follow Valerica now over to where the Elder Scroll is kept. Talk with her about Durnehviir and then she will open a box for you to retrieve it.

> Talk again with Valerica, SAVE, then head back outside the way you came in. Be careful not to attack Durnehviir on your way out , he will be waiting for you on a broken wall and he'll engage you in conversation. If you have accidentally turned him hostile, reload the previous save. He explains his plight and asks you to summon him once you return to Tamriel. You will be given all three words of the 'Summon Durnehviir' Shout now, SAVE.

> Go into the castle, once inside SAVE, find your thrall Dexion. Unfortunately it seems he has now gone blind from reading the first Elder Scroll, and consequently he is unable to read the others. He does offer a solution however; you are to go to the 'Ancestor Glade' and find a special knife called a 'Draw Knife', then with this tool, you can harvest bark from a 'Canticle Tree', then, use this bark to attract the 'Ancestor Moths' to your person and perform a ritual that will enable you to read the Elder Scrolls.

> Leave Castle Volkihar, once outside SAVE. This is your first opportunity to begin learning the 'Soul Tear' Shout for the related achievement. Firstly you need at least '3' dragon souls to unlock the Summon Durnehviir Shout. For information about finding some easy souls check the Dragon Souls, Lairs and Shouts section of the Miscellaneous Achievements page.

Learn all three words of Soul Tear

> Continuing with the quest at hand; fast-travel to the closest location to the 'Ancestor Glade', it's located just to the east of Falkreath. Make your way up the winding path and make an important SAVE before you enter, keep this save until you leave the glade.

> Once inside SAVE, don't worry about any enemies for now, so sneaking is pointless, use the ledge on your left to get up and across the log bridge, move through the tunnel. As a possible glitch Serana may not have entered with you, since you need her for the quest, reload the previous save or try waiting a few hours. Follow the marked path down into the water and retrieve the Draw Knife from the sculpture.

> Use the knife on the nearby 'Canticle tree' to harvest some bark, this will attract the first batch of moths to you. As a possible glitch you may not be able to harvest bark from the tree, try either leaving the glade and re-entering, or reloading your previous save. You must now look around for swarms of moths and walk into them to gather more, do this seven times to gain enough moths. The second swarm is in the pool just to the northwest, the third up the stream to the west, then go up the stairs to find the fourth. Further up then back down to the east to find the fifth under the waterfall. Continue on this ledge to find the sixth near a tree, then go up the stairs to your southwest to find the final swarm.

> Before you may even break dialogue with Serana, you will be attacked by several Dawnguard members and an armoured troll. Take care of them and exit the glade the way you came in, you may encounter more Dawnguard on your way out too.

> Fast-travel to the nearest location to Darkfall Cave that you have, it's located to the southwest of Dragon Bridge, northwest of Karthwasten, and just south of Mor Khazgur.

NOTE: Many bugs can occur throughout your journey to Auriel's Bow, almost all of these bugs occur because certain characters that you will meet and Serana will have incomplete scripts running. To avoid these glitches always allow everyone to finish their dialogue properly and SAVE every time you're prompted to. If you become stuck or you are unable to complete any of the tasks mentioned fall back on a previous save and try again.

> You'll enter an open area with a strange dome in the centre, SAVE and talk to 'Knight-Paladin Gelebor'. Gelebor is one of only two remaining 'Snow Elves' left in the world. He will give you Auriel's Bow as long as you kill his brother 'Vyrthur' who resides deep in the 'Inner Sanctum'. To get to the Inner Sanctum you must first fill a 'Ceremonial Ewer' with the water from '5' different 'Wayshrines'; the Wayshrines of Illumination, Learning, Radiance, Resolution, and Sight. Gelebor will make the Wayshrine rise out of the ground and then he'll give you the 'Initiate's Ewer'. After all dialogue has ended you can ask some more questions if you like or enter the Wayshrine and activate the portal to 'Darkfall Passage'. (The portal may not have spawned visually, so just activate the back wall) .

> You'll eventually come to two strange 'chains' on the wall, activate the one on the left, and kill the new 'Vale Sabre Cat'. Once in the next open area SAVE, you're ultimately looking for the bridge high up that leads to the northwest corner.

> Cross the bridge to find the first Wayshrine, talk to 'Prelate Sidanyis' there, then activate the font inside the Wayshrine to fill your ewer, SAVE. If you are still a vampire you will be subject to the weaknesses of the Sun on the other side, so wait for night time then use the portal to enter the 'Forgotten Vale'.

> Once inside SAVE, stick to left and kill the Frost Troll and Falmer as you ascend the southwest side of the cavern. The Unrelenting Force Shout is particularly useful during the next few areas. Be careful not to fall off as you kill more Falmer before passing through an icy tunnel to the left. Open a gate and avoid the tripwire, continue up the ledges on the left and kill more Falmer and a Chaurus.

> Cross over to the right side and kill the Falmer from the hut to the left, move through the next gate and SAVE. Avoid the tripwire before moving through and killing another Falmer ignore the spiraling descent and head through the gate, pass some tents and head up the ledges.

> Go through the gate then SAVE, proceed through the tunnels avoiding a dangerous tripwire as you go. You'll eventually reach the final Wayshrine; the 'Wayshrine of Radiance', talk to 'Prelate Edhelbor' to open it for you. Fill your ewer then turn northeast to find a stone bridge.

> Defeat them, then Vyrthur will summon an 'Ancient Frost Atronach', more pieces of the ceiling will fall, this time targeted at you, and a wave of higher leveled Falmer will also attack. After they are all dead Vyrthur will stand, you'll be temporarily unable to open your journal or use anything offensive, while Vyrthur destroys the temple with a mighty explosion and you'll be knocked back.

> Turn now to the Wayshrine where Gelebor has appeared. Speak to him, he is now assured of your worthiness to carry Auriel's Bow, it will then appear behind him inside the Wayshrine, take it.

> Use the tunnel to the south, take a right at the fire, go up the ledges and pull the chain to open the way. Burn or cut through the cobwebs then take a right towards the waterfall. Take a right again then head up and out into the open.

> Fast-travel back to Castle Volkihar, SAVE when you arrive and be wary of Dawnguard Scouts. Proceed into the castle.

> Once inside SAVE, make your way straight towards the quest marker and confront Lord Harkon in the cathedral, do not go into sneak mode before talking to Lord Harkon. Do not give Harkon Auriel's Bow , he will just betray you and it leaves you at a great disadvantage. Do not summon Durnehviir inside the cathedral.

Harkon will fight you in vampire lord form, he will use 'Vampiric Drain' on you, he'll summon skeletons and gargoyles and he'll occasionally turn invisible or into a swarm of bats. Stay on him and let Serana take care of his minions or summon some of your own. Harkon is immune to poisons, undead turning, fear spells and the Wabbajack, he is also highly resistant to frost but highly vulnerable to fire.

When he is low on health he will flee to his altar and regenerate behind a magical shield, this shield can only be broken by Auriel's Bow, normal arrows will break it so don't waste your Sunhallowed ones. When Harkon is finally defeated he will curse his daughter and turn into a pile of red ash, SAVE.

You can loot Harkon's ash pile for his 'Vampire Royal Armor', his special sword, and some other high end treasures. Garan Marethi will appear now and recognise you as the new leader of the Volkihar Vampire Clan, the castle and its vampires are now yours.

The castle blacksmith 'Hestla' (found in the southeast of the keep) will now stock 200 additional Elven arrows for you to use to convert into either Sunhallowed of Bloodcursed Elven Arrows. You can later ask Garan to repair the passage to the courtyard of the castle. You can also return to the Soul Cairn and talk to Valerica, this will make her leave the Soul Cairn and return to the castle once more. Additionally; various side-quests become available from various members of the castle.

Big thank you to The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages with permission for the use of this content granted under the Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License with due acknowledgement and thanks.

Thank you also to the guys from Bethesda Softworks LLC for providing additional information and writing the Official Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Game Guide.

Console Commands (Skyrim)/Locations

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View history

The following is a list of Location IDs . To move to the desired location, type in to the console:

All map markers can also be added by typing tmm 1 in the console.

1.1.1 Darkwater Crossing
1.1.2 Kynesgrove
1.1.3 Narzulbur
1.1.4 Windhelm
1.2.1 Helgen
1.2.2 Falkreath
1.3.1 Dragon Bridge
1.3.2 Forgotten Vale DG
1.3.3 Mor Khazgur
1.3.4 Solitude
1.4.1 Morthal
1.4.2 Stonehills
1.5.1 Raven Rock
1.5.2 Skaal Village
1.6 Soul Cairn DG
1.7 Sovngarde
1.8.1 Anga's Mill
1.8.2 Dawnstar
1.9.1 Dushnikh Yal
1.9.2 Karthwasten
1.9.3 Left Hand Mine
1.9.4 Markarth
1.10.1 Ivarstead
1.10.2 Largashbur
1.10.3 Riften
1.10.4 Shor's Stone
1.11.1 Riverwood
1.11.2 Rorikstead
1.11.3 Whiterun
1.12.1 Winterhold

Locations [ ]

Eastmarch [ ], darkwater crossing [ ], kynesgrove [ ], narzulbur [ ], windhelm [ ], falkreath hold [ ], falkreath [ ], haafingar [ ], dragon bridge [ ], forgotten vale dg [ ], mor khazgur [ ], solitude [ ], hjaalmarch [ ], morthal [ ], stonehills [ ], solstheim dr [ ], raven rock [ ], skaal village [ ], soul cairn dg [ ], sovngarde [ ], the pale [ ], anga's mill [ ], dawnstar [ ], the reach [ ], dushnikh yal [ ], karthwasten [ ], left hand mine [ ], markarth [ ], the rift [ ], ivarstead [ ], largashbur [ ], shor's stone [ ], whiterun hold [ ], riverwood [ ], rorikstead [ ], whiterun [ ], winterhold hold [ ], winterhold [ ].

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dawnguard

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC)

GameFAQs Q&A

Suddenly I can't transfer anything to Serana to carry? Tech Support 1 Answer
Where can I find (Auriel's sword)? Side Quest 1 Answer
How do I feed on NPC'S after becoming a vampire?. Main Quest 5 Answers
Good looking gauntlets weared by florentius? Plot 1 Answer
Non glowing eyes on argonians? General 2 Answers

Skyrim Dawnguard walkthrough and how to complete the vampire DLC

From the main quest to side distractions, here's your guide to the Skyrim Dawnguard expansion

What's New in Dawnguard

Vampire lord or vampire hunter, main quest walkthrough, lost to the ages quest, impatience of a saint quest, other notable side quests.

Use this Skyrim Dawnguard walkthrough to help you get through the main quest and wrap up all of the side distractions of this vampire-themed DLC expansion. You'll have to decide between becoming a Vampire Lord or Vampire Hunter in Skyrim , and this branching decision means it can get pretty complicated, so a guide might come in handy.

Of course, the Skyrim Anniversary Edition includes Dawnguard (and all of the other DLC), and this questline is still a lot of fun, even after all these years. Whether you're stuck looking for a way out of the Dwarven ruins, still trying to find the last Jiubs Opus page in Dawnguard, or simply trying to pick up every major item, this Skyrim Dawnguard walkthrough will be there for you every step of the way.

To get started, you're going to want to open your quest menu up and look for "Dawnguard" in the list. Selecting the quest will place a marker in the southwest corner of the map, and following this marker will take you to Dayspring Canyon and Fort Dawnguard.

What’s new in Dawnguard

Get a makeover

Dawnguard brings with it a new NPC, Galathil, who can change your face for a meager sum of 1000g. You can find her in The Ragged Flagon, which is a tavern accessed via the Rataway underneath Riften.

Fight a Revered or Legendary Dragon

The Dawnguard DLC offers two new dragon breeds. If you are at least level 60, Revered Dragons will spawn at random around Skyrim, just like any other dragon. Legendary Dragons show up once you’ve hit level 70. There’s an achievement/trophy to be had if you can bring down one of the latter.

Become a Vampire Lord

The advantage is you can use the awesome new Vampire Lord form, complete with bat teleportation, semi-flight, and its own skill tree. Unlike a werewolf, you can shift in and out of this form at will.

The disadvantages are that you’re still a vampire, significantly weakened by sunlight and need to feed on people to keep your strength up. Although normal people will not shun you, any Dawnguard member you run into will attack on sight, even if you aren’t in Vampire Lord form.

Bolster your werewolf skills

Werewolves now have their own skill trees similar to the new Vampire Lords’. This drastically improves the power of beast form. The skill tree powers are as follows:

Bestial Strength: Do 25% more damage (incremental up to 100%)
Animal Vigor: 100 point bonus to health and stamina in beast form
Gorging: Feeding heals twice as much
Savage Feeding: Able to feed off most dead creatures for half the time extension
Totem of Terror: How of Terror affects even higher level creatures
Totem of the Predator: Totem of the Hunt howl has extended range, and shows whether the targets are not in combat, searching, or actively in combat
Totem of Ice Brothers: Howl that calls Ice Wolves
Totem of the Moon: Totem of Brotherhood howl calls werewolves

Make friends with an armored troll

If you become a member of the Dawnguard, you can spend 500 gold to hire an armored troll to follow you.

Learn three new shouts

There are some fancy new Dragon Shouts that can be learned. See the side quest section for more details on where to find them and what they do.

Fight a Reaper

No, not one of those flying robots of death. We’re referring to the grim variety, and the secret boss that awaits you in the Soul Cairn. For more details on how to find it and fight it, refer to the side quests section.

Turn your spouse into a vampire

Complete enough radiant quests inside Castle Volkihar, and Vingalmo will offer the quest of turning your spouse. All you need to do then is use vampire seduction and feed on your beloved.

Vampire Lord or Vampire Hunter in Dawnguard?

Vampire Lord

Choosing to side with the vampires means you have early access to the Vampire Lord form. This form is similar to the Werewolf form, but with different powers and the ability to revert back to human form at will. Vampirism itself is such a big topic that we actually put together a whole page on it, one you can find out at our Skyrim vampire choice page here.

You’ll also have early access to Castle Volkihar, which is full of goodies, shops, and other accommodations from the get-go. Death Hounds can be hired as dog followers, and you’ll gain access to spells and vampire-bolstering jewelry that you wouldn’t as a member of Dawnguard.

Vampire Hunter

Choosing to side with the Dawnguard gives you full access to Fort Dawnguard (which has all the normal amenities of a home base), plus weapons, armor, and spells that are effective against vampires, and the ability to hire Armored Trolls for 500g. These helpers don’t count as primary followers, so you keep your primary follower with as well. As a Dawnguard member, you’ll also have access to a few new potential human followers and can hire new husky (dog) followers, which have the properties of a normal dog follower.

Overall, the physical rewards (weapons, etc) are better if you choose Dawnguard. However, you cannot regularly use the powerful Vampire Lord form until after you’ve completed the main questline, or else the Dawnguard members will not accept you.

Note that playing as a Dawnguard member does not mean you can never become a Vampire Lord. After the main questline, and after you’ve tired of Fort Dawnguard, just ask Serana to turn you.

Skyrim Dawnguard Main Quest Walkthrough

Choosing to either become a vampire or hunt them will grant you a couple of differing quests, but the vast majority of the main questline is the same no matter which side you choose, including the beginning, the end, and your new vampire companion, Serana. As such, we’re showing you the path of one who chooses to become a vampire, with short asides in italics for when the quests or choices differ for Dawnguard members.

Also note that there are multiple points during the main questline where you can become a Vampire Lord, including any time after you’ve completed it (just speak to Serana). If you were previously a werewolf but chose to convert to vampire, you can switch back by speaking to your follower (the one you had prior to Serana).

Once inside Fort Dawnguard, speak to Isran. Agree to help him hunt vampires (again, don’t worry, this doesn’t cement your allegiance). He’ll give you a crossbow and the next quest will automatically begin. Don’t miss that Isran can train in heavy armor.

It’s time to visit Dimhollow Crypt, a dungeon just south of Dawnstar. It will appear on your map, but since it is ‘undiscovered,’ you’ll have to fast travel to the nearest location and leg it the rest of the way. Since it is halfway up a mountain, we recommend fast traveling to a location such as the Lord Stone and heading north, since it’s easier to tactically fall down a mountain that climb up one.

In the first large room of the crypt, clear out the vampires then ascend the short tower and look for a chain on the wall. This unlocks the gate and allows you to proceed. Work your way through the crypt until you reach the circular platform. Press the button at its center to begin a puzzle.

Simply push each Brazier until they are touched by the path of purple flame, which will extend the flame. There’s no real thinking involved. Once all the Braziers are lit, activate the monolith that appears and speak to the woman inside to complete the quest.

Take Serana and exit the crypt. Don’t forget to stop by the word wall in the giant stadium-like room on your way out. The boat leading to Serana’s home is in the northwestern most corner of the map. Fast travel to the nearest location and walk the rest of the way.

Once in Castle Volkihar, Harkon will offer you a choice: his blood, which will turn you into a vampire, or exile, which will drive you to join the Dawnguard.

If you choose not to become a vampire here and prefer loyalty to the Dawnguard, you will be allowed to leave, though you can no longer return safely to Castle Volkihar.

Harkon will show you the ropes of being a Vampire Lord. Follow his instructions to begin your first quest as a vampire.

The Bloodstone Chalice (Vampire Only)

The first task is to speak to Garen Marethi. If you’re wondering how to change back into human form, select revert form in the powers menu or you can put it into your favorites menu, then use that power.

Your next major task is to take a chalice to Redwater Spring. This area is northwest of Riften, and marked on your map when the quest is active.

Once inside Redwater Den, you’ll find a locked door (adept) at the back. Pick it yourself or pickpocket the key from the dealer behind the counter. Just know that once you unlock this door, everyone around you will become hostile. This is perfect time to turn into a Vampire Lord and clear this place out.

You’ll eventually reach what appears to be a dead end, but if you look, there’s a chain right next to a stone wall that will open up a secret passage.

You’ll then enter a new area where you can hear to Vampire’s chatting about skooma. To open the gate to your left, you’ll have to circle all the way around via the room below, where the enemies are hanging out. When you confront them, beware of the large trapdoor in the floor. Falling through means almost certain death by spike pit.

Work your way up the spiral planks and continue along the path until you reach the chain, then proceed through the gate that was previously shut.

Eventually you’ll come upon an enemy named Venarus Vulpin, who’s corpse you’ll need to loot for the Redwater Wellspring Key. Use it to proceed through the master-locked iron door (or just pick it if you want the exp) and to the spring.

Fill the chalice at the Bloodspring but be prepared to get ambushed by two familiar faces. Again, switch to Vampire Lord to gain the upper hand. Be warned, however, that Stalk is a powerful mage and can still end things for you quite quickly with his magic. Once the attackers are dead, fill the chalice with their blood as well then head back to Castle Volkihar to finish the quest.

A New Order (Dawnguard only)

If you refuse Harkon and stay loyal to the Dawnguard, this is your next quest. You’ll have to defend the fort from a vampire attack, then go out and recruit two NPCs for Isran. Once this quest is complete, you will move on to “Prophet” no matter your allegiance.

Speak to Harkon and listen to his speech to begin this quest. Serana will quickly track you down and begin speaking to you. She offers her services as a follower but doesn’t like to be the third wheel, so you’ll have to ask your current follower to scram if you want Serana’s help. She is quite powerful and you can always reunite with your other companion later, so we recommend bringing her along.

There are a lot of optional objectives in this quest which point you toward the Moth Priest, but you can cut through them all if you wish by simply heading to Dragon’s Bridge, found southwest of Solitude. You can speak to the kid there or look for an overturned cart just to the south. Check the body of the dead vampire for a note and read it to discover your next objective.

Forebears’ Hideout is just southeast of Dragon Bridge. Make your way through the dungeon and follow the self-explanatory objectives. When the Moth Priest attacks, defeat him, then use your Vampire Seduction power (under the ‘powers’ menu) then feed on him to make him your thrall. After that, speak to him and command him to go to Castle Volkihar.

Return to the castle yourself and command the priest to decipher the Elder Scroll. After he does so, speak to Harkon and your next two quests will start up (Seeking Disclosure and Chasing Echoes).

Chasing Echoes

Speak to Serana to get things started. When she asks where her mother might be, being wrong in your initial choice has no real effect besides some conversational detours.

Head outside and around to the alternate entrance on the left side of the castle. From here, the quest is straightforward until you reach the courtyard. You’ll have to find all of the missing crests and place them in their appropriate spots on the sundial. The three missing pieces are in the immediate vicinity of the courtyard and are easy to spot (they glimmer).

Adding the pieces opens up a secret path leading underneath the courtyard. (If you’re curious about the towers surrounding the courtyard, they are fairly small rooms containing some skeleton enemies and some valuable jewels, ingots, and jewelry.)

Continue on until eventually you find yourself in a room full of gargoyles. Once you’ve defeated them, Serana will mention something about a secret passage. Go over to the fireplace and turn the unlit candlestick on the left.

Once inside Valerica’s Study, talk to Serana. You’ll then have to find her mother’s journal. The small red book is on the top shelf of a bookshelf in the southern corner of the room. Show it to Serana, and you’ll begin a quest to gather some materials. The materials are outlined in your quest notes and are all in the room with you.

Once you’ve put the materials in the vessel, the portal to the Soul Cairn will open.

If you are a Dawnguard member, you’ll have to make a choice before entering the Soul Cairn. As Serana will explain, the area is hungry for life. A normal human cannot survive inside. If you allow Serana to turn you into a Vampire Lord, you can enter without being harmed. Just make sure to complete the “Rising at Dawn” quest (the standard quest to cure vampirism, started by speaking to Falion in Morthal) before returning to Fort Dawnguard.

The non-vampiric alternative is to allow Serana to perform a partial soul trap ritual on you. This will weaken you inside the Soul Cairn, but you will remain human and alive.

Beyond Death

Enter the Soul Cairn and reach the waypoint with Serana in tow and she’ll begin talking with her mother. Your new goal is to kill the three Boneyard Keepers as a means to lower the barrier and gain access to Valerica. All three Keepers are marked on your map, so simply follow the arrows.

Once you’ve defeated the keepers, return to Valerica, speak to her, then follow her into the boneyard. Here is where you’ll have to take on Durnehviir the dragon. It’s not a particularly difficult fight, but the bonemen that spawn can complicate things. Valerica and Serana will handle most of the bonemen, but because of the sheer number that spawn, you’ll still have a handful on your tail as you try and deal with Durnehviir.

After the battle, grab the scroll and speak to Valerica. It is now time to leave this place, but if you want to take on some of the side quests before you do (though you can always return to the Soul Cairn), move onto the side quest section.

As you leave the boneyard, Durnehviir will teach you the “Curse, Summon Durnehviir” shout, which summons Durnehviir into battle to aid you.

The Dragon Elder Scroll

The second scroll you need is the Dragon Elder Scroll. If you have already completed the quest “Discerning the Transmundane” from the vanilla Skyrim quest bank, you will already have the Elder Scroll in your possession. If you happened to sell it to Urag gro-Shub, go to the College and buy it back.

To begin “Discerning the Transmundane,” seek out Septimus Signus in his outpost north of the College of Winterhold (pictured above). The quest is lengthy, but at the end, the scroll will be yours.

Seeking Disclosure

Now that you have both scrolls, you can complete this quest. Return to Volkihar and speak to Dexion. He’ll give you your next quest.

Unseen Visions

You’ll have to travel all the way to Ancestor Glade, which is southeast of Falkreath. Once inside, grab the knife, then gather bark from one of the surrounding trees. Once you have it, run around the area looking for moth swarms. Once you’ve gathered seven, stand in the light, select the Blood Elder Scroll, and read it.

Touching the Sky

Your next destination is Darkfall Cave, just south of Mor Khazgur. Move through it until you find Gelebor, who will give you a complicated task before helping you get Auriel’s Bow. Continue forward through the portal into the Darkfall Passage.

You’ll have to move through the passage until you hit a wayshrine. Draw water from the basin and pass through the portal behind it to arrive in the Forgotten Vale. Here is where you’ll find three more basins (marked on your map) to draw water from.

The final basin is in the Glacial Crevice. To reach this area, head towards the marker on your map. (You’ll notice that it indicates the final basin is in an area beyond the Forgotten Vale.) Work your way upriver to reach it.

Pass through the Glacial Crevice and you’ll emerge onto the Forgotten Gale - this time closer to the last wayshrine. Make your way through the Falmer village. Once you’ve reached the final wayshrine and filled your basin, turn around and enter the giant temple in the distance.

Pour your water into the basin near the main entrance to gain access to the temple. Once inside, you’ll come across several doors that require you to place your ewer on a nearby altar to open the path. Once you do so, pick up the ewer (so that you can use it again) and make way through the doorway before it closes. There is always another altar on the other side, so don’t worry about becoming trapped.

Proceed until you reach Vyrthur. After speaking with him, all of the frozen beings in the room will reanimate and attack you. Defeat all enemies, then follow Serana up to the balcony. Here you’ll have to face and defeat Vyrthur. Finally, you will be allowed to take Auriel’s Bow and complete this quest.

Kindred Judgement

Speak to Serana. Instead of taking the portal back to Darkfall Cave, simply fast travel out of the area (you are outside at this point) and to Castle Volkihar. Once inside, enter the cathedral and speak to Harkon. You can wait for the lengthy dialog, or just attack - either way, a battle will ensue.

Harkon is a difficult target because he will slowly regenerate his health throughout battle and uses his bat form to teleport around the room. If you have some means of stunning him (such as high-level dualcasting), by all means use it.

He’ll also summon skeletons and gargoyles to fight alongside him. You may want to avoid spending time dealing with these and instead chase Harkon around the room. The longer you are distracted, the more he will heal.

Once he takes a certain amount of damage, he will return to the center of the room and surround himself in a red healing aura. At this point, whip out the Auriel Bow and fire it as quickly as you can so as to stop his regeneration.

Notable loot from Harkon’s corpse includes Vampire Royal Armor, which is great for mages as it not only offers the ‘magicka regenerates 125% faster’ perk, but it provides defense, unlike robes. You’ll also get Harkon’s katana, which, while fairly weak, absorbs 15 points of health, magicka, and stamina if wielded by a vampire. Serana can also become a permanent follower at this point if you wish. She hangs out at the castle otherwise.

If you are a Vampire Lord and have some elven arrows, you can now ask Serana to coat them with her blood. If you use Auriel’s Bow to shoot these arrows at the sun, you can turn it red, nullifying the negative effects it has on you as a vampire (for the rest of that day only).

Dawnguard Lost to the Ages Quest

Katrina has dedicated her life to finding the Aetherium Forge. Unfortunately, she died in an earthquake while in the Dwemer underground before she could complete her quest. Now the task falls to you, Dovahkiin. Can you find all the Aetherium shards and survive the perilous Dwemer ruins filled with traps and ancient metal guardians? Well, if you need any help we've made a guide to get you through this massive side quest.

Upon completion, this side quest grants you the Lost to the Ages trophy or achievement and a very spiffy item. Skip to the end of this little walkthrough to see what’s up for grabs.

To begin this lengthy quest, you can read about it in a book called “The Aetherium Wars” (found in various locations) or simply travel to Arkngthamz. This location is marked on your map automatically once the Dawnguard DLC is installed. It is southeast of Markarth.

Enter Arkngthamz and make your way through it until the ghost of Katria appears and speaks to you. You can have her accompany you to the summit. Make sure to grab her journal from her corpse nearby.

When you reach the Tonal Lock puzzle, strike the locks in the following order: lower left, lower right, upper left, upper right, center. Once inside, grab the Aetherium Shard.

Your next destination is Raldbthar, a mountaintop ruin west of Windhelm. Make your way through this trap-laden place.

When you get to a raised bridge, look for a button to the north (pictured above).

When you get to the set of four buttons, press the second from the right to lower the bars to the left.

When you reach the room with the seized gears, inspect each of the gears in the room for obstructions. There are four obstructions that need to be removed (one of which is in the gear underwater). Once you remove them, press the button to lower a bridge. Defeat the Centurion and proceed through the door behind the spot from which he attacked from.

Continue on and grab the second shard. Use the lift in the room nearby to exit the ruins quickly.

Travel to Mzulft, a ruin southeast of Windhelm. The third shard is not in the ruin itself, but in the Dwarven Storeroom nearby. Inside the storeroom, unlock the gate and claim the shard.

Your next destination is Deep Folk Crossing, which is northeast of Markarth and southwest of Mor Khazgur.

Finding the forge

Travel to the Ruins of Bthalft, which are directly south of Ivarstead and far northwest of Riften. Once there, speak to Katria, who will be waiting for you. Put the shards into the Dwemer Mechanism, then once the crest is assembled, take it out and stand clear. The platform will rise, creating a new entranceway. Use it to descend into the forge.

You’ll eventually reach the locked door pictured above. Shoot both resonators to open the path. When you reach the actual forge, shut off the steam by closing the nearby valves. Once you do, a bunch of dwarven machines will attack.

After you defeat all of the normal machines, the Forgemaster boss will appear. After having been swarmed by so many enemies at once, defeating this one monstrous foe should be an easy task for you. Just be aware that the Forgemaster resists fire attacks.

Using the forge

You are able to craft only one of three items in the Aetherium Forge. Besides the Crest, which you already have, all required materials can be found in a chest to the right. A quest marker shows you where. Possible creations are as follows:

Above: Enemies struck by shield become ethereal for 15 seconds (invincible but unable to attack)

Above: Summon a Dwarven Spider or Sphere for 60 seconds

Crafting an item will finish the quest and earn you the Lost to the Ages trophy or achievement.

Dawnguard Impatience of a Saint Quest

Perhaps the most difficult quest of the entire DLC, Impatience of a Saint requires you track down 10 pages of Jiubs memoirs, which are scattered all across the massive Soul Cairn (an area you gain access to at the end of the “Chasing Echoes” main quest).

The Soul Cairn is a big place, so in order to help you use our guide, you’ll need to understand the layout of the area. You enter the Soul Cairn from its southwest corner. There is a fairly straight main path that leads all the way through the area and to the Boneyard (a massive structure) in the northeast end atop a hill, where Valerica stays. A little less than halfway along that path, you’ll pass through a gap in a large wall that runs in a southeastern direction and divides the entire Soul Cairn into two sections.

Your rewards for this quest are two items (unfortunately no trophy or achievement): Saint Jiub’s Opus, which is just all 10 pages mashed together into a relatively worthless book, and the Locket of Saint Jib, which increases both your carrying capacity and stamina by 50. Both are pictured below:

Where is Jiub?

Jiub is far beyond the wall that divides the Soul Cairn. If you were to start from the steps leading into the Boneyard, head south-southeast. He’s among some dead trees just east of the large structure with the windowed walls and one of the hovering, soul-draining crystals. If you’ve found the Reaper’s Lair, he’s northwest of that.

An alternative way to find him is to start at the gap in the wall and continue along the main path until you reach the short, raised platform that serves as a hub to four different path branches. From this hub, head directly east, not following any path. You’ll eventually (and literally) run into the structure mentioned in the above paragraph. Simply go around it and continue directly east - Jiub is not far from that structure.

From the south side of the wall, head for the gap. Instead of passing through it, follow along the wall to the southeast until you reach a short staircase leading to an alcove with a soul. The page is right next to him.

As you move towards the wall from the entrance to the Soul Cairn, you should spot a small building with stairs leading up to its barred entrance, which is locked by the two blue orbs on either side of it. Blast the orbs with magic or arrows to open the bars and find a page inside.

From page 8, move further along the main path leading to the wall from the south side and you’ll notice a small but open structure on the right with four support columns. Inside there’s a chest; the page is on the floor next to it.

Just after passing through the gap in the wall, look for a merchant soul standing next to a cart, which is in front of a large structure. Check on top of the barrel next to his cart for a page.

Descend the Boneyard Entrance’s stairs and make an immediate right. Enter the building you see to find a word wall (Durnehviir hangs out here after you’ve made friends with him). The page is on the ground near the chest next to the word wall.

Descend the Boneyard Entrance’s stairs and turn left. Follow the wall until you reach another part of the structure with stairs leading up. Climb these stairs and you’ll notice a handful of souls lingering around. Look for another short staircase leading up. At the top, you’ll find a short corridor with a chest at the end. The page is on the ground near the chest.

Head south-southeast from the four Soul Cairn teleporters marked on the map (which are far east of the Boneyard). You should spot a raised platform planted in the middle of the ground. Climb the steps and check the floor under the altar, which holds the “Conjure Mistman” spell tome.

From where you find Jiub, head directly south. Look for a large soul well with a wish circling around it. The note is at the base of this well next to some other goodies.

Descend the Boneyard Entrance’s stairs and start heading west. As you go, you’ll notice a building with soul-absorbing crystal above it. Continue past that building to an even larger building - also with a crystal above it. This building is actually a huge maze. Work your way through it until you find the teleporter that leads to the roof. Up here you’ll find the page next to the chest that lies directly under the floating crystal.

From the entrance to the Soul Cairn, go up to the gap in the large wall. Stay on the south side of the wall and follow it west until you can pass through a small entranceway into an enclosed area with a building featuring a floating crystal above it. The page is on the ground near the chest found directly under that crystal.

Although there are other side quests and plenty of radiant miscellaneous quests (a handful for both the Dawnguard and Vampires, found in their respective lairs), we’re outlining the ones that offer the most tangible and valuable rewards - or are just plain interesting.

Find Arvak’s Head and gain a spectral steed

You main run into Avark’s owner (he’s a soul) on the main path leading through the Soul Cairn. He’ll give you the quest to find Avark’s head. You don’t need to accept the quest first to find the head, however.

Avark’s head is on an altar just southwest of the massive floating tower atop which you find the archer Boneyard Keeper during the main questline. Once you have the skull, you can select the misc quest and look at where you need to go on the map. Return the skull to this location, and Avark will become yours. You can summon him at any time using the conjuration spell you now have.

Fight the Reaper

The Reaper is a (sort of) hidden boss that resides in the “Reaper’s Lair” in southeastern corner of the north half of the Soul Cairn. You’ll need to collect three Reaper Shards and place them in the receptacle in the center of the lair for the boss to appear. Reaper Shards can be found in the chests directly underneath the soul-sapping crystals all around the Soul Cairn.

Be warned that at the time of publication, this quest can be glitched. Even if you have the required number of shards, the game may not register this if you do not place them in the receptacle all at once.

Defeating the Reaper gets you three empty Black Soul Gems, one Daedra Heart, and one dual-handed Iron weapon (not enchanted). Not exactly enticing, especially considering the legwork that goes into finding the Reaper Shards.

Morven Stroud’s Shop

Just beyond the wall at the center of the Soul Cairn, to right, you’ll find Morven. For 25 Soul Husks (which can be found all around the Soul Cairn), you can get your choice of a sword, a battleaxe, light armor, heavy armor, or a spell tome. None are particularly special. They are random and match your current level in terms of value and enchantments. If you find enough husks you can completely buy him out; just know that he only has one of each item.

Learn the Drain Vitality Shout

Though you may already know a shout by this name, the one in the Dawnguard DLC is a separate shout and has a different effect. You’ll have to find each word the old-fashioned way.

Stamina: You’ll find this shout in the stadium-like room of Dimhollow Cavern. Nab it while you are escorting Serana out during the “Bloodline” quest.

Magicka: While traversing the Forgotten Vale (part of the main questline of Dawnguard), you’ll need to search out a duo of dragons that appear from beneath a large frozen lake. The word wall sticks out like a sore thumb; the challenge is taking on these two named dragons simultaneously.

Health: This word wall can be found at Arcwind Point (pictured), far west of Riften. To reach it, look for a path just east of the dragon’s lair Autonmnwatch Tower leading up the mountain. Although Arcwind Point was accessible before the Dawnguard DLC, there was no word wall present.

Learn the Summon Durnehviir shout

After defeating Durnehviir at the Boneyard in the Soul Cairn as part of the main questline, the dragon will be waiting for you at the exit. He’ll teach you this shout, which can be used to summon him. He asks you to head back to Tamriel and use this shout to summon him.

The first three times you summon him, he’ll teach you one word of a new shout. After he teaches you that shout, he’ll contribute to battle whenever you summon him.

Learn the Soul Tear shout

Once you have the ability to summon Durnehviir, do so in Tamriel three times and he’ll teach you this shout. Using the shout raises the dead and fills a soul gem.

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Originally posted by _Cat : Arvak? Anyways, I think my only option right now it a horse. Thanks for all the ideas!

Originally posted by Beef Hammer : TARDIS

Originally posted by Rider : Originally posted by Beef Hammer : TARDIS

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Carriage and Ferry Travel Overhaul (Formerly Complete Fast Travel Overhaul)

A lightweight overhaul of both the vanilla Skyrim carriage system and Dawnguard’s ferry system. Realistic and bug-free.

Kinaga’s Carriage & Ferry Travel Overhaul Realistic, bug-free, functional carriages & ferries

An overhaul of both the vanilla Skyrim carriage system and Dawnguard’s ferry system. Designed to make ferries a viable means of travel, make prices realistic based on travel distance and add loads of cut carriage dialogue. A lot of mods do this already, but I was never really happy with any of them. The biggest problem with mods like this is bugs and instability, so I’ve kept this mod simple and stable. There are no background scripts, no navmesh edits and as few cell edits as possible. Scripts have been tested repeatedly to make sure they’re as efficient as they can be, and there are no known bugs.

Using another fast travel mod and want to switch? See Technical Information at the end of the description

Ferries Ferries operate on the north coast, Solstheim, Lake Ilinata and Lake Honrich. Scroll down for a complete list of destinations.

You can build a jetty and hire a ferryman at Lakeview Manor and Windstad Manor. A ferryman is also available for Honeyside.

Ferries are slightly cheaper than carriages, but only offer destinations on the same waterway. They also offer some destinations that carriages do not. Previously they cost the same price, so there was no reason to use them – carriages were superior in every way.

No more buggy ferry seats – after paying the ferryman you will be transported after a few seconds. You don’t need to “use” the horrendous, glitchy “ferry seat” activator.

To preserve realism, ferries do not offer routes that would involve going up or down waterfalls.

Carriages Carriages have been added to Falkreath, Morthal and Dawnstar.

Different carriages use different breeds of horses, they’re not all plain brown anymore.

Carriages will take you to any settlement in Skyrim. When you ask to hire a carriage, you’ll be presented with a list of nearby locations (usually within the current hold). You can also ask to be taken to any of the other 8 holds, in which case you’ll be presented with a list of their settlements. Hearthfire homes are included as destinations (provided you own the house).

Prices are roughly based on the length and danger of the journey. For example, from Whiterun a carriage to Riverwood is only 40 gold. To Falkreath it would cost 60 gold. To Winterhold it would cost 80 gold.

You have to pay for a carriage before you can use it. If you change your mind, you can ask the driver for a refund. If you wait too long, you’ll lose your money.

Prices All prices can be customised using TES5Edit, but cannot be changed once you have made a save with the mod installed. Scroll down to “customisation” for instructions.

Carriage Nearby location (within the same hold) – 40 gold Distant major city – 60 gold Distant minor settlement – 80 gold

Ferry North coast/Solstheim – 50 gold Lake Ilinata/Lake Honrich – 30 gold (except Ilinata’s Deep) Icewater Jetty – 100 gold Ilinata’s Deep – 50 gold

Exceptions: Although part of Whiterun hold, Riverwood is also considered local to Falkreath, and so is charged the local price tariff by the Falkreath driver. Although a capital, Winterhold is charged at the higher price tariff due to its remote location. Personal carriage and ferry operators do not charge any fee for transport. Icewater Jetty and Ilinata’s Deep are considered dangerous destinations and cost slightly more (as above)

Ferry Routes The ferry system consists of major stops and minor stops. At a major stop, a ferryman will be available to take you to any destination. A minor stop (italics) is a location at which you can be dropped off, but no ferryman is available to take you anywhere else.

North Coast Icewater Jetty* – Solitude Lighthouse – Solitude – Morthal – Windstad Manor* – Dawnstar – Frostflow Lighthouse – Winterhold – Windhelm

Lake Honrich Riften – Honeyside* – Heartwood Mill – Ivarstead

Lake Ilinata Lakeview Manor* – Brittleshin Pass – Guardian Stones – Half Moon Mill – Ilinata’s Deep

Solstheim Raven Rock – Tel Mithryn – Bujold’s retreat – Skaal Village – Northshore landing*

*Some routes are not immediately available:

At the Hearthfire homesteads, building a jetty will make the location a minor stop. If you want to travel from your home, you need to hire a ferryman by talking to your steward. You must have built the jetty before you will be able to hire the ferryman. At Honeyside, purchasing the house itself will make it available as a minor stop. Purchasing the porch upgrade will give you the ferryman. Northshore landing is not available as a stop until “A New Source of Stalhrim” is completed Icewater Jetty is not available until you have spoken to the ferryman about the “Island to the west of here”

Carriage Destinations Eastmarch – Windhelm, Kynesgrove, Darkwater Crossing, Mixwater Mill Falkreath – Falkreath, Lakeview Manor*, Half-Moon Mill The Reach – Markarth, Karthwasten, Old Hroldan, Soljund’s Sinkhole Haafingar – Solitude, Dragon Bridge, Thalmor Embassy Whiterun – Whiterun, Rorikstead, Riverwood Winterhold – Winterhold The Rift – Riften, Ivarstead, Shor’s Stone, Heartwood Mill The Pale – Dawnstar, Heljarchen (Nightgate Inn), Heljarchen Hall* Hjaalmarch – Morthal, Stonehills, Windstad Manor*

* Hearthfire homes are available as destinations as soon as you have purchased the land from the Jarl.

Additional Information If you had already bought it, you will have to purchase the carriage at your Hearthfire homestead again after installing CFTO.

Fully compatible with Expanded Towns and Cities (ETaC) and Dawn of Skyrim. A patch is available for JK’s Skyrim.

The carriages added to Falkreath, Dawnstar and Morthal should be compatible with most other settlement overhauls.

The ferry at Dawnstar has been moved closer to the city and given a jetty.

Where possible, new ferry stops use an existing jetty to maximise compatibility.

The Dawnguard quest “Prophet” has been adjusted to refer to the new carriage drivers instead of the vanilla ones.

Carriage horses no longer raise the alarm when you are sneaking out of a city and guards are looking for you.

To preserve realism, carriages will drop you off at the road nearest your destination. In most cases this is within the settlement itself, but in some cases the settlement will be a few paces away. Ferries will drop you off at the nearest waterway to your destination, which is usually the town/village’s port.

Patches Patches are available for some mods, but there are no severe conflicts. All patches can be safely merged with CFTO’s main esp. Here’s a list of patches and what they do, so you can decide whether you want to use them:

Hearthfire Extended patch – merges steward dialogue from HFE and CFTO so that you can purchase upgrades from both mods. Inconsequential NPCs patch – restores carriage guards added by Inconsequential NPCs. Does not add new carriage guards. Does not fix any actual bugs/conflicts. You may safely decide to go without using this. JK’s Skyrim patch – Removes a cart in Morthal that was clipping with CFTO’s carriage. Moves CFTO’s Dawnstar carriage out of JK’s Dawnstar wall. Removes CFTO’s Dawnstar jetty and moves CFTO’s ferryman to JK’s Dawnstar port. Moves CFTO’s Ivarstead ferry and ferryman to JK’s Ivarstead port. JK’s Towns patch – Identical to JK’s Skyrim patch, but rebuilt for JK’s Towns. JK’s Cities does not require a patch at all. Temporary Hearthfire Mod patch – Placing this at the end of your load order will force CFTO’s steward dialogue changes to overwrite any other Hearthfire mod. Use of this is a last resort. First try saving and then loading the save you just made – most people who use this I suspect are experiencing the CreationKit dialogue bug which is easily fixed by saving and reloading.

If you find another mod that conflicts with CFTO please let me know and I will build a patch for it too.

Limitations Carriage horses don’t always position perfectly against their carriage. This is a vanilla bug, but is made more noticeable by some of the lighter coloured horses.

Attacking a carriage horse may cause it to run away. It will have returned after you leave and reenter the cell. Until it has returned, you will not be able to travel using the carriage and will probably be arrested for damaging property. Realistically, the bolting horse would take the carriage with it, but just assume it broke free somehow… Personally I think this is more realistic than the horse standing there as though nothing happened.

During the Dawnguard quest “Prophet”, a carriage driver says “he wanted to go to Dragon Bridge, but I told him that wasn’t one of my stops”. With this mod installed, it now actually is one of his stops.

Customisation Once you’ve saved a game using the mod, price values are stored in your actual save file and cannot be changed. The reason I’m not adding an MCM is because most people will only ever change these prices once, if at all, so it’s not worth adding background scripts and an SKSE/SkyUI requirement for.

Open CFTO.esp in TES5Edit Open Global Edit the value of the prices you want to change:

KmodCarriageCostLocal – Settlements within the same hold (Default 40) KmodCarriageCost – Distant major cities (Default 60) KmodCarriageCostExtra – Distant minor settlements (Default 80) KmodFerryCostLocal – Lake Ilinata/Lake Honrich (Default 30) KmodFerryCost – North coast/Solstheim (Default 50) KmodFerryCostExtra – Icewater Jetty (Default 100) KmodFerryVolikhar – Do not edit this. It is not used to determine pricing. KmodCarriageDestination – Do not edit this. It is not used to determine pricing.

FAQ My Hearthfire carriage is gone! You need to buy it again after you install the mod.

I’m seeing duplicate carriage drivers Another mod is overwriting CFTO’s changes. Any mod that affects carriage drivers must be loaded before CFTO. Another solution is to disable one of the drivers using the console (NOT markfordelete). Make sure you keep the driver who offers all the new locations – only one of them will, the other driver will not work at all.

Ferry & carriage drivers have no dialogue options Save your game, then load the save. This is the Creation Kit dialogue bug, and is common with all mods that add dialogue.

I see no dialogue option to hire a ferryman or carriage. First, make sure you’re not experiencing the CK dialogue bug (see the previous question). Otherwise, it’s possible that you’re using a Hearthfire mod that edits steward dialogue (such as Hearthfire Extended) and don’t have a patch. If there’s a patch, use it. If not, try adding the temporary Hearthfire mod patch to the end of your load order. Please leave a comment letting me know what mod you’re using it for so I can release a proper patch! The temporary patch will disable the changes to steward dialogue made by any other Hearthfire mod you’re using. You can remove it once you’ve hired the ferryman and/or carriage. (Very few Hearthfire mods edit steward dialogue, so it’s unlikely anyone will have this problem)

Since installing this mod, isn’t working. You’re using a Hearthfire mod that edits steward dialogue (such as Hearthfire Extended) and don’t have a patch. If there’s a patch, use it. If not, ask me to make one. (Very few Hearthfire mods edit steward dialogue, so it’s unlikely anyone will have this problem)

Why is Dawnguard required? Dawnguard adds the dialogue used by the ferry operators. Without Dawnguard, there would be no ferry system to overhaul.

The new carriages are clipping with Please let me know so I can make a patch!

What’s the difference between the Heljarchen and Nightgate versions? Nightgate Inn was originally intended to be the village of Heljarchen, but Bethesda cut it down to just an inn. Cutting Room Floor restores the rest of the village and renames the location back to Heljarchen. If you’re using Cutting Room Floor, it makes sense for the names to match. I think perhaps ETaC and some other mods do the same thing. In any case, none of these mods are actually required so you can pick whichever version you prefer.

Please add carriages to every settlement in Skyrim. I want to keep the mod realistic, and if a settlement consists of nothing more than a few small farmhouses then it wouldn’t make sense for them to have a 24hr carriage service. I might add some new carriages to carefully selected locations, but I’m not going to go adding them everywhere.

Please add an MCM to customise prices. I may add an MCM later, but I’m not going to add one just to offer price customisation. Most players will only need to customise prices once, if at all, so it’s not worth me forcing an SKSE/SkyUI requirement as well as background scripts on all of the other users just because a few users don’t want to have to use TES5Edit.

Please add as a destination. I’ll be adding lots of mod-related destinations soon, so please leave a comment letting me know what location you’d like to see made available.

Does this mod disable normal (map-based) fast travel? No it doesn’t. I might add an option to later, but in the mean time there are other mods that do this already. Frostfall has an option in its MCM, and there are some other mods that exist solely for that purpose. You could also just… not use the map to fast travel?

Technical Information Cleaned with TES5Edit. No bad records, no further cleaning required.

Relevant fixes from USKP forwarded. USKP is however not a requirement.

Using Hearthfire Extended? Remember to use the patch.

This file shares some scripts with my other mod, Hearthfire Extended. Allow them to overwrite each other, the scripts are identical.

The patch for Helgen Reborn adds Helgen as a destination to the carriage system and adds a carriage and driver to Helgen, set up to appear at the same time as one of the buildings (so it won’t be there immediately) (Helgen Reborn patch is temporarily unavailable. The mod still works fine without the patch, the patch only served to add Helgen as a destination and give Helgen a carriage.)

If examining a papyrus log, here’s some errors that are normal and should be ignored:

CarriageDriverScript.psc > Cannot enable an object with an enable parent CWDisableDuringSiegeScript.psc > Cannot enable an object with an enable parent

These errors result from CFTO suppressing the vanilla carriage system. They will not be the cause of whatever issue you are investigating.

If you’re using another carriage/ferry overhaul, you’ll probably need to uninstall it before using CFTO:

Uninstall the other mod, load your game and create a new save. Don’t worry if carriages are missing completely – CFTO will take care of this automatically once it’s installed. Quit the game and install CFTO Load the save you created in (1)

Carriages should then return and work as intended.

Incompatible mods: You can still use the ferry only version alongside any of these mods! They only conflict with the full version. Touring carriages Cart in each big town Any other carriage overhaul mod

Compatible mods: Fast Travel Timescale Fix – Confirmed Small fast travel mods (eg Solitude Jetty) – Confirmed Mods that add individual new carriages, such as new settlement mods Expanded Towns and Cities – Confirmed Dawn of Skyrim – Confirmed JK’s Skyrim – Patch available JK’s Towns – Patch available JK’s Cities – Confirmed. Patch not required! JK’s Cities Lite – Confirmed. Patch not required!

While “Better Fast Travel” does not conflict with CFTO, I do not recommend you use it since it has not been updated recently and has many issues. CFTO is intended as a replacement for BFT, and incorporates most of its features.

If you can confirm whether any other mod is compatible or not, please leave a comment to let me know.

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Have you explored the world of Skyrim Mods? Gamers worldwide are enthralled by these enhancements that address a myriad of in-game challenges. To ascend to elite player status, the Skyrim Carriage and Ferry Travel Overhaul (Formerly Complete Fast Travel Overhaul) Mod might be your express ticket. Simply choose the desired mod file and integrate it seamlessly into your game. This unlocks unparalleled features, equipping you to manage game challenges more efficiently. Our site boasts an array of Skyrim Special Edition mods , you'll want to set aside time to explore at least a few. Every moment spent is worth it, as it catapults your gaming experience to unparalleled heights. We ensure every Skyrim mod in our collection is of the utmost quality and adheres to the highest standards. This guarantees that our users access only the crème de la crème of files. One of our standout offerings is unlimited access to a diverse range of supplementary files, equipping players with a competitive edge. If dominance in the game is your endgame, you must delve into the Skyrim Special Edition Carriage and Ferry Travel Overhaul (Formerly Complete Fast Travel Overhaul) Mod . It's transformative; you'll wonder how you gamed without these enhancements before. Why not redefine your gaming experience? Dive into our mods, and equip yourself with the finest tools, weapons, and functionalities on offer. Miss out? We think not. Make the leap, supercharge your game, and let your gaming prowess shine. Dive in without reservations, and watch your in-game world transform!

Tags: CFTO Icewater Jetty Lake Honrich Lake Ilinata

Archery Gameplay Overhaul

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6 Dec, 2023

Skyrim:Dawnguard

This article is about the DLC. For other uses, see Dawnguard (disambiguation) .

1 Quest Information
2 Gameplay Information

Dawnguard is the first major official add-on for Skyrim . The add-on revolves around the Dawnguard , an ancient organization dedicated to hunting vampires and thwarting the schemes of Lord Harkon , who intends to use an Elder Scroll to permanently blot out the sun. You can choose to aid the Dawnguard in their quest to destroy the vampires, or join the vampire clan and gain the powers of a Vampire Lord .

Quest Information

Quests — 39 quests have been added by the add-on, with both a main questline and multiple side quests. There is no quest immediately added to the quest journal when you first install the add-on.
Surgery — A face sculptor has appeared in Riften and can change your character's appearance.

Gameplay Information

Creatures — Of the creatures added by the add-on, most are new variants of creatures already present in the original version of the game. A few creatures added are entirely new types, and there are several unique creatures added as well.
Items — New items added by the add-on include apparel, armor, books, jewelry, weapons, and more.
Magic — Three new blessings , four new dragon shouts (only three of which are player-accessible), and nine new spells are added by the add-on. In addition, new features have been added to Lycanthropy and general Vampirism , while the Vampire Lord form is entirely new.
NPCs — Over 80 new NPCs have been added by the add-on, many of which are aligned with one of the two new major factions. Some can be found at their main location immediately after installing the add-on, while others can only be encountered during certain quests.
Places — Almost 30 new places have been added by the add-on, though none appear on the map immediately. Some places may not be entered until the related quests have been started, and many quests will send the player to places that already existed in the original version of the game.

Two new factions are added with this add-on:

The Dawnguard — A group of vampire hunters dedicated to destroying the Volkihar vampire clan.

All players who complete the first quest in the add-on's main questline must help this faction initially.
Membership in this faction allows you to freely enter and use all areas within Fort Dawnguard .

Volkihar Vampire Clan — The Volkihar vampire clan, led by Lord Harkon , intends to blot out the sun and dominate Skyrim.

Players may choose to join this faction during the add-on's main questline, or destroy the faction altogether.
Membership in this faction allows you to freely enter and use all areas within Volkihar Keep .
Ten new achievements can be earned after installing the Dawnguard add-on.
Eighteen new loading screens are added by the add-on.
Several of these have been removed from the Special Edition and Switch versions of the game, to prevent the random vampire attacks in cities which often result in the death of innocent NPCs.
Dawnguard was subject to a 30-day exclusivity deal with Microsoft, where it was only available on the Xbox 360 (from 26 June 2012). As it turned out, it was released for the PC after 36 days, and due to severe performance issues, it was February 2013 before it was released for the PS3.
Hearthfire inadvertently fixes this by resetting the steward's dialogue to include the children's room.
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Skyrim-Dawnguard-Bugs Fixed by the Unofficial Dawnguard Patch
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Skyrim: Dawnguard Quest Walkthrough

It's time to join the Dawnguard. Vampire hunters, or something in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Quick Links

Starting dawnguard, joining the dawnguard.

The first of Skyrim's downloadable content, Dawnguard , lets you take center stage in a conflict between vampire hunters and an old clan of vampires. It brings in one of the game's best companions while letting you use new weapons and visit new locations as well.

Related: Skyrim: The Best Dawnguard Quests

If you are excited to start, you might be disappointed to find out that there is no actual guide for starting the expansion. Fortunately, this guide is here to explain how to start your journey as a vampire slayer and how to make the most of its first quest, Dawnguard. Being a vampire can come later.

You automatically start Dawnguard when you reach level ten. At this point, you might be approached by an orc named Durak. He will ask if you know anything about the vampire threat and if you would like to do anything about it . Regardless of your answer, he will suggest signing up at Fort Dawnguard to put a stop to the threat.

Alternatively, once you reach level ten, guards might randomly comment that the Dawnguard is reforming at the old Fort near Riften .

It is also possible to join by entering Dayspring Canyon before you reach level ten.

Once prompted, the quest Dawnguard will begin. Its quest marker will point to Dayspring Canyon to the southeast of Riften . You will need to take the path wrapping around the city walls to find a road leading to Dayspring Canyon.

When you arrive, you will meet Agmaer , another hopeful recruit. He asks you to walk up with him to calm his nerves. Following the dirt path through the canyon will eventually get you to the entrance to the Fort.

You will see Durak practicing with his Crossbow on the way up. You can ask him what it is . He will give you a Crossbow of your own and a handful of Bolts to use it with.

Crossbows are a unique feature of Dawnguard. They ignore 50 percent of enemy armor and use Bolts instead of Arrows.

When you enter the Fort itself, you will find Isran, the leader of the Dawnguard, speaking to Vigilant Tolan about something going on at Dimhollow Crypt . Turning to speak to you, Isran will ask why you joined before telling you that your first assignment is to investigate Dimhollow Crypt .

Adding that you can take whatever you need to prepare, there are a handful of items in the empty Fort for you to use.

A few Bolts and Arrows by the shooting range at the north wing of the Fort .
Food items by the kitchen and dining room in the west wing of the Fort .
Dawnguard Boots, Dawnguard Shield, and Dawnguard Weapons scattered across the Roof

The Fort will come to life shortly and will have more for you to explore.

The Dawnguard Weapons deal bonus damage to vampires , making them very useful for the quests to come.

This starts the next quest in the storyline, Awakening .

If you have already decided that you want to side with the Volkihar Clan , don't worry, that chance will come soon .

Next: Skyrim: The Weirdest Factions That Make No Sense

COMMENTS

Is there a way to fast travel a little closer to Fort Dawnguard?
I'm just a little sick of fast traveling to Dawnguard, then having to run all the way up to the doors. I'm wondering if there's a way to fast travel directly to the fort? Thanks guys! -Boyko. Go a bit further into the Dawnguard quest chain. I thought the same thing too, but eventually you can fast travel to a couple of meters from the door.
Fast Travel (Skyrim)
Fast Travel is a method of travel in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It is a way of quickly "teleporting" to any previously discovered location. The travel takes place almost instantaneously in real-world time through a loading screen, but in game time will still pass by as if the Dragonborn had walked there. When using fast travel, the time elapsed may be longer than the time it would have taken ...
Carriage and Ferry Travel Overhaul (Formerly Complete Fast Travel
A lightweight overhaul of both the vanilla Skyrim carriage system and Dawnguard's ferry system. Realistic and bug-free. ... Does this mod disable normal (map-based) fast travel? No it doesn't. I might add an option to later, but in the mean time there are other mods that do this already. Frostfall has an option in its MCM, and there are some ...
Guide for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Fast-travel to the closest location to Fort Dawnguard and enter the 'Dayspring Canyon'. Warning: If you still have Lycanthropy there is a small chance that members of the Dawnguard will attack you ...
Dawnguard:
Fast travel or travel there, it is an easy trek either way as it is near the center of the entire Skyrim Province. It is a Little Town, and has the little town icon on the World Map. ... - This is in dark fall cave, which is all the way north west of skyrim. and SOUTH WEST of Dawnguard quest line ICE WATER JETTY. So remember Darkfall cave ...
Updated Fast Travel Guide
For The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on the Xbox 360, a GameFAQs message board topic titled "Updated Fast Travel Guide".
Skyrim:Transport
Falling []. Also see information on falling, which can hurt or kill you.. Dragon Riding DB []. As part of the Dragonborn DLC, you can ride a dragon once you have acquired all three words of the Bend Will shout. For more information see Dragon Riding.. As you cannot steer a dragon while riding it, the main functionality of this method of transportation is for fast travel.
Skyrim survival mode: How to enable survival mode and survival mode
Survival mode changes, including fast travel, explained. Survival Mode in the Anniversary Edition is a new, exciting way to make your time in the continent of Skyrim a little more challenging and fun.
12. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition Dawnguard
The quest marker may be glitched, to help it point to the right place deactivate the Dawnguard quest in your journal, fast-travel to Riften Stables or the Black-Briar Lodge then reactivate the quest.
Console Commands (Skyrim)/Locations
Staves. The following is a list of Location IDs. To move to the desired location, type in to the console: coc <ID> - Center on Cell, where ID is the locations id found in the list below. All map markers can also be added by typing tmm 1 in the console.
Fast travel.
Dawnguard DLC is especially torturous since it's clearly designed with fast travel in mind, otherwise you wouldn't be forced to go to remote locations far off the existing diagetic fast travel services on a frequent basis just to say "hi" now and then to then be sent off to the other side of the country for some errand or another.
Skyrim Wayshrines
A brand new fast travel network created with lore-friendliness and immersion in mind. Best of all it features ZERO time transition, which is most suitable for any weather and needs survivalist out the ... SWIFT adds a network of wayshrines across the world of Skyrim, Dawnguard, and Dragonborn that allows players to instantly travel from one ...
Skyrim Dawnguard walkthrough and how to complete the DLC
The Dawnguard DLC offers two new dragon breeds. If you are at least level 60, Revered Dragons will spawn at random around Skyrim, just like any other dragon. Legendary Dragons show up once you ...
Dawnguard MM fix at Skyrim Nexus
About this mod. Lets you fast travel to the entrance of Fort Dawnguard. Share. Requirements. Permissions and credits. This is just a little change to the fast travel location of Fort Dawnguard. Either Bethesda messed up with placing this correctly or, even worse, they intended us to walk all the way uphill from the vally to the entrance of the ...
Fastest way to travel? :: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim General Discussions
5 ways to travel (4 if you do not have Dawnguard) Fast Travel Foot Carriage Horse Boat (added by Dawnguard) #2. Uncle64. Oct 9, 2015 @ 8:39pm In Skyrim time the fastest is by using horse. It goes faster then Fast Travel. If it is not to long. #3. Trigger. Oct 9, 2015 @ 8:42pm you can also travel-sort of on a dragon, if you have all 3 words of ...
Carriage and Ferry Travel Overhaul (Formerly Complete Fast Travel
Kinaga's Carriage & Ferry Travel Overhaul. Realistic, bug-free, functional carriages & ferries. An overhaul of both the vanilla Skyrim carriage system and Dawnguard's ferry system. Designed to make ferries a viable means of travel, make prices realistic based on travel distance and add loads of cut carriage dialogue.
Immersive Dawnguard Dayspring Pass SE (IDDP)
Immersive Dawnguard Dayspring Pass SE. Version 1.0.2. Description. This mod adds map markers and changes the Dayspring Canyon entrance to be more immersive and believable (NO MORE TINY CAVE ENTRANCE!!). In addition, once the location of Fort Dawnguard is discovered, you will be able to fast travel there immediately like most other map markers ...
Skyrim:Dawnguard
Dawnguard is the first major official add-on for Skyrim. The add-on revolves around the Dawnguard, an ancient organization dedicated to hunting vampires and thwarting the schemes of Lord Harkon, who intends to use an Elder Scroll to permanently blot out the sun. You can choose to aid the Dawnguard in their quest to destroy the vampires, or join ...
How To Start The Dawnguard Questline In Skyrim
Alternatively, once you reach level ten, guards might randomly comment that the Dawnguard is reforming at the old Fort near Riften . It is also possible to join by entering Dayspring Canyon before you reach level ten. Once prompted, the quest Dawnguard will begin. Its quest marker will point to Dayspring Canyon to the southeast of Riften.
To people who did "No fast travel playthroughs" : r/skyrim
A subreddit about the massively popular videogame The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, by Bethesda studios. To people who did "No fast travel playthroughs". How'd you deal with traveling through the whole map for quests like Dawnguard or some of the radiants from the thieve's guild? Ill jump in with a big time crazy suggestion.. turn the music off.

Skyrim survival mode: How to enable survival mode and survival mode tips in Skyrim: Anniversary Edition

How to enable survival mode in Skyrim, and what to do if not in settings explained

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Carriage and Ferry Travel Overhaul (Formerly Complete Fast Travel Overhaul)

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