The adventures of Azar "the Paladin"
 

Some context first.

I decided to play Skyrim again [s](because backlogs aren't meant to played it seems)[s/] while waiting for Deadfire TB to go out of beta. I wanted to play something "different" than what I usually play *cough*stealth archer thief*cough*. I never bothered with shields before so I decided to make a "Paladin": one-handed, shield, restoration, alteration, marksman with a crossbow who never steal, doesn't do evil things and protect people. His name is Azar because I name all my Skyrim characters like that (it's the only game where I do that). He is a Breton.

I found a mod (just a few months old) that allow you to worships the gods/daedra of Tamriel and made Azar a follower of Stendarr.



Azar is already level 8 so here is his journey so far:

Following Hadvar after avoiding execution by timely dragon intervention, because he seemed like a nice and compassionate person while the Stormcloaks looked mostly angry, Avar made it to Riverwood. There Hadvar's uncle asked him to go to the Jarl in Whiterun to announce a dragon attacked Helgen and request help for Riverwood. Before doing as such, he made it to the local merchant to do some shopping and learned about a robbery and where the thief went. Getting the Jarl's help seemed more important.

Once in Whiterun, Avar talked to the Jarl and was hired to fetch a tablet for his court Wizard in, surprise!, the same ruins the thief run off to. But the wannabe-Paladin didn't feel sufficiently equipped to assault a ruins full of bandits and undead yet. He did some questing for the locals at Whiterun, including saving a horse from bandit who was "adopted" and named Smoke. Then Azar set off to meet his brethren at the Hall of the Vigilant near Dawnstar for some religious contemplation.

The trip to Dawnstar was full of encounters, mostly wolves, but also a courier assaulted by spiders whom was saved from certain death by the Paladin-in-training. After talking and praying, Azar decided to set off to the College of Winterhold, because that is his best change to improve his magical skills. More wolves, including ice wolves, were encountered in the snowy region (I had 47 wolves pets by the end of Whiterun to Winterhold). A disease was also contracted, so Azar first idea when reaching Winterhold was to find a way to get ride of the it…no potions or healer could be found!

Joining the College was the only way to get access to their healer. So Azar did so, but ended up in a training session and then told to show up at Saarthal in a few hours. It was super late (or early actually), no healer/potion were found still and Azar was dead tired and went to bed. On the morning, he made the trip to Saarthal and, luck on his side, meet a Vigilant of Stendarr who happily cured the disease.

Exploring Saarthal started rather academically, but then something strange happened, draugrs were fought and a huge magical orb was found. The Archmaster of the College was notified of the discovery and asked Azar to research the subject…but it was late, his bed was calling.

P.S. Avar didn't kill the bear in Helgen intro (sorry Joxer)
P.S.S I'll post a pic of Azar and Smoke later, I'm not the screenshot-gamer type so I don't have any right now.

It really was a small list of mods, I’m surprised.:biggrin:

No alternate start live another life mod? You could have started as a vigilant of stendarr and lived in thier headquarters. Nice little mod for role playing.

I almost did, but I wanted to play the "original story" and do the main storyline (that I have never done) so I decided against it because I tend to use live another life to pretend the story is something else. I instead considering that Azar was captured on his way to the Hall (probably should I wrote that in the first post).

Azar (he has very pale eyes, almost looks white at a distance) and Smoke:
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.n…A92AF22E193D7/
(larger version on steam)

---playthrough update ---
A new morning at the College.

Azar talked a bit with his fellow students and teachers. All the students had "requests". Bralyna wanted to test spells, started with everything looking green, ended as a dog. J'zargo gave Azar scrolls to tests, there are supposed to be good against undead, this should be nice. Onmund had a fishy request which lead to talking to a fishy member of the College who gave a fishy quest to Azar to go fetch a staff given to a fishy person.

But Azar had more important things to do than doing all of that. He had to find books about Saarthal. It looks like they were stolen by unscrupulous mages who slit form the College. The trip took one day. There was a short shopping stop at Windhelm, with some night training of blocking against mudcrabs near a waterfall halfway. At the destination, Smoke was almost rosted by a fire mage. Turns out they were very unscrupulous mages too. They were doing experiments on people and vampires (all the vampires meet a fiery death). After coming back at the college with the books, Azar saw that Tolfdir and the others brought back the big orb. It seems to have unnerved Ancano, or maybe it's the guy from the Psijii order showing up that did that. He's twitchy Ancano.

The adventure to find back the books resulted in Azar finding all sorts of junks laying around. There was even a Thalmor vs Stormcloak battle that happened on the way and Azar couldn't leave all those armors and weapons laying around, some people might use them for bad things. The merchants in Winterhold aren't that great though, so Azar went to Windhelm for more shopping (running low on health potions). He doesn't like the feel of the city one bit, but merchants have deep pockets and the owner of the White Phial gave an life depending quest to the Paladin: find the white Phial it might save his life.

Azar also heard a rumor about vampire hunters called the Dawnstars near Riften. They might be an interesting order to join.

The bridge at Riverwood to show how pretty my game is without a bazillion of texture replacer nor ENB:
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.n…1653C91C8B265/
(larger version on steam)

I don't remember why I turned the subtitles on when I installed the SE version (like two years ago), but I learned today that draugrs do battle barks when they mumble intelligibly (in dragon tongue). That was helped by practicing blocking with a shield against a few of them (they die too fast otherwise lol).

I also installed another mod: Craftable Horse Barding. Smoke was looking a bit too cheap to be a Paladin horse, so I crafted him a chain/leather barding. He's now a not too fancy warrior horse.

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As promised, Azar went to retrieve the White Phial for the old sick alchemist in Windhelm. It was hidden in a tomb/cave called the Forsaken Cave. Not nefarious at all. As expected, the place was full of draugrs, puzzles and traps, lots of traps. Always amusing seeing draugrs trigger them. Azar also took the opportunity to test some of J'Zargo scrolls meant to be used against undeads, a task the fellow apprentice asked Azar to perform. Looks like they still need some tweaking. Oh and one strange thing happened at the end of the tomb, some strange music and a glowing writing on a wall that seems to have been absorbed by Azar. Puzzling.

Once the Phial was returned to the old mer, he was annoyed that it was cracked. For the record Azar found it like that, not his fault. He gave 5 gold for a reward…at least his assistant properly rewarded the effort and took off to take care of his old dying master. :(

After this sad tale, Azar set off to Riverwood to get the dragon tablet for Whiterun court Wizard and the stolen golden claw from Bleaks Fall Barrow. A snowstorms greeted him at the top of the mountain, which covered his approach to the barrow. Those bandits barely saw what hit them. The tombs did have as much traps or puzzles as the Forsaken Cave, it did had harded draugrs though. Also, who actually use 25lb stone tablets??? How is that supposed to be carried all around? At least the claw wasn't too heavy and the merchant was happy to put it back in its place in his shop.

After the adventure near Riverwood, Azar set of to Falkhearth farther south. In part because Onmund's request to Azar require exploring something near that town and because the Jarl of the hold sent a letter to Azar requesting assistance and something about selling land in his hold. On his way, he found a few sad scenes: a Thalmor murdered a few Talos worshippers, farmers lost their farm to the dragon that attack helgen (Azar gave them some gold)…and poor bandits didn't realize that attacking someone in full steel armor with a feiry axe was a bad idea.

Once at Falkhearth though, Azar was very side tracked by a talking dog. The rejected puppy of Clavicus Vile, Daedric lord of Wishes. A devout fellow of Stendarr shouldn't deal with daedra, but Barbas mentioned a cult not far way and Azar though that maybe he'll be able to help the poor "dog" (and remove a powerful daedra from tamriel) or kill some evil cultists.

By the way, that "dog" is scary. It single handedly cleared the bandits that set up in burned down Helgen while traveling to the cult's shrine.

More Skyrim means more Azar's adventures.

So remember how Azar ended his last journey near a cultist cave hoping they were evil so he could kill them. Well turns out the cultists were Vampires. No remorse cleaning that dens out, even the Daedra Prince was happy of the result. Unfortunately, Clavicus Vile didn't want to take back his "mutt" without some old rusty axe. Axe he gave to a dude who set up residence East of Solitude. Pretty much on the opposite side of Skyrim of where the shrine is actually…

So, Azar and Brasa The Mutt set up a trip to retrieve the axe. Adventuring near Falkreath has already came to an end. While traveling toward their new destination they encounters:
- a Dark Brotherhood assassin. Azar seems to have pissed off someone with some dark connections
- a group of Bandits who set up their large camp like right on the road. Azar had to clean them out. Can't leave bandits preying on travelers like that.

After fighting with the Bandits. Azar wanted to do some shopping. The nearest town was Mortal…but Mortal is like backswamp town. There is nothing there outside weird people afraid of magic. Azar changed course for Solitude instead. That's a huge city actually. Looks cozy, outside the first thing happening there when Azar arrived being a beheading, brought back some memories… There was some poor fellow in the city who request Azar help to put some sense into his master too. Looks simple enough, talk to the dude, tell him his vacations are over, etc…He should have known better, as if a talking dog wasn't enough.

Once that was dealt with the paladin was finally ready to get that axe. He encountered some vampires pretending to be Vigilants of Stendarrs along the way (promptly destroyed). Crossed path with an headless ghostly horseman too, but was too busy fighting things to look that up. The dude with the axe wasn't much trouble though and in his staff Azar found Meridia's beacon and with the shrine being close by this was a shift cleaning of that Daedra Prince temple of a Vampire necromancer that resulted from that discovery. Azar got a nice anti-undead weapon out of it: Dawnbreaker. That daedra doesn't mind getting rejected it seems.

After making it all the way back to Clavicus Vile's shrine, Azar finally got ride of the dog and was able to do what he wanted to do near Falkreath: find the staff of the mage fellow so he can trade it for Onmund's amulet. Where was the staff: another Vampire's master den.

After all those vampires encounters, a few more on the road beside dead Vigilants *sniff*, Azar decided it was time to go meet with the Dawnguards. But first a pit stop at Whiterun (some Thalmor Justicar wanted Azar dead near there, not sure why) and then Riften… The Paladin felt like everyone wanted to steal his money in that city, someone even suggested he stole it and wanted to recruit Azar to perform a crime! The Paladin decided it was best to avoid that city in the future.

Once Azar reached Fort Dawnguard, he learned a very sad news: the Hall of the Vigilants was destroyed by Vampires. He promptly joined to become a Vampire hunter and avenge his fellow Stendarr's worshipers.

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This session was super weird. Not only doing 1 daedra quest leading to doing 2 others, but everything was sending me into vampire caves/forts, lol. Also, I love Dawnbreaker.

Oh and I saw the triple road random encounter at some point. A Khajiit bandit attacked me (I killed him), then two skeletons showed up (killed them, I think they were going after a hunter though) and then a travelling bard did the pocket of a dead skeleton and then exclaimed (what…what happened here?) over the dead Khajiit.

My last night playtime was kinda a wash.

After learning the Hall of Vigilant was destroyed, Azar decided to rush there and see it for himself. The next Dawnguard quest is nearby too so it was perfect. He found a lonely horse on the way too (no killing or stealing involved from Azar this time, it's also Azar's 3rd horse. He saved one from a bandit before reaching Dawnguard Fort). So now Azar has Smoke, Terra and Bronze.

Once at the destroy Hall, Azar prayed and made some graves (in my head, no mods for the graves). Then he reached the place nearby that he learned about at the Dawnguard Fort. About half-way in that cave, killing vampires and other undesirables…I had a power lost along the rest of my street.

When my power came back, I played around a bit with my follower stuff because Dawnguard force Serana on you in that quest and some stuff was behaving strangely with my horse mod but it's apparently normal after I checked online. Saying that,
it accelerated my "do I play with followers" questions I've been having for a while (hence the other thread). And playing with followers less or more means adding more mods to give them more "personality". Well, Serana doesn't need more personality, but the others do (especially base Skyrim).

Azarhal,

Azar is the Portuguese word for the English expression "bad luck". Seriously. You can check it here :)

Oh fun tales of Azar and I think he looks great. Like the circlet on his brow. Must be risky with the horse across that narrow bridge to the college.

Does sound like some fun along with some of the Skyrim oddities. My second character was Varg the Reluctant Paladin. I played him mainly to be a master at restoration, smite, and swords. He was a lot of fun. He was my one and only NON werewolf character and only non-rogue like character. He was blunt melee and forthright. It was fun having him the arch-mage.

It was cool to read about someone else's play through and view point. I to a lot of ad-hoc RP myself and, as I am sure you know, mod my game to the teeth with visual enhancement mods :)

My landscape:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7827/…ae1deff2_o.png

My main character, with 4.5 books of history over 6 years of playing, Grim and his half-brother Wolfgar (the wolf).

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7835/…0694657a_o.png

Anyhow thanks for posting some of your adventures, enjoyed reading them.

Bouahahahaha!

Thanks, I didn't know but I guess it's kinda fitting. ;)

--Small update--

So Azar saved this woman, Serana, from a totally not creepy, weird, suspicious contraption at the bottom of a strange crypt. She was rather forth coming with her undeadness condition. Azar should have killed her on the spot, but considering she's the first vampire who didn't try to blood-suck him at first sight and that she had an Elder Scrolls, he decided against it. They then escaped the crypt together and Serana asked Azar to bring her back "home". But first Azar, run back to the Dawnguard to tell Isran the news of his discovery. Serana didn't want to come close to the fort.

The journey to Serana's home was rather uneventful, outside her complaining about the weather all the time. She also doesn't know anything about the Empire, which means she spent 600 years in that thing? The Paladin already wish he could forget what he saw in the castle Serana's call home. The bodies, the vampires…her father. He was even offered to be bitten to become a Vampire but refused and was then banished from the castle leaving Serana's behind.

Of course, that means Azar run all the way to the Dawnguard fort again to tell Isran the news. Stopping for shopping on the way. Once at the fort, it was under attack by a master vampire, he was dispatched promptly by all the Dawnguards. Well, minus Agmaer who was sleeping in his bunk. After telling Isran what happened with Serana, the paladin was given the missions to find two "recruits" to help out the Dawnguards. One of them should be easy to find, she likes Dwemer ruins. Their can't be that many of those in Skyrim right?

Azar also did a quick stop in a cave near Solitude at the request of the Jarl's steward. Turns out some necromancers were trying to summons Potema the Wolf Queen. What's wrong with the people of Skyrim? Azar is starting to think Skyrim has a crazy undeads problem but many fear dragons instead. The Paladin haven't seen a single of those big lizards since Helgen.

----
I really need to go deliver the stone tablet. Serana stopping over each corpses we encountered on the road to her castle saying "Oh!…" was something funny, the weather complaining not so much.

---tiny update on Azar's adventures---

So Azar decided to go back to the College of Winterhold for some more training for the battles against the Vampires menace. He actually encounters some vampires on the road, then a group of necromancers who set up themselves in an old fort.

He also discovered a new species, the Falmers, in a cave with their little pets, the chaurus. They all love poisons very much it seems, the paladin made good use of his healing spells. There was also some bandits pretending to be Imperials not far from Winterhold that tried to kill Azar because he refused to pay a toll in the middle of nowhere! A local guard helped out.

Back at the College, Azar purchased new spells to use against undead and vampires: close wounds, Vampire's Bane (somewhat of a anti-undead fireball), Aura's of Stendarr (somewhat of a anti-undead aura) that the paladin can't currently cast for lack of magicka…but soon, real soon, he will. But first, he will try to talk to that Augur of something he was supposed to talk so long ago, he kinda got side tracked all across Skyrim.

---And the adventures continue---

You know, when someones tell you "Oh the Augur, yes, he's lives in the Maiden under the College", you usually expect two things: someone to be in the Maiden and the place to note look like a creepy crypt where undead lives. Doesn't help that this Augur isn't exactly someone.

So your courageous paladin braved a few undeads and other spirity things to talk to this Augur. The discussion was weird, really not what was expected. In the end, Azar has now to find the Staff of Magnus to stop impending DOOM! Azar is actually surprised Skyrim haven't blow up at this point, everyone has world ending issues here.

After asking around to where he could find this staff, he learned of the Synod, Imperial college of magicians, who were snooping around not that long ago. They went to a Dwarven ruin called Mzulft (I'm actually surprised at the pronunciation, lol). It wasn't that far away from the college so he decided to run there on Smoke. On the way, the fort he freed from the necromancers was now occupied by Stormcloaks.

Mzulft is huge. It is also full of weird dwarven contraptions that works as defense mechanism…and Falmers? How did the Falmers gets there? Also, Chaurus can fly!!! So Azar exploration of the place ended up with many clang, cling, bang and poison. Once he reached a living member of the Synod, he finally learned where he might find the staff he is seeking. The Synod member though sounded very paranoid and crazy. Probably spent too much time inside the old ruins, the air is probably not that good to breath for too long.

Now Azar has to report to the Archmage where the Staff might be: Labyrinthian. The name doesn't inspire comfort for anyone who wish for a small stroll.
------
The Stormcloak spawning at the fort I "cleared" (it didn't wasn't mechanically cleared) was strange to me, it haven't even been 10 days for a respawn.

Also, with all the Bloodlines 2 "hype", I'm probably going to shift back to Dawnguards stuff…even if it is to murder all the vampires. The dragons will have to wait.

--small update--

Azar made it back to the College safe and sound. It was super late though, so he went to bed. The next morning, he found Arniel, because the mage asked the Paladin to find some dwemer cogs not long ago for his research. Then Arniel asked Azar to ask Enthir for something he wanted to purchase…why does nobody want to talks to Enthir? Is it because he always ask you to go find a staff in a place fulls of crazy people?

After that Azar entered the main hall to talk to the Archmage, but something weird was going on. The idiotic Thalmor Ancano was doing something to the Eye of Magnus creating a force field around him and the big orb and spawning weird stuff in Winterhold. He also caused the death of the Archmage. Now Azar has to find that Staff of Magnus ASAP. Things just got worst.

Enjoying the updates. I will be doing that down the road. My new guy, Wulver, is a rogue-mage and will be heading to the college for training. Maybe he will wait till Azar gets rid of that douche Ancano first though.

---another "small" update---

On his way to Labyrinthian, Azar did some side activities. One of them lead him to a very pretty cavern to find an ex-soldier helmet and he gave an old Orc is cherished last good battle.

Then Azar arrived to Labyrinthian. The Paladin was expecting a huge ruin underground, not a huge ruin overground too. Ruin with Frost Trolls, the hardest things Azar had to fight so far, but weak to flames.

Around the area Azar found a strange altar with a skeleton holding a magical wooden mask and some crazy rambling on a rather well conserved piece of paper compared to the corpse. Azar put the mask on and…found himself in another place…or was it time…in front of a strange altar. He rapidly removed the mask and returned to the real world.

It was now time to go inside of Labyrinthian borrow, unfortunately the experience was so traumatizing that this is all that remains Azar was able to remember of the experience: gahOMG!ihjwaidaiwdSavosWhatDidYou?WhoIsThis?DoOooo oooohLoot!WhyWhyWhy!!ThisPlaceIsHugeTrapsMORETraps !GhostDraugrs?SavosDammit!YeahTheStaff…OhEbonyArmo rTooHeavy.

Once out of the ruins with the Staff of Magnus, a new set of Ebony Armor and an ebony shield, Azar made it back to the College. It was of course in worst shape than when he left. Using the staff, the Paladin made it inside and defeated Ancano. Then the Psijiic showed up and named him Arch-Mage, with Tolfdir agreeing.

Azar not really wanting to be Arch-Mage still took the key to the quarters and set off to find those potential Dawnguards recruits. The College can work without him, but those Vampires have to be stopped.
----------------
First time I've done Labyrinthian and this is my favorite dungeon in Skyrim so far.

---recruitment---

After saving the world from a stupid Thalmor using magic he didn't understand, Azar is now fully committed at stopping the vampire menace.

This start by recruiting Gunmar and Sorina as Isran requested. Gunmar was hanging out near Falkreath. Hunting down a human hunting bear. Since when do bears hunt humans? Still his cave was full of corpse, probably from foolish people trying to "best the bear". Near the bear cave, there was a house and burnt corpses. Looks like a dragon is hanging nearby…that's much more dangerous than a bear.

After helping Gunmar and sending him off to Fort Dawnguard, Azar went back to Falkreath to go East, toward the Reach and where Sorine is exploring Dwemer things. The Paladin discovered a majestic valley once he reached the Reach…but unfortunately, also dead lovers in a secluded areas and crazy Forsworns. After recruiting Sorine, he made haste to the Dawnguard fort.

Once everyone was gathered at the fort, Isran asked Gunmar to suit up trolls so we could get armored trolls. Wait what?! As for Sorine, looks like she's some kind of weapon maker.

As for Azar, he got a new mission.

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I remember going to Markham once and fighting the Forsworns in a previous playthrough, but I had never seen the valley and river. So awesome. I'm still discovering Skyrim, 7.5 years after release and with more than 250 hours into it.

So Azarhal means - bad luck Henry? :D

On topic, I had more fun reading this thread than actually playing Skyrim. Keep it coming!

---The new mission(s)---

Turns out Azar's mission was to find a Moth Priest to read an Elder Scrolls. Indeed, Serana showed up at Fort Dawnguard and Isran hide her in the torture room (really Isran?). There she explained her dad was obsess with a prophecy about Vampires not having to fear the sun again. Somewhat weird, because Serana walks under the sun with just a little hood. The whole conversation between Serana and Isran made Azar feel between a rock and hard place.

The vampire might have tried to flirt with the Paladin too. Everyone knows female vampires are seductress. Azar will not fall for it.

Serana suggested to look at the College of Winterhold for information about where to find a Moth Priest. One apparently made it into Skyrim recently. What do they say, once is a coincidence, two is fate? Anyway, Azar being the Arch-Mage of the College had no issues to get the information, he even had to go there to give back a book to the librarian.

Because Serana fear horses*, on their ways to various place, the "Two Adventurers in Skyrim" did a few side jobs: get some sap from the Eldergleams for a Danica in Whiterun. Find the schematic for Sorine. Killed a few bears and wolves. Visited Riften, Serana didn't like the place either. Azar even received a letter from Falk Firebeard, the Steward in Solitude, there is apparently new developments about the Queen Potema summoning ritual, but Azar didn't have the time to go chat with him.

Once they tracked down the Moth priest, it was already too late. Vampire got him first. So the chase turned into tracking down Vampires. They didn't go very far. In fact, Azar wondered how the small village nearby never realized there was a huge cavern with an ancient gothic fortress inside at about 100 feet of them.

The battle inside was short live, the vampires felling to the Paladin's and his vampiric companion's attacks. They fried the Moth priest and told him to go to Fort Dawnguard (really, no escort? The guy was kidnapped despite having Imperial guards).

In the giant cave two important questions came to Azar:
1. Is sleeping upright in a coffin actually comfortable?
2. What do we call a zombified vampire?

Once back at fort Dawnguard, Sorine got her new schematic and got to improve the order crossbow. While the priest got to read the scroll and turns out two more a needed to get the whole prophecy. Serana had some suggestion, she wants to find her mother…but has no idea where she might be. Azar suggest to look at Castle Volkinar for clues.

Also, the Paladin also asked a few people about the Dawnguard orders and got conflicting information. Everyone seems to think they fought vampires, but Sorine's version was that they were meant to guard a vampire but then all accepted the power and became vampires themselves.

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* until the expac is over I can't make her use one, she's not a real companion yet.

No, because Hal doesn't translate into Henry :) (Henrique is the Portuguese version- since we don't translate names - for English name Henry)

---Sneaking into Castle Volkinar---

Azar and Serana made haste to Castle Volkinar: mission find something of her late mother to discover where she might be and find one of the two Elder Scrolls required to understand the whole prophecy.

Getting near the castle and sneaking by the back entrance was easy for the duo. The garden courtyard was very different from what Serana remembered, but then a few hundred of years went back without her mother around, Azar was unsure why she was surprised. The two shared some talk about loneliness near a moondial. Azar was a bit perplexed how Serana can sound so human despite being a vampire and a necromancer. Maybe they aren't all evil?

Also, yes moondial, looks like vampires do not find sundial useful, but Serana wonder why anyone would find a moondial useful. Turns out the moondial was hiding secret entrance to a ruined part of the castle. The ruined part was full of skeleton, slightly boring for the Paladin to fight. Then a few gargoyles showed up here and that. That was more interesting to bash with a shield.

Once at the top of the tower they discovered a secret laboratory. Serana told Azar that her mother was probably working on her necromancy here. Effectively, her mother's journal explained how she created a portal to the Soul Cairn, a place where souls end up after a soul gem is used, to hide from Harkon.

The two successfully re-opened the portal with secret ingredients. Unfortunately, once Azar tried to go through, the portal started to eat away at him. The inhabitants of the Soul Cairn want payment.

After some chit-chat with Serana two options appeared:
1. Azar can be turned into a vampire
2. Azar can get partially soul trapped into a gem and used that as payment

The Paladin decided to take some times to decide which one to pick.

------
I'm starting to get bored of the linear layout of all "dungeons". Also, I'm level 19 and that place was full of level 1 skeletons (there was a few higher level), when everything get one-shot, it's not very fun.

---Soul Cairn---

Azar opted to get a part of his soul trapped. Serana went to a great length of "do you trust me" deal before doing it. The Paladin is starting to think she's looking for someone who trust her.

The Soul Cairn is a strange smelly place, full of souls, undeads and too much purple. Considering the look of the place, Azar wasn't expecting to find a salesman there, but sure there it was. But he didn't want gold, he wanted some weird thingy that grew around the place.

After some travelling, the duo finally found Serana's mother. She was trapped behind a barrier but the three of them had a bit of chat. That's when Azar realized that the whole prophecy thing was just family drama. Molag Bal's worshipers family drama! Earlier on, Serana's mother didn't even want to talk to the Paladin, calling him Vampire hunter (how did she knows?) and acting a bit paranoid. Serana finally convinced her that Azar was a trusty person. Her mother also asked Azar to protect Serana.

Oh course getting the scroll wasn't easy. First, there was Keepers holding the barrier that needed to be killed. They were huge fights in strange bony armor. Then there was a dragon called Durnehviir. Finally, the Elder Scrolls was Azar. He also learned that Serana was part of the prophecy, her blood is needed too taint the bow of Auriel to end the Tyranny of the Sun.

After a short trip to get back his remaining essence, promising to come by to Serana's mom once they resolve Harkon and a chat with the dragon (who can't really die) about thu'um and summoning him in Tamriel as an ally that Azar didn't understand very well, they finally made it back to the real world.

They set haste to the College of Winterhold, yep there again, to find information about the remaining Elder Scrolls. Urag the Librarian was a bit impolite with his Arch-Mage though, might have been the very early time in the morning (4am). In the end, they
got a lead on a researcher who has been missing for a little while and now the frozen waste awaits.

If you wonder what is the Soul Cairn, the paladin did ask, but outside despair, trickery and souls, the rest was just too complex for the paladin to understand.

--------------------------
The soul cairn wasn't exactly that interesting to visit.

---Ice waste---

Azar and Serana made through the frozen water, mostly through swimming. Azar was a bit jealous of Serana cold resistance at that moment. The duo expect to fight over something to free the old research, but instead he was just hanging in a ice cave with a giant Dwemer cube. He also didn't seemed a bit barmy.

After trying to understand what he was saying, Azar understood that he had to do something in a Dwemer place called Blackreach. The named seemed familiar, the paladin remember reading a book on the subject: a huge place deep underground.

Azar made for the nearest Dwemer ruins to find a way to Blackreach. Once near Alftand, it was clear an expeditions had some issues with the place. It was even more gruesome inside the ruins, blood everywhere with a crazy Khajiit who attacked on sight. Looks like he was suffering from hallucination caused by Skooma withdrawal. The paladin felt pity for everyone who felt victim of the madman.

Deeper into the ruins, it appears that the Khajiit wasn't the only cause for all the death. Falmers killed a few of the crew as well. One of the victim was from the College as well. Fighting through the Falmers and dwemers machinery, Azar finally made it to a place where he could use the items given to him by the old man.

But before doing that, he was attacked by two arguing person. He wasn't sure who they were or why they attacked, but now the poor fools are dead.

Once the area was clear, Azar inserted the little dwemer sphere into some apparatus and a secret entrance to Blackreach opened.

---Blackreach and tentacles---

Azar and Serana descended into the passage in Alftand into Blackreach. The spectacle they saw was grandiose. Huge mushrooms, huge buildings, little blue lights everywhere….and more Falmers. Blackreach looked just as large and open as the surface world.

They made haste to the Tower of Mzark to inscribe the lexicon and get the Elder Scrolls of dragons. Those Dwemers sure were crazy. Building such a large place underground and hiding Elder Scrolls there.

Once they had the scrolls, they backtracked to Septimus and gave him his lexicon. He then complained that he need dwemer's blood to open the giant cube. He asked Azar to find Altmer, Bosmer, Dunmer and Orsimer blood to make a facsimile instead. While leaving the cave where Septimus was, strange black tentacles showed up to block Azar from leaving the cave. It was Hermaeus Mora who wanted the Paladin as his champion. Azar respectfully declined, didn't stop the Daedric Prince to tell him he didn't really have a choice.

Finally leaving the cave, Azar didn't want to kill anyone that didn't deserve it to get the blood. He could find fresh Falmer's blood in the last place he visited and then set search for some bandits dens or dead bodies. The duo cleaned up some bandit den for most of the sample, turns out Dunmer, Bosmer and Orsimer really like to hang out with criminals. The Altmer was harder, Azar though that maybe the College preserved Ancano's body for study, but no. Luckily, with all the cold Skyrim preserve corpses very well and some dead Thalmor was found near a Talos shrine along some pilgrims. They finally found the required samples and returned to Septimus.

There the old man opened the cube and found…a book. Then something happened and he turned into ashes. Azar took the book and came face to face with the black tentacles again. Hermaeus Mora said something about unleashing his Oghma Infinium on the world again. The Paladin didn't really know what that meant, so the moment he could he left the place and never looked back.

Then it was time to go back to Dawnguard Fort to get the Moth Priest to read the two new Elder Scrolls. Once back the fort though, he couldn't perform the task. He was now blind. He gave instruction to Azar so he could try to read the scroll himself with the help of Ancestor Moths found in an Ancestor Glade. The whole thing sounded totally ridiculous to the Paladin, but it's not like he had a choice.
------
Blackreach looks pretty, but I don't need something almost as large as overland Skyrim.
The explanation for the Moth Priest was …so out there.

---Moths, lots of moths---

The Ancestor Glades, Dexion didn't lie to Azar. They found the glades, there was a blade, there was trees and there was a lots of moths. The paladin almost wanted to make puns but considering the seriousness of the task, he withheld his tongue. He's sure Serana would have approved though.

After succeeding in reading the Elder Scrolls, the duo decided to chat a bit about Auriel's bow, but the conversation was interrupted by vampires and their thralls. It was another poor attempt at stopping them. Indeed, more and more vampires ambushes are encountered on the roads these days. Still not as much as wolves though.

After that, Azar decided to go find that Florentius that Sorine talked about. Seems like he went to a Vigilant's excavation site. Something was wrong there. While the Vigilants were still alive, they all attack Azar and Serana on sight. They were charmed!

Looks like the Vigilant were digging an old ruins and ended up as the puppets of an evil conjurer, Minorne, who made them worship her. Now they are all dead. For some strange reasons, Florentius was being kept in a cage.

After freeing him, Azar chatted a bit with Florentius and…he was a bit surprised. See, when Isran said he didn't like the guy, the Paladin though it was because he had some bad habits related to corpses being a priest of Arkay and all that. But in the end, he just hear Arkay's voice.

After a short trip to Dawnguard Fort to resupply, the duo is now ready to go find Auriel's bow.

---Auriel's bow---

The Darkfall cave, that was a very appropriate name though Azar. Very dark and full of falls. There was even an underground river toboggan…with extra spiders. At the end of the cave, or at least what Azar believe to be the end of it, they found a Knight-Paladin of Auriel: Gelebor.

He was also a Snow-elf. By the way, he prefer Snow-elf to Falmer, or like he calls them The Betrayed. He's keeping guard over a Auriel Chantry. All that Azar was seeing was a few elven ruins though. Turns out some of the ruins are wayshrines to teleport around the Chantry. There are five of them: Radiance, Illumination, Sight, Learning and Resolution.

To get Auriel's bow, Azar and Serana have to take the path of initiate to the temple. That means travelling around with a jug of water at all the wayshrines. First by going through a darkfall cave passages full of Betrayeds. That cave looked a bit like Blackreach. Then once out of that cave, you end up in a forgotten vale. A iced over forgotten vale. Still full of Betrayeds though, also frost giants and frost trolls.

After getting lost and running in circle for a while in the vale killing things, the duo finally made it to the temple. Inside, everything was frozen…well except for a frost giant. Once they reached the inner sanctum they found what they were looking for. Gelebor asked Azar to kill his brother Vyrthur, who he claim was being controlled by the Betrayed. Turns out that's not really what was happening. Vyrthur was now a vampire and he was pissed at Auriel…so he created a prophecy about Daughter of Colharbour (that's Serana) tainting Auriel's bow to block the Sun.

Charming. Serana was angry and Vyrthur didn't last long. Then Gelebor showed up and gave Azar the bow. It was now time to go take down Harkon. Serana knew there was no other way to end this, but first suggested we go to the Dawnguards to have some help siege the castle.

The fight against Harkon was hard, but he finally fell and then Azar felt sorry for Serana, but she seemed fine about it in the end. With everything that happened Azar suggested Serana to keep him company and maybe do something about her vampirism so she can be her own self again.

Next, that stone tablet really needs to be brought back to Whiterun.

----
The pre-Vyrthur fight and Harkon fight were cool. The was some nice moment here and there, but Dawnguard relies way too much on fake open map. Both Forgotten Vale, regardless of how pretty it is, and Soul Cairn are pretty linear to get to your objectives.

--- Dragonborn ---

While waiting for Serana to come back from her hunt for a cure, Azar did some work for his College of Winterhold and chit-chatted a bit more with the surviving Dawnguards.

He learned from Florientius that the old Dawnguards were thieves and might have hide treasures. The paladin also discovered a strange underground area with "puzzles" requiring a crossbow to solve. Dexion, the Moth priest, also took back two of the three elder scrolls…which lifted some weight from Azar.

After that, at the College, Azar helped out Arniel to advance his little project. First by getting a staff to exchange for something Arniel wanted: a warped soul gem. Then after Arniel's tested failed, he sent the paladin and Arch-mage to find Dwemer converted to process the gem for his test. Arniel is looking into the Dwemer disappearance. Somehow Azar believe this won't end well.

After all that, the vampire slayer (or ex vampire slayer), made it back to Fort Dawnguard to see if Serana was back and she was and unvamped. They then set fort for Whiterun, where Azar was very late delivering a stone tablet found in Bleaks Fall Borrow so many moons ago.

Farengar was very happy to finally get his hand on it and he present Delphine to Azar, his "source" for the tablet. She wants a translation of it but refused to talk to Azar. For this deed, the Jarl is now allowing Azar to buy a house in Whiterun.

Then the Jarl housecarl showed up with news of a dragon attacking a guard tower not far from the city. The Jarl asked Azar to go there because having been at Helgen had the most experience dealing with them…The Paladin found that a bit over the top, running away from a dragon isn't quite the same as killing them.

At the guard tower, the larger than usual, party defeated the dragon and then something strange happened. Azar absorbed the dragon's power and could not shout. The Whiterun guards started to call him Dragonborn. The Paladin found all that very pretentious, dealing with vampires or the Soul Cairn probably did something to him instead.

Still, he run back to Whiterun to tell the Jarl of the dragon's defeat, but something called the Greybeards apparently summoned him to the top of the highest mountain in Skyrim. Azar wondered why they couldn't just hang at the same level as everyone else. The Jarl also named Azar Thane of Whiterun and gave him an housecarl called Lydia. The Paladin already has Serana watching his back, he doesn't need another one.

The Paladin also learned that "Shouts" are called Thu'ums. That explain why the dragon in the Soul Cairn said. Maybe he knew about Azar's special powers?

And now begins the long trip to the Throat of the World.

---High Hrothgar---

Azar and Serana started the voyage to reach Hrothgar from Whiterun. The destination: the village of Ivarstead.

During the trip they encounters many things, especially a lots of bears, but also…

An aspiring mages, who clearly had no talent for magic, unlike his grandfather. Azar decided to buy his staff which ended up a necromancer weapon. That young man could have gone on the wrong path.

The duo also encountered a necromancer, she was killed by her own skeleton, revived by Serana. If the paladin could help Serana to stop using to evil spells, he would be much happier.

Then came the criminal oriented encounters. First was a road toll. Azar is still puzzled why bandits already think bashing the head of someone with no money will give them something. After that, a thief demanded all of the party valuables. Azar was able to convince him they had no money and a pointless fight was avoided. Then the fog set in, followed by the night. They found an abandoned camp and sleep until the morning. Ivarstead wasn't far now.

Once in the village, Azar talked to Klimmek after hearing his conversation with another village. Klimmek used to do deliveries to the Greybears at the mountaint top, but his legs aren't what they used to be and climbing 7000 steps takes their tolls now. The paladin offered to do the delivery for Klimmek and he was much gracious.

Azar and Serana started to climb the mountains. They encountered some bears and pilgrims along they way, but nothing very existing. Once at the temple, after many hours of following the rocky path, they left the supplies in chest at the entrance and made their way in.

There the Greybeards wanted to know if Azar was a Dragonborn and tested his ability with the Voice. Once satisfied they asked why he was there and Azar said because he was summoned. The Greybeards then though him a trick or two about mastering the voice and then asked the paladin to retrieve something for them in a far away tombs.

Azar and Serana then returned to Ivarstead, where they encountered a group of cultists who asked them if Azar was Dragonborn. Unsatisfied by the answer, they attacked saying Lord Miraak was the true Dragonborn. At that moment, Azar's remembered something a Greybeard told him, that he might not be the only Dragonborn to exist.

Saying that, the cultists didn't prove to be much of a challenge. They also had a note on them mentioning Solstheim. Serana asked Azar if he was alright and was quite eager to go to visit Solstheim. It was then decided, the fetch job for the Greybears could wait, and the two set off to Windhelm to take a boat to Solstheirm. The captain didn't want to go back, because he lost his memory when he brought the cultists over, but Azar's money convinced him to bring the duo to Raven Rock.

Once in Solstheim, everyone seemed to have heard the name Miraak but nobody could really remember it either. Some was weird. A few of them mentioned a temple on the island but not where it was. Tired of the long trip, and it was quite late, Azar decided to sleep at the local tavern and look for more information the next morning.

Strange things happened, Azar woke up near the Skaald Village working on a strange spire and hearing voices. Some villagers saying strange things but didn't react to Azar poking them. He then run back to the Raven Rock and back track everything. After trying to get more information from the locals, Serana and him left to check the information they gathered.

On their way across the island, they encounter Raven Rock's captain, a certain Veleth. He was being assaulted by strange humanoid monsters that turned to ashes when killed. It appears a 200 years old supposedly dead Imperial in a nearby fort might be responsible. Azar decided to leave that for later, memory blanks and strangers voices were more important.

---Temple of Miraak---

Not much happened on the way to the temple. Azar and Serana meet some Skaald hunters who let them participate in their hunt for a big netch and were ambushed near an abandoned house by ash spawns but that's about it.

Once they got near the temple they started to hear voices and they saw a lots of dragon bones. There was more mind controlled people here. Reavers and Skaald alike. And near the middle of the structure it, a woman clad in Nordic steel telling people to get back to their senses without much effect. Azar soon learned she was from a nearby village and investigating what was going on. She enlisted Azar's aid to explore the temple.

Frea, as that was her name, turned out to be a charming badass companion all through the temple. Azar secretly hoped that Serana wasn't going to turn jealous. The trio fought through the temple against cultists and Draugrs alike. Find traps, secret passages and not much else. Until they found a black book. Serana, of all people, didn't like the book, but Azar decided to read it anyway. He was then transported in front of another man surrounded by strange tentacles monsters and a dragon. This was Miraak, who wasn't really impressed by Azar. In fact so not impressed that he admitted being the one controlling people so he could take over the island and come back from where ever that place was. He then kicked Azar out back to where the book was.

Frea said it was like Azar was there and not there and Serana, in true Serana fashion, commented there was a man more delusional than her father. She was also a bit "wow" when Azar told her Miraak was much stronger than him (Azar).

The trio then left the temple and went to Frea's village to talk to her father, Storn. He and a few others were maintaining a barrier to keep Miraak's influence at bay in the village. Storn suggested that Azar went to a place to find knowledge to destroy whatever the controlled people were building at the Wind Stone. The paladin had a new important mission.

------------------------
I'm surprised that Serana has dialogues related to Dragonborn expac…unless that's one of the mod I installed?

--- Bend Will---

Azar and Serana made their way to Searing's Watch. A place guarded by a blood dragon and a few draugr. Once the dragon fell, cleaning up the remaining wights wasn't very hard for the Paladin.

After learning a new Word of Power, Azar made it back near the village and used the Thu'um against the Wind Stone. This broke the hold it had on the villagers, they were now free…but it also spawned a strange huge creatures. The villagers, Serana and Azar united their forced to defeat it.

Back to the village, the Skaald shaman told Azar that there was other stones on the island that might need some screaming at. Five in total: Water, Beast, Sun, Earth and Tree. He also suggested that he go find a Dark Elf wizard South of the island who was also looking for black books called Neloth. Those black books might be the key to learn more about Miraak and his plan(s).

But first, one of the other stone was nearby, the Beast stone, so the duo decided to free it first. He encountered none aggressive blue creatures near it. They tend went to Raven Rock where another stone was and also to take a boat back to main Skyrim, the merchants on the island were quire poor and his buddy Smoke was way too encumbered by all the lot found in the temple.
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Dragonborn is Cthulhu Skyrim! lol

---Neloth the Wizard---

Once back to Solstheim, Azar decided to free the remaining stones and then go find that wizard. The Dunmer was of course Telvanni and the more he talked the more Azar though he sounded like Septimus but less crazy.

Of course, that meant Hermaeus Mora was involved. It was his black books that Azar was looking for. Neloth had a trail for one of them in a nearby Dwemer ruin. A flooded Dwemer ruin. After bashing some mechanical devices, swimming around and restarting the steam pump of the ruins, they were able to free the book and Azar read it.

Evidently, reading is just a way of saying got sucked unto Apocrypha, Hermaeus Mora personal library. The place was strange, full of tentacles, moving things and more tentacles monsters. It was clear Miraak had something to do with all of this…some the Daedric Prince didn't hide, he was his current champion.

After solving the Prince's puzzle, Azar was granted the second word for bending wills. Something he didn't feel he had any use for. Then the Daedra made a deal to get the 3rd one: get the secrets of the Skaald from Storn.

Once back in Tamriel, Azar made for the Skaald village and it didn't take much efforts to get Storn to agree to give away the secret. Too easy in fact and the poor old man paid for it with his life. Herma-mora did old his side of the bargain though and now Azar needs two dragon souls to unlock the full Thu'um and face Miraak.

Neloth is one of my favorite characters in the game, adored him. Nice to get some memories back while reading your posts. My character just started the Goldenglow Estate quest for the guild. I did the few simple ones in Whiterun, plus the first dragon, but then headed to Riften which will be my center for awhile. Once I get more mastery as a Rogue then it will be to the College as I plan on being a rogue-mage like character.

---Apocrypha---

Azar had a bit of trouble finding dragon souls, the dragons were not that hard to find, but Miraak keep showing up to take the souls. But in the end Azar was able to find those souls in Skyrim.

One of those fight had a dragon priest called Krosis show up. It was a fierce battle.

After that, Azar and Serana made it back to Apocrypha. The place was now a labyrinthine puzzle. Once Azar made it to open space a dragon, called Sahrotaar. The Paladin bound its will, despite feeling a bit squeeshy at the idea of doing so, and forced him to bring him to Miraak.

Once there, Miraak hoped to steal Azar's soul and escape the Daedric Prince's realm. Unfortunately for him, despite his cheating nature, he lost the fight of the elements and tentacles. But it was Herma-mora bought dealt the finishing blow.

Azar then departed the foul deadric realms and Solstheim to deal with the dragons coming back. There was now only one Dragonborn to deal with that little matter.
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I'm not a fan of having to be A Daedric Prince's little puppet. :/

---The Butcher of Windhelm---

Now back from Solstheim, Azar, fresh off the boat, was greeted in Windhelm by a fresh murder of a young lady. He soon learned this was the third such murder and the guards were too busy to investigate. The Paladin asked if he could take the investigator's mantle from them and was told to talk to Jorleif the steward.

Getting approval from Jorleif wasn't to hard and tus Azar The Paladin because Azar the Private Investigator. He first investigated the body which was brought to the Hall of the Dead for the last rites. There the priestess suggested the marks on the body were from old nordic embalming tools which was quite suspect. The body had no other clues so Azar returned to the crime scene to follow a trail of blood.

That trail brought him to a closed off house called Hjerim. Asking a nearby guard, Azar learned that it belonged to a young woman called Friga Shatter-Shield. The Paladin had heard of her before, her mother and sister spend a lots of time lamenting about their lost in the market.

Going to the Shatter-Shield mansion, which was very near, Azar started to poke the dead woman's mother for some information and the key to the house. She wasn't too cooperative at first, but didn't cause much trouble once she learned Azar meant to find the killer.

Once in Hjerim, the Paladin started his investigation. A chest contained a journal of the Butcher and many pamphlets written by a Viola Giordano. There was also many more pamphlets in a small cabinet of the house with a strange amulet. Azar also found a secret area, hidden behind a closet. Inside the secret area, it was clear a necromancer or a very crazy person was this Butcher. His second journal was gruesome. He also appear to be an ex-College of Winterhold student.

Trying to find more information about the amulet, Azar talked to a nearby guard and was told to go see a certain Calixto who owns an house of curiosity. After looking at the amulet, he suggested it was something used by Windhelm local court wizards for generations. He also wanted to buy it very much and Azar had no real use of it being unable to link it to the murder so he accepted.

After that Azar decided to go see this Viola who wrote those torn-down pamphlets. She didn't have much new information, but after talking to her about the content of the murder's journal, she suggested it could be Wuunferth The Unliving, the court Wizard. Having all clues pointing to the same man, Azar decided to pay the court wizard a little visit.

The old wizard was slight annoyed to be called a necromancer, he was a College of Winterhold member in good standing and had no interest in it. Sometimes Azar believe that as Arch-mage someone should have given him a list of all members of the College. They keep popping up here and there. Turns out that Wuunferth investigated the murders a bit and determined that the next one who happen tomorrow night, most probably in the Stone quarter.

Azar then spent many hours standing around in the Stone quarter to catch the culprit. Right before he killed his next victim, a certain Arivanya. The next morning, he went back to Jorleif for his reward and then left Winterhold for more adventures…to be assaulted by a dragon. Who terrorized the guards and civilian until killed.

---More Azar Private Investigator---

After leaving the dragon's bony carcass behind in Windhelm Azar made it for Mount Anthor, a city guard told him another dragon was hanging out in that area. Many dead animals and even dead refugees (from where?) were encountered on the road to where the dragon delved.

Once there, the Paladin called Durnehviir as promised back in the Soul Cairn and the dragon was quickly dealt with. Then looking at his map, Azar decided to stop at Dawnstar before going to Ustengav to get that horn for the Greybears. But before reaching that city, he found a strangely quiet lighthouse. Once he entered it, bloody murder had occurred in that building and Azar decided to investigate.

Some journals, dead bodies and weapons were found telling the story of Ramati and her husband Habd with their two childrens. It appears some chaurus invaded their cellar…and there is Falmers everywhere there is chaurus. The Paladin found the key to the cellar in Ramati's favorite urn on the foyer and then proceeded in investigating it. It wasn't just some Falmers, it was a big chaurus nesting ground maintained by the Falmers. Azar did the macabre discovery of the rest of the family in the underground passages below the lighthouse and tus that investigation was concluded.

Taking the direction of Dawnstar again, nothing special happened until reaching the city. There, the museum invitation, the Paladin had received many days ago found its destination. A local, Silus Vesuius, opened a Mythic Dawn museum. After explaining they were Mehrune Dagon worshipers Azar only wanted to leave the place. Strangely, Serana was quite silent through the whole process.

And finally, the Paladin made it to the old burial ground Ustengav. There was some bandits and necromancer fighting over the entrance, but the inside was more common draugr wandering aimlessly. The Paladin was quite pleased to put his undead hunting skills to use. Unfortunately, something unexpected waited for him at the end of the tomb. Someone had took the horn!…and left a message telling him to ask for an attic room at the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood. It has been a long time since the Paladin had set foot in the small village, but he still remembered the way.

Once there, he asked the innkeeper for the room which didn't exist. Stupid prank. Because it was late, he sleep in the normal guest room. The next morning, the innkeeper, Delphine, came and handed over the horn while asking Azar to follower her to a secret room. She wanted him to prove he was Dragornborn. Also, she's a bit paranoiac about the Thalmor and she believes they are reanimating the dragons. Indeed, she said that her organisation killed all of them centuries ago. Dragon are coming back to life, not from somewhere.

Delphine was a name Azar heard before. Indeed, she's was the person to whom Farengar gave a copy of the dragonstone Azar got from Bleaks Fall Barrow. Using that stone she discovered where another dragon will be raised from the death: Kynesgrove. All three of them, yes Serana was still very quiet, made for that tiny place near Windhelm and there it was. The huge black dragon that almost barbecued Azar in Helgen. And that dragon used a Thu'um and another dragon rose from his grave.

And then Azar, Delphine and Serana send it back to it.

Having seen Azar's absorb the dragon's power, Delphine was now more open about her "group". She was a member of the Blades and they were dragonslayers. She still believes the Thalmor have something to do what is going on and she now had a plan to find more: infiltrate a party at the Thalmor Embassy.

Next: Azar The Spy.

---Azar Super Spy or maybe not---

Delphine's grand plan to get the paladin into the Thalmor Embassy included running butt naked in the streets of Solitude. In truth, that wasn't exactly part of the plan, but the soiree started like that nonetheless.

See, Azar had to leave some gear with a wood elf called Malborn, who worked at the embassy, so he could smuggle it inside. He hates Thalmor for things that happened back home and was Delphine's agent. Azar always trying to pack light ended up giving what he was wearing to Malborn and run off to the where Delphine was waiting outside of Solitude wearing nothing. She was waiting with nice clothes for the party, an invitation and a carriage to bring our new spy to the Embassy. She didn't let Azar leave with his backpack though and waiting until he done the new clothes.

After taking the carriage, Azar was greeted by some guards who accepted the invitation without problems. Once inside, the place was full of jarls and important people. Even Proventus Avenicci was there, the steward of Whiterun. After mingling a bit with the gentry, Azar finally executed the plan…which was to cause a distraction to get Malborn to sneak Azar into the kitchen and the rest of the embassy. To cause a distraction, the Paladin gave some wine to a Reguard merchant. He had no issue causing a scene for his new friend afterward.

Once inside the not-for-guests area, Azar's poor spying skills showed. This spying business soon turned into a whacking business and a few Thalmor lost their lives. The paladin found some documents in Elenwen's office. Looks like the Thalmor were also investigating the dragons return so they couldn't be the culprits. They also had a note on Delphine and Ulfric… Azar learned that Skyrim people are being used against each others to serve the Thalmor's agenda, he wasn't too happy about this. In the dungeon, Azar found a prisoner who he freed and Malborn showed up as well… escorted by Thalmors soldiers. Saving everyone from those wretches, Azar and the gang escaped through a trapdoor leading into a snow troll cave…who didn't live very long.

Rushing back to Delphine, still in Riverwood, Azar explained what happened. The only interesting thing was that a certain Esbern was still alive. Delphine asked the Paladin to find him. He was hiding in Riften and the Blade Lady was sure it meant he was in the Ratway. Having not idea what that was, Azar was thinking of following Delphine's suggestion of talking to a guy in Riften. The name sounded familiar to the Paladin but it was only when he saw his face that he realized it was the twitchy dude that wanted him to help steal things in the market place. Resolute to not get embroiled in thievery, Azar decided to find an entrance to the Ratway by himself. It turns out the name is just something fancy for underground murky passages full of crazy people and a strange bar with dodgy people.

After finding Esbern in the strange place, killing some Thalmor on his trail in the way, Azar convinced him to come talk to Delphine and they started the long trip back. A rather uneventful trip outside of a dragon attacking Riverwood when they arrived. Once safe inside the secret place in the inn, Esbern started talking about Alduin's Wall, a prophecy and a secret Blade temple somewhere in Skyrim. Azar just asked a mark on his map, he was getting tired.
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Every time I get to Riften I just want to play a thief and join the guild, lol. It's hard to hate the place with Azar who just sees corruption everywhere.

---Sky Haven Temple---

Azar and Serena left Delphine and Esbern to make a trip to Whiterun for some shopping, while the two Blades made for the old Blade Temple directly.

Once they sold all the overflow of gear they found, they set course for Rorikstead. They encountered a few dragons on the way and even Alduin resurrecting one of them near the village. But outside of that, another assassination attempt and some wolves not much else happened.

Once they reached Karthspire, the place was crawling with Forsworms. They seemed slightly annoyed that four person stumbled on their camps. Old man Esbern showed them who was boss by summoning elemental that swooped them. Once the Forsworms were dealt with, Azar and company made their way inside a cavern and their they found the temple.

And very old Akaviri temple that had to be opened via the Dragonborn's blood. Inside, they found Alduin's Wall and Esbern deduced that the "last time" he was defeated using a shout. Azar's suggested to ask the Greybeards if they might know what that shout could be and Delphine agreed.

So now Azar was off to the highest mountain in Skyrim…again. He was getting a bit tired of climbing that specific mountain.

---The End---

Azar and Serana climbed the mountain to learn about Dragonrend, but the Greybeards were not very helpful. It seems there is bad blood between them and the Blades. They still led Azar to their leader: Paarthunax…a very old dragon. From him, the paladin learned that dragon greet each others by breathing fire to their each others, but he didn't know the shout, but had an idea on how it could be learned.

An Elder Scroll was apparently used in the past to push Alduin forward in time. The very same Elder Scroll Azar found a long time ago in Blackreach. By using near the time wound created in the past, the Paladin traveled in mind to the event of Alduin's first "defeat" and saw and heard Dragonrend which allowed him to learned the Thu'um.

Once back to the present, Alduin was there and angry. With Paarthunax aid, Azar and Serena were able to defeat him, but he ran away…to Sovngarde. Another spirit realm. The paladin would need the help of one of Alduin's dragon followers to reach the place. This started the "Dragonreach become dragon trap" plan.

Unfortunately, the Jarl of Whiterun didn't want to help without getting a cease fire between the Legion and the Stormcloak. This lead Azar to ask the Greybears to hold a meeting and convince both General Tullius and Ulfric to attend it. The negotiations were just has hard, but in the end Ulfric got Markarth and Morthal, while the Empire gained back Riften. Azar was somewhat happy that he forced all those people to climb 7000 steps. He didn't like politics very much.

Now that the ceasefire was in effect, Balgruuf agreed to let his castle serve as a trap. And Esbern provided a shout to call a dragon, he found it in some old document. But first Azar asked Serana to marry him. After that, they set up the trap in Dragonreah and called the dragon. There wasn't much of a fight and the dov didn't seems to hate answering questions as much as being trapped. In the end, he agreed to bring Azar to Skuldafn temple where a portal to Sovngarde exist.

The temple was crawling with Draurg wight, Draurg scourge and their lords. Also a few dragons. None paused much issues for the Paladin and the portal was reached. The place was full of mist, a poor soul was even captured right in front of the Paladin by Alduin. Eventually, he made it to a strange bridge made of giant bones and a giant human called Tsun. He was the Shield-Thane of Shor and he had to test Azar to let him pass to the Hall of Valor.

The Paladin passed the trial and inside the hall he found the 3 heroes for ages pass tried to defeat the World-Eater. Together they removed Alduin's mist and brought him down to kill him. Then Tsun send back Azar to Nirn where he was greeted by dragons mourning Alduin…well Azar believe they were morning their older brother, he didn't understand the dragon tongue to really know.

After that, Azar brought Serana to Riften to marry her…

The End
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Legate Rikke was hilarious in the negotiation, badmouthing Ulfric every time he said something. lol

This is the end of the Azar story. :D