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being partially soultrapped,

Skooma drinking option

Having previously kept away from the nasty creed of the Dark Brotherhood, something - perhaps the stress and toil of constantly aiding the land - made her decide to complete the first contracts of killing Narfi et al. Finding all 3 kills oddly not as bad as when attempted long ago, she continued down the path of the assassin.
After meeting Cicero, the first dislike came in having to hide herself in the coffin of a long dead corpse.
Aarah was not surprised to find out that she was the long sought after 'listener' - she had become used to being 'all things special', even if it would have been nice to just be more normal for a change.
More journeys and assassinations ensued until one contract pulled at her morality. She was to kill Vittoria Vici at her wedding. Now, Aarah had previously met Vittoria in Solitude and she seemed to be a perfectly nice lady. She had so far managed to block out the severity and inhumanity of killing a random, unknown face in the world, but now it was someone that she knew - not well- but she knew her name, her face, she even lived next door to her for a while when living in Proudspire Manor.
Aarah's old self, one of good and right, had begun to creep back, and she was unsure whether to continue on with the Brotherhood.

They started out from Solitude where Marilyn had briefly visited the Bard College to meet a client who had performed the Black Sacrament. Mari felt a pang of nostalgia when she heard one of the bards practising "Mogo's Mead", a song she used to love back in the careless days when she still walked in the sunlight... when she took people's purses, not their blood, and the only pleasure she found in killing was pride of her skill, not the twisted lust of consuming another's life essence... It reminded her that the powers Lord Harkon's bite bestowed upon her came at a great price, and considering what the search for power did to Serana and her family she's beginning to question whether the price may not prove too great in the long run.

Setting forth at dusk, they briefly stopped at Dragon Bridge where they supped at the Penitus Oculatus outpost and then rode on into the nightly wilderness until they found the entrance to Darkfall Cave at the precise place where Marilyn had seen it on the Elder Scroll. After killing a few spiders and trolls they discovered the first of several Wayshrines left by the ancient Falmer and met a living relic of that prehistoric race - Knight Paladin Gelebor, the last uncorrupted Snow-Elf in Skyrim. Mari wasn't sure what surprised her more - his mere existence or the fact that he seemed to be completely cool with helping a pair of vampires find Auriel's Bow. Although he still had eyes he was just as blind as any Falmer in his own way.

The long trek through Darkfall Passage had Mari worried that she might run out of arrows before their quest was done, and she started collecting any Falmer arrows she found. On the bright side the chaurus (chauruses? chauri?) they ran into offered her ample opportunity to gather their Venomous Spittle, so valuable both for brewing poisons and for conserving blood in phials to be consumed later.

A whole day had come and passed, and it was night again when at long last Mari and Serana emerged from the Passage into the uncharted mystery of the Forgotten Vale, its beauty breathtaking under a red and golden aurora. The spectral prelates they encountered at the various Wayshrines proved just as oblivious to the true nature of the two 'pilgrims' as Gelebor had been and were very helpful, unlike the two dragons in the frozen lake who broke the ice just as the first rosy hue of dawn tinged the eastern sky. A warning from Auriel/Akatosh himself, perhaps?

When Voslaruum and Naaslaruum had succumbed to Serana's ice spells and Marilyn's poisoned arrows our two heroines were forced to flee the sunlight and take refuge in Forgotten Vale Cave. At sunset they came out again and made their way through the long glacial canyon and crevice. There was no aurora that night, but the two moons were out and bright enough for Mari to shoot by their light without having to use her night vision. All those poor Falmer Betrayed who gathered around the Inner Sanctum never knew what hit them as the two vampire ladies and their deathhounds swept through their homesteads like a black wind of death.

So in the end they reached the Inner Sanctum, came face to face with Arch-Curate Vyrthur and learned the true origin of the prophecy that had led them there in the first place - all that just to take vengeance on an Aedra by desecrating his artifact? The mer was even more bonkers than Harkon ... and easier killed as well.

When all was done Knight Paladin Gelebor showed up and, after being told about his brother's true nature and intentions, rewarded Mari for Vyrthur's death by making her a present of Auriel's Bow and a batch of Sun-hallowed Elven Arrows; never indeed was a mer blinder. As Mari had a couple of elven arrows left Serana volunteered to donate a bit of her blood and turn them into Blood-cursed Elven Arrows, so the two lovers were now in possession of both the means to fulfil Harkon's dream (at least temporarily) and the weapons to slay him if they have to. Time to return to Castle V for the final showdown!

Lord Harkon is dead. In the end it didn't even take Auriel's Bow to slay him, a few sword strikes did the job well enough. Surprisingly (or maybe not so much) the leaderless Volkihar clan seems to look at Marilyn for guidance. As far as she's concerned Harkon's throne belongs to his daughter, but she doesn't mind sparing Serana the trivialities of day-to-day management - after all she has a little more practice running secret organizations. She has already authorized Garan Marethi's suggestion to reopen the access to the old courtyard (a very perceptive vampire, that one), and in due time she and Serana will brave the dangers of the Soul Cairn once more and bring back Valerica. She is a bit worried by Harkon's words about the weakening of bonds between immortals spoken shortly before his death and hopes that this won't be true for the bonds between Serana and her mother... nor between Serana and herself. We'll see.

Finished exploring Volskygge and found the Kahvozein Fang blade to remove the heartscales from a dragon for the Master Alteration spell quest for Tolfdir.
Killed the dragon at Lost Tongue Overlook (again) and used the blade to get the scales. Got a spell tome to learn the Dragonhide spell from Tolfdir. Apparently there are two more phases of the spell but will have to wait to initiate the second part. I was rather disappointed that, as yet, there has been no necessity to use any alteration spells for the Master Alteration spell quest. Seems a bit odd. When I did the Master destruction spell quest, it involved having to use all three types of destruction magic in order to complete.

At the College of Winterhold, J'Zargo was yet again sitting on my seat in my old student room in the college. I told him I had run out of his flame cloak spell scrolls (which I haven't even used yet), to get rid of him. He left in a huff but it got him out of my room.
Tolfdir then strolled in the room and proceeded towards the chair to sit down also. 'Oh, no you don't!' I said, and quickly sat in the seat before he could sit his aged behind on it. He made a disgruntled noise and then left. Ha!
What is it about my chair? Sit in your own damn doorless rooms you trespassers. It's not a big deal but for some reason it bugs me no end!

Strolled around the Lost Tongue Overlook area, trying to find a route to some icon of interest that had appeared on the compass when I was close. Passed by Lorgashbur whilst it was under attack from a giant, killed it, then two trolls appeared -Arniel and I killed those and a bear got involved too. Ogul and Lob from the Orc Stronghold were killed in the battle, as were a number of goats. Lorgashbur was desolate, I don't know where everyone had gone, hopefully the giants/trolls haven't killed them all.
Credit to them both though, as they had the decency to stay outside the stronghold despite the gates being open.

In the end, had to resort to riding the 'laws of physics defying' horse to go up a steep mountain slope to find the point of interest. Unfortunately, the ruins of a Dwarven structure that I found turned out to be a point of no interest.