(Continued from Dawnguard Diaries: Chalices and Crossbows)

The Dawnguard needed me to continue on its quest, but first there was the little issue of my latent vampirism. I was directed to Morthal, to meet with Falion. He tells me the only way to cure this evil inside is to use a Black Soul Gem. He conveniently sold these, making me wonder if this wasn't some elaborate sales pitch. But as he pointed out, I needed a filled Gem, which means killing someone and taking their soul to bind inside the artifact.

Wait. This is supposed to make me less evil?

Unfazed by killing (Dark Brotherhood guild leader, remember), I broke into a house and waited for some hapless guard to appear. I killed him, and promptly poked him with the Black Gem. Nothing? As it turns out, I needed a particular spell with which to trap Souls. Oops! Sorry, random nameless guard. If it's any comfort to your wife and children, you died serving as an important lesson in my quest to save the world from vampires.

After finding a Conjurer to sell me the spell, I attracted another guard and trapped his soul. With a brief ceremony and the stink of death on me, I was cured and could get back to the quest proper.

Isran guided me upstairs to meet a vampire defector -- Serana, as it turns out. She told us that her father has some crazy notion about blocking out the sun. (Ha! As if that would ever happen!). Isran reluctantly accepted her help, but pointed out that my tail is on the line if she causes any trouble.

My task was to find a Moth Priest who could translate the Elder Scroll. I was given several leads, but being the Arch-Mage of Winterhold, I started there. One of the mages directed me to a small town where a Moth Priest may have gone, so I rushed there to find he had just left. I gave chase, and found his caravan had been ransacked. A note indicated he was being held in a nearby cave, so I made haste to that location. After dispatching a few vampires with ease, I let the Moth Priest Dexion free. Naturally, he attacked me immediately, so I had to knock some sense into him to break the vampire's spell.

Dexion was eager to translate, especially to prevent a vampire outbreak, so I showed him the way to Fort Dawnguard. There, he told us all of a prophecy about Auriel's Bow, and something about making the light and dark mix. It didn't make much sense to a simple lizard wizard, but the most important part stuck out: there are two more Elder Scrolls to complete the prophecy, and we need to find them before the vampires do.

My vampire coven wishes to block out the sun. But first, we needed a translator. Harkon told me to find a Moth Priest who can read Serana's Elder Scroll, so we can learn the secrets of how to blot out the sun. I was given several leads, but I had a feeling asking a certain librarian at the College of Winterhold would yield quick results. Call it a hunch.

He directed me to a town, which led me to an ambushed caravan, which led me to a cave. Why does all this seem so familiar? Inside, I dispatched a few Dawnguard dogs through liberal use of my Vampire Lord powers. The meat bag known as a Moth Priest wasn't too happy to see me, and tried to fight. It wasn't much of a struggle, though, so before long he was on his knees begging for mercy. I obliged in the best way I know how, by making him my Thrall. Since then, he's been much more inclined to see things our way.

I took the priest (Dexter or something) to Volkihar Keep and had him translate the scrolls. It was boring and vague, as prophecies tend to be, but the intriguing part came at the end. Two more Elder Scrolls complete the prophecy and can tell us how to blot out the sun for good. We just need to find them.

I can't shake the feeling that I've done all this before.

Shacknews' ongoing Dawnguard Diaries follow Steve Watts' journey through Skyrim's "Dawnguard" downloadable content. It was played on a retail Xbox 360 copy of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, with a DLC code provided by the publisher.