The journal details the ingredients necessary to add together with Serana's blood to open a gate to the Soul Cairn. Luckily, I think I found all these ingredients in the mother's alchemy workshop. I think. I managed to have them all anyways. In case you want to make sure they are stocked up, they are:
• Soul Gem Shards
• Finely ground Bone meal
• Purified Void Salts
So the journal tells Lloth and Serana how to enter the soul cairn, a magic wonderland where you go when you get soul trapped into a soul gem! Awesome! Hey... wait, does this mean all those bandits I sucked into black soul gems are going to be there... well that sounds... pleasant. Let's go visit this magical place!
(as an aside, if you are not already a vampire, the soul cairn will not let you in. It will hurt you. You can choose to be soul trapped to get inside, or turn into a vampire.)
More like wander aimlessly moaning to anyone who happens by. One of these unlucky fools is talking to me about his horse. Yeah yeah your horse. That's cool. Whatever. We have a mom to find. Sure, I'll take on your quest in case I run into anything.
Upon making our way across this weird, vast landscape, I notice there are little fissures that you can harvest souls from, and soul husks you can collect. (The soul husks are for the players who are NOT vampires playing the game, as mentioned before, there are some overlapping quests which are extremely similar even in dialogue, and you have to go through the same steps. Vampires can enter the Soul Cairn without issues. Mortals have to be sent there via soul trap, and I think this causes a wearing effect on the person? I would have to start yet another character there and find out, because even the Dawnguard character became a vampire just to make this part easier).
Upon finding Serana's mother, she tells us we have to kill three large keepers, so that the forcefield can be dropped that prevents us from coming into her area. Awesome. On the way to kill these keepers, I find something strange... hey! It's a horse skull!
If you return the horse skull to the whiny soul who lost him, you can then call and ride the horse. The wacky Soul Cairn ghosty horse. GHOSTY HORSE FTW!
and it's like, on fire, with magic, or something.
Valerica explains that the people in charge of the soul cairn had tricked her... she was stuck there because she thought she could strike a bargain with them, seeing as how she was giving them a steady stream of souls to satisfy their hunger... but it wasn't enough...
Each of the Keepers proved to be a decent, but not harrowing fight. (level 32 Vampire Lord Dark Elf skilled in one handed, Level 45 Breton skilled in two-handed, both with high magicka were attempted. This may prove more challenging in a different character set). Keepers come with some decent loot, as do the ashes of the minions (skeletons/Draugr of varying types, called Bonemen, Mistmen, and Wrathmen).
Then, shit gets real.
Upon our return to the area where Serana's mother is secluded, called the Boneyard, she mentions something about a dragon who is the overseer of sorts of this realm. He will be investigating soon, she surmises. Yep, as luck would have it, suddenly there appears this mighty dragon.
Durnehviir, as he is called, proves to be a fierce and mighty dragon, but as is with most dragons (at this level) he isn't impossible. The worst is trying to keep up with the wrathmen and bonemen, Durnehvir himself, and the mass chaos of it all at the same time. When victory is yours, he vanishes. But not for long...
So now you get the Elder Scroll you need and don't forget to Bogart her entire stash of alchemical ingredients (she totally doesn't care, dude). There's even an alchemy lab you can use right there (sweet dude!)
When you leave the Boneyard, you hear a mighty sound, and out of the sky plops Durnehviir. But he begs a conversation of you. He compliments your skills in battle, as you are the first person to ever best him in combat. He offers you a chance to call him to fight alongside you, to occasionally escape the dreariness that is the Soul Cairn. He can't really ever leave forever, but giving you a shout to call him to battle, he can at least get away from the old ball and chain. Turns out those pesky people in charge of the soul cairn like to fuck with necromancers AND dragons. He was told he could leave when he killed Valerica... who isn't even mortal. Tricksters.
Sure, I can do that...
There are a few other side quests to be completed in the soul cairn if one is so inclined... but I just decided to run the fuck out of there after getting that elder scroll. I need to get that Moth Priest to read it for me.
Upon returning to the Castle, I am shocked to find out my vampire thrall, my Moth Priest, fell victim to too much mastrubation... I mean reading the Elder Scrolls without "properly preparing himself" *cough* and is suddenly SUPER BLIND.
Well now what the fuck?
He offers the helpful advice that if the Elder Scrolls didn't want to be found they wouldn't be, and it is their will to be found and read. He suggests I can do in an afternoon what priests like himself spend years doing... well he suggests I go somewhere and read this stuff in a swirl of magic surrounded by Moths. I am not making this shit up.
So onward... to the Ancestor Glade.
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