Skyrim Awakening Quest

In Skyrim, the hero embarks on the Awakening Quest. The hero's destination is the Dimhollow Crypt as he strives to seek out what the vampires are after in the Hall of the Vigilants. This is the start of a series of encounters with vampires and deathhounds, and so the hero needs to be prepared for the battles ahead. The vampires can be easily defeated if the hero is well-prepared and combat tactics are well thought out and executed and can be accomplished by heroes even in the lower levels. This particular dimhollow crypt walkthrough was done with a sneak archer type hero with two weapons fighting style and healing spells as backup. This will guide the hero in getting to the Dimhollow Crypt, navigating through the obstacles in the Dimhollow Crypt and defeating the monsters within the crypt and ultimately finishing the Awakening quest.

The hero must first get to Dimhollow Crypt to face the dangers within to find out what the vampires are up to. For the low level hero without a lot of markers on the map, and absence of fast travel to a lot of places, one suggested way to get to the Dimhollow Crypt is to hire a wagon carriage to Dawnstar (likely from Riften as this quest originated near Riften). Now from Dawnstar, begin trekking southwards. Midway through this journey, the hero will reach Mzinchaleft. Avoid any battles and continue going south. If the hero looks at the map carefully, he will find that the Hall of the Vigilants lies south of Dawnstar, and the entrance to the Dimhollow Crypt lies southwest of Dawnstar. Aim for the Hall of the Vigilants. As the hero reaches the Hall of the Vigilants, he will not see any entrance for this. Instead, he will see some stairs and a way up the snowy mountains. Go up the stairs and path and head towards the entrance to Dimhollow Crypt. Enter Dimhollow Crypt and prepare for a showdown with the vampires.

Before entering the Dimhollow Crypt, check that the hero has a damaging bow (an imperial bow will suffice), a good enough sword and axe and the restorative spell Healing. If the hero needs healing or magickal potions or arrows, he can use fast travel to travel to and fro the cities to get these equipment and then come back to Dimhollow Crypt. Now go into Dimhollow Crypt. The hero will emerge into a large cavern. In the distance, he can just make out a death hound.

• Go into sneak mode and use an arrow or two to finish off the death hound. If the hero misses or the death hound is still alive, then use a follower (like Lydia) to tank the hero, whilst attacking the death hound from the back.

There are some vampire corpses in the ground. Loot them clean and turn right slowly and use sneak mode to see (and hear) two vampires in conversation. The hero should remain undetected.

• From this distance, fire off an arrow at the vampire, eliminating it completely, and use the hero's follower to fight off the second vampire whilst shooting at the fledgling vampire from behind.

There is a passageway leading to some stairs and into an alcove where the vampires are standing. Pull at the chain to open the gate where the vampire corpses are near. Beyond this gate, the hero will turn right and should remain in sneak mode.

• Skeletons will rise from the ground. Now before the skeletons can arise from the ground, do not approach close to that spot. Instead aim for the vampires at the distance and finish them off before moving forwards to stir up the old bones and engage the skeletons in combat. Defeat the skeletons and move on.

The next dimhollow crypt area sees vampires fighting off draugrs. The survivors will attack the hero. Once the survivors (vampires) are defeated by the hero, the hero should survey the area and note two gates, one leading to a large cavern with pools of water in it.

• Before advancing too much, go into sneak mode and use arrows against the vampire in the distance before disturbing the skeletons in the ground. Again defeat the skeletons and proceed into a small maze-like corridor area where the hero must tread carefully and then defeat some vampires and deathhounds.

Finally, the hero will reach a door that opens into the dimhollow cavern. A small room in this area leads out into a vast cavern with a cylindrical structure in the center above some water. Head out and notice a small pouch with a gargoyle next to it. As the archer, the hero can stand here and use eagle eye to zoom in on the vampires in the cylindrical structure. The hero may want to shoot at one vampire from this distance.

Next head gingerly down some stairs into the cylindrical structure. Sneak as the hero draws near. The key here is to eliminate Lokil, the vampire's thralls and other minions quietly and stealthy until Lokil is all alone. The hero has one arrow shot at Lokil before he is alerted and comes after the hero. Use Lydia as a tank and defeat Lokil by using bows and arrows from behind Lydia.

Once Lokil is finished, proceed to the center of the cylindrical structure and press the button. This will cause rays of light to appear on the ground. Push and align the blazer pots so that they continue to direct light in a certain direction. Use trial and error. Eventually, the hero will be able to direct the light so that they shine all the way through in a circle of sorts. This will cause the floor to descend and a stone monolith to appear.

Activate the stone monolith to reveal a mysterious woman. The woman's name is Serana, a vampire. Serana has awakened, and this completes the awakening quest. It's time to bring Serana home.........