Dawnguard Faction -- Scroll Scouting / Chasing Echoes / Seeking Disclosure

Dawnguard Faction -- Scroll Scouting / Chasing Echoes / Seeking Disclosure

The first thing that we need to do is to retrieve the Elder Scroll we already found -- which is either (A) in storage at your house, (B) already on yoru person, or (C) sold to College, in which case we need to go there and buy it back.  Whatever the case is, see to it that the Scroll is in your inventory before you continue with these quests!

We begin by flagging the quest CHASING ECHOES and then talk to Serana to stimulate her memory and help her see where her mother is.  Before you set off on this long adventure see to your kit, make sure you have all that you need, are not carrying extra weight and are good to adventure because we are about to set out on a long romp during which there will be lots of good loot!

Identifying the correct entrance to the secret passage

Head to the Castle then around the back to the old entrance and go in -- battle your way through the undead and dogs (take out the Feral Vampire) and make your way to the old garden.  To do that you will need to find the lever to lower the bridge and then enter the garden where you will discover a sundial in its center that is missing pieces around its base.

Search the garden for the Half Moon Crest which is in the pond, the Crescent Moon Crest, which is on the balcony, and the Full Moon Crest which is in the fenced off area.  Once you have them place them back around the sun dial and then activate it to open the stairway to the passage that leads into the blocked-off old section of the Castle!

This is something of a maze and there are a lot of enemy to fight here, but eventually you will arrive in a chamber in which you are attacked by three Gargoyle -- and that is decorated by Gargoyle.  Serana will mention that there should be a secret door.  In the right back end of the room is a shallow alcove with a fireplace that has wood in it.  Turn the candle on its left side to open the secret door and go in!

-- Valerica's Laboratory --

Follow this passage to Valerica's Laboratory and listen to what Serana says, then search the shelves for a red book that is her mothers journal. 

After you read it Serana asks if you found it -- and you tell her yes -- and she insists on reading it herself, after which she tells you the three ingredients that are required to open something called the Soul Cairn.  They are:

(1) Finely Ground Bone Meal - On the table with the skulls near the entrance, in a large silver bowl.
(2) Purified Void Salts - On the last shelf on the balcony, in a large silver bowl.
(3) Soul Gem Shards - Atop a wardrobe just past the stairs on the right, in a large silver bowl.

Now head down the stairs and into the portal!

Opening the Soul Cairn Portal

You will find all three Alchemy ingredients in the room across all of the levels -- all of which are in special larger containers -- and after you collect these and place them in the chalice on the balcony overlooking the portal, Serana will add some of her blood to the mixture causing the portal to open thus allowing access to the Soul Cairn. 

After the animation for the opening completes a set of stairs will appear linking the balcony to the portal, at which point you can try to just head down the stairs and enter it to zone in to the Soul Cairn, but you will find that it will not allow you to enter -- in fact it hurts you when you try.  The reason for that is that you are supposed to be undead to enter and you, well, you are not.

You have to make a choice here -- she can turn you into a Vampire (but that means you are going to have to do the cure when you get out AND you will no longer be a Werewolf) or you can elect an alternative -- you have to give it your soul...  Well, not really all of your soul, just part of it -- Serana says she can partially Soul Trap you and offer that as your passage fee...  What that means is that you will be a bit weaker than usual while in the Soul Cairn, but you can manage that, right?

Your alternative again is to allow her to turn you into a Vampire -- I did not want to do that but you make your own call on that.  If you have any doubts about the decision now would be the time to save your game before you make it.  Bear in mind that there is a food item thingy in the Soul Cairn you can gather and eat that will reduce the impact being there has on you.

Whatever your choice, entering the Sould Cairn completes the quest CHASING ECHOES, and starts the quest BEYOND DEATH.