Florentius Baenius

"I once killed thirty vampires with my bare hands, you know. Ask Arkay, he'll tell you."

- Florentius

Florentius Baenius is an Imperial priest of Arkay. He also serves as a master-level trainer in Restoration and an apothecary merchant to members of the Dawnguard.

Personality
Florentius Baenius is quite outspoken and loud in his interactions with others. Despite being a priest, he frequently makes wild claims about his prowess in combat and generally acts in a non-priestly manner.

Supposedly the Aedra Arkay, god of burials and funeral rites, converses with him regularly. Other Dawnguard members such as Sorine Jurard dismiss this behavior as eccentric. Regardless of Arkay's involvement, Florentius repeatedly obtains highly detailed information that he would have no feasible way of learning otherwise - such as learning when one of the Dragonborn's friends have been kidnapped, and having highly detailed information about the inhabitants of the radiant locations he sends the Dragonborn to.

Bolstering The Ranks
Florentius Baenius is rescued from imprisonment in Ruunvald, he agrees to return to Fort Dawnguard and aid the cause, which is where the Dragonborn first witnesses Arkay and Florentius interacting.

Lost Relic
Florentius asks the Dragonborn to retrieve an ancient relic that once belonged to the Dawnguard of old. The artifact must be retrieved from a radiant location. This quest is offered up to three times, each time for a different item.

When asked about the old Dawnguard, he has quite a negative opinion and remarks that they were not the noble defenders that people make them out to be. He believes they were no strangers to looting and pillaging homes, and were even said to have hidden caches that bore their sigil. Supposedly, these caches can be opened using Sun Fire. Although these ancient caches no longer exist, the modern day Dawnguard employ a similar method of hiding supply caches for members out in the field.

Rescue
Save a random character from a vampire at a random location. He explains that he learns about the kidnapping from Arkay. The rescue target will usually express surprise when the Dragonborn rescues them, remarking that nobody knew to look for them.

Wares
In addition to typical alchemical wares, Florentius also sells two rare spell tomes:
 * Stendarr's Aura
 * Vampire's Bane

Old Dawnguard
Do you know anything about the old Dawnguard?: "Oh, I've read a few things. Heard a few more things. Arkay's told me a bit as well. The story they'd like you to believe is that they were such a noble bunch, doing the honorable thing and saving lives. Only I hear that's not quite how it happened. Secret organization, you see. No one to blame when homes are broken into, things stolen. Heard they'd go on midnight raids, pillaging and looting, and then stash the spoils somewhere, guarded by their sigil. Arkay tells me the Sun Fire spell can break open those caches, but I've never found one. I think he might be lying to me."

Quotes

 * Florentius.png"It is my sworn duty to see Arkay's wrath delivered to all the undead. It's usually a good bit of fun, too."
 * "Arkay's been watching over me for years now. He says he's not too sure about you yet, though."
 * "Don't you worry about me. I've been through worse. I'll come out of this just fine."
 * "Arkay be with you, my friend."
 * "Arkay bless you, friend."
 * "Potions my friend, potions! Possibly some spells. Maybe some other things I've forgotten about. Actually I'm not sure. Let's see, shall we?" - When trading.
 * "Look, I'll be honest with you. I have no idea. But I'm sure we can find something worth your time." - When trading.
 * "A noble cause, Arkay likes the idea very much, so I'm happy to help." - When asking for training.
 * "I knew you had it in you! Arkay wasn't so sure. Between you and me, I don't think he expected you to make it. But not me, I knew all along!"

Trivia

 * Various members of the Dawnguard don't know if he really does speak to Arkay or not. Among the quotes from the other Dawnguard members, are: "I've never heard of a Divine directly speaking to someone before..." "...Maybe we're just all a bit crazy to be here".
 * Whether or not Florentius actually converses with Arkay is debatable. There are no recorded instances of Aedra having frequent direct interactions with mortals, but Florentius regularly displays knowledge and facts that could not have been obtained through conventional means.
 * He could be based off favored souls from D&D, who deities spoke directly to.

Bugs

 * After completing the main quest and going around asking Dawnguard members if there is anything one can do to help, they will all say, "speak with Florentius, he has something for you". When speaking with him the dialogue option is not open to help. Often, this can be the result of already having a quest given by Florentius. Completing the quest, then returning to Florentius for another quest should help. If he still doesn't give a quest, eventually it will mark as complete when taking a quest from him later on.
 * Occasionally, Florentius may not have the dialogue option to complete the Lost Relic quest to acquire the Dawnguard Rune Shield. There is no known fix.

Appearances


Florentius Baenius Florencio Baenio Florentius Baenius Флоренций Бений