Chasing Echoes

Background
''Serana has indicated her desire to locate her estranged mother, Valerica, who has fled Castle Volkihar with one of the Elder Scrolls. She believes that Valerica may have left a clue to her whereabouts somewhere in the courtyard of the castle. In order to avoid detection by the castle's vampire, she's decided to utilize a hidden entrance on the back side of the island.''

Speak to Serana and ask her what's on her mind. She believes she knows where to start looking for one of the missing Elder Scrolls that Dexion mentioned.

She believes her mother, Valerica, will know the whereabouts of the Elder Scroll, but she has no idea where she is. The last time Serana saw her, she told her she would go someplace safe where Harkon would never find her. Serana can't imagine where this could be, however through some additional dialogue Serana deduces that Valerica is hiding within Castle Volkihar itself.

If the Dragonborn has a follower, Serana will refuse to lead them any further than the docks, until the follower is dismissed. Asking the follower to wait at a location away from the castle will not suffice.

Walkthrough
Castle Volkihar can be infiltrated via an unused dock on the north-western side of the island. To get there, the player can either climb over the rocky terrain to the dock or swim round. The platform is guarded by several armored Skeletons. After defeating the skeletons, proceed into the undercroft.

Castle Undercroft
The undercroft is guarded by Death Hounds, armored Skeletons, and a Feral Vampire who has been banished to live here. Her Journal Fragment gives a little more insight. Fighting through the enemies leads to a canal with a raised wooden bridge. Serana will comment that her mother installed various security measures throughout the castle for her own safety. To lower the bridge proceed to the left and up the stairs - the lever is guarded by a Giant Frostbite Spider. Once the lever has been pulled, return to the bridge that will lead to the courtyard.

Courtyard
The courtyard garden lies in a decrepit state and Serana comments that her mother would never have allowed it to fall into such disrepair.

Serana: "We've made it to the courtyard. Oh no... What happened to this place? Everything's been torn down... the whole place looks... well, dead. It's like we're the first to set foot here in centuries."

"This used to lead into the castle's great hall. It looks like my father had it sealed up. I used to walk through here after evening meals. It was beautiful, once."

"This was my mother's garden. It... do you know how beautiful something can be when it's tended by a master for hundreds of years? She would have hated to see it like this. Wait..."

"Something's wrong with the moondial here. Some of the crests are missing and the dial is askew. I didn't even know the crests could be removed. Maybe my mother's trying to tell us something?"

In the center of the courtyard is a moondial with various phases on the moon depicted around it. Serana mentions that there are some pieces missing. The three missing pieces can be found scattered around the courtyard: Once all the pieces are placed around the moondial, it will rotate and a secret stairway entrance to the Castle Volkihar Ruins will be revealed.
 * 1) Half Moon Crest: In the small lake near the moondial.
 * 2) Crescent Moon Crest: On the east balcony near the table.
 * 3) Full Moon Crest: In the fenced off garden area below the previous crest.

Castle Volkihar Ruins
This part of the castle is blocked off from the rest. It's in a very poor state and is teeming with armed Skeletons and Gargoyles bursting out from gargoyle statues. Head up the stairs into a dining room where several skeletons will be seated around the table. They will awaken when approached. Once they are defeated, head south up the balcony into a room filled with cobwebs and spiked traps. At the far end of this room the gargoyle statue comes to life and attacks. Once the gargoyle is eliminated, head into the next room and up the long flight of stairs where another gargoyle will attack.

Head up some more sets of stairs and past several armed skeletons and another smaller dining area. There will be a medium size room with a gargoyle by the back wall. Behind the statue is a chain that needs to be pulled to open the iron gate to the next area. Once the chain is pulled, the gargoyle will attack. Head through the iron gate and up long flight of stairs where yet another armed skeleton and gargoyle will attack.

The next choice is to either pull the chain to raise the iron gate into the next area or pick the expert level lock on the nearby door. Either option will lead to the same point, but the door is a shortcut that also gives the option of fighting the next set of enemies in a more controlled manner, rather than all at once. The door also leads to a small armory where a selection of Ancient Nord weapons, and a few enchanted weapons can be taken. Choosing the iron gate route will lead to a decrepit cathedral of sorts. A raised platform is found at the far end and a ruined statue of Mara is against the back wall suggesting that this area of the castle once was a temple of Mara.

Head through the halls and over the bridge suspended above the cathedral to the next area. This next room is fairly sparse with the exception of the Vampire Royal Armor that is on a shelf to the right next to two coffins. In addition, there are several Gargolye statues that will attack when approached.

The room will seem to be a dead end, but Serana will comment that there should be a secret entrance somewhere nearby. The entrance can be found by turning a candle stick on the back wall, on the left-hand side of the fireplace. Following the hallway leads eventually to Valerica's Study.

Valerica's Study
Serana: "Look at the place. This has to be it! I know she was deep into necromancy. I mean, she taught me everything I know. But I had no idea she had a setup like this."

"Look at all this. She must have spent years collecting these components. And what's this thing? Im not sure about this circle, but it's obviously... something. Let's take a look around. There has to be something here that tells us where she's gone."

"My mother was meticulous about her research. If we can find here notes, there might be some hints in there."

The most prominent feature in the study is the large group of circular stone rings in the center of the room. Serana asks the Dragonborn to locate Valerica's Journal to give any insight into her whereabouts. The journal can be found on the bookshelf to the right among several other books.

After reading it, Serana mentions that three ingredients are required to open a portal to the Soul Cairn. All three ingredients can be found within the well-stocked laboratory.


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

Once all the ingredients have been found, place them in the chalice overlooking the stone dial. Serana will add her own blood to the mixture in place of Valerica's and the circular stone rings in the center of the room will begin to rotate, eventually revealing the portal.

The Choice
Proceed towards the newly opened portal. If the Dragonborn is not a Vampire, the portal will begin to leech some health. Serana comments that this is because the conditions to enter the portal are such that there are only two options.


 * Either allow Serana to transform the Dragonborn into a Vampire Lord, or
 * Allow her to trap part of the Dragonborn's soul into a soul gem. Doing so will add the Weakened Soul ability that reduces the Dragonborn's health, stamina and magicka by 45 points while in the Soul Cairn.

Bugs

 * If the Frost and Fire Salts are positioned too near the silver bowl of Purified Void Salts, the option to pick up the Void Salts may not appear. To fix this, pick up anything near the silver bowl.
 * Sometimes when placing the items in the Portal Vessel nothing will happen other than the loss of the items. The quest will not be able to be continued if this happens and an earlier save will have to be loaded to try again.
 * Should the player join the Volkihar and cure their Vampirism before getting to this point, Serana will give the choice of Vampirism or Soul-Trapping, but the dialogue will be the same as if they were part of the Dawnguard.
 * If the player is already a Vampire Lord and cures the condition before activating the portal, they may be allowed entry without having to be partially soul-trapped or becoming a Vampire Lord again.
 * After all the ingredients have been gathered, Serana stops moving and thus she will not cut her arms and the quest will not progress, to fix this, type setstage dlc1vq04 90 in the console after speaking with Serana.
 * If you enter Volkihar North Tower before entering the Ruined Tower with Serana, she may not follow you out of the North Tower.  Entering the North Tower and exiting again does not seem to fix the problem, nor does entering and exiting any other door or waiting for any amount of time.  The only fix appears to be loading a previous save.

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