Discovering That Ravenna Is The Dragonborn

Discovering that Ravenna is the Dragonborn

     The group flees Riften in a hurry, and on the road to Whiterun, they catch Inigo up to speed - The Vigil of Stendarr are a holy order who hunt vampires and daedra worshippers, Ravenna is a blood-hungering creature of the night, they all saw a dragon in Helgen on the way to Riften, et cetera, et cetera. Inigo makes a comment that when he’d first met Ravenna, she hadn’t been a vampire, and it only serves to further solidify that the person he shot at could not have been her. Inigo and Lucien get acquainted quickly, and it isn’t long before the journey to Whiterun is backlit by their enthused chatter.

       When they arrive in Whiterun, they rush out to Dragonsreach immediately to figure things out with the Jarl, and to warn him about the dragon they’d seen. For their trouble, they are promptly sent out to Bleak Falls Barrow, in search of a stone tablet for the Jarl’s derogatory court wizard. They trek out to the Barrow, which they quickly discover to be infested with bandits, draugr, and a giant frostbite spider that tears half Ravenna’s shirt and sleeve off before they can kill it, leaving her with a giant, gaping wound on her upper arm and shoulder. ”Will you be alright?” Inigo asks her after the dust settles, “Can you drink potions?” ”Not potions of healing, but vampires heal quickly away from sunlight,” Ravenna replies, “I’ll be fine.”

    They traverse through the Barrow, slaying draugr, avoiding traps, and even using them to their own advantage on occasion, and, finally, they arrive at the last room in the tomb. Despite Kaidan’s suggestion that the puzzle door they entered through may have been meant to keep something in, rather than keep them out, everything is fine as the four of them investigate the room for the Dragonstone. Until it isn’t. Ravenna has no idea what happens. Inigo checks up on the platform first as the rest of the group scatters, all of them looking anywhere other than the great iron sarcophagus in the middle of the room, and, unfortunately, coming up empty-handed. They all know what has to happen. They have to break that iron sarcophagus open if they want their quarry, but as they all walk up those stairs, that’s when she starts to hear the chanting. From there, everything fogs up. Strange new information is forcibly wrestled into her mind, and there is no pain, not in the physical sense, but it is painful in how it makes her mind feel enfeebled and overloaded with information and sensory input. The sensation reminds her of when she’d been young and human and sick, and trying to move or stand too fast would make her vision go dark and send the blood rushing through her head, only this is much, much more intense. When her vision finally clears, she realizes for the first time that she had lost it in the white haze of whatever just happened. She looks down to see if her knees gave like they used to when she got those head rushes, but she is still upright, thank god. The sarcophagus cracks open just as her ears stop ringing, and the lid hits the ground with a loud bang.

     Ravenna stops them on their way out of the Barrow, despite the bright light of day. "Stop, stop," Ravenna says when they reach the edge of the river that runs through these woods and past Riverwood, "I need a moment. Let me get the viscera off my face." "Very good, then" agrees Lucien. "Take your time," chimes Inigo. Kaidan sits next to her when Ravenna kneels down and pulls her gloves from her hands. "What happened back there?" he asks quietly, "When you looked at that word wall, it was like you fell into a trance." "So that did happen. And I take it you didn’t hear any chanting, or see lights coming off the runes?" "Uh, no. All I knew about those word walls is that they're used as some sort of memorial. Never heard about them being magic. But it's clearly had an effect on you, are you feeling alright?" In the background, Lucien and Inigo are chatting about their times in Cyrodiil. "I don’t know. I’ll probably be fine, but that was... I’m not sure what that was. I have studied magic so much, for so long, yet not in my earliest memories of my studies have I seen anything like it mentioned in any essay, tome, or other arcane text," Ravenna admits as she brings the water up to her face, pausing to finish speaking before washing away the blood. "No one expects you to go figure it out overnight either. Take it easy if you need, I'd rather that than let some old magic scramble your brains."

     The Jarl appreciates them rushing straight back to Whiterun with the Dragonstone so much he sends them to fight a dragon. Look, not everyone is as excited as Inigo, Lucien thinks warily. This whole thing is getting a little crazy for him - it was already crazy, watching Ravenna drink blood from the throat of an orcish bandit in the Rift was crazy enough for him. But they go, even though they’re sleep-deprived, filthy, and sore. As much as the Imperial scholar is eager for the scholastic opportunity, he also really doesn’t want to die, and this feels like it could be their hand-deliverance to doom. That is, until they not only defeat the dragon, but truly kill it as well, like, permanently. This, however, brings with it other complications. Ravenna seems to have - completely unintentionally - consumed the dragon’s soul. Her eyes are like saucers, the poor girl looks horrified at what’s happening to her. Lucien can’t blame her, he’d probably panic too if something like this was happening to him and he couldn’t control it. He has a lot of questions he thinks they probably both would like answered, but at least one person in their ragtag little group seems excited about this. Surprisingly, it’s Kaidan, the least excitable person Lucien has maybe ever met, who seems tentatively excited to perhaps be traveling with the first Dragonborn in two centuries. But they can’t conclusively call her Dragonborn yet - this whole situation is confusing enough without people putting labels in places they don’t belong.

     They all talk about it more extensively in the inn that evening over dinner, after they’ve all had the chance to bathe and wind down a little more. They’ve all agreed to keep Ravenna’s hours, since traversing in the daylight weakens her so, and for that reason they all opt to stay up longer after the dragon fight, until earlier in the morning so that they can move out for High Hrothgar closer to evening. They mostly just end up talking in circles, though, with no one ultimately being able to come up with any solid idea of what may be going on.      Inigo is worrying for Ravenna. Maybe the soul itself didn’t harm her, but the look on her face when she took it in told him something had to be wrong. He has not known her long, but Ravenna has already shown herself to be a person of both confidence and valor. It is not an image that aligns with the confusion and fear he saw on her face.      Whether he should feel concerned, or relieved that the presumed Dragonborn is also a vampire, Kaidan cannot be sure, but either way he certainly is in awe of the revelation. To be traveling alongside the Dragonborn is a great honor, assuming Ravenna really is. For his part, Kaidan feels plenty convinced - if the soul rushing into her like that at the watchtower wasn’t proof enough, the shout she’d performed shortly after at the prodding of the Whiterun guards certainly had been. Kaidan had been standing behind her, but he could still feel the very reality around them reacting to her voice. It also makes him worried - Ravenna has been a good, even exemplary person for much of the short time he’s known her, but she’s still a vampire and could still be hiding her true nature from him and the others. He finds it admittedly difficult to reconcile the image of a villainous, blood-thirsting creature with the woman he saw stamp her feet at a shitheaded Riften guard, and talk Inigo off the course of suicide, but he makes himself stay wary of her anyway. He notes that she’s been anxious since she absorbed the soul, but finds he can’t bring himself to comment on it.

meet Amoranth Thomas, the Apocalyptic World Tour’s number one Murder Mommy! She is a member of the wasteland’s biggest monsterhunting faction, the Order of the Purifiers.

this guy nailed it

So I just finished Inigo's quests and I brought all my followers along. Now I can't stop thinking about it-

Langley: I am your friend, Inigo

Inigo, referring to the ldb: I already have the only friend I need.

Lucien, offended:

Langley: Oh. I didn't realize you were... an item

Kaidan, harboring secret feelings for the ldb:

Langley: I continued to track you for years...

Lucien:

Langley: All this moron can do is collect eggs!

Kaidan being protective even though he knows full well the ldb could shout Langley off the mountain:

The ldb ranting, balancing halfway up a tree: I don't fucking trust this dude, guys. He's being a real pain in the ass, and what in Talos' name does he need this many eggs for-

Serana, who's only here because the ldb was supposed to take her to find Auriel's Bow:

Meeting Inigo

"Isn't that my ring?" Madesi asks. Ravenna looks at her hand, confused. She's not wearing any- Oh. "Is it? I don't know whose this is," she replies, taking it off and holding it out, "If it is yours, I'm more than happy to return it?" Madesi scowls at her, eyes narrowed. "How kind of you, to return something to me which you've already stolen. Guards! Over here!" At Madesi's call, two guards shuffle over. Lucien cowers, while Ravenna, infuriated and dumbstruck, confronts Madesi. "I didn't take it from you! I said you could have it back if it was yours, why do we need to get the guards involved?" she demands. "Because I don't believe you didn't steal it. You’re only offering to return it because you were caught." In the background, Kaidan gets between Ravenna and the guards. "Woah, hey now. Let's not make this bigger than it is," he attempts to placate them, but they don't seem to care. In fact, they care so little, that they decide to arrest Kaidan along with Ravenna. Only Lucien is let be, but he trails behind the guards as they cart away his companions like a lost puppy regardless. Ravenna and Kaidan are shut up in the same cell, across the prison from a strange Khajiit with blue fur, who talks to himself in his cell. Ravenna looks to Kaidan as the guard locks their door. "I didn't steal that ring from him." "Know you didn't. Think it was that hooded bastard who bumped into you while we were at Brand-Shei's stall, must've planted the ring on you. Sorry I didn't notice when it happened." "Not your responsibility to look after me. Hopefully this will sort itself out quickly." As they are talking, deliberating what to do and trying to guess what may next happen, the Khajiit from across the room speaks to them. More specifically, he calls to Ravenna, waving his arm at her through the bars of his cell. "You there," he calls, "the woman! Do you recognize me?" Ravenna and Kaidan exchange confused gazes. "No," she calls back to him, "Should I?" The cat looks crestfallen. "You don't?" "No," she repeats. "You've not come to Riften to finish me off?" he asks. If Ravenna had liquid in her mouth, she'd have been spitting it out right then. "Why would I be here to 'finish you off'?" she asks. "You don't remember? The job? Anything?" "No, I don't know what you're talking about." "That," he begins, "That is my fault also." "What do you mean?" "Let me introduce myself. I am your so-called friend Inigo. I was the one who killed you, I tried anyway. I am guilty! Kill me!" "You didn't do a very good job, did you? Also, I'm locked up too. I couldn't kill you if I wanted to. Why are you in here?" "After I shot you I realized my mistake and turned myself in. Your body was gone, the guards did not believe me! I had to pay them to put me in this cell. It's where I belong. I needed to repent, I need to repent." "If you thought I was dead than why were you here waiting for me?" "I heard tales of an adventurer, both brave and resourceful, matching your description! I knew it was you,  it had to be! I knew you were going to be coming for me, so I waited. Are you going to kill me? Or not?" "Kill you for what? I don't remember what happened." The cat - Inigo - sighs heavily. "I see I must relive it again, your memory is not what it was." Ravenna's memory is perfectly intact, actually, but she does not bring this up. "We met on a job." "What kind of job?" "The killing kind. We were hired by a lord called Dupan to kill his brothers," Inigo starts the tale and already Ravenna knows this wasn't her. This is an assassination job; a variety of work she usually never takes. "With them gone, Dupan would inherit a great fortune, and promised us much gold in return. Do you remember none of this?" "No. Inigo, I'm fairly sure I'm not who you think I am." "You are," he insists, "Before we left, Dupan said that if only one of us returned from the mission, that one would get the other's reward also. I was hooked on skooma at the time, and I had a bit of a debt problem, so..." "You killed me for my half of the reward," Ravenna fills in the blank. "I tried," he agrees, "That is what matters. It wasn't an easy choice. We had only known each other for a short time, but I grew to like and respect you. We got on well, and fought bravely side-by-side. I threw all that away for gold, and skooma." "Did you end up getting the reward?" She asks. "Hah. No, Dupan was murdered by his sister before I returned. Our deal died with him. Money is an evil like no other, my friend. It is only just that I die at your hand." "Are you still hooked on skooma?" "No. I am done with the stuff. I want to die with my senses intact. Kill me now, I am ready." "No," she replies, "Even if I were able to from here, I would not. Don't ask me again. I am not the person you remember-" "What's all the ruckus down here, lass?" another voice cuts in, and Kaidan sits upright in the chair he'd been occupying while all this went down, suddenly at attention. Brynjolf walks down the stairs, one of the guards trailing not far behind. “I cleared things up with the guards for you, lass. Bad business for the guild to make trouble with someone we’re hoping to recruit. You and your beau are free to go,” the thief tells them as the guard unlocks their cell and lets them out. Kaidan looks to Ravenna with raised eyebrows as they leave. “Trying to recruit you? That why you’ve been avoiding the guild all this time?” He asks. Ravenna nods. “‘Afraid so. They’ve known about me for years, unfortunately.” “That we have,” Brynjolf agrees, “We know she plays nice, but the guild wants her for reasons other than stealing - not that she wouldn’t make a fine thief if she were willing.” "And I believe I've made it fairly clear that I am not-" "Not yet," Brynjolf insists. "Not ever," Ravenna pushes back. "Keep tellin' yourself that, lass. I'll be seein' you," he offers his parting words - and a wink - to Ravenna before turning and heading on his way. Ravenna's attention returns to their new, blue friend. "You said you had to pay them to put you in here? Do you know where they've put the key?" she asks. Inigo nods uncertainly. "In a chest above the fireplace. Why?" "I may not be the person you think I am, but that doesn't mean they're not out there somewhere. Why don't you come travel with me, and we can look for them, instead of staying here to rot in this cell?" she offers. Inigo perks up. "I fight with you?" He asks, hopefully. Ravenna nods. "For now, until you're ready to move on," she says. "Ravenna, are you sure about this," Kaidan cuts in, looking concerned, "I'm not making extra effort to look after him." "I don't expect you to," Ravenna placates, "You just focus on me. Don't worry about him, and don't worry about Lucien - leave them to me. Besides, I'm confident this fellow can at least handle himself." "Fair enough," Kaidan agrees, "If you're sure." "I am," she says, and returns to Inigo, "Are you though?" "I am more than sure, my friend! I accept! I feel lighter in my heart now you have given me this opportunity!" Inigo cheers. "Very good," Ravenna answers sweetly, "Just mind your aim, would you?" "Do not joke about such things my friend," he says glumly, "The sadness I feel for what I have done is brutal enough, for now." "What's going on!? They said you two could leave already!" Lucien's voice echoes in from the hallway, "We need to go! The Vigil are here again!" "Oh, for the love of Talos," Kaidan laments as Lucien runs down the stairs, tripping over himself to get down to reach them. "The Vigil?" Inigo asks, "Who are the Vigil?" "We can explain that later, but for now, we have to leave. Get your things," Ravenna orders, and as Inigo gathers his belongings within his cell, Ravenna and Kaidan recollect their weapons and tools from the warden, Lucien panicking around them all the while. "Where to next?" Ravenna asks the group as they rush out the nearest Riften gates. "Whiterun!" Lucien suggests, "Hadvar surely warned Riverwood about the dragon, but we should still go and make sure the Jarl knows!" "Dragon?! Do you mean to say that you have seen a dragon, my friend?" Inigo asks. "Whiterun works," says Kaidan, "Lucien's right, someone has to make sure the Jarl knows about that fucking wyrm. We'd have to move on again quick, though."

A decent picture from the badlands

Kaidan: I owe you a life debt, take me with you Ravenna: No Kaidan: Okay Ravenna: Wait no come back D: Lucien: I need someone to explore Skyrim with, take me with you! Ravenna and Kaidan: No Lucien: Wait I did something stupid so that you’d have to bring me, please take me with you! Ravenna and Kaidan: Fine Inigo: I am ready to die, please kill me ): Ravenna: Would you like to come with us?