Prophet (Dawnguard)

For other uses, see The Prophet.

Prophet
Quest Giver	Isran
Location	Forebears' Holdout
Prerequisite	A New Order
Next Quest	Seeking Disclosure and Chasing Echoes
Faction	Dawnguard
Type	Main Quest
Quest ID	DLC1VQ03Hunter

Background

Serana told me that her father was trying to gain power over the sun by fulfilling a prophecy found in the Elder Scrolls. If we could read the prophecy, we might be able to stop him. Serana had one of the scrolls, but we'd need a Moth Priest in order to read it.

Walkthrough

Discussion

After talking to Isran, he leads the Dragonborn to talk to Serana, who arrived at the fort to tell the Dawnguard of her father's plans. Upon talking to Serana and Isran, he allows Serana to stay if she does not touch anyone. Serana says they need a Moth Priest to read the Elder Scroll she brought, and Isran says an Imperial scholar has recently arrived in Skyrim.

Serana recommends the Dragonborn find the moth priest, and says she will go with the Dragonborn, only if it is just her and the player. Any follower must be let go to allow Serana to follow, although there is a glitch that allows Cicero to come as a second follower. If the Dragonborn does not take Serana as a follower, she stays at Fort Dawnguard.

Investigation

Ask a Carriage Driver

Ask any carriage driver outside a city if he has seen a Moth Priest. He will mention that he's not sure, but can be persuaded or bribed for answers. The driver will reveal that the Moth Priest asked him to take him to Dragon Bridge.

Ask an Innkeeper

Ask any innkeeper in any city if they have seen a Moth Priest. They will say that the Moth Priest had recently stayed in the inn, on his way to Dragon Bridge.

Visit the College of Winterhold

Head to the College of Winterhold, and speak to Urag gro-Shub in the Arcanaeum. He will reveal that a Moth Priest came by to study in the library, but left for Dragon Bridge.

Dragon Bridge

Upon reaching Dragon Bridge, ask the guards or Clinton Lylvieve about the Moth Priest's whereabouts. They will mention that he left south across the bridge a short while ago.

Travel south across the bridge and eventually find an ambushed carriage. Search the vampire corpse for a Vampire's Note  indicating that the Moth Priest was taken to Forebears' Holdout.

Forebears' Holdout

Forebear's Holdout

Upon entering the cave, head left and kill or sneak by the death hounds and vampires before crossing over to the main building and up the stairs to the upper platform. The Moth Priest, Dexion Evicus, is being held here in a magical barrier.

Once all the vampires are dead, search Malkus' body to find a Weystone Focus. Place the Weystone on the altar above the barrier to deactivate it. Dexion Evicus will awaken, but will still be partially enthralled. After defeating him, he will come to his senses and thank the Dragonborn. After talking to Dexion, he will agree to help read the Elder Scroll and will head to Fort Dawnguard.

Travel back to Fort Dawnguard and report to Isran. Next speak with Dexion, who will begin to read the Elder Scroll. He first sees a vision of Auriel's bow, then a voice whispers to him about a dread lord of the night who will rise up in a time when dragons return. He then reveals that two other scrolls are needed to learn the secret of the bow's power and complete the prophecy. One scroll contains the ancient secrets of the dragons, the other speaks of the potency of the ancient blood. Once the reading is complete, the quest ends and the quests "Chasing Echoes" and "Seeking Disclosure" begins.

Elder Scroll reading

Dexion: "I see a vision before me, an image of a great bow. I know this weapon! It is Auriel's Bow! Now a voice whispers, saying "Among the night's children, a dread lord will rise". In an age of strife, when dragons return to the realm of men, darkness will mingle with light and the night and day will be as one.

The voice fades and the words begin to shimmer and distort. But wait, there is more here. The secret of the bow's power is written elsewhere. I think there is more to the prophecy, recorded in other scrolls. Yes, I see them now... One contains the ancient secrets of the dragons, and the other speaks of the potency of ancient blood.

My vision darkens, and I see no more. To know the complete prophecy, we must have the other two scrolls."

• Serana must be present for reading

Journal

Journal Entry
When I returned to Fort Dawnguard, Isran told me that he needed to speak to me, and he asked me to follow him. Objective: Follow Isran
When I returned to Fort Dawnguard, I was surprised to learn that Serana had come to the base searching for me. She claimed to have something urgent she needed to tell me. Objective: Speak to Serana
Serana told me that her father was trying to gain power over the sun by fulfilling a prophecy found in the Elder Scrolls. If we could read the prophecy, we might be able to stop him. Serana had one of the scrolls, but we'd need a Moth Priest in order to read it. Objective: Speak to Isran
Serana told me that her father was trying to gain power over the sun by fulfilling a prophecy found in the Elder Scrolls. Only a Moth Priest can read an Elder Scroll, so we've set out to find one. Objective: Locate a Moth Priest Objective: (Optional) Ask carriage drivers about the Moth Priest Objective: (Optional) Visit the College of Winterhold to ask about the Moth Priest Objective: (Optional) Ask innkeepers in cities about the Moth Priest
Serana told me that her father was trying to gain power over the sun by fulfilling a prophecy found in the Elder Scrolls. We've set out to find a Moth Priest who can read Serana's Elder Scroll, and the trail has led us to Dragon Bridge. Objective: Ask people in Dragon Bridge if they saw the Moth Priest
Serana and I are one step behind the Moth Priest. We journeyed to Dragon Bridge and learned that he had passed through the town, heading south across the bridge. Objective: Search along the road south of Dragon Bridge
I'm one step behind the Moth Priest. After leaving Dragon Bridge, I searched along the road for any sign of his passing. I found an overturned wagon and some dead vampires and Imperial guards. Was this the Moth Priest's wagon? Objective: Investigate the scene of the attack
Objective: Read the Vampire's Note
Harkon's vampire agents have captured the Moth Priest and taken him to a place called Forebears' Holdout. I must rescue him before the vampires can break his will. Objective: Rescue the Moth Priest
Objective: Deactivate the magic barrier
Harkon's agents have captured the Moth Priest! I have tracked them to Forebears' Holdout, but the vampires have enthralled the moth priest and I will have to confront him in order to break their hold. Objective: Defeat the enthralled Moth Priest
Harkon's agents captured the Moth Priest and enthralled him, but I was able to break their hold on his mind. Objective: Speak to the Moth Priest
I rescued the Moth Priest from his vampire captors and asked him to meet me at Fort Dawnguard. I must return to Isran and tell him of our success. Objective: Report your success to Isran
With the Moth Priest safely back at Fort Dawnguard, he can now read Serana's Elder Scroll and learn more about the prophecy that Harkon is hoping to use to gain power over the sun. Objective: Speak to the Moth Priest
After the Moth Priest's reading, we have more questions than answers. The old priest saw a vision of a weapon called Auriel's Bow, but we need to find two more Elder Scrolls in order to unravel the rest of the prophecy. Quest complete

Trivia

• If Serena creates a Thrall that survives the battle, after talking with Dexion, the Thrall may begin to sleep in one of the coffins.

Bugs

This section contains bugs related to Prophet (Dawnguard). Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following: Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening. If the bug is still occurring, please post the bug report with the appropriate system template  360  /  XB1  ,  PS3  /  PS4  ,  PC  /  MAC  ,  NX  /  PS5  ,  XS  , depending on which platform(s) the bug has been encountered on. Be descriptive when listing the bug and fixes, but avoid having conversations in the description and/or using first-person anecdotes: such discussions belong on the appropriate forum board.

Click to see the list of bugs encountered

360   When going to save the Moth Priest, he may be outside of the magic barrier. If he is, then do not deactivate the magic barrier. If its deactivated, he will stay down after being defeated.  360   When entering Fort Dawnguard or Castle Volkihar, he may attack everyone. The only known fix at this time is loading a previous save.  PC   360   PS3   It is possible that Malkar can be inside the barrier, making it impossible to open without reloading.  PC   360   PS3   Upon releasing the Moth Priest, he will be hostile. After he has been defeated, if he does not stand up and remains downed on his knees, then he will attack the other people at Fort Dawnguard or Castle Volkihar when he gets there. The only current way to remedy this is to load a previous save. Solution: Open the console by pressing the '~' key. Click on the Moth Priest while the console is opened, and enter resurrect. The Moth Priest will continue attacking the other people, but the Bend Will shout will stop both the Moth Priest and the Dawnguard people from attacking each other. This is quite tricky. The above glitch is caused by the vampire who is inside the barrier defeating him before you can save him, which initiates the interaction you would have had, if he had attacked you first. A solution to this is to cast Harmony (with the necessary perks) before you go through the archway leading to the bonfire. The range of the spell is more than sufficient. (It will not affect Malkar or the Nightmaster Vampire, so if only their names appear in the affectee list then it has worked on the vampire within the barrier) Kill Malkar, get his Weystone and deactivate the barrier. The Moth Priest will then become hostile as scripted and the objective "Defeat the enthralled Moth Priest" will appear. Once he and all the other vampires have been defeated, he will no longer be hostile.  360   He may randomly attack you.  360   Solution: If the Dragonborn is not an imperial or have any magic or dragon shout that can manipulate humanoids, the most simple way to avoid this Glitch is to not have Serana as a companion during the quest. Dismiss her right away when the quest starts. Solution: Find the note on a dead vampire on the road south of Dragon Bridge (next to the first destroyed wagon) in order to avoid this glitch. The Moth Priest will still be hostile initially, but will yield upon defeating him. Solution: Get 60 Illusion and dual cast Pacify frequently. (Only works if the Dragonborn has the necessary perks). Solution: Make sure Serana does not follow the Dragonborn into Forebears' Holdout. Even if she accompanied them all the way to Dragon Bridge, as long as she does not go inside Forebears' Holdout, Dexion should no longer be hostile once outside.  PC   Solution: Upon entering Forebears' Holdout, in the open the console and enter 'prid xx007b88' then 'setav health #' with # a really high value (e.g. 1000000). after opening the barrier, quickly return his health to a more reasonable value.  PC   If this glitch is active it can be circumvented by using the console commands kill and resurrect. Press ~ key to bring up the command window. With the console window open use the mouse to click on the Moth Priest. This will display a HEX code on the window. Type the word kill to immediately place the priest into defeated posture. Exit the console. Once the Priest has completed the defeated posture animation re-open the console. The console should still have the HEX code displayed for the Priest, if not just reselect him. With the HEX code displayed type resurrect. Exit the console. The Priest will then return to normal attach posture, but will react as a friendly until the zone he is in is reloaded. His Compass Marker will still show as an enemy with a red dot, but he does not register as an enemy. He does not impede the use of the Dawnguard forge or fast travel if outside the fortress. Solution: If the Dragonborn has two or three of the Words of Power for Bend Will, they can use it on Dexion when he begins to attack everyone in Fort Dawnguard and he will cease. That will allow him to read the scroll and complete the quest.  360   Guards may not run through quest script and cannot be interacted with beyond their usual script. Solution: Bypass the need for speaking to the guards by going south out of Dragon Bridge to find the ambushed caravan. Talking to Clinton Lylvieve will advance the quest and mark the ambushed caravan on the map.  360   Isran's and Serana's script may not activate after following Isran. The only known solution at this time is to reload a previous save.  PS3   After asking Dexion to read the Elder Scroll, he may loop his reading animation, and the quest will be stuck. Solution: Wait for two hours and the animation will stop and the quest will continue.  PC   Once Isran tells the Dragonborn to talk to Dexion to read the Elder Scroll, He does not read it and no option for him to read it appears when he is spoken to. Solution: When entering Fort Dawnguard, speak with Dexion before speaking to Isran.