Friggin' Vampires!!! Started a new toon yesterday and right off the bat, dang vampires attacked Whiterun and killed Adrianne. She has always been my favorite person to do business with in Skyrim and I promise her that she will be avenged. Thank you Vamps for making it easy for me to develop my new character.

Remember in Chinese Connection when Bruce Lee walks into the Karate dojo and says "I'l take on any Japanese fighter here!!", that will be whenever I come across any vampires. Second time in the entire game that really made me upset. First time was the speech Balgrof gave me when he was displaced as Jarl. Made me feel horrible.

Reload a save and keep at it.

I did the same with Blood On The Ice, and a certain NPC trying to kill another NPC.

Dude, I felt the exact same way when I displaced Balgruuf. I felt horrible when I did that. Didn't lose adriane though so I'm sorry. Reload a save?

On blood on ice, I released a kill shot arrow, literally a second before a npc was killed.

Should have let Harkon bite you.

These attacks start before you even go to Fort Dawnguard. They start as soon as you hit level 10. I just started a new toon and got a vamp attack in Riften at level 11. I even told the Dawnguard recruiter I wasn't interested hoping that might delay the attacks. Nope. Attacks happen regardless.

lol I kinda felt that way, but what really got me was Adrianne's comments about how she was treated by the Stormcloaks. After that I could never take the Stormcloak side again. At least I got to find out that Elisif is not only incompetent, but a cowardly schmuck as well.

I'd be pretty furious if she died on my game as well. Definitely my most used vendor in the game by far, mainly because of the location right next to Breezehome.

Side note, every time I come to the forums people are complaining about vampire attacks on cities. Not once I have seen this happen on two of my toons games. On one of my toons, he's lever 50+ and has completed the Vampire portion of Dawnguard. My other toon, level 14 and hasn't started Dawnguard. I may be the only one on the forums that wants to see an attack on the city. It baffles me that this hasn't happened to me yet.

For the 50+ character you will never see them now that you have completed the MQ. For your level 14 character it is still early. Plus, the attacks pick up dramatically after completing the DImhollow Crypt quest if you side with the DG. Until then I think they will be somewhat rare. From my understanding, you don't get vamp attacks, or at least not many, if you side with the vampires.

Also, the lethality of the vamp attacks can vary greatly. If you get 3 vampires they can be very dangerous. One vampire and 2 thralls, less so, but still a serious threat to the citizenry. One vampire and 2 death hounds are not too bad. (Since most of the citizenry are Nords they have 50% frost resist.) Single vampires probably will go down before they can kill anyone. I have seen all these combinations.

They killed Lod, the blacksmith in Falkreath. I hate it when merchants get killed but I don't visit him often enough to warrant a reload. I'll regret this decision when I get on my next bout of smithing leveling.

Does fast-traveling to a town increase the chance of a vampire attack or can you just fast-travel nearby and walk the rest of the way and avoid vampire attacks on towns like you can with dragons? Yes, Adrianne must be avenged!!

There is truly no good outcome of the civil war....

Might I suggest going to every known vamp hideout and exacting merciless revenge? I will begin on my character, even though Adrianne is healthy and alive

I dont think I have a save that isnt TOO far back to get her again. At first, I just thought that maybe I kept missing her until I asked the dude inside who makes his steel. He said "Adrianne used to make my steel until she was killed, now I have to rely on imports from the Kajit...." or something like that. I just got to level 14 so Im not sure if I should have play it out or go back.

Hmm. I'm guessing the attack must have spawned when you came out of Dragon's Reach or Jorvaskr, or something like that.

Seems to work same way as dragons near as I can tell. I didn't fast-travel on my previous character and experienced very few instances of vampires-in-towns. On my next character I fast traveled all the time and the towns were attacked all the time.

I should add that this was another misstep on Bethesda's part. Downloading Dawnguard and wishing to play it doesn't necessarily mean I want to play the Dawnguard questline with each new character I create. Unfortunately, that's what a player needs to do if they want to put a stop to vampires-attacking-towns. That or uninstall the DLC which isn't something we should feel compelled to do.

The problem with that can be the spawn spots. Even though you may not get as many attacks by walking to the main gate, you will still get some. For Whiterun that is fine since they spawn right in front of Warmaidens. But for Riften and Windhelm this is a problem. In Riften they spawn at the market. If you enter the Riften cell from the main gate, the theives guild, or any of the lower level places like the ratway or the apocothery you are very poorly positioned to do anything about the attack. I have taken to walking to Riften from a nearby farm and once I am at the gate, fast traveling to Mistveil Keep. This puts me close to the spawn spot. While I am in the city I leave my follower waiting at the spawn spot while I go in and out of buildings. So far this seems to have prevented spawns altogether. For Windhelm they spawn behind Candle Hearth Hall. So instead of going in by the main gate, fast travel to the Palace of Kings.

Agreed. Dragons, at least, are far easier to spot and engage before they can start wiping out townsfolk. I once fast-traveled to Dragonreach and walked down to the Plains District. By the time I'd even noticed that there were vampires in town, they'd already dispatched several townspeople and a guard or two.

I lost her to a dragon attack... sometime your numbers just up.

How did you get this dragon attack? I have never had a dragon spawn in Whiterun, only Windhelm and Solitude. Did you drag the dragon into the town with you from the outside? I.E. did the dragon spawn outside the city and then you ran into the city bringing it with you? Like I said, I have only ever see dragons spawn in Solitude and Windhelm, never Markarth, Riften, or Whiterun.

Edit: I have seen dragons spawn quite frequently at the Riften stables. I suppose you could fast travel to the stables, not notice the dragon, then walk into the town bringing it with you by accident.

Yep. I had just left Dragonsreach and by the time I got to the bottom of the stairs where the vendor carts are near Belethor's place, vamps were already halfway down the road from front gate killing everyone in sight.

They have made many tries to kill her in my games, but all have failed since I reverse pickpocketed better armor onto the guards and now they are prepared to defend the city.

The damn think dropped right in to town at the main gate. I may have just "jumped" into Whiterun and was heading to Breezewood when the rumble of wings and the tremor in the ground alerted me. It tail whacked her and that was that. I think the main gate guard bought it too, but the whole town came out to fight it and that was that.

I've never had one spawn in any of the other big towns. Outside Riften, a couple times (near the Stables as you said) and the South Gate. I've also had several spawn at the smaller holds on a regular basis. Not as much now since the MQ was completed.