I was running through a bunch of quests in the Reach on the plateau west of Rorikstead when I ran across something I hadn't seen before.

After leaving a trail of death, destruction and levitating swords from Serpent's Bluff to Bleak Wind Bluff, Rebel's Cairn and Sundered Towers I ran into some bandits east of Sundered Towers and northwest of Lund's Hut. After killing the bandits I began searching the battlefield for corpses to loot. I noticed not too far away one corpse that I thought was one of the bandits. It turned out, however, that it was a member of the Dawnguard named Lynoit. He was surrounded by three ash piles which, upon inspection, turned out to belong to vampires.

I certainly didn't see this fight, if there was one, and was puzzled that, apparently, none of the vampires had survived. How could they have ALL have died? Did the bandits kill them before I got there? But who did the reanimation? Certainly not the bandits. And the pattern of the ash piles, perfectly surrounding Lynoit's body, seem to indicate that this is set piece scene.

Has anybody else stumbled upon Lynoit in their travels? Have you found a dead member of the Dawnguard surrounded by three ash piles in the area described above? Or have you met Lynoit alive at some point?

Yes, I have stumbled across Lynoit's body and the vampire ash piles in my travels. I found them next to some Dwemer ruins to the east of Markarth. I still haven't got around to go looking for the Dawnguard cache mentioned in his note.

I also ran into another Dawnguard agent (forgot his name) running away from some vampires. After I killed the vampires the Dawnguard agent quit and gave me his armor and information on where to find other Dawnguard caches. This incident happened on the road between Rorikstead and Whiterun.