Enderal Journal, Entry 3 - Introductions Proper blog - AK151

I'm replaying Enderal, a total conversion for Skyrim. I found it well-made, with a gripping story, great characters, and excellent music. I got a whole bunch of mods for my next playthrough, and one adds in a journal one can write in to record thoughts, events, etc. I'll be keeping this journal up as I play, and I figured it would be fun to share it here.

Last Seed, 18th, 4E 8234

And I thought yesterday was busy. Started out and almost immediately ran into a pack of wolves. Then a pair of spiders. I swear, the wildlife here is aggressive to a ridiculous degree. I've fought at least half-a-dozen packs of wolves today alone! Also stumbled upon my fair share of unfriendly human faces. At least three wild mages, and maybe a dozen bandits. Writing it down, it seems ridiculous that I've faced down, and killed, everything I've gone up against, but I have. I'm... strong. Really strong. Stronger than I've ever been.

Let's quantify that: I charged into what could be considered a bandit fortress outnumbered ten-to-one (or five-to-one if you count my wolf - she actually helped a lot) and killed all of them, including their leader! And that was just midday! I came across an ancient Pyrean ruin. Not only was it crawling with undead and spiders, but it also housed some undead mage. Zu-Sherath, I think his name was. Judging from all the charred corpses around him, he wasn't a pushover. Only, well, he kind of was for me. My wolf (I think I'm going to name her Alice) clung to its arm and drew all of its focus, which just let me let loose with Entropy. Bastard didn't stand a chance once he was caught in the storm. That stuff's powerful. Granted, I felt like death afterwards, but it was definitely worth it. Have to be careful, though, because it really does take its toll.

There's a fortress looming over the ruins, and I found a path up to it. I'm going to tackle it in the morning, and hopefully my streak of blazing through enemies holds. Honestly, part of me just enjoys these evenings. I've pitched up a tent on the shore near Yero's house (I found the strongbox Dal'Varek wanted. It had a journal in it. Haven't read it yet) and I've got a fire roaring. Gonna spend the night sipping some aged wine those bandits I mentioned were keeping stored away. Might catch up on some reading. Probably going to have to if I want to somewhat fit into society here.

Just read up on two legendary monsters. The first is a cursed murderer: Arvheldhiin, who wound up with the body of a monstrous wolf. He wanders the Dark Valley, according to legends. Might be worth investigating the veracity of those tales. The second is the Ashen Widow. A bastard high-born decided to spend his days raping a half-Aeterna slave girl. Not really anything new, but one day - coincidentally, the day his wife spied on the two from a cabinet - the girl let loose some magical energy that messed up his hand, turning it into a claw. He was furious and took up a pitcher of oil with his good hand, just as his wife stormed out to confront him. The pitcher fell, the place caught fire, and the girl and the wife burned to death, while the high-born fucker got away with cutting off his deformed hand. The spirits of the two women merged together into one vengeful ghost. Apparently it still haunts the castle. If that's true, it's worth looking into, if only to put those two souls to rest for good. They deserve it.

Also flipped through a book written by a wanderer. Bought it off of that cute (but airheaded) Aeterna peddler I helped out yesterday. It looks like it's one tome of many, depicting different styles of combat. This one was about the "shadow dancer", a sneak-thief who used Entropy and Psionics. I'm not much for stealth, but his feats in Entropy were impressive. If I can muster up that sort of power at some point, I'll be in good shape. Assuming I don't go mad doing so.

On another note, it's been, I think, three days since I've started this journal. Something like that. I never explained how I got it, actually. Picked it up in a deserted camp outside the ruin I washed up next to. Honestly, I didn't think I'd survive this long (shows in how little detail my earlier entries have), but I've got abilities now that surprise even myself. Since it seems like I'll, hopefully, be living for a fair bit longer, I figure it's time to introduce myself properly. Be mindful, as I'm writing this, I've had a bit of wine, so I might get vitriolic.

My name is Cecilia Zirael. I grew up in Nehrim. Ostian, to be precise. When I was little, there was a lot of religious fanaticism, and that ended up getting my family killed. That's a... long story. I was just a kid when they came and pinned up mother, father, and my little sister on burning crosses. After that, I had to survive on my own. In terms of appearance (and personality), I take after my mother, an Aeterna. That means knife-ears and an angled face. Since I lived in a bastion of bigotry, it also meant that living was hard.

See, it's bad enough being an urchin in a big city like Ostian. It's worse when people won't give you money after a hard day's work because something unlucky happened that morning and it's the fault of the damned knife-ears. It might sound ridiculous how petty these bastards were, but I got blamed for just about every bit of misfortune people could think of. Had more than my fair share of beatings, but I learned to roll with the punches and get in a few of my own. Mother taught me a bit about how to defend myself, 'cause she knew all too well what it meant to have pointed ears in Nehrim.

I was about seventeen years old when I met Sirius. I was kind of at a crossroads; I could either keep living off of dirt and the occasional half of a slice of stale and rotten bread, or I could start whoring myself out (because if there's one market the Nehrimese won't turn an Aeterna away from, it's prostitution). Sirius was a lot more fiery than myself. More moral too. He believed that if someone does something, they deserve fair compensation, which is a simple but surprisingly rare principle on Nehrim. He was a beggar like me, but he was more successful, in part because, you know, he didn't have pointed ears. He would tend to end each day with at least one decent meal. He stood up for me a lot, demanding that I get my fair due for the work I did. After I met him, I will say that I didn't go as hungry as before.

Naturally, being a decent person comes with its fair share of problems. Sirius made a lot of enemies, and that's where I figured I could pay him back. He was outspoken and fiery, but he was also soft. Part of me always respected him for that. He didn't like fighting. But I taught him how to hold his own, and I pulled his hide out of more than a few scraps. But soon enough, fist-fights turned into knife-fights. It wasn't long before I shoved a blade through a thug's throat in an alley. We got away scot-free, but we weren't willing to push our luck.

It was at that point we began searching for passage out of Ostian. We figured that if you have to knife someone to survive, it's not really worth living there. Eventually we caught wind of a ship making trips to Enderal, and tried to book passage. Naturally, however, they took one look at me and more than doubled the price. Hiring ourselves on as deckhands wouldn't work either. No self-respecting Nehrimese sailor would work alongside such a bad omen as an Aeterna. So we stowed away. Made ourselves as scarce as possible. It was supposed to be a two week trip. Two weeks turned into three. And then four. We were close to the port when we were caught. And the rest, I guess, is history.

That's enough writing for today, though. I can tell I'm stronger today than I was yesterday. Much stronger. If I didn't know any better I'd consider it a good thing. But such rapid growth has to have consequences. If whatever power I'm tapping into isn't checked, things might turn... sour.