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.
Heartfire, 13th, 4E 8234
I got some sleep and went to the smithy to get my armor looked at. We ran into some heavy fighting in the Living Temple, so I might as well have Halda give it the go-ahead before I start relying on it too much again. If there's anyone I trust with my equipment, it's her. I got a few nervous looks walking there. Understandable after what happened last night. I'm ignoring them.
Leora's with Arantheal. They're planning the defense of the continent in more detail. The areas most in danger are Duneville and the southern coasts - specifically, the Sun Coast region. The former is defensible. The whole city's underground and hellishly independent. They'll fight tooth and nail and the Nehrimese will have their work cut out for them making a single dent in the defenses. An army doesn't do much good if there's just one way into the place.
The coasts are a different story. The whole southern coast is open to attack, but they'll likely come from the west to try to gain a strong foothold. They might try going for Fogville, but it's more likely they'll hit Riverville so they can establish a strong outpost and supply chain between the Sun Coast and the Heartland.
If that's the case, I need to start thinking of ways to defend the place. I'm not going to let everyone in Riverville be slaughtered. I swear on my life I'm not going to let that happen. We have time, but we don't have a lot of it.
Arantheal will keep me informed about their battle plans, but he wants me to see the archmagister. There's been a development regarding these sources the Beacon requires to run. Hopefully that means we'll have a weapon we can use pretty soon.
Well, we've got some leads. And an objective. We're looking for these relics called the Black Stones. The Pyreans called them Black Embers. According to archmagister Merrayil, they're artifacts, gemstones of incredible power that nobles used to fight tooth and nail to possess. Naturally, however, there's an important catch.
See, it seems the stones imbue in their owners incredible magical power. For example, one duchess was able to conjure up waves of intense flame, despite not having any previous magical ability. But with this power comes madness. And not just any madness. If Merrayil's notes and research is to be believed, it's the Red Madness. A slow descent into insanity that culminates in a violent outburst while the victim's eyes shimmer red? That can't be a coincidence.
When word broke out that these Black Stones were corrupted, the nobles tried to either get rid of them or lock them away. And so they fell into obscurity, their locations lost to time. Except Merrayil's compiled a list of notes, leads that might help us. The stones are scattered all over Vyn, but we only need three, and, coincidentally, there are three leads to follow.
The first is a noble family: Dal'Geyss. Apparently the black stone was the cause of a lot of infighting generations back, but it fell to a Jiro Dal'Geyss. His son apparently has a manor in Ark; it's a good lead to pursue.
The second is the Order of the Apothecarri in the Undercity. They've been rumored to possess a stone for a long time now, but every time it comes up, they persist with the claim that it's been lost. It's probably worth investigating the veracity of that statement.
And finally, our third lead: the Dal'Varek family. Jespar's family. They were in possession of a stone, but its whereabouts are unknown. I doubt Jespar knows anything about it, but I ought to find him and talk with him about it. He and his sister are the only surviving members of that family, and he hasn't heard sight or sound of Adila in a long time; he told me on our voyage back to Enderal that she's been missing for a while now. Left the Apothecarii in the Frostcliff Mountains and went off on her own. Gods know where she is now.
So that's what we've got to go on. I'll start with Jespar. He's probably getting a drink somewhere in Ark. It shouldn't be too difficult to track him down.
I'm hesitant about using these black stones, though. They're powerful, and they're definitely dangerous. Nothing good's ever come from them, if Merrayil is to be believed, and I definitely trust him on this. Arantheal is confident that since we know what we're dealing with, we'll be able to resist whatever temptations the stones throw at us, but... I don't know.
The fact that they seem to cause some form of Red Madness implies that the High Ones have been around for generations, long before the fall of the Light-born. That's a hell of an implication. Still, it doesn't make much of a difference. They're the only artifacts with enough raw magical power to fuel the Beacon, so we have no choice but to find them.
Link to Enderal. It's important to note that the writing above is based almost entirely on the story created by an extraordinarily talented group of modders. Credit is due to them, not to me. I would also be remiss to not credit Arcones for the idea of using a parchment-looking background to add some flavor.
SPOILERS SO STOP READING
It's kinda a plot-hole here.
In the mod "Nehrim" there is talk about cycles of gods and shadowgod(s), now in Enderal there are cycles with the High Born. I'm not quite sure how both can exist at the same time.