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, 21st, 4E 8234
Decided to take a break for the day. Jespar's off taking care of some last-minute business, so I've got some time to kill. There're still some bounties to collect, but my arm's still feeling a bit weak, so I think I'm going to take it easy. Since I've got some time to kill, I think I'll find a seat at the inn and catch up on my reading. Might talk to Liliath later tonight after a few drinks. Who knows?
Started reading an auto-biography of the so-called "Butcher of Ark". A serial killer, I assume, with a long trail of bodies behind him (or so he claims). He started out in Fogville as a cleric named Jael. Adopted, naturally. Led a pretty mundane life under a bastard of a father until the higher-ups ordained that he was destined for priesthood. After that, his life was still mundane. That is, until he had a dream. Normally, when I read these stories, it's easy to separate the fantasy from the fact. But this vision he described. In it there was a woman. A veiled woman in a grey cloak and a hood. The way he described her speech... I realized that I know who he's talking about. When Sirius and I were on the ship, we beat down a pair of crewmen who were about to discover us. We were going to hide them, when suddenly a woman clothed in black confronted us before knocking us out with magic. That's how we got caught. The way she spoke... this Butcher is describing the same person. That can't be coincidence. I've got two more parts of the whole, and I'm definitely going to read them. I want to know more about this veiled woman.
He started hearing voices after the dream. Sounds like he went mad. They drove him to abandon his position in Fogville and set out on a journey to find this veiled woman. I need to take a break for a bit, though. Something in that book hit home for me: Jael was talking about loss, and how we tend to react in shock and shove down our grief until the shock wears off so we can mourn properly. But in some cases we don't mourn. We just keep going, with our grief and our loss chipping away at us until we're a shell. It made me realize that I never even shed a tear over Sirius' death. I didn't feel sadness or grief when I woke up and realized he was gone. All I felt was rage. I know he's dead, but it's like it hasn't set in yet. Sirius is dead. My only friend in Nehrim. The only one I ever really had.
Had a drink and took a bit of a walk. Ran into a guardsman named Jael, coincidentally. Then I remembered where I heard that name before I read the Butcher of Ark: Jael was the guard with the mercenary who killed Pentas. I almost beat the piss out of him for that, but I settled for shoving him against the wall and threatening him. He wasn't as culpable as the others, but he still had a part to play. I told him that if he ever stood by and watched another unjust killing, I would know. Told him that his duty was to defend the people of Riverville against all those who wish to do them harm, at the expense of his life, if need be. He swore by Malphas he would never let something like what happened to Pentas happen again. I think he got the message. I felt a bit better after that. I think Sirius would have liked it.
The more I read these volumes of the Butcher's story, the more interested I get. Nothing else about the veiled woman so far, but I'm only three volumes in. Unfortunately, I haven't got any more, and it's not likely I'll find any, considering it's probably heretical or something to have these things. Oh well. Hopefully I'll come across more later. It's starting to get late, but there's still time in the day.
Decided to read some more stories from the wanderer. This one was about a swordsman who mixed his fighting with Elementalism to devastating effect. He was practically unstoppable. A Chiming Shadow. Probably an extinct order now, which is a shame.
Decided to suck it up and ask Liliath if I could get her a drink after she put down her lute for the day. She seemed more than happy to oblige, and we ended up talking for a long time. She seemed quite interested in what I had been reading all day. I dodged around the question at first (probably not a good impression to come out and say you're reading a set of forbidden books) and explained that I was new and getting my bearings. I told her about the tales of the wanderer and how I'm reading them to learn more about how to defend myself. That got us on the topic of adventuring, and it didn't take long for some of my more recent accomplishments to come up, namely the whole fiasco with the mayor's wife. I tried my best to not appear visibly disturbed recounting the tale, but I don't think I did too good a job (probably owing to the alcohol). Still, she seemed genuinely interested.
I asked her about playing the lute and if she would be interested in giving me some lessons. That's what occupied the next two hours. It's not as hard as I expected it would be, but then again, she seemed surprised that I was getting the hang of it so quickly. Is that just how things are going to be from now on? It's like I'm instantly good at whatever skills I try to take up. It's cool, but it also feels... cheap, if that makes sense. Half of the experience is the journey, and that journey's been cut down significantly.
Anyways, that went well, and I reckon we'll get together again tomorrow night as well. That's definitely something to look forward to. My arm's feeling a lot better, so I think I'll spend the next day wrapping up any loose ends. Hey, at the very least, It'll give me some good stories to tell Liliath when I get back.
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.
