JoS/Henriette/36th Journal - Boat to Solstheim

Midyear, 25th, 4E 203

Isran is a boneheaded prick. Excepting a rational discussion from him was a mistake on my part, but at least I tried, and at least we made it out unharmed.

When I approached one of the guards, he didn't recognize me. Wondering why I had come to this castle when they aren't actively recruiting anymore, only accepting new members by invitation, I told him my story. I warned him not to freak out, insisted that I only came here in peace, and said that I just want to talk to Isran, and then I told him that me and the friends I brought along are vampires. He was hesitant, asked why should he listen to what we wanted? Well, that's when Serana introduced herself and explained just who she is, and we told him about Harkon. Besides, if we did come here to cause trouble, we would've killed him already. He finally budged, and said that he'd go get Isran. You know, because we weren't gonna let ourselves walk into their castle to be ambushed.

Isran recognized me immediately, and he was beside himself. A certain woman working with the Dawnguard, a woman we spared once to deliver a message to Isran was there as well to confirm that I was indeed the one who I claimed to be. There was nobody else present though, I made sure of it. We could proceed with our discussion.

He chastised me, saying that I make him sick. I approached him once in a past, and he's disgusted with the fact that he let a damn Vampire slip through his fingers back then, saying that he'd want nothing more than to just kill me because ain't no way he'd let the same vampire slip through his fingers twice. However, he also recognized what we had done. He knows of Harkon's demise too. He may be blindly committed to ridding the world of vampires, but that doesn't change the fact I - and my friends - did a great favor to him and all of mortalkind.

So, that's why, instead of blindly attacking us, he decided to hear me out.

"I'm looking for a certain vampire clan based in High Rock."

"Why?"

"They… They're the ones that turned me into a vampire to begin with. They prey on children. My own mother is part of them, and raised me for the whole purpose of being a slave. I learned this recently, and I want answers, maybe even revenge. That's why I need to find them."

"I've never heard of such clan", he admitted. "Not that it matters to me. We don't discriminate based on the motivations of our targets."

"Even though our interest could align?" I asked him.

"No, not even then", he said firmly. "Your petty clan feuds and politics are irrelevant to me. All vampires are my enemies on principle, and you're all equally scum."

"This isn't a feud, and it isn't about politics. We're talking about a clan that preys on little children to turn them into slaves, Isran. Do you seriously think that all vampires are equal? Do you think that I, a girl who was turned into a vampire against her own will to serve as a slave is equal to those who force innocent children to become like me against their own will?"

He rubbed his beard for a moment with narrow eyes and an expression as serious as he's ever had. It's almost as if he didn't want to admit I was right, while simultaneously not wanting to shoot me down either, because it would've reflected badly on his moral character. "You may be right", he finally admitted, "but you had your chance for redemption, and it's already long past that. I cannot ignore your crimes against humanity, even if you may have originally been a victim."

He's right about that. I have a long list of victims I've killed, many of which were completely innocent and undeserving. My list of sins is too great for him to just forgive, especially when you consider that I'm the kind of creature he's sworn to destroy. "I just did what I had to survive", I tried to reason. "I, no… We have a right to exist in this world as well."

"That right shouldn't come at the expense of innocent people", he said. "Is that all? Is that why you came here, to seek help from your enemy?"

"Yeah, that's right. It was stupid of me to try."

He surprised me one final time, as he turned his back to me. "Stupid, yes, but also ballsy. I respect that, and I do hope you succeed in finding that clan."

Like, he seriously wasn't gonna attack us. Even the two of his allies told him that we're vampires, and that more innocent people are just gonna keep on dying, but Isran had already made his mind and decided to walk away. He had one final message for me. "You warned us to not interfere when you were feuding with Harkon, but as far as I see, that time is over. Next time we meet will be a fight to the death."

Sofia tried to mock him by calling him scary, and probably a lot more, but me and Serana both managed to shut her up before she got around saying something she would regret. We were allowed to walk out without a fight, so there's no need for us to get bloody. Not today. We should be happy with that even if we didn't get what we wanted.

So, that's that. Now, I really have two possibilities here: I can either continue to search for my mother without clues, or I can wait until someone at Castle Volkihar finds out about them. I think I'll go with latter, as there's the need for me to visit Solsteim as well. Besides, I can also get help from my other friends, and it might also be that they might be coming for me in retaliation to what me and my friends did to Movarth and his allies in their little hideout.

I think it's time to start packing and travel to Morrowind. This time, I don't have to travel alone.

Midyear, 27th, 4E 203

It's gonna be tough being from home for such a long time, not only for me and my travel companions, but also for Sissel who's staying behind. We're not gonna be leaving Skyrim quite yet, got some due diligence to do like visit the sanctuary and the cistern. Got to come here a few more times as well. Aliya and Sissel both promised to look into some books about the vampire clan I talked about, trying to figure out if they could learn about one that matches the description.

That's it, those are the plans. Not much writing today, I wanna spend time with my friends in peace instead.

Midyear, 30th, 4E 203

I'm not going to get too deep into what I did in Dawnstar, but luckily they're all fine with me being absent. Three separate people have prayed to the Night Mother so they'll have new contracts while I'm gone in addition to two other jobs they've had in planning stages for quite a while.

I also visited Riften due to once overhearing Delvin talk to Brynjolf about some job in Solsteim some time ago, like months ago or something. I didn't think much of it back then, but since I had to visit Riften for business anyway… Well, it just made sense to bring it up. Unfortunately, it isn't as much of a job as it's a plea for help. We already have a base of operations in Solsteim, which is only down to one man, Delvin's younger brother - Glover - who lives in Raven Rock. He's gotten into some trouble and might appreciate help. The problem is, there's not much money to be made, so traveling there simply for the sake of some odd job is unfortunately more costly than it's worth. Delvin told us to mention who sent us and he might even offer us a roof over our head for free, which sounds like a great deal.

Then, I visited home for one last time and told Sofia and Serana to get ready to move, because it's time to leave. We all hugged Aliya and Sissel separately, had them wish us a safe trip, all that happy stuff. Aliya also told us to say hi to Neloth, whatever that's supposed to mean. We should mention Aliya to her by name or something, she didn't specify why. Probably an old friend? Whatever.

That brings us to today. We weren't sure how to get to Solsteim, and when I asked around in Dawnstar few days back, I was told that nobody's willing to sail that far. That has brought us to Windhelm, where there's a much bigger harbor. After asking around for a while, we did in fact find a sailor who's been doing frequent visits there, at least in the past. Not anymore.

"No way", he said. "Never again." He talked about some weird masked guys coming to him demanding to be boarded to Skyrim, and about how he's been losing his memories, entire days' worth of them. Well, the masked men must be also the ones who attacked me, not sure about memories though… Maybe there's some strange Illusion magic at play? Unfortunately, he's not willing to help me for any price, and he said he'll notify the guards how bothering him if I press the issue.

At this point, I thought that I wasn't going to find help in this city… That's at least until I talked to one last man. He was the one to approach me, apologizing as he said he couldn't help but to overhear me talking about wanting to travel to Solsteim. Thinking I could convince him to get me there for a price, I said yes, but turns out, what he needs isn't actually money, but rather help. In fact, he said there's money here to be made for me in addition to gaining his favor.

He's an independent trader, mostly doing shipments for the East Empire Company, but he's fallen on hard times, first thanks to the civil war that has completely driven out the Company's business from Windhelm thanks to their anti-imperial sentiments, and now later thanks to pirates, namely a clan called the Blood Horkers. Nobody but Orthus, the last remaining worker for the Company in Windhelm wants to even work with him due to him being some kind of Imperial traitor in the eyes of the local Nords.

I met up with Orthus for further discussion. Him and the sailor are suspicious of Torbjorn Shatter-Shield because his business has not only come out unscathed in all of this, but also boomed… Pirates conveniently ignore his ships, allowing him and his cargo free passage.

Sorry for going on a bit of a tangent, but that family just can't catch a break, can it? I mean, I can't say I didn't have anything to do with that… Nilsine's corpse must've been a sickening sight for her already mourning family to discover, and I was the one who killed her. Apparently Torbjorn's wife committed suicide shortly after that day. Yikes, makes me kind of feel bad about murdering her… Looking back at that contract, it wasn't like she was deserving of death or anything, she was simply a bonus to be taken down because Muiri was bitter at her…

Torbjorn is still alive and kicking though, although he hasn't been himself at all. Rich as he is, his business is too. He employs quite a lot of people, and apparently these pirates are on his payroll as well. Orthus needs evidence though. I'll leave finding that evidence for later.

We decided to rest at the New Gnisis Cornerclub, where I came across a curious little sight. Malborn and Brelas. I didn't recognize them at first, but they were in the Thalmor embassy that one time. Malborn was supposed to help me, while Brelas is the server I inadvertently got into trouble… They're both still alive and in Skyrim? Anyway, like the curious little bugger I am, I discovered them in the middle of steamy, passionate sex in their own room next to mine. They're lovers? Those two elves were fucking like rabbits! Made me horny just looking at them. They weren't lovers when we escaped the embassy, so this has to be a more recent development. I didn't want to bother them though, but I'll probably approach them tomorrow, if I get a chance.

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