JoS/Lyra/4th Journal - A New Family

Hearthfire, 26th, 4E 201

I made it to the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary. It's located right by Falkreath and it was a little weird seeing the place I used to live. Even though it wasn't even that long ago, it feels like a different life. Things were so much simpler then.

But now, I guess I have a new family. It almost feels like it too. Astrid, their leader seems really nice. I bet I could learn a lot of cool things from her. Then there's her husband, Arnbjorn, he's a werewolf and kind of scary so I try to avoid him. Veezra is an Argonian who grew up in the Dark Brotherhood. Aside from the innkeeper in Riften, I haven't met many before but I really like him. The wizard named Festus Krex is pretty grumpy and doesn't seem to like me but my fellow archer, Gabriella is really nice. The redguard, Nazir who seemed to be Astrid's second in command is nice, but not too friendly and wants me to prove myself first before getting to know someone who will probably be dead soon. I can't really blame him for that. It’s not like my size would give anyone any confidence at all in my ability to do anything remotely physical. All in all, even though a few of the members don't really like me, it's far from the worst reception I could have gotten.

But that's not quite everyone. When I first walked into the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary to meet the members, I thought they had another kid in the group. A little girl was telling a story about leading some pedophile down a dark alley and biting his neck. I didn't really completely understand until she told me later that she's not a kid, but a vampire and got bitten when she was a few years older than me. Now she still looks like a kid even though she's a few hundred years old. I had heard lots of scary things about vampires before, but I've never met one until today. Her name is Babette and she's really nice. She told me she bets I'll be great at sneaking around because I'm so small and she made being in the Dark Brotherhood seem really fun.

So far, I feel like I came to the right place, but the idea of going out and killing people for money sounds kind of wrong. But I felt like everyone I've killed so far definitely deserved it, so I'll see how it goes.

Nazir gave me my first three targets to get me started. Or contracts as they like to call them. None of the people really seem that bad so I feel a little strange about just going out and killing them, but I'm heading out tomorrow to start tracking them down. I'm not sure if I'll actually go through with it yet, but I'll at least give it a try.

Hearthfire, 27th, 4E 201

Traveling by myself on the road is pretty lonely. I'm headed North to do my very first contract. I had a close call with some bandits on the road. One of them saw me and they came after me. Fortunately, it seemed like they were separated from their group because it was just two of them. I was able to sneak and hide from them and they gave up looking for me. Maybe I'll go back and see Yana soon and maybe we can travel together again. I would definitely feel a lot better if I traveled with someone who had my back.

Hearthfire, 29th, 4E 201

The job is done. I killed my first target. Yeah, it felt kind of wrong but it’s not like it’s the first person I’ve ever killed. She was the owner of a mine in the town of Dawnstar. The hardest part was doing it without being seen. She spent most of her day outside in full view of people so it’s not like I can just shoot her in broad daylight unless I want to deal with breaking the law and getting myself a huge bounty. So I waited until there was no one around and hit her in the evening when she was leaving her mine. I hit behind a snowberry plant and shot her right in the back of the head. A few people saw her fall, but I managed to sneak away before anyone could pin it on me.

As for Dawnstar, it’s cold and snowy up here and there’s not much to see. I wanted to spend the night at the Inn here, but since I just killed someone here it’s probably got a good idea. People here are also complaining of having nightmares and not getting good sleep. Some people are saying there's some sort of strange magic going on. That makes me really not want to stay here. So I guess I’ll just camp out on the road like I have been for the last few nights.

Frostfall, 1st, 4E 201

My second kill was a mill worker at Angi’s Mill not too far from Windhelm. The man was sound asleep. I double checked the sketch I had of him to make sure it was the right person. I’d hate to kill the wrong person just because I couldn’t see that well in the dark; but as soon as I was sure, I pulled out my bow and just shot him where he lay. He barely even made a sound when he died. I’m still unsure whether or not I’m really cut out for this. Sure, I feel kind of bad for these people since they seem mostly innocent. But at the same time. I feel like taking a life should be a lot harder than it is. Maybe it’s all the hunting I’ve done with daddy or maybe it’s everything that happened to me recently. Whatever it is, once the deed is done, I can’t say I really worry about it too much. After every horrible thing that's happened to me ever since that day the Imperial soldiers captured my father and me, it feels good to let off some steam, too.

Since I’m right by Windhelm, I’m stopping off to see Yana and I guess let her know what I’m up to. I’m not sure how she feel about it though. How exactly do you tell your friend that you’ve joined a group of elite assassins and have started going around killing people? Not exactly the type of conversation you ever really plan on having.

Frostfall, 2nd, 4E 201

I'm going to take it easy for a while. I'm back in Windhelm and spending time with Yana. I kind of had to tell her what all had happened since I effectively lets Windhelm without saying goodbye. She thought I was mad at her or something. Next time something like that happens, I promised I’d send her a letter to let her know I’m okay. I honestly might have had I not been so distracted by, well. . .everything. At any rate, she was understanding and even supportive when I told her about that kajiit I killed and the the vampire girl who killed that old man.

Today, we went out and played with some of the other kids in the city. I almost felt normal. But then we got a little too close to the palace and a Stormcloak soldier started eyeing Yana and me. I barely recognized him as one of the soldiers who had used us when we were being held there. I got worried for a moment that they might try to take us hostage again, but nobody had bothered Yana since she'd been back. Quintus, Yana’s uncle raised a huge fuss when he found out about it and they basically threatened him to keep quiet about but still paid him a good sum of gold too. Even still, she told me she'd been trying to avoid going too close to the palace. We resolved there's not much else we can do about it but just keep our distance.

I ran into to Stenvar, the sellsword who helped Yana free me from the Stormcloaks. He usually hangs around at Candlehearth Hall when he’s not on a job. Ha said our kidnapping was going around the rumor mill and that Ulfric put a stop to anything like it since, saying it was a bad look; especially for the war effort. He even heard that Ulfric threatened Galmar over it. That didn’t exactly make me feel great, but it was reassuring to know they weren’t likely to do something like that again.

Since I'm going to be getting paid for the Dark Brotherhood contracts I'm doing, I don't need to worry that much about holding onto any of the gold I've saved, so I can afford to stay here at the inn for a bit. Yana said I could stay with them, but her uncle was worried that Neurelion wouldn't like the idea. That old guy is pretty grumpy, so I'd rather not test it.