JoS/Henriette/32nd Journal - Corruption

Second Seed, 1st, 4E 203

It seems that luck was on my side, because instead of me trying to speak Haelga, she game to me. I had just finished serving my second customer for the day, when she approached me on the hallway and told me to follow her. She said she wanted to give me feedback on my work.

She sat me down in her office upstairs all while two of the guards stood behind me. I guess they wanted to make sure I wouldn't try anything stupid, like try to escape, because let's be honest, it's just two doors to the streets of Riften from her office, which is also her own bedroom. She said that she's pleased that I've been able to meet the cut every single day and even called me a hit. She walked up to me, placed her hand on my cheek and caressed it, saying I'm making a lot of money and that it's a damn shame I'm only here for eleven more months. There was something off-putting about how she said it, almost as if she would be interested in having me here for longer, maybe even permanently. She all but confirmed that suspicion of me when she said that maybe I'm having too much of an easy time and that maybe she ought to toss some curveballs at me to get me in trouble. All I could say in reply was an uncomfortable, "please don't", and that "I'd rather stay on your good side".

I sensed that I didn't have much more time for this business evaluation as Haelga is a busy woman, so I politely asked her if she could kindly tell something to me. Only if it won't take long, she said. I pointed my finger at the tattoo on my crotch and smiled shyly. "You know something about this, don't you? I-I really want to know about it… I don't know what it is, but you were interested in it when you first saw it, s-so…"

She interrupted me there and there, suddenly seeming more serious. She was having a bit of fun up until now, but she wasn't smiling anymore. Before I could open my mouth again, she told two of the guards to go outside and guard the door. Then, as soon as we were alone, she sighed heavily and asked me if I really don't know, even though I have the tattoo. I nodded and explained to her exactly how I got the tattoo.

She then admitted that there was no point in keeping it secret from me, especially since she was already ready to have me come comfort her about it. She asked me, am I familiar with the Daedric god Sanguine? I slowly nodded, and everything just started to click in place.

Apparently there this group of people which is loosely tied together in an ideology; kind of like a cult, but more decentralized with no clear cult leader. They all serve Sanguine by indulging in carnal sin, and the mark that I and Haelga bear are a symbol of this commitment to Sanguine. Sanguine is the god of debauchery, of revelry and of hedonism and his sphere of influence spans across many aspects of life people find pleasure in; drugs, alcohol, and in this case sex.

I asked her if she somehow has an idea about who is behind giving me this mark, but she couldn't give me a straight answer. However, she had a good guess about how it could've gone down. According to her theory, someone in Markarth must've done it to me in an attempt to lead me down a highly promiscuous lifepath. I mean, I was on my way to serve a life sentence in Cidhna mine, which involved me being a sex slave with no rights of my own, so mission accomplished I guess. Whoever that woman was, she couldn't have picked a better target! Haelga seems to agree with it being a roaring success, since I still lead a life of promiscuity as a sex slave, and she even said that based on how I work, I must have an excessive history of being sexually active. I didn't want to admit to it, but I said that yeah, she's spot on. I've become quite a pervert, haven't I? Both boys and girls, young and old, animals and other monsters, even daedra… I've enjoyed all kinds of perverted acts haven't I?

She just laughed and said it's good I like this, because I better get used to this. After all, according to her, my days of adventuring are over. Her words confused me a little, and I tried correcting her. I reminded her that I won't be here past my punishment, but what she said then kind of made my heart sink.

Haelga said it's completely possible that Maven could try to pull some strings to try and extend my sentence, maybe even indefinitely. I then asked Haelga, is she really fine with this, and it just made her sigh.

Haelga doesn't personally care about letting captives go. In fact, she would be quite happy with this being just a normal brothel instead of a slave brothel and it used to be that way when Haelga alone was in control of this place. She did this only to please Sanguine back then, and it's her prime motivation now as well. Haelga is a Champion of Sanguine after all.

However, when Maven's influence grew and she effectively took control of this place, she made sure that whatever moral code this place used to have would become obsolete. Maven loves slaves. Like, it's free labor and that labor is also highly profitable. In that sense, it's kind of working against my favor here because I AM turning profit… Then again, if I didn't turn a profit, Maven would probably get me killed. It's one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't situations. And as a final point, if Sanguine has no problem with the current state of events, neither has Haelga.

I then asked her, was my place in all of this truly just to serve Sanguine myself as a slave, and to that her answer was a very clear yes. And, well… That sucks for me. At least Haelga's being honest, which is more than I can say about Maven. Also, according to Haelga, Maven doesn't know about Sanguine at all. To her, Haelga is a devout follower of Dibella just like Haelga wants her to believe.

Since there really wasn't anything else to talk about, Haelga promptly called for guards to escort me back downstairs, urging me to get back to work. Not five minutes after that, I was back to serving customers.

So, as you can see, I walked straight into a dead end. Granted, I did learn something about myself and the true meaning of this sigil, but this isn't going to help me escape this place. The problem at hand has not been solved and the road to freedom hasn't gotten any easier. I still have Svana to rely on though… Depending on how I approach this situation though, I might land her on hot water… Not sure I would want to make her collateral damage… She's a sweet girl…

I must say though, getting rid of Maven would solve a lot of problems. I wonder if I or anyone else would be able to get away with killing her? I mean, I technically got away with killing an Emperor. Granted, that took a conspiracy and months, maybe even years of planning, while I only did the work as instructed…

On that note, I'm kind of surprised there isn't a contract on Maven's head yet! I'm willing to bet there's a lot of people out there who would love for her to die or worse. I mean, I would take a contract to kill her in a heartbeat if the pay was good! Makes me wonder, is Night Mother selective when it comes to what she tells me and what she doesn't? Are there people who perform the Black Sacrament that she just straight up ignores? Surely not…?

Oh, whatever, I'm getting ahead of myself. I need to get out first, only think about what comes after that once I'm out.