JoS/Henriette/20th Journal - Trials

Sun's Dusk, 5th, 4E 202

The first part of Kyne's Sacred Trials happened in the woods north of Falkreath, south of Lake Ilinalta. The guardian wolf I was sent to defeat was nothing short of a disappointment. I may have already outgrown this trial, but at the same time, it feels like I should see this to the end anyway. Who knows what waits at the end of it?

I also came across a rather nasty sight in the woods. There's a shrine devoted to Talos here, and at its foot laid six corpses. It had been done by the Thalmor. How I know this? Because the there was also a dead Thamlor soldier here too. Apparently his name was Sanyon… There was an angry letter on his body from Elenwen who refused to assist him in taking care of this "band of criminals" they call worshipers.

Now look, I don't care about Talos or the divines but to try to hunt and weed out worshippers like this seems rather excessive. The Thalmor really are something else… The scene was fresh and there was plenty of blood left for me to feast on. Didn't have to worry about getting my hands dirty. I don't have to worry about traveling with an empty stomach now.

Sun's Dusk, 7th, 4E 202

It seems that today the hunter became the hunted… I'm not "only" talking about myself. I'll get to that later though.

The second part of my trial was a giant Skeever whose lair is somewhere south of Dawnstar, and on the way there I came across a fight between some Vampires and Vigilants. Not sure what clan these guys were from, but they got the better of these Vigilants at least. They let one of them live, the young female Bosmer, and they violated her. I saw no reason to intervene though… I wonder if I did the right thing by ignoring them?

I, also, was attacked, as I alluded earlier. These guys were dressed as Imperial soldiers, but I could smell something fishy about them… They were trying to extort money from me like some common bandits, which was highly suspicious for starters. I suspected that I could take them on though, because there were just three of them, and they didn't seem like the most well-trained of soldiers… So I turned myself invisible and let them try and find me. They split to look for me, probably thinking they could easily take me one on one, but that was a mistake in their part. Taking them out was really, really easy.

It kind of makes me a little anxious though… What if they were for real? Am I in trouble for killing Imperial soldiers? Will I ever even be found out if they were for real? Ah, whatever, I'm probably worried for nothing. There's no way those guys could actually be affiliated with the legion.

Then, I actually faced the Skeever, which proved to be a foe tougher than the wolf I fought the other way; not because it was hard to kill, but because it was nimble and hard to hit. Never underestimate any foe, I suppose.

I'm going to pay my dues to Sithis and rest in the Santuary for the day.

Sun's Dusk, 7th, 4E 202

I'm sure you remember this, my dearest diary, because you're a book and you hold a lot of text, but I had forgotten… People in this town have been having nightmares, and it happened to me too. Apparently it has hit many others in the Sanctuary too, more so than in the past. It's not directly work-related to the Brotherhood, but since it IS affecting their work, it's in our best interest to deal with it. They're not sure where to start though, but I remembered hearing about some priest of Mara…

I went looking for him and lucky for me, here's still in town.

His name is Erandur, and I must say, it's pretty strange that he hasn't gotten any help over the year this thing has been affecting the town on and off. He claims to know something about this… It has something to do with the Daedric Prince Vaermina… Kind of explains why he's having hard time getting help. Normal people don't exactly like dealing with stuff like this for free! Anyway, since I'm not normal, I told him that I'll follow his clue. There's this old castle up the hill, inside which is apparently some temple, and he wants us both to go there later. Might as well. I can deal with the third part of Kyne's Sacred trial later.

Sun's Dusk, 8th, 4E 202

Dear oh dear, this is WAY more than I bargained for. I should've been patient and brought some of my friends with me, or better yet, someone from the Brotherhood. Not to say that there's anything objectively wrong with how my ally here fights, he's alright… It's just that there really should be more of us. I probably should've bought Babette! Can she even fight? I'm not even sure what kind of weapons she uses! Maybe she uses magic? Anyway, she would've loved collecting all the ingredients and potions this place has stocked away. Then again, since she's not here… They're all mine! There's some old, valuable books too, and while I'm not that interested in them, Sissel and Serana both like reading, so I suppose I might take some for them along with me on the way out.

So first of all, Erandur used to be a worshipper of Vaermina himself, so he kind of lied to me there. No, that's not fair… He didn't lie, he just neglected to tell me all the details. I'm not sure why. Secondly, this place is almost like a time capsule of sorts, being frozen in time.

A little history lesson… These worshippers took this temple some years ago and apparently used some artifact called the Skull of Corruption to torment some Orcs with nightmares similar to what the people of Dawnstar are experiencing, not sure why. Erandur didn't tell me, but there was some bad blood with a nearby stronghold, which by the way, no longer exists. Obviously, the Orcs were pissed, so they attacked, killing and raping, taking some of the worshippers as prisoners. They would've succeeded in destroying this shrine completely if it wasn't for them releasing some spell that put the entire place into sleep, with both worshippers and invaders being put to sleep.

Now that their sleep has been disrupted, the fighting has started again. What's the worst part? We were seen as enemies by both parties. I've never been a fan of these kinds of fight environments as hiding can be a little difficult and the corridors are so small too, and these foes are actually strong. These Orcs aren't just simple bandits, you see! They're real warriors! And these worshippers of Vaermina, strong too in their own rights. I'm not good at dealing with mages that wield fire because of my weaknesses.

Well, no matter, we know how to stop the nightmares at very least, but unfortunately for us, the Skull of Corruption is behind an impenetrable barrier that the worshippers set up to protect their precious artifact from the invaders. Erandur suspects that the way for us to move forward is by finding some kind of old potion which can be used in a ritual to do something called "Dreamstride", which allows the person consuming it to physically travel distances in their sleep, all while seeing "Dreams", or experiencing something that has happened in the past through the eyes of the other. It sounds super trippy, I'm not sure if I even explained it right, but it's the only way forward so we'll go along with it. It should be safe.

Meanwhile, I finished surveying the castle just a moment ago and making sure there are no more invaders or cultists left. Damn near got raped after I was ambushed by an Orc from behind. Thankfully, I've gotten better… Had this happened in the past, he would've gotten the better of me for sure.

We're going to go forward with Erandur's plan soon. I really hope it works…