6th of Heartfire, 4E 201
This has been a bloody rough several days. It feels damn nice to be sitting in front of a fire at an inn for once, a good meal in my belly.
After leaving Windhelm I traveled to the Rift and explored it for a while. I then visited the Dawnguard and finally decided to join. My first experience there was witnessing a conversation between its leader Isran and Tolan, one of the last of the Vigilants.
Watching their conversation, I remembered finding the Hall of the Vigilants, still burning. Vigilants and vampires lying together, and two dead doglike creatures, their hairless skin like black coal and colder than the snow. In Tolan, I saw someone who had not only seen what I had seen, but someone who had watched his home burn, his friends die.
When Isran sent me to Dimhollow Cavern, I wasn’t entirely surprised to find his body, surrounded by the vampires he had killed. 
He died with the peace that comes with fatalism, may Stendarr have mercy on him. Perhaps it was best that he never knew the artifact the vampires wanted so much was Serana. She was a pureblood vampire, a daughter of Molag Bal, and she carried an Elder Scroll. How the hell did she get it?
I brought her to her home, Castle Volkihar, where she was met by her father Lord Harkon. In return for rescuing his daughter, Lord Harkon offered to turn me into a vampire lord. He even transformed in front of me to demonstrate the power he offered.
It was tempting, damned tempting. To possess that level of power, to be immortal. I could have brought the fight to the Thalmor instead of constantly evade them. Yet, at the same time, I looked at Harkon and felt the urge to shoot a bolt straight into his head. I think he saw that and sensed my refusal. He banished me from his castle before I said a word.
I have yet to return to Isran, having needed to complete several pieces of business. I found and bribed the pirates in Dawnstar to get the information I needed, which led to my meeting and helping a priest of Mara named Erandur to destroy the Skull of Corruption.
That’s three daedra lords I’ve dealt with now: Meridia, Azura, and Vaermina. Unlike the first two, I told Vaermina to go to hell. I don’t like or trust most of them, but at least they generally have an honest sense of purpose … like a snake. Still, being inside Azura’s Star was one of the most wondrous experiences of my life.
Then there was the necromancer trying to raise an army to destroy everyone involved in the civil war, working on those image pieces from the Memory Crystal, and finishing my business with the East Empire company. Damn battlemage. Between him and working with this fragmented image gave me a throbbing headache tonight. I don’t know what it is about this image that is causing me so much pain every time, but it’s preventing me from studying it for long on any given day.
Yesterday, when I finally realized I was doing all of these things because I was avoiding Riften, I rode Nyx straight there. I heard plenty of rumors in town about her behavior, and about how corrupt the city and its authorities were. No one needed to tell me on how incompetent the guards were, not after I was attacked by a gang of bandits near Riften Stables in the predawn hours. I wonder how the guards reacted when they saw the frozen statues glittering in the sun? It was strange though, most of the bandits were Altmer. Damn strange.
The orphanage was even worse. It wasn’t just how Grelod constantly insulted her charges. It was how she only fed them once a day, let them out only a short time a day, beat them frequently, and there there was “the room.” It was tiny, the size of a closet, and it had shackles on the wall.
I waited until Grelod was alone in her private room, then stabbed her from behind. The children actually celebrated.
And now I’m looking at a note a courier told me was given to him by a “creepy fella, black robe.” It’s obviously a threat, probably sent by someone with more bluster than bite. A black robe could mean a necromancer, maybe a rogue conjurer. I’ve killed plenty of both. I suppose it could have been a vampire. I should’ve asked the courier if it was given to him during the day or the night. Oh well.
I’ll use some of the money I earned from the East Empire business and rent a room for the night. I’ve earned a warm bed. Hopefully my headache will be gone by morning.
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