Immortal Blood - Anonymous

     I decided to start writing reviews of the books I recovered in the newspaper column Hassiri gave me. Considering there is only one copy of most of the books I'm trying to track down, I figure it would be courteous of me to share their content, and my opinion of said content, with the rest of Cyrodiil. Now, let's start with that little brown book I picked up.
     Immortal Blood by anonymous. A short tale, barely a few pages, but it grasps you and keeps you interested for the small time it takes to read it. It is a tale of vampires and combat, although the combat is never described in detail and usually mentioned offhand, only receiving gentle reminders that it happened at all, a scar here, a misjudged tactic there, the real descriptions are those of the vampires. But I get ahead of myself. This story unfolds in a chapel.
     A man by the name of Movarth Piquine enters this holy place on the darkest of nights. His goal is to discuss with one of the priests exactly what abilities and weaknesses the vampires of the provinces of Tamriel have, so that he may be ready to fight them. What follows are descriptions of terrible creatures spread across these lands, each clan of vampires with it's own terrifying abilities. Take for example this section where the vampires of Skyrim, the Volkihar are described.

"I told him about the most powerful tribe, the Volkihar, paranoid and cruel, whose very breath could freeze their victims' blood in the veins. I explained to him how they lived beneath the ice of remote and haunted lakes, never venturing into the world of men except to feed." 

     Several more clans are described throughout the book and it is assumed, but never stated, that our vampire hunter completely eradicates the clans of vampires from the world. However, he is presented with a challenge that he cannot complete near the end of the book. He has asked about the vampires that dwell in Cyrodiil and is told this.

"I told him what I could. There was but one tribe in Cyrodiil, a powerful clan who had ousted all other competitors, much like the Imperials themselves had done. Their true name was unknown, lost in history, but they were experts at concealment. If they kept themselves well-fed, they were indistinguishable from living persons. They were cultured, more civilized than the vampires of the provinces, preferring to feed on victims while they were asleep, unaware."

     After not being seen by the priest for a month, Movarth returns to the priest frustrated and empty handed as he was not able to locate any of the vampires of Cyrodiil. In a delightfully ironic twist, the preist procedes to reveal himself as one such vampire and feeds upon Movarth, ending the book quite nicely.
     Overall, it is a good read. It is very short, so there is little time that needs to be set aside for it, and if you like vampires, it is interesting to imagine their special abilities described.
     Now, in the interest of making it easier for you, the reader, to fully tell how much I recommend a book, I have decided to use a simple one to five star system, split into several categories. Hopefully you enjoyed my first review and will remain around to see the rest of them. If you would like to read the book, please head into the library to find a copy of it.

Immortal Blood
Length: *
Difficulty: *
Overall Enjoyment: ****

The adventure begins?

     Most people have a vague paranoid feeling that someone is watching them. In my case, it was actually true. Jumping from my crate I asked the man, in my startled stupor, why he was staring at me. He apologized and explained that he was actually staring at the book that I had. I asked him why he thought that was any more appropriate and he stuttered out that the book was the only copy in existence and he was simply amazed that he had happened to find it just outside of his door. I corrected him in that I had found it and thusly it was my book. Having made him more nervous and self-conscious than he already was, he could barely tell me that he did not mean to offend as he actually wanted to talk to me about a job. He offered to start over.
     His name was Hassiri and he had been working with a diviner for a number of years to discover what he called “the lost books of Cyrodiil.” Believing that these books had the potential to release vast amounts of knowledge to the world, he wanted to track them all down and make himself a tidy little library. However, after his run-in with me it became apparent to him that if he could not take one small book from a man sitting outside of his door, then he probably couldn’t get one from a cave infested with goblins. Thusly, he offered me an opportunity. He would pay me to go out across the land, locate the books, and bring them back to him. He agreed to provide me with supplies, a list of the books general locations, and a column in the paper he worked at that I could do whatever I like with.
     I was now the one staring. I couldn’t decide what to do; a job was exactly what I was looking for, but if my tunnel adventure taught me anything, it was that I was not an adventurer.
     Noticing my hesitance, he told me how much the job pays.
     I took it.
     So now you know the story of how I came to do what I do. It’s not exactly a valiant tale, what with all the greed, implied sloth, and lack of courage, but it’s the only one I’ve got. And in case you were wondering, my contract doesn’t let me tell how much I make, but I can tell you that I no longer have to sell my clothing to eat.

Listless without a list

    Upon donning my new set of leather pants and a comically fuzzy hat, I decided to venture into the city. As I wandered through the city's many subsections, I was in awe of the architectural and aesthetic pleasures  it withheld from the outside world. From beyond the city gates, the only thing that can be seen is a monolithic structure, known as White Gold Tower. I was told by the denizens of the lovely city that this was the Imperial Palace and the libraries of something called the Moth Priesthood. I had to visit it, I knew that much, but not at the moment. No, right now I had to go to the market district and get out of these ridiculous clothes.
     The market district was not a bustling and busy place. In fact, as far as I could tell no one actually shopped there. It is possible that they all have their items delivered to their homes, which would be convenient for them as well as marketable for the shops, but it was still quite strange to be the only customer about. Regardless, I looked around for a place to purchase clothing that was slightly more my style, as in with color and not made from a dead animal. All of the shops looked roughly the same from the outside, the only difference being the carved wooden signboard's directly above them. I spotted one named Divine Elegance. Seemed about right.
     After speaking to the shop keeper and looking at her wares, it dawned on me that I had almost no money. I had picked some up from the dead bandit and I had found some while in the secret escape route, but all together it was hardly enough for the items I wanted. I dug around in my bag for anything I had picked up that I could sell and came up with only the clothes on my back and the small brown book.
     I sold the clothes.
     Upon leaving, wearing my very snazzy new clothing, I decided I needed a source of income. A job of some sort, preferably something quiet and simple, I wouldn't have minded busy work. I asked some shopkeepers if they needed an assistant or a stock-boy or someone to deliver packages for them, but none of them were in an employing mood. Disheartened, I sat on a crate in front of a newspaper service. I decided to retrieve the small brown book from my bag and read it, as perhaps it would offer solace from my current predicament. I did not notice the man watching me intently from just outside the newspaper door.

It begins as it always does...

...In a dungeon.
     I was aware that I was in a jail cell from the moment I awoke, but I was unsure of how I arrived there. I did not recall committing any crimes, nor do I remember any trials or officers arresting me. When I thought back on it, I realized I couldn't think back on it.
     I couldn't remember anything from before I woke up.
     While this was distressing, my primary emotion at the time was anger, directed at an idiotic dark elf berating me from the cell across. Making comments about my Nordic background and idle threats about what the guards were coming to do to me. I would have brushed it off, but at just that moment I heard guards approaching from the steps nearby. Panicked, I ran to the back of my cell and fruitlessly clambered toward the window.
     "This is it", I thought, "I'm going to die in a horrible jail cell in the gods know where with no memories."
     There was no worse side of the mangy bedroll to wake up on.
     But considering that you are reading this now and it is in the past tense, I suppose you realized I did not die. No, as it turns out, the guards had no idea why I was in the cell either and simply needed to smuggle the emperor out of the palace by means of a secret series of tunnels hidden behind a wall of the cell. Like people do. 
     I followed the guards and the emperor into the tunnels and, oddly, no one seemed to mind much, which was weird considering where I was previously located. In a cell. In what appeared to be maximum security.
     But I chose not to question it. After all, It's not as though I am aware of what I did and if they didn't know either, all the better.
     However, their opinion of me seemed to switch from mildly annoyed because I was following them around to severe disdain, after I just sort of watched one of their members be killed by an assassin. So after a short jaunt down some stairs, they left me for dead.
     At just that moment, a nearby section of the wall began to shake. I thought it was another secret passage, or maybe that the tunnels were collapsing. Both were sort of correct.
     A massive rat jumped through the wall.
     I won't describe my series of girlish screams and panicked yelps as I ran through the caves that the rat came from. I will tell you there were zombies, goblins, and more giant rats inside of it though. And that I ended up back in the tunnels where I found the emperor and his guards, still on their way out.
     After the emperor kindly ordered them not to kill me and handed me this sweet amulet thing, he was promptly murdered by some insane cult member that came through yet another secret wall passage. The guards seemed less peeved at me about this one, and even gave me the key to the sewers so I could leave. I think it was more so I wouldn't be in their way anymore.
     I headed off. More goblins resided in the sewers, thusly, more screaming and flailing about was done on my part. But then I saw the grating, the light of day emanating from between it's rusting bars and was uplifted. I was free from my prison and free from whatever crimes I had committed, still unknown to me!
     Fresh salt air greeted me as I stepped forth from the sewers. A massive landscape stretched in front of me, beckoning for adventure. I could not resist it's call.
     Directly across the water were ruins of a once great civilization. Oh yes, and a camp of bandits. Completely unarmed, I froze, hoping they wouldn't spot me. Which of course they did, and I was subsequently chased around their camp with an axe. As I was dodging a swing from the blade near their bedroll, something caught my eye. There was a book there. Plain, brown, slightly worn, nothing special. But I felt like I needed to have it, so I snatched it up.
     Still on the verge of having my head cut off, I decided the best course of action would be to head toward the massive city I just noticed was behind me. Long chase story short, the city guards killed the axe maniac and I took his clothes, because I was still in prison rags and he wouldn't need them.
     This is where my adventure really started, standing outside of the city gates, undressing another man and looting his corpse. At this moment, just inside a list was being finalized. And my life was about to change.