General:Albus Casca's Posts

A nice year for the coffers. Who knew "Provincial Governer's personal lighthouse tender" would be so profitable?

Lord Jarol's sent word of another ship in need of diversion, the night we're to visit Tahm in Kvatch. I'll make my excuses.

To Tahm Casca: I hope your meeting with Count Carolus went well. Being your silent partner means I can avoid dealing with royalty!

 

To Tahm Casca: Good, good. I hope you won't mind if I postpone my visit? Mari is concerned about danger on the roads.

 

To Tahm Casca: Of course. Details. You should visit us soon and tell me all about them. Perhaps over dinner, at our humble home?

 

It's done. The light is doused. Tonight the Skewers claim another prize. Tomorrow, Lord Jarol's man delivers my cut.

 

To Mariana Casca: Yes, such a tragedy. No doubt the Provincial Governor will send her Red Sails to recover the cargo.

 

To Mariana Casca: I don't expect Governer Fortunata's ships to return with survivors. The Skewers are called that for a reason.

Still no word from Lord Jarol's man. I've done my part, haven't I? Twelve ships in a year should earn me prompt payment!

Lord Jarol's man was slain outside the Bank of Anvil! My cut is gone. Tahm will be here soon. He'll come through, I know it.

That arrogant simpleton spent half my share on a riding wolf. A riding wolf! Am I investing in a damned kennel, now?

Lord Jarol knows I had nothing to do with the killings of his men, doesn't he? Should I write him about the payment?

I wrote Lord Jarol, despite the risks. It's up to the Eight Divines now. Still, I'll visit the Chapel of Dibella tonight.

 

To Mariana Casca: I was offering prayers at the Chapel of Dibella. I had much I needed to unburden.

 

To Mariana Casca: My love, it's not what you think! I spent hours at Zenithar's Shrine - Jhalnu the Ruby-Eyed's idea. Ask anyone who was there!

 

To Mariana Casca: You have no idea, Mari. You have no idea.

Still nothing from Lord Jarol. Now Mari seems distant. She knows I'm faithful, doesn't she? I've only ever loved her.

Times were simpler in the Gold Coast Trading Company. But far less lucrative. I made the right choice, didn't I?

The waiting is driving me mad. I need to know where I stand with Lord Jarol. Also, I need gold to pay my creditors!

This is excruciating. Fortunata will protect me from Lord Jarol, if it comes to it. Won't she?

I need to stop fretting. I'm doing nothing but ruining my stomach and my marriage.

 

To Tahm Casca: For the last time, do not burden me with your troubles! You are your own man, Tahm. Be your own man!

 

To Tahm Casca: You want me to take charge, is that it? As I always do when you make a mess of things?

 

Tahm Casca: You will always need help because you never learned to help yourself. Until you learn, you are no brother of mine.

I'm headed to Kvatch to patch sails with Tahm, hopefully returned by nightfall. The things I do for love!

My brother won't open his door! Thirty years and still sleeping the day away? To think, he resents when I call him an idler.

I'll make short work of this cheap lock and put the fear of Akatosh into that good-for-nothing slugabed!

Tahm is dead. My little brother, gone forever. How could this happen?

I found him dead at his writing desk. Journal smeared with ink. Bowl of red mushroom stew spilled on the ground.

His papers are incomprehensible. "BLOOD WILL FLOW" on a list of names.

The last thing my brother did was go on about the Dark Brotherhood. His spent his final moments writing about a myth.

I need to call the Guard. To send word to Lord Jarol. To write Mari. I need to make this go away.

I need my brother. By the Eight, why is he gone?

To Mariana Casca: Mari, I will be in Kvatch longer than expected. I need you to maintain the lighthouse while I'm away.

 

To Mariana Casca: Tahm is gone. He passed away last night. The Guard said it was sudden illness.

 

To Mariana Casca: It is no joke. Tahm is dead. Mari, I need you to be strong. I don't know how I'm going to bury my brother.

He asked me for help and I pushed him away. "Toughened love," father used to call it. I thought it was best for him.

The last words I wrote to him were in anger. The last visit ended with me forcing him out of my home. And now he's gone.

Count Carolus sent his condolences today. He also spoke with Primate Artorius, requesting special dispensation for Tahm.

Now it seems the Cathedral of Akatosh is sending Grand Sermonizer Fithia to speak at his ceremony.

It seems Tahm wasn't exaggerating his connection to the count. What else don't I know about his affairs?

Mari will arrive shortly. Then we set Tahm to rest. I will make it through this day. I must.

The Grand Seromnizer used Tahm's funeral to rant about the Dark Brotherhood! How dare she pollute his memory with fiction?

 

To Mariana Casca: I was too angry to speak with her. Am I wrong, or did she imply Tahm was murdered by assassins?

 I wouldn't pay too much heed to her words. You know how they are in Kvatch. Always jumping at shadows. -Mariana

To Mariana Casca: Perhaps. I'm just so tired, Mari. I want to be done with this.

 

I don't think Tahm died of "sudden illness of the heart." We both escaped the first onset of the Knahaten Flu.

Was the Grand Sermonizer right? Was Tahm murdered? The Kvatch Guard consider the matter closed, but I don't.

There must be something in Tahm's papers beyond his Dark Brotherhood ravings. He was too old to believe in folk tales.

To Mariana Casca: Tahm's affairs are mostly in order. I should return to Anvil in a few more days. Any trouble with the lighthouse?

 

To Mariana Casca: I miss you so much. I want to be with you, but all of this is more difficult than I envisioned.

 

To Mariana Casca: Truly? Reselling that highland wolf of his. Bit of a drooler, that one.

Everywhere I go in Kvatch, the sermonizers preach about the evils of the Dark Brotherhood.

Could there be truth to it? Here, in the Gold Coast? Or is this Count Carolus playing politics?

Such rumors give his agents room to target Fortunata's allies. The foolish will all say, "The Dark Brotherhood did it!"

Say Tahm was killed. By whom? He had no real enemies. Vendal Gurges was his rival, at best. And he died before Tahm.

I'm bringing all of Tahm's effects back to Anvil. I'm missing something, I just can't see it yet.

One of Lord Jarol's men spoke with Mari yesterday. He didn't leave a note in the usual manner.

Lord Jarol doesn't suffer fools. He wants me to know he's displeased. I'll set up a meeting. He needs reassurance.

Perhaps Tahm's death was a message to me. But why? Lord Jarol didn't have him killed. He is never so direct.

I am Fortunata's man and always have been. I am protected. Killing Tahm is no strike against her. Nor me.

Lord Jarol insists I attend him at the Withered Rose. He's sweet on the innkeeper's daughter. Is it all pretext to ogle her?

To Mariana Casca: I must take a meeting tonight in the countryside. I will return in the morning.

 

To Mariana Casca: I need to speak with an old friend about Tahm. He may be able to give me some sorely needed perspective.

 

Lord Jarol knew I had nothing to do with his missing payment. He was especially surprised to learn of Tahm's death.

When I mentioned the Dark Brotherhood, he went pale. He tried to brush it off, but I saw the fear in his eyes.

I showed him the note that said BLOOD WILL FLOW. He insisted I stop all pursuit of the matter and departed immediately.

Lord Jarol is a difficult man to fluster. Could he truly fear the Dark Brotherhood? Do they operate in the Gold Coast?

Mariana Casca: Mari, has anybody approached you recently? Anyone who seemed strange to you?

 

To Mariana Casca: I'm serious. I don't want anything to happen to you. To us.

 

To Mariana Casca: I know. I know.

I followed Mari to the market today. Watched for anybody else who was following her.

I spotted a hooded man across the market. He was staring at Mari. Then he turned and looked directly at me.

I could barely breathe. He held up the palm of his hand and mouthed three words: BLOOD WILL FLOW.

He smirked, pulled a dagger, and spun it in his hands. Then he slipped away.

Akatosh protect me. What have I gotten myself into?

Enough. Enough! I am Albus Casca, a proud Imperial son. Nobody threatens my family. Not without retribution.

It's as the Grand Sermonizer said at Tahm's funeral: the Dark Brotherhood's time is up.

I'll add a coda to Tahm's journal. Play the forlorn brother filled with righteous anger at Tahm's murder.

I'll deliver it to the Grand Sermonizer myself. She'll call for the Order of the Hour to root out these degenerate cultists!

Divines, my stomach is killing me. A nice bowl of Mari's stew should settle it. I don't deserve such a woman.