"You have been so far."

Smile.

"As to next steps... I have the second scroll required for the ritual." She pats the case next to her. "If I were to return it to Harkon, my father, he would no doubt aid me against Valerica, my mother. This would however bring him a step closer to completing the ritual, a state of affairs I am reluctant to bring about, as mentioned."

"Do you want to hide it, then? Or get the other two for yourself?"

"If I could, I would hide it. But Elder Scrolls... have a way of warping history around themselves. If a scroll wants to be read, someone will find it, no matter how unlikely that seems."

"Troublesome... It might break in another universe, but I can't move between them myself..."

"A significant hurdle to enacting that course of action."

"Our alts will probably track me down eventually, but it might be a while, we weren't in constant contact..."

"Then... much as it pains me to say it, I may be better off emulating Valerica, and accumulating the components of the ritual myself, to at least keep them out of Harkon's hands."

She nods. "Starting with the Elder Scrolls?"

"They are one of two things I know are required, and I already have my own blood..."

"Alright." She hums. "I have some questions about the magic before we go adventuring, if you don't mind?"

"Of course. Ask."

"That painful spell I got hit with at the start - do you know what it was?"

"That was a vampiric lifedrain. It steals the energy from living creatures and reinvigorates the caster. Only Harkon, Valerica, and myself, and any turned by us, are capable of using it."

"Huh. I didn't feel drained really..."

"Usually it takes a few seconds at most to kill a person."

"Well, I'm pretty hard to kill... But yeah it was pretty up there with my most painful experiences, just didn't really stop me."

"That is... very interesting. Tactically, I would use drain to recharge or overcharge my magicka to cast other spells. Vampires do not naturally regenerate magicka, Something Harkon hopes to correct with the ritual, incidentally."

"Huh. Are you low on magicka right now?"

"Not especially. The thrall I ate was filling."

"Well, I'm apparently immune to the bad side effects, if you get hungry again," she says, only somewhat teasingly.

"I will keep that in mind."

Very small squirm.

"But it does sound like I should avoid letting my enemies hit me with it, if they're gonna get recharged."

"I generally find it wise to avoid all offensive spells cast in my direction, yes."

"Not a bad strategy."