"I sometimes do," Sabine answered, "We do not often use them. There are many effects I can make, but if I were to tell you all of them, it would be sunset before I finished." Sabine's tone was sure enough that she did not appear to just be bragging. "I can tell you some, though..." Sabine paused to put a lump of some kind of sap or wax onto a small, glazed ceramic bowl on a tripod and began to heat the underside of it with a small fire spell, "There are poisons for killing, like you would think, but also for sapping strength, skill, intelligence, just about anything. It can do it permanently or temporarily. For potions, there are more effects than just restoring energy or healing. There are ways to resist or absorb magic, even reflect magic back at the caster, but that is hard to make. There are ways to make people's life force light up in your eyes, even through walls. There are effects that can make you faster or stronger. If I had the right ingredients, I could make a potion to turn you invisible for a while. All of that is temporary, though."

It was unclear how well S'ajira's signals were working. Leaps stopped in his tracks, but he was mistaken into thinking that S'ajira's body language was attempting to be playful. He kept his distance, but began running and stopping intermittently around S'ajira, trying to tempt her into a play fight or a chase like a dog would do.

"Need some help there?" Uthri asked from nearby. She was smiling at the contrast between playful and grumpy in front of her. It really was like a cat and a dog, even though the subjects were vastly different.

Peiter got up and walked over closer to where Sabine was working to get a better look at all of the ingredients. He was careful not to touch anything, particularly since he did not know what, if anything, was dangerous, but he tried to observe the process she was going through. "So you can get pretty much any magical effect, but without using magicka? I can see why you would use it over actual magic, I think. Can you make poison gasses? You know, something like the suppression gas that Vile's followers used on the werelion clan? Thinking about it, I wonder if it's possible to make a gas that would only affect non-lycans? I'm not really sure how it all works." He questioned.

S'ajira was visibly frustrated with Leaps' reaction, but she was not sure if becoming aggressive over it would actually help matters. With how leaps was acting, he might just think that she was accepting of his desire to play fight. For now, she decided just to ignore him entirely in the hopes that he would give up. She turned away from the wamasu, walked over to Uthri, and laid down on the ground beside her. S'ajira brushed her paw across the ground to clear an open area of dirt, then extended her claws and quickly began scratching a few words into the dirt: Maybe. See how he reacts.

For a few moments, a light breeze blew through the camp. It was perfectly normal, except for a very faint scent that, if one paid close attention, could be detectable. It was weak enough at this point that it would be easy to miss, and difficult to identify, but it was present, and out of place.

Sabine's smile lowered slowly when Peiter mentioned gasses. She did not really want to mention being the subject of the suppression gas while it was developed by Ariel, but the memories still affected her expression. "It is not that simple," she answered, observing the melting wax over her hand. As no other words followed up, the answer lingered as in response to all of Peiter's questions. However, Sabine did eventually continue right before Peiter could respond, "It can be very complicated when trying to replicate some magic. There are many things I would not know how to do at all, like when Meesei turns into lightning and moves fast."

Once the wax had melted enough, Sabine took a cloth and poured the contents of the dish into her mortar, mixing it with the ingredients that had glowed beforehand.

Uthri read S'ajira's words and nodded. "I'm sure he'll calm down eventually," she said as she held her hands behind her head and relaxed. The children played pretend with the figurines Uthri had made, giving them names and playing out grand battles that snapped the wood on multiple occasions. It suited Uthri just fine, as she only had to make sure they didn't try putting them in their mouths.

Leaps looked like he was going to persist irritating S'ajira, but something on the breeze caught his attention. He stopped suddenly and held his head high into the air, smelling it. It looked as if he had found something interesting; he scuttled across the camp until at the edge, facing upwind and still smelling. Leaps let out an agitated croak as if warning of danger.

It was known to the group that Leaps often reacted this way when he came across something unfamiliar near camp, mostly animals. However, it was still enough to get Sabine and Uthri's attention.

"What do you smell, Leaps?" Sabine asked. Being surrounded by her alchemy made detecting faint scents difficult.

Uthri stood up to try and get a better look, furrowing her brow. She wasn't sure what it was, but there was something.

"Hmm, that's unfortunate. It just seems like something that would be useful." Peiter commented. "I mean, if Vile's followers can do it, then it must be possible. It would be nice if we could get something that would give us the same kind of advantage over them."

Though he was still watching the process, Peiter was still at a loss for the purposes of the steps Sabine was going through in creating her concoction. For one with only a passing knowledge of alchemy, it seemed like it would be as simple as just following a recipe, but he had a feeling that was not the case. "Anyway, what are you making, and what kind of potions do you already have made right now? Even if it's not turning into lightning, you must have some impressive potions, I'd imagine. It is you, after all."

At the edge of camp, Leaps could still smell something, but its source was still unknown. Wild animals approaching their camp was nothing new, so it was what S'ajira's mind immediately went to. Likely, if a predator approached, it would back off as soon as it saw the size of the group, but that did not mean she wouldn't still be cautious. She walked over near Leaps and raised her snout in the air to see if she could catch whatever he was smelling on the wind. There was no movement or sound coming from the forest, and no indication that there was actually anything nearby other than the scent. However, it was steadily growing stronger until it was readily detectable by anyone in the camp. As well, it was becoming identifiable. For those who had never been to places like Elsweyr or Morrowind, it could be difficult to identify, but for those who had, it was getting closer to being the scent of durzogs.

While she would have liked to answer Peiter's compliment, indulgent as it was, the tension in the camp had risen to the point where Sabine stood up herself. She left her alchemy where it was and walked up behind Leaps and S'ajira. What she recognised in the air was something she had not smelled since Morrowind, years ago, but it was not something she had forgotten.

"Durzogs," Sabine said, turning to Uthri with concern, but not panic, "They might go after the children."

Uthri took on a similar look when Sabine mentioned the children. She pulled out a hatchet and a sword before speaking, "They would be brave to try anything, but I would sooner be careful. Everyone!" Uthri beckoned with her sword hand, "Come here, get close to the kids." Uthri then looked down to Rhazii and Newt. Rhazii was looking up at them with a scared expression, holding one of the whittled figurines close to his chest. "Alright, you two," Uthri tried to take on a higher, less serious voice, "Stay close to us, do not run off, okay?"

Sabine brought frost spells to both hands, making cloudy vapour stream down slowly from her palms. She quickly stepped up to the children and covered an angle watching the surrounding undergrowth.

"You know," Uthri mused while she watched her own angle, "Perhaps one of us should transform and take the little ones up a tree. Then the rest of us can simply catch the rest for dinner. What do you all think?" It was unclear whether Uthri knew what durzogs were, specifically.

Peiter was not certain what Sabine was doing at first, until he caught the scent in the air. He did not recognize it himself, but according to Sabine, it was something called a durzog. Based on her reaction to it, he assumed they were some sort of predator. He quickly grabbed up his halberd and took up a position with the others, though it was not long before Uthri recommended that one of them take the children up to safety in a tree. It would take them down one fighter, but it would make sure that the two defenseless children were out of danger. "Alright, I'll do it. Just be careful, alright."

After quickly stripping down and finding a place for his belongings, Peiter shifted into his werewolf form, then scurried up onto one of the lower branches of a nearby tree. He reached down so that Uthri could hand both of the children up to him, then kept them securely under his arm as he climbed up a few of the closer branches. They were not too particularly high, but they were high enough that he felt confident that the creatures could not get up to him quickly. He could have gone higher, but it would have required more acrobatics than he would be comfortable attempting with the children in his care.

The scent grew stronger until they could start to hear sounds in the forest. Although, they were quite faint, and they likely would not have picked them out had they not been listening specifically for movement. Peiter, given that he had a vantage point, hoped to be able to spot them to warn the others of which direction they were approaching from, but even he was having trouble seeing these durzogs. A few times, he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye, only to see nothing when he focused on it.

Eventually, the sounds became rather close, and Peiter was able to spot the source. However, when he did, his eyes widened in surprised. "I think I see...wait, that's not..." He began, but was interrupted when the intruders revealed themselves. On three sides of the camp in an arc around them, about six or seven beings emerged from behind bushes and trees, but they were not durzogs: they were mostly Khajiit, with a Human and an Orc among them.

"Lower your weapons; this need not turn to violence." The Human, an Imperial woman, demanded firmly, though without shouting. Around them, three of the Khajiit had bows nocked, but not drawn, the Orc had a javelin that was in a position to be thrown, though was not currently aimed, and the rest were armed with spears.

Leaps stuck near everyone else as they circled. They were all sprung, waiting for something to leap out of the bushes around them. What they beheld was not something they expected, but the surprise wasn't pleasant.

The people around them outnumbered them as they emerged from the bushes, but they did not have their weapons raised. Uthri was confused, but she did not lower her guard. "This is bad..." she proclaimed quietly. A glance to the Imperial that spoke preceded a proper answer, not quite as confident as the demand to lower their weapons, "Who are you? What do you want? There are only two kinds of people we would expect to find in this place, and one is a mortal enemy."

"Uthri," Sabine whispered, "Uthri, I don't think we can fight." Sabine lowered her hands slightly, but still kept an eye on those around her. She would have to use a ward if Uthri aggravated them any further, but even she knew they could be overwhelmed here.

The Imperial woman still did not order an attack, but neither did she lower her own weapon, nor take on any less of a firm tone in her answer. "Easy, we're lycans, like you. We weren't sure of your scent at first, given that Vile's minions have been known to fake it, but that werewolf up in the tree settles that fear. Even so, we have to be as cautious as possible; we can't afford not to be. Now, lower your weapons so we can talk. Does your pack act alone, or are you a part of the war effort?" She asked.

Obviously, S'ajira had no weapons to lower, so she was able to simply remain at the ready. This group was claiming to be lycans, which, if it were true, would mean they were likely members of the clan. Looking around, S'ajira did not immediately recognize any of their faces, but that in itself did not necessarily mean they were lying. The clan had many members, and she only personally knew a fraction of them. However, it was possible that they might know of her. S'ajira's pride was of a reasonably high rank in the clan, and it was not exactly common for bipedal Khajiit to marry Pahmar, so they may have at least hear of her through gossip before the attack.

There was a moment of silence. Uthri weighed up the possibilities with her weapons still raised. She took a quick look at S'ajira, who was still poised to defend herself, but Uthri still had doubt in her mind. Reluctantly, she lowered her guard and looked the Imperial in the eye with a stern expression. "We're fighting the war against Vile. We are here with others, searching." Uthri took a careful step forward and leaned forward slightly. She sniffed at the Imperial to confirm her suspicions. "I don't know why else you would mask your scent with durzog stink. Except that we may have found who we were looking for," Uthri leaned to take a closer look at how the head of the Orc's javelin reflected light, it just seemed to be steel.

Sabine had suspected by the posture of these strangers that they may have been from the Senchal clan, but this all but confirmed it. She let her spells wink out of existence as she lowered her hands. "You are from the Senchal clan?" she asked.

The Imperial did not budge from her position, but again, she did not grow any more aggressive. She brought her spear into a slightly more relaxed position, though it would be easy to bring the weapon to bear quickly. "Maybe. If you know what that is, then you might know why I need to be absolutely sure of who I'm talking to before I say anything. You said you're part of the war effort. Does that mean you're from one of the clans? If so, which one? And who are these 'others' that you're with?"

S'ajira too was now a bit more comfortable with relaxing her guard, given how this Imperial was speaking. Leaps, meanwhile, was certainly on his guard, but no one was acting quite aggressively enough for him to attack without being told. S'ajira wanted to have some kind of assurance that they weren't being tricked, so she quickly scrawled a few more words on the ground, then lightly nudged Sabine's side as she pointed to them: Ask if they know me.

Uthri looked sideways, not particularly happy that Sabine had divulged information on who they were searching for so freely. Anything they said would have to be restricted to what they could infer themselves until they knew that these strangers could be trusted. "I would rather wait until they returned before answering that," Uthri said, "We have been at risk ever since we made landfall. I would not compromise-"

"-Can you name this Pahmar? She is from the Senchal clan," Sabine interrupted in a challenging voice. She had almost blurted out if they knew 'S'ajira' in a more trusting manner, but Uthri's demeanour, as well as the specificity of S'ajira's request, helped her to understand.

Sabine's tone made Leaps uneasy and he made a low, threatening hiss. "Leaps! Heel!" Uthri ordered. Leaps complied, backing towards Uthri. Turning her head to look at Sabine, Uthri wasn't quite as annoyed. There would be no guarantee, but the idea was sound. "Name our friend correctly and we trust you," Uthri clarified.

"Name the Pahmar?" The Imperial repeated. Leaning forward slightly, she looked over S'ajira carefully, but nothing in her expression indicated that she recognized her. Looking around at her allies, she gave a nod to them, prompting them to try and recognize the Khajiit. A good thirty seconds passed, and most of the group simply had to shake their heads. There was one Khajiit, however, who just kept staring at the Pahmar, seemingly in deep thought.

"This one...thinks he has seen that one before. But...he's not sure." The Khajiit said.

The Imperial woman let out a sigh. "Look, there were a lot of people in the Senchal clan, Pahmar included. None of us know everyone personally, you're going to have to give us more to go on than that. Is there anything identifying about her other than her name that you can give us?" She requested.

Uthri frowned and twisted her mouth. It was worse that they might have known rather than outright knowing they were ignorant, but she was willing to humour them enough. She gave another look at S'ajira and tried to think of a good identifier. It seemed like it would be hard before she actually thought about it - there were actually plenty of things that stood out about her.

"Well," Uthri turned to the one Khajiit who showed some recognition. She extended her hand with the hatchet in a non-aggressive gesture, "She has an adopted daughter. A Bosmer, a middling teenager. Does that help?" Uthri figured that a Khajiit adopting a Bosmer would not be too common. If not, she supposed that she could give the name of Ciinriel.

While Sabine and the others might have still been tense, Uthri was beginning to see all of this as silly at this point. Unless these people were extremely skilled actors, there was nothing suggesting that they were agents of Vile, especially with their position of advantage.

The Khajiit thought heavily for a few more moments before his expression showed some recognition. "That...does sound familiar, yes. She has a Bosmer daughter and married a Suthay-raht, yes? This one thinks he remembers hearing about one of the higher ranking prides in the clan having someone like that. They didn't make it with us when we were first attacked. Is her name...S'aritha...S'ajara, something like that?"

It was not exactly right, but S'ajira felt it was close enough. The Khajiit had managed to give details of her life that the enemy would not have known, so it seemed like he and the others were likely from the clan. S'ajira relaxed her body, then looked up at Uthri and nodded.

The Imperial still stood cautiously, but her tone was less confrontational than before. "Can you trust us now? If it is not one of you, I would like to meet whoever it is that leads you. Are the 'others' you are searching with nearby?"

Uthri was about convinced as well. S'ajira's confirmation was enough to have her put her weapons away. "Alright," Uthri sighed with the drama of it all and looked up at Peiter, "You can come down now, Peiter."

The others relaxed. Even Leaps seemed less threatening on everyone's cue. Uthri put some fingers on her temple and a hand on her hip, "Sorry about all that. I would have hoped uniting with the Senchal clan would have been a more joyous occasion. Anyway, we are just watching the camp while the rest of us were searching the area. We're from Bruma, we came down to find you after your reports didn't show." Uthri gave a smile, "I think you will be as glad to see who our leader is as she will be to see you. They are due to come back in the late afternoon, but here, I'll draw you a map of where they are searching..."

Uthri swept aside some leaf litter to expose the topsoil in order to instruct the Imperial on today's search pattern. While she drew it, she asked, "So what are your names? I'm Uthri Wild-Heart."

The Imperial woman motioned to her allies to lower their weapons, then approached the camp more calmly. With Uthri's word, Peiter also climbed down to the ground carefully and released the children from his grasp. There was still some tension in the air from the circumstances of their meeting, but the threat of violence seemed to have passed. The Imperial knelt down next to the crude map Uthri was sketching and looked it over. "Hmm, seems like you're covering a wide area. You must have a large group here. It's hard to tell exactly, but I think you might have found us in a day or two. It would probably take too long to try to track all of these search parties down, so if you don't mind, I think I'll have my pride wait here until they return. My pride will be a few hours overdue by that point, but it will take longer than that for anyone to be alarmed. Anyway, my name is Vilana, and I am the leader of this pride. I hope your search party is coming with reinforcements, because we're going to need them."

Peiter, as usual, sat down beside Sabine, still in his beast form. Their beast spirits typically did not like transforming back and forth on a whim, so it would take a while to calm himself and shift back. "Well, armed standoff aside, at least we found them. Or, they found us. I guess we just wait now?" He commented to her.

It didn't take too long to draw the map. Uthri gestured to where the groups were on it to fill Vilana in. "We are nineteen strong, plus the two little ones. Eleven wolves, seven lions, and a crocodile. We have been spread out in groups of three, with one group watching camp. They move fairly slowly, so you could send someone out to find the leader at least. It might help for getting up to speed." Uthri gestured to S'ajira, "S'ajira and her pride, we found them shortly after we landed. They were imprisoned and being tortured." She pushed aside the memories of first finding the pride and raised her brow, "I will have our leader fill in the gaps when she returns. What of your situation?"

Rhazii and Newt were still a little spooked by all of these strange smelling strangers coming out of the undergrowth, so they stayed close to Peiter and Sabine. Rhazii even held onto Sabine's leg where she stood and looked up to her with flattened ears. "Aunty? Who are these people?" he asked.

"They are friends," Sabine answered with a comforting smile. She ran a hand over Rhazii's head, "They are part of the clan we have been looking for. We just had to make sure first, that is all."

Rhazii looked around at each of them, still unconvinced for now. Leaps sensed his fear and walked up to guard him.

It was then that Sabine answered Peiter. She put an arm around his as her smile turned contemplative. "Yes, we wait," she said, "I am glad that we did not fight." Sabine looked around at the pride around them and looked to Peiter questioningly, "Do you think we should offer some food?"

Vilana let out a sigh, then sat down in a more relaxed position. "Desperate, overall. If, um, Sajira's pride is from the clan, then you probably already know the first part of the story. We were attacked and lost about two thirds of our number. Some captured, many killed. Our leader ordered our evacuation. We took as many supplies as we could and headed west. We went as far and as fast as possible to keep from being tracked. We ended up going most of the way to Torval before we reached the outpost we're using now. Apparently, it was a secret outpost not used by normal patrols, so we knew that the enemy didn't know about it. We're surviving out here, but that's about it. We've been staying as hidden as possible and have kept contact with the outside at a minimum. We can't afford detection by Vile at this point. We've been trying to build up our reserves of supplies again, but that's about all we've accomplished. If you can get us some actual reinforcements, we might be able to change that."

Newt hid himself behind Leaps for protection, just as he would have to his mother or father had they been present. Peiter sat up straight in attempt to appear strong to help keep the children calm, while also trying to avoid appearing aggressive towards this new pride. He looked over to Uthri and the pride's leader, then gave a nod to Sabine. "We probably shouldn't interrupt, but if they're going to be here a while, we probably should. I'm not sure how much we have left, honestly, but I guess we'll be heading back to their clan after everyone is back. Hopefully, it's a cooler place than this. This fur awful in this heat; I need to hurry and shift back. Just need to calm down a little more."

"If I remember correctly, the plan was to locate you and then seek out the clan at Orcrest to gather up a warband. From there, we were to strike at Vile's cult's fortress. We found out where they are based; near Corinthe." Uthri nodded to one side, "It will mean crossing the desert, and possibly passing Corinthe on the way, but...the situation could be worse. Vile could have found out you were here had we not got here sooner. We would not have known where to start had we not rescued the others."

"Take your time," Sabine assured Peiter, patting him on the arm. She stooped down to speak with Rhazii then, who was still holding onto her, "Stay near Newt and Peiter for the moment, okay?" Rhazii nodded and wrapped his arms around Peiter's arm. From there, Sabine walked calmly to the food supplies and picked up a sack of some of the meat they carried. With a welcoming smile, she went around to each of Vilana's pride and offered them a greeting and a snack. She introduced herself to each of them and told them that it would probably be a while before everyone returned.

Vilana seemed genuinely surprised when Uthri explained the plan. She shifted uncomfortably in place as she looked around at the camp. "You want to move the clan, and all the way to Orcrest? That's, um...well that's going to be really tall order, honestly. I don't see the Clan Leader agreeing to that, but I suppose you'll have to speak with him yourself. My pride are just patrols, and we will do as our leader instructs. But...you said that Vile's fortress is near Corinthe? We were starting to send scouts in that direction before the attack. My pride was one of them. How did you learn their location?"

Among Vilana's pride, most of them accepted and thanked Sabine for the food she offered. While she was walking around, Peiter closed his eyes and breathed slowly. He focused on the conversations around him, rather than the urge to hunt that his beast spirit was giving him. After a minute or so, he felt that the change would be coming on shortly, so he briefly pulled his arm from Rhazii as his body shifted back into his Human form. Though, he made sure to grab his hand again quickly once he was back to help keep him comfortable.

Peiter waited in place until Sabine returned from passing out the meat, so as not to leave the children alone. "We still have most of the day before the others are expected back. What do you think we should do for now?" He asked.