Uthri didn't respond to Peiter until she shakily brought her fingers to close Irenya's eyelids. At that point, she turned her head to Peiter and revealed a face of pure rage. She breathed with audible force through her nose as she picked up her spear and slowly stood up. "I'll kill them," she muttered, beginning to catch up with the formation. Her haste had her break into a run and scream, "I'll kill them all!"

With the broken state of the enemy elites there was no shortage of killing going on already. Gallus pushed his lines as hard as he could against the retreating enemy so they would have fewer to face inside the keep as they retreated. It was bloody work, but even he had a strength to his hammer strikes indicative of contained rage. Uthri fought with no regard for her life but there was little that even tried to fight back against the enraged Nord woman. It was a wonder that she didn't transform on the spot.

"Wheel left!" Gallus shouted eventually as there was little else in the elite's resolve to worry about. "Strike the centre!" His hammer pointed towards the flank of Ri'vashi's foes. His soldiers formed up to strike out once more.

Janius couldn't help but notice foul glances attracted to themselves as they regrouped with Ahnasha and Meesei. He didn't know what was causing them until he noticed that one of their soldiers was blank looking and heavily wounded werelion. The din of battle overturned any protest he might have immediately had, but he found himself looking uneasy with their new companion.

When they did reach the top of the wall, Fendros took Ahnasha's shoulder and gave her a quick look up and down. Satisfied that she had not been injured, he released his breath and let her go. "Good, you're unharmed. That was poor timing from that gas." Fendros gave a fleeting glance to the reanimated werelion, but didn't stop them all. As they began to advance again, he asked, "Are you sure that's a good idea, Ahna?"

Sabine was a little more distraught when the others regrouped. She caught Meesei's eye worriedly. "Did you see Peiter?" Sabine asked, "Is he okay?"

Meesei's pack made their way onto the walls as quickly as they could. Lorag, naturally, ran straight ahead to the frontline to help make the push towards the keep's east entrance. Kaleeth moved towards the front as well, albeit more cautiously. Ra'kalesh and Do'ajee were not far behind Lorag, but Meesei herself was, for the moment, staying back just enough to keep out of the fray. She needed just a few moments longer for her magicka to recover before she could help with the frontline once more, so she actually had enough time to give Sabine an answer.

"Do not worry, he is fine." Meesei said, though regrettably, she did not know if she was being truthful. She had not been looking for Peiter in the courtyard, and had not seen him. However, she needed Sabine to be focused at the moment, for her own safety. If that meant potentially lying, then it was what Meesei would have to do. "Focus on yourself right now. Have you maintained a good reserve of magicka thusfar? Do you need a potion?" She asked.

Being that Ahnasha was on the same level as the warriors in front of her, as well as being shorter than most of them, she could not fire over their heads to provide any support. But, her position on the wall was perfect to fire on the enemy in the courtyard. In lieu of herself, she sent her reanimated werelion to the front to help. She had heard Fendros' objection, but she had been working with necromancy long enough that she sometimes forgot that others found it objectionable. "What are you talking about?" She asked as she fired an arrow down into the courtyard.

Meanwhile, the reanimated werelion moved up the right side of the wall and, based on Ahnasha's order ran straight into the enemy. The cuts of silver blades across its flesh were meaningless to a being that could not comprehend pain, so it stayed aggressive. Silver was just as effective against undead as it was lycans, so their weapons could destroy it easily if they hit in the right place, but the unrelenting aggression from the werelion thrall caught its opponents off guard. It pounced on one of the soldiers in the front, knocking down two more behind him, then began ripping into his throat with its teeth. Seeing the lycan, one of the enemy soldiers hit it directly with a bottle of the suppression gas. The bottle shattered, and the gas engulfed the thrall, but as the enemy would quickly learn, suppression gas was not effective against undead lycans.

In the courtyard, Gallus' flank proved almost immediately effective. The enemy had to quickly reorganize to try to defend against attacks from both angles. To their credit, their field commander was impressively fast in issuing orders and repositioning his soldiers, but Ri'vashi's observational talents and "battlefield sense" was beyond compare. It only took a moment for her to see an opening and capitalize on it. She spotted a weakness in the enemy line, and ordered a push into it with as much force as she could muster. She even moved in herself to lead the attack on the breach, and in the process, split the enemy in the courtyard in two. It further fragmented their defense, and further pushed the momentum into the lycans' favor.

Though it wasn't immediately visual, Sabine felt herself become relieved that Peiter had not been harmed by the Senche-raht appearing. As well, Meesei's reminder brought her focus back. She patted at her shoulder bag and felt the bulbous flask of one of her magicka potions as if she might have forgotten to bring them. Struggling to cast more ice spears didn't reminder her of them either until now. "Right, um..." Sabine's eyes wandered into space as she quickly put together an answer, "I used too much. I will drink one now." With that, she fished out a flask of blue liquid and drank it down as they advanced.

Janius provided similar support to when they slowed down the phalanx. From behind Kaleeth, Lorag, Do'ajee, and Ra'kalesh he sent fire spells in the direction of the enemy. If the fighters at the front came back for a short break, Janius took their place. As the undead werelion leapt forth from the top of the crenellations, he recognised it as the one that Ahnasha, had brought, but the way it fought was unsettling. He kept back while it did its job rather than get near its disturbing assault. He didn't even know that Ahnasha had been capable of making such vicious undead thralls. He had thought that he would have seen her practising more to get to this point. The idle thoughts on why that was were kept to the back of Janius' mind while the battle continued to rage.

Fendros was somewhat distracted as she joined Ahnasha in taking shots at the enemy below where he found viable targets. "The thrall, it's..." he paused to aim and loose an arrow, allowing another point to come up in his mind. "...Are you sure...? Well..." Fendros heard the breaking of glass and witnessed a partially obscured view of the undead werelion wreaking havoc in its own terrifying way. "Not to say it isn't effective, just that the others might be confronted by it on our side and..." Another arrow loosed, another thought, "...don't those things...when they die again, they...you know..." Fendros turned his head to the creature while he tried to find the words in all the things he was keeping track of. An end to the havoc was signalled with something ahead crumbling to dust after having killed many enemies. That put the words in Fendros' head. "Won't his friends want the body back?" It seemed to Fendros like a pointless discussion by now.

While the advantage was pressed from all sides, Gallus stepped back from the front line to take in the situation. "Keep up the attack!" He shouted while holding his hammer high. From his position on the ground, Ri'vashi's advance might have been hard to spot, but Ri'vashi's hulking armoured form was apparent enough over the heads of the clashing forces without her swinging her sword around in bloody arcs. Things were going very well, almost too well. Soon the enemy would break and the assault on the keep would begin. Only an attack by a reserve force from outside of the keep could stop them.

But they could have a secret door or some kind of sally port...

Gallus looked to Uthri and was reminded that she was not in the best of states for concentrating. He instead turned to Peiter in lieu of having a better runner. "Peiter!" Gallus beckoned him close and unshouldered a signal horn. The horn was pressed into Peiter's chest. "Get to one of the archer groups on the walls!" Gallus shouted into his face over the noise, "Find their leader! Tell him Gallus says to position someone on the gatehouse and look out for a flanking force! Hand him this horn so he can give a warning signal and then you head straight back here! Do you understand!?"

In contrast to Fendros, Ahnasha was focused almost entirely on her archery. From her position, she had a very good angle on the enemy, but as the enemy position became less well-defined, she had to be more careful in her aim. If her arrows fell too short, or went too far, she could end up firing into her own allies. As the demand for concentration increased, she was becoming more impatient with Fendros' objections. "We don't have time for this!" She shouted in annoyance.

Ahnasha's thrall had killed one, and seriously injured two more opponents before succumbing to the silver wounds. Once the spell was broken, its energy caused it to glow, then begin disintegrating into ash. While its attack had only caused a moderate amount of damage, it had opened up a hole in the enemy's defense, and it was just at the time that Meesei was ready to re-enter the fight. Meesei conjured up a blade, then moved to their right flank, near the edge of the wall. To the first of the enemy that tried to fill the gap, she hit with a bolt of lightning that arced between a few more of the surrounding hostiles. Seeing as it was a mage threatening them, the enemy moved a Khajiit mage of their own to try to deal with the threat. He rushed into the gap with his ward raised, though Meesei could see a hint of fear in his eyes once he realized who he would be facing. Evidently, Meesei's description was known among Vile's followers by this point.

Peiter nodded in affirmation to Gallus' order. He almost felt relief at the fact that he would not have to be on the frontline for a while longer, though as he ran back to get safely away from the fighting, a thought came to mind. He had a choice of which wall to approach, so he had the temptation give the message to Meesei's group. He would be able to see Sabine in person, and make sure she was okay. But, he could not help but to feel that it would be dangerous. He knew he should not get distracted, and not to mention, the archers were closer to the enemy on that wall. On the west wall, Ra'jorr's forces had nearly pushed back the enemy to the keep itself. It was no easy decision in his mind, but after a few seconds, he decided to be safe and make his way to the west wall. He would need to be quick, as the momentum in the courtyard was pushing them ever closer to the main gate of the keep.

Fendros gave Ahnasha a sideways look and lowered his brow. He didn't want her to avoid the situation but trying to reason with her in the middle of a fight was not the best idea. He looked ahead and drew another arrow. "Later, then!" he shouted as he aimed.

The advance along the wall continued more slowly than preferred, despite Ahnasha's thrashing thrall cutting its way further, resistance was fierce. Janius stepped forward with his shield raised to try and apply more pressure, idly noticing the grit of the ash under his feet. As he swung down on the head of the enemy before him, a Suthay-raht khajiit with a sword and shiled, he was blocked and he tried to push and pull to hook the enemy weapon. The Khajiit mage moved into the periphery of Janius' vision as the bind continued and the lines seemed to step back behind their mages. This left Janius and his opponent out in the open near the left flank, struggling with grit teeth and hoping they didn't get caught in the spells that would be exchanged. Janius was the stronger of the two -- he knew he just needed a few more moments to overcome the swordsman.

It was hard to contribute anything to the fight ahead from where Sabine was. However, when the way was cleared, she took the opportunity to cast an orb of freezing ice in the direction of the enemy. The unyielding ice storm spell would cover many enemies lined up on the wall. In response to seeing the Khajiit mage, Sabine raised a ward. Meesei would probably not need help but Sabine would provide it if needed.

Gallus once again got stuck into the fighting as pace after pace of the courtyard was gained against the garrison. Uthri was the loudest in the line, screaming defiance in the face of the enemy force that killed Irenya. She had discarded her spear and was cutting at enemies left and right with her nordic sword. She managed to get most of her front covered in Khajiit blood before Gallus grabbed her by the scruff of her armour and pulled her back behind the more coherent formation fighting the enemy. What Gallus shouted to Uthri was drowned out by battle to all who were further away than a few yards. Eventually, Uthri stood up with a bowed head and took a moment to compose herself. Gallus took a moment to squeeze her shoulder, but he had to return to command. Uthri found her spear again and got back in line with clearer liquid joining the blood dripping from her face.

In the courtyard, the enemy made the decision to open the main gate of the keep from within, which prompted their forces in the courtyard to go into a full retreat before they could be surrounded entirely. Ri'vashi ordered her force to push the attack as they were fleeing, cutting down at least a quarter of them before they could make it to their keep. For their sacrifice, however, the enemy was able to join up with reinforcements from within the keep to create a defensive line just outside the gate itself. It was a chokepoint, so they could not be surrounded, and they could not be as easily overwhelmed.

On the western wall, Ra'jorr's group had made it to the keep, and were already crossing the bridge to head inside. Fortunately, Peiter was able to find someone with the authority to post some archers on the wall, near the main gate to the courtyard. He started to make his way back to the center to rejoin Gallus, though he did not like the look of the chokepoint he would be fighting in.

Meanwhile, Meesei's arms pulsed with electricity as her spell charged in power. The Suthay-raht before her bolstered his ward as much as possible to prepare, but it was simply not enough. There was a frighteningly loud crack of what was essentially thunder as the bolt struck, and immediately broke his ward. She followed through with another, concentrated bolt of equal strength to finish him off, then cast a series of chain lightning bolts into the rest of the enemy. They were weaker, and not immediately lethal, but they could injure and stun anyone they passed through. There were other mages among the enemy that could block the progress of the lightning, but the effect was still enough to give the lycans' even more momentum. There was no one to help Janius' opponent, so he had all the time he needed to finish him off.

In the keep, on the balcony just above the courtyard, there was some movement. There was an imposingly large Khajiit in heavy armor, with a few others around him. They were not archers, but rather, just seemed to be watching the battle beneath them. The largest of them seemed to be giving orders to the others, who were rushing off one by one. Since they were not immediately threats, most of those below were not focused on the balcony, but the armor of the large Khajiit caught Lorag's eye. "It's him." He growled.

"Hold! Close ranks!" Gallus had his group refrain from pursuing the enemy before there could be collisions with Ri'vashi's central lines. The fight for the courtyard was over. The walls were almost taken. Now came the next hardest part after opening the gate; taking the keep.

Gallus took Uthri and Peiter with him to reunite with Ri'vashi and assess the situation. "How are we going to get through that?" Gallus asked with a raised voice, though not sounding cynical in the slightest. "It's too tight for the Senche-rahts to fight. We'll need the mages."

The eyes of Janius' opponent clenched shut for an instant with Meesei's first bolt against the enemy mage beyond. Janius roughly the timing of Meesei's follow-up spell and used the flash to take his opponent by surprise. When the second bolt crackled along beside them, Janius wrapped his leg around the enemy swordsman's knee and shoved him to one side. The swordsman was tripped off balance for long enough for Janius to run the blade of his axe along his throat.

The wall continued to be taken, though at a faster pace this time. The loss of the courtyard was affecting the morale of the defenders noticeably.

Lorag's words turned both Janius and Fendros' heads to what he was looking at. The Khajiit on the balcony was the largest they had ever seen, short of a Senche-raht. Lorag wasn't lying about the physical bulk of his former commander. They could only hope that accounts of his tenacity were more exaggerated.

With no more targets in the courtyard, Fendros drew an arrow and aimed up at the commander. He didn't think much of it when he loosed his arrow -- he definitely knew that he wouldn't get through that armour. However, it would be interesting to see the reaction if his arrow could reach up to him. The implications of drawing attention to themselves did not come to his mind until the arrow was halfway through its flight.

Ri'vashi trained her eyes on the keep's main entrance. Her soldiers had already clashed with the defenders to keep them from closing the doors, but it would indeed be difficult to break through. They could not make use of many of the advantages they had enjoyed thusfar. But, it was not long before Ri'vashi had an idea. "Hmm, they have mages of their own, probably ready with wards. Even focused magic might not be effective. You are right that the Senche-raht cannot fight in the keep, but...maybe they don't have to. The enemy is right at the edge of the keep's front entrance. We could have them assault the frontline just for a moment to open up a hole for us to push into the keep. Our mages could follow through while the enemy mages are distracted."

As a testament to his practice with a bow, Fendros' arrow did find its mark on the General, but it had little in the way of an effect. The arrow hit at an angle and deflected off of his chestplate, to which he had surprisingly little reaction. He looked down towards the eastern wall briefly before stepping back into the keep.

On the east wall, the momentum of their advance seemed to prompt a retreat from the enemy. Their backline started to run back over the bridge into the keep, followed shortly by those closer to the front. The ones close enough to be in melee with Meesei's forces had no option to run, else they would be cut down as soon as they turned their backs. However, they did delay the lycans in being able to chase their allies. Lorag was leading the charge to chase them into the keep, but just as they were nearing the bridge, the enemy interrupted their advance in a rather unexpected way. They had placed small barrels along the bridge. Whatever alchemical concoction filled them suddenly exploded into fireballs powerful enough to destroy the bridge beneath them. Lorag and the rest of the frontline had only been close enough to be singed by the heat, but it certainly stopped them in their tracks. The gap was too large to be crossed by any means available to most of them...apart from Meesei.

"Xhuth, they destroyed their own bridge." Meesei commented as she turned her head towards the western wall. "And Ra'jorr has already made it into the keep...this is not good. Ra'jorr's forces may not be able to face the General alone. I...can bold across, get inside, and make my way safely to the General. I know that is where Ra'jorr will be going. Lorag, you have command. I want you to take our forces, reinforce Ri'vashi, and help break in to the keep through the main entrance. We can meet up inside."

Lorag gave no thoughts on the plan, and instead just responded with a nod before turning his attention to the rest of their soldiers. "You heard her, let's move!"

After being directly involved with killing an enemy Senche-raht with no small help from allied mages, Gallus looked at the enemy line with brief scepticism as Ri'vashi suggested drawing the attention of the enemy mages to their own Senche-rahts. "That didn't sound like orders, so I assume you want my advice," Gallus said loudly, though not with any mischief in his expression this time. "If you think the Senche-raht can take the magic, send them. Otherwise I think its risky to put them under concentrated fire."

The time they were taking to make a decision was time they didn't have. "Your decision, clan-leader." For once in a long time, Gallus' mention of Ri'vashi's title was not done with a teasing undertone.

Outside of a battle, Fendros might have been impressed at landing such a steep shot in the first attempt. He instead felt unsettled at the armoured commander's look in their direction. Perhaps it was just Lorag's recounts, but Fendros did not feel safe with that Do'rhajul character still in command. He was expecting something to go wrong. He just knew that whatever it was would likely be something he didn't consider. Fendros did not have to wait in anticipation for long.

When the bridges were destroyed, one and then the other, things suddenly seemed less certain to say the least. Gallus' head flicked around to observe the flashes and flying embers after each of the cacophonous blasts sounded. The masonry that fell echoed the feeling of realisation at what he felt should have been obvious. "The bridges...wait! Ra'jorr is trapped!" Gallus observed to Ri'vashi.

Back up on the eastern wall, Janius was brought out of his stunned state brought about by the explosions when Meesei spoke of her plan. He was about to protest before Lorag shouted to get back on ground level. At that point there was no stopping her. Instead, Janius simply gave a few parting words. "Be careful! If the stories hold up, Do'rhajul would have you exactly where he wants you in there without support!"

"Ra'jorr is cut off from his escape." Meesei said. "But it looks like he managed to get most of his soldiers inside. If we can eliminate their General, I doubt the enemy will be able to recover. Just help Ri'vashi break through the front entrance, and do not worry about me." In an instant, she bolted across the gap, then looked back to the others on the opposite side. "I will be fine." She added as she cast a spell of invisibility on herself.

Ri'vashi held a grim expression as she looked to the enemy front. "You may be right, but we do not have any other good options..." She began before being interrupted by the explosions at the bridges. She paused a few moments to take stock of the new situation, at which point she noticed that Meesei's forces were starting to make their way down from the wall.

"Meesei's group wasn't able to make it inside, but...it looks like they are coming to reinforce us. Perhaps...that might be the answer. If we combine the strength of her mages with ours, it may be enough to overcome the ones protecting the enemy frontline. It would keep the enemy from having only one or two targets. Gallus, I want you to find whoever is commanding them at the moment and get their mages ready." Ri'vashi ordered.

Some of her pack may have been uncomfortable with Meesei's actions, but they all trusted her judgement enough to give no further protest. They all made their way down the wall in time to be met halfway by Gallus and his pack.

Sabine quickly spotted Peiter and almost knocked him over with her speed in hugging him. She pulled back quickly while holding onto his forearms and looked to him with no small amount of worry in her eyes. "I saw the Senche-rahts. Are you unhurt?" she asked in a rush.

Gallus let the reunion continue, though he ignored it as he craned his head up and around for Meesei. "Where's the champion!?" he asked the pack.

"Meesei went in to try and get at the general," Janius shared without hesitation, "Lorag's in charge."

Gallus momentarily curled his lips, but did not dwell on his anxieties long. "Lorag!" he began to order, "Ri'vashi needs your mages up front to help break the formation at the gate. Bring them forward!"

Peiter, in contrast to his usual behavior around Sabine, was rather quick in trying to pull himself away from her. "I'm fine, but..." He began, looking up towards the keep's balconies nervously. "We need to...focus, right now." He said, though inwardly, he was glad she was there, and obviously unharmed.

Lorag, meanwhile, looked almost impatient as his gaze focused on the frontline itself. "Yeah, don't need to tell me twice. Anyone who can cast a spell, join up with the Clan Leader's mages and do whatever they ask you. Get some messengers to spread the word. Move it!" He ordered in an almost aggressive tone, very much reminiscent of a Legion commander. "Everyone else, form up and get ready to push into the keep."

Lorag wasted no time in moving as close to the front as he could, and almost seemed disappointed that he could not join in the fray immediately. Fighting at the keep's door meant that only a limited number of their own forces could fight against the enemy at once, and with the mages needing to get close behind the frontline, there simply was not room for him to move closer. But, he would be in the front as soon as possible.

Ahnasha could not cast any spells herself that were worthwhile in trying to break wards, but there was still one way she could help. She found an open area nearby, then conjured up a flame atronach. She could not break a ward, but her daedra could. Unfortunately, there was not much else she could do for the moment, other than fire arrows randomly into the keep, as the enemy soldiers she could actually see were too close to her allies for her to be able to fire over their heads and still hit her targets.

---

Under the cloak of invisibility, Meesei made her way through the halls of keep. Without knowing its layout, she did not know exactly where to go, but she could make a guess. Ra’jorr would want to eliminate the General Do’rhajul first and foremost, and the balcony they had spotted him on was a few floors above her. It would be the first place Ra’jorr would look, so Meesei would not be far behind.

Once she found the stairs, Meesei rushed up the spiral staircase as quickly as possible until she felt that she was on the same level as that balcony. Fortunately, it did not take much searching to hone in on Ra’jorr’s position, as she could hear the sounds of battle echoing down the halls. Continuing at a full sprint, Meesei made her way towards the sound’s source. It grew louder and louder, until it finally led her to the proper room.

With a heavy kick, Meesei burst through a wooden door into a rather expansive chamber. It was wide, with an even taller cealing, and overall, was large enough to be a monarch’s throne room. Though mostly empty, the decor suggested it could be used for large meetings or announcements to a crowd. Inside, a battle was already raging, and it was not going poorly. Ra’jorr’s men had not only a numerical advantage, but considerable momentum. The enemy soldiers that were not being killed were being pushed back, but that did not remove Meesei’s worry. In fact, the sight of the person leading the defense only caused it to increase. At the center of the defensive line was an imposing Cathay-raht: Do’rhajul. Aside from his open-face helmet, the majority of his body was protected by plate armor in a distinctly Imperial style. He wielded in one hand a silver sword that would have been considered a greatsword for most soldiers. But, what was most interesting was his Dwarven shield. Meesei recognized it to be Spellbreaker, the legendary artifact of Peryite, which was said to be able to absorb any amount of magical power. At the moment, Meesei was not certain of the implications of him having it. There was a possibility that Peryite had allied with Vile, or his organization simply could have recovered the artifact. There were those who wielded Daedric artifacts without any affiliation with the Daedra who created them.

"Right, right," Sabine responded, glancing down and away but not letting go of Peiter's arms. They didn't have enough time for any more dialogue before Lorag barked an order that demanded Sabine's attention. She twitched her head to Lorag to listen, and then began to move. She gave Peiter's arm a squeeze before letting go. "Stay safe," she said to him quickly as she jogged off with the other mages.

Those less distracted in Meesei's pack noticed the absence of Irenya. At first it would have been reasonable to think that she was back with the other mages getting ready to break the formation, but as they neared, she was nowhere to be seen. All of Janius, Fendros, and Sabine put together the most likely explanation in their minds one by one. They were quietened, but didn't say a thing.

Once the mages were formed up, Sabine began to charge an ice storm spell between her hands. She didn't like being away from Meesei like this, let alone slightly removed from the rest of her pack, but she tried to focus. The order would come to step forward and release their spells eventually. She was more than ready.

The rest of both Meesei's and Gallus' packs were formed up and ready to storm the enemy lines. Though they still seemed to have the advantage, the explosions on the bridges had put everyone on edge. Those with friends amongst Ra'jorr's retinue were also driven by a new worry as they realised the situation.

Upon Ri'vashi's order, every mage who was able made their way near the front, or anywhere else they could get a clear line of sight on the enemy. Vile's soldiers did not fail to notice the movement of the mages before them, so their leaders were able to determine what was about to happen. They positioned their own mages to be able to ward their entire front, but it did not matter that they were aware. Ri'vashi was hoping that the sheer concentrated power of their mages would be enough to break through, regardless of the enemy's preparations.

Ahnasha herself stayed with Fendros, closer to the back of their pack. Given that her bound arrows were limitless, she could fire into the keep without consequence, though she had no idea if she was actually hitting anything. She had directed her atronach to a position close to the front. While it was not exactly a comfortable creature to be around for multiple reasons, her allies could at least accept its help a bit more readily than an undead thrall. Being that Janius was a mage, Kaleeth had to allow him in front of her, but she still stuck as close to him as possible. As soon as the mages cast their spell, they would need to rush forward to break through. Ra'kalesh and Do'ajee had already moved up beside Lorag, while Ri'vashi and her pride were closer to the center. Though, given that they were converging on the keep doors, they were all fairly close to one another. Peiter, though he stayed with his pack, was sure to remain within sight of Sabine.

A Dagi-raht mage, one of Ri'vashi's officers, was the one in command of her mages, so he was the one to give the order. "Ready!" He shouted, allowing the mages time to charge their spells. "Fire!"

Both Sabine and Janius threw their spells forward on command. A collection of whirling energies united in front of them within the second. The lightning spells struck first upon the enemy wards within a blink of an eye. Any wards remaining were assailed by the fire that flew in within a second. The blasts impacted with blinding heat and an impact that made the front of the formation stagger. What came next were shards of ice that ricocheted off shields and armour alike but more quietly sunk into whatever gaps were exposed. Shouts of pain began to sound out as the slower moving ice storm spells washed over the formation to slow limbs and freeze blood.

The next sensation was more mundane, but just as dangerous. It started with a dagger spinning forth from the hand of a charging Gallus. Most didn't notice it until it sunk into the neck of a reeling mage. Following was a vanguard of armoured lycan soldiers screaming forth at speed. They were lead by the elites of Gallus and Meesei's packs, alongside Ri'vashi, Ra'kalesh, and their pridemates.

Janius charged in shield-first and immediately kicked at the shield of one of the beleaguered defenders to put him off-balance and open him up to an allied spear. Uthri obliged with no hesitation. The initial impact pushed the enemy defenders back several yards into the choke point, but they were not halted yet.

Sabine stayed nearby Fendros and Ahnasha for the moment, helping them against reciprocal magic spells with her ward. She did not anticipate being able to contribute much more unless she was called upon to heal a casualty.

Despite the enemy's attempted preparations, the combined efforts of their mages was more than enough to break the wards protecting the enemy frontline, and the volley of fire, ice, and electricity that followed broke any semblance of cohesion among the first few rows of soldiers at the doors. Some were killed outright by shards of ice, while the fire maimed others, and the electricity stunned many more. The charge of allied soldiers that followed immediately afterwards was almost unopposed for a few seconds.

Both Ri'vashi and Lorag hit the enemy like battering rams. Even once they reached the point where the enemy was organized enough to fight back, the momentum they carried with them inspired many of the soldiers around them. The shield wall they had been facing had broken, so the enemy was now more vulnerable. Lorag picked out the most imposing opponent in his immediate line of sight: a greatsword-wielding Cathay, and took a swing directly for her head. She could not swing quickly enough to parry entirely, and only succeeded in moving his hammer just enough to make him slam his weapon into her shoulder instead. There was a loud crack and a scream of pain due to her now-shattered shoulderblade. Even for a Khajitt of a Cathay's stature, Lorag was not a force to be ignored. He would have finished her off, but one his soldiers stuck a spear into her side, then her wounded shoulder, then her neck in three rapid thrusts. With only one arm to fight with, she simply could not parry effectively.

The push past the gate allowed the lycan forces to start fanning out to use their numbers more effectively, but it also lead them into one of the enemy's traps. The room they had charged into was rather large, with a second level above them that allowed the enemy to attack them from above. Not only were there archers around the perimeter above them, but there were two oil pots positioned directly above. As soon as they had advanced far enough, the enemy dropped boiling oil straight into their ranks, one to their far left flank, and another closer to Meesei's pack. Most of their frontline was unharmed, but those that were affected were horrendously injured. Some of the oil splashed onto Ra'kalesh's back, and burned intensely enough that even he could not stop himself from dropping to the ground with a scream. For the Bosmer member of Ri'vashi's pride, Do'ajee, and several other soldiers, however, it was much worse. They had most of their bodies covered, and for them, there would be no hope.

The vanguard cut through dead and dying enemies without a moment to stop and observe the pain they witnessed. The battle was joined in sprays of blood in the violence mixed with an anger telling of revenge. Those in Ri'nakhad's clan that had joined them were reliving what they had done to them, but in reverse. The way that the violence made the stomach twist and the heart race made the advance into the wider chamber beyond almost normal. The oil that splashed down did horrible things to the flesh of those caught under it. It fixed their surprised and pained expressions before said expressions were brought to the ground with the rest of their bodies.

In her fervor, Uthri nearly fell victim to it herself, had Gallus not stopped her and pulled her back in the last second. Gallus barked orders to his group over the din of battle, "You four! Get the survivors out for healing! Now!" Again, he kept up a strangely unaffected demeanour despite the horrific events playing out. His men did not question his orders, though they were likely none-too-keen to be in danger of any more oil in the first place.

The previously charging soldiers on the offensive were also brought under orders to fall into another shield wall. Those in the rear ranks held their shields over their heads to give the enemy archers a harder time at hitting them all. However, there would undoubtedly be more losses in taking this chamber. Ri'vashi was in charge overall, but Gallus was desperately trying to figure out which avenues they had that would provide the best means of advancement.

The bottleneck at the keep gate meant that many archers and mages were left waiting outside for room to follow. That included Ahnasha, Fendros, and Sabine. What they saw shouldering their way back out through the gate were steaming and screaming bodies held by two other soldiers. The sight was frightening for Sabine, no less when the form of Ra'kalesh himself came stumbling out over the shoulder of another soldier. Sabine snapped herself out of the horror and immediately went to Ra'kalesh's aid with a yellow healing glow in each hand. She set to work in an instant, trying to numb Ra'kalesh's pain and treat his burns.

Fendros, who was keeping an eye on Sabine, followed to Ra'kalesh and the soldier and asked frantically. "What's happening in there? Did they pour oil?"

Both sides of the fighting were becoming more organized within the keep. Ri'vashi directed her forces to form up a shield wall once more to protect against the enemy archers, though that gave the enemy more of a chance to do the same. The greatest threat to them at the moment was the oil, so Ri'vashi was naturally focused on eliminating it. Looking around the chamber, there were no obvious stairways leading up to the second level, so the way up was likely found behind one of the many doors leading out of the room. From what she could see, there were at least six exits, not counting the main entrance, and there was no way to know which one would lead up to the higher levels. They would need to do the best they could from where they were.

Ri'vashi backed away from the front to give orders to the mages nearest to her, including Janius. "Put pressure on the oil! Keep them from using it." She ordered. Though Ahnasha was outside, she had sent her atronach into the keep with the others, and had directed it to perform the same tasks as the mages. It had actually been caught in the burning oil, but heat did not tend to be an effective weapon against a flame atronach. With the directive Ahnasha had given it, the atronach started launching fireballs up towards the oil pots and those operating them as soon as the order was given to the mages.

Outside, Ra'kalesh was obviously quite distracted by his pain, but the numbing sensation of Sabine's healing helped him to start regaining focus. "Yes, it's...above the door inside. Be alert when you go in; Do'ajee, she..." He warned, his voice trailing off over the pain he was feeling at the loss.

Before being ordered otherwise, Janius was throwing spells in the direction of the various archers to discourage or disable them. He was keeping close to Kaleeth to try and help cover herself. As for those tossing oil, Janius did not have any objections turning his spellfire upon them. The constant pressure he and the other mages had to keep up drew him to drink his magicka potion in a pause. He kept slinging fireballs and incinerating bolts in their direction, though he disliked being in this vulnerable position. He wondered where the formation would be going.

Gallus, being of the same thought process as Janius, concluded after a moment that they would have to check each of the doors for lack of knowing which one to take to get to the balcony. "Form up on me! We're going for that door there!" Gallus shouted and pointed to the door that was third from the right. He had his soldiers form a sort of walking cocoon from their shields and shuffled to the doors. Continued clacks and clinks of arrows assaulted their shields as they moved. A couple of arrows found gaps between them, but one one did damage, catching the leg of one of the spearmen. Their formation was slowed, but they found their way to the first door without much more hassle. Gallus gave no hesitation trying to open the door before them, save for aligning some shields to suppress whatever reprisals might be inside.

Outside, Sabine's eyes widened and her mouth hung open when Ra'kalesh insinuated Do'ajee's fate. She might have broken down right there, but she knew that she needed to focus. She finished up relieving Ra'kalesh's pain and patching the worst burns, leaving the rest to the healers behind the lines. Fendros was already urging them to move.

"We have to get inside! Come on, Sabine!" Fendros said, already finding a spot to rush in with Ahnasha. Sabine followed along after giving a worried glance back at Ra'kalesh.

Gallus' group was able to open the door without issue, but even so, where it led was inconclusive. It opened into a hallway, which branched into two separate directions. It was possible that there were stairs leading up within, but there was no guarantee. But, the enemy did not simply ignore the movement of soldiers. Seeing as Gallus had led his force away from Ri'vashi's, the enemy tried to make a push between them to separate them from one another, similar to Ri'vashi's tactic outside. Ri'vashi, however, reacted quickly. She gave the order to put pressure on the enemy trying to flank them, then personally opened up a hole in the enemy lines in front of them.

When the enemy attempted to push forward, they thinned their numbers in one part of their lines, which Ri'vashi attacked directly. There was a heavily armored Suthay-raht directly in front against which her katana was useless, but her shield was just as viable of a weapon as her blade. She parried away his spear while striking forth with her shield, bashing its edge against his helmet with a frightening amount of force. She noticed the enemy beside him thrusting a halberd towards her, but was able to turn her body to allow it to deflect harmlessly off of her chestplate. From there, she used her mass to her advantage in barrelling over the mages and spearmen he had been protecting. One advantage was starting to become more prominent for Ri'vashi and the other lycans in that many of the enemy in heavy armor had already been eliminated, so their ability to form a solid frontline was being diminished. Her allies were following through behind her, so they were able to separate the enemy even further.

Despite the warnings of oil, Ahnasha did not hesitate in running inside as soon as there was an opening. Sabine and Fendros were close behind. She intended to regroup with Janius, Kaleeth, and Lorag, since they all worked best when together. Once they started to move from room to room in the keep, she had a feeling that the lines and formations of soldiers would quickly break down. That was a type of warfare that could only really happen in open spaces. Once they moved into fighting in corridors, they would probably end up moving as individual packs and prides. Though, the moment she entered the chamber, she already had her eyes up looking for targets on which to train her bow. Thanks to her transformation, she was now fighting in only her fur, so she had to force herself to be cautious, particularly as they were passing under the overhang above. Luckily, the spellfire from the mages had been enough to damage one of the oil pots, and injure a few of those attempting to refill the other.

---

Regardless of how Do’rhajul came to possess Spellbreaker, Meesei’s primary concern at the moment was with how to kill him. She had made herself known when she burst into the room, so Ra’jorr had already seen her. Without a word, Meesei joined the battle alongside the Pahrmar-raht. His men were already fighting successfully enough against Do’rhajul’s soldiers, so Meesei decided to work with him to focus on the General himself.

With a brief nod to Meesei, Ra’jorr started to circle to the left and swiped at the General’s legs’ though he was forced to jump back by a swing from his sword. At the same time, however, Meesei found the space to hit Do’rhajul in the leg with a lightning bolt. It caused his leg to buckle; an opportunity which Ra’jorr used immediately to pounce on him. He tried to snap his teeth down on the General’s neck, but his reactions were quick enough that he was able to move his shoulder in the way, causing Ra’jorr’s to bite down ineffectually onto an armor plate.

Though a Pahrmar-raht like Ra’jorr was a rather heavy cat, a Cathay-raht werewolf like Do’rhajul was strong enough to keep himself from being staggered, then threw off Ra’jorr quickly. The General stepped back to fall in line with the rest of his soldiers. However, they did not have much farther that they could retreat. Ra’jorr was down to only a few men remaining, and they almost had their backs to the wall. There was a door behind them, but they would not all be able to funnel through it at once. Nevertheless, the General did not lose any measure of confidence in his demeanor.

Moving farther to the right, Meesei attempted to force the General’s attention away from Ra’jorr. She let out a constant stream of lightning towards him. Predictably, he was able to move his shield to defend against the spell, and the ward it produced showed no signs of weakening. However, it forced him to face her to keep his shield in position as she readjusted her aim, and allowed Ra’jorr an opportunity to attack. Sprinting forward, he pounced once more, but this time, Do’rhajul’s reaction was far deadlier. Even without his eyes being focused on him, the General thrust his blade at Ra’jorr with impeccable accuracy. Ra’jorr was armored in metal plates, but there was a gap his in armor where the plate on his chest met the plate over his shoulderblade, and that was exactly where the General aimed. Thanks to the momentum of Ra’jorr’s leap, and the sheer force the Cathay-raht was able to produce, Ra’jorr was fully impaled on his blade.