With the number of people in the room, scouring it for what the enemy had been defending did not take nearly as long as it could have. For those examining the notes around the potion bottles, they were not as comprehensive as would have been preferred. The most recent notes made no mention of the purpose of the concoction. Instead, it seemed as if the their formula was already working as intended. The alchemists in this lab had merely been working on reducing the "effective dosage" of the concoction. What Sabine would be able to determine was that whatever was in the bottles was not the suppression gas. 

Over near the cages, Lorag was looking over the prisoners curiously. "Hmm, this is new. Captives? I thought Vile's people always just soul trapped the lycans they captured."

Kaleeth walked up to the door of one of the cages and looked over the Khajiit woman laying on the floor inside. "Well...Janius could be right. This looks like a place where they could test things on them, but...they do all look fine. I don't see any blood or anything like that on them. It's just, none of them are waking up, even with all this noise." She observed. Focusing on the door of the cage itself, she noticed that the cage was not nearly as reinforced as she would expect from a lycan's cage. Cautiously, she grabbed the door and started to pull with as much strength as she could muster until she actually broke the lock. "These cages aren't too tough, actually. We can get them open."

At one of the nearby tables, Ahnasha had been looking through some of the documents relating to the prisoners, and it did not take long for her to show her surprise at what she was reading. "This says that these captives were allotted to the alchemists for 'research purposes,' so Janius is definitely right. But...it looks like there are dozens more of them in the dungeon below the keep. They...hold on." Ahnasha began, pausing as she read through part of the notes again to make sure she was understanding them correctly. "This is...I don't understand. It says that: 'if the subjects survive, they are to be transferred to Captain S'hadra for transportation and [i]release[/i]'. It warns the alchemists to keep track of their paperwork so that they can be released in the vicinity of where they were found."

Ahnasha searched around the table until she found the papers of one of the prisoners. As she suspected, it listed from where the prisoner had been found, which corresponded with a marking on a nearby map. Finding more of the papers yielded the same results for the other prisoners. "This doesn't make any sense. The places these prisoners were taken from: roads, caravans, farms, villages; they aren't prisoners from our war. It...it says here that the enemy took them and turned them into lycans. But they're just going to release them? Why would Vile's followers be taking people, turning them into lycans, and just releasing them?"

---

Without hesitation, Do’rhajul grabbed a potion from his belt and quickly downed it, then took the barrel, set it onto its side, and stabbed his sword into it. As he pulled the blade out, he kicked it away, straight towards Meesei. The moment he kicked it, the barrel started to spray out a dark violet gas from the hole, as well as other cracks in the wood, and spread quickly in all directions. Ra’jorr’s men had already cut down three of the four remaining defenders, but the moment the gas reached them, it stopped them in their tracks. This was not the suppression gas. 

Meesei collapsed to her knees as soon as she took in a breath of the gas, along with every lycan around her apart from Do’rhajul. The effects of the gas were immediate, and unquestionably deadly. Across the room, lycans screamed out in agony as their skin started to take on a violet glow. Then, after a few seconds, their souls and their beast spirits were ripped apart from one another, then torn from their bodies, leaving behind but lifeless husks. All, except for Meesei. She inhaled the gas just as they did, and while her lungs felt like they were burning, her soul, and that of her beast spirit, were still perfectly contained within her body. Her hand felt like it was on fire, and when she looked upon it, she saw the Ring of Hircine on her finger, glowing white as if it had been thrown into a forge. The poison, whatever it was, had torn the other lycans’ souls from their bodies, but the power that the Ring of Hircine gave her was complete control over her beast spirit, with which her soul was bound. Since the Ring gave her command of her soul, it must have protected her from the poison’s effects. 

Despite the pain in her chest, Meesei stood to her feet. Do’rhajul’s expression had previously been relieved and triumphant, but upon witnessing her survival, it once again became stiff. “Of course, it would not be so easy.” He stated. “My alchemists and mages would want to study how you have survived, but I am not so foolish as to allow one as dangerous as yourself to live. You have shown yourself to be dangerous, unpredictable. I underestimated you; made mistakes in my defense. Had our plans not reached their final phase, you may have killed me here. In many ways, I respect you, and for that reason, this fight will be to the death.”

Meesei clenched her fists and barred her teeth in a rare visible show of anger. “You have done unspeakable things to my people, Do’rhajul.” She said, her body erupting with a spell of lightning form, making herself appear as a being of raw magical energy. “I would have this end no other way.” 

Do’rhajul raised his shield, and brought his sword to the ready as he gave a glace to his men. “I will not force you to fight her. She can and will outmatch you all. You may join the defense.” 

Though they hesitated at first, all three of Do’rhajul’s remaining soldiers followed his suggestion and left through the door behind them. Meesei waited until they were gone, so as not to temp them to come back and help, then conjured a bound axe in her hand, since he was armored. As well, she was sure to cast a shield spell on herself before he could attack.