[IC] Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

[Muttonhawk]

Gallus was more than happy to drop his share of the supplies and get ready to go. "This'll work, you'll be the boss, Lorag," he said with a smile, leaning one hand on the hammer on his belt. The next order of business was their guide. Gallus turned to Sees-No-Colours, "Now, Colours, can you fight? If not, you can head back here after you lead us to your pride's prison."

By the time they had settled into their new camp, the heavier of Sabine's emotions also settled and been replaced by fatigue completely. She did not protest at the offer to rest rather than join the attackers, as she might have done normally. Indeed, as soon as she laid out her bedroll, she sat down upon it and struggled to stay awake. She kept giving glances to Peiter as if conflicted.

"Alright, Leaps, lets see how you do with those new tricks I taught you," Janius looped a harness around Leaps-On-Elves in preparation for the attack. He would hold the creature by his leash for the moment, but Janius had no doubt that he would be an asset. Ever since his help on the lake with the bandits north of the Imperial City, Janius had been training him with commands to use in combat and hunting. This would be the first fight in which they would be used.

[EliteCommander]

Colors rubbed the back of his neck and looked down with a bit of shame and nervousness. "Uh, well, I'm not much of a fighter...really. I'm more of a 'handsome rogue' than a 'valiant warrior.' But I don't just want to leave, I have to know if my pride is alright. Maybe I can just...wait outside? Until it's safe."

Ahnasha looked over Colors curiously. "I've heard of how large and ferocious lions are, surely a werelion would have some impressive strength, even compared to a werewolf?"

Colors shook his head. "Ah, see, you would think that. I mean, look at a lion and a wolf, and a lion is obviously much bigger and more muscular and everything. But, apparently, that doesn't always matter with lycans. No, werewolves are both the bigger and stronger of the two. Werelions are fast, and real agile. Skilled and experienced werelions can be exceptionally powerful, but I, uh, possess neither of those qualities. I prefer to...resolve conflicts with my charm, and a silver tongue."

Ahnasha could not help but to give a chuckle. She had a feeling that, if that was the case, Colors probably never actually resolved any conflicts. "Very well."

"Anyway, um, I guess we should go. Follow me." Colors said as he started to lead the rescue party away from the camp. They had moved away from the path he remembered to reach the outpost in order to set up camp, so they had to backtrack a few minutes to get back on the right track. From there, Colors knew the direction, and had some landmarks in his mind which would guide the way. Mostly, unique looking rocks, trees, or clearings. There was no path to follow through the jungle, so they did veer off course on two occasions and were forced to backtrack. Nevertheless, they made progress, and within another hour of searching, Colors suddenly stopped them. He recognized a particularly tall tree that had been split by lightning, which indicated they were close.

The rescue party continued forward slowly and carefully until the outpost was finally in view. Although, outpost was perhaps not the best term to describe the actual structure. It was more of just a wooden cabin with a single door in the front and a few windows. As an outpost, its protection lay in obscurity. It was deep into the jungle, and without a guide, it would have been near impossible to find. In front of the cabin, there was a small fire going, with two armed Khajiit sitting around it cooking their dinner. They could not see into the windows, so that was essentially all they could observe from a safe distance.

"Okay, there it is. There are usually about six or seven of them here, I think. It's just a simple cabin with a basement, where they are keeping my pride. I don't really know more than that. They'll all be armed, but this isn't a fortress. We just can't let them hurt my pride." Colors explained.

Lorag turned and looked to the others. "Alright. Two floors, one door, a few windows. Prisoners are downstairs, two guards out front. I've got a few ideas, anyone else got suggestions?"

Back at camp, Peiter was just as tired as Sabine, but had not laid down immediately. Instead, he was sitting on his bedroll nearby eating a cut of raw venison. Irenya advised that a hardy meal could help with his blood loss, so he wanted to get something to eat before going to sleep. However, he also found himself exchanging glances with Sabine as he ate. There had been so much that had happened during their evening, and some of it had given him questions that were still nagging at his mind. The camp was dead silent, with even the children sleeping, but he still decided to hazard a question. "Are you...hungry?"

[Muttonhawk]

At the smallest, Fendros was expecting an outpost of similar size to the one they had set fire to earlier in the day. At the largest, some kind of fort. This little cabin seemed surprisingly low-key, but he soon worked out that its hidden position was probably the point. Janius wasn't sure what to expect, but even he was a little surprised.

"It's getting quite dark now," Gallus whispered to Lorag, "We could use the cabin itself as cover to sneak up behind the sentries and dispatch them simultaneously. If we're lucky, we'll be able to get them before they raise the alarm." Gallus nodded towards the cabin itself, "I don't know what to expect from inside, though. As long as they don't barricade the door..." Gallus trailed off and shrugged, waiting to hear Lorag's plan.

"How about taking a hostage to get inside?" Fendros asked.

Gallus shook his head, "No, then it would be a stand-off."

---

Sabine looked down at Peiter's meal and considered for a moment. She might have felt hungry, but with all that had been going on, her stomach was not feeling fit for eating anything. She closed her eyes and shook her head. When she opened her eyes, she kept her eyes on Peiter and wrapped her arms around her knees.

[EliteCommander]

Lorag scratched his chin as he observed the area around the cabin. The trees and brush had been cleared around it, but with the spot the guards were sitting, the cabin would indeed provide good cover. A few well-placed arrows could down the guards, which would just leave the ones inside. "Yeah, doesn't look like they're expectin' anyone right now. I guess those reinforcements of theirs didn't come this way yet. Honestly, I doubt killin' them'll be the problem. According to lizard-Janius here, we should be able to overpower 'em no matter what. The real problem'll be getting them before they can get to the hostages. If that happens, this'll get a lot more complicated. We've got to be quick, and efficient. We can use Gallus' plan to get close. Fendros, Ahnasha, I trust you can get 'em with your bows. From there, we can split into two groups, then go in from the front and back."

Ahnasha gave Lorag something of a critical look. "Lorag, there isn't a door in the back, and we're not going to have time to get through the windows."

Lorag grinned. "Well, then we're just going to have to make a door. Kaleeth, you'll be headin' in the back. You know what to do."

It did not take much thought for Kaleeth to figure out what Lorag wanted. She returned a nod, then started to strip off her armor.

"I'll kick in the front door." Lorag continued. "Coming in from both sides like that, and catchin' them off-guard, we'll be able to get anyone on the top floor no problem. It's the ones already in the basement I'm worried about. They'll be close to the hostages...Colors this cabin's got normal wood floors, right? What side of the building are the holding cells under."

Colors seemed confused, but gave an answer regardless. "Um, well, the stairs are on that side, so...the right. They're being held under the right side of the building. The floor is...normal, as far as I know."

"Alright, then once we're in, Kaleeth can just smash a hole in the floor in the middle. A werecrocodile crashing in from above'll definitely be a surprise. Stir up some chaos. The mages can use the hole in the floor to shoot down anyone they can see in the basement. Unless anyone's got any other, more boring plans?" Lorag asked.

---

"Oh, um, okay." Peiter responded awkwardly. He returned his gaze back to his meal, though that only lasted for a moment before he was looking back to Sabine.

Peiter had the strongest urge to continue talking with Sabine, but he did not actually have much of an idea of what he wanted to say. He did not want to wait too long before speaking, so he just said the first thing that came to mind. "So Irenya said you'd be alright...right? No injuries or...anything?" He asked. Of course, he already knew the answer, as he had asked hours before.

[Muttonhawk]

Just about everyone glanced to one another and then shook their heads. Lorag's plan was all they needed; fast, effective, and shocking. Short of the flimsy looking cabin being reinforced with stone on the inside, there really wasn't much else to worry about as far as anyone could think. Only one detail got mentioned a moment later, by Gallus, "Excepting Kaleeth, obviously, let's refrain from transforming unless we have to. They might have that gas Meesei mentioned."

As was agreed upon, Ahnasha and Fendros made their approach first. They circled around the cabin such that they were approaching with the building between themselves and the fire. There was not much to be done about the detritus that carpeted the ground on their approach except to move as lightly as possible. The crackling of the fire ought to have covered the sound of their approach and the dark would obscure them from the sight of anyone looking through the windows. They agreed to pick a guard and count off to kill them at the same time.

Once they reached the cabin itself, Fendros leaned over to Ahnasha and spoke in scant whispers, slowly but clearly. "Shoot on ten. One...two...three...four..." Fendros stopped counting and started making his way around the left side of the cabin, crouching under the windows. At the pace that Fendros had been counting, he reached eight with an arrow nocked and was lining up a shot at his target from the corner of the cabin. By ten, he suspected that the count would have diverged a little, but not fast enough for the targets to react.

Ten. Fendros let loose his arrow into the back of his guard's neck. At this distance it was an easy shot.

---

Sabine shook her head again, this time speaking. "No," she said quietly. She didn't seem to notice that it was a repeated question.

Still looking at Peiter, Sabine dipped her head deep to one side such that her cheek was resting on her upper arm. "I..." Sabine looked at the ground, and then at the fire. Her voice lowered in volume even further. "I was not offended." In this light, it was hard to see Sabine's cheeks flaring red. She clarified after a small moment, "Back at the stream, before they came. You thought..." Sabine trailed off, she didn't know where she was headed with her words.

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha was ready around the other side of the cabin at about the same time as Fendros. With the way the two Khajiit were sitting, Fendros' target could see her, just as hers could him, but they acted quickly enough that it did not matter. Ahnasha loosed her arrow a fraction of a second after Fendros, which struck the center of her target's back, just below the neck. Quickly, she nocked and drew another arrow, training her bow on both of the bodies to watch for any additional movement. After a few seconds without a hint of life, however, she felt safe enough in assuming their deaths.

With the elimination of the guards, Lorag and Irenya joined Fendros and Ahnasha at the front, while everyone else headed to the back side of the cabin. Ahnasha moved for a moment back closer to the back side of the cabin so she could watch the others, then let Lorag know when they were in position. Kaleeth had transformed out of sight and earshot of the cabin, but she had to approach extremely carefully. Her massive, hulking form was not stealthy in any place except murky waters. So, each of her steps had to be slow, and very deliberate. At the very least, the large surface area of her feet meant she was less likely to break twigs than to just push them into the ground, as long as she was careful not to put weight on one with her toes or the edge of her feet. It took a few minutes for Kaleeth to silently move the short distance to the back of the cabin, at which point the others formed up behind her. Ahnasha moved back to the front and joined up with the others, giving Lorag the signal that the other team was in place. She dispelled her bow, and in its place, conjured both a bound blade, and a bound dagger. Inside such a confined space, a bow would not be of much use, especially with allies dispersed among the enemy.

Kaleeth had been told to wait until Lorag kicked in the door to attack, so she stood a short distance back from the wall, listening and waiting. Lorag, with his hammer in hand, gave a quick nod to the others, then delivered a heavy kick to the door's handle to force it open. The moment she heard that sound, Kaleeth also charged forward, using her mass and terrible strength to tear through the wall as if it were but parchment. Needless to say, the enemies inside were beyond startled. The three Khajiit in the room jumped to their feet and started to draw their weapons when Lorag burst through the door, but Kaleeth's sudden entrance threw them into complete disarray. One of the enemy was closer to the front door, which Lorag and Ahnasha were both charging towards, while the other two had been sitting near the fireplace, to the left of Kaleeth's newly-made entrance. Kaleeth herself ignored both of them, instead trusting the others to deal with them while she ran towards the center of the room to make her hole to the basement.

---

"Oh, good, good. I was worried." Peiter answered, though his embarrassment made it difficult for him to look directly at her while he spoke. He took a few bites of his food to give him time to think of what else to say. Unfortunately, that time did not give him much in the way of clarity. "It was nice, the stream. And you...or, um, being there...with you. Was nice, I mean. We should do it again, and...maybe we won't get attacked next time." He said, smiling.

[Muttonhawk]

The rest of the packs poured in behind their vanguard. Fendros had acted similarly to Ahnasha beforehand, taking out his sword and shield and replacing his bow on his back. He had his shield up as he wheeled around the edge of the broken doorway and headed to cover the side of the room that Lorag and Ahnasha did not take. He had no enemies to deal with in that moment that weren't already being engaged.

With a quick command from Janius, Leaps was released from his leash and sprinted in behind Kaleeth faster than anyone else. His target was one of the enemies by the fireplace. In a few scrambling paces, Leaps was upon him, jumping up and forcing the enemy to the ground before he could fully rise from his seat. The other was engaged by Janius and Gallus, but there was time enough for that enemy to mount a defence. Like Fendros, Tzirret took a clear side of the room and found no one to harass with his spear, so he opted to wait by the staircase and fend off anyone coming up.

---

Sabine returned the smile, looking up to Peiter once more. "We should."

A full ten seconds of silence passed where Sabine simply stared at Peiter, trying to stay awake. In one last effort, she straightened her head slightly, but kept it forward such that her arm was obscuring her fading smile. It took a lot of bravery to speak again, "You know, you can...sit next to me whenever you want to. I don't mind."

[EliteCommander]

Between Lorag and Ahnasha, their opponent was quickly overwhelmed. He had only just managed to draw his blade by the time he saw Lorag's hammer swinging for him. He jumped back and parried in an effort to avoid the strike, but it left Ahnasha with plenty of space to slash her blade across his unarmored side. He curled forward in pain and slashed fruitlessly towards Ahnasha, leaving himself completely open to the follow-up strike from Lorag's hammer. The full weight of the blow came down on his skull, which dispatched him immediately.

Leaps' opponent could do little to resist the lightning fast pounce from the wamasu, nor could he resist the actual lightning that was charged through his body every time Leaps tore away another part of his flesh. His cries were mostly unintelligible, but even if he surrendered, there was no stopping Leaps at this point. The last Khajiit was able to draw his blade and back away before Janius and Gallus could reach him. However, he knew he was hopelessly outnumbered, and there was no exit he could take which was not already blocked. As such, with fear in his eyes, he dropped his swords and threw up his hands.

Kaleeth had ran to the center of the room and, within seconds, began slamming her massive fists into the floor under her, and after only two blows, the wood collapsed under her weight. Werecrocodiles, outside of water, were generally not agile in the slightest, so she was unable to back away before she fell down along with the floor. And neither was she able to catch herself to land on her feet; instead she fell clumsily onto the floor of the basement, flat on her stomach. Nevertheless, the surprise of the strategy had served its purpose. The two hostiles downstairs, one Bosmer and one Khajiit, had heard the commotion upstairs, and only seconds later, were thrown into chaos by Kaleeth crashing in on top of them. The Khajiit was on one side of her and cut off from the prisoners, but the Bosmer was on the other side and already running for the cells after a brief delay to process what was happening.

---

Sabine's last statement had been rather awkward, but Peiter did not even seem to notice. Their entire conversation had been awkward, but both appeared oblivious to the fact. He simply nodded. "Oh, alright." He said before picking himself up and moving over to sit on the ground beside Sabine's bedroll. He could see Sabine's face more clearly now, and smiled as he looked at her. "This is a...nice evening. Much...cooler than the daytime." He said, though curiously, he was still sweating.

[Muttonhawk]

Thankfully, Fendros managed to see the floor buckling in time to jump back away from the hole that Kaleeth had created. Through the dust that was kicked up, Fendros could spot a shape headed for the cells. The original plan was to not enter the basement until Irenya came in and pinned the enemy with spells, but with Kaleeth on the floor, there was no time. Fendros jumped down the hole and landed heavily next to Kaleeth. As soon as he could stand up, he went for the Bosmer by the cell. Fortune depending, the jailers would not have time to do damage before they were engaged. In surprise at the fall, Tzirret decided to descend the stairs to assist Kaleeth as well.

Gallus took responsibility for the one who surrendered. The Khajiit's sword did not even have time to stop ringing on the floor before Gallus took a step and slid it away with his foot. Now the Khajiit had a knife to his throat and Gallus held his hammer over his other shoulder in case that wasn't enough. "You breathe, you die," Gallus threatened.

Janius got the message and decided to divert his attention to Kaleeth. It was not part of the plan for her to fall through, but they would have to adapt. "Leaps! Up! Attack!" Janius said firmly. Leaps-On-Elves left his mauled victim to bleed to death and skittered across to the hole, where Janius was pointing down into. Leaps poked as much of his body over the edge as he could before jumping down to join Kaleeth and Fendros. Janius followed a second after.

---

Sabine didn't give any comment on the weather when Peiter sat down next to her. She simply leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder, letting out a long and slow breath. She let her eyes sink closed, now relaxed and peaceful. If Peiter didn't do anything else, she was likely to fall asleep at any moment.

[EliteCommander]

The Khajiit jailer, after the initial shock of having the werecrocodile fall in front of him, had drawn the axe from his belt and started to rush forward towards the disoriented werebeast, intent on finishing her while she was down. However, just as he was about to make his swing, Leaps jumped down and landed on the floor right in front of him. He jumped back to keep his distance from the beast, but it was at that point that he saw the lightning pulsing across the wamasu's body.

"What in Oblivi-" The Khajiit began before he was cut off by an intense surge of electrical energy pulsing through his body. Had he expected it, he might have been able to evade, or otherwise prepare, but instead, he dropped his axe and fell to his knees. From there, it was Leaps' instinct to pounce upon his weakened prey, just as he had done upstairs.

The locked cells contained most of Colors' pride, apart from one. Now that he was downstairs, Fendros could see clearly the horror that these prisoners had been subject to. All of them had been stripped bare and tortured, but there was one who was currently enduring it. Within clear view of the two iron cells was a torture rack, upon which one of Colors' pride was currently tied. She was a Bosmer girl, no older than Tzirret, whose body bore horrific scars, fresh and old. The sounds of the fighting had obscured her cries of pain as her muscles were being stretched out to the point of tearing by the foul device. If the stretching wasn't enough, she had fresh burns across many sensitive areas of her body. She bore at least a dozen cuts and gashes all placed perfectly to avoid her vital organs, and she was missing all of her fingernails and toenails. Currently, there were hooks stabbed through her flesh running up and down the length of her body that were tied to the rack, and pulled tight to stretch out her skin. It was this girl that the Bosmer jailer was running to. She did manage to reach her, but she had to stop for a moment to pull her knife from her belt. If Fendros was quick enough, he could yet stop her.

---

Peiter was quite speechless when Sabine leaned up against him. Although, he certainly was not going to say anything against it. Regardless of whether or not he had offended Sabine by the stream, he still felt nervous of doing anything wrong now. Instead of speaking, he tilted his head to rest on hers and simply closed his eyes to relax. The nervousness he had felt had caused him to almost forget about his fatigue, but he too was rather exhausted.

Meesei, who had been observing the entire exchange between the pair, could not help but to give a faint chuckle. She was laying on her bedroll and about to get to sleep herself. Currently, her body was swimming with the energies of potions that were holding off the pain, and keeping her stomach from bursting open. She would need to take a few more during the night, so she and Uthri were going to sleep in shifts to ensure she did not miss a dose. By morning, however, the effects of the silver would likely have weakened enough that her body could hold itself together on its own.

[Muttonhawk]

It had been a long time since Fendros had even thought about his own experiences in a torture chamber opposite Ahnasha. The help he received from Najirra and the time since the incident had mostly healed his inner wounds. Spotting the girl on the rack, however, caused a buzz of panic to pour out of the corners of his skull and block out all rational thought. Thankfully, his focus was on the jailer. He didn't need to think about anything more than killing. He rushed the jailer with abandon, not even raising his shield, and swung brutally at her arm that held the knife she had pulled out. Fendros' cut sliced through clothing, skin, flesh, and even bit through the bone. The impact of the swing threw the Bosmer jailer off balance, and as Fendros drew his sword back, the final threads of flesh were cut through, severing the arm entirely. The moment that followed allowed a heavy flow of blood to pour from the wound as the jailer fell to the ground with a deafening scream of pain. Fendros didn't stop, holding his sword in both hands as he stabbed the jailer in her middle until she was silent.

Then, and only then, did Fendros find that his fear overtook him. He pulled off his shield and walked to the nearest stone wall, leaning his forearm against it and pressing his eyes into his forearm. He was breathing heavily, desperately trying to recollect the calming techniques that Najirra taught him. It was all he could do to not feel sick.

"What on...Oh, Mara's mercy..." Janius was checking the room for any other threats before his eyes landed on the torture subject. He put away his axe and jogged around Kaleeth to reach her. He looked around the mechanism uneasily, trying to find out how to release the girl, and came upon the crank that extended the rack. He found the release for it and attempted to slowly ease the stretching. "Irenya! You are needed!" Janius shouted up the hole in the ceiling.

Tzirret had descended the stairs just in time to see Leaps lay into another enemy. In case Leaps was having any trouble, Tzirret stepped up and struck his spear into the enemy's side. If he was still alive, it was probably a mercy given how Leaps dealt with the others. When he looked up to the rack, however, he left his spear in his victim and went wide-eyed. If it weren't for the fur, he probably would have paled as he quickly found a corner and leaned over, retching.

[EliteCommander]

Irenya was already dropping down through the hole in the floor when Janius shouted for her. As a healer, she had seen much suffering during her long life, but even her eyes widened upon seeing the torture victim. She said nothing in response and instead just ran to Fendros' side to give what aid she could to the Bosmer girl. She was glowing with restoration energy by the time she reached the rack, and immediately poured it into the girl. First and foremost, Irenya concentrated on deadening the massive amount of pain she was feeling. Despite the horrific nature of the girl's injuries, her life was not actually in much danger. The sadistic nature of this torture was that it was efficiently designed not to kill its victim. "Release the tension on the rack slowly. After that, I need you to cut the ropes on those hooks, then pull them out slowly and carefully. After that, we can release her." Irenya said to Fendros.

Given that there was no longer a need for Kaleeth to remain in her beast form, she shifted herself back to normal once the last of the enemies had been killed. She saw the girl on the rack as she stood back up, but could not bear to look at her for more than a moment. The other five of Colors' pride were in the two iron-barred cells to the right of the rack. All were Khajiit, mostly Suthay-raht, but there was one of the tiger-like Pahmar. All of them bore the scars of the same kind of torture the Bosmer was enduring, though their fur made the marks more difficult to see, apart from the places where it had been burned off. One of them, a black-furred male, stood up and walked to the bars of his cell. His hands were bound, but he was able to point to the body of the Khajiit jailer. "Thank Hircine, this one had given up hope of rescue. He had the keys, I think."

Kaleeth nodded to the man, then approached the body. While Leaps tore off pieces of flesh to feast on, Kaleeth grabbed the keyring from his belt and ran over to the cells. She had to try a few different keys to get both of the cells open, then headed inside to start trying keys on the prisoners' bindings. A few of them were in tears by this point, though whether from relief or pain, Kaleeth did not know.

"How did you find us?" A tan-furred, black striped Khajiit woman asked.

Colors waited until the sounds of fighting had ceased before carefully stepping inside through the hole in the wall. He looked around nervously at the bodies, as well as the prisoner that a few of the others were currently securing. What concerned him the most, however, was the screaming he could hear coming from downstairs.

[Muttonhawk]

Those that had remained upstairs were in the process of binding and gagging the one prisoner they had taken. Gallus wasn't going to let this one have a fingernail of space to escape. "I think we found them, Colours. Head downstairs, you're probably needed," Gallus said, not even turning to the Argonian as he walked in.

"Er, right," Fendros was somewhat grounded by Irenya's orders, though his heart was still pounding and even looking at the rack and its victim made his stomach turn. He pushed off the wall and took a deep breath, helping Janius with the girl and trying not to pay attention to her bodily wounds.

Janius did just as Irenya said as well, giving some comforting words as well. "We'll get you off this wretched thing soon, you're going to be okay." When Janius heard the Khajiit woman behind her ask how they were found, he glanced over his shoulder, but did not stop the delicate work. "That would be the charming one that showed us the way! I'm sure you can guess who!"

Once they reached the stage of removing the hooks from the Wood Elf girl's flesh, Janius had to stop Fendros before he touched any of them. His hands were shaking too much. "I think you should go upstairs, friend," Janius suggested quietly. Fendros just nodded, blinking, even he was not in any state to let his pride flare up. He retrieved his shield on the way. With that, Janius got to work on the hooks, grimacing as he carefully pulled each from the girl's stretched skin. What these people did was horrific.

[EliteCommander]

Colors headed downstairs just as Kaleeth was finishing up freeing the rest of his pride. They walked, slowly and weakly out of their cells over to the other side of the room, to give Irenya and Janius the space they needed to tend to the Bosmer. All of them would need healing eventually, but they were not in the same kind of agony as her. As Colors looked at all of them, particularly the Bosmer, his eyes lowered, and his heart sank. "By Hircine..." He mumbled.

The dark-furred Khajiit was the first to speak up. "Colors, it is...good to see you survived, and that you are not still in the enemy's hands. Khajiit feared for your life if we were ever rescued."

Another of the pride, a spotted Khajiit woman with a similar fur color as Ahnasha, glared at him more with anger. "Yes, it is good the cowardly lizard returned nice and safe, while we were being tortured here."

The other Suthay-raht male, who had light fur and similar spots to the angry Khajiit, stepped forward between the two. "Be calm, sister. Colors did not choose to put himself in that position. He is a coward, but he is our coward." He commented as he put his arm over Colors' shoulders.

"T-thank you, Jo'rashaad." Colors responded weakly. Regardless of what any of them said, he still felt guilty about the pain they had all endured.

Eventually, Janius managed to remove the last of the hooks, so they were able to untie her from the rack. She nearly collapsed to the ground, only to be caught by Irenya. By this point, she had numbed the girl's body entirely, so her cries of pain had stopped. Her muscles were too weakened by the rack to stand, so Irenya scooped her up in her arms and walked back towards the group. "She needs healing, but I have no doubt she will be fine, physically at least. There are no silver wounds across her body that I can sense. I think we should head upstairs and get out of this...room. You can all have a seat and rest."

[Muttonhawk]

Colours' appearance came with less heartfelt relief than Janius had anticipated from the pride. The hostility from some of them was somewhat jarring. Perhaps they weren't as close as he thought, or maybe it was just their ways of coping. Janius decided to comment in Colours' defence, "I can't speak for Colours' past, but he did save our lives. He's due some credit."

Once he was at the point where he knew he couldn't help the tortured girl any further, Janius went around to check on Kaleeth and Tzirret. Kaleeth was busy helping the pride, but Tzirret was still breathing heavily and leaning against the wall over his last meal. Janius put a hand on his back, "You going to be alright, Tzirret?"

Tzirret nodded and slowly stood up straight again. He breathed through his mouth and retrieved his spear before heading up the stairs as well.

Janius then ordered leaps to heel and go upstairs with the others, and then he himself went up the stairs last.

Gallus was standing and keeping his eye on the prisoner, tied up and seated against one of the intact walls. Fendros had taken a seat after advising Ahnasha not to venture downstairs until they brought the Bosmer girl up, not regarding whether she had peered down the hold in the floor and spotted the rack anyway.

Eventually, everyone gathered in the aftermath of the carnage and looked about. Gallus was the first to speak up. "So, Colours, you had best introduce us to your pack...er, pride."

[EliteCommander]

The pride was not quick to move anywhere, but they all agreed that they wanted to get out of this dungeon. Slowly, everyone started to file upstairs with varying degrees of aches and pain in their muscles. The Pahmar walked with a limp on her front right leg, which would likely need to be looked at before they left.

Once upstairs, everyone started to gather up chairs for the pride, though Colors decided to stay standing. He was about to start giving introductions when the spotted Khajiit male, Jo'rashaad, noticed the prisoner they had tied up against a wall. He locked eyes with the prisoner as expression became furious.

"YOU!" Jo'rashaad shouted, his voice booming with unbelievable rage. He snarled and clenched his fists together until eventually, he rushed forward. His weakened muscles did not seem to stop him from pushing past anyone in his way, grabbing up one of the broken planks from the wall as he ran past, and smashing it into the prisoner's head. As the prisoner was knocked to the floor, he started to take another swing, evidently intent on beating him to death.

[Muttonhawk]

Though animosity towards their captors was to be expected, the explosive violent reaction from one of the Suthay-raht's came as a shock. Gallus, who was closest to the prisoner, was first to act. He rushed up to Jo'rashaad shouting and desperately tried to grab at his arm before he could land another blow. "Wait, stop! Stop!"

Fendros and Janius had sprung up from their seats as well to restrain Jo'rashaad. With their combined effort, they would be able to contain him, but Gallus knew that he wouldn't stop until either the prisoner was dead or he could talk some sense into him. "He's a lead! We need him alive to talk!" Gallus grit his teeth as he finally got enough leverage to overpower the man, "For the sake of your clan, put the damn wood down! Now!"

Despite what Gallus claimed, there was no knowing if the first swing was enough to kill the prisoner outright. He couldn't check in all the commotion.

[EliteCommander]

In his weakened state, Jo'rashaad could be easily contained. His fury was obvious, but he stopped resisting once he knew it was pointless. "That monster doesn't deserve to live, for what he did to Ciinriel." He shouted, but nevertheless, he let out a sigh and dropped the plank. Turning his head to Gallus, he spoke quietly. "Jo'rashaad will not leave here until he is dead."

Once Jo'rashaad was released, he kicked the prisoner in the side, which caused him to curl up and groan, then returned to one of the chairs in the room. Colors looked around awkwardly, wondering if he should start with the introductions. However, the black-furred Khajiit male started before he could speak.

"This one is Ra'katesh, the leader of this pride. He is Jo'rashaad, and has a...very good reason to be enraged with that monster." Ra'katesh explained before moving on, motioning to the spotted Khajiit woman. "She is Do'ajee, and Jo'rashaad's sister." He then pointed to the tan, black striped woman. "Her name is La'khay, and the Pahmar is S'ajira. This one supposes we should hurry in interrogating our...prisoner." He recommended.

[Muttonhawk]

The groan that came from the tied up prisoner came as something of a relief to Gallus. It meant he was still alive. Unfortunately, Gallus wasn't comfortable with staying in an enemy outpost for any longer than they had to. There was no telling how long it would take to get answers out of the captive.

First, Gallus wanted to get names out of the way. "Very good. Just to do so quickly; our own names. We are two werewolf packs from Bruma united on this mission - well, almost all werewolves. I am Gallus," Gallus pointed to each other individual present quickly and without ceremony, "Fendros, Ahnasha, Leaps-On-Elves, Janius, Kaleeth-Rei, Tzirret, Irenya, and our interim leader, Lorag. There are others you will meet when we leave this place. As for the prisoner..." Gallus stroked his chin, trying to think of a diplomatic way to put his opinion, given the high levels of emotion. "The champion may have questions for him that we do not. I would prefer that he comes with us, if only to not remain in a place where enemies could come across us at any moment." Gallus was sure to give Jo'rashaad a particular word, "You'll have your vengeance eventually, I'm sure."

"There is healing to be done before we move, we should have time to interrogate here," Fendros said.

"Lorag?" Janius looked to Lorag for his judgement, "Meesei put you in charge. What's your call?"

[EliteCommander]

Lorag cast his gaze over to Irenya, and the Bosmer in her arms, Ciinriel. He agreed with Gallus in that it was not a good idea to remain in the outpost for long, he just wanted to make sure that everyone was ready to move first. "Irenya, the girl. You can carry her back to camp, right?"

Irenya responded with a nod, prompting Lorag to look to the rest of the pride. "Is everyone else able to move? It will be about an hour's walk, probably."

Jo'rashaad gave a look of frustration to Gallus, but with a sigh of resignation, he knew he would have to agree. "Fine." He said to Gallus before turning his attention to Lorag. "Most of us can move, but I think my wife has a broken paw. It may need to be healed first." He explained, pointing to the Pahmar, S'ajira.

"Alright, Irenya, take a look at S'ajira as soon as you can. Everyone else, search this place for anything useful, and stay on guard." Lorag ordered.

After Lorag's order was given, Ra'katesh approached Colors with a curious expression. "Colors, did he mention something about the Champion?"

Colors nodded. "Yes, Hircine's Champion herself has come to aid us." He explained.

Ra'katesh looked out of the hole in the wall, into the forest beyond. "Well, it seems the Great Hunter has not abandoned us after all. Perhaps we do have some hope yet."