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

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros wasn't sure exactly whether he wanted to dwell on it, but Ahnasha was pushing the issue enough that he felt he needed to speak. He sat with his forearms on his knees, looking at the floor, and explained. "It's not the bigotry, don't worry about that," Fendros shook his head, "I just...what she was describing about ancestors, I grew up around all of that," he turned his head to look at Ahnasha's face, "It's true that I left that all behind and that I'm unlikely to connect with them again, especially when I am bound for the hunting grounds when I die, but..." Fendros clenched his jaw and looked to the floor again as he tried to give his thoughts a description, "Hearing Irenya made me think back to it for the first time in years. I can't help but think what it might have been like if I did have that connection. It isn't exactly an Argonian connecting with the Hist, but still. I remember it."

"Heh," Fendros looked sideways at Ahnasha and pulled a sad smile, "I bet I sound like I've been evangelised, don't I?"

[EliteCommander]

"Yeah...it does." Ahnasha answered. Again, she felt confused, but for a different reason. She was not quite sure how to go about talking to him about his former faith. It was not something that Fendros talked about, nor something that she had ever really had reason to ask about. The closest they had ever came to that was when they went to the temple at Vos, in Vvardenfell. Even then, they did not have a detailed discussion about his beliefs before being turned.

"Fendros...I, don't know what to say, honestly. I don't really know a lot about the Dunmer and their ancestors. I did go through a change of faith at one point in my life, though. You met my parents, so you can guess how they raised me. Very devout followers of the Eight. I was in the temple every Sundas, just like they wanted me. I left that behind when I learned of Hircine, though. I prefer gods who actually show some measure of interest in those who worship them. I know the Dunmer revere their ancestors and, what are they called? The Reclamations. I've never had any spiritual connection with my ancestors before, but...if you have, then do you believe it is worth all that Irenya says?" She asked.

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros grinned and exhaled sharply, "No." He turned his head upper body to Ahnasha properly, "I could try to connect with my ancestors again, but I could never let you or Rhazii go. I can't see any communion or advice from a reclamations priest going any other way." He reached a hand to Ahnasha's cheek and became serious for a moment, "You both mean more to me than some spiritual obligation that one grumpy old woman says I have." Fendros moved his hand down to her shoulder and he smiled, "I'm just reminiscing, I think."

"Though, with your path," Fendros glanced to the ground and back to Ahnasha, "Your change of faith was driven by you, mostly. It was your choice to leave the Eight behind. I don't think I ever really took the time to say goodbye to my ancestors." Fendros shifted closer to Ahnasha and put his arm around her shoulder, and then looked to the ground ahead of him again. "I don't know...what do you think I should do?" Fendros asked casually. Despite his emotions, he was obviously not sensitive about it.

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha scratched her head in thought. "I don't know if it's a good idea, really. I mean, I don't really know how it all works, but if your family has been praying to them, then they probably already know you're gone. If you don't want to tell most of your living family what happened to you, then I don't see how speaking to the dead ones would be any different. Although..."

A thought popped into Ahnasha's mind which caused her to pause and think. This was all unfamiliar to her, but she did have an idea of something to suggest. "I, um, don't really know how all of this works or anything. If you can choose who to connect to, or if you actually 'talk' to them at all, but...I can think of one specific ancestor you might want to contact. I think you know the one; you alluded to what might have happened to her not too long after we met. She seems like someone you might want to make a connection with, even after all that has happened. Well, I don't know what she would think of...what we are, but she at least wouldn't have a problem with me."

[Muttonhawk]

"I wish I could say I knew how to speak to them directly as well," Fendros said, itching his cheek, "I just know the regular prayers and reverence. Had I stayed with my family for another few decades, they might have taught me how to summon the ghost of one of my ancestors in times of need, but those don't generally talk. That is about it." Fendros peered up at the ceiling in consideration, "It would be nice to talk to Mirasi, though. I always wondered what that would be like."

Fendros smiled wider. "At any rate, at least Irenya might not be as disrespectful as before," Fendros pulled Ahnasha towards him and kissed her on the side of her head.

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha returned Fendros' smile. "At least there's that." Just as he was about to pull away from her, she put her hands on the sides of his head and gave him another, proper kiss. "Although, now it's going to be up to you to make sure I don't end up clawing her eyes out or something. I hope you're up to the task." She laughed.

Putting her arm around Fendros, Ahnasha leaned back and laid down in the hammock next to him, stretching out her muscles. In trying to get her mind off of Irenya, another thought came to her, related again to their time in Vos. "You know, all these matters of faith reminded me of something. Do you remember back in Vos when we went to the temple? When we may or may not have been spoken to by...who was it? Boethia or Mephala? They're both deceivers. Anyway, I remember her saying that a Breton would be causing us problems relating to my...studies. When we met Ariel I thought she meant her, but obviously nothing ever happened with her. I wonder if we're ever going to encounter this mysterious Breton, or if she was just lying to stir up trouble?"

[Muttonhawk]

There was a laugh from Fendros as well when Ahnasha warned him about clawing at Irenya. "I'll try my best."

The reminder about their Daedric encounter in Vos darkened Fendros' expression. It was not a pleasant memory. "It was Mephala," Fendros said plainly, "I had all but forgotten about that. I thought that it was just stirring up trouble as well, but..." Fendros ran a hand through his hair nervously, "I just don't know."

Fendros laid down beside Ahnasha and put an arm around her again, drawing her in close and trying to be more lighthearted. "You haven't had any Bretons offer you eternal life recently, have you?"

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha shook her head. "No, no. The only person who has offered me eternal life was the Argonian who gave me the tome. Oh, and a traveling merchant trying to sell me some elixir back in Bruma, but he was a Bosmer." She chuckled.

Ahnasha shifted uncomfortably and gave a sigh, her attitude becoming more serious. "It's just...I think I've reached the end of what that tome can teach me. There might be one or two tidbits left, but...it wasn't enough to get me to my goal by itself. I mean, I learned a lot from it, and it helped me understand what it is I still need to learn, but I'm essentially done with it. All I can do now is try to experiment on my own, unless I can find some other source of information. I know there are different magical organizations that hold that knowledge, at least the ones that don't have a problem with necromancy usually do, but that's not the kind of knowledge they teach to outsiders. I'd probably have to study with them for decades to get what I need from them. Back with the clan, I had the time to do my own experiments, but traveling around like this I don't get a chance for it. If I want to learn what I need in any reasonable time, I'll need something or someone else to teach me. Mephala might have just been causing trouble, but...her warning might not have been meant for that time. Provided her warning was truthful. She could be trying to turn me away from something I need."

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros had not really been involved in Ahnasha's necromantic research for while. Part of him wanted to know more about what Ahnasha was doing and another part was afraid what it might be. For a while he did not pry, so this was the first he had heard of it from Ahnasha for months. Although he knew little to nothing of necromancy save for what he had read in the tome himself, Fendros could understand where Ahnasha was coming from.

"There's no knowing exactly what the machinations of Daedric princes are," Fendros said in a mediocre attempt to console Ahnasha, "For now, we'll just keep an eye out for opportunities. If any Bretons lie in that future, all we can be is wary."

Now that the opportunity to talk about it came up, Fendros decided to find out more about Ahnasha's learning. He looked at her directly from where he lay, "What kinds of things have you been doing with your research, anyway? I haven't really been keeping up. Honestly, I have been...a little concerned about the smell of cadavers." Fendros' tone perhaps underplayed the true levels of concern, but if Ahnasha didn't want to share, he wouldn't mind his turned eye being blind for a little longer.

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, I've mostly gotten used to the smell by now. I honestly prefer working with skeletons, but I need to work on something with flesh to really get in the practice I need." She explained. At first, she had even found her own work to be very distasteful, but her desire to extend her own life had forced her to press on until she could come to terms with its grisly nature.

"From what I have learned so far, the key seems to be in understanding how one's life force manipulates the body itself. Basically, how the soul is bound to the body. With a strong enough soul gem and some time, I can make a reasonably strong permanent thrall, rather than the ones that disintegrate after a relatively short time. But, there is a pretty huge difference between how the souls in those thralls interact with the body I give them, and how my own soul is bound to my own body. It's like the different between a person using their own body, versus a person using strings to manipulate a puppet. I still have a long way to go before I can really understand the intricacies of black souls. I just know that I'm going to need souls, and a lot of them, for my experiments. We kill things all the time, the hardest part is probably going to be getting the soul gems themselves." Ahnasha reasoned.

[Muttonhawk]

What Ahnasha described and how casually she was describing it was a little confronting. Fendros glanced around for a moment, but tried not to be concerned. "That makes sense, I suppose, but..." Fendros let out a sigh, "I'm not sure if the clan would accept a puppet corpse following your commands all the time. You know the stories about necromancers and the kind of people they become. I know you well enough that you wouldn't cause that kind of suffering willingly, but not everyone does."

After a couple of seconds, Fendros closed his eyes and shook his head, breathing out with strain. "This is just very strange, all this," Fendros said, nearly exclaiming, "I mean, actually talking about this one kind of magic that everyone reviles. I know it's the only way to do this without doing something worse, but I can't shake the feeling that we'll end up doing something...bad."

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha grinned and let out a huff as she lightly hit Fendros' shoulder. "Well I don't have to keep the things with me. I just need practice in making thralls to better understand the underlying principles. I made plenty of them back with the clan, usually out of animal carcasses. I just, uh, made sure the clan didn't see them. I killed them all before we left, don't worry. I also figured out that I could soul trap them again and reuse the soul once I wanted to move on to a different thrall, so for that kind of practice, I didn't need all that many souls. I just needed a good supply of soul gems. I...know there is going to be a time where I'll need more, stronger souls, but you know me. I'm not going to become some power-crazed necromancer. I'll be a...perfectly reasonable and well-adjusted necromancer."

Ahnasha was trying to remain lighthearted, despite the serious subject matter. The perception of necromancy across most of Tamriel was overwhelmingly negative, and in many cases, that perception was well-earned. She did not want power at any cost, however, she just wanted life. Nevertheless, she still wanted to edge the conversation away from that topic. "Ah, what I wouldn't give to have Azura's Star. I can see why enchanters and necromancers are always so obsessed over that artifact. A soul gem that could survive multiple uses would be beyond useful for my experiments. I would still need some soul gems, for those experiments that require multiple souls at once, but still, it would help immensely. Unique Daedric artifacts are not easy to find though, unfortunately."

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros laughed quietly and held Ahnasha tightly for a moment. He trusted her to do the right things as she researched.

"I wouldn't even know where to begin searching for something like that," Fendros commented on Azura's star, "As far as I know, the stories just say that Azura hands it out to heroes who do her a service and then it disappears after a long enough time. You could always try praying to Azura?" Fendros laughed, "Though, if it were that easy, everyone would have the star."

At that point there was a high pitched laughing approaching from one end of the hold. Rhazii and Newt ran by, clomping their feet on the wooden deck loudly. It appeared as though Newt was trying to grab onto Rhazii's tail in a chasing game. Rhazii had a large enough stride that he could outrun Newt easily, but he seemed to be holding back for the sake of fun. Janius was not far behind them both, trying to rein them in, "Hey, don't run too far, you two!"

When Janius spotted Fendros and Ahnasha relaxing in their hammock, he gave them a nod and asked, "How did your talk go?"

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha nodded. "Yeah, I doubt the Star is anything more than a dream. Only one person in Tamriel can have it at a time, and there are a lot of enchanters out there. Most people will never even see a Daedric artifact, and our pack already has one in our possession. I doubt we'll be so lucky as to get another. I'll just have to make due with the normal soul gems, like everyone else."

Ahnasha's attention was grabbed by the noise off to their right. Rhazii ran by with Newt not that far behind, leaving Ahnasha with a small grin on her face. She saw them playing like this all the time, but it was still amusing to watch, especially when she did not expect it. Janius was not that far behind, which was fortunate, else Ahnasha might have become cross with him. Naturally, he was curious about their conversation with Irenya, so Ahnasha answered, despite wanting to be rid of that topic forever.

"Well, none of us ended up scratched, stabbed, incinerated, or crushed by a frost atronach, if that says anything. It could have gone better, definitely, but I doubt she's going to bother us as much anymore. I still don't know if she's going to do anything about how she acts towards Meesei, but I guess only time will tell. Meesei might be diplomatic about it, but I personally won't stand for her, or anyone else, disrespecting the Champion." Ahnasha explained.

[Muttonhawk]

Janius leaned against the lower end of a mast in the centre of the hold and returned a smile. "Well, as long as you two didn't burn the ship down, I'd call that a victory. Good to hear." Janius crossed his arms and looked thoughtful, "I have a feeling that Meesei may talk to Irenya when she needs to, but we'll see what happens."

Rhazii and Newt ran between Janius and the hammock in the opposite direction to where they came, this time with Rhazii clomping after Newt's tail. Janius' eyes widened and he pushed off the mast to follow after them. That ended the conversation rather abruptly, but the reasons were self-evident.

"I am glad that Rhazii has a friend like Newt," Fendros said with a similar grin to Ahnasha, "With these long journeys, it would be dreadfully lonely otherwise." Fendros breathed in with a new thought and looked at Ahnasha with a pause, but closed his mouth and let it go.

[EliteCommander]

"Agreed." Ahnasha responded. The two children did not seem to have a care in the world at the moment, other than their own amusements. Ahnasha almost felt envious of them, for that fact. "Now, we just have to figure out how to keep ourselves from going insane for the rest of this trip."

---

Compared to their previous voyage, the packs' current trip was mercifully short. As they were only sailing along Elsweyr's coast, they were able to reach the approximate area where Ra'kalesh knew his clan had gone within just four days. It was short enough that life aboard the ship had only just become stale by the time they arrived. Thanks to her lycan regeneration, Kaleeth was able to heal quickly and return for a few more fights with the crew several times during their journey, along with Lorag once he learned about them. Fortunately, they accepted the explanation of magic as her source of rapid healing. Although, she refrained from joining in any fights on the day before their arrival to ensure she would be in good physical condition.

For Meesei, she had no trouble passing the time during their journey. When she was not spending time in conversation with her packs or the pride, she was meditating and otherwise practicing her magic. It was something she had always done whenever there was nothing else to do, though since the war began, she had been even more rigorous in her pursuit of magical insight. For as long as any in her pack had known her, Meesei had been a powerful mage, but over the past few years, her magical abilities had grown even stronger. Since high-level magic was more difficult to study, the change was not as drastic as others in her pack like Ahnasha and Sabine, but she had steady improvement.

It was later in the afternoon that the ship finally cast its anchor just off of the shore to allow their passengers to disembark. Obviously, there was no dock for them to use, and the captain did not seem intent allowing them the use of one of their rowboats. From speaking with her, it seemed she wanted to get out of the area as fast as possible. Fortunately, the shores were not rocky, so the ship was able to get close enough to shore that they would only have to wade a short distance to dry land. While the crew were letting down the ropes, the captain gave the group one final "farewell."

"Alright, this is your stop. Once you're off this ship, you're off. Make sure you've got all your stuff with you now, else it's gonna be mine. Now, it's been a pleasure doing business and all that nonsense. If anyone asks, we've never met." The captain said before walking back towards her cabin.

[Muttonhawk]

The patience of the group, to varying degrees, held fast during the few days that made up the rest of their journey. In contrast to the tumult of the previous days, some time to relax and recover was welcome, but to others it still grated on their temperance.

Sabine, Tzirret, Ciinriel, and Peiter spent the day following their drinking game groaning in pain from what was the worst hangover they had ever suffered. Thankfully, the dim light of the lower hold did not hurt their eyes, but they complained at whatever sound came by their hammocks. Sabine didn't mind too much through the process, however, as it meant more time nestled up with Peiter. The rest of the journey for them was spend killing time in various forms and fashions; talking amongst themselves and the group, playing more games, watching the waves. Though, they didn't end up purchasing another bottle of orange liquor from the quartermaster. None of them wanted to even sip another drink before the hangover had disappeared from their memories. But even if they wanted more, they didn't have the coin.

There was one occasion where Sabine received a magic lesson from Meesei as per routine, but Sabine was distracted by her new feelings and struggled to improve. In addition, Sabine gave Peiter another magic lesson on their last day, but they didn't get very far either. Peiter's understanding of magic had improved, but he still couldn't quite make the light spell.

Life was simple for the rest, with conversation and child-and-wamasu-minding being the dominant activities. Janius ended up joining in on a couple of bouts with the fistfights, but didn't quite find himself doing as well as Kaleeth or Lorag. Any gambling pursuits that Janius or Fendros partook in were not as successful as the first time, but at least they didn't risk nearly as much as Sees-No-Colours did. The only other activity within the group was committed when the privacy of the storage rooms was spread by rumour.

By the end of the voyage, everyone's minds were reinforced with the fact that a life of sailing was not for them. Everyone was packed and ready to go with no protest. Sabine was even the first to begin rappelling off the side of the ship, remembering to quickly say "Goodbye!" an instant before she began descending to the water. Fendros double checked what he had and gave a similar wave. Janius held Leaps under one arm and struggled to step over the side and climb down with the weight, but he managed to lower himself with little more than a small rope burn on his fingers. Tzirret was quiet as he climbed down, but he had a visible energy about him after being cooped up for so long.

The water was a short depth over waist height when members of the group dipped in. It was a cool relief, but they had to resist the temptation to dive under in order to spare their equipment. They waded to the shore in short order, Janius letting Leaps swim at the length of his leash. By the time they were all in the water, the ship was already moving to leave.

[EliteCommander]

Once everyone had finally made it to shore, Meesei directed them to continue on a short distance into the forest, since the beach was a very open area. There had been no evidence that anyone was following them throughout their entire voyage, but just in case, Meesei felt it would be best if they were not plainly visible from the ocean.

After a few minutes of walking, the group was deep enough into the forest that Meesei felt it was safe enough for them to stop. As everyone was finding a place to set down their bags, Meesei found a fallen log on which to spread out their maps. She called over Gallus, Ra'kalesh, and anyone else who wanted to give advice so that they could finalize their plans for their next move. She uncorked an inkwell and gave a quill to Ra'kalesh, as he was the one with the most knowledge of the area.

"Ra'kalesh, what is roughly the area we are going to need to search?" Meesei asked.

Ra'kalesh dipped the quill, then drew a thin line in a circle around their current area. Compared to the whole of Elsweyr, it was a small circle, but it was still a very large area for them to search without any real direction. "It will not be easy, unfortunately. Ra'kalesh knows this is where they planned to go, but he has no more specifics than this. We will need to devise a search pattern.

[Muttonhawk]

As was the case with their planning by now, Gallus was with the other alphas and gave his input. "Well, I'll admit I've not been part of a search party looking for werelions in Elsweyr before, but we have some advantages..." he leaned onto the log with one hand and pointed to the map with the other, "We could cover the most ground by searching down from the prevailing wind first and making our way up its direction. That way any scents will carry to us. I doubt a large group of lycans could cover their scent all so effectively. With how the jungle is, the coastal wind won't help for too far, but perhaps we could catch hints if someone climbs up above the canopy every now and then." Gallus took in a small gasp of realisation, "Actually, while up there, we could look for any smoke as well."

Gallus put his hand up over his mouth and tapped his cheek, thinking for a moment. He lowered his hand enough to speak, "Let's see...we have...nineteen strong and a wamasu, split into groups of...three, say? That's six groups. We could space out one hundred or more paces and rake across a direction upwind." Gallus looked up to Meesei and Ra'kalesh, "It will still take a while, but we have many people. We'll be able to cover a lot of ground." Gallus shrugged, "Though, I'm just making this up as I go along, there's probably a better way of doing it."

[EliteCommander]

"No, that is not a bad plan." Meesei commented as she looked over the map carefully. "I do not want to take the risk of eliminating any areas entirely, but we may be able to prioritize based on where the most likely spot could be. Since Vile's forces have the suppression gas, I would have selected a location that would allow for an easy escape, were I the clan leader. However, he could have established their new camp anywhere. Perhaps in a cavern, or even in the trees. Ra'kalesh, would they have had time to build another set of structures in the trees? I am not certain of the details of how they are constructed."

Ra'kalesh scratched under his chin for a moment as he thought. "No...this one does not think so. But, we do have hidden supply outposts, as you know. Khajiit does not know if there was one in this area. Certainly, it would not have been large enough to accommodate all of the survivors, but if they already had an outpost to start with, they could have added a few more structures."

Meesei nodded. "It is a possibility, then. All teams will need to stay alert for anywhere they might be. If they are underground, then we will not be able to catch their scents. However, the basic plan is a good one. We will split up into teams of three, then cover a predetermined area each day. Once that area is covered, we will all returned to camp, then move our camp to a different location the next morning. Although, even with the nineteen of us, it still may take a week or two to cover such a large area. Hopefully, we will find the clan long before then. It is getting late today, so we should make camp here and start in the morning. Are there any objections, or suggestions?"