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

[EliteCommander]

Even Meesei could not maintain complete composure in Molag Bal's presence. She jumped slightly upon being startled by his voice, and her breathing was somewhat irregular. Regardless, she held more confidence than most could in her position. "I seek to prove no one's worthiness, Molag Bal. My sole goal is the defeat of our mutual enemy, and it is the only reason I have summoned you."

Even though it was more expected this time, there was nothing that could quite prepare one completely to hear the Daedra's voice. "My thralls have already given their services to fighting the whelp Vile. What more would you have the gall to ask of me?"

Meesei motioned her hand towards the axe in Kaleeth's hands. "This axe was forged from Vile's own essence. It is one of his relics, and I am sure you know what power that can hold over him, if applied correctly. If empowered by another Daedra, this axe could drain him of all of the power he has stolen from Mundus. That is what I ask of you, Molag Bal."

The voice of an angry Daedric Prince was not something that one would particularly want to hear at any point in their lifetime, but it was now booming through the entire chamber. "Insolent mortal. You dare to demand power from the Lord of Domination? Clavicus Vile is an irritant and a fool, but he is of no threat to me. Your world means nothing to me; I allow my thralls to help you because watching them fight amuses me. You want my power, but what are you willing to...sacrifice for it?"

There was a pause from Meesei, and several looks of worry from the pack. This was what many of them, at least in the back of their minds, had been fearing. It was what the council feared when Meesei had suggested using Molag Bal to empower the axe. They were asking for a great deal, and Molag Bal could demand a high price for it. However, Meesei had also been thinking, researching, planning. She had poured over every bit of knowledge they had on the subject in preparation for this moment, and she replied in a way that even her own pack would not have expected. She was calling his bluff.

"Nothing." Meesei replied sharply, with a firm demeanor. "There will be no sacrifice, Molag Bal. Because you cannot afford a victory from Vile any more than we can. There is a reason far greater than pride and ambition that Daedric Princes, yourself included, have sought to conquer Nirn countless times through the ages. There is power here: the power of every Aedra involved in its creation. A Daedra absorbing the power of Nirn would grant that Daedra a kind of power unmatched by any other being in all of Aurbis. Aetherius and Oblivion would all eventually belong to Vile, should he gain that power. And...I happen to know that defeating Vile in his realm will offer any other Daedra with a presence in his realm the opportunity to steal some of his power. My master will undoubtedly claim some, as will the Daedra that empowers this axe. If you are too afraid of taking the risk required to claim Vile's power, then I will find another Daedra who will. Perhaps Meridia will enjoy having even more leverage over you?"

It could not be overstated how terrifying the roar that filled the chamber was after Meesei's response, particularly after invoking the name of one of Molag Bal's greatest rivals. There was one cultist onlooker that took the chance to slip out of the exit while no one was paying attention to him. "Worthless insect! I will crush you! I will grind your bones to dust and cast your soul into the pits of Coldharbour! Your pathetic mind cannot begin to grasp the nature of the Daedra. You think yourself worthy of wielding my power against Vile when you cannot even best one of my servants. After she crushes you, they will claim Vile's trinket, and I shall have his power for my own."

For the pack, it seemed to be that the worst outcome was unfolding. Lorag had his hammer in his hands before Molag Bal had even finished speaking, and Kaleeth brought the Rueful Axe into a defensive stance. However, Meesei took a step forward, in front of her pack, and held her hand out to motion for them to stop. "Wait." She ordered. Hal-Neesa, hearing her master's demand, had stepped to the center of the chamber, but she was the only one. The rest, even Llarvan, were still standing back near the walls, observing. Meesei had heard Molag Bal's words clearly, and she saw only one way remaining to still possibly gain Molag Bal's assistance.

[Muttonhawk]

The way Meesei fought back was at first surprising. Fear gripped everyone by the necks. But it soon turned into a unifying rally in their minds. Perhaps it was pack instinct, maybe it was knowing when to stand after many harrowing experiences in the past. Either way, it felt like a battle already, even if it was a verbal one between a mortal and a god. Janius, Sabine, and even Lunise stood fast beside Meesei, retaining their wariness all the same.

Still, Molag Bal would not be browbeaten. The demand for sacrifice could not be refused. Whether spilt by Meesei or Hal-Neesa, Bal would have his blood.

Everyone in the pack reluctantly obeyed Meesei's order to stay back, except for Lunise and Sabine. Sabine held out the Staff of Magnus to Meesei and whispered. "It's the only way."

With her other hand, Sabine held Lunise back by her midsection. Their eyes met and Sabine worriedly shook her head. Lunise slowly stood back, but not without keeping her eyes hawklike on Hal-Neesa. Sabine could feel magicka priming to move in Lunise's body. It would be hard to keep her from protecting Meesei should the impending duel go wrong.

[EliteCommander]

Meesei was hardly able to extend a hand towards the staff before Hal-Neesa's irritatingly arrogant voice chimed in. "Come now, you intend to bring an Aedric relic into a duel? Do you think me that much of a fool? I would advise against cheating; trust me, you do not want me to cheat." She said, waving a hand towards the other cultist onlookers.

Releasing a sigh, Meesei clenched her fist closed and withdrew her hand away from Sabine. Her plan did not necessarily rely on the Staff of Magnus, but she was certainly much less confident without it. She supposed it had been too hopeful to expect Hal-Neesa not to recognize the weapon, though even if she had not, Molag Bal might not respect a duel won only through the power of an artifact.

As Hal-Neesa stepped forward with growing impatience, Meesei turned her head back briefly to meet Lunise's gaze. "Please, trust me."

"Oh, enough of this. I am not going to wait around while you say your goodbyes. I have already wasted enough of my evening as it is." Neesa interrupted. Neesa preparing herself to fight brought a magical charge to the air that could likely be felt several rooms away. She was every bit as terrifying of an opponent as Meesei remembered. During their first duel, Neesa had broken through her ward almost immediately, then quite literally tossed her around the room. Even with all the time that had passed; all of the strength, knowledge, and experience that Meesei had accumulated over the years, Meesei still did not believe she was stronger than Hal-Neesa. Meesei had studied ancient and forgotten magic in Apocrypha, but Neesa had possibly lived through those times herself. There was only one advantage that Meesei felt she could possibly have, which stemmed from Neesa's arrogance. Meesei did not expect that Neesa could even imagine that someone as young and inexperienced as Meesei could even approach Neesa's level of power. She would not expect it to be much of a contest. However, Meesei was hoping that she was just close enough. Even if she was not stronger, just being powerful enough to challenge her might allow her to use surprise to her advantage. In any case, it would have to be a quick duel. This would not be an extended magic duel, because that was not a duel that Meesei could win. Victory or defeat, Meesei would have to make sure to put everything she could into it quickly.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine did retract her arm holding the staff and Lunise did back off. Neither did so with any hint of reassurance. Especially Sabine, for her more expressive face was backed by memories of the previous time this happened. All she could do was hold her staff ready to react to the cultists on the other end of the room.

The pack collectively tensed up when Hal-Neesa readied her magic. The hair on the backs of their necks, where present, stood on end before Neesa even lifted her arms.

There was no time to ask questions or even give comments.

[EliteCommander]

Meesei tried to charge a quick lightning bolt to open the fight offensively, but already, Neesa was showing her advantage. The vampire was able to both charge and fire a standard bolt of lightning much quicker than Meesei could accomplish, forcing her to abandon her attack in favor of a ward. It was easy enough for Meesei to resist that attack, but Neesa, of course, did not stop there. She quickly unleashed a brilliant blue pulse of lightning: a sudden burst of energy meant to overwhelm and destroy Meesei’s ward. It was essentially what she had done in their last encounter, but this time, Meesei did not fail so easily. Her ward wavered, the blue restoration energy fading, but it did not break. Nevertheless, Neesa maintained her stream of lightning as Meesei struggled to keep up the strength of her ward through it all.

“Well well, so you have improved. I seem to remember it being over by this point last time. You know, I do appreciate that kind of dedication. It’s always more satisfying when I feel like my opponent is actually trying.” Neesa commented. Slowly, she started to step towards Meesei, grinning. The Vampire Lord seemed to have no trouble dividing her concentration and still maintaining her spell, while Meesei’s hands were shaking as she focused wholly on the ward. “I mean, just look at you. Standing up so bravely against a Daedric Lord, challenging one of your betters to a duel just on the hope that you might accomplish a miracle. You actually remind me a bit of myself in my youth. Back when I was also an idiot. Who knows? Perhaps, in a few hundred or so years, you could actually make something of yourself? Get rid of that self-sacrificial nonsense in your head and put that energy towards something actually helpful to you. It’s almost a shame to kill you, really. I would be curious to see if you could accomplish something of any measurable importance. Oh well, I have killed far more interesting people than you for far less than this, so I think I shall get over it.”

Meesei could not break her focus enough to pay attention to anything that Neesa was saying. The sparks of lightning striking her ward illuminated the room, and were even branching off and striking the stonework around her. Even being near Neesa’s intended target would be dangerous. For Neesa’s entire speech, Meesei’s situation was looking more and more grim. Keeping up her ward was as if she was trying to hold back a dam on the verge of collapse. However, Neesa taking the opportunity to gloat was something that Meesei had been hoping for. The entire time that Neesa had been talking, Meesei had been carrying out her final, desperate plan. There were many mages who could absorb the magicka from enemy spells through a ward, of course, but it was usually little more than a way to power a ward for longer than one would be able to otherwise. The conversion was usually not completely efficient, but recently, Meesei had the opportunity to observe something that was. The had only possessed the Staff of Magnus for a relatively short time, but Meesei had begun the process of studying the relic. The manner in which the staff directed magicka from a ward into the staff was entirely different from any method that Meesei had studied. It was almost bizarre, twisting and shaping the energy of the spells in ways that were frankly confusing, and yet, the staff could absorb most of the magic from incoming spells. Granted, it was an Aedric relic, but the way in which it functioned was still, fundamentally, magic. Meesei could not even begin to hope to match the capabilities of a piece of Magnus himself, but that did not mean she could not learn from it. The method she had intended to try was, up to that point, experimental, and entirely unproven in any real scenario. Meesei had bet her life on a theory, but by the grace of Hircine, the Hist, or whatever other deity might have been watching, it seemed to have worked.

During Neesa’s gloating, Meesei had been absorbing the energy of her lightning far more efficiently than even Neesa was likely capable of doing, thanks to the lessons she had learned studying the Staff. Meesei’s intense concentration was not on her ward as much as it was on retaining the immense amount of magicka she was absorbing. The Staff of Magnus could contain the power of a god, but Meesei had nowhere close to that capacity. Nevertheless, for as much as she seemed to be struggling to even keep herself alive, onlookers with keen magical senses might have been able to notice her power overflowing, if they could look past Neesa’s lightning. In the moments before Meesei acted, Llarvan’s eyes widened in surprise.

True to her plan, Meesei took all of the magicka she could muster, along with Neesa’s magic that she had been struggling to contain, and focused it into perhaps the single most concentrated lightning spell she had ever cast. She had to lower her own ward to even be able to cast it, which allowed Neesa’s lightning to finally strike her. But, by that point, the spell could not be stopped. All of the power she had absorbed was focused into an electrical orb bright enough to momentarily blind anyone in the room. Even if the affects could not be seen, they could certainly be heard. Neesa scrambled to focus what magicka she could into a ward of her own, but even she was not quick enough to form an effective defense against such a concentration of power. Neesa’s ward, as powerful as it was, broke under the sudden burst of magical energy.

Meesei could not see through the light, but she heard the ward break, offering her the one and only opportunity she would have to seize victory. Ignoring the pain of Neesa’s lightning, Meesei bolted forward, enveloped in lightning, straight through Neesa. The electricity discharged into the vampire’s body, stunning her for just long enough for Meesei to turn around behind her. If Meesei wasted even a moment and allowed Neesa to raise another defense, then she knew she would be doomed. She had to devote every last drop of magicka she had remaining to her attacks, as anything else would be a pointless waste of energy. Extending out both hands in front of her, Meesei unleashed a combination of lightning and fire into Neesa’s back. The lightning was intended to stun her and drain her magicka, while the fire was to take advantage of one of Neesa’s few weaknesses. Indeed, vampiric flesh was quite easy to set ablaze.

With how quickly Meesei had acted after stunning Neesa, there was no opportunity for Neesa to defend against Meesei’s relentless assault. Meesei held nothing back, immolating Neesa’s body from head to toe. Neesa’s water-soaked robes had done little to protect against the intensity of Meesei’s flames, and even the ancient and powerful vampire lord could not stop her natural instinct to scream. But, Meesei still did not relent. For as long as Meesei had magicka, she was going to continue delivering her punishment. Meesei could not grip a living being with telekinesis like Neesa, but she could achieve the same effect with a blast of telekinetic energy that slammed Neesa’s charred body against one of the stone walls with easily enough force to break bone. With another wave of her arms, Meesei threw her once more into a stone support column before finally allowing her to fall to the ground and slump to her knees.

Meesei allowed herself only a moment to breathe as she cast her eyes up to the stone wall, noting a pair of spears crossed over a weapon rack. They were not silver, unfortunately, but since Meesei still had magicka remaining, she extended a hand to grab onto one, pull it from the rack, and guide it through the air and straight through Hal-Neesa’s stomach from behind. Neesa’s head lowered, and her burnt hands grasped at the now-bloody haft of the weapon that had penetrated through her. With that angle, Neesa was also witness to the second spear that Meesei pulled through her chest seconds later.

By this point, many of the cultists were confused, worried, or even outright afraid. Llarvan was enraged, his hands enveloped in flames, while both Lorag and Kaleeth had their weapons in hand, staring him down and waiting to act if he interfered.

Meesei was almost completely drained of magicka by this point, put with the last bits she had remaining, she pulled the Staff of Magnus from Sabine’s hands into her own. It had been charged with quite a few soul gems before they left, so with it, even after the fight, Meesei had access to more magicka than she had started with.

Meesei appeared in almost as much of a rage as Llarvan. She growled at him with an intense, threatening glare as the Staff of Magnus began to glow with a bright blue energy in her hand. Meesei’s own magical weakness from the fight was irrelevant with the Staff; the stonework of the floor itself cracked when the energized staff just tapped against it. “Is that worthy enough for you, Molag Bal?” Meesei shouted. “I will slaughter every single one of your minions if I have to. I will tear off their limbs, grind up their bones, and feast on their flesh myself! They are nothing to me, do you understand? I do not care how many centuries they have to their lives, I will kill them all the same. Because I have my mission, I have a god to kill, and if you and your pathetic servants cannot be of use to me, then I need to stop wasting my time here and find a Daedra who will. You hear me? Answer me, demon!”

The sheer ferocity in Meesei’s voice made it difficult for even those who knew her well to be certain whether or not she was exaggerating her anger as an act, or was actually, truly so enraged. Such raw, unrestricted anger was not characteristic of the Meesei they knew, but it was certainly as convincing as it was frightening. As for Hal-Neesa, there was hardly an inch of her body that was not burned through to the muscle and bone. Her form was now a grotesque, charred mass of flesh. Her eyes had practically boiled from the heat, her ribs had been broken, and two were now snapped and protruding out of her chest. If not for her tail and muzzle, she would not be recognizable as Argonian, and that was not even to mention the blood-soaked spears impaled through her. Any sane individual would have expected her to be dead, but whether it was a result of some magic, or just a testament to the durability of a vampire lord, she was still clinging to life. For now.

[Muttonhawk]

The duel was too quick and blinding for most to gather the details. While Meesei's absorption of Neesei's power was something that dropped the jaws of Janius, Sabine, and Lunise, the horror that was Neesa's defeat was hard to watch, hard to listen to, and hard to smell. Those in the pack were struck dumb by how closely it could have gone the other way, and the sheer hate that Meesei poured into her magic.

Sabine would have held on tighter to the Staff of Magnus had anyone else tried to pull it from her hands. She freely let the relic fly to Meesei, believing that she would only need it to defend herself and the pack. But the protests Meesei shouted struck Sabine to nausea. She was back amongst Vile's cultists under Arinette's command. She was ready to flay the nerves from their skin out of sheer overwhelming revenge. She saw Meesei thinking as much and she paled.

In disregard to the clear threats around her, Sabine walked out towards Meesei and the immolated Hal-Neesa.

"Sabine, what are you doing!?" Janius hissed. "Stay back! Stay with us!"

She did not regard Janius' words. She walked forward with a blank, if intense, expression, and brought a healing magic to her hands. She sank to her knees beside Neesa and slightly gasped when her magical energies touched her. "She is still alive," Sabine said quietly.

[EliteCommander]

While Hal-Neesa was indeed alive, Sabine's magic could do nothing to help her if she had intended to try. Being that Neesa was undead, it would require proficiency in necromantic healing to even begin to help her, and Ahnasha was not present. Neesa had been blinded by Meesei's flames, so she could not see Sabine, but her touch was enough to alert her to her presence. Though, incredibly, despite her horrible disfigurement, Neesa's only reaction to Sabine was to bare her blackened teeth threateningly.

Suddenly, Hal-Neesa seemed to disappear right before Sabine's eyes. The two spears fell to the ground in front of her, and her hand passed through the space that she had once occupied. Legends of vampires told that some would turn to ash upon death, but there was no ash to be seen around her. Rather, if Sabine were to look up and around her, she would notice a thick mist had formed above her. It started to move around the room strangely, not with any breeze or draft, but it moved together on its own, as if it were alive. Eventually, the mist stopped near to Llarvan, and after a few moments, it started to form together into a more corporeal entity. Or rather, a swarm of them. The dark mist collected into dozens of shadowy bats that flew together in and around a cloud of red energy. After hardly a minute had passed, the bats reformed into the tall, winged, reptilian form of an Argonian Vampire Lord. In an incredible display of either her own magic, or Molag Bal's power, she was not only alive, but in seemingly good health. She was adorned in the regalia and jewelry of a Vampire Lord, evidently formed from the blood magic itself, considering that her old robes had been incinerated. There were no hints of the burns nor wounds anywhere across her body; although, as she hovered in place, still surrounded by a small swarm of bats, the rage in her expression was still very much present.

"You...insolent dog! I shall...I shall drain the blood from..." Hal-Neesa began, but despite what appeared to be a miraculous resurrection, she could hardly even keep her arm extended forward. Though alive and evidently healed, she had unmistakably been severely weakened in the fight.

Whatever threats that Hal-Neesa intended to deliver when Molag Bal finally made his voice heard. The basin of blood bubbled again with his voice, though at first, it was just a terrifying laugh. "It is the typical arrogance of mortals to think your petty victories mean anything to the Daedra. My minions have slaughtered more accomplished mortal 'heroes' than you, insect. Still, if my servants are so incompetent as to be unable to put down one of Hircine's dogs, then you might be of more use to me than them. I will claim Clavicus Vile's power, and you, mortals, will help me to do it. Place Vile's trinket onto this altar, and I will give it a portion of my power. While you throw away your worthless lives in your 'invasion,' my Daedra shall storm Vile's realm and show him the true meaning of Domination."

"And you, pathetic lizard." Molag Bal continued. His words still could have been referring to Meesei, but Hal-Neesa worryingly turned her eyes towards the altar, knowing they were meant for her. "You have failed me, but I will not crush you to give your soul its earned torment. Not yet. You will make yourself useful to me and go with these dogs back to their den. You will go there and make your preparations to join these dogs in their invasion. You will bring your underlings and personally lead them against Vile, and prove that you still have some small degree of value to me."

For the first time, Hal-Neesa looked to be completely at a loss. "W-what?" She exclaimed, though no response came. Indeed, even Meesei looked almost as alarmed, as she was not particularly keen on the idea of Hal-Neesa returning to their clan with them.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine sprung up standing and staggered away when Hal-Neesa discorporated in front of her eyes. So many moments beyond the realms of assumed reality had passed that she felt she was no longer on Nirn. Lunise stepped forward to support Sabine and gently pull her back two paces.

"Prepare yourself," Lunise murmured. Sabine could feel magic still held in Lunise's arms. The much taller woman did not let a single movement escape her eyes. She believed that Neesa would turn the fight into a brawl at any moment.

Molag Bal's voice made the entire scene freeze once more.

The pack was no more enthused with Neesa and her cult joining their invasion, let alone Molag Bal's own daedric underlings. The practical benefits of the arrangement were lost to the fear and tension left over from the previous life-and-death situation they found themselves in.

Janius snapped back into awareness the earliest. He looked at Kaleeth through his lowered visor and nudged her arm. He nodded to the altar. Wasting Molag Bal's time would not favour them.

Meanwhile, Lunise let Sabine go and walked closer to Meesei. "Is this something we have a choice in?" she asked quietly enough to only refer to Meesei.

[EliteCommander]

With Janius' encouragement, Kaleeth took a few cautious steps towards the altar, keeping her eyes on the cultists the entire way. She doubted any of them would directly disobey Molag Bal, particularly with his presence in their very room, but at the same time, she also had no reason to trust them.

Kaleeth was nervous even being close to the unholy altar. It seemed to carry with it a presence that gave her a sick feeling in her stomach, but regardless, she was able to lay the Axe down across the basin without incident. She stepped back quickly, as MOlag Bal wasted no time in carrying out his part of his agreement. A faint red aura could be seen around the altar as the axe levitated above it. The blood began to bubble once more until, eventually, it began to be drawn up out of the basin, up the haft, and to the axe head. The Axe became coated in the dark red blood, and to anyone who was magically attuned, they would be able to feel an *immense* amount of Daedric power emanating from the altar. Far more than the amount of magicka that had been used on both sides in Meesei's duel. The Axe lingered in the air for a few seconds before the blood finally started to drip from the Axe, back into the basin below. Once it was clean, the Axe dropped down onto the ground with a loud thud.

At first, Kaleeth did not see anything different about the Axe, but after picking it back up and, rather quickly, returning to her pack, she was able to make out some finer details. Wrapping between the lines of the engravings on the axe head were thin red lines, almost like blood vessels. They seemed to glow ever so slightly, and pulsed slowly.

Meesei, meanwhile, could not prevent herself from showing at least some of her fatigue, even as she was trying to remain an intimidating presence to the cultists. She witnessed Kaleeth place the Axe on the altar, and the entire process of empowering it. Unfortunately, that success was tempered by the demands from Molag Bal that came with it. She may have been able to avoid having herself or her pack sacrifice anything directly to Molag Bal, but the prospect of his followers being so involved in their invasion was frightening for different reasons. "If we want to keep his power in that Axe, we may not have a choice. We have found nothing that would make us believe that he cannot simply rescind his power at will."

[Muttonhawk]

The axe looked the closest it ever could be to being the bane of a daedric prince. With their main mission accomplished, Janius and Sabine felt their legs urging them to head to the exit. Their will came easily to stay put while Hal-Neesa and her husband remained between them and the door.

Lunise pursed her lips, as much in frustration as concern. "Your allies will not like this," she said. "But we can solve that problem once we take our leave of this place."

Whether that was going to happen sooner or later depended entirely on Llarvan and Hal-Neesa. The novelty of seeing a vampire lord in shock was not lasting long.

[EliteCommander]

"Not so fast." Hal-Neesa interjected after Lunise's suggestion. Aside from her surprise, she was still showing many obvious signs of anger, from her barred teeth to the venom in her tone. With the short pause afterwards, a few in the pack were not certain if they should still be expecting a fight. But, the Vampire Lord lowered her hand and allowed herself to float down to the ground. "You heard lord Molag Bal. I must...come with you mutts."

For a few moments, Hal-Neesa's body was suddenly enveloped in what looked to be a dark, shadow. It obscured her features entirely, and facilitated her transformation back into her normal, Argonian form. Her robes were now little more than a few scattered pieces of burnt fabric, but her pale scales did not have so much as a scratch on them, even in the places where the spears had impaled her. "Wait here and touch nothing. I will be back...momentarily. You all, guard them." She ordered to the cultists while herself and her husband stomped out of the room. It did not appear that Hal-Neesa or Llarvan would be willing to defy their master, but the resentment that they held for the pack was obvious. Hopefully the situation would improve in time, but Meesei was not looking forward to having to deal with Hal-Neesa, much less her cult.

Naturally, the pack drew close together and kept their distance from the cultists. At the very least, Neesa and Llarvan's underlings seemed even more nervous than Meesei and her pack. From what Meesei could gather, Neesa and Llarvan were the most powerful beings in the cult by a wide margin, so Meesei's display at least gave them a good reason not to antagonize them. None of them could honestly believe themselves capable of challenging the pack after what just transpired.

"This is not what I had expected, but...at least the axe is empowered. No matter what else happens, there is nothing preventing us from invading Vile's realm." Meesei commented. She had emerged from the fight victorious, though not completely unscathed. There were the signature scars of electricity on her stomach, and some light burns on the furs she was wearing. Still, she had obviously endured nowhere near the pain that she had inflicted onto Neesa. "It could have gone worse, at least. Having more support than we want is a better problem to have than not having enough. I cannot say what it will be like to have Neesa among us, though. She may hold a grudge for what I did to her. We should just try to avoid upsetting her too much."

[Muttonhawk]

Janius finally neared Meesei and pushed up the visor of his helmet. The intensity of the previous moments still showed on his face. "I..." he let his breath go. "I had my doubts, just now. I have to say so. I am..." He shook his head and exhaled sharply through a pout. "...surprised to be alive right now." He swallowed.

"You beat her, Meesei," Sabine said as if she had seen the impossible. "Are you okay?"

Meanwhile, the only one who seemed lucid enough to act upon what she saw was Lunise. Without asking Meesei's permission, she brought healing magic to her hands and saw to Meesei's wounds, frowning like a mother fussing over a scuffed child. "It could have gone worse, though we cannot doubt this turn of events will make your job just the slightest bit harder. There are not many innocent travellers back in the area around your home that they might pick away if they get peckish. It will be one of ours, yours, or...Marod's."

[EliteCommander]

Meesei did not argue against Lunise's attempts to heal her, though her mind had much more to worry about at the moment than some pain. Even as she answered, her eyes were watching the door. "It will be easy enough to sustain a small number of vampires with voluntary donations. The rest of her cult can stay right where they are until it is time for the invasion. Unlike the Imperial and Dominion armies, it will not take near as much time to mobilize this cult, particularly with teleportation. More trouble will be the fact that they are involved at all. Frankly, I do not want them anywhere near me or my clan, but we need Molag Bal's power. Although, I must admit, the idea of throwing Molag Bal's Daedra into the fray as fodder against Vile's armies in place of my own warriors' lives is not entirely bad. Perhaps framing their presence as supporting fodder will make it more palatable to our allies. Hopefully, Neesa herself does not cause any trouble with them. I won this duel off of her arrogance, and I am not sure that I would be able to do it again. Not alone. And even after all I did to her, she is still alive; we may well not be capable of killing her at all."

---

Hal-Neesa did not give the pack too much time to themselves. It was little more than half an hour before she came walking back into the chamber. She still displayed quite a bit of anger just in her walk alone, but not as much weakness as when she left. She had perhaps fed, or done something else to recover some of her strength in the short time she had been gone. Evidently, Llarvan had no interest in seeing her off, as she was alone this time. Based on Meesei's impression of his personality, he might have been just as upset with her defeat as Molag Bal had been. Meesei hoped she was incorrect, as the last thing she wanted was to add marital issues to the number of reasons that Neesa had to be angry with her.

"So...now I guess it is time for you to take me back to whatever lice-ridden den you call a home and start work on this alliance of ours. I suppose I am an ambassador again, so I may as well be diplomatic." Neesa said, her scowl turning into an obviously-fake smile. "I do look forward to spending so much time with my new allies. Oh won't it just be so much fun?"

The sarcasm could not have been much thicker in Neesa's tone, and her smile quickly diminished as she approached. The dress she was wearing was long and flowing. It was as fine as a noblewoman's dress, though it's style was hard to place. It was not traditional Argonian attire, yet it still had many of the same colors they used, and even long decorative feathers around her neck. It was primarily red, with many, small intricate designs in violet. She was also carrying a much more plain-looking cloth sack that, by the sounds it was making, was filled with glass bottles. After giving a glance over each of the pack's members, she suddenly shoved the sack into Lunise's arms. "You, carry this." She ordered.

[Muttonhawk]

The pack had little else to talk about while they were left alone but the possible repercussions of Neesa's involvement. None of them knew exactly what Neesa was doing while absent from them. The half hour wait for her was still longer than they would have liked.

When Hal-Neesa returned, Lunise caught the sack she was forcibly given in her hands by reflex. Her surprise was quickly replaced with quiet indignation. The middle of her brow crunching down over her nose told of a distinct dislike for Neesa that she knew she could not act upon. Lunise's thoughts as to the contents of the bottles within the sack did not improve matters. After a disgusted exhale, Lunise handed the sack to Janius with one closed fist around the neck of it. Janius took the sack reluctantly, not knowing what else to do.

"Are we done here?" Lunise asked.

[EliteCommander]

For a few moments, Neesa's eyes lingered on Lunise. "Oh, you will be a fun one, won't you? I can already tell."

For the most part, Meesei just wanted to avoid interacting with Neesa as much as possible, though she doubted that would be a viable long-term strategy. She was starting to feel like she would need to keep the Staff of Magnus close at hand at all times, just to make sure that the vampire lord could not be a threat. For the moment, though Meesei simply found an open space nearby and used the staff to quickly open up a portal back home.

"Hmm, not an art commonly practiced anymore. Curious that you have acquired this ability." Neesa remarked, though she did not pursue the train of thought any further out loud. Meesei gave her a quick glance, but did not respond before stepping through the portal.

---

Once they were through the portal, Meesei found herself in a similar position as Sabine had been when they had arrived in Black Marsh before, in the sense that she was not where she expected to be. Fortunately, they had not ended up anywhere dangerous or unfamiliar, but instead of arriving in the Silent City, they were far outside the walls in the cavern, about a ten minute walk from the city itself. They were just on the edge of a river, and had come close to coming out of the portal right over the water. "This is...not where I intended to take us. I was going to take us straight to the city."

Hal-Neesa hummed briefly. "Yes, I suppose I might have mentioned that. You encountered our defensive enchantments on the way in, I'm sure. They displace teleportation attempts, and similarly, can cause portals from within to be...imprecise. Hmph, at least you are skilled enough to end up roughly in the right place. My last guest that tried it ended up in Akivir."

Neesa chuckled for a few seconds, but as her eyes finally started to wander around the cavern, she quickly grew quiet. Even the ancient vampire lord was not immune to showing some degree of astonishment at the sight that was Blackreach, though not as much as their usual guests. Her expression settled firmly on curiosity once she saw the Dwemer city in the distance. "You, what's your name...the Champion of the mutts. What is this place called? What did the Dwemer call it, or have you bothered to learn about the place you are squatting in?"

As much as Meesei felt like getting angry, she decided just to give a simple answer. "Our translations suggest they referred to it as Blackreach, or something similar."

"Blackreach..." Neesa repeated. "So this is what Curac was referring to. Fascinating."

[Muttonhawk]

"Meesei, be careful," Sabine quickly warned before she stepped through the portal. She was relieved to see it open at all, though she remembered how it subtly disrupted her. She did not want Meesei to accidentally fall off a cliff face. Thankfully, Sabine's fears were unfounded. They only found themselves slightly off-target.

Most of them wished the walk home could be more of a relief. No one was relaxed around Neesa. Still, her comment had Janius curious. He readjusted his grip on the sack of bottles he carried and asked. "You know about this place?"

[EliteCommander]

Hal-Neesa shot a glance at Janius out of the corners of her eyes, still looking mostly straight ahead as they began their walk towards the Silent City. "Blackreach was essentially the capital of the whole Dwemer Empire, at least in Skyrim. Of course I know about it. Only Red Mountain took on greater importance near the end of the Dwemer's existence in Mundus. I never saw it myself before now, though. It was my first husband that told me all about this place. But to be the largest hub of Dwemer civilization in Tamriel, and the largest Aetherium mine in the world? I am insulted you would expect me to be ignorant about it."

"You know of Aetherium as well?" Meesei commented, though she almost immediately regretted making it. She had little desire to actually talk to or engage with Hal-Neesa in any way. She would have been content remaining in silence the whole way back, but Meesei had given in to a moment of weakness and allowed her scholarly curiosity to get the better of her.

While not quite angry, Hal-Neesa did sound mildly annoyed. "Obviously. They would not have excavated so much otherwise. I doubt you even understand the magnitude of power that is concentrated in this place. Aetherium represents the reason for the first time that the Dwemer nearly destroyed themselves. Though, through the much more mundane and boring method of warfare, rather than trying to manipulate Lorkhan's song. So yes, I know all about Aetherium, and before you even ask, no, I'm not going to tell you anything about it. Nor do I want any of 'your' Aetherium for myself. You would best leave it all buried and forgotten if you know what's good for you."

Out of anything that Hal-Neesa had done, that statement was perhaps the most surprising thing yet. Neesa honestly did not seem like the type of person who would consider any kind of knowledge or power to be forbidden, or too dangerous. Though, her words did serve only to make Meesei more curious about the strange crystal.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine and Janius remained quiet. Neesa's warning was, to them, a conundrum. She had always appeared self-serving and unconcerned with the outside world before. If this was the one thing she wished left uninvestigated, they could only think that she either was lying and wished it purely for herself or that its danger was beyond any of their efforts to be careful investigating. Neither option was pleasant.

Lunise's reaction was to give Neesa and Meesei odd looks. She had her own thoughts about the Aetherium now that its existence was revealed to her.

[EliteCommander]

While the others were silent, Meesei did comment on her curiosity. "Is that so? I confess, we know little about it. Obviously, it was important to the Dwemer; we easily gathered that much. But, its properties have eluded us. It cannot be forged, enchanted, and is alchemically inert. Dwemer translations on the subject are characteristically vague and difficult to make sense of. The most we've learned is that they built a special forge specifically to work with it, and the crystal itself is 'harmonically volatile'."

Neesa narrowed her eyes sharply at Meesei. "Because it is, and you have no idea what that even means. Let me put it this way: you have not even begun to grasp the concepts necessary to begin to meaningfully study the crystal. Which is good, and you should leave it that way. Don't get me wrong, power is the birthright of mortals, but there's a certain process to gaining power that has to be respected. Else you can, I don't know, disappear an entire race." She said, motioning towards the nearest Dwemer structure. "And I have too much left to do in this kalpa to have you erasing all of the Argonians with your foolishness."

Neesa's judgmental gaze slowly scanned across the rest of the pack. "And you best spread that warning to the rest of your friends, too." She said, pointing a claw towards Lunise in particular. "Especially you. Don't think I didn't see that look on your face; you Altmer all practically have the same one. I've seen it countless times. Give an Altmer a taste of forbidden power, and they can't resist sinking in their teeth. I could fill a mausoleum or twenty with their bodies. And while we're on the subject of you, I think it's time for you to tell me a bit more about yourself, child. You definitely were not there the last time the Champion of mutts visited me, and I want to know how a plain Altmer earns the trust of the highest ranking lycan. Enough to go on what is probably a 'mission' of the highest importance for you lot. Remember, I am going to be here for quite a while, so we are going to have to be friends, right?"

[Muttonhawk]

"You certainly make it hard to intuit with your tact," Lunise quipped back, frowning. She crossed her arms and glanced quickly at Meesei. "You were going to find out, if we are to be allies, so I shall make it simple. I am one tasked with ensuring the Aldmeri Dominion has fewer reasons to eradicate lycan clans than necessary. Does that answer your question?"

"Lunise, please," Sabine spoke up uncomfortably.

Lunise interrupted. "Sabine, if Hal-Neesa wishes to set the tone, far be it from me to refuse her."