EliteCommander

The Depths of Deception

To clarify, there are 3 different suites, each with 4 bedrooms.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Zharanthixil left the hut and started preparing immediately, though it was about half an hour before all of the teams were ready. With how important this was to Janius, Ahnasha wished she could come along, but she agreed with Thorantilth that it would be best for her to stay behind, something she had become all too used to. Each of the teams were going to be traveling in groups of two or three, with everyone in the pack, with the exception of Meesei and Sabine, split among different teams. As much as he hated it, he had to admit this group of outsiders were experienced hunters, even in a land that, for most of them, was not their own. His intention was to spread them across as many areas as possible so they could lend a unique perspective to the search that his hunters may not recognize. He could have picked anyone to go with him, though he selected Janius for a reason, even if it was a reason he was being very silent on.

"Alright, you all know why you are here, and where you are to be searching." Zharanthixil said in Jel as they were all collected near the center of the village, not caring that most of the pack could not understand him. "It is not often that I ask you all to help me, instead of the village, but if I was only ever able to ask one thing of you all for all my life, it would be this. My daughter, a caring member of our village, and an individual close to my heart, is missing. If I could ever ask you to give all of your effort to one task, it would be now.. Use these...outsiders to the best of your abilities to help find her. To all of you who are so willing to help me now, I owe you more than I could ever express. Now, let us be off, and may the Hist guide you all."

Turning his gaze from his men to Janius, his expression sharply turned more harsh. "Come, we're leaving." He ordered, walking off into the marsh without so much as checking to see if he was following. It was about another half hour of a walk just to reach the area they were going to begin searching, but the uncomfortable silence between them made it seem like it was taking even longer. Nothing about Zharanthixil's disposition suggested he actually wanted to be around Janius, but they were going to be stuck together for quite a while.

The Depths of Deception

It is rather late now, but I'll be sure to post tomorrow as soon as I can. Perhaps some of our characters can actually start talking to each other, since they are all together now. Hail is back from his trip now, so I'm guessing he will post soon enough. After we all finish with introductions and such, I can move us to the meeting, then the first mission.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Zharanthixil's expression did not change at all, as Janius' quick acceptance likely only served to stop him from growing angrier. "As I said, I have not simply been doing nothing the past few days. While on our hunts, myself and my hunters have been scouring the area, especially in the direction my daughter left. Any trail she left behind was likely washed away, and my hunters have at least confirmed that she is not in the most likely areas surrounding the village, but I know this place. I was raised in this part of the marsh, I trained here, I hunted here, I have thrived here. This marsh is my home, and I know it better than any other but the Hist themselves. The marsh is a vast area, and she could have traveled far in the time she has been gone, but if everything I learned hunting in the marsh holds true, I know how to find her. We cannot follow her trail, but I can make a guess at her behavior. When in danger and under stress, people do not behave very differently from creatures. If she is still alive, and she is merely lost or confused, I can take a few guesses on where she could have gone. If she lost her bearings, she would have tried to follow the river back here. If she followed the wrong river, however, it would have sent her away from the village. There are only a few places where it would make sense for her to make that mistake in that area. If I am right and she did not veer away from her chosen path after following it, then there are not too many places she could be."

Zharanthixil's eyes moved over each of the pack members, his eyes silently judging them. "I am going to send several teams to each location I suspect she could be. All of you are going to join them. Except for the cat; Thorantilth insisted that she be able to stay behind. And you..." He said, turning his head to Janius. "...are coming with me."

Elder Scrolls: Terror of the Padomaic

"Well, it looks like we have options." Sharee said, letting go of the bannister and turning around to face the others. "We need a crate of skooma, and we need it before that slave ship leaves the harbor. According to Kahl here, that ship should have enough skooma on it to give us a nice profit. Maybe not as much as the Miriam, enough. Depending on how often the Miriam makes this run, and how quickly we can get this ship outfitted once we get the funds from this job, we might be able to hit the Miriam later, but for now, let's focus on the slave ship. Taking on bandits for any skooma they might have would, obviously, require some fighting. Plus, we need to find them, though at least this option get's us the least confrontation with local authorities. Serge, I want you to have a few men ask around town about any outlaws in the area. Have them pose as bounty hunters or something. Another choice, as Noelle suggested, is to just make it ourselves. Since we don't have any coin to buy it, we would have to steal the moon sugar. I think it is pretty close to harvest time, so we might be able to take it straight out of the fields. However, that sugar is this islands lifeline. You can bet they keep their fields guarded. If we want to go down that path, we will need to evade or take down some guards. Sarel, I'd like you to scope out the fields to make sure the canes are mature enough that we could get some sugar out of them, and to see which ones are the least guarded. Another choice could be to intercept a crate bound for the Miriam. It might be the most risky strategy, but it would take the least work. It would be essential that we stay undetected on that, 'cause the Miriam certainly has some friends in the port authority that could make our lives difficult. Not to mention the fact that we will need to time the theft well. We would want to take it shortly before the slave ship plans to leave, to make sure the Miriam's crew doesn't have any time to investigate. Noelle, I want you to keep tabs on the Miriam and see if you can identify when they are expecting to haul in any more crates of skooma."

Given that they now had a solid course of action, Sharee could count their first day on the island as a success, but there was one more thing that needed to be dealt with before they could all retire for the night. "Now, before I dismiss you all, there is one last piece of business we need to address. Noelle, if you would be so kind as to wait under the mainsail, we can get your punishment over with. I will be right back in a moment."

Sharee grabbed one of the ship's sailors by the shoulder as he passed them by. "You, I want you to get the word around that everyone should get above decks immediately. And yes, I mean everyone. Now go!" She ordered. The surprised sailor responded with a simple "Yes, Captain." and proceeded below deck to start on his new task. Meanwhile, Sharee returned to her cabin so she could collect her whip.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

For a moment, Ssarak was silent. He took in a deep breath, released it, then repeated. His heart rate slowed back to normal levels and his heightened blood flow calmed down. He had not needed to exert himself too particularly hard, but nevertheless, relaxing outside in the fresh air was soothing, more times than not. He had just finished a sparring session with Alaira, who he had been helping recover over the past few months. Given the state her body was still in, she was considerably more exhausted than himself, but she was improving every day. Alaira had sacrificed quite a lot to save the lives of Mar, Althalus, and their child, Lyn, so he felt it only right that he help her recover. After all, he had quite a bit of experience in combat training, and had dealt with physical therapy for injured warriors. When it came to building up health and physical fitness, one might even consider him an expert.

With all that had happened over the past few months, Ssarak had been quite busy, and unbelievably stressed. The situation with Dirssi had brought up more pain, more bad memories than he had ever hoped to feel again. It reminded him of his own weaknesses and failures. Were it not for those closest to him, he would undoubtedly be dead by now. Even through it all, though, he still managed to keep up with most of his responsibilities. It was fortunate that the college allowed him to keep up with his classes while they considered Dirssi's claims, and he even managed to attend his private lessons with Satori on a mostly regular schedule. All of that combined with the physical therapy sessions with Alaira meant he had been used to having little free time. That was only now starting to change, though with the implications of the attack a few months beforehand, he doubted the reprieve would be permanent.

Turning his attention back to reality, Ssarak stood up and stretched out his muscles. He approached Alaira, observing her carefully to see what kind of state she was in. No one, of course, wanted their body to be damaged to the point that it lost functionality, but he felt that it was particularly bad for Alaira. Fighting was a large part of who she was; it was almost a defining trait of her personality. While she did not have the same wartime experience as himself, she poured a lot of effort into improving her fighting abilities. To be injured as she was, to have her body unable to perform in quite the same way as it did before, was no doubt torturous to her and her pride. Even if he disagreed with everything she believed in regards to war and fighting, he still respected how selflessly she could act when the situation demanded it. For that reason, he would see her recovery through to the end.

"The rate of your improvement seems to be increasing. That is good, but as always, I feel I need to remind you not to over-exert yourself. In a recovery stage like this, your health is still fragile. You could still regress if you push yourself too hard. Be sure to get some rest. Our schedule's permitting, we can have another session tomorrow. Perhaps not sparring again, though. It has been a while since we worked on your legs, and it can be unwise to skip those exercises." Ssarak suggested.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

I'm writing something now. What month (and specifically season) is it?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Zharanthixil showed little reaction to Janius' outburst, other than with a glare. When he and Fendros went back into the common hut, Zharanthixil stepped forward and focused his attention on Meesei. "Come with me." He said in a demanding tone as he walked into the common hut behind the other two. Meesei was not one who would respect orders from one like Zharanthixil, but she sure was not going to let him talk to Janius right now without her being present.

Meesei entered the hut to see Zharanthixil standing over Janius with his arms crossed and a resentful glare. It was clear he blamed Janius for his daughter going missing, but at least he was not being violent at the moment. After a few moments to allow Janius to notice him, he finally spoke up with a contempt-filled tone. "While you wallow in your own self-loathing, my daughter is out there missing, or dead. Although, I would say you deserve the hatred you are giving yourself. It is because of you that she is in this situation. It was not enough that I had to lose my own son, but not months later, you had to come along and take my daughter as well. She is a sweet, innocent, albeit naive, soul that you had to come along and take away. You have caused me more pain than I believed I could ever feel. You deserve far worse pain than what you feel, but now...you are going to help set it right. I have not been sitting on my tail doing nothing the past few days. I intend to find my daughter, but unlike you, I am not a fool who would storm out into the marsh with no trace of where to go. No, I have a plan, and if you ever want to hope of having a shred of a chance to redeem yourself of what you've done, I demand you help to follow it through."

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Hmm, where might one spar that is not the gymnasium?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I need to go to bed now, goodnight.