EliteCommander

Elder Scrolls: Terror of the Padomaic

This has been moving slowly (or not at all), the past week, but I suppose everyone has their own reasons. I have been just waiting on responses.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The next morning was none too pleasant for Kaleeth. Her conversation with her parents devastated both them and her. They pleaded with her to stay, and as much as she wanted to, she knew she could not. Worst of all, she could not even explain why she had to leave.She was forced to make them think that she cared so little for them that she was willing to leave for someone she had known for only a week or two. For their sakes, she tried to fashion her reasoning to make her seem even more naive and stupid. Maybe then they would not be hard on themselves. No matter how much they argued with her, she could not change her decision, and she was old enough that her parents could not decide for her.

A small group had formed outside the common hut. Both of Kaleeth's parents, as well as Thoranthilth and Tunzeek were there to see them off. The Treeminder seemed disappointed that Kaleeth had decided to leave, but his expression held nowhere near the emotion as his parents. Kaleeth's mother had her arms wrapped around her hustband, crying at the realization that her daughter was leaving her. Even Zharanthixil could not hold back tears. For him, it seemed like everything he had tried to accomplish had failed. Other than his wife, he would have no family, no legacy after this day.

As Kaleeth approached the pack with her head hung low in shame, Reanaseer emerged from her hut. She rarely left the safety of her home, but now was one of those important times. Slowly and carefully, she followed the scents and sounds around her and used her walking stick as a guide. Even in her old age and blinded eyes, it was easy enough for her to navigate with her acute sense of smell. Taking a few sniffs of the air and the familiar scents filling it, she approached not the pack, but Zharanthixil and his wife. She placed an old, frail hand on his shoulder, she looked in the general direction of his eyes. "I was not mistaken in believing this would bring...uncomfortable change. Now is the time to remember and trust in the Hist's will. This is the best choice...trust me."

Zharanthixil could not understand how someone as wise as Reanaseer could possibly believe Kaleeth's choice to leave was "best" for anyone, but there was no point in debating it now. He had already argued to the last with Kaleeth, and she had not budged in her convictions. At least this time losing his child, he had the knowledge that she was still alive. That was some consolation. Before saying his final goodbyes to Kaleeth, the Master-Hunter directly approached Janius. While obviously upset, he did not carry the same kind of threatening posture that he usually did around Janius. "You, Imperial, Janius. If it has not been made clear so far, I do not like you. I will not like you. You are taking away my only child and for reasons I cannot understand, she is going willingly. Since I clearly can do nothing about this, however...I need to trust you. I need to trust that you will care for her physically, and emotionally. I need to know that, even if I can never have a part in her life again, that she will be happy wherever she is. Do this for me, and for her, so that myself and her mother may at least have some comfort as we live out the rest of our days alone."

The Depths of Deception

"Ah, Shuo. Come in, there's no need to knock, really." Rareth commented with a sarcastic chuckle just as she started cooking her breakfast. While she waited, she stepped back into the adjacent living room to join the others. "Anyway, I would definitely say her ship is fairly capable. We used it on our last mission, though I suppose it is hard to say if its performance was due to the ship, or its pilot. Of course, in this case, it is harder than you would think to tell the two apart. Ashley can completely possess almost any form of technology, so she can essentially become the ship, in a manner of speaking. It makes her a capable pilot. It is impressive, but...I would be lying if I said it isn't unsettling. As a magic user myself, Ii can safely say that is one aspect of the craft I will not be studying. No, I think my abilities are practical enough."

With a bit of a smirk, Rareth suddenly disappeared into a dark mist, teleporting the short distance to the kitchen. She decided to check on the breakfast Shiva had made, and immediately regretted her decision. She couldn't teleport away fast enough, appearing once again in the living room while holding her nose. "I think your sea...whatevers are ready. Could you do me a favor and remind me next time I decide to try to show off, to just...not. I'm sure that would be better for me."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

For Meesei, she held her own regrets about the situation. She wished she would not have been so focused on the idea that she should trust Janius' judgement that she could not see how far his emotions might drive him. He did not bear the entire blame, of course, but there was no arguing that this would not have happened were it not for him. Meesei believed she should have stepped in and stopped it before it was too late, and resolved to make sure the same mistake did not happen again.

"I could debate with you for days about the decisions you have been making, about which were mistakes, and which were not. You believe your choices over the past few days have been mistakes, and perhaps that is true for many, but this is one choice I believe is correct. No matter how much you regret it, no matter how wrong you believe you are, the situation cannot change. Kaleeth is a werecrocodile. That is how it is, and likely how it always will be. To leave her alone would either mean she will die, or be consumed by her beast and become near completely feral. If she stayed here, it could mean the death or infection of many more. The only right choice now is to help her gain control, and that is a responsibility that can only fall to you. I cannot quite say I know how she feels about you anymore. Perhaps this experience has destroyed the feelings she had for you, or maybe she is just temporarily overwhelmed by emotion at the moment. Either way, you have shown you can be around her without her attacking you. Even if we cannot understand it, if Hircine gave her the gift of beast blood, he did it for a reason." Meesei answered before adopting a much more stern tone. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she looked him in the eyes with an unwaveringly serious expression. "However, if she travels with us, there is one possibility you need to be prepared for. A werecrocodile is a strong, fierce opponent, not to be approached in a direct confrontation. Most of us could easily escape her if she lost control...except for one. In this environment, and in her current state, Ahnasha would be vulnerable. Any predator's first choice is the sick or weak, so if she loses control and turns on us, you need to be prepared to end any threat to Ahnasha...through whatever means necessary."

The Depths of Deception

I posted that an hour ago, and it is just now showing up for me.

The Depths of Deception

baskets said
Bit and Coin in the same suite would make sense. who needs gender segregation anyways?

Rothians wouldn't understand the concept.

The Depths of Deception

baskets said
Bit and Coin in the same suite would make sense. who needs gender segregation anyways?

Rothians wouldn't even understand the concept.

The Depths of Deception

Boring fact: The Rothian language uses apostrophes to separate words, and spaces to separate sentences.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth lowered her head and seemed to start retreating into herself, but she heard enough of what Janius said to answer. "It is hard to remember everything. I spent some time meditating first, then found a Hist tree and drank some of its sap. They showed me visions that were...hard to understand. I saw pain, death, pleasure, and happiness. I...should have spent more time thinking about them. I should have came back and asked Treeminder to help me understand, but I didn't. I started hunting. It was hard to find things on land, but I found a crocodile, a regular one. They are common here, you just have to look in the right rivers. I tried to lure it out of the water, but it wouldn't move, so...I thought I might be skilled enough to kill it in the water. I jumped in, and I did kill it, but...it got a hold of my arm. It bit me, broke the bone, spun around and tore through it so much with its teeth. It was so painful, and there was so much blood. I couldn't see because the river was so red. I pulled it out of the water, but I started feeling weird. I got dizzy, and I couldn't think. Still, I tried cutting its heart out and sacrificing it to Hircine, like you said. I...don't remember too much more, not clearly. I remember a voice and...I think it told me to jump in the river. I did, then...I remember nothing else. Not until I woke up the next day. I woke up and felt it inside of me, clawing at my mind. I think I transformed the first time later that day. I hate it; I hate having this thing inside my head. I have being afraid of myself. Before the hunt...I decided it might be better to stay here. I just wanted to see what Hircine would say. Now...I have no choice."

Kaleeth wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up, locking her gaze with Janius to say one more thing. She spoke with no real anger or malice, just a matter-of-fact tone. "I wish I never would have met you." She said plainly before turning to go back to the common hut.

The Depths of Deception

Rareth chuckled. "Indeed, Ashley can be an entertaining individual. I worked with her before on a mission just over a year ago. It was a...complicated situation that brought us together, but it seems to have turned out for the best. I am the one who recommended her for this mission. I would have joined you last night, but I figure it would be best for at least one of us to have a clear head for the meeting." She explained while being courteous enough to keep her voice down. She made sure to steer clear of the kitchen upon Shiva's recommendation. Rareth had no idea what she was cooking, but if it was bad enough to warrant a warning, she trusted it would be a good idea to keep her distance.

Once Shiva secured the tray away within the refrigerator, Rareth joined her in the kitchen for her own meal. Being obligate carnivores, Rothians required a diet of meat to survive. There were some plants they could get away with eating, but for the most part, their digestive system really did not agree with most plant matter. It was technically possible for them to subside on synthetic nutrient supplements, but it was much easier just to go with meat. Of course, Rothians had abandoned farming animals thousands of years prior, as almost all of their meat was simply grown from cultures of stem cells. It was a much more efficient process, and while there were still a few places where one could find meat from a dead animal, they were mostly just curiosities. In blind taste tests, the two types of meat were found to be near identical.

Luckily, the meat was kept in a separate freezer from the refrigerator, so Rareth was able to find something to cook. It was meat grown from an animal native to Anskaria, though she had not tried it before. Technically, since it was lab-grown, it was absolutely safe just to eat it raw, but since she had the time to cook it, she figured she would. It would probably be the only thing she ate all day, given that cold-blooded metabolisms are more efficient than those of warm-bloods, at the expense of being able to regulate their own body temperature. "I'm afraid this is where my knowledge of our mission ends. I was kept up to speed on a lot of the aspects of this mission over the past few months, but whatever decisions they are going to relay to us today, they made recently, probably within the past few days. The only thing I know for sure is that we're going to be put on some kind of mission. I suppose they will also have to give us a ship, or at least assign us to one, but I don't know what kind it will be. No doubt each government has been arguing over that point for a while. Personally, I think the technological advantages of a Rothian ship would be good for a specialized team like this, but maybe I am biased."