EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Molag Bal is the Daedric prince of brutality, domination, and schemes." Meesei answered. "As far as Daedra go, he is one who might be considered the most wholly evil, perhaps alongside others like Mehrunes Dagon. But, he is powerful, and though Hircine does not desire an alliance with him, he does not wish to fight him. He is the Prince who created the first vampire and inflicted the condition on Nirn. As you might imagine, his followers tend to be power-hungry and merciless. They are capable of causing great harm, but it isn't as if they just attack everyone on sight. We should be able to deal with him as we would the followers of most other Daedra, we just need to be cautious. I wouldn't say his followers are any more powerful than those of other Daedra, but there are groups that are quite formidable. I am assuming the one we are being sent to is one of those groups."

Elder Scrolls: Terror of the Padomaic

"Hmm, well I'm sure I can figure out a way to mix the fire salts and charcoal better than what you have. Enough practice with alchemy, and one gains a certain...intuition for that sort of thing. Still, most of those other ingredients aren't too rare, we just don't have the coin for them at the moment. No matter what you end up doing with these ranged clubs, I plan on upgrading our ballistas to be a bit more...explosive. All of this is out of our reach until we can get a good score. A few days time, and hopefully we'll have that. Just make sure you and your men are ready." Sharee answered. She would have considered the conversation concluded, had a thought not crossed her mind. Malakaus' "Typhoon Warriors," as he called them, had been becoming a more effective unit...which presented a problem. By identifying themselves with their own name and overall identity, Malakaus had somewhat set them apart from the crew, and therefore Sharee. She was still their superior, but she needed to make sure they didn't start seeing him as more of an authority as her. She needed to form somewhat of a rapport with them to help ensure they stayed loyal, to give them orders every so often in a way that did not interfere with Malakaus' ability to lead them. They had all only known Malakaus for about a week, so it wasn't as if they had yet had time to form some close bond with him. She still had time.

"Oh, and by the way, I've been noticing your men, your 'Typhoon Warriors', have been doing some good work. I would like to speak to them, send them to me once we get back." Sharee ordered.

Elder Scrolls: Terror of the Padomaic

Honestly, I dislike the entire idea and do not think it fits ES, but whatever. Dwarven and Orichalcum would present the same problem to a lesser extent, though, so they would need to save up funds regardless.

Elder Scrolls: Terror of the Padomaic

Usually, if something wasn't popular in history, there was a reason for it. The gun-swords did exist, so it's not an impossibility, but it was more effective to have a sword and pistol instead of a swordpistol.

Though, ES does have magic.

Elder Scrolls: Terror of the Padomaic

Sharee took the notes and crossbow, and was mostly silent through his explanation. She hadn't thought of anything like what he was suggesting, though that might have been because of some of the problems she saw with it. There were some ways she could help, of course, but she didn't see it being scalable to the whole crew.

"Well, as far as this explosive powder goes, I already know something way better to mix the fire salts with than charcoal. Combining it properly with something like imp gall or dragon's tongue can make a pretty spectacular effect, though the best is by far spiddal stick. If you use one of the other two, then you also need something like ectoplasm or wisp essence to make the mixture vaporize properly. Of course, you also need to know the exact proportions, how much heat to apply to each ingredient for how long, and in what order, how much water you will need, how much to dissolve in the solvent at a time, and so on, but I already know all of that. I just need the ingredients. Now, for your design...that's a different matter. The biggest issue I see is the fact that it is a cudgel. I could see it working with a blade, but blunt weapons are meant to be used with a lot of force. If you bore a hole in the thing, then keep hitting things with it, its going to bend the metal inside unless you make it out of something really strong, like ebony. For the entire crew, we can't afford that yet. Like I said, though, you might be able to make some sort of blade out of this." Sharee suggested.

Elder Scrolls: Terror of the Padomaic

The largest issue I see is the nature of the weapon itself. As a cudgel, the point of the thing is to hit stuff with it with enough force to damage the target. If you put a barrel in the middle of it, then it is invariably going to bend after enough use. That could cause it to violently backfire. Now, ES does have some unnaturally strong metals, like ebony, but they are expensive, hence the scalability issue. Morphing the design into a blade instead of a cudgel would likely negate that issue, since it wouldn't stress the barrel as much, but you would end up with a weapon that is less effective at range than a bow, and more clumsy than a normal sword due to the excess weight. Being the first version, that is to be expected, though in reality, gun swords were a thing that never really took off, apart from bayonets.

Elder Scrolls: Terror of the Padomaic

Beyond my aversion to the idea, there is a legitimate issue I see with the design, mostly in terms of scalability. I think I'll have Sharee mention it.

Elder Scrolls: Terror of the Padomaic

I'm referring mostly to word choice here, though guns in ES are never something I've really approved of. The developers have never been keen on including them, and I would say it breaks the theme.

Elder Scrolls: Terror of the Padomaic

I strongly disapprove.

Elder Scrolls: Terror of the Padomaic

That word does not exist.