EliteCommander

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Still here and doing things.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth's barred teeth started to turn into a macabre grin as she satisfied her anger through choking Janius, but as her beast spirit's anger diminished, the rational part of her mind recognized what she was doing. Immediately, she dropped both Janius and her wooden sword and took a few steps back, shocked at her own actions. She looked at Janius with her mouth agape, her expression full of regret and fear of what might had happened had she not stopped.

"I...no, I'm sorry...I just...I couldn't..." Kaleeth stammered incoherently before quickly turning and running out of the room in shame. She didn't care about the cultists watching her as she ran back to her room. Back in the guest rooms, Lorag, having finished maintaining their blades, was standing in the hall trying to figure out some other way to pass the time. He saw Kaleeth running back in tears, which was honestly becoming a normal sight. Since they were in the lair of a group of murderous cultists, he figured it wasn't the best time for one of her outbursts, so he tried putting himself in front of her to stop her, but she readily brushed him aside and ran into her room.

Lorag grumbled after being forced into the wall. "I swear, I'll never get used to that."

For their second round, Ahnasha stuck with strategies she was more familiar with, but still tried to mix up her attacks. For his jabs, instead of blocking, she redirected them to less-sensitive parts of her body while retaliating with strikes of her own. When he struck her knee, she shoved him back to throw him just as off-balance as she was. Through their fight, the pair attracted the attention of an onlooker. It wasn't Vinaremo, but it was someone close.

"Hmm, you two certainly put on a show." The man commented. It was the Argonian male that always seemed to be with Vinaremo: Orskan-Tan.

Upon Orskan's intrusion, Ahnasha and Fendros halted their fight. She gave him a distrustful gaze, though she tried not to appear threatening. "Look, we just want to spar. We don't want any trouble like yesterday."

Orskan held up his hands and shook his head lightly. "Calm down, I am not an arrogant kaoc always looking to prove himself like Vinaremo. I am merely satisfying my curiosity."

"I'm right here, Orsk." Another, mildly frustrated voice sounded out from behind him.

"Yes, I'm well-aware." Orskan retorted to Vinaremo, who was a short distance away practicing breaking one of the wards. "That Altmer has not changed for the past hundred years that I've known him."

Ahnasha cocked her head to the side slightly. "Hundred years? You don't look like a vampire."

Orskan gave a slight huff. "That would be because I am not. There are other ways to stay alive than becoming a creature of the night."

"So, you found a method of arcane life extention?" Ahnasha reasoned. Her curiosity was, quite suddenly, piqued. Suddenly, she did not seem too concerned with how dangerous this Argonian could potentially be. "What method is that, if I may ask?"

"Oh, now you have gotten him started." Vinaremo quipped in the distance.

Orskan's expression turned to a grin. "Curious about my work, are you? It is necromancy, of course, as is any magic that gives life where there should be none. Souls can be used for much, much more than just putting a magic effect on some trinket."

"Really? That sounds interesting. How much about that would you be willing to tell?" Ahnasha asked with genuine curiosity and excitement in her eyes. At the mere prospect of learning about life extension, she seemed to completely disregard caution. The fact that this cultist could not be trusted, or could have ulterior motives, did not appear to register in her mind. All she could focus on was learning more about how he had managed to overcome his natural lifespan.

The Depths of Deception

The mechanic hardly had time to register what was going on before Opus put a blade to his throat. Being frightened out of his mind, he started shaking as he tried to catch up mentally and form a rational sentence. "D-don't kill me, please. I'm...I'm not with them, I...I swear!" He said frantically.

Personally, Rareth thought Opus' ambush was a bit overkill, but there really was no way to tell if this mechanic was dangerous. She didn't point her weapons at him as she looked down on him, as there really was no need to at this point, but she still took on a commanding posture nevertheless. "Alright, then who are you? Name, title, everything."

Again, the human stumbled over his words at first, and with the stress of the situation, he had to think for longer than normal. "It's...it's Robert. Robert Allen. Associate Engineer of exploratory mining platform QBL-951Z. I...I've worked here for six months. You have to believe me!"

Rareth did not say anything immediately and instead activated her computer. For a few moments, she silently searched through screens on the holographic display until she activated the program she wanted. She then held out her wrist and expanded the size of the projection for him to easily reach. "Place your hand here." She ordered.

"My han..."

"Yes, your hand. Place it in the scanning area on the projection." Rareth interrupted. The man took a deep breath, then nodded and removed one of his gloves. After placing his hand on the scanner, it only took a few seconds for the program to match up his biometric scans with one of the crew members from the records the mining company had provided.

"Alright, he's good. You can let him go." Rareth said, finally relaxing her posture. "Sorry about the scare, but we cannot afford to take chances. We are here to save you and the other hostages. Maybe you can help with that?"

"Right, of course." Robert responded, rubbing his hand across his neck after Opus released him. He finally took a moment to look across the diverse group that had been holding him at gunpoint, then raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Who sent you all?"

"That does not matter. If our superiors wish it to be known, they will tell you after we rescue you. For now, time is not on our side, so I need you to answer some questions. First, do you know where they are keeping the other hostages?" She questioned.

Robert scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well, um, kinda. I know where they have my group. We are on deck 23, storage bay D-12, but...there are more. They split us up, and I don't know where they are keeping the others. They rarely ever let anyone leave the bay; only engineers when they need us to fix something, and even that is becoming more rare. I think their engineers are getting better at understanding the station's systems."

"Hmm, well we still need to find the others. Do you know where these terrorists have set up their data center?"

Robert stopped to think, but his memory produced nothing. "I...I'm sorry. I don't know. They never took any of us to help them with that, or at least no one in my group."

"Unfortunate, but it's more than we had before." Rareth sighed. "Unless there is anything more you can think of that will help, you need to get to our ship."

The mechanic seemed at least slightly distressed at Rareth's suggestion. "To your ship, but...what about the others? My wife is still on the station somewhere, and..."

"I know it isn't easy, but you need to trust us, Robert. We are going to save all of the hostages on this station. We are all trained specialists, but you are not. To be blunt, you'll do more harm than good if you don't get to safety.

The man lowered his head and closed his eyes. "I understand. Where do I go?"

"One of the abandoned hangers. Just follow the hallway behind us on our right and it will lead you straight to it. When you get there, announce yourself clearly and keep your hands up. Say that you are one of the hostages and you were sent by Rareth'Jharn. Our allies may detain you in the ship as a precaution, but you will be safe." Rareth explained.

"Okay, right away." The mechanic answered before complying and heading to their ship. The team had little time to pause, however, as they needed to move quickly. The elevator was stuck halfway up the door, so they were able to climb up on top of it into the shaft, then use the ladders inside to climb up a few floors. Apart from the drones, Rareth was the first up to their intended floor. She was just barely able to squeeze onto a ledge that allowed her to reach the door to their floor, which was still closed. Cautiously, she pried it open just slightly to peer through and, unfortunately, saw that the room was not unoccupied. It was the only room between them and the first potential data center, but there was an undetermined number of hostiles in the way. Looking down at the others still climbing the ladder, she kept the door pried open just slightly. "Shtara, it looks like there are hostiles in the next room. Shuo, send your drones in to get a look at the layout. Remember to keep them to the corners. We should also all be able to sync to the drones' feed, if you could go ahead and activate that."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth tried doing what Janius said, and indeed she did succeed a few times. She might have been clumsy with her movements, but there were a few combos she blocked. Regardless, every failure still added to her frustration, to the point that she was disregarding her successes to focus on the times she got it wrong. In her impatience, she started to view herself as hopeless. Kaleeth had not turned in a few days, and though she had a few more left before she would need to turn, her beast spirit was exacerbating the small amounts of anger within her into stronger forms of rage. As they continued training, she started barring her teeth and showing more signs of her frustration until one failure threw her over the edge.

"I'm just not fast enough!" Kaleeth yelled, more at herself than anyone. "Why can't I just..." She began as her beast spirit started to throw her into a fury. Grace and agility wasn't working for her, so she fell back on the one thing that had seemed to work so far. She rushed forward and swung her sword at full strength, but whether he blocked it or not, a simple swing wasn't what she was going for. Kaleeth slammed into Janius and forced him into a wall. She ignored any pain from whatever hits he delivered in the process and kept him pinned against the stonework with one of her arms crushing his throat. Looking into her eyes, it was hard to tell how much of her mind still recognized that this was just a training exercise.

Ahnasha felt Fendros grip loosen on her wrist, but as she tried to get up, she found that she had a new problem. His arm was still around her, and he was quick enough to take advantage of it. He tossed her to one side, face-first into the ground, and immediately threw his weight onto her. At this point, she had no leverage. He had a good hold of her arms, leaving her with no way to move them, and she didn't have the strength to throw him off of her directly. She tried to use the sharp claws on her feet to her advantage, but he had seen her try that trick before and prepared for it. She really had nowhere to go, and she tasted a bit of blood on her lip, likely from the point where it became well-acquainted with the ground. "Ah, I think you have this one." She conceded.

The Depths of Deception

I think I have a good idea of what to do for the next part at the top of the elevator, something interesting, but a bit different from the standard straight up fight.

The Depths of Deception

"You might be right on him being a hostage, but I think you should hold off on the flashbang. No need to alert anyone else that might be in the area if we don't have to. I'll move up and take out the guard on the right. Bit, you get the one on the left as soon as I take out mine. Once the guards are down, I want everyone to move up and secure the area around the elevator, make sure that mechanic knows he isn't getting away. If he tries to contact anyone, we'll need to neutralize him quick." Rareth said, motioning for the others to stay back while she moved up with Bit.

For Rareth, staying out of sight wasn't too complicated. The guards were just around a corner, so she was able to stay concealed until she got close. From there, she made use of her magic to cloak herself in invisibility. Even the most skilled magic-users could not become perfectly invisible, and it was draining to maintain, but she only needed to move a short distance to get behind her target. The two guards, a Masulu and a Human were talking amongst themselves while the mechanic, also a Human, worked. They weren't quite attentive enough to notice the shimmering in the air near them, so Rareth waited for a few moments with her blade at the ready while Bit got into position. Once she felt she had given him enough time, she thrust her blade straight through the Masulu's head for a quick, easy kill.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Adapt? I feel like I am swinging a stick. How are you so agile with these things?" Kaleeth responded with frustration. From the few people in her village that actually used swords, she knew that it took a lot of training to use one with any grace, so she didn't understand how he wanted her to learn. She didn't think to watch how he was swinging, as her mindset caused her to give up quickly. Since it felt like a stick, she decided she would just use it like one. Instead of parrying or blocking when Janius first struck, she swung at his blade at full force just to try and knock it out of his hand, which very well could happen if he didn't brace enough.

To his credit, Fendros got up after Ahnasha knocked him down rather quickly. When they first started out training, he wasn't near as quick. When it came time for his strike, he did manage to swat away her guard, but she had just enough time to react to his next move. In the instant she had, she saw his other hand was going to grab her, and she could counter in the usual way, but she had been trying to fight differently, and now she was going for something really different. In general, Ahnasha did not put herself in positions where they would start grappling, as Fendros would have the advantage, but this time she decided to try. It could go horribly, but it would definitely be unpredictable. She let him grab her wrist, but before he could follow through with a strike, she spun around into him so that her back was facing him and the hand he grabbed was crossed across her front. Instead of jabbing into her sensitive stomach, his strike hit a tougher spot on her back. She then threw all of her weight backwards, bringing him down to the ground with her on top of him. She hoped the impact would be enough to cause him to lose his grip; otherwise, he would be in a position where he could use his strength to his advantage.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The first two of Janius' blows weren't very difficult to block, but she wasn't used to handling the sword and missed when she had to shift it over to the other side. She recoiled back a few steps. "Ah, how am I supposed to use this thing?" She hissed, barring her teeth. Regardless, she moved on, noticing that Janius was standing defensively. She retaliated with a swing straight for his torso, clumsily, but with considerable force. As Janius knew well by this point, there were few people she could not directly overpower as a werecroc.

Conversely, Ahnasha was well-aware she could not overpower Fendros, but she had more practice in hand-to-hand combat than he did, though she was out of practice. She approached him and started to slowly circle, watching for weaknesses. Though they did not generally focus on unarmed fighting when they trained, she and Fendros had sparred before, so he was familiar with her fighting style. As a result, she had to keep varying her tactics and trying new things if she wanted to stay ahead of him. At first, she feigned two attacks, then struck with her fist on the third, though it was easily enough blocked. In each attack, she was quick to jump back and get out of his reach, but on the fourth, she rapidly punched towards his head to make him block and followed through quickly by attempting to sweep his legs.

The Depths of Deception

Sorry for not posting, the past few days have been busy. Went to turn on my desktop and it let out a giant spark and fried the power supply. Luckily, it is under warranty, though I don't know why it happened in the first place. I was quite shocked.

At any rate, if anyone else wants to have their characters give input, feel free. I'll try to post soon. Still pretty busy.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

As it was a hostile scenario, Ssarak had been listening for the thoughts of others, so it came as a definite surprise when he heard the soft voice of Lyn in his mind. He glanced down to see that it was indeed her. How and why she got here was beyond him, but he had no time to question, only act. He followed his instincts and listened to the little girl, pulling with all of his considerable might to bring the rope closer to the pole it had formerly been tied to. With the wagon weighing down the bridge, it was far from an easy task, but inch by inch, they brought it close enough for Lyn to secure it around the post.

Ssarak nearly collapsed from his excision, so he was not the first to see that Lyn was still in danger. Meirin, however, saw that she was in need and ran to grab her. Unfortunately, the other side of the bridge burned to the point that the ropes on the far side snapped, collapsing it anyway. In desperation, Meirin tossed Lyn to safety, but was unable to save herself. By this point, Ssarak had recovered enough to act, and act he did. Lyn might have received a scratch or two from the impact, but she was otherwise fine. Instead, he jumped off down after Meirin.

"Protect Lyn!" Ssarak shouted as he dove after Meirin. He had to speed his descent to catch up with Meirin, and while that did allow him to grab a hold of her, it also meant he was going too fast, and carrying too much weight to pull up in time. In the instant he had to react after grabbing her, he spread his wings both to slow them down, and to do his best to level off. They did start flying level to some extent, but they still had enough downward momentum that they were going to hit the bottom. If there was one thing he had learned from years of playing his favorite sports back in his village, however, it was how to crash. Seeing that it wouldn't be good to land in the water, Ssarak guided them towards the rocky edge of the river, then gave his wings one strong flap before rolling onto his back and wrapping his wings around Meirin, who he was holding close to his chest. Landing this way would keep him from crushing Meirin, and minimize damage to his wings.

Ssarak hit the ground hard with his back, but not nearly as bad as they would have if they had hit straight on. Ssarak had the wind knocked out of his lungs and was generally in pain across most of his torso, but he was alive. He would have to check to see if anything was broken, but for all intents and purposes, he was fine. Once he was able to breathe again, he unfurled his wings and Looked down at Meirin in his arms. His body would have served to cushion the fall for her, so she wasn't likely to have felt the full force of the impact. "Are you alright?" He asked in a slightly pained tone.