EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Given the range and visual obstructions, Fendros' arrow didn't quite hit the Redguard in the neck, but where it did hit was pretty much as good. The arrow impaled itself diagonally through his torso; a shot that was not necessarily instantly lethal, but was very likely to cause his death within a few minutes. Down in the courtyard, it was hard to tell exactly where they were aiming, but it was easy to tell that the arrows and spells coming from Ahnasha and Sabine's groups were aimed at the mercenaries, indicating that they had been successful.

On Vinaremo's flank, they had expected the skeletons to last longer, so they weren't quite prepared for the mercenaries sudden advance. One of his men ended up being bashed down by a tower shield and quickly run through with a silver spear. Their charge was only halted when Vinaremo fired two ice spikes into the flesh of the mercenary executing him, then blasted a wave of fire across the others, forcing them to halt and hide behind their shields for a moment. Most of the mercenaries were hiding safely behind the line of shield-bearers, waiting for them to advance close enough to charge, though there were some archers in the back trying to fire through the fog over their own forces.

While the two other cultists backed up to provide support from a distance, Vinaremo and Orskan held their positions on the right flank. "Orskan, do it!" Vinaremo shouted, looking to his friend with a nod.

As the shield-bearers once again started to advance, Orskan subtly made use of his own magic, reanimating both the slain cultist and the mercenary who killed him. With the mental link between them, he instructed the undead mercenary to guard the cultist while he struck from behind. At the same time, Vinaremo cast a shield spell, then conjured up a most interesting weapon: a bound two-handed katana. He stood in the stance of a practiced combatant with magicka pulsing through his being while he waited for his opportunity to strike. Meanwhile, Orskan used bursts of telekinetic energy to deflect any arrows that got to close and had a ward ready to block enemy spells.

On the pack's flank, the mercenaries were advancing in a similar manner, but Meesei's strategy to stop them was a bit different. She was no necromancer, but her knowledge of the forces of nature and the magic involved with it could sew chaos among the most organized ranks, specifically her knowledge of the element she was most attuned with: lightning. There were some, relatively unknown spells that she knew which she rarely had reason to use, but now was one of those times. The mercenaries raised their spears at her as she walked towards them, but stopped in their tracks once she activated her first spell. It was lightning form, which was like a combination between a shock shield spell and lightning cloak. Instead of surrounding her with lightning, it looked as if her flesh became lightning, even if that wasn't quite the case. The spell provided her with some protection against physical and lightning attacks, as well as sending out smaller arcs of electricity in a radius around her...not to mention that it made her appear like the electric-Argonian version of a flame atronach. Meesei ran at the shield line and, just before reaching the tips of their spears, made use of another old spell, bolt escape. It allowed her a form of short range teleportation in which she transferred herself straight through them in a bolt of lightning, then reappeared on the other side, which put her in range for her lightning form to minorly electrocute the enemies around her. Not only did the spell cause a fair amount of surprise, it also electrocuted those she passed through. While not strong enough to kill or seriously injure them, it was sudden enough to stun and drop them to the ground. She repeated the spell again to escape the mercenaries' lines, this time passing through the spearmen in front of Janius and Kaleeth. The majority of their enemy's front lines on their flank were now stunned on the ground for a few moments, which gave them the perfect opportunity to strike.

Unfortunately, even through the fog, The mercenary lieutenant was an observant and quick-reacting commander. For the right flank, he shouted out and warned his front line about the reanimated corpses behind them, then ordered ordered a few men to shift to that side, surround, and eliminate the thralls before they could be a threat. On the pack's flank, he directed the archers behind him to fire a volley in their direction, forcing them to block and evade long enough that they could not take advantage of the opening Meesei created before they recovered.

Back up on the hill, Ahnasha had been more liberal with her arrows than Fendros, since she could just summon up more when needed. It was difficult to aim accurately through the fog, but she managed to hit at least three archers in the back. It was hard to tell if the hits were lethal or not, but any hit from an arrow would be debilitating at least. She noticed how organized the mercenaries seemed to be, and more importantly, she could see why. Even from her position, she could hear the lieutenant shouting out his orders. As luck would have it, though, she and Fendros had a good line of sight on him.

"Fendros, you see that officer down there? It looks like he is directing them. We need to take him out. Get ready, and let's hit him with a volley together." She suggested.

On the other side of the battlefield, Mirisk too saw how effectively the lieutenant was leading. He glanced to Sabine beside him and pointed him out in the crowd. "We need to eliminate that one; he is directing them far too well. How accurate are you with that sling?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

So I posted and it didn't show up. Now I'm trying to decide whether or not to risk a double post and put it up again.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Browsing through miracleofsound's songs, I think I found one that fits Ssarak.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Fallenreaper said
Alright Yoshua171, I don't see any other concerns with it and it has my approval. And on a fun note: I've been browsing the OOCs of other rps and seen PCs having theme songs which have made me curious. With all the different characters and favor in Blood, I got to wondering what would your PCs's theme song be? Or even the theme song when it comes to relations or connects with others? I'll put up mine later.

I don't yet know what I would pick for Ssarak, but I know what I would pick for Darius: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpG4t54g2fk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I would have made that longer, but I need to get to bed. Goodnight.

And there are so many people I am going to end up needing to post fighting for. I may end up alternating.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha looked out the window down at the courtyard for a moment, then shook her head. "No, we will be more useful up here. We can take the souls of the injured if there are any after the fight." She answered. Ahnasha readied her bow and started picking out targets. Although the fog made it more difficult, it wasn't quite as thick as back at the xanmeer, so she was able to pick out the mercenaries' forms. "Aim for the back of the group, at the archers and mages. That will be the most helpful." She advised.

Behind the building Ahnasha and Fendros were using, another group was going unnoticed. They were quiet, cautious, and patiently taking stock of their situation. They were far from unskilled, so until they revealed themselves, they would remain unseen. To them, this...situation was far from ideal, but it was not unsalvagable.

As the fog rolled over the area and the fight broke out, Mirisk looked back to Sabine and shook her head. "No, she is mortal. Just...we need to get to a better vantage point, back upstairs." He suggested, rushing back over to her. "Come on love, can you stand? We don't want to be down here if they rush this building."

Nuulanth was still breathing erratically, but nodded nonetheless. She groaned as Mirisk helped her to her feet and up the ladder. The pain from the wound stung more than she anticipated, so she dropped down and leaned up against a wall as soon as she made it to the second floor. Mirisk was quick to kneel down beside her again, but she shook her head and tried to push him away. "No, get to the window and give them support. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Mirisk asked, reluctant to leave her side in such a state.

"The bandage is stopping the bleeding enough, I'll be fine. Just protect Vinaremo and the others." Though reluctant, Mirisk agreed and dashed over to the second floor window to lend a hand with his own spellfire.

Though they were in chaos for a short duration, the lieutenant was quick to back of from the frontline and rally everyone back into formation. As he shouted out orders, one of his few mages demonstrated that these mercenaries were not incompetent. The Redguard mage cast a spell of turn undead at the skeletons in the middle of their lines, causing each of them to suddenly try to run away. This, of course, allowed the silver wielding warriors fighting them to get in several easy strikes each. Despite their armor, the silver from the weapons allowed them to cut down the undead thralls fairly easily, so the mercenaries were able to focus their efforts. Both Meesei and Vinaremo's group were able to get a few spells into their ranks while they were disorganized, but the shield bearers moved quickly to the front. While not enchanted, each of them bore tower shields to provide as much protection as possible.

Meesei's group was taking on the left flank, while Vinaremo's handled the right. There were a few that rushed to engage Janius and Kaleeth to her left, but she had to focus her attention on the three sword and shield bearing foes advancing on her and Lorag. Meesei opened with a storm of lightning that arced to each one in front of her, but unfortunately, their shields were insulated so that the lightning did not actually pass into them. Meesei was not deterred, however. Even if her opening attack was ineffective, she still had many, many facets of magic to try against them.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meanwhile, in the courtyard, the main group waited at the meeting place for a few minutes before the mercenaries finally showed themselves...and it was indeed only the mercenaries. They had over twice the number of the main group, but the noble was nowhere in sight. Instead, the one leading the force was a lieutenant in the mercenary organization. To Vinaremo, it was disappointing, but not unexpected. The lieutenant's men had a sort of uniformity about them in that they all had the same symbol on their armor, either painted on or sewn into the cloth, but it was obvious they all bought their own armor. Similarly, the mercs came in all different shapes and sizes, with some being heavy warriors, other archers or rouges, and one or two mages. More threateningly, however, were the weapons Meesei noticed them carrying. The metal some of them were forged from looked like silver, which was deadly to lycans and undead alike. They would need to be cautious.

"You said we would be meeting with your employer." Vinaremo remarked.

"And you said we would be meeting with your leaders, but it looks like we both lied, doesn't it? Now, can we just get down to business? You send over the prisoners, then I'll have my men bring out yours."

"Very well." Vinaremo answered, motioning for Meesei and the others to release the "prisoners." Meesei stepped forward first with her arms on the shoulder of the skeleton, with the others following close behind. To keep up appearances, she told the skeleton to walk straight forward while she and the others released them to join the mercenaries. They then stepped back to rejoin Vinaremo's group as quickly as possible, just to make sure they were not too close to the mercs when their deception was discovered.

"Good, good...now I will give you one chance to surrender. We have you surrounded, we have silver arrows, and as soon as I give the order, you all will..." The lieutenant began before suddenly being interrupted by Vinaremo.

"Yes, yes, you are very intimidating." He said sarcastically as he quickly reached for the scroll his masters had given him. At the same time, one of the mercenaries removed the execution hood on one of the skeletons, causing him to jump back in a sudden, frightened reaction. "Sir, these aren't-"

Before anyone could finish speaking, Vinaremo released the magic in the scroll. It disintegrated in his hands, sending outwards a veritable explosion of fog and wind, just the same as what surrounded the cult's xanmeer. The chaos that it caused sent the mercenaries into temporary disarray and allowed the skeletons to injure or kill a few of the hostiles around them before they started fighting back. Now, the main group had a solid front against the mercs while the skeletons fought from inside their ranks. The mercenaries still outnumbered them by a significant margin, but with the two groups in the vantage points on both sides, they would quickly find themselves surrounded.

"I'll take that as the signal." Ahnasha remarked, summoning up her bow and moving over to the window. As fortune would have it, there seemed to be only two archers on the neighboring building. The fog did not reach all the way up to their roof, but they still had to take a few moments to find their targets through it, which allowed them the time they needed to finish them off. Ahnasha's first arrow was a complete surprise to the Bosmer archer. He was lucky enough to protect his head with an accidental movement of his arm, but when the glowing arrow pierced through his flesh, the shock still knocked him down regardless. Before he could regain his bearings, however, she was easily able to follow through with a second shot, this time straight through his chest.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Mirisk walked over to the edge, near the ladder as he took one of his magicka potions from his satchel. After seeing what state Nuulanth was in, he immediately downed the potion, then climbed down and knelt beside her. While Sabine was grabbing her potions, Mirisk put his hands on either side of her face and looked into her tear-filled eyes, trying his best to appear calm.

"Listen, dear, try to stay calm. It doesn't look that bad. Hurry with that potion!" He whispered forcefully. Keeping her eyes locked on him, she nodded slowly and placed one of her hands over his. "If you don't have any bandages, cut off a part of her robe. Just don't try to remove the arrow until you're ready with...oh xhuth!" He exclaimed, quickly ducking down by the window. At first, he thought it was the mercenaries he saw, but when he peered outside again, he saw that it was Vinaremo and the others. Still, if they were now at the meeting place, then the mercenaries probably wouldn't be long. "We need to hurry, the mercenaries will be here any minute." He warned.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As soon as he heard Sabine's potion smash above him, Mirisk was the first one up. He jumped while using a burst of telekinetic energy to propel him upwards enough for him to reach the second floor. It was a very primitive form of levitation, something he had learned from Lady Neesa, along with the spell in his other hand. Silence was usually meant to prevent spellcasting, but in this case, its more...literal effects were what he was after. Overall, it was a rather draining spell, especially since he needed it to cover a wide enough area to encompass all of the mercenaries. He had to put most of his magicka into it, but it was successful, and each of the four mercenaries suddenly found themselves surrounded in a glowing green energy. Since Sabine had attacked from the opposite direction, all of the hostiles had turned their heads away from him, providing him the ample opportunity to strike. Once more, he drew his dwemer dagger and brought it up to the neck of the nearest mercenary on his left. When he activated its mechanism, the blade shot out straight into his neck.

At the same time, Nuulanth climbed up the ladder and set her sights on the nearest foe to her. Before she even brought herself completely up to her feet, she launched an ice spike into his chest for a clean kill. Vinaremo had not been lying about her ability to stay hidden, as her spellcasting was particularly silent. Given that there were four hostiles, she stood up and quickly tried to find the last, but what she saw caused her eyes to widen with sudden fear. Instead of looking up to Sabine, one of the archers, whether out of foresight or simple confusion as to where the attack came from, had looked to the ladder. His bow was drawn and aimed square at her head. She was saved only by the swift action of Mirisk, who put the last of his magicka into a burst of telekinetic energy that stumbled the archer back, directly under Sabine. It did not stop the bow from firing its arrow, but it did change its course. Instead of penetrating through her skull, it pierced through her right shoulder. She was knocked back to the floor and had to hold her hands over her mouth to keep herself from screaming out in pain.

Elder Scrolls: Terror of the Padomaic

It was a few hours before their target was ready to set sail, and Sharee had a close eye on them the entire time. Her navigator, the big pink-scaled Argonian was on deck waiting to observe their bearing once they left. Despite his cowardly personality, Sharee found that he actually knew what he was doing when it came to his job, so they would be able to follow along their target's course exactly.

Eventually their target finished its preparations and set out to sea, but for as long as it was in Mistral's harbor, Sharee kept her own ship in dock. She could not afford to let them know they were being followed, else they would just turn back around and use the Thalmor naval vessels to protect them. Instead, they would need to wait until they were out of sight, then use every ounce of speed they could squeeze out of their ship to catch up. Once the ship was near to being out of visual range, Sharee marched over to the navigator with a demanding expression. "You know where they are going?"

"Oh, um, yes. I know their heading, but...we should head ten degrees north of it." He recommended with a nervous gulp.

"And why might that be?" Sharee questioned accusingly.

"B-because I think they are trying to throw off anyone wanting to follow. They current heading goes nowhere interesting, but...ten degrees north of it goes straight to Senchal. It...might even help us catch up quicker." He explained in his usual nervous tone.

Sharee gave him a nod and a pat on the shoulder. "Good job." She commented, taking a few steps to walk past him before grabbing him by his collar and pulling him closer. "As long as you are right, that is." She threatened. "Now, go give the bearing to the helmsman."

Once the navigator set out on his task, Sharee walked across the center of the deck shouting the order the crew had been waiting for. "Alright, it's time to get moving. We need to be out of this harbor five minutes ago!"

Since they had been preparing all morning, it did not take long at all to set out on a heading towards Senchal. They were heading at full sail with the best speed they could get out of the current weather, but even so, it took a while to catch up to their target. However, it didn't take as long as it could have, as the navigator had been correct. Their target's path had been an indirect one.

The lookout shouted out from the crow's nest as soon as she spotted their prey. "Captain, ship on the horizon, starboard side!"

"There she is." Sharee said with a smirk from her place on the bow. She turned around and walked towards the stern, shouting to the crew as she walked. "It's time to earn your fortunes. Get these ballistas armed, and your bows and spells at the ready. We'll give them a barrage or two at a distance, then board on my command." She ordered. She stopped next to the helmsman and spoke to him more specifically. "See if you can line us up behind them, in the blind spot of their own ballistas."