EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"My thoughts exactly. I don't care if those vampires, Neesa and her husband, can kill all of these mercenaries themselves, if they get into the xanmeer, then they might..." Ahnasha began, but she cut herself off when the door to their room suddenly unlocked. It appeared they would not have the luxury of time when it came to their interrogation. The first person they saw enter the room was a familiar one, the Argonian who seemed to be leading these mercenaries. He was wearing a now clean set of fine clothing, which was evidence of his wealth. Behind him was the Breton from before, now in clothing more becoming of a mage, and a similarly dressed Argonian woman. Likely, they were healers, if the noble's intentions were as Ahnasha feared. The healers began lighting the torches in the sconces along the walls to illuminate the room while the noble walked over and grabbed a knife from the table.

"Now, I could start off with introductions, but you know why you are here and what this place is. You know I want information from you, and you know what I will do to obtain it. I think that much is obvious from the...setting." The noble began. "So, I will start by saying that there is a version of this conversation that allows you to live. That is the version where you helpfully tell me everything I want to know. I do not know why a pair of lycanthropes would be working with those vampiric vermin, but that is not what I am interested in at the moment. To give a bit of background, we know where their lair is under that xanmeer, and we know the full effects of that fog covering the area. We know we cannot approach stealthily from above, so we have devised a way around that issue. As luck would have it, there are rootworm tunnels that pass awfully close to that xanmeer, and we have the equipment to dig straight in from below. We'll get into things like their numbers and kinds of defenses later, what I want to know right now is layout. I want to know where everything is in this place. I want to know where the cultists go, where they sleep, and where their leaders are."

Once the torches were lit, the noble moved to stand directly in front of Ahnasha, while the healers walked up behind her and each placed a hand on her shoulder."Now, first question, do you know where the things I just described are in their lair? Oh, and before you answer, I have an interesting piece of information for you. Did you know that the body has a subtle, but detectable reaction whenever you tell a lie? Because my healers do, and they know exactly what to look for, so I would avoid doing that. Now, answer."

Ahnasha's initial plan had been to lie about everything, but what the noble was saying was not unbelievable. In fact, she thought she recalled hearing of the same thing before from Meesei, though it had been a while. Regardless, she was silent for a good few seconds trying to come up with a response, but finding nothing. It did not help that both she and Fendros were rather familiar with the layout of the cult's lair, as they had made a point to learn it just in case they needed to escape. As a result, she looked up at him...then spit on him.

"I see." The noble commented. At first, it seemed like he was going to turn to question Fendros, but then he suddenly and violently impaled the knife in his hands through Ahnasha's throat. She was unable to scream as she began to choke on the blood gushing out of her neck. It was a wound that would be quickly lethal, and one that surprised even the healers, who were quick to act as soon as he removed the blade from her throat. They both focused entirely on closing the wound to prevent any more blood loss, then mended together the arteries and veins to ensure bloodflow to her brain. Their healing was effective, but the one thing they were sure not to do was to numb her pain, so she could still feel every horrifying sensation. The noble, however, did not stop his attacks.

"Tell me...what...I want...to know!" He shouted. Between each breath he delivered the strongest punch he could manage, alternating between her face and stomach. Her fur hid the bruises, but he broke her nose entirely, causing blood to pour down her face and mix with what was already on her neck. He would have continued had the Breton not interrupted.

"Sir!." The Breton shouted to grab his attention.

"What?" The noble questioned angrily, his fist already reared back for another strike to her head.

"Sir, she cannot respond. You severed her vocal cords and it is going to take more time for us to heal them." He explained.

"Hmph." The noble grunted as he lowered his fist and turned to face Fendros. Ahnasha was thankful for the respite, as, even if she could not speak nor scream, she was very visibly shaken. When her throat was cut, she saw her life flash before her eyes. Never had she been as close to death as she had just then. The beating afterwards was certainly painful, but it was not that which put the tears in her eyes. Having her death come so close was a mentally scarring experience.

"Well, I cannot have my prisoners unable to answer me, now can I?" The noble said to Fendros. "I'll admit, I have a tendency to become too...enthusiastic with my interrogations. But, I have an idea. You see, your emotions betray you; I know you care about this cat. So, instead of using this knife to carve up you, I'll carve up her instead. If you answer my questions, and answer them truthfully, I will stay my hand. Otherwise..." He said, his voice trailing off as he motioned for the Argonian woman to go to Fendros to monitor him for lies. "Now, do you know the layout of the cult's lair?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

When Ahnasha finally awoke and her eyes slowly opened, she was unsure how much time had passed, but the situation she found herself in was none too encouraging. She was hanging just a few inches off of the ground with chains binding both her hands and feet. Fendros was bound similarly not far in front of her so that they were directly facing one another. Both of them had been stripped down and placed into this dank stone dungeon, but she had a feeling that they would not be left alone forever. Looking around, the only other thing in the room besides themselves was a wooden table with bloody torture instruments resting on top of it.

Ahnasha's first thought was to find some escape, but looking closer at her chains was disheartening. Not only were they heavy and secured strongly into the ceiling and floor, but there was a secondary set of larger bindings hanging around her arms and legs. If she were to transform, she would likely break out of the bindings around her wrist and ankles, but the secondary set were large enough to keep her bound, even as a werewolf. Evidently, their captors had determined that they were lycans. Magic was her next thought, but again, they had already accounted for that possibility. As much as she tried, it seemed as if she could not access even the smallest amount of magicka, likely because her chains were enchanted to suppress it.

"Fendros, are you awake? This isn't good, I think they figured out what we are." She said, her tone hinting at the fear swelling up inside of her. Outside the iron door, she could hear footsteps and muffled voices; she just hoped that they weren't interested in an interrogation just yet.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lorag looked like he was about ready to start shouting at Vinaremo, but that did not prove necessary, as Meesei came running back down the hill shortly afterwards. She was fatigued from the sprint, but managed to get out the reason for her rush before having to stop and catch her breath. "Ahnasha and Fendros...they have been captured."

Lorag growled, drawing his hammer from his back. "Captured, what? Then what are we waiting for, let's go get 'em. Where are they?"

"I do not know for certain." Meesei answered. "I found footprints near their building that led out of town. I followed them to what appeared to be the tracks of three wagons. Unfortunately, their trail ends where it crosses a stream; I believe they have a way to cover their tracks. There is one thing, though; their scent is still in the air. It seems like they tried to cover it, but they did not anticipate lycans. I will not lie, depending on how far away it is, it could take all night, but I believe we can track them."

Vinaremo discarded his anger once Meesei explained that her friends had been captured. He did not care about their lives, of course, but in this event, he saw an opportunity to put an end to their enemy entirely. "Captured, you say? This is good. We have not been able to locate their hideout thusfar, but those wagons will lead us straight to them. We shall return to the xanmeer and inform our Masters of this development. The force in their lair will likely be even larger than the one we fought here, so we will need a few extra bodies, perhaps some more thralls."

Lorag placed his hammer back into its resting position, but he did not seem pleased with Vinaremo's suggestion. "Not a chance, we can't just wait around while they do Hircine knows what to them. We need to find them, now!"

Meesei lightly shook her head. "No, he's right, Lorag. I saw qutie a few sets of footprints, and there are undoubtedly more in their hideout. If we want to stand a chance of rescuing them, we will need more than just us. I will return to the xanmeer with them. The rest of you should follow the trail and see if you can locate their hideout. As I said, it may take time to track the scent to their destination, but it's the only chance we have. If you find it, we can all meet here to stage the attack." She said before shifting her gaze to Vinaremo. "Is that an acceptable plan?" She asked, though her tone did not make it seem like a request.

"It will suffice, just make sure you find them. Our masters will not appreciate us bringing a large force out here for nothing." Vinaremo warned. "Now come, let's hurry."

Meesei started to follow Vinaremo, but turned back for a brief moment as she walked away. "Don't worry, we will save them. I will not rest until we do."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Despite her fatigue from the battle, Meesei ran after the wagons' tracks. They looked fresh, so it was possible that she might catch up to the source. With how many footprints she saw, it was unlikely that she would be able to rescue them alone, but she at least would be able to track them to wherever they were taking them. Unfortunately, it wasn't far out of town where she saw the tracks cross a shallow river, then...nothing. It was as if they entered the river, then never crossed to the other side. Likely, they had some way of covering their track as they went along, perhaps a mage or something of that nature. It would have been hopeless, but Meesei still caught a trace of their scent in the air. It was obvious that they tried to mask it, but these mercenaries had not been expecting to fight lycans. Whatever they used to hide their scents was not strong enough to fool a lycan's nose. There was still hope, but it would take longer to track them down, and Meesei needed to return to the others for help. Once again, she started sprinting back towards the town, as she had already been gone longer than the others would have expected.

Kaleeth's answer was hardly decisive. She simply did not know how she would cope if they were required to stay in the cult's lair for an extended time, but she was vehemently against feeding on the corpses to satisfy her beast. The focus of their conversation shifted away from Kaleeth not because she seemed to improve, but because the group started to notice how long Meesei had been gone. In particular, Vinaremo seemed to be growing more annoyed. He didn't know who was in charge in Meesei's stead, so he just questioned them all in his frustrated tone. "What is taking your leader so long? Did she get lost walking up a hill? We will leave without her if this takes too much longer."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth did not look up at Janius when he approached and instead just started shaking her head. "No! I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to. I can't stand the thought; I don't want to feed it. I can't be that monster again. I just...I just need to get out of here, away from all of this." She pleaded. Kaleeth looked up for only a moment before wrapping her arms around him and pressing her head to his chest. Perhaps if she could overwhelm herself with his scent, she could forget about the bodies? "Please, don't make me do it again."

Meesei found it worrying that she did not see Ahnasha or Fendros on the way up to their building; even more so when she saw the footprints outside. After rushing upstairs and finding the building empty, she sprinted back outside and followed the footprints out of the town. There were many sets of footprints, enough for seven to ten people, and once she reached the point where they had boarded their wagons, she saw even more. Walking over to the beginning of one of the wagon trails, she knelt down next to a print that appeared to be made by someone who was barefoot. She examined it more closely and saw that there were impressions of claws in the mud at the end of the toes. "Oh no." Meesei said audibly in realization of what had happened.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Mirisk seemed considerably more frantic than even Nuulanth as they stammered towards the group. He shouted to Vinaremo to grab his attention before explaining the situation. "I believe Nuul has been poisoned. I don't know if it is a poison that can kill Argonians; usually they act more quickly than this, but still, we need to get her back to a healer as quickly as we can."

"Hmph, that's disappointing." Vinaremo commented. "I had hoped to see if there were any bodies among the casualties that still held onto life. No matter, I have enough souls for the moment." He turned and walked over to Meesei, his overall attitude not quite as negative as it has been in the past, but still not positive by any stretch of the imagination. "I had hoped we would be able to kill that wretched noble's son, but he seemed to be too much of a coward to show up. No matter, that part wasn't your fault. The battle was a success, and you performed adequately. One of mine needs a healer, so we should return at once."

Meesei remained as civil as Vinaremo and returned a nod. "Very well, I will go collect the remainder of my pack from their vantage point. I will be back shortly." She said before jogging off to find Ahnasha and Fendros.

Kaleeth was staying away from the others, near the edge of the courtyard as far away from the bodies as she could reasonably go. She felt wrong in every sense. She had felt it since they started fighting, but her fear had clouded her mind and senses. Now, however, she could smell all of the fresh blood in the air. It was...tempting. She hated the thought, and she hated herself, but even so, she found herself salivating. Burying her face in her hands, she tried thinking of whatever she could to distract herself from these desires.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Once the fight had ended, Mirisk rushed to check on Nuulanth. He knelt down beside her, once again capturing her attention away from Sabine. Her breathing was slow and calm, but she was at least still alive. She looked tired, like she was about to fall over from exhaustion. Strangely, she had not lost all that much blood, at least not enough to cause such an effect. He placed a hand on her cheek and moved her head to look up at him. "Come on, stay with me Nuul, how are you feeling?"

"Well...thinking about it. I...think I have been poisoned. It hurts like it; I'm exhausted like it. If I weren't Argonian, I would be dead...that might still happen." She responded in a calm tone, though that might have been influenced by her condition instead of her mental state.

With a resolute expression, Mirisk put his arm around her and helped her to her feet. "Then we are going to get you back right away. No arguments. Come on."

Outside, Vinaremo and the other cultists cut down as many as they could while they were trying to run, but then returned to the site of the battle once there were no more in sight. He showed some signs of fatigue, but he was unharmed. One of the other cultists was trying to find the body of their ally who had died at the beginning of the battle, but neither Vinaremo nor Orskan seemed to care. Instead, they were walking among the bodies of the mercenaries for any survivors, though their reasons were not likely humane.

Meesei rubbed her hand over the wound in her stomach, which was still bleeding down her scales. The silver stopped it from regenerating quickly on its own, and her own healing magic would be less effective on it. It also did not help that she was fatigued from the fight. Regardless, it was not a major wound, and she would be fine. She approached one of the mercenaries' corpses and ripped some cloth from one of their uniforms to wrap around her stomach, then performed what healing she could to close the wound as she rejoined the others.

"I will live. I would just like to check on Sabine and Ahnasha's groups. Though, they were helping in the fight, so they must have succeeded." Meesei said in response to Janius.

The Depths of Deception

It did not seem like Bit or Opus were able to take out one of the patrolling guards before getting into position, but if all went well, it would not matter. She made sure her pistol was on its burst setting, then located the remaining patrolling guard. In her other hand, she primed her fusion grenade, then waited until the guard she was tracking was within her line of sight.

"Take out your targets quickly on my mark. Remember, radio silence until I give the all clear." Rareth warned. "Mark!" She ordered, immediately activating the scanning program, then quickly moving to drop the armed grenade onto the group of four beneath her. At the same time, she opened fire on the other guard in her sights with several bursts, just to be safe. The fusion rounds melted clean through his body; she just hoped he would not be alive long enough to activate his radio. For the group beneath her, their lives were ended much more quickly. They had time to register that something had dropped near them, and perhaps look up at the rounds Rareth was firing, before the grenade detonated. For the small amount of fusible material the grenade contained, it released exponentially greater amounts of heat energy which melted or outright vaporized anything contained within the magnetic field. By the time the explosion was over, there was not anything that could be called a body left over; just superheated metal, some organic compounds, and a trace of helium.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The shield-bearers on Vinaremo's flank were not dead for long, as Orskan was quick to resurrect them while the mercenaries behind them were forced to take cover from a hail of destruction spells. As the thralls raised themselves off of the ground, Vinaremo clutched his katana and nodded to Orskan. "Ready?"

"Ready." Orskan answered, prompting Vinaremo to charge forward with Orskan following behind. The thralls were clashing with the mercenaries, so Vinaremo cast a flame cloak on himself at the last moment, then ran around them into the fray. It was easy enough for him to sink the bound Daedric blade, but for the second, Orskan provided his aid in the form of telekinesis. When a mercenary swung her blade in Vinaremo's direction, Orskan tugged on the blade just enough to make her miss, and he was even able to use it to amplify the strength of Vinaremo's retaliatory strike. As the vampiric Altmer pressed forward, Orskan practically pulled their opponents into Vinaremo's sword in an almost graceful combination of magic and martial prowess. It appeared as though the pair worked together quite well as a team. For the remaining two cultists, they placed all of their focus into reanimating and controlling the corpses Vinaremo and Orskan were providing. .

For the moment, Meesei decided her greatest role would be in support. She remained behind the others and continued to concentrate the fog around the mercenaries. It was now thick to the point that only the few who were directly in front of her friends would even be able to make out their forms. Instead of wide area spells, she shifted her efforts on concentrated lightning bolts into any who appeared to be threatening the others. The Bosmer Janius was fighting was met with a bolt which Meesei directed clean over Janius and into him from above. It may or may not have been lethal, but it was certainly incapacitating. Any others who seemed like an immediate threat she targeted, and since they could hardly even see her beyond the fog, they had no chance to respond. If they had shields that were insulated or wards to block spells, it did not matter, as they had no warning of her attacks. It was as if they were fighting inside of a stormcloud.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Would you like to bring the fight to a close soon?