EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Once Meesei's strike failed, her first reaction was to get to safety. With a sword, she had no advantage at all over Harriet. Instead of attempting to block or parry, Meesei performed another bolt escape just before her thrust could connect, this time to the diagonal in order to end up a fair distance behind Harriet. Finding that the sword would be useless to her, she shifted her grip so that her fingers were resting just behind the guard, then threw the blade almost like a javelin. She expected that Harriet would deflect the attack, but it would stall her for a brief moment. Moving in close was obviously not going to be of any benefit to Meesei, so she had to find a way to keep her distance.

Meesei summoned up another spear. If she did not commit to greatly to her thrusts, it would be more difficult for Harriet to get past its point to get in range of her own weapon. Reach seemed to be the only advantage Meesei could gain over Harriet in melee combat. However, she did not intend to fight on Harriet's terms if she could help it. While Harriet was deflecting the thrown blade, Meesei charged another restoration spell. She fired the ball of glowing energy at Harriet feet, which exploded into a small wave of benevolent energy in an area around it, to prevent her from dodging the "attack." The spell reflected back, this time fortifying Meesei's speed.

Now, Meesei had a new plan, though it was risky. Once Harriet charged, Meesei would use her magic to escape again, then hit Harriet with another body-enhancing spell. She intended to repeat this for as long as she could, but it was going to be a magicka-intensive strategy. She did not know how long it would take to drain the charge on Harriet's ring, and it was possible that Meesei could magically exhaust herself before the enchantment failed. And of course, if she did drain the ring, her last spell would end up helping Harriet. However, even if Meesei began to run low on magicka, there was another way she might outmatch Harriet without the use of her magic, something inherent to the position of Champion.

Mass Effect: The Face of Injustice

Avatar quickly ran projections on Voira's proposed course of action. The Krogan was now temporarily immobilized, but he still had access to his firearm, and was already trying to aim at Voira. Nevertheless, Voira's plan did have a marginally higher chance of ending with zero allied casualties, as the Turians were already close to bringing themselves to their feet and were a more immediate threat.

Within 0.18 seconds, Avatar had decided to abide by Voira's suggestion to focus its fire on the Turians. However, as Avatar was bringing its weapon to bear, Donny hit both of the remaining Turians with a biotic charge, knocking them from their feet once again. One was slammed into a wall, while the other was hit to the floor, and quickly shot by Donny. At the same time, a round, likely from a high-powered sniper rifle based on the sound, pierced through the other Turian.

Taking into account the new developments, Avatar snapped its weapon back onto the Krogan, which was now the most immediate threat. Shortly after Voira began her barrage, Avatar fired a series of rounds from its shotgun, first at his unwounded hand, then straight at his head. Pellets and poison-infused rounds alike cut through his armor after a few shots, then passed into his flesh. The poison spread rapidly, and the sheer volume of incoming fire destroyed primary, secondary, and tertiary organ systems. Even being Krogan, his body could not withstand the damage he had taken. Once the mass effect field keeping him levitating died away, he fell to the ground, bleeding profusely and struggling for breath for a few moments before his body finally gave way. All hostiles in the hallway had been neutralized, though there was still the matter of the Turian of which RK had just warned.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei did not behave quite as expected, though neither were Harriet's attacks entirely ineffective. Despite the reach of her spear, Meesei behaved decidedly defensively. Instead of thrusting when presented the opportunity, Meesei feigned, them moved to parry Harriet's blade. Unfortunately, Harriet's reactions were like lightning, allowing her to readjust mid-swing and snap the blade toward Meesei's forearm. The shield spell immediately proved its usefulness, as blades which struck at a sufficient angle would simply deflect away, as if they had struck armor. Harriet's strike was a bit more direct, but the blade was still slowed enough that the cut it left through her scales was relatively minor. Nevertheless, the sudden pain was enough to cause Meesei to flinch, leaving an opening towards her shoulder that Harriet was, of course, quick to exploit. The blade would have found its mark directly, but as soon as her guard was down Meesei used a bolt escape to essentially teleport a few feet behind herself and out of danger. As long as she did not pass through Harriet, the lightning would not be reflected back.

Meesei expected some surprise from Harriet at the sudden use of such a lightning spell, though she doubted her body language would show it. That technique, along with several others Meesei knew, was from magical traditions that many mages in Tamriel considered lost. She had never met a mage outside of a cluster of a few villages in her homeland who had heard of the technique, much less seen it in practice. Undoubtedly, there were other magical traditions in other parts of Tamriel of which Meesei was unaware, but it was unlikely that Harriet would be making use of such magic.

With a bit more distance between them, Meesei readied her spear and watched Harriet's movements closely. Harriet's skill with a blade was undeniable, and for Meesei, would be insurmountable in any normal fight. She knew she simply could not keep up with Harriet's rapid, and expertly timed attacks. If Meesei wanted to attain any form of success, she would need to be clever and unpredictable in her tactics.

This time, when Harriet moved to close the gap, Meesei initiated an attack as well. She thrust the spear forward, towards Harriet's neck, but when she went to parry, Meesei suddenly dispelled the bound weapon just before the blade reached it. As her momentum carried her blade clean through the space the spear once occupied, Meesei thrust her left hand forward at Harriet's now-exposed torso while simultaneously conjuring a bound sword in it. Meesei doubted it would end so easily, but hopefully she could show that Harriet was not so untouchable.

Mass Effect: The Face of Injustice

You should be fine I think, Andromedai and SgtEasy. I'll message you, SgtEasy, about when and how you can actually get involved.

Mass Effect: The Face of Injustice

Avatar started to move up as well once its allies advanced under the protection of the biotic barriers, but before rounding the corner and coming into the view of the enemy, it activated its tactical cloak to render itself mostly invisible. With its allies attracting the attention of the enemy, the probability of visual detection was below 10%. A tactic often employed by Geth platforms known as "hunters" was to use a tactical cloak to close in on the enemy with close-range weaponry in order to execute a lethal surprise attack, which was exactly what Avatar intended. As Sura was tossing the grenade, Avatar informed its allies of its intentions via their radios, as it had no need to speak aloud in order to communicate with them. "I will advance along the right wall." It warned to prevent friendly fire.

Once the grenade detonated, Avatar stepped through the barrier and rushed forward to close the distance to the enemy. The explosive had detonated just in front of the hostile group, catching two of the Turians within the lethal radius of the blast, while the other two Turians dove to the ground away from the blast. The Krogan behind them was within the blast radius, but the Turians had acted as enough of a barrier that only his shields were drained. As the surviving Turians tried to scramble to their feet, the Krogan reached to his belt for his own grenade, but by that point, Avatar was well-within range. First and foremost, Avatar concentrated on preventing the attack on its allies by aiming its shotgun straight for the Krogan's hand. Despite the armor he was wearing, the close-range blast mangled the Krogan's hand. This prevented his use of his grenade, but due to the pain-cancelling properties of a Krogan's redundant nervous system, he was far more angered by the attack than discouraged. In a rage, he let out a scream, which Avatar judged to be an attempt at intimidation, then charged at the Geth which had suddenly appeared in front of him.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

By Lucilia's reaction, she did seem to have some knowledge about the evidence they had uncovered, particularly the ring. If she could identify who this group of bandits were, and determine how to fight them, then their mission would have been a success from at least that standpoint. For Lucilia's question, however, he was less certain.

"It is...difficult to say." Ssarak began, letting out a slight sigh. There would be no way to avoid mentioning Lyn, as she was important to how events unfolded, but he did not have to say anything about Lucilia's involvement. After all, she had no way of knowing that they had actually learned who smuggled Lyn aboard the carriage. "If you look at the mission goal by goal, it would seem to be a success. We both uncovered this evidence, and arrived in Hysteria on time, with more cargo than we started with. However, the caravan master's opinion may or may not be favorable. I generally do not favor casting the blame for failure onto others. During my service to my clan, we succeeded and failed as a unit. But, in this case, it could be dangerous not to give the full truth. In our first encounter with the bandits, we saw two of the brigands on a bridge, masquerading as duelists. We stopped and began to discuss our options, when suddenly, and without conferring with any of us, Alaira used her magic to ignite a field of grass off to our right. The flames quickly spread and choked the air with smoke, while the bandits simply backed to safety on the other side of the bridge. When the horses ran onto the bridge, we were forced to follow, straight into their trap. They cut the rope, which Meirin was only narrowly able to grab, followed quickly by myself and Darius. The caravan and its driver, Lyn, and those of us supporting the bridge escaped being dragged into the river below by perhaps less than a second. Meirin did fall from the bridge, but I caught her before hitting the river, at the expense of damaging my wings when we impacted the river bank. My long-distance flight abilities were hindered, and I was unable to carry Lyn back to the college in a reasonable amount of time, so we had to press on with her."

Ssarak's choice of wording needed to be careful, as he needed to seem not to be particularly passionate in his anger. Some frustration would be perfectly understandable for anyone who had been through what they had experienced, but too much could cast doubt on his testimony, though Meirin and Darius could both confirm anything he claimed. "Later that night, I occupied Lyn and spoke to the caravan master while Meirin spoke to Alaira. She thought they had come to an understanding, but in our very next encounter, Alaira made the exact same kinds of mistakes. A group of guards collecting the toll for using a bridge were behaving strangely, and we were all rightly suspicious. Again, we were forming a plan when Alaira just...attacked. With no warning, she struck one of the Baron's guards while claiming them to be vampires, despite it being broad daylight. It did not matter that we had not had a chance to get Lyn and the caravan master to safety, she just attacked. The guards were being influenced by a corrupt psychomancer, and we would have needed to fight them, but we could have done so without endangering those we were meant to protect. I do not believe that Alaira actually wants to endanger her allies, but rather, she simply does not understand the effects of her actions. She acts without thinking, and will not learn from her mistakes. Even with the presence of Lyn, the person who she may very well care about more than any other in this world, she still acted without any thought to the consequences. Later, we were attempting to speak to the caravan master to soften his anger towards his guards, but again, Alaira became involved and began to threaten him. Alaira is a competent fighter, and she could become a beneficial member of the College. Her intentions do seem genuine, but she needs training. She needs to learn how to act with proper judgment before I would trust her on another mission. As for the caravan master, the reason I say his opinion is uncertain is because Meirin was able to speak to him while the rest of us were assaulting the bandits' main camp. Not only that, but she fought off a group of the bandits who had managed to locate the caravan, saving both his and Lyn's life."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei's eyes were locked onto Harriet, watching every move she made. They paced out of one another's range as the air filled with anticipation on who would make the first move. Some individuals in the crowd shouted out their support for one fighter or the other, but Harriet herself was the only thing that held Meesei's focus. With a flick of her wrist, a bound weapon materialized in her hand; not a blade, but a spear. While conjuration was not generally Meesei's specialty, simply conjuring weapons was well-within her capabilities. Harriet's reputation of her skill in combat preceded her, so Meesei did not expect to match her skill with a blade. Even being trained as a Treeminder, the spear was a weapon she had some experience with, and there were some aspects of fighting with a spear that Meesei might be able to exploit with the assistance of her magic. Namely, its reach.

Recognizing the spell-reflecting effect the ring had granted Harriet, Meesei knew she could not start with the more direct applications of her magic. Only defensive magic, or those spells with some other form of utility could be used with any effect against. To start, Meesei cast over herself a shield spell, which provided an armor-like layer of alteration energy just over her scales. She would have the advantage of physical protection, though if she wanted to ensure her victory against Harriet, Meesei knew she would have to contend with spell-reflection protecting her foe. She knew the spell and enchantment, which also meant she knew its limitations. An enchantment of that nature could not protect against an unlimited number or strength of spells. Every time the ring reflected a spell, it would drain some of its own charge until it did not have enough energy to sustain the enchantment. As well, there was another aspect of spell reflection of which Meesei was aware: a single downside which Meesei could exploit.

As they were pacing outside of one another's reach, Meesei extended one hand forward, while keeping her spear ready in the other. A spell shot forward, but instead of destruction, the ball of energy carried the familiar orange glow of a restoration spell. As soon as the spell impacted Harriet, the spell reflection activated, sending the tendrils of energy through the air back at Meesei. The magic had the effect of fortifying her stamina, but that was irrelevant to the enchantment on the ring. Neither spell absorption nor reflection could discriminate against what kind of magic could activate it. This meant that healing, fortification, and any other kind of beneficial magic would be reflected, but would still reduce the item's charge. Unfortunately, Meesei had no way of knowing how much of a charge the ring possessed, or how many spells it would take. However, Harriet would have to be the one to initiate the fight, as Meesei could simply stay at a distance and use restoration to deplete her magical protection.

Mass Effect: The Face of Injustice

It occurs to me that I should probably have spoken with you sooner about integrating characters into the story, @SgtEasy. Message me and we'll discuss how your character might actually get involved in the story.

Edit: Also, I am assuming that the biotic barrier Voira is a bubble, or just half a bubble facing the enemy, and blocking the enemy's bullets. I don't believe we'll be able to shoot through it from our side unless she drops it, but you should be able to just walk through it.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei gave a nearly inaudible sigh when Harriet started to give her "testimony." As she feared, Harriet did not intend to present any evidence; she intended to attack Meesei directly. Meesei felt it was fortunate that she had given the suggestion that Harriet's mind could have been magically influenced a few days prior, as that rumor had been spreading around ever since that day. Hopefully, it would create doubt among those that might have otherwise supported Harriet.

As her statements progressed, Harriet grew even more aggressive, until she did something that surprised even Meesei. She tried to catch the ring as it was being thrown, but Meesei's magic had seemingly no effect. She stood to her feet, along with most everyone else, but despite the chaos that was unfolding, she kept a good measure of her composure. Harriet's remarks had been designed to rile up the crowd and create chaos, to reasonable success. Fortunately, the fact that fighting had not yet broken out meant there was still a chance to avoid a veritable civil war within the clan, and that chance rested with Harriet's challenge.

Meesei stepped forward, standing just in front of those who had moved to support her. "You draw weapons against your brothers and sisters, then claim that I am the one seeking to destabilize this clan? You claim what? That in a few hours after I arrived here, I managed to persuade Jerrick, a man you just described as an effective leader, of some nonspecific 'falsehoods' you keep mentioning. Or that Najirra, Grolak, Carana, and all others that Jerrick deemed trustworthy, people that have served this clan faithfully for countless years before I even arrived, suddenly decided to conspire against the clan? No, I believe that, when we walked into that meeting that day, you saw an opportunity to get away with your betrayal. Jerrick is murdered the same day the Champion arrives; the blame would immediately be cast onto me. In one fell swoop, you would kill both Jerrick, and the Champion of Hircine herself. But what you did not expect was Hircine's foresight; you did not expect us to be prepared. You did not expect Jerrick to draft those letters that would prove to your fellow lieutenants, and the clan as a whole, that it was one of his own lieutenants that betrayed him. So now, with that plan in ruins, you have moved to a final act of desperation to destabilize this family. But, for your challenge, none of that matters. Whether you are a traitor, or I have made some terrible mistake and accused an innocent, you have the right to challenge me, and I am honor-bound to accept."

Meesei took a few more steps forward into the empty space between the two groups. "I accept your challenge, Harriet. We will fight in single combat, here and now. May Hircine's will be shown through its outcome." She stated, her gaze moving briefly to the crowd. As they were in the main chamber, they already had ample space for the fight, as long as the crowd kept their distance. "Clear the training area, and give us space."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

What kind of limitations are there for spell reflection, you think? In game, it has always been a percent chance, but I don't think that makes the most logical sense for an in-lore interpretation.