EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei's plan had been forming since she had first learned of the problems plaguing the clan. It was far from complete, as there were many details that could not yet be determined, but what she did have planned, she knew could help the clan. "There is no single solution, not to a problem this complex. Rather, there are a myriad of changes which need to be made to turn this...elaborate camp into a proper settlement. We cannot continue to approach our situation with a pack-based mentality, no matter how natural that comes. Do you know what I was before receiving Hircine's gift? I was a Treeminder, something comparable to what you might call a shaman. In my village, the Treeminder was one of the leaders of our people, and I was trained from my hatching to take on that role. I learned not only of magic, but of people. I learned how groups of people can get along, or tear themselves apart in crisis. I learned how to manage the logistics of food and supplies, and how to keep the people calm when the floods washed them away. Black Marsh is every bit as harsh as these frozen mountains, albeit in a different way. I did not stumble blindly into the leadership of my pack; Hircine guided me to it. I believe it is no accident that I find myself in this position now."

Through her explanation, Meesei showed complete confidence in her words. Hircine had been guiding her ever since the beginnings of her pack, and had given her the authority of her title. If his hounds needed a war leader, then she would take on that role. "I will not change the leadership, apart from perhaps promoting a new lieutenant, but rather, I intend to change how they view their leaders. It could take years, but I will slowly strip away these barriers that have been raised between the packs of the different lieutenants. It will begin slowly at first, perhaps just sending them on hunts with one another, or scheduling tasks to place those from different packs to work with each other. I will ease them into the change, but I will show them that they need not view their brothers and sisters with suspicion. As for our supplies, there are many untapped resources I see that we could gain with relative ease. With a coordinated effort, we can clear the lower parts of these ruins to make use of the space, and the artifacts found within. In the short term, this could provide us with more growing space for food. But, for the years ahead, we just need to look to our own people. This is a clan of hundreds, from many places and different walks of life. Lycathropy does not care about the class or status of those whom it infects. How many of our people were farmers, businesspeople? They have connections, land, resources that they have abandoned due to their condition. We could help them reclaim it, for the benefit of the clan. The farmers alone could not only feed our people, but give us surplus to sell. We could have access to more land than many of the nobles who frequent Bruma's court. I will contact other clans like ours, and advise them to do the same. If Vile intends to wage war on us, then I am going to be sure we are ready."

Mass Effect: The Face of Injustice

As the grenade was directed through the right door, Avatar joined in the volley of fire on the left door. As the explosive had detonated less than a meter out into the hallway, it had likely killed or incapacitated anyone within the lethal blast radius, while the ricochets were likely to damage the shields of others farther away. On the left, the Turians outside were only able to fire into the room briefly before being met with overwhelming return fire. The shields of one were drained before she could react, and several pellets from Avatar's shotgun found their mark in her chest, along with a bullet from one of the Cabal. The other did manage to get back into cover beside the door, but as the walls were not built to withstand sustained fire, enough shots penetrated through that he was taken down as well. Avatar was prepared to eject a thermal clip if the hostiles resumed their attack, but its shotgun had only two remaining to quickly cool the weapon, so they were best used only when necessary.

Outside, there was the sound of footsteps moving away from the doors. They were unlikely to be retreating, but after a failed initial attack, they needed to regroup a safe distance from the doors. Inside the room, no one had yet been injured, but the situation was still dangerous. Both of the Turian diplomats and the Asari diplomat were hiding in the same corner of the room as the Turian civilian, while Raa was working on the terminal. None of them would be priority targets for the enemy, except perhaps Raa, but it would only take one stray shot to kill or injure any of them. And, for the duration of the fight, the Turian woman was still curled in a ball on the ground, clutching her head and crying out in pain.

It was less than a minute after the hostiles had backed away from the doors that there was the sound of running from down the hall, followed by low voices outside the room. Even Avatar's sensors could not distinguish the words they were speaking, but it appeared that the enemy had been reinforced. After the voiced died down, there were few audible sounds outside the room for approximately half a minute untill, all at once, the enemy attacked once again without warning. A streak of blue flashed across the room from the right doorway, impacting Voira. It was the biotic charge of a hostile, though unlike those they had been fighting, she was not Turian. She was either a Human or an Asari wearing one of the same black, full armor suits as the guards of the Asari who had been delivering orders during the ambush. Her charge had hit Voira directly, but it would take a brief moment for her to orient herself after charging across the room.

At the same time, the more hostiles, one Turian and two Vorcha, wearing the same uniform filed in through the right door, while four of the ununiformed Turians they had been fighting rushed through the left door. They were less organized, and perhaps less well-trained than the other group, so they were likely acting on their orders. The enemy was rushing the room all at once, and with the volume of fire that was likely to be exchanged, the diplomats, particularly Raa, were going to be in danger.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"We'll have our hunt soon, with the moons. Just...hold on until then." Ahnasha commented. She leaned her head back against the wall and let out a sigh. She couldn't say she was much stronger than Fendros, given that she had to leave that room as well. At least his emotion came from his beast spirit; for Ahnasha, the anger she felt was entirely hers.

"After that, after...all of this, hopefully Najirra can help us. I'm really no better off than you are; I just can go longer without hunting. We were recommended to him a few days ago, if you remember. Everyone in the clan seems to trust him, so...who knows what he can do?" She reasoned.

---

Meesei crossed her arms, with her overall demeanor maintaining a certain amount of resolve. "When a pack of wolves grows too large, their needs begin to outstrip their resources. They become unable to feed all of their members, so some of them will break off for new territory, or die in the process. I know all of this, and I see where you are going with it, but that analogy does not hold entirely. We are not wolves, Harriet, we are lycans. Animals cannot form and maintain civilization, but people can, and at our cores, we are still people."

Though she could not deny that the sheer size of the clan brought it into a dangerous situation, Meesei did not feel it was doomed. It would take time, effort and a lot of change, but Meesei intended to strengthen the clan's foundations. "You are correct, your confession alone will not save this clan. But, it is a small part of the solution. And I do have a solution. It may take years, but this clan will see many changes to keep it away from this...spiral into instability."

Star Wars - Scum and Villainy

After four days, it does not seem that all that many have expressed interest in returning. Unfortunately, things are not looking good for this RP.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Fortunately, it seemed like Ahnasha's show of tough love had worked. He quickly became submissive, then laid down on the ground. She leaned her head back out into the hall to see Lorag stepping out to investigate. She calmly waved him back into the cell with Galsek, then moved to approach Fendros. Though she kept a reasonable distance at first, once Fendros began to revert back to Dunmer form, she relaxed completely. He was of course regretful once he was back in his right mind, but Ahnasha tried not to take much of what he said to heart. He was being influenced by the primal, emotional nature of his beast spirit; although, the words he had said did not just come from nowhere. The scars of what they had experienced were still tearing at his mind, just as they were for hers. The only difference between them was that she had more experience controlling her beast spirit.

"You scared Rhazii, but other than that, no." Ahnasha answered as she slowly sat down beside Fendros on the floor. She put her left arm around his shoulders, while holding Rhazii in her right. He was not crying as loudly as before, but was still whining and had his face pressed against his mother for comfort, muffling the sounds he made. "So...what happened? What caused it, you think?"

---

Meesei nodded to Harriet. "You are not incorrect. You murdered Jerrick, the leader of the clan, in cold blood at the influence of one of Vile's servants. You took away the father of a boy who had already lost his birth mother, and killed the husband of a dedicated leader of this clan. You did so in cold blood, without giving him the chance to fight. For this crime, death is the only punishment. Vera has requested that it be a merciful execution, and I intend to follow that suggestion. If you still care about the clan, about the people who were loyal enough to you follow you to the end, despite everything that was arrayed against you, I would ask that you give a public confession of your crime. Let them have no doubts that might cause more hardship for them later. As you said, you are defeated, so there is no longer a purpose to lies and secrecy. But your now, tell me your story. Let me hear, from your own mouth, what you did, and why you did it. I do not think you will find Hircine's redemption will be easy to gain, but perhaps you can start now, before your soul departs Tamriel."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Mostly for Rhazii's safety, Ahnasha still did not step any closer to Fendros, but neither did she retreat. Despite their relationship, and the time Fendros had been with them, Ahnasha still held higher rank within the pack, and his beast knew it. If she backed down now, then it would embolden his beast spirit against her.

"If you don't want to look at me, then don't, but you will listen to me. You need to back down, right now! I'm not going to let you rampage through this place. You've improved, but I can still stop you if I have to." Ahnasha threatened, though her words were not directed at Fendros himself, but rather the beast taking hold of him. She knew well that their beasts did not respond to reason or persuasion. They were primal, respecting only force. Fendros, as much as he had improved, was still not experienced enough to wrestle control away from his beast, not during a forced transformation. Therefore, she had to use the arguments that the beast would respect. Her voice did not carry as much authority as Meesei, but she still had rank. Hopefully, his beast did not have any ambitious ideas.

Just in case, Ahnasha took a step back and looked down the hall towards the room they had came from. "Lorag, come here!" She shouted.

---

"Honestly, I did not know the nature of your betrayal during our fight. I suppose it was implied that it was a fight to the death, but I do not believe we said those words aloud." Meesei answered. She stepped close to Harriet, as there was little she could do from her position. "I always intended to treat you fairly, to give you a just trial and judgment. I am sure you heard the rumor that your mind was influenced by Vile? Certainly, it was a possibility, and I suppose I should still examine it, as I promised to the clan. If your mind was magically influenced, it would have been unjust to kill you. Right now, I want...closure. I do wonder, even after Galsek manipulated you, even after your betrayal, do you still hold to the honor for which your people respected you? Are you still the true warrior that you have prided yourself to be? I may not have killed you, but I did defeat you. On that, there is no question. Had I not restarted your breathing, you would have perished on that training room floor. Is there any honor between skilled warriors such as ourselves, that you might respect me for my victory? Despite your crimes, I can say that I respect your willingness to challenge me in the tradition of our kind. I respect that you allowed the strength of our resolve be tested, to be measured by fair combat. Do you respect the results?"

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Honestly, that makes a lot of sense. Sound is vibrations through the air (or any medium, really). Although, lightning can also create thunder so by disturbing the air so...it seems like both would be able to manipulate sound in different ways.

Mass Effect: The Face of Injustice

Yeah, you need to finish those edits. Also, I'm thinking I would be more comfortable with a weapon more similar to a Typhoon. An LMG, rather than a minigun.

Mass Effect: The Face of Injustice

In the time available before the hostiles breached the doors, Avatar did what it could to prepare for the attack. There were two doors leading into the same hallway, each on opposite ends of the same wall. Since the fighting would remain close quarters, Avatar switched to its shotgun to improve its effectiveness. There were no fixed or loose objects in the room which would provide viable cover, but Avatar was able to move furniture such as chairs, and even a table, closer to the door to act as obstacles for those attempting to file into the room. It would only be a minor hindrance, but it improved their chances of success by a greater degree than any other actions it could have taken during the same time.

The whole time, the Turian woman was crying out in pain. She was not in a position to prevent Solares from stopping her bleeding, but that did not cure her injury. She largely ignored Solares’ words and instead curled up on the floor, clutching her head, screaming. “My…head…” She said weakly while sobbing.

After five separate, unsuccessful attempts to open the doors conventionally, Avatar heard more movement outside, heading away from each door. Retreat was improbable, so Avatar expected the use of explosives to gain entry, and after only seven seconds, its expectation was proven correct. Two detonations, 1.21 seconds apart, struck both doors. Neither of the metal doors were completely opened, as it appeared as if the hostiles had used fragmentation grenades as improvised breaching charges. However, they were both damaged enough that biotics among the enemy were able to use their abilities to clear the doorways, first on the right door, then the left. Unlike a normal, properly executed breaching maneuver, the enemy was not able to file in immediately to take advantage of the disorienting effects of the explosions, which allowed Avatar’s allies to recover and prepare. On the left door, two enemies took cover on each side of the door way and leaned into the room to fire, while on the right, where Avatar was aiming, a hostile threw a fragmentation grenade into the room. Given that they were in an enclosed space, the ricochets from the grenade could potentially threaten anyone in the room, even outside of the lethal blast radius.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Considering the stress of the mission before, the past few days had been mercifully uneventful around the college as a whole. Though, for Ssarak, it felt like the beginning of a new part of his life. Spending time with Meirin as a couple, outside of the dangers of a mission, was surprisingly a whole new experience for him. In his home village, he had been told from a young age who he was going to marry. It was a sensible practice for small villages which needed to avoid inbreeding, but he could not have imagined what it would be like to be with someone with which he had a true, personal connection. His former wife was certainly not a bad person, and had they not been arranged to marry, they likely would have still been friends, but his relationship with her seemed nothing like this. Granted, Ssarak had to try and avoid getting ahead of himself. It had only really been a few days, and anything could still happen. His impression so far made it seem like it was meant to be, but he had to keep in mind some possibility for failure. He was Esyire, while she was Human, and one with a unique upbringing. As they spent more time together, they were going to run into ways they were different beyond the obvious ones, in terms of their behaviors and expectations; he just hoped they were not so different as to be incompatible.

As for the current day, it was the day of the opening feast for this year's new arrivals. As such, classes were cancelled for the day as the teachers prepared for their presentations. Hopefully, Khan had learned from last year's debacle and would keep a tighter hold over the staff's behavior. From what he had gathered, student retention from the previous year had been exceptionally poor between the scarring opening ceremony, and the demon attack. For Ssarak, though, his day began the same as any other: with his morning exercises. He met with Meirin in the gym, which was notably less populated than usual, and started as normal with stretches. Last time, Meirin had mentioned showing him some of the exercises she performed, to which he had agreed, so he expected his routine would be somewhat different today.