EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I think we may have overlooked something. The agreement with Harriet stipulated that, for her to get a death in combat, she would need to give a public confession, which, if she agreed, would have taken place already. Would she have accepted that deal?

Also, Meesei would have given Harriet an examination to test for magical influences in her mind when she returned to her for her answer. She doesn't actually believe there are any, but she did tell the clan she would do so.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei remained at the opening of the cave, watching Galsek as he walked away until he was out of sight, at which point she stepped back into the cave. With the enchanted ring implanted within him, there was no need to watch him, or even look for tracks. She needed only to slip the accompanying ring onto her own finger so she could feel his distance and direction. Only once he was sufficiently far away would they even need to leave the cave. Overall, they would be able to track him reliably from much farther away than usual.

In one of the cave's chambers leading to the main ruin, their attacking force was gathered, waiting on Meesei's word to move. Most of Meesei's pack, excluding Sabine, Kaleeth, and of course Rhazii, were armed, armored, and ready for their first serious fight since they left Black Marsh. Since they finally had access to a proper forge with adequate materials, their equipment was now in much better condition than it had been for months. Lorag had replaced his hammer entirely with another, sturdier hammer of the same type, and most of their blades now had more of an actual shine to the metal. The alphas of the packs involved, Oswall included, were also grouped together, waiting for Meesei to return from the surface.

Approaching Oswall and the other alphas, Meesei wasted no time in reporting on the situation. "Galsek is away. He left without incident, other than glaring at me. I will be able to tell when he gets far enough away that it will be safe to follow. It is likely that he expects me to attempt to track him, so he will probably stop to search his belongings and find the decoy. If he does, he will likely stop later on in a hiding spot to see if we are following, but we will be far enough away that he will find no such evidence. Is everyone prepared, or are there any issues we need to contend with?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"What I want is to be rid of you. Killing you would be nice, but this is an acceptable alternative." Meesei retorted. She placed her glowing hand on Galsek's shoulder, though she did not cast the spell immediately. "There is one warning I will give you, or rather, some advice. Leave. All of this. Find some place quiet to live out the rest of your life, and do not turn back. Because, if I find you in the service of Clavicus Vile, I will kill you; there will be no more chances. That, I promise." Meesei warned as she began to case the spell. The magic both drained and absorbed his energy to such a severe degree that he could no longer maintain consciousness. If he wanted to taunt her any more, he did not get the chance before his body gave out.

Once Galsek lost consciousness, Meesei set to work immediately. She unlocked his shackles, then laid him on the floor, flat on his stomach. She produced a knife from one of her pouches, along with the small ring she intended to implant, then started preparing the area for the first cut. Her magic could stem most of the blood flow to the area, which would limit the amount of cleanup required afterwards. The decoy ring was planted in the cloak she intended to give to him, so with Galsek properly sedated, she began the bloody work of implanting the ring.

The process of planting the ring inside Galsek's body was delicate, but Meesei knew exactly what she needed to do. Fortunately, he was Argonian, so she was able to prepare beforehand by examining the same area on her own body. He was male, but the organs she was concerned with in this procedure were no different between the two genders. The ring needed to be planted deep inside his body to prevent him from feeling it from the surface, but with her magic do guide her, it did not take long. The most time consuming portion of the process was using her magic to cause the lining of his upper intestines to grow around the ring, holding it in place. Meesei had no idea what the long term health effects of that action would be, but she did not care about Galsek's long term fate. He needed only to survive in the short term. Throughout the process, she had to make sure to keep draining his energy to keep him sedated.

Once finished, Meesei closed the wound as completely as she could and washed away the blood. Stepping outside, she grabbed the clothing and other supplies intended for him, dressed him, then called for some of the others to help carry him out of the ruin and up to the surface. They placed him down at the mouth of the cave, with half of his body sitting in the snow. Meesei motioned for the others to head back into the cave, then went about waking him. All it took was a spell of restore stamina to bring him back enough for the cold to grab his attention.

When Galsek came back to consciousness, he was propped up sitting against the wall of the cave. Meesei was the only other person around that he could see, as the others were still deep in the cave. She delivered a slight kick to his side and held out a stamina potion to him. "Here, now leave." She demanded.

Mass Effect: The Face of Injustice

Avatar had been running simulations on different approaches to the situation, though it had only been able to run 468,298 instances of the coming firefight since it learned of Ruvea's injury. Overall, it could not determine within an acceptable margin of error which approach would be the most likely to succeed, but Sura's intentions of simply performing a standard room clearing operation was far from optimal.

"Alert: a standard attack is not advisable. The probability that enemy forces are creating an ambush is approximately 96%. The Human pilots of the shuttle are still alive, and the shuttle has not been breached, but enemy forces are likely capable of doing so at any time, either with a security override, or explosives. Since they have not, it is probable they intended to use the shuttle as a lure for those who survived the initial ambush. Therefore, they will expect us to attempt to return to it. I recommend executing a non-standard plan of attack to confuse the defenders." Avatar explained.

Activating its omni-tool, Avatar projected several camera recordings of the room, along with a simulated 3-D model it had created based on them which included the cover positions that enemy forces had deployed and their average distribution based on observed patrol routes. "The station VI has erased most of the virus I uploaded into the station's systems, but there is one file of consequence remaining which I concealed in the systems. When activated, it will divert all power in the airlocks towards emergency lighting, which will deactivate the primary lights, and overload the emergency lights. Are any combat personnel incapable of low-light vision?" It asked.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As per usual, Meesei had been exceptionally busy through the night. Between crafting her enchantments, caring for Rhazii and Leaps, and checking on the bindings of their prisoners, she did not have much time for sleep. Regardless, she pressed herself forward, seemingly unaffected to those around her. The hunt had been mostly uneventful, which was likely the greatest success any of them could have hoped for. The greatest danger to the clan for the moment had passed, so they could now move to their other concerns.

Meesei went alone into Galsek's cell, now wearing a thick fur cloak as opposed to her normal attire. His shackles and chains showed signs of having been stressed, but they were still holding strong. Galsek of course started to taunt her as soon as she entered, but that was expected for any interaction with him. In most cases, she would simply ignore such provocations, but she wanted Galsek to believe he was getting something of an emotional reaction from her.

"Yes, despite your best efforts to convince me of how unworthy a pathetic worm like you is of my mercy, it has come time for you to be released. And yes, I will be giving you some supplies and adequately thick clothing. As much as I would like to see your frostbitten body laying face down in the snow, it would not be living up to my promise if I released you to die. But, that does not mean I have to be...polite about it. I do not want you causing any trouble on the way out, so I am going to render you unconscious to move you up to the surface. Besides, it would not be in my best interest to allow you to see the changes we are making to security, now would it?" Meesei explained as she stepped up to Galsek and started to charge a restoration spell in her hand.

Mass Effect: The Face of Injustice

I made a basic layout of the airlock: http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=137184

We're entering from the bottom, and can go through either of the two doors. There are also two doors in the upper left, but they go to hallways that would take a long time to get to if you wanted to go around and try to enter through there. The airlocks themselves are the three doors in the upper right. There would of course be consoles over there controlling them. The grass patches are plant decorations that are surrounded with waist high fences. They would provide visual cover, but of course would not stop bullets. The grey tiles are a recessed lounge area a bit lower than the rest of the room. There are chairs, couches, video screens, and a bunch of other stuff that isn't really important to us right now. The small walls I've scattered around mark the locations of cover that the enemy has set up. There are hostiles all around the room, but many are in defensive positions in those general areas. The room itself is a pretty large one, one that would be designed for a lot of people to pass through it.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

We can probably skip to the next event, but we also probably need to figure out what that event will be. There are a lot of important things for Meesei to do, but it would probably take quite a lot of time to do them all. What do you think we should RP through vs summarize?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei nodded to Darahil. "Yes, I will continue to aid you however I can, but I do not believe I will join on the hunt itself. I shall stay here to keep watch over the prisoners, and complete my enchantments. I will likely need the extra time. Just have the gems delivered to my pack's room." She answered before stepping towards the door, stopping briefly before leaving. "There are a quick matter I must deal with, but I will rejoin with you shortly to help plan for the hunt."

After Meesei took her leave, her destination was Galsek's cell. She had originally told him that she would be releasing him that day, but considering that the full moons were that night, she had to push those plans back. To prevent him from growing restless, and perhaps trying to cause trouble, she needed to inform him of the change in plans. Fortunately, it was completely truthful to say that it would be dangerous for both Galsek and the clan if he were released that night, so she had a reasonable excuse to give him. Afterwards, she was free to return to the planning of the night's hunt.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Hmm, I might have opted for something longer term, like service, to you specifically. A long term punishment could have a better chance of teaching him to avoid recklessness than simple pain. But if that is what you believe is best, then so be it. I do not wish to challenge this clan's traditions so quickly." Meesei responded.

Meesei paused for a moment. She had nothing more she wished to discuss at this meeting, but there was quite a lot she wanted to change about the clan, and while the lieutenants trusted her judgment by this point, she did expect some resistance. "...But I do intend to challenge them. Not all at once, but slowly over time. After a new leader has been selected, after this episode is laid to rest, there are serious issues this clan needs to address. Its structure is...vulnerable. The only reason that Jerrick's death had such potential for chaos was because of the division that exists between your packs. I want to slowly break down that division, such that none of the packs could be considered as 'belonging' to a lieutenant. Apart from the one of which you are personally the alpha, of course. I want all of the clan to consider all of you their leaders, not just one of you. And that is just one of the vulnerabilities that needs to be addressed. Obviously it will take time and effort, but it is an effort we need to make. We do not have time to discuss such matters in detail, however. We should return to our duties." Meesei said, standing up from her chair and pushing it under the table. "Could you have someone send me the necessary soul gems, Darahil? Discretion would also be preferable. It would be best to keep our plans for Galsek and Harriet quiet."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei shook her head. "I am already Hircine's Champion. It is the highest rank our lord can bestow, above the alpha of any pack or clan. I do intend to stay here for quite a while and will aid in leadership decisions for that duration, but my responsibilities may call me away eventually. This clan needs leaders who will remain with it, and who can handle the challenges, both large and small, that it faces. For the new lieutenant, I will trust your judgment on who would be the best replacement. I agree that it should be one of Harriet's alphas who takes her position. It will show that we bear no ill will towards those those in her packs."

Though they did not have time for extended interviews, Meesei did have an idea in mind for who would be the best candidate for filling Jerrick's position. Though, it would likely be after the full moons that she would make that decision. "As for choosing the alpha of the clan, I respect your decision, Darahil, so the choice falls between Vera and Oswall. We do not have much time at the moment, and this is not something which should be rushed, so I will speak to you both privately when we have the time. Likely, it will be after the full moons. I should allow you all to get back to your duties, but there is just one final matter, for Oswall specifically. It is in regards to Caleb's punishment. He was manipulated by an agent of Vile into believing you were the traitor, but that does not mean he can go unpunished. He did not intend to betray the clan, but what he did was reckless. Considering his relation to Jerrick and Vera, I doubt the clan would be accepting of much leniency normally. However, as the victim of his crime, they will accept any punishment you give him."