EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei listened to the Nord woman, though she was not sure of what to make of the news of this Suurootan leaving either. It was possible that it was entirely unrelated to Vile or Galsek. After all, it was not uncommon for people, especially business owners, to have reason to travel. But, it was still enough that she could be suspicious.

"You say they have been here a few hundred years? Well, that does not preclude them from being connected to the enemy, but as you say, it is not good to jump to conclusions. They may be entirely unconnected to either party. Galsek may simply have been friendly with them and is asking for a favor. It would not be so far-fetched. Regardless, we will need to have the pair watched to make sure they have no...connections which would interest us. However, that is not as important at the moment. I need to get back to the others and make camp for the night. I will know when and if he leaves the city, but if you see him do anything strange, perhaps if he is carrying something odd or is not alone when he leaves..." She began, leaning in even more closely and speaking more quietly. "...send someone to the outcrop grove to inform us. As quickly as possible. We will not be far behind him. Again, that is only necessary if you notice anything strange about his departure."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei gave a simple nod to Finley as she made room for herself at the table. The tavern was more crowded than before, so she had to be more careful in conversation. Other non-lycans were sitting closer and more likely to overhear their whispers. If necessary, they could move somewhere more private, as Meesei was no longer as bound by time constraints.

"Yes, I have. He went to the general store several hours ago, the one on an upper terrace near the keep. He is still there. You are in the city often, correct? What do you know about the owner of that store?" She asked, directly and quietly. If this owner was an agent of Vile, it was possible that some of the packs in the city might have noticed any of his or her strange behavior. Of course, it was also possible that Galsek was merely manipulating an innocent, or the agent was skilled at hiding their operations.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei continued to track Galsek patiently, regardless of the amount of time which passed. To avoid suspicion from anyone who happened to be watching her, she had to stay mobile enough to seem like she was going about her business. She could stay in one place for a time, looking through her notes and map, but the cold made it unusual for one to stay outside for too long, especially travelers. There were times where she entered various stores and browsed their inventory, and even purchased a small bag of snowberries from a produce merchant. All the while, she kept focusing on Galsek to finely determine where exactly he was.

Eventually, it became obvious that Galsek was staying in the general store. She could not enter the store herself, so she did not know exactly what was happening, but it was strongly possible that the store owner was a contact of Galsek's. It was not absolutely guaranteed that the store owner was affiliated with Vile, as he or she could simply be a friend of Galsek's who is unaware of his connections, but it was certainly suspicious. Since Galsek did not seem to be moving, Meesei found it safe enough for her to return to the inn to follow up on what she had learned. She made her way back to the Tap and Tack and once again scanned around the room to look for Finley, or one of the other lycans.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

At first, Ssarak thought that Uicle was somehow willing the quill to write down notes from their meeting, but he then noticed that Uicle seemed just as surprised as himself. Even more strangely was that the letter started out being addressed to himself, and not Uicle. It seemed that the archmage was satisfied with his performance in speaking to the diplomats. He did not know by what means the archmage was able to know what he had said or done, but it quite honestly did not surprise him. For Ovak to be the archmage of the College, he must hold exceptional power. Ssarak smiled upon reading Ovak's suggestion involving the garden, though the tone of the letter quickly shifted once it became directed at Uicle. Most of the students knew that he had been injured in the demon attack; he now walked with a cane, after all. But, it was troubling that the headmaster's condition was worsening.

Ssarak supposed he could have guessed that Uicle would recommend him to speak with Khan, given his success with the diplomats. Uicle seemed to think it was because he was not taking his medicine, and was quite agitated about the matter. He wanted Ssarak to chide him for not taking care of himself, though of course, Ssarak was likely to take a different approach. Uicle did not quite give him time to verbally agree to the task he had given him, but he agreed nonetheless. Keeping the headmaster healthy seemed to be far too important of a request to simply ignore.

Given that the time of the feast was drawing closer, Ssarak reasoned that Khan, and most of the other teachers, likely, would be in the dining hall. The College tended to be quite crowded during the time of the opening feast, but fortunately, most of those crowds were not filling most of the the halls between Uicle's office and the dining hall. His pace only slowed once he reached the dining hall itself. The crowd had grown even larger than the last time he was there, but like Uicle, Khan was not a difficult person to pick out of a large group. There were only a few Esyire in the room to begin with, and Khan was the only one who was seated.

Once he made his way through the crowd, Ssarak took a seat directly across from Khan. He did not know if it was assigned to anyone else, but as the feast had not yet started, most of the chairs were empty at the moment anyway. "Greetings, headmaster." Ssarak began with a polite nod. "Forgive me for intruding but...well, I will give no false pretenses. The archmage wished for me to speak with you."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei shook her head. "No, but thank you for your assistance. I would avoid him if you can, but most importantly, do what you can to avoid alerting him that anything is wrong. I will be handling him personally, do not worry. I will find you if something happens which you need to know about. As helpful as it will be to track him, I consider your safety to be more important, which is why I approached you to start. Now, I should get back outside. Take care of yourselves." She answered.

Once Meesei took her leave of the pack, she quickly went back outside and returned to shadowing Galsek. She remained far away, preferably with buildings and other visual obstacles between her and Galsek. Still, she always made sure to know approximately which building he was in. If he entered a private residence as opposed to an inn, then she would need to investigate to identify whoever he was staying with. For that, the pack in the Tap and Tack could be of further assistance.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Good, good." Meesei began, nodding to Finley. "If the gold helps him to move on more quickly, then it was worthwhile. I could not give him too much without seeming suspicious. I would like to explain everything to you, but as I said, I cannot stay long. He cannot know I am in the city, and he may return here for a room." She answered. She was still paying close attention to her ring, and it still did not indicate Galsek was drawing closer, but that could change at any moment.

"I have no reason to believe that he is after any of you. Indeed, he likely just wants to get away from here quickly, but as he is an agent of the enemy, I did not wish to take chances. A summary of what has happened is that Harriet was proven guilty, and has confessed, but Galsek was the one who persuaded her to do it. It will all be explained in detail to you once you return. For now, if Galsek asks you for a place to stay, please give him one. Just make sure it is a place with at least two of you present, for safety. If you know any more about Galsek, please tell me, but if not, I should get back outside." Meesei continued. She would wait for a few moments, but she already looked as if she was about to get up and rush to the door.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Uicle and Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Given the severe nature of some of the information Ssarak had uncovered, he felt it would be best to speak to Uicle as soon as possible. Fortunately, he needed only to ask a gargoyle to find him quickly. He was directed to the dining hall, which he moved to once he was out of sight of both Esyire diplomats and their students. To preserve the impressions he had left on them, he wanted to be sure they did not witness him speaking to the College leadership immediately after their conversations.

As expected, the dining hall was quite a bit more crowded than usual with the feast coming soon. Strangely, there was a small plume of black smoke emanating from a door on one side of the hall, but there already seemed to be people handling it. Ssarak just focussed on locating Uicle, which fortunately was not difficult, as the large animated suit of armor was easy to pick out of a crowd.

Ssarak approached UIcle seemingly casually, but the look in his eyes was quite serious. "Greetings, Uicle. Could I perhaps speak to you a moment, privately?" He requested.

Uicle looked over to the Eysire, taken from his irritated grumbling. "Hello Ssarak. Have you already talked to the Scorched Lands diplomats? From what I heard and saw there's two of them." Uicle's head snapped to a Steel golem, wading it's way towards the fire. "What are you doing you giant oaf!? Get out of the way!" As the steel golem began to move out, Uicle returned to facing Ssarak. "What do you need?" He gestured for the Esyire to lead the way.

Ssarak nodded once Uicle had returned his attention to him. "Yes, I have. I believe we need to speak privately." He reiterated softly, in a serious tone matching his overall demeanor. His gaze carried a sense of urgency that would hint at the severity of what he had uncovered. "Would your office be acceptable?"

Uicle would have raised an eyebrow, if he still had a face. As it was, he looked at the student, growing concerned. "Very well. Follow me." In a short few moments, the Esyire and the teacher were in Uicle's office, surprisingly intact for today. "Oh look, it's not even a mess." He commented idly, before a steel golem closed the door behind them and he turned to face Ssarak. "What did you find out?"

"I uncovered a good deal of information, though little of it was encouraging." Ssarak answered as he took a seat in one of the empty chairs. He let out a sigh, the stress of his past few conversations finally showing in his expression. "The Scorched lands seem to be entering into a veritable civil war. This faction being led by this Emperor is waging war against the Head Cheiftain and those who support him. On that point, both sides agree. According to the Jev diplomat, the Emperor is an electromancer of such strength that he can outmatch any master, or many at once. They say the envoys they sent to the Emperor have come back changed in some way, but their psychomancers cannot determine how."

Pausing a moment, Ssarak had to collect his thoughts. With all he had learned, it was easy to overwhelm himself with trying to describe every detail all at once. "There is much to explain, but most pressing is the purpose that the Emperor's representative has here. The Jev representative said that the Emperor's diplomat seeks to gain the College's alliegance in their war, and if you refuse, they will likely attempt to sabotage the College. I would expect such a statement from the representative of an opposing faction...but I also questioned the Emperor's representative, and he confirmed it. He said he would seek the College's aid, and if he is refused, he admitted to me that the Emperor would act against the College. He did not specify how, but sabotage is not an impossibility."

Uicle sighed. "No one can play nice, can they? Ovak isn't going to support anyone. I assume you have a suspect for me to stick shadow golems on? Otherwise every Esyire student that recently joined will be stalked, and that can't be good for teacher student relationships. Did you learn anything else aside from the Emperor being unusually powerful? And do you have any suggestions from what you learned? You talked to them while we were all busy playing nice with the rest of the diplo-" Uicle's head suddenly tilted to the side, as if listening to someone.

"Gods above Alaira! I would have thought that even you would have more tact then that! No, don't do anything. Stay nearby though."

The Necromancy teacher turned his helmet back to Ssarak. "Sorry about that. Any answers?"

"Alaira? Did you send her to speak to a diplomat as you did myself and Meirin?" Ssarak questioned. Normally, he would not be so easily distracted from his explanation, but news on Alaira's mistakes in particular had a habit of capturing his attention. "We informed Lucilia of Alaira's repeated lapses in judgement during our mission. Her actions placed us all in jeopardy on multiple occassions, including igniting a forest fire and an unprovoked attack on a group of guards. Did Lucilia not inform the rest of the staff of this?"

Ssarak had to force himself to stop and refocus on the task at hand. It was important that Uicle and the others know about Alaira's poor judgment, but much more important, and pressing, was the information he had uncovered. "Um, regardless, I do have more answers, yes. The Esyire have only sent two new students this year; one from the Chieftain's faction, as usual, and the other from the Emperor. They were both formerly bethrothed to one another, but are now sworn enemies. The Jev diplomat's student is an electromancer of clan Dyre, and is likely to attempt to persuade his former fiance to betray the Emperor. If she does not, then he expects that his student will do something drastic against her. For the student from the Emperor, she is a vitamancer, and is the most likely agent for sabotage. The Emperor's representative could of course also act against us, but he naturally would have more attention on him at most times, so the student would be a better candidate. I would not recommend underestimating the possibility that this vitamancer may be able to bring serious harm to the College. The Jev diplomat suspects that the Emperor may have given her something with the capability of weakening the College considerably, and I am inclined to agree."

Pausing a moment, Ssarak had to think on how to present his next point. He was starting to move into conjecture, but he felt his fears could be nearing truth. "This Emperor...he worries me greatly. That he was able to rise to power, seemingly from nothing, after only a few years seems suspicious, does it not? The Jev suspect he came from clan Dyre, but do not know for sure. Even the Emperor's diplomat claims not to know his origin, only that he came from the wilds. How is it that one with the power to outmatch any master on Tiien could have existed entirely unknown until only two years ago? I do not know if it is possible for such power to simply be granted to an individual, but it is what I suspect happened. As well, the Jev's numbers are diminishing for reasons they cannot understand. Their eggs are simply not hatching. Add to that all of the chaos rising aound Tiien, and it seems all too unlikely that it is a coincidence. The demons who attacked the College last year...do you believe whatever force drives that army could be driving these events as well?"

Uicle ignored Ssaraks' comments about Alaira, instead focussing on the students. It didn't take long for two shadow Golems to find them and be bound as eternal watchers. "The students are being watched, subtly." Uicle said, before turning his attention to Ssarak's other point. "There is something behind this all yes. We suspect Kudd the 'driving force' behind that army. Alas, without investigations ourselves we can't prove anything and simply have to prepare and stomp out the fires as they arise." He stood, preparing to leave.

"Was there anything else, Ssarak? I have to get back to the Dining Hall lest this entire operation fall apart and I have to pick up the pieces. A word of advice, don't take any jobs that involve organizing a lot of people, most of whom hate at least one other faction who have also been invited."

Ssarak nodded. "Yes, as I said, I learned quite a lot. I just wanted to convey the most pressing matters at the moment. Also keep in mind that the Emperor intends to act against the College if we do not ally with him, even if we remain neutral. So...I would fully expect some kind of action from his representatives. I told both of the diplomats that I intend to attempt to help them, so I have a plausible reason to speak to both of them again, if that is needed. If it helps, I will write a report including all important, but not quite as time-sensitive information. Honestly, I do not believe we will be able to ignore the situation in the Scorched Lands, not indefinitely."

"Oh, we're not going to ignore it. But we can't exactly march an army down there and force them to play nice. Don't quite have the resources, I'm afraid. We'll get to them soon enough, but we need to deal with the diplomats now before we begin sending off teams to hopefully stomp out fires and keep the peace." Uicle began heading towards the door. "I'd suggest you don't stay in here Ssarak. My bad luck might just rub off on you."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei did not rush her approach to the group so as not to alarm them, but once they recognized her and most of them relaxed, she became decidedly more serious and hurried. She shook Finley's hand, but otherwise went straight to business. "Greetings, I apologize for the lack of formality, but I must be quick. I cannot stay here long." She explained quickly, and quietly.

Without having time to ask, Meesei pulled up a chair and sat down at the table, so as to draw less attention to the group. She still wore her hood and cloak, though for outsiders in Bruma, particularly those not accustomed to the climate, that was not all that uncommon indoors. "There is a warning I must give you. The Argonian, Galsek, I am sure you know of him. Have you seen or spoke to him? He is an agent of the enemy, and is in the city. Do not trust him; do not allow him to guide you into a trap or otherwise harm you, but also do not alert him. Do all you can to treat him as you normally would, as it is vital that he not know that those of you in the city suspect him yet. If he asks for supplies or directions, give what you normally would; it will be more to our advantage than his." Her words were quick and serious. She was possibly coming off as rather forceful, but given how hurried her overall attitude was, they could likely gather that she did not have much time.

Mass Effect: The Face of Injustice

Shortly after Avatar received the credentials it required from Corporal Angelica, and Donny shared his equipment among the cabal, one of the Turians, Tacticus, proposed an alternative solution, one that Avatar's initial projections found potentially favorable. It posed significantly greater risk to its own platform, but that was preferable to risking the others' lives. Although, the plan still did not eliminate the risk to them entirely.

"This platform is expendable." Avatar answered to Sura as it was running simulations on potential outcomes for this new plan. With the security credentials Seraph provide, RK and itself could upload to the interceptors in only a few seconds, and since the hull of the station was not as heavily armored as a military vessel, they would be able to pierce through into the room from the outside.

"This plan is approximately 23% more likely to succeed with minimal civilian casualties. However, the distraction will be necessary. The estimated time required for me to reach both interceptors is twenty-seven seconds. The estimated time before the station VI restores power to the room is twenty-one seconds. You must hold the enemy forces' attention both during and after the outage in order to minimize my risk of detection. Since this plan does not require an escort force for civilian forces, I recommend all civilians wait in the room the Human forces are currently occupying, and all combat forces, including Humans, aid in the distraction. You will be able to use the doors as a defensive chokepoint, but you will still be at a significant numerical disadvantage. Once you begin your attack, you will also need to hold the right door in addition to the left, as they may use it to gain a flanking position. RK, I recommend you upload into my platform now." It explained as it sent a download request to RK. Avatar's firewalls would prevent her from accessing motor functions and other commands within its platform, but she would be able to observe its software and hardware architecture.

Avatar moved itself into cover around the corner from the right entrance to the airlocks. It had its shotgun drawn, though ideally, it would not be necessary to use it. "I will disable power to the room as soon as you begin your attack. After another five seconds, I will activate my tactical cloak and advance."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As Meesei entered the city and gained her bearings, she faced a choice on how to proceed. Galsek seemed to be in a store closer to the keep, so she had no intention of getting close to there. Likely, he was bartering for more supplies with what she had given him. Although, he would not have many resources to work with. As long as he was in public spaces, she would not draw nearer. It was only if he went to a private home that she would have the need to investigate, as that would imply he had contacts in the city. However, there was also the matter of the clam members that were still in Bruma. They would be unaware of Galsek's betrayal, which could prove dangerous if they gave him any significant trust. Galsek was known to be a sly individual, but he was still a member of the clan to them. For their safety, Meesei needed to warn them about Galsek, but she needed to do so carefully.

Meesei stepped into the tavern and looked around the crowded room, allowing her nose to guide her to her fellow lycans. All the while, she paid close attention to the ring tracking Galsek. If he started to draw close to the tavern, she would leave quickly, without hesitation. The last thing she needed was to trap herself in the tavern with her quarry. Indeed, she needed to make this conversation as quick as possible in any case so she could return to following Galsek. It did not take much effort for Meesei to single out the group of lycans, and while her face was partially obscured by her hood as she approached, she made sure the Ring of Hircine was visible on her hand.