EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I was going to wait until tomorrow to skip, but then I did anyway.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"It's probably the biggest I'll ever see." Pieter commented, leaning on the railing as he looked up at the tower. "I wish we could stay here longer. This seems like the kind of place you could spend a lifetime in, but still not see everything. Maybe on the way back, there will be time. I really would like to see all those places myself."

---

The ship set sail the moment the last of the cargo had been taken on board. The distance they were traveling would be much greater than the trek from Bruma to the Imperial City, but given the speed afforded to them by the ship it would take about the same amount of time. There would only be one stop along the way, in Leyawiin, so they would arrive in Senchal about as soon as they possible could have.

Life aboard the ship was quick to become routine, since there were few ways a day could actually vary from the last. Meesei, when not socializing with the others, often spent time either meditation on various form of magic in her room, or caring for Leaps. The wamasu had healed rather well from his wound, but he required considerable attention to avoid becoming restless aboard the cramped vessel. With few places he could go, he was enthusiastic for any sort of interaction with either pack. Ahnasha could not exactly train her conjuration aboard the ship, let alone necromancy, so she had to be satisfied just reading her tome. Of course, after years of study, she was reaching the end of what that tome could teach her. However, she still felt that she had a long way to go before she could achieve her goal of life extension, so she would need to find that knowledge elsewhere. Kaleeth would have had difficulty filling up her free time, but Newt gave her plenty to do. Whenever bored, she liked to head above deck and look out over the shore with him, answering any question he could produce. Lorag, after running out of mead, actually managed to work out a deal with the captain to allow him to do some work for coin. The payment wasn't exceptional, but it kept his days filled when there was little else to do. Pieter, true to his word, did everything he could to try and come up with ideas to entertain himself, Tzirret, and Sabine. Some were successes, others failed spectacularly, but he did manage to at least only get into minor trouble with the crew.

The closest thing to an issue was that, after about a week on the, it was pretty much confirmed that Irenya was avoiding Meesei, Ahnasha, and Fendros specifically. Of course, she tried to hide that fact, with minimal success.

It was just after a week had passed that the ship docked in Leyawiin's port, and just like last time, Ahnasha seemed to be having trouble willing herself out of bed. She had once spoke with Fendros about talking to her family, but evidently, it was much more difficult than she had thought to do that now that they were actually at the city. It was made worse by the fact that some of the captain's cargo had been delayed, so they would be staying in port overnight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I could move us to Leyawiin in the next skip. Though, I may be too tired to write another skip tonight.

For manageability, I think keeping scenes to a few characters at a time like this one is good. We have plenty of characters present, but we don't have to deal with them all at once. Once we're in Elsweyr and in the mission proper, it will probably just be Meesei's pack, with perhaps one of the others, to mix things up.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Hmm, card games can be fun. If we can get a hold of cards, that is. Although, we don't really have anything to bet. Those kinds of games are always better when there is something at stake. We could always do the same thing as that race a few days ago, give challenges to the loser. The trick would be thinking of somewhat interesting challenges one could actually do aboard this ship." Pieter commented. He tried for a few moments to think of an idea, but his mind came up with nothing.

Pieter shrugged and took a few steps in the direction of the stairs. "Well, no matter what we end up doing, I look forward to trying to figure it out. For now, maybe we can just head up above deck and look at the city? That place is just...unbelievable doesn't do it justice. You were able to stay for a while last time you passed through the city, right Sabine? What was that like?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Well..." Pieter began, scratching under his chin as he observed his surroundings. Apart from their rooms, most of the bottom deck was being used for storage. Crates and barrels were stacked up along the sides of the ship, with ropes holding them in place. The path down the center leading to the stairs on the other side of the ship was mostly empty, but relatively narrow. On the deck above them was the mess, crew quarters, and the like. As one might expect, pretty much all of the space on the ship was in use, so they would have to be careful to stay out of the way of the crew.

"The last time you were on a ship, you didn't have us with you. I'm sure there is something we can figure out to pass the time; we just have to be creative. Maybe we could try to teach Leaps some tricks...um, carefully. I doubt the crew would be happy if we accidentally broke any of these crates. Or, perhaps we could try fishing off of the deck? If we can get a fishing rod, that is. I don't suppose you can conjure up a bound fishing rod, can you? Maybe we could catch a dreugh?" He joked, nudging Tzirret's side.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei smiled, then crossed her arms in feigned disappointment. "Well, if you cannot decide amongst yourselves, then clearly the best choice is just to rotate who gets the bed. Barring any surprise injuries, I will forego my turns in the bed. Although, if too much trouble comes of it...I may just give one of the beds to Leaps."

Meesei went into the starboard room with Leaps in tow. Naturally, the captain was not particularly comfortable having the wamasu on board, but they had paid a fair price for his passage, and Meesei had assured him that Leaps would not be leaving their rooms unsupervised. Kaleeth, of course, remained with Janius and found a place for her belongings in the port room with him and Newt. Ahnasha decided to go with the room in the stern, partially because it gave her and Fendros a better chance at the bed than if she picked the room with Kaleeth and Janius. Lorag, who did not actually care much about his accommodations, selected the stern room seemingly at random. Irenya, once she saw how the others were dividing themselves. rather quickly selected the same room as Kaleeth and Janius. Pieter brought his belongings into the starboard room; although, despite having been with the pack for a few weeks, he still seemed somewhat nervous as sharing a room with the Champion.

Overall, Meesei's pack was reasonably comfortable with the voyage, as they had been at sea three years ago for even longer than this journey was expected to take. They knew what to expect, apart from Newt and Rhazii, as he had been too young at the time to understand. Irenya too did not seem to be bothered. Given how long she had lived, she had likely been on such a voyage before. Uthri had never sailed, but she did not seem to be bothered by it. Pieter, however, was somewhat nervous. After everyone was situated in their rooms, he approached Tzirret and Sabine. "So...what do you think about all of this? You think this will be fun, relaxing, or boring enough to make us rip our hair out?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

So I may have written the traveling part of the post in the downtime. I never really like writing travel, I always like to get it out of the way.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Somewhat reluctantly, the packs began work on moving their camp for the night. They gathered their supplies from the carriages and packed away the rest of the camp. In the process, Meesei made sure to find a moment where she was not being watched to go through the caravan driver’s store of coins to take back the fee they had paid to take the journey, plus everything the driver had beforehand. Even Meesei found it distasteful, but there was no sense in leaving the coin with the carriages.

In addition to untying and escorting their prisoner to their new camp, they also had to transport Leaps. He could walk, but Irenya advised that he should rest as much as possible. Fortunately, Kaleeth, in her werecrocodile form, could carry the juvenile wamasu with ease.

The packs did not need to set up camp too far from the original one, so they lost only under two hours of sleep. The next morning, they awoke early to attempt to make up some time they would lose by traveling on foot. The sun had barely risen when they finished their breakfast and were ready to get moving. Deciding that she would rather not be executed, they left their prisoner unarmed and alone. If she cared enough about it, she could return to the site of the attack to bury her friends.

Once back on the road, the pack moved at a reasonable pace towards the Imperial City. Both Irenya and Meesei paid special attention to Leaps as they traveled, since he was having to walk once more. Overall, he seemed to be doing fine, but both healers checked on him periodically. Aside from caring for Leaps, the rest of the journey was thankfully not eventful. They arrived in Weye by the afternoon, then headed into the Imperial City itself with hours of daylight still remaining. Immediately, Meesei brought them to the docks and began her search for a vessel which would take them to Senchal. She expected it would take her quite some time to locate a vessel, if she was even able to find one that day, but it seemed that fortune had favored her in her search. She found a Bosmer captain who was returning to Valenwood and was willing to take them on board and make a brief stop in Senchal, since it was a port on the way. He was leaving the next morning, so the price of passage was made more expensive by the fact that he had to make arrangements for passengers on short notice, but since Meesei had been able to recuperate their losses for the journey to the Imperial City, the price did not matter.

The packs spent the night in the waterfront district to save on gold then made for the docks at the break of dawn. The ship was smaller than the last vessel Meesei’s pack had been aboard, but they were also the only passengers. According to the captain, they would actually have three rooms between them, not that any room aboard a ship could be considered “spacious.” It would still likely be cramped, particularly since Leaps would have to stay in one of the rooms as well.

The packs boarded as some last minute cargo was being loaded onto the vessel. Once Meesei finalized the payment, a particularly short Bosmer crew member led them down to the bottom deck and to their rooms. All three were near one another, with two being across from one another on the sides of the ship, and the third between them at the stern. Each room contained little more than three hammocks, which had likely been set up the previous night, and a double bed that appeared significantly more comfortable. Now, it was just a matter of deciding who would be in what rooms, and in what beds.

“Hmm, so how do we decide who gets the nice beds? My vote goes to an archery tournament.” Ahnasha joked.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei shook her head towards Gallus. "I too like to provide aid to others when I can, but in this case, I believe your charity may be misplaced. Remember, anything she says could be a lie, and her actions thusfar have not inspired confidence. Although, as you say, I do not believe her to be a threat either. A thief is not going to go to the guard, and I highly doubt she would follow us all the way to Chorrol." Meesei answered. She lied about their destination only because the bandit was listening, and she was potentially going to be set free.

"Regardless, I do not care whether she lives or dies. Were she infected, my answer might change, but I do not find it safe to render that form of aid. If, by morning, no one has decided to kill her, she may live, but we will not be giving her aid." Meesei decided.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

When we get to the point of moving on, I think I'll move us to the point where we are boarding the ship, unless you want to do something before then. There really isn't much that would happen before then, as there wouldn't be time to enjoy the city or anything. Plus, I am rather looking forward to getting to Leyawiin.