EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The moment the spear was stabbed through her ribs, the minotaur let out a pained roar and jerked away from Tzirret, pulling the spear from his grasp. She swiped in Tzirret's direction, though he was too far away for it to connect. Tzirret's interruption gave Gallus plenty of time to move, but the beast would not be charging anymore regardless. After her roar, the minotaur found it difficult to draw in another breath. She gave a furious glare at Gallus and Tzirret, but wheezed as she backed away, towards her calf.

Evidently, the spearhead had tore through her lungs, as she could not draw in enough breath to sustain her. She collapsed to her knees in front of her calf, still desperate to protect it in her final moments. In all likelihood, the beast would die, but it would be a long and painful process.

While Tzirret had attacked, La'khay had transformed out of fear. Her werelion form had short, tan fur and was larger and stronger than any bipedal Khajiit, but not to the extent of a werewolf. Dropping down on all fours, she skulked over behind Tzirret, still staring at the wounded minotaur in fear.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

A minotaur was a fierce, exceptionally strong, and easy to anger beast, but one thing they did not tend to be was tactical. When Gallus dodged, either by charging again, or by swiping at him with her massive fists. Each time she missed, she let out an enraged roar. Obviously, she was no agile beast, but Gallus needed only to make one mistake for her to deal a grievous injury.

The minotaur was focused on Gallus to such an extent that she was still not aware of the others behind her. In fear, La'khay could not stop herself from transforming, if only to be able to run away more easily, but even in her lycan form, she could not take advantage of the angle they had. Tzirret, however, had an opportunity to strike while the beast was readying for another charge.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Once given direction, La'khay ran up against the wall right behind Tzirret. She held her dagger in her hand, but it would be all but useless against such a massive beast, even if it was in skilled hands. In her panic, she pressed herself against Tzirret's back, wanting protection. These were situations she hated being in, as even in her lycan form, she doubted she could take a minotaur. "You can...keep La'khay safe, right?" She whispered to Tzirret.

Within seconds, a large, female minotaur rushed into the room to investigate its calf's cries, and immediately, fixated its gaze onto Gallus. Her fur was bloody from a recent meal, and her horns long and worn from heavy use. She was enraged at this threat to her calf, and let out a deafening roar that reverberated through the chamber. Just as Gallus predicted, she charged straight for him with the single-minded purpose of crushing his bones to dust, of which she was certainly capable.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"This one...does not like it either." La'khay whispered, staying firmly in the middle of the group. The scent only grew stronger the deeper they went until, after another minute or so, they came to a larger chamber, about the size of a few rooms in the average home. Around them along the walls, as they might have expected, were carcasses in various states of mutilation. There were a few deer, boar, and at least one Khajiit corpse. Some were little more than skeletons, while others were fresh kills. Near the back of the chamber was the largest carcass, that of a bear. It was fresh, and looking closely, they could see movement behind it. It was no large predator, however, but rather something around the size of a child.

The creature had been feasting on the bear, but once it saw the trio enter, it ran back to a small nook in the back of the chamber. At that point, they could see it clearly: it was a very young minotaur. It had thin fur, horns that were barely more than stubs, and large, frightened eyes. Immediately, it started to let out loud, piercing cries that echoed through the cave in terror of this new threat that had entered its den.

"Aw, it's actually pretty cute. But...if that's the child, then..." La'khay began, only to be interrupted by a lout, bull-like roar coming from the cave behind them. Looking around quickly, La'khay could see no other exits in the chamber, so fear quickly started to overtake her expression.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Hello.

You know, I probably could do something in Blood, though it would just be a quick answer to Lyn. Do you think we should go ahead to the next event?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The trio moves slowly and carefully through the cave. The ceiling was relatively tall, though to La'kay, it still felt cramped. She was not used to being underground, and overall, did not particularly like it. While Tzirret was holding tightly to his spear, La'khay simply kept her hand near her dagger's scabbard. Although, she was not much use in a fight if they happened to run into danger. She could defend herself in her werelion form, though she could only act on instinct. As for the cave itself, there were a detail that did stand out. Along the floor, they could see what looked like trails of dried blood, accompanied by the scent of dead animals. Unfortunately, it was strong enough to overwhelm any other scents that could be there. While that could be explained as the clan's hunters dragging back their prey, it was not the only explanation possible.

After heading through the winding cave for a bit longer, they came across a split in the path. One passage branched off to the left, while the other headed right. The blood trail lead mostly to the right path, though the scent was still present on the left. "Which way should we go, do you think? Or...do you think we're even in the right place?" La'khay asked.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

La'khay followed closely behind Gallus into the entrance to the cave. She nodded to his question, while still keeping her eyes trained further into the cave. "Yes, there are many creatures that might call a cave home. Bears, minotaurs, durzogs. We could even find a tiger, or most of the other creatures Ra'kalesh described before. They are great places for creatures to hide their young, but it could also lead to the new home of the clan. Let's just, uh, be careful."

As they drew deeper into the cave, the light from outside grew dimmer. Their lycanthropy gave them all at least good vision in the dark; even moreso for the Khajiit. Regardless, some more light would have been preferred. "Is there anything we can use for light?" La'khay asked.

The reminder of the letters caused Ahnasha some annoyance, but she did appreciate the gesture. Giving a mild sigh, she nodded. "Sure, once we're back. Provided that nothing has happened to our quarters since we left, I suppose."

Once Colors was back on the forest floor, he pointed them in the direction they needed to go. Ahnasha, of course, had many new thoughts on her mind, but she tried to focus on the task at hand as they set off on their search once more.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Since Gallus had returned, La'khay simply grinned with Gallus' jest and continued on the heading he cave. She had no issue returning to the task at hand with no signs that anything in particular was on her mind. She took the lead to guide them more quickly through the foliage, and kept a sharp eye and keen nose out for anything out of place. She would be glad if they found their clan so soon, though she doubted they would be so lucky.

After another hour of searching, the trio finally came to something that was different from the endless sea of trees that they were wading through. It was near the base of a fallen tree next to a river, and almost looked like a sinkhole. Although, the incline on one side was shallow enough that one could step down into it. Looking down inside, it appeared to lead into a cave. "Hmm...La'khay can not smell the scent of lycans near the entrance, but...do you think we should investigate? We don't know what precautions they are taking."

Ahnasha nodded in understanding. "I'll have to let you make that choice. It's not really my place to say if you should or shouldn't cut all ties with your family. This will all probably be a long ways off anyway, of we get the chance for it, but we should starting thinking about how you're actually going to go about doing this. As I said, it probably isn't best to meet them in the city. There's just too many ways that can go wrong. Is there any time that you can think of where we could meet them outside the city? Maybe sometime that you know for sure they would be traveling?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Goodnight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

La'khay started to chuckle and shook her head lightly. "Normal? No, it isn't normal. But, La'khay isn't normal either, and she doesn't really care what is. This one would suggest that you not expect any other girl to want the same things as La'khay. But, this one does not think there is anything wrong with who she is. You are of age, and if you want to do it, then you do it. Others like Do'ajee would disagree, but La'khay doesn't care. That one never has any fun; just enjoy yourself."

"Hmm, it's not like we're lacking for swords, but you might want to think about the...symbolism of that gesture." Ahnasha answered. She looked down at the sword and ran her hand across its pommel. It was a finely made weapon, certainly, but the quality of the craftsmanship did not really matter for this particular question. "Maybe it's just me, but I would see that as saying that you are leaving behind your family. You know, since you're giving back something that represents them. It could mean that you're...letting go of that part of your life or something. Maybe that's what you want to do. If so, then I would say give it up. If you still want to try to keep a connection with them, I'd say to keep it. I mean, I could be wrong on all accounts, but that's just what I would see in it."

Another thought came to Ahnasha's mind as she thought about Fendros' family. Specifically, their encounter with his siblings in the Imperial City. "Oh, and some more advice. I would try not to reveal the fact that you met up with your siblings before, and especially that you've been writing to your sister. You wouldn't want to bring any of your parents' wrath down on them."