EliteCommander

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

<Snipped quote by cqbexpt>

He'd have to get through Grey first, likely.

@Freeshooter92

Grey and Ssarak. He may have a hard time biting through that particular wall of steel.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ra'jorr turned his head back to check behind them before he spoke, though the soldiers were not close to being near enough to hear them, and had shown no signs of moving. "Whether or not we give them food will likely not matter. In the desert, water is first and foremost concern. If we give them just barely enough water to complete the journey, they will not follow us. A soldier of Anequina would know how to survive in the desert, so they would be very familiar with the limitations of water. They would know that to follow us would mean their deaths, and Ra'jorr does not believe their orders would be enough to motivate them to a pointless death."

"Hopefully so." Meesei commented. "And even if they do decide to follow us, they would be dooming themselves to dehydration. So, as unfortunate as it would be, we would still not be in danger. We just need to decide the point at which we are going to force them to leave. Too close to the city and we will not have enough time to put distance between us, but too far and it increases the chances that a delay in their pace could kill them."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Goodnight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

In the time it had taken for the majority of the soldiers to leave, Meesei had been thinking on how to deal with the soldiers. The clan had much more numerous, and more capable warriors than agent Lunice knew, so once they were far enough away, the soldiers would essentially be at their mercy. Meesei considered Gallus' suggestion, though she was not convinced that it would work, based on the behavior of the Thalmor agent.

"If the behavior of that Thalmor is any indication, that may not be enough. Even if they were actually taken by the desert, and all evidence pointed to it being an accident, I fear Lunice, or someone with her disposition would blame us regardless. Personally, I do not believe there would be any advantage in killing them, or allowing them to be killed through other means. Whether we allow them to live, or they do not report in, there would be a hunt for us regardless. But, the Orcrest clan's stronghold is well hidden, and we can give misdirection as to our actual destination. Perhaps we should simply allow them to live? If we gather all of our warriors together we can make it abundantly clear to them that they do not have the strength to force us to follow their commands. We could pick a point along our path, give them just enough supplies to make it to Orcrest, then move on in a different direction. We will likely have to take a longer path to the clan, but our tracks will be covered by the sands in a day or two's time, so we could avoid being followed." Meesei suggested.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Going through the questioning of the patrol was not a particularly pleasant experience, but it allowed them to get through this encounter without any unnecessary violence. The sooner they could be rid of the majority of the soldiers, the sooner they could put as much distance between them as possible. The clan would need to be careful about their words around their escorting soldiers, at least until they decided what to do about them.

Ri'nakhad shook his head as Lunice was readying to leave. "No, agent Lunice, This one is afraid there is not. He wishes there was more he could tell you to help bring the slavers to justice. We know only what we have told you. They may be targeting the nomadic tribes, so that could be a place to begin. But...thank you for your understanding."

Once Lunice and their soldiers finally started to leave, Ri'nakhad headed back to the rest of the clan with Meesei, Ra'jorr, and Gallus. With how long the encounter had taken, it was time for them to set up camp for the night, which was the order that Ra'jorr gave. The four moved away from the Dominion soldiers, towards the other side of camp before Ri'nakhad spoke up quietly. "Well, this one supposes we should discuss what to do about them."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ra'jorr avoided returning Lunice's glare, and managed to maintain at least the illusion of respectfulness in his response. "If you require a fine as compensation for their actions, we can pay it. It would be fitting that the gold we have acquired be put to good use within the Dominion." He answered. Although gold was always a useful resource, they did not have particular need of what they were carrying at the moment. The gold they had recovered from the slavers was no small amount, and likely would be able to cover the fine, but it was not much compared to what the Orcrest clan would have available.

Again, Ri'nakhad gave a simple nod to Lunice. "There are no fugitives among Ri'nakhad's clan, and the others are simply victims of those vile slavers. We would be glad to be accompanied by your men; it would bring great comfort to this one's people to know that there are professional soldiers among us. Ri'nakhad has no issue allowing Orcrest's authorities to perform whatever processing is required, especially if it helps bring those slavers to justice." He answered. Given that the clan was perfectly capable of overwhelming even the full force of soldiers present, there was not much worry that the soldiers would be able to stop them if they decided to divert from Lunice's plan. He would simply need to discuss with the Champion on whether or not they would go through with the processing.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ri'nakhad nodded respectfully as he listened to agent Lunice's question. It was not a question they had specifically planned to answer, but it was not difficult for him to come up with a believable excuse. "We would have, but you have to understand that we are far from our home. Ri'nakhad's tribe never ranged this far north. We did not know where to find your outposts, or your guard houses. And, we were afraid to go searching through the forest. We did not know if the slavers in the stolen armor were still in the area, or if they would be returning. We were already frightened just to stay with the ship for as long as we did. This one intended to report the slavers as soon as we reached our territory north of Orcrest. Ri'nakhad knows who he can trust there."

Once Ri'nakhad finished speaking, Ra'jorr decided to give a comment on another matter the agent had mentioned previously. His amulet lit up, projecting its ghostly voice. "In speaking of the slaver imposters, Ra'jorr would like to apologize on the behalf of his scouts. When they saw the soldiers trailing us, they were frightened that the slavers had discovered our escape and were tracking us. The arrows they fired were meant as warning shots, but Ra'jorr reprimanded them all the same. After all we have been through, they were simply afraid."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Being both an Elsweyr native, and the least threatening among them, Ri'nakhad was the one to answer the Thalmor agent. Despite her agitation, he spoke calmly, but with signs of the fatigue that an old man in his supposed position would be feeling. "This one is Ri'nakhad. This is his good friend Ra'jorr, and their names are Meesei and Gallus. The ships you found, you are correct in saying it is where we came from, and you are also correct that they were slave ships. We were the slaves. Most of those you see here are members of Ri'nakhad's tribe. This one can assure you that he is not immigrating, for he and his tribe has lived here their entire lives." He explained, switching to Ta'agra for his final statement. His accent was unmistakably indicative of an Elsweyr native.

"Our territory ranges between the Oases to the north of Orcrest." Ri'nakhad continued. "It was there that we were taken by the slavers, with hardly a chance to resist. They wore armor just like the soldiers you have with you; stolen, in all likelihood. They approached our camp and requested that we consent to a search. They claimed that they were on a manhunt for a fugitive that had escaped from Orcrest. We had never had any problems with Anequina's soldiers, so gladly consented, but...it was a ruse. They took hostages before our warriors could even raise their weapons, and demanded our surrender. We agreed, and were taken captive. They brought us northeast, to those ships you found, and loaded us aboard like...livestock. The ones who took us, the impersonators, they left us with another group, mostly Dunmer. We can only guess that they intended to bring us to Morrowind, but we were saved by the actions of Ra'jorr, and his warriors."

Ri'nakhad gestured to the Pahmar-raht beside him. "He is the war chief of our sister tribe. His scouts found the slavers as they were taking us, and without hesitation, he brought as many of his warriors as he could spare to come to our rescue. He followed us all the way to the ships, waited until most of the slavers had left, then boarded she ships to free us. The others with us, the non-Khajiit, they were already captives aboard the ships when we were taken on board. From the stories this one has heard, they were taken from many places. Some from Anequina, some from elsewhere. After we captured the ships and dumped the bodies, we stayed for a few days. There were some disagreements, but most of us, aside from a group of Argonians who headed east to...Bravil, this one thinks, decided it would be best for us all to stay together. This one agreed to take them to Orcrest. We trade with the city, and know people who could help them get back to their homes. Ri'nakhad knows it was not the nearest city, but the slavers had enough supplies on their ships to make the journey." He explained, briefly glancing back towards the clan. "Unfortunately...an excess of clothing was not among those supplies."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei looked over each of the soldiers as they drew closer. They were all well-armed, and well-armored. Much of their equipment was made from the light, but strong moonstone alloys commonly used in Elven armor, but in a Khajiit style. Their horses, and even the Senche possessed similar armor, making the group an effective cavalry force. At their head was a small group of elves: Thalmor, in all likelihood. The Elves possessed even greater quality equipment, apart from the one who appeared to be the leader. In Meesei's experience, that identified her as likely being a mage. Overall, the soldiers were cautious in their approach, but also seemed to be confident. The force that Ra'jorr had gathered to met them on top of the dune was of equivalent size to theirs, but unbeknownst to the soldiers, they were still far outnumbered. The majority of the clan's warriors were still among the clan itself, and of course, they did not know of their lycanthropy. If the worst came to pass, the mounted soldiers would not have the speed advantage they would be expecting.

The soldiers eventually stopped a fair distance away, but close enough that the Thalmor's shout could be easily heard and translated for Meesei and Gallus. Naturally, she wanted to speak to their leadership, which was an encouraging development, at least. It meant that they did have the option of resolving this diplomatically. Meesei and the others had come to the decision beforehand that they would not present themselves as having only a single leader. Instead, Ri'nakhad would act as the leader of the captured Khajiit tribe, Ra'jorr the leader of the Khajiit rescuers, and both Meesei and Gallus as the representatives of the other captives that the slavers had taken. As such, all four of them began to step forward. Meesei made a point of helping Ri'nakhad walk down the relatively steep dune as they approached the Thalmor. Making one of them appear as more of a helpless old man would hopefully make them all seem less threatening.

Once they were standing before the Thalmor woman, Ri'nakhad was the first to speak. "Greetings. We are the ones who represent these people." He said in Cyrodilic, for the sake of Meesei and Gallus.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It's time for me to get to bed. Goodnight.