EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ri'nakhad ran a claw through his mane, attempting to contemplate all of the angles of their plan. The Champion would be in the most direct and immediate danger, given that she would be the one that was face-to=face with them. However, he had faith in both her abilities and her judgment, so that was not the aspect of the plan which most concerned him. "Well, just at this one's first impressions with the plan, something could go wrong if they have any suspicion of our motives. We have not approached them in any meaningful way for as long as they have been with us, so calling them all together for an announcement could alert them. Perhaps we should wait until they bring themselves together on their own."

"They do all sleep in the same area." Ra'jorr commented. "If we get to them before breakfast, they should all be in one place. We will just have to warn the warriors to ready themselves discretely in the morning, and inform the other members of the clan nearby that they should back away once the confrontation begins. And, of course, we have to spread the word without alerting the soldiers."

Meesei nodded. It seemed as if the plan would come together if they could settle that final detail. "In that case, the last issue to address is how to ensure the clan knows what to do. Will it be possible to spread that information without it reaching the soldiers?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Goodnight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Hmm, I doubt they would believe any lie we could tell them that would involve us not going immediately to Orcrest." Meesei answered. In truth, she doubted that anything they could say, true or false, would give the Dominion much of a positive impression of them. The soldiers themselves might appreciate their decision to spare them, but the bureaucracy they would report to would be largely emotionless in its pursuit of its perceived fugitives. Hopefully, it would not matter in the end. If they could avoid the initial search, identifying them later on would be difficult. It would take time for any information about them to move to cities beyond Orcrest, and even then, they would likely only need to use aliases. It was not as if every guard in the Dominion could memorize the physical description of every known fugitive, and even if they could, the descriptions alone would likely be too generic to prove their identities.

Since lying was not likely to be beneficial, Meesei decided she would rather be at least partially open about their intentions. "I believe I will be honest. I will say that we do not intend to go to Orcrest, and that we will let them leave with enough supplies to get to safety. It would be best if I personally confront them and explain the situation. I would be the one most likely to be able to escape them without harm, if the encounter turns to violence. I do fully expect them to resist in some form, but hopefully it will remain a verbal argument, rather than a physical one. How should we go about forcing their surrender? I believe we need a sufficient show of force to deter a violent response, but I do not want to directly threaten them if it is not necessary."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei was glad to hear that the soldiers still seemed oblivious. After keeping up the ruse for so long, the last thing they needed to do was to slip up in the final day. When Gallus suggested gathering together the soldiers, Ri'nakhad gave an uncertain expression as well as looking up at the sky with a frown.

"If this one may, perhaps we should go through with this confrontation in the morning, rather than now. It would give us time to get word to the warriors we will need, and it will let us put distance between us and the soldiers much sooner." Ri'nakhad suggested.

Meesei nodded in agreement. "That is a fair point. I would rather not wait around in camp immediately after forcing them to leave. Confronting them in the morning will allow us to leave immediately. That just leaves the matter of how to go about confronting them. We want to make it abundantly clear that we have more than enough power to kill them, but I would still like to give off the impression that we do not want to kill them. One of the potential advantages of this approach is that they will be able to give their account of what happened with us. If the soldiers give the impression that we are not a militant group, the Dominion may be less driven to pursue us. What do you think we could tell them that would give us some advantage?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

By the next morning, the sandstorm had subsided, so the clan packed up to get moving just as normal. Although, it did take longer to brush away the sand covering the tents, and anything that had been left outside. Their Dominion escort packed their belongings just as quickly, and followed along without a word. Just as before, they did not interact with the clan in any meaningful way, apart from observing them. Even so, the side of the clan nearest to the soldiers was much quieter than it had been during their last few days of walking.

Traversing the desert sands did become marginally easier over the next week, due to their growing experience with the issues it presented. The Humans and Elves were still being sunburned, but it was at least starting to take longer thanks to the tan they were developing. After a few days, the clan was able to mostly relax around the soldiers, though they still rarely spoke to one another directly. In general, the soldiers were respectful to the clan, even if there were more than a few occasions of some of the soldiers, particularly the men, giving long stares to some of the clan's unclothed women. Otherwise, Meesei made sure to keep their scouts scanning the area behind them to be sure they were not still being followed.

After roughly a week's time, the clan was drawing near to Orcrest. They made their camp in the space between two dunes, as usual, to serve as some protection against the wind. From their current location, they would be able to reach Orcrest itself in four days, and according to Ra'jorr, it was the perfect time to confront the soldiers. Their own supplies had run out days prior, so they were now reliant on the clan's food and water. With a four day journey ahead of them, they would still need water to survive it, so they could be forced to abandon the notion following the clan. Meesei, Ri'nakhad, Ra'jorr, and Gallus all met together on the opposite side of the camp from the soldiers to have a final discussion on the details of how to enact their plan. Meesei started them off. "Okay, we should keep this brief. We do not want any of them wandering over here to overhear us. Gallus, you have been watching them for the past day, correct? Do you believe they have noticed anything unusual about us?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Alright. I was doing something for a few minutes. I'll write a response now.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Peiter looked down at the ball of light in his hand. "Um, well...I can charge magicka better than before. I think I know how to make it into restoration energy now, probably. I think I just need a bit of a review of what we went over last time; something about lifeforce, I think?"

Eyeing the dagger with a slight amount of anxiety, Peiter rubbed his neck before returning eye contact. "Say, which of us to you intend to cut with that knife?" He asked. It was not as if he was afraid of minor wounds, but he did not yet trust his own ability to control his own pain.

Ma'tanza nodded in agreement, her expression becoming more relaxed as her fears seemed to have been reaffirmed with Tzirret's answer. "Ma'tanza thinks you may be right. Fighting like that is not what Ma'tanza has been trained for. She would probably just end up getting in the way. S'nishi is a strong warrior, in every sense of the word. She has been fighting for the clan almost as long as we have been with it, and she has hardly ever been hurt. At least not badly. This one is sure she'll be fine for the attack. If the Orcrest clan is well-equipped, she'll be able to get even better armor. In sieges and other big battles, Senche are often covered in plates of metal and chainmail if they're going to be leading a charge or anything. She'll be able to help your friends, and the rest of the clan, better than Ma'tanza ever could."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Peiter grinned as well, placing his hands on Sabine’s hips as he leaned into her kiss. “Well, I suppose we couldn’t really do a sword lesson in here, and it would be nice to actually have some light.”

Slightly reluctantly, Peiter pulled back away from Sabine and sat up straight. By this point, they had been practicing long enough that Peiter could actually cast simple spells, though with no small amount of concentration. He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, then charged as much alteration energy as he could through his hand in front of him. Eventually, the magic coalesced into a stable ball of magelight. Granted, it was dimmer, and would be shorter lived than anything Sabine could create, but it did completely illuminate their small tent.

“That’s better. So, what first?” Peiter asked.

Ma’tanza nodded briefly before looking down. ”Yes, we have spoken about it. Neither of us really know what is going to be asked of us. If our clan’s warriors are joining in the attack, then S’nishi will definitely be there, but it is not so clear for Ma’tanza. This one is a combat mage and knows how to fight. She is still an apprentice to her mentor, but she has been training for years and is hardly a novice anymore. She is just as good, or even better, than some of the clan’s other combat mages. But…Ma’tanza isn’t officially one of the clan’s protectors. She never intended to fight for a living. This one may be ordered to join the fight, but she could also have a choice for what to do.”

Looking back up, Ma’tanza stared into Tzirret’s eyes with no shortage of uncertainty. ”If Ma’tanza does have a choice, what do you think she should do? Should she join S’nishi in the fight, or stay back in safety and help heal the wounded? This one knows you don’t want to decide for her, but she does want your advice.”

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

I do also acknowledge that E'docsil is not spelled correctly in my post, but it's because Ssarak was just hearing it from Grey's thoughts.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Ssarak Dyreackthanose - Catacombs

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Ssarak was at the head of the group of Naga, along with Grey, as they advanced towards the group of students. Given that the matriarch was not especially quick, Ssarak could not charge as quickly as he would have liked, but that did allow him to observe the situation they were advancing into in greater detail. His fellow students were in the thick of combat with yet another group of ridge hounds. He intended to provide relief for them, but in his current state of awareness, he was able to see when another danger presented itself. The snow elf, Aramir, stepped out an alcove and raised her bow well-above the level of the ridge hounds. It was pointed at him, or at least, at one of his allies near to him. He did not have time to think about why, or wonder if she was even going to fire. The only reaction he had was one driven by training. His shield was already raised, and he was already in the front of the group, so he was in a position that he need only move a small amount to place himself in the way of where she appeared to be aiming. As a heavily armored soldier, he had been trained to fight on the front lines, and to use his shield and the steel covering him to protect his allies from anything it could stop, such as the arrows from a shortbow. Fortunately, he also had Grey’s assistance in defending against the arrows, so he was not alone in protecting the Naga.

After the arrows stopped, Ssarak picked up on a few curious thoughts from Grey, followed by a message. ”E'docsil? A shapeshifter? Where did you see it?” He asked telepathically. However, their mental conversation was cut short by a roaring voice behind them. Not long after Aramir shouted out about Tyrael’s orders, the demonomancer himself evidently appeared behind them. However, with Grey’s warning about a shapeshifter, he attempted to prod Tyrael’s mind, and to his surprise, he did not find the powerful wards he was expecting. Rather, there were no wards at all. He could read into his thoughts, and was free to use his abilities against him. It was something that immediately lent Grey’s warning credibility, as any of the college’s teachers, especially a demonomancer, should certainly have strong wards. There were several conclusions Ssarak might have drawn from this, but Grey’s suggestion was perfectly possible. Not to mention, while Ssarak’s first glance into “Tyrael’s” mind revealed thoughts that seemed consistent, it did not make sense that Aramir, who was in front of them, would have orders from Tyrael, who was behind them.

Seeing as he had the ability, Ssarak first decided to give Grey assistance with his initial charge with a simple, but disruptive illusion in the form of an intense, bright light in the center of “Tyrael’s” vision. From there, he sent a message to all of the allies present whose minds he could access, even Baulder. ”No! that is not Tyrael, and that was not his order! It is a shapeshifter; a facsimile. Protect the Naga from the hounds, and the pretender.” He “shouted” telepathically. Of course, he did not know entirely if his words were true, but it was probable enough that he could be confident saying it. Baulder was the one who had first accepted the order from Aramir, so Ssarak stood at the front of the Naga, ready to guard against him if he refused to listen. Once he was sure that the other students would help, he could give more direct aid to Grey.