EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The four spearmen ran to S'nishi's aid, though it was not particularly needed at this point. S'nishi had her opponent pinned, and with her lycan strength, there was no getting up for him. Once she managed to sink her teeth into his throat, she was able to finish him off quickly. Though, she did not get away without injury. In their struggle, much of the armor on her left side and neck had been stripped away, and she now had two large gashes where his silver-tipped teeth had cut across her shoulder. She would survive, but was now much more vulnerable to injury.

With the phalanx broken, and most of its members dead at Meesei's hands, the momentum of the battle had rapidly shifted. The enemy that Gallus' frontline had been fighting were now routed to the point that they no longer had any frontline to speak of. Gallus' forces would be able to push forward almost without resistance, and would easily be able to flank the enemy stalling Ri'vashi. It was a victory that could quite possibly lead to them capturing the entire courtyard.

Peiter was tasked with helping Uthri, but he was not faring much better. He knew what had happened, and it brought the horrific nature of the battle into clear focus for him. This was what he had feared going into the battle, and if it could happen to Irenya, what would stop it from happening to anyone else? The only thing keeping him somewhat sane was that he was forcing himself not to look at Irenya. "Uthri, we...need to move."

Meesei simply walked back into her allied lines as she drank her next magicka potion. Even after the spell dissipated, the ground on which she walked was coated in a fine layer of ice. It was not her preferred element of destruction, but it was what was needed in the moment, even if it did sap her of all her energy. She would need to be conservative until her potion could restore her magicka. She shouted orders to her pack, and the rest of her men, to get back up onto the wall to push towards the keep. They still had a plan to follow, and with her forces split, progress on the wall itself had stalled. They were far behind Ra'jorr's group on the opposite side, who looked as if they were closing in on the keep's west entrance.

Perhaps mercifully, Ahnasha had not seen what happened to Irenya, and as soon as she was back to her feet, she was focused on getting herself back into the fight. She conjured up a bow, then started to make her way back up to the wall where she would be the most useful. As she was running to the stairs, she spotted a transformed werelion that had evidently been killed by one of the Senche-raht. Without so much as a second thought, she cast a spell to reanimate the body. A lycan fighting without concern for its own safety could be incredibly fearsome, but it did not cross her mind how horrible it might seem to the lycan's friends to see her body reanimated through necromancy.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Already wounded and disoriented, the Senche-raht could not react quickly to the combined attacks arrayed against him. His legs were already both frozen with ice, and burning in pain when Gallus' hammer found its mark on his rear leg. Unable to keep his balance, he finally collapsed to the ground. He tried swatting back at Gallus, but with his wounded eye, his swing was inaccurate. He was left entirely open for Uthri to start disemboweling his stomach, with Peiter doing the same shortly afterwards. Ice spikes from Sabine started to punch more holes in his other side when they found their way to weaker parts of his armor. Between them all, he had already lost enough blood to fill a Human, and every attempt at resistance he gave became weaker and weaker. While still dangerous to those immediately around him, he would not be getting up again, and he would likely bleed out soon.

Despite the Senche-raht's defeat, it would be immediately clear to anyone that saw her that there was nothing that could be done for Irenya. She had been hit by the Khajiit's full might, and it showed in the damage to her remains. Irenya was dead, and the only consolidation was that it appeared to have been an instant death.

Meesei, meanwhile, did not react at all to Fendros. Her concentration on her spell was absolute, and it was uncertain if she had even heard him at all. The frost spell she was charging was, evidently, intensely powerful, as it had enough energy behind it to make Fendros feel cold just standing beside it. Finally, after a preparation even more difficult than the ritual she had just performed minutes ago, she walked out from behind Fendros and set her sights on the phalanx below. She seemed to be having difficulty even just walking a few feet, let alone keeping the magicka of her spell coherent. Taking in another deep breath, and with an even more strained expression, her other arm erupted in lightning, which she released quickly in the form of bolt escape. In an instant, she blinked as a veritable bolt of lightning from her position on the wall, straight into the heart of the enemy phalanx. She shocked and stunned each of the soldiers she passed through, though that was only a side-effect of her plan.

"What the-" One of the soldiers began, but he scarcely had time to even look at Meesei before she released her blizzard spell. It was a whirlwind of ice and frost that cut through any physical defense, down to their very bones. At its center, directly next to Meesei, the enemy soldiers had no hope of escape. Small shards of ice cut into any small opening in their armor, while the cold itself started freezing the water inside their very bodies, causing massive internal bleeding. The fact that their formation had been so tight meant that most of them had nowhere to run. Those at the edges of the phalanx could get away, but with their formation broken, the momentum of the fight had very abruptly turned against them.

Meesei's spell had been no more powerful than a blizzard from any other master mage, but rather, its most exceptional attribute was that she had charged it in such a way to allow herself to cast another spell simultaneously. It was a demonstration of one of the new abilities Meesei had mentioned attaining in a previous conversation. Of course, to accomplish the feat drained her almost entirely of magic. This would be another of her magicka potions spent.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Hearing a loud growl of pain after Gallus' knife found its mark, the other Senche-raht tried to break away to provide help, but S'nishi was able to keep him firmly in place. She reared up on her hind legs, then threw her full weight onto him, knocking him on his side. While the werelions helping her did what they could to try and wound his legs, S'nishi clawed and snapped at his throat. Though, her opponent was not going to give up without a fight. With his front legs, he clawed at S'nishi as well, and ended up biting down at the top of her shoulder. Even his jaws could not bite through steel, but he was ripping the bindings holding the armor to her body.

Meanwhile, Gallus' directions were enough to give Peiter focus. He stuck close with Gallus, trying to stay out of the massive beast's newly restricted line of sight. The fact that he wielded a polearm meant that he could attempt to attack from a reasonably safe distance, but the Senche-raht's legs were armored, primarily with mail. He aimed for what he assumed was the knee (though it was actually the ankle, in a digitigrade creature), but his thrust struck high. He had enough force behind him to penetrate the armor, though only an inch or two, which was not a great deal on this particular opponent. At the same time, Irenya let loose another wave of frost magic towards the two legs on the far side from Peiter and Gallus. Ice crystals were starting to form on his legs, which were visibly bleeding by this point.

Ahnasha had ripped away enough of the Senche-raht's armor to start tearing into his flesh. She had started ripping into the back of his neck, and might have been able to finish him off, but she was quite unexpectedly interrupted. From the center of the phalanx, just beyond the frontline, several glass bottles were thrown, towards both of the enemy Senche-raht. They were each about a quarter filled with a blue liquid, but as soon as the bottles shattered, they erupted into clouds of blue gas. One of them broke against the side of the Senche-raht, directly beneath Ahnasha. The moment she took in a breath of the gas, she knew exactly what it was. As quickly as she could, Ahnasha jumped down to try to get clear of danger, though her body was already starting to shift back into its normal form. Before the battle, Sabine had prepared some potions to resist the suppression gas, and Ahnasha had taken one, but unfortunately, it seemed that potion was no longer effective against their enemy's new formula.

The Senche-raht's wounds were taking their toll on him, but he was not dead yet. While he could not see Gallus and Peiter, there was one threat he could see dead ahead of him: Irenya. With Ahnasha finally off of his back, he knew that, as a mage, her attacks were now the biggest threat to him. With singular purpose, the Senche-raht took off in a charge towards her. They were all fairly close, so he did not have much ground to cover, and there was nothing Uthri could do to stop his momentum. Irenya just barely managed to dive out of the way of a fearsome swipe from his massive claws, but as she was on the ground, trying to scramble to her feet, he followed through with another. His paw did not hit at an angle, or off center, nor did his claws simply graze her. It was a direct hit to hear head and upper torso, led with his claws, that smashed her at full force straight into the ground.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Though the situation was still grim, Gallus' men were reinforced quickly. Coming down the ladders, Lorag led the charge against the phalanx, flanking them to relieve pressure from their allies' near-broken frontline. Apart from Lorag himself, all of those taking the lead in the attack wielded shields to help at least keep them protected from the intimidating line of spears. Without being able to match their reach, it would be difficult to get any sort of breakthrough, and even with the additional pressure they were providing, Gallus' frontline soldiers would not last long. Lorag did not have a spear, but his hammer could be almost as useful in this particular situation. His suit of steel could stop the thrust of a spear entirely, and a single swing of his hammer could knock aside all of the spears he was running into in order to prevent them from landing any precise thrusts against his joints. As soon as he did, he brought his hammer around and swung for the closest hostile in the phalanx. Their tower shields offered a lot of coverage, but a full-force hammer strike from someone like Lorag could still potentially break the arm of the person holding it. Unfortunately, for anyone he injured, there was another right behind them to take their place.

Among those who stormed down from the walls to reinforce Gallus were Ra'kalesh and Do'ajee. While Do'ajee was armored in mail and wielding a fairly standard shield and spear, Ra'kalesh's armaments were most peculiar, in that he was not armed at all. His armor was mostly light cloth and leather, apart from two steel vambraces covering his forearms. He had a shield, but it was on his back, so he did not appear to even be using it at the moment. Kaleeth was running alongside them, and was not sure what to expect from him. However, once he reached the phalanx, he demonstrated rather quickly. One of the enemy soldiers, expecting an easy kill, thrust his spear directly for him. But, with a swift, deft movement, Ra'kalesh parried away the spear with one of his vambraces, then, with his free hand, grabbed a hold of the spear's haft. Before his opponent could react, he grabbed the weapon with his other hand as well, then pulled upwards and pushed forwards, jamming the blunt end of the spear into his opponent's throat. Unfortunately, with the rest of the phalanx around him for protection, none of Ra'kalesh's allies could follow through for the kill without being stopped. With her mace being as short-ranged as it was, Kaleeth particularly could not help, but it did inspire her with an idea.

Kaleeth stood at the edge of the enemy spearmen's range on the frontline, guarding with her spear. She could not attack them, but they could, and were, attacking her. However, once she was confident enough in her prediction of an enemy's thrust, she suddenly let go of her mace and grabbed a hold of an enemy's spear, just as Ra'kalesh had. While not nearly as graceful as him, she was able to use pure brute force to yank the weapon out of his hands. Unfortunately, Do'rhajul's elite troops were well-trained enough to know that they could not match a lycan in a contest of strength, so he simply let go of his spear and allowed another in the phalanx to take his place. Had he not, she likely would have pulled him straight to the ground.

From the center of their lines, more reinforcements came in the form of the Senche-raht, S'nishi. Though she had been in the thick of the fighting, the only scratches the massive Khajiit had received were to her armor. Those that Gallus had ordered to handle the other Senche-raht were not faring particularly well, so she made that one her priority. Having to run around her allied soldiers gave the Senche-raht enough time to see her coming, so he was able to turn to meet her head-on, but as a lycan, S'nishi still had the definite advantage in strength.

While Peiter was at a complete loss for what he could do against such a powerful opponent, Irenya followed Gallus' order immediately. She opened with a frost storm across the Senche's legs, then a stream of ice right at its feet. The mail and metal plates that the massive Khajiit was armored with were effective against physical damage, but there were some types of magic for which armor was ineffective. An ice storm, which could simply seep in between gaps in the armor without any precise aiming, was among those spells. If she could disable its legs, then there would be little it could do to harm them. Meanwhile, Sabine's ice spear found its mark straight in the Senche-raht's side. It hit mail, rather than metal plate, so the powerful spell was indeed able to pierce directly through. Unfortunately, its effect was likely far less than Sabine desired. A Senche-raht simply had so much mass that, unless it was precisely aimed at a vital area, a single attack could simply not hope to bring it down. The ice spear had caused it to bleed, and may have even caused some organ damage, but in the short-term, the Khajiit was still fighting just as effectively.

Ahnasha, however, managed to be a bit more disruptive. Not wanting to waste her transformation just yet, she decided to make use of the advantages it provided. The Senche-raht, identifying Irenya as the biggest immediate threat, started to rush towards her, but was interrupted when Ahnasha made a running leap onto his back. She did not expect to be able to hold on forever, but as long as she could stay on his back, she would do what she could to tear away pieces of armor to get at the flesh underneath.

For Meesei, she did not go anywhere immediately, but rather stayed next to Fendros and the other archers, holding her hand close to her chest. She had dispelled her lightning form, and was instead beginning a new spell in her hand. It was not lightning, as usual, but rather had the characteristic mist of frost. However, whatever spell she was charging, it was doing so very slowly. "I will deal with the phalanx. Just...make sure they do not target me. This will not be easy." She said quickly to Fendros. By the tone of her voice, it was clear that she was having to place an immense amount of focus into her spell.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Since the hostiles guarding the gatehouse had nowhere to which they could escape, they fought to the last man. It took some time, but they were surrounded by Gallus and Meesei's forces, and killed. On the western wall, Ra'jorr's group was having similar success, allowing them to have three flanks on the courtyard. Although, from the keep, more soldiers were pouring both into the courtyard, and onto the walls, so there was certainly going to be more resistance.

Once the walls were cleared, Peiter and Irenya regrouped with Gallus, then moved back to the courtyard to help try to break the stalemate. Gallus was ordered to their right flank to help attempt to break through there. Their resistance was much stronger, and more organized than what they had faced at the gatehouse, but Meesei's group was advancing more quickly along the wall, so they would soon be in a position to flank them. Unfortunately, the enemy had a surprise in mind that would complicate their plans, in the form of of the fortress' most skilled guardians.

Using the buildings to hide their advance until the last moment, Do'rhajul's elite troops sounded a horn, prompting the frontline that Gallus' men were fighting to suddenly retreat. It would give them the opportunity to try to outflank the enemy's center, had the counterattack not came just as quickly. From the alleys between the buildings, the elite troops stormed forward in a phalanx formation with heavy shields and armor, and silver-tipped spears. Their attack would have been damaging enough by itself, but the biggest threat came seconds beforehand. Without warning, two Senche-raht quite literally appeared in front of Gallus' ranks. The enemy had evidently used spells of invisibility to cloak the two massive Khajiit, which, while it would have taken a considerable expenditure of magicka, made their attack all the more devastating. They were not quite as heavily armored as the allied Senche, but they were obviously well-trained, and even had silver caps fitted over the largest of their teeth capable of delivering an almost unnecessary amount of damage. To Gallus' left and right, the Senche-raht barreled through at least three ranks of his men, crushing and tossing them aside. Then, only seconds later, the enemy phalanx clashed with what remained of their front.

Meesei witnessed the sudden attack, but as distressing as it was, she was at least in a position to do something about it. They had been able to advance more quickly than those in the courtyard, so her forces were in a position to flank the enemy. She ordered some of her force to continue pushing along the wall towards the keep, then turned to her own pack and those she had told to stay with her. "We have to help them! Get down the stairways and contest their right flank. Archers, form a firing line on the wall and try to disrupt their phalanx with arrows from elevation. If that fails, shift focus to the Senche-raht."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The Altmer officer, while a skilled mage, was not the most competent in melee combat, and coupled with her injury, she could not make an effective defense. Even as she tried to conjure a bound blade, Gallus' dagger found its mark in her lightly armored chest. Unfortunately, the loss of their officer did not cause the remaining soldiers at the gatehouse to falter any in terms of their cohesion. They had orders and training, so they would fight all the same. At the very least, Gallus' force did not have to be quite so aggressive in their attack any longer, as those defending the gatehouse seemed to have given up on trying to use the oil pots, and were instead focused solely on the battle at hand.

Peiter, perhaps unintentionally, was staying close to Gallus. Though they were on the attack, his method of fighting was primarily defensive. He tended to stay farther back and wait for openings to use his halberd from a distance. If an enemy wanted to attack him, they had to advance farther forward than usual. Irenya, meanwhile, was keeping him, and those around them, as protected as possible. She stayed behind Peiter and looked for any hostile that looked like they were going to gain any advantage over her allies, then used destruction to keep them back, or kill them entirely.

On the far wall, on the other side of the gatehouse, Meesei's group was quickly making their way up the ladders. They were not yet encountering as much resistance as Gallus' or especially Ri'vashi's forces, so they had the opportunity to place themselves in strategic positions. Meesei had held her own by herself until the others could make it up onto the wall. The enemy archers had their arrows deflected away by telekinesis, while any who wanted to close the gap were kept back by a frightening array of spells. Fendros was up with her shortly, and Ahnasha was not far behind. Though, seeing as she was in lycan form, Ahnasha did not take the ladder. Rather, she climbed up the same scaffolding she had used before, then jumped onto the wall directly next to the enemy. She had already latched her jaws down on one of the archers' throats before they saw her and desperately tried to draw their blades.

As the rest of Meesei's pack made it up onto the wall, she ordered one of her other officers to bring part of her force along the wall towards the gatehouse to provide support for Gallus and his men by crushing the enemy between them. Meanwhile, Meesei and her pack would lead the way towards the keep to secure the eastern wall, and flank the enemy that Ri'vashi's force had started to stall against.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Ssarak was ready to go on the attack. He had already started shifting his mace back into the form of a sword to better deal with the mage. But, just as he was about to take action, the man suddenly collapsed to the ground. He had not seen any of the others attack him, but yet he was seemingly lifeless on the ground, for no discernible reason. Ssarak supposed that one of the others could have harmed him in some way before he arrived, but he did not have enough information to go on for the moment.

Regardless, as Ssarak looked around the area, he saw no other threats. Whatever misfortune had befallen Lyn's hunt was, it seemed, over. Now that he could afford the time, Ssarak devoted his attention to Meirin. He put away his shield and sheathed his blade before walking up to her. Just moments prior, he had been a fearsome warrior, roaring like a ferocious animal to instill fear in his enemy, but in an instant, he had become gentle enough to place his armored hand on her shoulder with her hardly being able to feel its weight. With his free hand, he reached up, pulled off his helmet, and held it under his arm. "Are you alright, Mei? Were you harmed in the fight? What happened here?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Coming up to the wall with the others, they were still obscured by the mist. Though, at the base of the wall, they could just manage to see to its top. Ahnasha looked at Janius, but before she could speak up, she saw silhouettes moving on the wall above. "I'll tell you later. We need to move!"

"Yes, get onto the wall, hurry." Meesei said as she climbed onto the first ladder that Kaleeth raised. "We need to quickly clear this side of the wall and secure our flank."

As she made it about halfway up the ladder, Meesei saw one of the silhouettes stop at the top of it. In the mist, the archers could only fire randomly in the hopes of hitting something, but on a ladder, it did not matter whether or not they could see their targets. Meesei saw the bow starting to draw back, aimed directly at her, so she decided to accelerate her ascent. Now that she was at least partially up the ladder, she was close enough for her bolt escape spell to bring her the rest of the way. As a mass of lightning, Meesei bolted upwards, straight through the archer. The electricity stunned him and caused his arrow to fly off randomly into the mist, while Meesei ended up directly behind him on the wall. As soon as her feet touched the wall, she turned around and kicked the archer off of it. Most of the attention of the defenders was on the front gate, so the majority of them had not yet noticed them scaling the walls. But, since a few of them had already seen the ladders, that information would quickly spread.

Peiter and Irenya split off from Gallus once they were close enough to the gatehouse. Since they were running into warriors, rather than mages, Peiter moved in front of Irenya with his shield raised, and his halberd held high. Among their enemies at the gatehouse, most were archers who had switched to their swords, so there were only a few who seemed properly equipped for close quarters fighting. Peiter saw one of the other lycans in their group clashing with one of those warriors, and decided to help. He charged forward with his polearm aimed for the his opponent's heart, though he telegraphed perhaps too much, as his enemy had plenty of time to move his shield to deflect his halberd. Fortunately for Peiter, his ally took the opportunity to thrust in his own spear for far deadlier effect. Even if Peiter did not land the killing blow, he supposed it was only the end result that mattered.

For Gallus, his thrown spear was not immediately lethal, but it was not entirely off its mark. The Altmer had been forced to attempt to dodge. Not only did it prevent her from being able to stop Gallus' advance, but the spear hit her arm, and cut a large gash across it. The wound was deep, and while the spear had hit at too much of an angle to impale it, her arm was disfigured to the point of being useless. Blood poured from the wound, and while she still used her good arm to throw a fireball in Gallus' direction, it was not particularly well-aimed.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha grunted and growled as the arrow was being removed, but her werewolf form at least had good pain tolerance. For the average person, it was better to leave an arrow in the body in the short term to prevent excessive bleeding, but the regenerative properties of lycan physiology made them somewhat different. If the arrow was not silver, then their bodies would be able to heal fairly quickly, so it was better to simply remove it to allow the healing to take place. If it was silver, then they would not heal nearly as quickly, but the arrowhead would also be doing more harm by staying in the body. In either case, removing the arrow was preferred.

Reaching behind her back, Ahnasha felt of the wound to see how much it was bleeding. She looked at her hand for a moment, then grunted and shook her head. "I'll be fine. Best to save it. Let's hurry, we need to find Meesei and the others. They should almost be to the wall by now."

While Uthri was leading a group of soldiers to eliminate the archers on the wall, towards where Ra'jorr's forces would be scaling the wall, the rest of Gallus' pack, along with a healthy complement of soldiers, was advancing on the gatehouse. A few arrows from the archers were fired towards them, but they were not terribly effective. Many of those attacking with Gallus at the very least had heavier armor, or at the very least, shields. A full volley would certainly have done some damage, but in close range, the archers could not coordinate it. Those with arrows already nocked could fire, but they all had to quickly switch to their sidearms to deal with a close-quarters threat. There were some properly-equipped warriors at the gatehouse, but they were outnumbered by Gallus' force.

While the archers would not be as effective at close range, the enemy mages would not be nearly as limited. Though, the same was true of both sides. As soon as they were within sight of the gatehouse, Irenya and some of the other mages cast explosive fireballs and clouds of ice towards the oil pots to hopefully further delay their use. The Altmer officer, however, had her sights on an important target as well. She had witnessed Gallus giving orders, so she aimed an ice spike straight towards him. While his shield coupld protect him, if he managed to block it, Irenya was not one to take chances. She saw the Altmer charging the spell, and since she was on the frontline with Gallus, it was only a quick movement to get in front of him with a ward raised.

Irenya's ward successfully absorbed the incoming spell, though for Peiter, it also gave him an idea. While afraid to be fighting on the frontline like this, his training was keeping him focused. While mages were threatening them at a distance, the archers were putting away their bows. So, they just needed protection from magical projectiles. Stepping up beside Gallus, he held his halberd over Irenya's shoulder. "Irenya, you can advance in front." He suggested. He could push his halberd through Irenya's ward from behind, so he and Gallus could try to take down the Altmer officer while Irenya protected them from her spells.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I was just about to head to bed as well. Goodnight.