EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha shook her head to Fendros' suggestion, though she did not have any better ideas of her own. "That's no good. We'd have to jump to the scaffolding, and it could only hold one or two of us at a time. We'd be just as exposed there as anywhere else on the wall, once the enemy spotted us."

Ri'vashi's expression remained rather grim. "Hmm, a gas that just...kills us outright? That is worrying. And even if we can get outside the walls, we will be cut down by their numbers if we cannot stick together. Based on what we have seen, Ri'vashi doesn't think they have found our camp yet, but if they do, we will not be there to protect them. We need to get there, all together, before they do. But, they sabotaged the mechanism that controls the gate much more...thoroughly than Ahnasha had. It could be pulled open, but it would require a great deal of strength to do so, and we do not have any tools to give us leverage on the gates in our normal forms."

While the others were discussing ideas for escaping the fortress, Meesei had her eyes on the front gate. Her mind was muddled with pain, and the constant exertion of her healing magic, but she still had a few coherent thoughts regardless. Namely, she was thinking about the suppression gas surrounding the main gate. While it was different from the gas that had killed Ra'jorr's men, that gas had obviously been derived from the suppression gas. They were related to one another, and since Meesei's ring had granted her immunity from the lethal gas, she had no reason to believe that it would not do the same for the suppression gas. Since no one else had any ideas, she decided to give her own.

"Kaleeth..." Meesei began, beckoning for her to come closer with a pained movement of her arm. "As a werecrocodile, you could get that gate open rather easily, could you not?"

Kaleeth nodded, but seemed more confused than anything. "Um, yes but...not like this. And that gas will keep me from staying transformed; I don't see how I can help."

Meesei looked down, pulled the Ring of Hircine off of her finger, and stared at its details. "Before I fought the General, I breathed in their gas, just like all of Ra'jorr's men. My lungs felt like they were burning, as did my ring finger. I alone survived, because the ring kept hold of my soul. I see no reason to believe the ring would not have the same effect with the suppression gas."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It was difficult to tell how long it would be before Peiter would regain consciousness, but for the moment, his bleeding had been minimized. He would not die from blood loss at the moment, but there was still the matter of getting him, Meesei, and the other wounded out of the fortress. Fortunately, Ri'vashi's retaliation was decisive. She personally led the push through the enemy, towards Meesei and Gallus' packs, and when they regrouped, they had the perfect position to flank what was left of the enemy. The enemy commander called for a retreat, but with their lines breaking, it descended into a disorganized rout. While they were able to cut down most of the enemy in the courtyard, that was, unfortunately, not the last obstacle to their escape.

Once the fighting in the courtyard died down, Ri'vashi rushed over to inform the Champion of the current situation, at which point she finally saw Meesei's condition. "C-champion...by Hircine." Ri'vashi began, looking over Meesei with a rare hint of genuine fear in her expression. Meesei had her hand on Peiter, and was imbuing both him and herself with restoration energy. Though, despite Peiter's dismemberment, he was in a far more stable condition than her, due to the silver that had caused her wounds. Nevertheless, she turned her gaze upwards to look at Ri'vashi as she spoke.

It took a few seconds for Ri'vashi to regain her composure enough to continue her explanation. "Well, this...we are currently trapped in the courtyard. We held off against the enemy reinforcements that initially flanked us, as you just saw, but outside the main gates, there are even more. When they rushed in behind us, the enemy managed to close and lock down the main gate. Our archers on the walls tell Ri'vashi there are almost two hundred of them, and many of our soldiers are tired, or wounded. The walls around the fortress are tall, and it might not be safe to jump down. Even if it is, it would break apart our formation and make us easy prey for the enemy. This one would say we could just break down the front gate, but..."

Ri'vashi pointed towards the main gate, which was surrounded by the distinctive blue cloud of the suppression gas. "They have been keeping the gate surrounded by the gas. Our Senche-raht are either dead, or too wounded to break through, so at the moment, Ri'vashi does not know how to get us out of the courtyard. The enemy seem to want us trapped here."

Meanwhile, from the many shattered windows and other openings that had been blasted in the keep, a cloud of violet gas was slowly starting to seep into the courtyard. Since the gas was moving into open air, it was dispersing much more quickly, so it would take a while for it to spread. However, there seemed to be enough of it to threaten the courtyard.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I am personally surprised that you're still up. How late is it there?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Well, it's performance is much, much higher. Before, I could comfortably run Overwatch on medium at 60fps. Now, it autodetected to Ultra and runs at 150 fps.

Also, my old card couldn't run Witcher 3 at all. I'm currently running it on High. I could probably run it on the highest setting, but my other components are already running at their upper temperature limits as it is.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Though the potion had fallen near to him, Peiter did nothing with it. Due to the immense pain and blood loss he was being subjected to, he had already lost consciousness from shock. He was still alive, for now, but if he was to survive, someone else would have to find a way to help him. It was not silver that wounded him, so his bleeding could be stopped reasonably quickly by potion or spell.

Unfortunately, the pressure from the enemy meant that there was no one who could turn around to help. Seeing the Champion among their group had caused a group of enemy soldiers at least half again larger than their own to set their sights upon her. Ri'vashi had seen the weakness that this shift of focus had opened up in the enemy lines, but it would still take time for her to capitalize upon it; time that Peiter did not have.

Meesei, being unable to fight herself, could at least attempt to do something to help. Unfortunately, she was scarcely in any better shape than Peiter. From where Lorag had placed her on the ground, she started crawling in the direction of Peiter, leaving a trail of blood behind her. "Sabine! You have to...focus. You have to help Peiter...stop his bleeding."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Five degrees off of boiling an egg with it.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

My new graphics card is designed to run at 95 degrees...Celsius.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

In her current state, it probably wouldn't work. Plus, I wouldn't want to make you edit.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I'm not sure it would fit at this point.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

If 10:30 is early.

I do wish I had been more clear in my last one. I had hoped to convey that the enemy was putting pressure on them, so the others would not be able to help in time. I wanted to force Sabine to be the one to do it.