EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Though Meesei was stable enough that her heart was now beating on its own, her overall condition had only marginally improved. As much as they had tried, they could not remove all of the silver from her body. There was little question that her life was being sustained almost solely by the many regeneration potions they had given her. If they were allowed to wear off, her body would not be able to sustain itself for long.

Among most of Meesei's pack, the mood was understandably grim. They all surrounded Meesei's bedroll, but she was still entirely unresponsive. There was no way to know when, or if, she would ever regain consciousness. Even Ahnasha had a difficult time being as optimistic as Fendros was at least trying to be. "I know her bleeding is finally stopped, but...that silver. It's in her blood. I'm almost glad she's not awake, so she can't feel the pain of it. I just wish there was something we could do. Something to get that poison out of her body. It's...hard for lycans to survive that."

Kaleeth was back in her Argonian form, and sat next to Janius with her knees pulled up to her chest. She had been almost entirely silent thusfar, staring at the Ring of Hircine, which she was holding in her hand. "I...don't like having this." She finally said, albeit softly.

Lorag, meanwhile, had not taken the scowl off of his face since he had sat down. When he finally spoke up, it was in a tone that made it seem as if he were growling. "It shouldn't've been like this. She shouldn't've had to do that, when we were leavin' I mean. I saw her; had to put herself into the fight 'cause half our men were too busy soilin' their trousers to follow their orders and get out of the gate. She had to...inspire them and all that nonsense. Shouldn't've happened. Cowards, all of em! I swear, when we get back, I'm gonna find each and every one of them that held back and make sure they get what's comin' to them. Fifty lashes for all of 'em!" He shouted, though, it was not entirely likely that he would follow through on his threats. At the moment, he just needed a place to direct his rage.

It was not long after Lorag's rant that one of the healers, a slightly shorter than usual, light-furred Cathay male approached. There had been a pause in Meesei's treatment while they waited for one of the healers to finish a special potion, but now, it seemed, they were ready to resume. By his expression, he seemed nervous, but determined. "This one's apologies, but...Marcaille has finished brewing her potion. If she is right, it should help remove the silver, but we will need to treat her once more at the same time. Khajiit needs to take the Champion to our tent. We should...know within the hour if the old Breton's idea worked."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ri'vashi looked away, closing her eyes with an expression that quickly came to match Gallus'. "Then...we will save everyone we can. Ri'vashi will organize the camp's defense and direct our scouts. Just...make sure our healers have everything they need." She responded. While it was certainly important to aid the aid the healers in the current crisis, Ri'vashi's orders were mostly intended to allow Gallus to be with his friends, and his pack. Though she had lost many of those she cared about in this attack, she was in a better position to focus on doing what needed to be done in the moment.

Once Ri'vashi and the rest of her soldiers retreated into the forest, the battlefield was finally still. It was littered with corpses, both of lycans and Vile's soldiers alike, with even more within the walls of the fortress. From one perspective, the attack could have been considered a success. The enemy fortress was in ruins, destroyed on the orders of their own General. Everything that had been contained within, which Vile's followers had been building to strengthen their position in Elsweyr, was destroyed in a single day. Vile's forces experienced a severe loss of life, and the loss of their command center. But, despite what they had accomplished in the attack, there were few among the lycans who would even consider calling it a victory. There were many within the keep who had not made it out in time to escape, which, in addition to the casualties before and after, meant that nearly half of their initial force were dead or missing. General Do'rhajul had, in all likelihood, escaped, and it was unlikely that they had destroyed the knowledge of how to produce the enemy's deadly gas. As much harm as they had done to Vile's operations in the region, the war was undoubtedly going to take a strong turn for the worse in coming months.

Meanwhile, Lorag and Sabine picked up their pace as much as they could as soon as they were free from the crowd, without sacrificing Sabine's ability to heal. Even Lorag could tell that Meesei was only barely clinging to life. Her heartbeat was faint enough that he could not personally feel it with his hands, and her breaths were worryingly irregular and shallow. With as much blood as she had lost, some of the color had drained from her face and hands, so Lorag was determined to get her to the healers as quickly as they could. In fact, they were able to make it back to camp before the others could even find a usable stretcher.

Thanks to those who had ran ahead, a few healers were already prepared to receive Meesei as soon as they had stepped into camp. The healers were already overburdened with wounded as it was, and supplies were stretched thin, but there were a few who were ready to focus all of their attention on the Champion. Were she conscious, Meesei almost certainly would have wanted the healers not to place any more focus than was required on herself so they could still treat the other wounded effectively, but there was no one present who was willing to take any resources away from treating Meesei. Lorag in particular was willing to sacrifice anything, or anyone, to ensure that Meesei recovered. He wanted to remain by her side until the moment she was fully healed, but the healers, quite understandably, insisted on keeping away anyone who was not directly involved in her treatment.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lorag had moved away from the front with a group of soldiers to protect the last of the wounded from any mages that might still be lingering in the forest, and had reached the crowd around Meesei just as Sabine was shouting for potions. They were words that left little question as to Meesei's current health. Fortunately, a mage produced a potion for Sabine before Lorag went on a rampage to single-handedly tear down the enemy fortress looking for one. Nevertheless, he was hardly idle after Sabine resumed her healing.

"Well, What're ya'll waiting for? Potions! Healing, magic, everything; just get them to her! Now!" Lorag yelled, pacing back and forth beside Sabine. Every aspect of his demeanor, from his voice to the way his boots stomped on the ground, spoke of the desperation and rage within him. Among anyone that knew Lorag, there was absolutely no question that Meesei was the person who held his singular loyalty. No other entity, from his flesh-and-blood family, to Hircine himself, garnered more of his respect than Meesei, so his fervor in wanting to keep Meesei alive was far from unexpected.

Lorag knelt down beside Meesei and slid his arms underneath her body, careful not to interrupt Sabine's healing. He looked Sabine straight in the eyes, with his own showing determination, and the fear he was no longer bothering to hide. "I don't care if I have to carry both of ya. We're going to bring her to the camp, get her to the other healers." He said. This time, he would not be rushing ahead of Sabine.

By the time Gallus reached the frontline, the enemy was in a full retreat, so there was no delay for Gallus to speak to Ri'vashi. She picked up on Gallus' severe demeanor, though she could not know what was causing it. "Yes, the wounded are clear. The enemy has broken off and returned to the fortress. This one doesn't think they have the numbers to mount a counterattack, but we should get our camp moved to safety as quickly as we can regardless. Let's get back to camp and shore up our defenses until the worst of the wounded are dealt with. No one else is dying today."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Unpredictability, is what I would say I'm going for. So unpredictable, in fact, that I end up fooling myself. I forgot to kill S'nishi. Oh well, I guess she can live. Who knows who might live or die? I apparently don't.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Despite the situation, and the fact that Vile's forces which were still in sight, almost everyone that saw Meesei being held in Sabine's trembling arms stopped, apart from those who were too severely wounded. The enemy would be growing no closer, as with their ruse revealed, many of them were already in retreat towards what remained of the fortress. However, that would do little for the Champion. For a few moments, the only sounds were murmurs of concern among the growing crowd, and Sabine's sobs.

Since the enemy was in a disorganized retreat, Ahnasha had pulled back into the forest to have her arm tended to. When she saw the crowd of people stopped just beyond the treeline, she was about to shout at them to get moving before she moved close enough to see what they were watching. Seeing Meesei being held in Sabine's arms, she could not know for certain what her condition was, but the first thought in her mind was seeming frighteningly likely. "Hircine...guard us..."

Meesei's life had been drained from her body, by silver and blood loss. Her bones were cracked, her muscles shredded, and her scales torn open. Her appearance seemed to embody death, and yet...that life had not been entirely extinguished. Her heart and breathing had stopped, but only for a few moments before Sabine had reached her. Sabine's outpouring of rejuvenating magicka had given a spark to her heart. It caused it to beat, erratically and weakly, but it beat nonetheless. Her condition was as dire as ever, but within her there was still a small, fleeting glint of life.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lorag charged into the illusions, passing through each one with no hint of resistance. Other lycan warriors folloed suit, but none of the well-over a hundred "soldiers" ahead of them so much as moved in response. It did not take long after lycans began pushing into the illusions that the enemy decided it was no longer worthwhile to maintain them. Suddenly, almost two-thirds of the enemy force's initial numbers disappeared into thin air. About half of the lycan formation now had a mostly clear path to the treeline, and those that were still in the middle of the split enemy force could now advance straight ahead without fear. The situation, it seemed, was not nearly as dire as it had first appeared. All that was between them and the forest were the enemy mages that had been maintaining the illusion, but they seemed more interested in fleeing than fighting. If Meesei's mist ritual prior to the battle was any indication, their spell likely drained them of magicka.

Between Ri'vashi, Kaleeth, and Janius, they had killed the enemy which had Ri'vashi surrounded, and the remainder ahead of them had been simple illusions. Seeing as there were now no longer any enemies ahead of them, Ri'vashi turned around to help those still behind them. At present, the lycans actually outnumbered the enemy by a good margin, though Ri'vashi was still intent on retreating. That gas alone was enough to kill every lycan present, and they had no way of knowing how much the enemy still possessed. "Soldiers, to the rear! Hold here to cover the escape of the wounded!" She shouted.

Ahnasha and Fendros had just reached the empty clearing where the illusions had been when the order was given to turn around. There had been no time for Ahnasha to receive healing, though she still did not seem to recognize herself as counting among the wounded. She conjured up a sword with her good arm, then turned around along with Fendros and her thrall to help hold the line.

Meesei, meanwhile, had no illusions of where she needed to be, but her strength was rapidly failing. In keeping herself upright with telekinesis, Meesei had been forced to neglect the healing magic she was using to sustain herself. For a few seconds, she tried sauntering in the direction of the treeline, but her magic was growing too weak to hold herself upright. Soon enough, she collapsed, and was only barely managing to cling to consciousness as she tried to form another healing spell. She still had the magicka for the spell, but she was too weakened to focus on it coherently. Her bleeding had never halted entirely, so her blood loss was quickly catching up to her. As well, the insidious effects of the silver were causing increasingly severe harm. At some point during her fight with the General, silver had chipped off in her body, and was now in her blood. The pain was unbearable, but her cries did not last long before she lost consciousness. Laying face down in the grass, she of course attracted the attention of any lycan within sight of her. She had become eerily still.

Her heart had stopped.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Ssarak took Meirin up in his arms and, with a running start, pulled them both up into the air. Taking off from the ground was usually the most difficult part of a flight, particularly when carrying any sort of weight. He could use his legs for an initial boost, but it took a lot of work with his wings to gain any sort of altitude. Given his experience in flight, however, he knew how to save energy wherever he could. Tall structures, like towers or mountains, tended to create updrafts of which he could take advantage. As such, he flew alongside the College's tallest tower to use the wind to carry him even higher, until he had taken them above the tower. From that point, it would simply be a matter of flying in a spiral upwards until his wings could carry them no higher. He would take advantage of thermal updrafts whenever he could find them to speed along the process, but it was not something he expected to accomplish quickly.

The pair were already higher than the tallest landmark in sight, though it was no height they had not reached before. Since the flight had steadied out, Ssarak readjusted his grip on Meirin to be more comfortable for her. With her weaving magic, she could easily save herself if something went wrong, so he did not have to carry her with near as secure of a grip as he had in the past. Of course, he still took pleasure in holding his arms firmly around her. "I should probably say, it could take a while before we reach the height I am wanting. There is heat rising from the College below, which is helping, but it is still quite the height regardless. I hope you do not mind being in my...gentle, loving embrace for such a time." He chuckled.

Ssarak's gaze shifted down to the landscape below. The College itself was starting to appear increasingly small beneath them. The College was an impressive sight, certainly, but when compared with the entirety of the horizon in all directions, all of the forests, plains, and other features that expanded out beneath them, it almost looked insignificant. To Ssarak, such sights had been normal in the Scorched Lands, but he did not often take the time to seek them out since he had arrived at the college.

Above them, the clouds that were growing increasingly closer were thick, and somewhat dark. Smiling, Ssarak moved his head so he could look at Meirin. "It looks like it could rain soon. Fortunately, that shall not be an issue for us. Just...be ready for some humidity in a few minutes."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha tried to sit up and draw in breath after it had been knocked out of her. She was sore, and would be bruised rather badly under her fur. Not to mention, she had an intense pain in her left shoulder and was having difficulty moving the arm. "Ah, I think that...flailing corpse dislocated my shoulder. Maybe...cracked a rib."

Allowing Fendros to help her to her feet, Ahnasha looked down at the Senche's corpse and practically growled. In frustration, she kicked at the corpse's head. Archery was now out of the question for her, so she would need to find some other way to help. The other soldiers around them had pushed forward slightly, but she could not stand and think for long. Her frost atronach had already been killed by concentrated spellfire, so she had an opening for another servant. "You know, you oversized wretch, you're not done yet." She muttered to the Senche corpse. She closed her eyes and placed her uninjured hand on the corpse. With no small degree of concentration, she focused most of her remaining magicka into the horse-sized Khajiit in the form of necromantic energy. It was magically exhausting for her, but after a few seconds, the Senche rose up as her new thrall.

"Okay...it will follow your lead." Ahnasha said to Fendros. "I'll be behind you, resting."

Meanwhile, Lorag had pushed through the breach created by Kaleeth. Since she had shifted to helping Ri'vashi, he decided to forge ahead straight into the enemy. He had soldiers with him, so he had no intention of stopping the pace Kaleeth had set. Lorag's armor was now dented, his body bruised and fatigued, but he was still fighting with all of his ferocity. He hooked an enemy spear with the back of his hammer, pushed it aside, then delivered a heavy blow to his opponent's face with his fist. Using his weight to knock the spearman down, Lorag proceeded to stomp on him with his boot while simultaneously making a swing of his hammer towards the next enemy in front of him. The result of that swing, however, was more of a shock than even Lorag could have expected. There was no impact; instead, his hammer simply passed through this "opponent" as if he were not even there. The enemy had not given a reaction, no defense or counterattack, and indeed, had not seemed to move much at all. Lorag could not sense the magic in the air, but even he could tell that it was an illusion. And, looking around, he could see a similar, static behavior from the majority of the enemy's backline.

"By Oblivion...illusions." He muttered, before quickly beginning to shout. "It's an illusion! Most of 'em are illusions! We're not outnumbered!"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Overall, progress had slowed, but the lycans had still managed to push safely away from the fortress. The gas would not threaten them; they needed only push through the remaining enemy soldiers to reach the forest. The wounded were moving at the center of the formation, and for the moment, they were advancing slowly enough that carrying them was not slowing the formation down. Though, if it became necessary for the lycans to flee quickly, they would have to choose between leaving behind wounded, or leaving warriors to delay the enemy. Meanwhile, anyone particularly versed in magic would start to sense the ambient presence of magic in the air as they moved deeper into the enemy lines.

Ri'vashi certainly appreciated the assistance she was receiving, though she was still more than capable of defending herself, even in such an unfavorable situation. Before the enemy could land a precise strike to her joints, she bashed one of the opponents on her left with her shield, slices at his sword arm, then used her shield arm to grab him around the neck and pull him close to serve as a living shield. With her katana, she parried away blows from her right while using her prisoner to make the enemy on her left more hesitant to attack. Her armor could make up for glancing blows, but fortunately, she did not have to defend in such desperation for long.

Kaleeth did not hesitate to turn her charge towards Ri'vashi. There was a sword sticking partially out of the werecrocodile's abdomen, but otherwise, she was still in perfectly fine condition. She had allowed herself to be stabbed by the steel blade to protect herself from silver, and had subsequently crushed the entire lower body of the one who attacked her. It only took a quick pull with her claws to remove the blade, which had not penetrated enough through her thick scales to be an issue at the moment. She threw the sword at the enemy ahead of her, then started to deliver wide, sweeping attacks to those between her and Ri'vashi. She had to be careful to avoid injuring herself, but even among the strongest of Cathay, there was no one that could halt the advance of such a vanguard.

Even if she did not have Gallus' fervor attempting to defend her, Meesei would have at least been able to protect herself in the short term. The burned, blinded mage would be incapacitated for the foreseeable future, so she was able to release him, then telekinetically blast back one of her opponents, while Gallus dealt with the other. There was a spearman, and three swordsmen behind Gallus' opponent who were in the perfect position to help their ally, though strangely, all of the swordsmen were oddly reluctant to move forward. In fact, the majority of the enemy's backline had been strangely static for the fight so far.

While Fendros obviously could not overpower the Senche, a werewolf's strength was still enough to at least somewhat displace a normal Senche. It delayed him enough that Ahnasha was able to line up and fire a shot at the Senche's neck, though that did not stop his momentum. In his dying motions, the Senche still ended up trampling over Ahnasha as he fell.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei did not seem to be listening to Gallus' words of caution, but she was fighting alongside him. Seeing the Khajiit that Gallus was about to strike, she carefully took a telekinetic hold of Gallus' hammer as he swung and added her own force to it, making the hammer hit with exceptional force.

A mage was the next opponent to find Meesei a tempting target. He unleashed a stream of lightning, which she blocked with a ward from her uninjured arm. It was difficult for her to channel magic through an arm that she could hardly move, so instead of retaliating with her ward up, she simply walked towards him. He held his ground and tried to push harder to break through, but Meesei had much more magical endurance than her current appearance would suggest. Once she was close enough to touch the Khajiit, she suddenly let down her ward and grabbed his face. She did receive a shock in doing so, but the spell he was subjected to was far worse. She ignited her hand and pressed her thumb into his eye socket, both of which caused him to scream in agony. Unfortunately, there were two more soldiers on either side of the mage that were intent on helping him.

Meanwhile, to Gallus' right, Ri'vashi was indeed present, and she was already leading from the front of her soldiers. She was attacking just to the left of Kaleeth, who was firmly holding the attention of many of those in front of her. With her own soldiers following her, she did what she could to take advantage of the opportunity Kaleeth had afforded to her. She weaved between spears, even allowing one to deflect off of her chestplate, before smashing the enemy closest to her with her shield and following through with a precise slash to his throat from her katana. She made a hole in the enemy line, as she had many times before, but this time, it was the enemy that took advantage. A mage fired a bolt of lightning into Ri'vashi, which arced through her allies behind her as well. The burns were painful, but not lethal; however, it was the brief stunning effect the lightning had which gave the enemy an advantage. They cut down a row of Ri'vashi's allies behind her, which left her entirely surrounded in the middle of the enemy.

Though the lycan force had successfully split the enemy in two, that meant they could be attacked from three sides. Fendros, Ahnasha, and the others around them were being threatened from their left flank as well, so Ahnasha moved her frost atronach to help protect them from that angle. Meanwhile, she set the sights of her bow on the Senche. He was just tall enough that she could get a shot on him, the first of which landed in his shoulder, just off the mark from his chest. She was confident she could land a more precise shot, but the Senche had already settled on her as the threat to eliminate. He was already wounded from her arrow, and Fendros' sword, but they did not seem to slow his charge.