EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

By the time Janius was ready to move again, Hjergir had taken care of ensuring that the ground floor of the chamber they were in was secure. No one had yet gone up the ramp leading up above, but Hjergir had his archers training their bows on the ledges. The next wave of reinforcements included Ri'vashi, though they had far less to do than the previous wave. For the most part, she focused on getting the warband into formation again. The ramp leading up was much narrower than the halls they had been using, so she started to adjust their formation appropriately.

Since Janius had managed to get through the worst of the poison, Meesei now had to focus on allowing him to move again. She had trained his energy through magic, so she was now restoring it the same way. She was careful not to give him too much energy at once, so as to avoid startling his beast spirit, so it would take a minute or two for him to return to normal.

Kaleeth had feasted enough to regain the majority of her faculties, so she naturally rushed over to Janius as soon as she recognized that he was on the ground. She had not seen exactly what happened, but from the calm demeanors of everyone around him, she gathered that he was not in any real danger. Nevertheless, she dropped down beside him and nuzzled her large, crocodilian head against his, even as her own was bleeding from the chaurus' acidic poison.

Meanwhile, Ahnasha and Fendros had reunited, but she appeared distinctly frustrated, and specifically with him. She did not speak a word to him, and looked as if it was taking considerable effort not to scowl at him.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Ssarak observed the exchange between Meirin and Tyrael and, from his perspective, the truth about Lyn probably lay somewhere in the middle. Admittedly, Meirin was probably treating Lyn as a child, though Ssarak certainly could not blame her. She was young, far younger than any adult of any thinking race or species he had ever heard of. When his children were her age, they were still infants. Even Ssarak had a hard time seeing Lyn as being as mature as she actually was. For the majority of people, it would be difficult to reconcile the concept of a person going from birth to adulthood in less than the span of a year. For that reason, if she was going to be joining in their mission, it would perhaps simplify matters if they created a background for Lyn that was more “believable” than reality.

However, while Lyn was mature, Ssarak did not know if it would be wise to have the exact same expectations for her as any other adult. Because of her unique physiology, there were unique challenges that she was going to face. ”Personally, I do not believe it is useful to compare you to anyone else, Naga or Human, Lyn. As fortunate or unfortunate as you may find it, we cannot escape the reality that you are fundamentally unique. Since your birth, you have matured at an unbelievable pace. Your mind absorbs, understands, and retains far more information, far more quickly and efficiently than any other person could hope to match. It is exceptional, almost supernatural; I personally wish it was something I could study, but that is beside the point. The point being that you are capable, mentally and physically, of doing this. The mission, I mean. ”

Leaning forward onto the table, Ssarak took on a more serious tone. ”However, there is a detail on which I do not agree with you entirely, Tyrael. No matter how exceptional your learning abilities, Lyn, there is something that cannot be taught: experience. Most people have well over a decade, usually almost two, of mistakes and successes to build their judgment before they are considered an adult. You simply have not had time to gather those experiences. Granted, you will learn from your experiences far more quickly, and of course, the only way to gain experience is to go out into the world and have experiences. I do not wish to persuade you in any particular direction, I just want to lay out the full situation as it is. Djarkel will be dangerous, and you will certainly be exposed to things you have never experienced before, not all positive. It is up to you if it is the environment in which you want to gain your real-world experience.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei gave Janius some space as soon as she noticed he was starting to transform, though he was still rather delirious. Being in werewolf form would cause the current dosage of poison to be less severe, but depending on his state of mind, it could be difficult to keep him still as Sabine wanted once he was in that state. Of course, if he was going to transform, there was nothing Meesei could do to stop it. Even she could do nothing to manipulate lycanthropy magically. However, that did not mean she was powerless to mitigate the risks.

"That could be difficult, but...I may be able to do something for him. It will require maintaining a delicate balance, but...I can do it." Meesei answered. Leaning forward, she placed her hands gently onto his shoulders and concentrated intensely. She was attempting to drain his stamina so that, when he completed his transformation, he would not have the energy to move around and disrupt Sabine's treatment. But, at the same time, she had to keep his mind energized enough to keep him conscious. The two goals were in opposition to one another, but she had to fulfill both through the precise and targeted application of her magic.

Meanwhile, Kaleeth was feasting on the corpses of some of the Falmer she had slain. She had been under a measure of duress when she transformed, so while she was not out of control, her mind was also not entirely her own. It was easy for her to focus on her basic, immediate needs, so she was distracted from what was happening with Janius. At the moment, there was no one hurrying to inform her either, as the last thing the pack needed was a distressed werecrocodile unable to control her emotions.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

In the face of larger, and now more numerous foes, the Falmer were starting to be given pause. Unlike the automatons, they were living beings with some sense of self-preservation. The creatures were obviously no strangers to fighting, but they likely had little experience against lycans. Massive beings like Kaleeth and Hjergir gave them fear enough to retreat, at least for the moment. The Falmer that remained at the fountain began to turn and run for the ramp leading up above them, and many of the archers and shamans above them had already backed away. And the chaurus, without their Falmer masters to keep them in the fight, did much the same. For creatures with as fearsome of a reputation as the Falmer, it was unlikely that they would retreat permanently, but every moment they spend regrouping was more time the warband had to get reinforcements down the lift.

Kaleeth was far too focused on the fighting to notice Janius collapse. When the Falmer began to retreat, she chased after them, crushing, clawing, and biting at any she could get a hold of. Indeed, Lorag did the same, managing to crush the head of another chaurus, and at least break the arm of a Falmer that managed to slip away. However, once they reached the ramp leading up, Lorag reigned in Kaleeth to keep her from chasing too far. They would be in a better position to fight the Falmer once they could bring more of their number down the lift.

Once the Falmer were less of an immediate threat, the pack was able to turn their attention fully to their own. Kaleeth was wounded, but not under any threat from them. Janius, however, was suffering from a poison. While Janius was still conscious, Saras did what he could to get his attention. "Poison...the concoctions of the Falmer are not always lethal, but regardless, try to transform if you can. Your beast form is larger, so it takes a larger dose to give the same effect."

As Ahnasha lowered Janius down onto his back, Meesei quickly made her way back to help. Naturally, she was going to help heal her packmate, but she first approached Sabine. Despite her own fears for Janius' health, she showed no sign of panic. "I will keep him conscious, but I believe you are more qualified to deal with a poison than myself."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

With the chaos that Kaleeth's transformation, and their reinforcements' arrival created, Meesei was not going to let the opportunity go unexploited. She had expended a considerable amount of magic providing cover for her pack to reach the fountain, but now that she had a moment of rest, she was ready to go on the attack again. Charging herself with lightning, she bolted across the ice Sabine had created to bring herself to the side of the Falmer, safely out of the way of her own pack. Then, she charged through herself enough lightning to make the hair of anyone around her stand on its end and unleashed it into the crowd of Falmer and chaurus in front of her friends. Their shamans were not ready to absorb the magic with wards, so it arced through about half their number. Some would certainly die, particularly those closest to her, but since her lightning lost energy the more bodies it arced through, most would only be injured. Just as before, however, it was the disruption of the enemy that she sought more than their deaths. Ahnasha and Saras were already taking the opportunity to pick out any ranged threats, like shamans or archers, with their arrows.

Meesei's attack meant that there were less mages and archers focusing on Kaleeth, but since she was on the opposite side of the fountain from Meesei, many of those near her were unaffected. She took another swipe at the chaurus hunter attacking her, but she was too slow to hit it effectively. While she was distracted, a Falmer managed to chop its axe into the side of Kaleeth's neck, but with her size and durability, the axe only found its way into muscle tissue. Kaleeth retaliated immediately with a crushing blow straight to the Falmer's head, which was accompanied by a menacing roar. However, the chaurus hunter also managed to jab its arm into her back at the same time. Fortunately for Kaleeth, Hjergir arrived to remove that threat shortly afterwards. The far-quicker white werewolf sprinted to the fountain and snatched the chaurus straight out of the air, ripping off its wings and crushing its head under his weight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Since her thrall had been killed, Ahnasha selected a chaurus from among the corpses to reanimate. It's shall had been cracked, so it would not be quite as resilient as normal, but it would serve as another surprise for the Falmer. It was resurrected next to Janius, so this time when it launched an acidic spray, it was onto his opponent.

Kaleeth, in here werecrocodile form, naturally made a large and immediate impact on the Falmer before her. She swept her arm across a group of three attempting to move around to the right into a flanking position, against which any attempt to block would just result in losing their shields. Two were knocked completely off of their feet, while the third was disemboweled by her claws. Taking a single, lumbering step forward, Kaleeth crushed one of the Falmer she had knocked down under her weight, while grabbing up the other in her jaws and biting down. She trashed it around in her mouth for a few seconds to ensure that it was dead, then tossed its remains in the direction of the other Falmer. For the rest of the Falmer, as savage as they were, they were still living beings intent on preserving their own lives, so they were afraid of the massive beast slaughtering their allies. Those that were not actively fighting the rest of the pack turned their attention to her, letting out hissing screams to threaten her. With Kaleeth protecting one side, and Sabine's frost blocking off access to the other, their mages and archers were no longer under threat from flanking Falmer. Unfortunately, most of the threats were now directed squarely upon Kaleeth. All of their spears, arrows and spells were about to bear down upon her, and unlike last time with the Ring of Hircine, she did not have the control to deftly avoid most of the attacks. From above, a strange, flying chaurus floated down from one of the bridges above, spraying its poison onto the top of her head and slashing at her with its sharpened appendages. Kaleeth might have been immune to the poison itself, but it was still acidic, and still burned her scales. When she tried to slash it out of the air, it was more than quick enough to fly out of her range.

Luckily for Meesei's pack, their time holding on their own was at an end. The lift on the far end of the room reached the bottom of the shaft, and the gates opened to reveal the first of their reinforcements. At their lead was Hjergir, shifted into his werewolf form. He was a large, muscular alpha with snowy white fur, who let out a roar that echoed through the chamber as soon as he saw the battle before him. Immediately, he took off in a sprint ahead of his warriors, towards the fountain. Although, he did quickly prove that he was not acting entirely upon instinct, as he was still very much aware of his surroundings. As soon as he was out in the open, he spotted the silhouettes above, he began to dash side-to-side in order to use his speed and maneuverability to make himself a more difficult target from above.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

When the next wave of Falmer reached the fountain, Lorag, Janius, and Ahnasha's thrall were the ones to first meet them in melee. The attacks of the Falmer were direct and uncoordinated, but this time, the Falmer had numbers. Both Lorag and Janius had to contend with at least two foes at once. For Lorag, his chestplate deflected the blade of the first Falmer to attack him, and he managed to retaliate with a strike that broke a few of his opponent's ribs. However, the next Falmer in line landed a solid blow between his neck and shoulder with a club. It was not lethal by any means, but he found his shoulder in serious pain. Ahnasha's thrall lacked any ability to think tactically, so while it was able to wound a Chaurus, which did not immediately understand the concept of a reanimated Falmer, it was quickly killed and disintegrated to ash by the blade of another Falmer.

Kaleeth finished her transformation behind Janius, so he only had to hold against his opponents for a few moments before he gained her assistance. The nearest enemy was a chaurus moving to Janius' right, so that was her first target. The creature did manage to spray its poison in Janius' direction, but Kaleeth's jaws snapped down on the giant insect's body seconds later. As tough as its chitinous shell was, her teeth tore through it like parchment under the weight of her jaws. Before she could even drop the corpse, however, one of the Falmer ahead of them hit her with a thrown, poison-tipped spear. Her tough, armor-like scales meant that it penetrated only partially into her side before falling out and onto the ground. The poison did make it into her body, but fortunately for Kaleeth, her transformation did not stop her Argonian blood from resisting most poisons.

Meanwhile, Meesei had bolted out of the open in a wave of lightning and made her way to the fountain with the others. Ahnasha and Saras had taken slightly elevated positions on the fountain itself to get clearer shots on the Falmer ahead of them. Although, because they were outnumbered, some Falmer were able to simply run around the rest of their pack to flank them directly. As such, Meesei remained next to them to help provide protection. From the direction of the lift, Meesei could hear the sound of Dwemer gears turning, so they would likely receive reinforcements very shortly.

"We need only hold for a short while longer." Meesei answered.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I can add a response to Gallus' and Peiter's scene if you like, but I think I'm running out of things to say with him. I need to head to class in a few minutes, so I'll have to add it later.

As for the pack and the rest of the warband, they'll probably be facing a lot of skirmishes as they head deeper into the ruin, but we can summarize those and focus on the important parts. Probably don't want to dwell too long in this part, since we have many more to get to.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius’ practiced techniques turned out to be much quicker and more precise than the Falmer’s rough, direct attacks, as his parry and counter-attack was quicker than the Falmer could react to. His axe found its mark, and soon after, Kaleeth circled around and thrust her blade into the creature’s spine. Her attack may not have been entirely necessary, but it did guarantee that the Falmer fell immediately.

Lorag had set his sights on one of the more heavily armored Falmer, since the chitin would do little against his hammer. The creature was wielding a large shield, and a double-sided axe crafted from a chaurus’ mandibles. As Lorag charged forward, Ahnasha found her own opportunity to help. Sabine and Saras had slain one of the Falmer at range, so Ahnasha cast a spell of reanimation on to its corpse. While Lorag delivered a blow to the Falmer’s shield strong enough to cause it to crack, Ahnasha’s magic raised the corpse to its feet. Lorag’s opponent was staggered back, potentially with a broken arm, only to be met with an axe to the back of its head from Ahnasha’s thrall. Falmer helmets did not protect the back of the skull, so its death was fairly immediate.

Sabine’s opponent did indeed attempt to raise a ward, but it did so too late to fully block the effect of the spell. The icy spear shattered on the ward, but it broke so quickly that many of the shards still found their way through into the Falmer shaman’s flesh. It wore only basic clothing, so there was no armor to resist the shards. The shaman’s body was punctured in at least five places along the chest, arms, and abdomen, causing blood to pour from each. It was not dead, but would not be able to mount much resistance to Sabine’s following attacks.

The four Falmer near the fountain had been dispatched easily enough, but there were already more coming down the ramp; enough that the pack would be outnumbered. Saras was already picking a target when Janius shouted. “I do not know if they will fear them, but our lycan forms may be more effective against these creatures.” He answered.

Seeing the incoming Falmer and chaurus, Kaleeth took only a few moments to make her decision. Hiding behind Janius, she dropped her weapons and began her own transformation.

---

Peiter followed Gallus’ advice with his next throw, though this time he missed by a small margin. Correcting one flaw in his technique revealed another with how he was aiming. He was undeniably awkward with his left hand.

In regards to Tzirret, Peiter mostly looked uncertain. “I don’t know. Tzirret has always kept to himself. He has changed a bit now, but it’s still hard to tell what goes on in his mind. He…does worry about some unusual things, sometimes.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"They are animals!" Saras answered back to Janius. He moved just behind the pack's more frontline warriors, aiming his bow as he ran. As they neared the fountain, he saw that one of the Falmer had been struck in the stomach by one of Sabine's ice spikes. The wound stopped the Falmer long enough for Saras to land a precise shot through its chest. "But they do not fear as we do. Only pain and death will give them cause to retreat."

As for Janius' opponent, the Falmer proved itself equal parts strong and ferocious. It avoided Sabine's ice spike, then avoided the brunt of the force from Janius by knocking the strike aside with its shield. Now that he had closed in, Janius could see up close the Falmer's pale, wrinkled skin, and seeming lack of eyes. What the Falmer did not lack, however, was strength. It could not match the power of a lycan, but it did have enough strength that Janius could not overpower it with ease. It responded with a direct, powerful swing from its rough, poison-coated blade towards Janius' chest. As one might expect, it used no kind of formal technique, and simply relied on ferocity. Kaleeth, meanwhile, was slower to get into position, as she had been keeping an eye on the archers above them, but she started to maneuver around to flank Janius' opponent.

---

Somewhat apathetically, Peiter threw one of the knives upon Gallus' request. His technique was poor, though he did happen to hit the tree on this particular throw. He had, in the past, learned some of Gallus techniques in previous practice sessions, but he was obviously distracted in the conversation.

Peiter gave a shrug. "I...guess everything is fine, I suppose. Tzirret hasn't said anything unusual, but...I guess you did say he was being quiet. If there is something wrong with him, I wouldn't really know what it is. Honestly, I still say he is a lot better off now than he used to be."