EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei, of course, knew what it was that Gallus was referring to. She disagreed with his dedication to finding this boy. It would provide no benefit to the clan, if Gallus would even be able to find him at all. Gideon was, after all, a fairly large city, and there was no guarantee the boy was even still alive, or ever existed at all. Even so, Meesei found no reason to deny him. He could be of some use on the journey, and as helpful as he had become in the clan, there were others who could perform his duties. "I will not deny you the ability to join us, Gallus, but understand that we will not be diverting to Gideon, so you will need to make that trip alone, or with your pack if they choose to join. As well, you will likely need to make the return trip to Skyrim alone. I will not stop you, but I do encourage you to reconsider. Do you believe the potential benefits of your decision truly outweigh the time and risk required to carry it out? Black Marsh is not a safe place, particularly for non-Argonians. If you are not going to be dissuaded, I would recommend you find a volunteer among your Argonian friends to help guide you. If you do not have any Argonian friends...you may wish to try to find one before we depart. Normal survival skills may not be sufficient for some of the challenges of the swamp's roads."

---

Saras took a drink as he looked ahead at the children playing in front of them, slightly amused. "Oh, there is no turn of phrase. The Nerevarine walked into our sanctuary, killed all, or nearly all, of my brothers, and nearly killed me with a blade that cut from my shoulder down to my hip." He explained. Reaching up to his collar, he pulled down his shirt just enough to show the very top of a frighteningly deep scar beginning on his left shoulder.

"You see, the Dark Brotherhood was my family. I had been an assassin among them for over a century. Even so, had I known they had accepted a contract on the Nerevarine's life, I would have fled and never looked back. There would have been no one left to chase me. After the Nerevarine arrived in Vvardenfell, the Brotherhood made several attempts on his life, each of which ended in the death of the assassin. After he killed his first god, Dagoth Ur, he finally decided to go to Mournhold to deal with what I can only assume to have been a nuisance to him. Our sanctuary was beneath the city, in the ruins of OLd Mournhold. After he found it, he walked straight in, alone, and proceeded to systematically kill every one of the trained assassins who inhabited it. I did not recognize his face at the time, as his fame was fairly recent, so I clashed blades with him for a few seconds before he cut me open. I was not killed immediately by my wounds, so I played dead until he left. Perhaps there were others in my sanctuary who did the same, but I did not bother to remain long enough to check. My life with the Dark Brotherhood ended that day." Saras explained, fairly unemotionally.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The Nerevarine is pretty famous for killing Dagoth Ur and destroying the Heart of Lorkhan, so Janius would certainly know of him/her. He left on an expedition to Akavir just before the Oblivion crisis over 200 years prior. Regardless of the Nerevarine's race, he is immortal, so he could be alive, but no one's heard from him.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

No, though the Bloodmoon expansion is an interesting one. It added werewolves. Hircine was the antagonist of that one. Saras' backstory relates more to Tribunal, where the Nerevarine casually kills more gods.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Atronach would be terrible for me. I think my mods nerf the intensity of spell absorption enchantments found in the world, and it removes it from spellmaking. I'd still get the 50% from the birthsign, but I'd have a much harder time maxing it out.

Did you ever play Morrowind? If so, you probably know where I'm going with Saras.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Yeah. The threat was literal fire, so I couldn't fight it. You were meant to run to a pool of water, but on my slow character, that wasn't happening. Had to toggle collision, and luckily, all of the area underneath the floor was water. Having a good time with it overall, though. I downloaded mods to rebalance magic to make it actually viable to be a pure mage. In vanilla, magic is pretty much just supplementary to your primary weapon, since you can't get enough magicka, and the spells aren't effective enough, to rely on it alone. The mods nerf and buff different aspects of it to make it better.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I played through the Lost Spires, which is a great mod overall, but there was a part in the final sequence that was terribly designed. It was actually legitimately impossible to outrun the threat with a low speed character.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I went back and started playing Oblivion again recently, now that I have good enough modding practices not to break it immediately. I find myself reminded of questionably designed difficulty curves in some mods.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I do not intend to take all of the necessary gold from our clan alone." Meesei clarified. "We do have our connections across Tamriel, after all. Rather than to take a large sum from one clan, I will request smaller sums from many clans. As the Champion, I do have that authority. It is not an authority I have exercised before, but that should speak to its importance in this situation. We have purchased entire plots of land as investments for our own farming and businesses; I believe we can finish the payments for a single building to invest in an antidote to the most effective weapon against our kind."

Meesei understood the hesitation to spend gold if it was not strictly required, but Meesei felt that Ariel would be a lot more willing and able to help if she did not have to make any major sacrifices to do so. "We can decide the specifics of how much gold to dedicate to this once we get together an updated, accurate account of the clans' finances. For now, I just wanted to give my intentions. My pack will need to make this journey personally, though I do not expect to be away for nearly as long as our last mission." Meesei explained.

---

Saras gave a single chuckle. "Leadership? No, my first family, my first real family, was nothing like my current clan. My current skills are the result of a lifetime of challenges. I was born the unwanted son of a prostitute, and I do not know nor care who the father was. I have no ancestors, and my blood relatives are irrelevant. My family was...adoptive. I served them for over a hundred years before the Nerevarine killed them all, and cut me open." He explained, surprisingly nonchalantly.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei nodded in agreement with Oswall. "Indeed, she created the gas before there was a war, or sides to take. And I do not believe she knew it would be used by Vile when she created it. She was a member of a witch's coven who sought to cure Sabine of her lycanthropy. The story is a long one, but the most relevant facts are that she helped us destroy her version of the gas years ago, shortly after my pack killed the Orc bearing Hircine's Ring. They did re-create it years later, and of course, have now modified it into the soul-tearing gas. Even so, I believe Ariel may be the most qualified person to produce an antidote. I have no doubt she would do anything for the well-being of her sister, but even so, she may be reluctant to leave the life she has created for herself in Thorn. She is in debt to the city for her shop, so she may not even be able to leave for an extended time without incurring a bounty. With the finances the clans have accrued, however, I believe it would be appropriate to give her sufficient compensation for her time and effort. She may be more willing and able to help us if she does not have to permanently abandon another life." Meesei suggested.

In truth, Meesei disliked the idea of having to call on Ariel's aid once again. She had already helped them before, and she knew that, regardless of compensation, this would be another major disruption in her life. Meesei wanted to just allow her to live in peace, with the occasional letter or visit from Sabine, but the stakes were too high to simply ignore the help Ariel could provide.

---

"No." Saras answered quickly, and with a certain absolution to his voice. "I have never had the luxury of such bonds, and I may be a werewolf, but I am not a member of any pack." He answered. It was quite unusual to find lone werewolf who was not feral; even moreso a lone werewolf that lived among a clan. Organizing into packs and other groups was simply natural for most forms of lycans, especially werewolves. For Saras to refuse to be a part of one meant that he was consciously going against his instincts. Although, being the leader of a clan could alleviate some of those instincts.

"I find that I administer my duties most fairly when I have no such special attachments, no motivation for favoritism. Even before I became a lycan, I was trained to be a part of my family, while also being fully independent." Saras added.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Perelain looked to Vera with a distinct confidence in his expression. "I know beasts. No matter where they come from, they act in the same ways. There is always a danger when taming predators or other large creatures, but I have done it countless times. If I have a place to raise them, and learn about them, I know I can do it without any special danger. If these savage Falmer can raise and maintain their chaurus, then I know we can do it too."

Since none of the other lieutenants had disagreed with Vera, Meesei gave her input. "Then I recommend searching around for volunteers to help you with this. We can assign a few warriors to keep you reasonably safe outside the city, but I would rather that everyone involved with the project be aware of and accept the risk. And of course, if there is a risk, I expect you will be the one taking it."

"Yes ma'am. I have a few people in mind. I will not let the clan down." Perelain answered before taking his seat.

Since there were no other major projects that would require the attention of the scholars, it seemed like they would be devoting their resources to the animonculory. However, there were still other matters to discuss for this meeting, chief among which was the issue that had been at the back of their minds for months. "For the next issue...Marcaille, do you have any news to report on the soul-tearing gas?" Meesei asked.

Letting out a sigh, Marcaille placed her notes on the table so Vera and her lieutenants could pass them between one another. "We have learned about the gas, but not nearly enough. My notes describe exactly what will cause it to transition from liquid to a gas, exactly how fast it spreads and how long it takes to dissipate. I have estimates on how long it takes to kill and the minimum fatal dose, but we're not any closer to finding an antidote. Determining the ingredients used to make any potion or poison is very difficult by itself, and this one is particularly stubborn. But, I'm almost positive that some, or maybe even all, of its ingredients come from Oblivion itself. The way it reacts to different conditions is very...otherworldly. The only ingredient I can say it contains with any level of confidence is probably spiddal stick. It's one of the few ingredients that can cause that liquid-to-gas effect that the soul-tearing poison has. Glow dust and ectoplasm can also do it, but it's harder to get those on a large scale. Unfortunately, knowing that hasn't helped. Anything that we could normally do to stop it from turning to a gas doesn't seem to work. It also doesn't help that we're running very low on samples. We're being as conservative as we can, but sometimes, we have no choice but to use some of it for our experiments."

Meesei was disappointed, but understanding in the lack of results. There was a great responsibility being placed on their alchemists, and the task they needed to complete was difficult. "We can instruct the other clan, and particularly Hircine's non-lycan followers, to capture samples of the gas whenever possible, as long as we can establish a secure supply line to have the samples shipped to us. However, I believe there is something more we can do. Finding a solution to this gas is among our highest priorities, and we need to take every available option we have. This gas was likely derived from the suppression gas, so I believe we need to enlist the aid of the suppression gas' original creator."

---

Letting out a sigh, Saras somewhat reluctantly agreed, finding no excuse he could use to refuse. He did not actually mind drinking with others in his free time, but Janius' outgoing enthusiasm for it reminded him of what he viewed as some of the drunken Nord louts in his own clan. Regardless, he complied and grabbed a mug for Janius. "At the very least, there is nothing threatening us at the moment. The Silent City is acceptable, by the standards of underground lairs."