EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

We can probably move ahead to the things you wanted.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Of course, ma'am." Paralain responded with a nod. "The scouts have observed the hunters serving the Falmer as well, but it will certainly be years at minimum before it becomes an issue. Hopefully, our scouts will be able to make more detailed observations in all that time."

"If nothing else, I am glad we will have a reliable source of meat without the normal cost on resources." Meesei added. "Is there any other news, or should we bring this meeting to a close?"

There was a few seconds of a pause as the rest of the council waited to see if anyone else was going to speak. When they were met with silence, Ri'vashi shook her head and began to gather up the papers in front of us. "There doesn't seem to be anything else. We can all get back to our duties."

Meesei nodded. "Agreed, though if you would wait behind a moment, Ri'vashi, I would like to personally join the mission to clear Alftand. I would like to ask about a few details."

As the meeting was dismissed, Brenann stood up from his seat and patted his leg as he walked over to Sabine and Ariel. "Come on, sparks, follow me." He ordered, though he paused with some uncertainty to look at Sabine. "So, um, did you want an assistant, or..."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Given his experience with the insects, Paralain was able to speak confidently in their defense. "I won't deny that they are dangerous, but I can say that their poison won't be a specific issue as long as the Chaurus remains peaceful. Their poison is a valuable resource to them that takes energy for their body to produce, so they only use it when hunting, or when threatened. There will not be any accidental injuries from acid spray, or anything like that. The particular chaurus I have in mind is one of the older ones that I have personally spent a lot of time around. She is well-behaved; we just have to make sure that our chaurus can handle being around crowds of people. I plan on bringing her at first to some of the more sparsely populated areas of the city, then slowly introducing her to more and more crowded areas. I think that would reduce any surprise for both her and the clan."

Paralain, unfortunately, could not give a definitive answer to Darahil, but he could make a few strong educated guesses based on what he knew. "Well...we do know that they certainly grow large enough to be used in that capacity, or even as mounts. The Falmer do not seem to use them to carry anything, but that may be because the Falmer do not need them for that with their lifestyle, or a simple lack of intelligence on their part to train them in that way. As it stands now, the chaurus we have now are not yet large enough to be used as beasts of burden, though we can begin training for that. Right now, our oldest chaurus are just starting to reach the age where they are laying eggs of their own. We won't need to scavenge them from around the cavern for much longer. The greatest issue is that there are some things we don't know about their life cycle. The most common kind of chaurus that you see around the cavern, the kind that crawl around on the ground, are sort of like their larval stage. Though, not exactly. They are still adults at that stage and can lay their own eggs, but it is not their final form. From what we have observed, they eventually go into a cocoon and transform into a flying insect, which some of the literature refers to as a chaurus hunter. They would be useful for other things, but not for that kind of work. Unfortunately, we don't know how long it will be before our chaurus reach that stage. Based on how fast they've grown so far, we estimate it will be one and a half to two years before they reach the common size of the chaurus we see with the Falmer. Though, they will continue growing even after that. The thing is, we don't know how long they stay as an adult before transforming. If it happens too quickly, it might not be worth it to train them to replace our horses. Just based on the relative rarity of the hunters, though, it might be possible."

Paralain paused for a few moments before remembering one of the other points he had intended to make, and was actually rather excited about. "Oh, but there is one other definite use for them. They should be able to be farmed. The Falmer do that effectively for meat, chitin, and probably poison. They are omnivorous, and in addition to meat, they can actually eat the glowing mushrooms that grows all around the cavern. The same mushrooms that are toxic to us. It means we can feed them something that is both abundant, and useless to us as food."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As encouraging as their progress was with research and expansion, Ri'vashi could not help but to let out a sigh after Oswall's comment. "Unfortunately, everything we are doing for now is mostly delaying tactics. There is no way for us to feasibly face the enemy in the open. With automatons, non-lycan allies, and simple good strategy, we can still do considerable damage. We can strike from the shadows and slow down the enemy, but we will lose in the long run. There simply is no possibility for us to strike any real, decisive blows; we cannot attack their strongholds or move them out of territory. Ri'vashi is as hopeful as everyone else about these discoveries, but we need to be careful not to lose sight of the stakes. We cannot be too aggressive. We must keep our home hidden until this antidote is complete. There is another...potential issue you should know about, Champion. The Arenthia clan, in northern Valenwood, has missed its usual schedule for contact. There are no guarantees of trouble yet. It could be that something happened to their messenger, or some other delay, but our reports of enemy activity in the Dominion have Ri'vashi worried. Enough time has passed since our attack on their stronghold that they have likely recovered."

"I can have someone investigate the clan." Saras responded. "I have been personally training talented individuals within the clan to serve as more...specialized agents across Tamriel. The risk of detection will be minimal."

"Good, good." Meesei responded somewhat solemnly. "Is there anything else?"

Although hesitant, Paralain slightly raised up one hand to call attention to himself. "Um, well, we have had some progress with the chaurus. Breeding has obviously gone well; the chaurus lay multitudes of eggs perfectly fine on their own. It was more difficult than I had imagined to get started training them. I had hoped that there would be a scholar among us who could tranlsate the Falmer language, and there is, but it turns out that the Falmer don't actually...write anymore. So we couldn't read about their methods, but we were able to have scouts make observations on the Falmer, and mix that knowledge with our own expertise on beast taming. We have raised chaurus that are not only peaceful towards us, but can obey commands. I was actually going to request permission from this council to bring one of our chaurus into the city proper more long-term, as a trial. Under guard, of course."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"That is also difficult to describe, which I suppose is something of a theme with Dwemer machines." Brenann answered. "As I said before, they can understand context and can follow verbal instructions, but there are certainly limits to what they can do, which also varies based on the automaton. Spiders seem to have a sort of innate understanding of maintenance tasks that are common around the city; they have actually made improvements to the Silent City's pumps and steam systems. Or more likely, restored them to be closer to how they functioned when the Dwemer lived here. Dwemer spheres can perform more complicated tasks relating to combat, but generally speaking, the automatons have difficulty following instructions that require multiple steps that are not immediately obvious. They lack a capacity for critical thinking or problem-solving. They are best for performing simple tasks, or following specific, step-by-step instructions. Anyways, if you, or any of the Champion's pack, are in need of an automaton, we can make the time to produce one."

Unfortunately, Meesei had to reign in the conversation before it got too far out of hand. "While I am indeed interested in how these machines function, we should keep this meeting focused on the more practical advancements and issues regarding your research. Is there any other news relating to your work that I should be aware of, Brenann?"

Brenann nodded. "Oh, of course, ma'am. Well...I can say that we have begun construction on our first centurion. It is the most powerful and complex automaton that we know of, and there are certainly some unknowns. We do not know how long it will take, or if the Animonculory still retains the capacity to produce them at all. We do know that progress has been slow so far, and the process consumes a considerable portion of the Animonculory's production capabilities. Hopefully, we will be able to expand that capacity soon."

Ri'vashi continued where Brenann left off. "The addition of the automatons to our forces has reduced the burden on our forces to keep us protected. As such, we have more freedom to expand. This one has approved an operation to clear the Dwemer ruin to the northeast of the City. Alftand, if she remembers correctly. Brenann hopes it will have a working...Animonculory, and the additional territory may provide us with other benefits. Most notably, we will have another exit from Blackreach reasonably close to Skyrim's northern coast."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Well, our patrols are not going to be made up completely of automatons, but we do have some spheres that are assigned independent tasks." Ri'vashi clarified. "For example, there are a few spheres we have that just roll up and down the road from the Silent City to Raldbthar. Evidently, the Falmer avoid the Dwemer machines, so merely having them there can prevent attacks. They can operate continuously, without rest. This one does not know how, or if they will ever need their power source replaced, but it has been useful."

Brenann scratched his head in thought. "It is...somewhat difficult to describe. The dynamos provide the source of their steam power through means we do not entirely understand. Or, really understand at all, actually. The Aninonculory creates the dynamos on its own as long as we provide the raw inputs, so we have not needed to understand them."

Brenann could not help but to smile when Ariel actually seemed to be impressed by the automatons. Meesei was far more reserved in her reactions, so it was refreshing to see obvious, visible appreciation for his work. "They...should work up there. We don't have too much of a reason to think they won't. We've already brought them just outside Raldbthar and they were able to function, but we haven't yet been approved to test them farther away. Too much of a risk, I believe. It is well-known that the automatons in Morrowind will stop functioning if they are brought away from their strongholds, but the automatons in Skyrim work differently. We have not seen anything to suggest that our machines rely on something here to keep working, but it is not yet proven for certain. Regardless, I agree on how amazing they are. You are going to be doing important work here; do you need an assistant? All I would need is a sample of your blood."

Since Ariel was interested, Brenann looked to his spider, then pointed to the spot on the table directly in front of Ariel. It obediently walked over in front of her and stopped in place, its only movements being a slight swaying and the spinning of its gyro.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I intend to reserve Ariel a chamber of her own, and give her any tools and resources she needs for her research." Meesei continued. It was the same offer that she had made for Marcaille, so it was not likely a surprise to others on the council. "We may have to relocate one or more people, but I have no doubt there will be volunteers, and we can make up for the inconvenience. Otherwise, there is not much else to say. There were no complications to note during our journey, and Ariel should be able to get to work immediately."

Marcaille gave a quick motion towards Ariel as she started to speak. "I can educate her on our rules and procedures after we're done here, if her sister hasn't already. There really aren't many." She said, looking more directly towards Ariel. There were hardly any rules among the clan that would not be expected of any civilized place. Most of what Ariel would need to adapt to would be how the clan handled the rationing of resources, as well as the cultural differences that were common among lycans compared to the lifestyle she was accustomed to. When they had traveled together previously, Meesei's pack had, for the most part, respected the norms that Ariel was familiar with. Now, Ariel would have to be the one to adapt.

Meesei nodded. "Very good. Now, I understand there have also been some developments in a few of our long-term projects while we were away. I have seen the Dwemer machines patrolling our home, so I presume that you and your peers have discovered how to command them, Brenann?"

The Breton scholar was sitting in his plain brown robe, wearing an abundance of satchels and bags containing papers and other resources related to his research. He always tended to be over-prepared for most everything he did, meetings in particular. He had one of the Dwemer spiders standing at the side of his chair, presumably for demonstration purposes. "Uh, well...sort of." He answered. "Over the past few months of study, we have learned more about the aninonculory. We are still nowhere close to understanding completely how it functions; I doubt we will ever get to that point, but we do know enough to be able to manipulate the process in some ways. We know that it is the soul gems that provide...life, for the lack of a better word, to the machines. They do not provide power, they provide the ability for the machines to act autonomously. We were able to use a unique feature of lycans in order to mark you as allies that they are meant to serve. In this case, lycan blood. Fortunately, the automatons do seem to possess the cognitive ability to understand context, so they will not attack something that their masters treat as an ally, such as non-lycans like myself. But, that alone did not make them listen to us. They did not attack us, and they would perform some default autonomous functions, but they wouldn't obey commands. Control rods could be linked to them and be used to give them fine, detailed commands, but we, uh, don't know how to make those yet. We were just able to take the control rods we found here and link them to the machines we produced."

Pausing a moment, Brenann looked down at the spider beside him and tapped his hand on the edge of the table. "Up, sparks."

As commanded, the Dwemer spider jumped up from the floor onto the table and stood still, waiting patiently for another command. As Meesei was observing it, Brenann continued his explanation. "Our greatest breakthrough came somewhat recently. Using a person's blood, we can bound an automaton to that person at its creations. But, only that person. It will listen to any verbal commands that the person gives, but even though they can understand context, that authority cannot be transferred to anyone else. It will only ever listen to that one person. If that person dies, it will just perform its default functions and never listen to anyone else again, except for a control rod. We are currently trying to work out a solution to that problem, but until then, we have been making automatons and assigning them to people based on the requests of the council. The spheres are mostly assigned to our soldiers and scouts. The spiders can perform maintenance and construction work, and I personally find them to be good assistants. They have surprisingly fine motor control with their pincers."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

In addition to being an introduction for Ariel to the council, and vice versa, Meesei also called the meeting to catch herself up on events in the clan since they departed. As such, anyone with news of relevant importance was also asked to attend. Namely, both the Dwemer scholar Brenann and the beast tamer Peralain were both in attendance once again. Their meeting chamber was far cleaner than the first time they had made use of it. They had more torches for better lighting, and they already had written reports at the table in front of several of the seats. As usual, Vera and her lieutenants were in attendance, as well as Ri'vashi and Saras, Meesei's selected spymaster for her council, and Marcaille. Although Sabine was not a leader of any part of the clan, Meesei had also been sure to invite her to attend, since she would be working closely with Ariel and Marcaille. Rukeewei had wanted to stay by Ariel, but Meesei could not permit him to attend a confidential meeting. As such, he had settled for closing himself into the room that he had slept in that night.

Once everyone was seated, Meesei started them off. "It is good to be back, and to speak with you all again. I suppose we should start with the most obvious piece of news. As you can see, Ariel, the original creator of the suppression gas, has agreed to help create an antidote to the weapon Vile's forces now use. She will stay here for a period of at least a year, or until an antidote is found. Her husband has also accompanied her, but he will not be privy to clan secrets."

Pierrette spoke up first. "So you are the one we have heard so much about. I certainly do hope that your knowledge will be as valuable as predicted. I have...seen the expense reports for your recruitment."

Tola turned her head to her right towards Pierrette, crossing her arms. "Have some respect, Pierrette. You've heard the stories of how she helped the Champion. I'm sure she knows what she's doing. Good to finally meet you, Ariel."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Marcaille was surprised that Sabine had spoken up about joining in on her lessons. However, she was not entirely certain on how to answer her last question. "Honestly, I'm not sure I can answer that. It would really depend on why I left and where I went. If this war ends and I decide to go back to Orcrest, you'd find me there. But, on the other hand, if something goes wrong in the war and we end I end up fleeing this place, I'd be doing everything possible to make sure no one can find me. So I guess my answer is 'maybe.' If you want a guarantee of being able to learn, you'll need to learn now."

Another thought came across Marcaille's mind as she thought about what Sabine said. Before anyone could respond, she continued. "I should point out, if you only know some conjuration, you'll need to seek help outside my lessons to improve your skills there. What I am teaching does require a lot of conjuration ability to perform, so you'll need to catch up. Your friend Ahnasha might be willing to help you."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Also, you can take us to that meeting if you like.