EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Malithus was briefly surprised when Fendros directed his attention to him. "Oh, we'll follow your lead, sir. I've no better plan. Sounds like we might need to be careful about whoever we follow, in case they're not who we're looking for. We should probably make sure that whoever seems the least...out of place are the ones that follow them."

Colors shrugged. "I guess it's possible that someone might buy neither. But, probably not that likely. Like I said, most people who go to her are there for the sugar, and the next biggest group is looking for trinkets. On the bright side, no one you follow is going to be the type to report you to the guard."

"What does moon sugar actually smell like, again? Or skooma? It's been a long time since I've been in Elsweyr, and I haven't run into it anywhere else really." Kaleeth asked.

Without hesitation, Colors reached back into his pack and, after a few moments, produced a small pastry and offered it to Kaleeth. "Here, this has moon sugar in it. Pass it around to everyone so we know what we're looking for. Skooma smells kind of like that, just a lot harsher."

Kaleeth raised her brow towards Colors. "And you just have this with you?"

"I'm...prepared." Colors remarked.

---

Evermore was not the largest city the pack had been to by far, but it was a respectable city. It was a walled city, with a fairly impressive gatehouse through which they entered into the city proper. It showed its Imperial influence in its architecture, though it was not entirely like a Cyrodilic city. Breton styles were by far the most apparent, compared to those of the Orcs and Redguards that also inhabited the city. The buildings were a mix of stone and wooden structures with tall, sharply angled roofs. It was crowded at the current time of day, but Malithus had been to the city more than enough times to be able to guide them to the inn that Colors described. Naturally, the black market dealer did not establish her business in the most affluent part of town, so they had to make their wait into a lower class area. Again, it was not the worst slum the pack had visited, but there was a certain sense of danger for being foreigners in that district.

Fortunately, the group was not wearing expensive clothing, so they did not seem all that out of place when they made their way into the inn. It was actually a fairly large and old building, perhaps from a time when the district was a bit more prosperous. There were tables both in the main room with the bar, and more upstairs on a balcony area that overlooked half of the main room. The inn's rooms, meanwhile, were in the basement. Colors took care of renting rooms for them, after which they offloaded the majority of their bags into the rooms. There was no guarantee they would even be staying for the night, but even so, they had to rent enough rooms so as not to be suspicious. Three was enough that they could share rooms between seven people and not be too uncomfortable. Heading back upstairs, they left Shurgrag downstairs to guard their belongings from any would-be thieves, just in case.

They had to pull a chair from another table, but they were able to find a table in the main room to accommodate the six of them. Though, they would most likely end up spreading more across the room soon enough. Once they were all seated, Colors gave a subtle motion towards a door just to the right of the bar. "Over there is where I heard she operates from. Anyone going in there is probably buying from here. Keep your nose sharp." He whispered.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Uh, well..." Colors began, but he had no immediate answer for Fendros. He concentrated, his teeth clenched together as he rubbed his head, but there were no brilliant answers coming to him. "That's a hard one. I mean, it's not like Justicars and bounty hunters are usually lycans, but we also can't go around telling people that. These people are rightly paranoid, though. They can be killed if the wrong person learns about them. Kind of like lycans, really, and you know how hard we can be to find. And they don't have a unique scent."

"They do have those unique amulets though, right?" Kaleeth interjected. "The first person you told us about, the black market dealer, you said she sells amulets. And those small shrines. If we find someone who has one of those, then that would be a pretty good way to identify them."

Colors shook his head lightly, unconvinced. "Yeah, but they're hardly going to carry them openly. If there was an easy way to track those trinkets, the Thalmor would never have any problem finding them. There's nothing about them that we could just sniff out from a crowd, but..." Suddenly, Colors perked up his head as another idea come to mind. "But we can sniff out other things. Obviously an enchanted amulet doesn't have a particular smell, but that black market dealer I mentioned, she sells mostly moon sugar and skooma. Those have very particular scents, but they're not something a Talos worshiper would likely be interested in. So, if someone goes to her and buys something, but doesn't smell like moon sugar, then they probably bought a trinket from her. We can just rent some rooms at the inn and stay there, maybe have some drinks in the tavern and act like we belong, all the while keeping watch on who visits the dealer. When someone visits and leaves without a smell, we have someone follow them. They'll probably be scared by that, but we can probably find a way to calm them once we can talk to them."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Colors hummed noncommittally. "Well...it's really just best not to trust anyone for this sort of thing. Just to be safe. The ones that really do help Talos worshipers will probably be honest, as long as they think we'll help them too. Safest bet would probably be to try to figure out which ones actually worship Talos themselves."

After a moment, Color snapped his fingers as he had a realization. "But you know, maybe we can really use the fact that they aren't trustworthy. At least some of the people on my list are probably liars that sell out the Talos worshipers they're supposed to be helping. So, what we could do is pose as Talos worshipers, have them help us, and see if they sell us out. Then, one of Vile's Talos hunting teams will come right to us. We just, uh, turn their ambush around on them. Hake the hunters into the hunted; they won't be expecting it." He suggested.

Kaleeth crossed her arms. She was currently wearing a dress similar to Sabine's. Her armor was packed away back at their camp, which was being guarded by Nelise and Arthon. In order to be more appropriately armed for the city, she had a shorter sword she had borrowed from the clan's armory tucked away in one of her bags, as well as a dagger in a satchel on her belt. "What if they just end up turning us over to the Justicars instead? We don't want to fight them."

Colors shrugged. "Eh, we could have someone tail them. See who they sell us out to."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Hey, if you made something like that for me, I'd consider it very helpful." Colors laughed. "But yeah, I get it. Like I said, you do what you want to do. Live life as much or little as you want.

---

Colors ended up going around to everyone during their journey, passing the time with whatever conversation he found interesting. Though, they were all rather tired by the time they decided to make camp, so there was so argument from anyone when they decided to retire for the night.

They had covered the majority of the distance on their first day of travel, so the group was nearing the city of Evermore by noon. Colors had explained the places they needed to go and the people they needed to speak to. All of them were shady characters, but some were potentially more dangerous than others. The simplest, and likely first stop for them was to speak to a sort of black market dealer. Most of his trade came from skooma and other smuggled goods, but she would also sell banned items like personal shrines or pendants dedicated to Talos. If she could identify Talos worshippers, she might identify those hunting them. She sold out of the back room of an inn owned by one of her friends, so she was the least likely to cause them trouble.

As the city was just starting to come into sight, Kaleeth decided to speak up on the curious looks she had been giving to Colors for the last few minutes. "So Colors...if you've only been with this clan for the last few weeks, then how is it you already have all these contacts in Evermore?'

Colors looked away as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, they aren't technically my contacts. I mean, I don't actually know them. Personally, that is. I just know...of them, you know? Don't worry though, it'll all be fine. They're all professionals, and they'll treat us like professionals."

---

Saras did not have an issue signing the documents, though he did add one provision to the end of the agreement. All parties involved were to send a representative to give a final signature before a certain date later in the years in order for the agreement to be finalized. The intent was that each party would be able to bring the document to their superiors to ensure that it was acceptable before it was enforceable. Saras, throughout the meeting, had been able to successfully control how much information was revealed to the agents, which was not a great deal. At least, he had not revealed much in the way of truthful or valuable information. The Empire and Dominion both were not aware of the size of their clans or the depth of their organization. The meeting had revealed much more to Saras than it had to them, and the agreement itself was favorable to the clans, in terms of the clan's goals. If the Empire or Dominion were actually willing to cooperate, then they could have an easier time acting against enemy agents.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Nah, I didn't want to detail out the entire process either. Saras was just looking to talk with the Justicar to see what information he could gain from her.

I doubt there's much more to do with the scene. Saras would probably insist on a clause that would require them all to send a representative to give a final signature before a certain date to finalize the agreement, so that they would have a chance to run it by their respective superiors. We might do a very short scene with that later, since it would probably be Meesei doing the signing.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

While not exactly pushy with his ideas, Colors was certainly willing to defend them. "Whose to say what is appropriate or inappropriate? People drink all the time, and no one really has a problem with that. They drink to influence their mind, to loosen themselves up to do things they normally wouldn't, or experience things they normally couldn't. They drink to enjoy themselves with friends. What makes that any different from using something alchemical to do the same thing, as long as you don't sneak it into someone's drink or anything. If everyone involved wants to do it, can you really say there is anything wrong with it?" Colors asked.

Color's overall tone and attitude remained overwhelmingly positive, regardless of any potential disagreement to him. "Not saying you should or shouldn't be doing anything; I'm just saying that you should make sure that you do or don't do something based on what you want, not because of what other people would expect from you."

---

For Saras, pride was not a factor to him. All that mattered was how he could manipulate facts and lies alike to further the interests of his own people. From his observations, the Empire and Dominion potentially viewed lycanthropes very differently. The Empire seemed to regard them as a significant enough force to warrant attention. Whether or not Maroc actually believed that the Empire possessed the ability to track down and eradicate their clans, the fact that they were speaking at all implied that it was not a preferred option. Not to mention, he was not demanding that Saras' reveal the clans' locations, which suggested that his goal was to actually make a deal. Lunise, on the other hand, was a bit more difficult to read. Her dismissive remarks towards lycanthropes could simply be her own outward bravado that did not reflect her actual concerns or opinions. However, if they were genuine, then the Dominion potentially did not recognize the impact that the lycan clans could have. That was something that could potentially work for or against the clans. If they were viewed as too insignificant, then the Dominion may simply not bother to dedicate the resources the deal with them while the Empire was still a concern. However, if the Dominion viewed them as significant, but not significant enough to provide much resistance to their own forces, then they could order an eradication of the lycan clans. It would not be nearly as easy as the Dominion might assume, but it was still something Saras wanted to avoid. He would need to more accurately determine the Dominion's views on them. If those views were not favorable to Saras' goals, he may potentially need to convince them of how much of a threat they could be.

"I find these terms largely agreeable. Fair, and balanced to the needs of both sides. You want to ensure your security, and I understand how an organization like ours, which you do not control, would complicate that. And naturally, you understand the challenges we face to survive. Fortunately for all of us, our goals do not run counter to one another. I would recommend we write down our agreements, so that we are all certain we are on the same page." Saras recommended before turning his attention specifically to Lunise. "We may even be able to decide how to work together, in at least a limited capacity. As I mentioned, Elsweyr is a major center for our enemy's operations. We have a mutual interest to change that. I am in no rush right now. I am sure you all have someone waiting outside our clanhome at a safe distance to be able to report back in the event that something went wrong. Would you like to send a messenger to inform them that you are safe?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Colors hummed briefly, then reached over and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about them. If they're afraid of you, then they probably aren't worth your time. Besides, you don't need anyone to tie you down. I'm just saying that someone like you can afford to live your life. With all that work and responsibility being in your pack, you're got to live a little, right? Do the things you enjoy. Maybe you want to do some research, or maybe you want to get together with some friends and drink until one of you is dancing on a table with a cooking pot on their head. You know, with that alchemical skill of yours, I'd be willing to wager you could mix up something that would make someone madder than Sheogorath's beard. That could make for an interesting party." He suggested.

---

Saras, true to form, did not react to the Altmer's outburst. He allowed Maroc to calm his ally before he stepped in to speak up himself. "Hmm, I suppose I have not introduced myself. How rude of me. You may call me Ardan." He answered. There would not be any real risk in using his actual name, but providing an alias would make it easier to know when his new contacts were speaking of him. "And as for my own role, I shall not bore you with the details, but suffice to say that I am one of the few at the right hand of the Champion. My authority, like hers, spans more than just one clan. I will of course need to speak with her, but I know her well enough to know what she will and will not agree to. I have every power to negotiate on behalf of her as you do with your superiors."

Once he was sure that everyone had calmed down entirely, Saras addressed the reason the Justicar had interjected. "Now, I merely wanted to make sure that we are all on the same page. I do not want for anyone to leave here believing we have agreed to something we have not. There are simply a few actions that I want to be sure you know we cannot take. For instance, I cannot reveal to you the locations of our clans, in part because I do not know most of them. We communicate and coordinate with one another, of course, but for our own protection, we communicate indirectly. Each clan governs their own business and carefully controls the secrecy of their home. As I mentioned before, secrecy is our greatest weapon. If one clan falls and its members are interrogated, then they cannot compromise any other clan." He explained. He was, of course, not being truthful, but it was a rational lie. "As for my own request, there is one of considerable importance. I am sure you will both think it obvious, but I want to make sure it is said explicitly. Either before or after Vile's threat is ended, we will not agree to be taken into war between the Empire and Dominion. You may both be sitting here as allies, but regardless of what you personally think of each other or your governments, we all know that your nations will not be permanent allies. You are here negotiating together because you know we represent a mutual concern for you. However, if at any point war breaks out between you, we will not be involved. We will not take sides with either of you."

Saras raised up his hands, lightly touching his fingertips together in front of his face. His expression was mostly stern, but he gave a hint of a knowing grin. "Unless one of your governments breaks our agreements, of course. I am sure that is a deal that all of us here can agree to."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Colors laughed. "Oh, all sorts of things. Some of them are at least kind of believable, and others are just outrageous. My favorite one is probably the story of Meesei single-handedly taking out an entire enemy camp, with over a hundred mercenaries, by bringing down half a mountain on top of them. Now, I like that one because you can see how that one could have some truth to it. Maybe you all saw a place where you could cause a rockslide or something, and you set it off on top of them. But, the story paints her as some sort of legendary mage. Oh, and there was another where you all were the ones ambushed, outnumbered at least twenty-to-one, but as soon as they learned who they were facing, the enemy broke ranks and half of 'em fled straight into the swamps outside Morthal and were eaten by crocodiles. I know there are some lies in that one, since there aren't even crocodiles in those swamps. I've been there once. There are those big, strange insect things, though. Best part is, I can't honestly tell how much of it is true. I've seen you all in action in person before, but never really doing anything that can show off what you can do. Most impressive thing I saw with my own eyes was Kaleeth tearing through that wooden shack like it was made of parchment. I've never seen Meesei really letting loose with her magic."

With a grin, Colors pointed his finger towards Sabine. "Nor have I seen your magic. You have your own reputation. It isn't quite as grand as Meesei's, but you've been her apprentice for many years. I've heard people saying you can bend nature to your will, and things like that. I realize you might not want all that attention, especially if it's not all true, but there has to be some good parts to it. Having all these people looking up to you. I'd be willing to bet you have men falling at your feet trying to impress you and earn your attention."

---

Saras leaned back, carefully listening to each of Marod's points as they came. "Yes, I heard the stories of the events in Elsweyr. I believe the idea behind exposing the threat of Vile's agents was in the hope of encouraging the Dominion to search for them. Unfortunately, Vile's cult gained power there regardless. Our clans have been ousted from the area, as near as we can tell, Elsweyr is the current center of their operations in Tamriel. I do have a short list of Vile's infiltrators that we have identified, but cannot act against. I know you would likely need to conduct your own investigations, but that is information I would certainly not mind you reporting back."

Although Saras' expression did not change at all, he was focused intently upon Marod as he laid out his proposition for cooperation with the Empire and Dominion. It would not be the worst outcome that this meeting could bring, certainly, but it was something that Saras was cautious about. Trust was not something he could afford to have for either of their governments, and they in turn were not likely to trust him. Any deal they struck would likely be based upon the mutual fear they had for one another.

"To start, I would like to say that I am perfectly willing to reach an accord for our mutual benefit." Saras began. "To the first point, we certainly want to bring this war to an end. Quickly and efficiently. I would have liked for it to have ended years ago, but of course, Vile's cult does their best to make that difficult on us. We do not, and have never, targeted your villages or cities. No matter what reports you may have heard. Do keep in mind that Vile's followers have more capabilities to hide in plain sight. Some have taken forts under the guise of being legitimate mercenary bands. Some hide as normal citizens. That small mining settlement that was destroyed in the western part of the Reach two months ago? The silver mine? There were no innocents there. As for taking in lycans, we will do so gladly. It has been our primary purpose before the start of this war. As I said before, we keep those who are lost and in danger in safety, and out of trouble."

Saras leaned forward, clasping his hands together on the table. "As for your last condition, I can say that I am willing to establish and retain communication with you. We are willing to follow reasonable rules for interacting with your people. But, there are some measures we cannot take. If our continued communication remains secret, and out of the public eye, I can agree to that. But, our clans cannot exist openly. Believe me, it is the dream of many lycans to be able to exist openly. To be able to enter cities without fear, or even if we had to remain separate, to be able to live in open communities with open trade. To not have to worry about one mistake from one member of the community bringing down the wrath of misguided hunters upon us. That is a dream we would all love to see in reality, but I believe we all know it is just a dream. The average citizen is superstitious and irrational. If they see something or someone as being different, they will latch on to it and blame it for all of their problems. Even if my some miracle the people were convinced to accept separate lycan communities, that would not last forever. I cannot have my people's fate bound to the current political climate. We are willing to cooperate, but not in the public eye."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Colors acknowledged Sabine with a nod. He had not expected she would be able to share any information, but he saw no harm in asking. "The sea reminds me of my old life, that's for sure. The sea practically was my life back then. Trading in anything we could get our hands on: weapons, moon sugar, skooma. Don't carry a lot of those things anymore, except the weapons. Ports like to put high tariffs on those, so I can get them in at lower cost. Not to mention all the magic items, rare ingredients, and such. Really, I just smuggle whatever the clans happen to need. And I've never had a more loyal crew. I guess this one has a bit more personal of a stake in us other than just wanting coin. Life at sea can be dull, but I find ways to pass the time. Stories, drinking, gambling, more drinking, beautiful women. Or at least bored women."

Colors turned his head away from the path ahead and towards Sabine. "Oh, and speaking of stories, I've heard a lot of them about you and your pack. A lot of them sound like the old sea monster stories that my first mate likes to tell when he's drunk. How much of all that talk about your pack is actually true? They make you sound like mythic heroes."

---

Saras had not been completely sure if he should have expected the Penitus Oculatus to be aware of the threat of Vile, but it was not surprising to him. One who had been investigating lycans would have had a good chance to come across information about them. Nevertheless, Saras did not miss a beat responding with confidence. "Our struggle would hardly be a war by the standards of your Empire. You possess the resources to eliminate either or both sides of our conflict. It is a conflict, but not one that is usually fought on open battlefields. There have been a few battles, but not so much as of late. Skirmishes would be a better description." He was indeed speaking the truth that open battles with Vile's forces were more rare, but he did not share the reason. They could not fight Vile in the open because they could not completely counteract the soul-tearing gas in large numbers, but the agents did not need to know that.

Shortly after his answer, a few of Saras' warriors returned with the furniture he had requested. He directed them to set up the chairs and table at the center of the room, after which Saras took his seat on his side of the table. "But it is true, ferals will soon not trouble you. At least, not any more than they did historically. There will always be the occasional rogue; we can do nothing about that. We can just keep as many of us away from your cities as possible. Now, Vile's followers, I can say nothing about what threat they might pose to you. Where as our goal is simply survival, Vile seeks power. He has tried to attain it through us, and I cannot predict what measures he will take when he fails. He has his agents in your cities. In the Empire and[ the Dominion." He said, giving a glance to the Justicar. "I would be cautious of them."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Malithus nodded. "Yes, you are probably right. One can get away with wearing armor in the city; it merely marks you as an adventurer or mercenary. But, chitin would be very exotic, and would surely grab attention. Rolann, Nelise, would you mind gathering what they need?"

The members of Malithus' pack were not hesitant to follow his instructions and gathered all of the needed supplies for the three members of the Champion's pack without argument. It was a kind of treatment they were not unaccustomed to, regardless of where they went. Indeed, they could avoid most kinds of manual labor the majority of the time without even asking, if they chose to do so. They gathered extra food and potions, as well as the requested clothing. It did take some time for them to find and modify a dress to fit Kaleeth, so by the time it was finished, they were ready to leave.

Kaleeth elected not to wear her dress at first and instead dawned her armor, apart from the helmet. One thing which had not changed about her over the years was the fact that she was not fond of dresses, to the point that she would prefer to wear her armor. The clan was far enough from Evermore that it would take over a day to reach the city regardless, so she could just keep her armor on to be ready for any unexpected dangers while traveling, then change before heading into the city.

Malithus led the way out of the caves. As they neared the waterfall, he removed his boots and kept his robe pulled up to avoid soaking it. He stopped before the waterfall and held his hand up in the air towards it. Using telekinesis, he deflected part of the waterfall to the side enough to give them a dry space to walk under to avoid soaking their garments. Only Kaleeth intentionally walked under the waterfall itself.

Since they had a long walk ahead of them, Colors decided to start catching up right away. Just a few minutes after they moved past the waterfall, he strolled up alongside Sabine. He was carrying a pack on his back, though it was lighter than most of the others, which he justified by the fact that he was not physically as strong as his fellow lycans. "I look forward to showing you around Evermore. It's no Senchal, but all the Bretons, Redguards, and Orcs make it an interesting place. Granted, I've only been to it once, but I liked what I saw when I was there. What about you all? I heard the Bruma clan moved a while back, but it's a big secret where you all actually went, specifically. You allowed to tell me anything about it?"

---

Saras, of course, did not give away anything in his expression, but he had a brief moment of internal debate over what to tell the agents. He had no reason to believe that it would be a good idea to share the details of their war with Vile, but at the same time, he had to give a satisfactory enough answer to prevent any tensions from flaring up. It was important that they not have any reason to view the clans as a threat. "The growth of lycan populations was not something we caused, but it is something we have had to adapt to. For our goal of survival, more lycans creates more difficulties for us. We have more people to care for, more people to teach and train. The growth in lycan populations has been exclusively among the feral, unaffiliated population. Our clans have rules against infecting others. The only lycans we create are those born to our members the more...natural way. We take in feral lycans and attempt to teach them how to control themselves, and more importantly, stay out of trouble."

Saras' next words he had to choose carefully. He wanted to give some truth to sate the agent's curiosity, while still keeping the majority of his cards close to his chest. He decided to frame the actual truth in a different light. "As for the why of it, you can just think of it as Daedric bickering. A rival Daedra decided he had a use for lycan souls, so he had his own followers create more lycans. Except, we created a countermeasure to their weapon, so they stopped infecting people in turn. It might be difficult to gain enough information from your perspective, but the growth of feral lycan populations has all but halted in the past year or two. Some ferals are still infecting others on their own, but they are slowly dying or being taken into our fold. Your Empire will not have to worry about the feral problem getting worse, and over time, it will fix itself."