EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

While Kaleeth took Sabine's signal to drink from her waterskin, the Redguard gave a simple, subtle shrug in response to her worried question. "Never can be too safe."

Kaleeth was even more worried when their smugglers walked them through the large group, to a finely dressed Imperial in the back. One side of them was blocked off by the steep, rocky hill, and the rest of the large, armed group was on their other side. They would have no quick route of escape.

The Orc greeted the Imperial woman with a simple nod, while the Redguard was the one to talk with her. "Alright, our part's done. Our pay?" He said.

"Of course." The Imperial responded as he handed over a pouch of coins to the Redguard. Kaleeth was fully on alert by this point, but they still did not quite have a reason to start fighting. None of the group had yet threatened them, and it was not unreasonable, if this Imperial was a part of Viper's organization, for her to handle payment of the middlemen, but it was perhaps even more likely that she was paying Viper for delivering more Talos worshipers. In any case, Kaleeth doubted it would be long before they had their answer.

The two smugglers casually walked out of the camp, leaving Sabine and Kaleeth to this Imperial and her allies. They were armed and armored like soldiers and mages, so they were not at all being discrete as one would expect from smugglers. Kaleeth, seeing no reason to delay, decided to ask a question that would hopefully force that answer. "So, um, ma'am. How long do you think it will take us to reach Daggerfall?"

The Imperial regarded Kaleeth with both immediate and obvious annoyance and disdain. "I'm afraid we shall not be going to Daggerfall. Restrain them." She ordered in a calm, assertive voice. The Imperial started to walk away, unconcerned with the two supposed Talos worshipers, while the nearest of the warriors to Kaleeth, an Orc, grabbed a hold of her. Naturally, Kaleeth was quick to make use of the first surprise she had in store for their attackers. The Orc, having not expected Kaleeth to be capable of any real resistance, had his grip of her easily broken, after which she reached up, grabbed his head, and smashed it into the stone face of the rocky hill.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Again, the Orc chuckled. "Well, if we do hit trouble, careful where you swing that oversized knife. Don't much want to get sliced in the back by a frightened lizard."

Fortunately, the four of them proceeded through the slums without incident. Anywhere closer to the docks would be ill-suited for an ambush, so if they were going to be attacked, it would be somewhere outside the city. They had a small boat tied to one of the docks that was ready and waiting for them to take. It had a net in it, to keep up the illusion of being fishermen, and was just barely spacious enough for the four of them to fit without having any danger of accidentally flipping the boat.

The trip down the river would be the hardest for Fendros and the others to follow, as they would not leave any tracks to follow, but Fendros would still need to stay out of sight. He would have to rely on finding their boat once they stopped on the shore in order to pick up their trail again. Luckily, they had stayed to their planned path so far, so the members of Malithus' pack waiting outside the city would still likely be able to follow with no issue, if something delayed Fendros.

True to the plan, the smugglers stopped the boat a fairly short distance downriver, then they set out to the northwest. Their destination was not terribly far, being only about a half hour walk. They would be meeting with a larger group in a clearing at the base of a rocky hill, who would supposedly take them both and get them to Daggerfall. However, it seemed more likely to be the place where they would be ambushed. If Kaleeth had to guess, she would say that their new escorts were actually the very hunters they were seeking.

As the group closed in on the clearing, Kaleeth kept close to Sabine. Just ahead, in the clearing, there was a wagon, along with about ten people: far more than would be needed to escort a simple pair of Talos worshipers. In fact, such numbers would only work against the goal of discretion.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The two smugglers recognized Sabine and Kaleeth by their descriptions the moment they saw them, so there was no need for any of them to show proof of their identities. Instead, they were quick to leave the inn and prompted them to follow. The part of the city they started in was by far the poorest district, and the alleyways they were being led through did not look encouraging in the slightest. Kaleeth, and most of the others, had expected an ambush outside of the city, but there was really no guarantees that they would not be attacked in a dark alley in the slums. In any case, Kaleeth was on her guard. Although, to be fair to their smugglers, it was a place that the Thalmor would not go unless they had a specific reason. They would be leaving the city via a small boat on the Bjoulsae river, as according to Viper, it would be harder for Thalmor to notice them if they were not recorded leaving the gates. It would make them seem more like simple fishermen. They would take the boat out of the city a short distance, then get back on shore and head northwest to the meeting point. Fortunately, there was a city gate near enough to the river that Fendros and the rest of those following would be able to use, instead of swimming.

The Orc, a rather tall man, looked down at Kaleeth with an amused grunt. "Expectin' trouble?" He said, referencing her sword.

"It's my brother's. He wanted me to have something to keep safe with, in case something bad happens." Kaleeth explained. She was still suspicious, but tried not to show it. They were currently cutting through an alley, and would not have many means of escape if something happened.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The morning of the meeting, Kaleeth was walking through town alongside Sabine, past the brothel they had visited previously and towards the inn where they were to meet Viper's men. Viper himself, to their knowledge, would not be joining on their trip out of the city. They were not likely to actually see him again. Instead, they would be meeting with two of his men, whom he had described to them. One was an Orc wearing a dark, yellowish tunic, while the other would be a Redguard warrior with the look of an adventurer, wearing chainmail armor. Sabine and Kaleeth had been described to them, so there would be no need for any real introductions.

Kaleeth herself had exchanged her dress for something that was a bit more rugged. She was wearing leather pants and a cloth tunic, and was carrying a shortsword sheathed on her side, along with the rest of her bags. Her ensemble did not quite make her look like a fighter exactly, but more like someone who was simply expecting to head into the wilderness; perhaps a woman who intended to go camping outside the city, or just a traveler. At any rate, it would not draw any more attention to her than the fact that she was Argonian would. She did not know exactly where Fendros or Malithus' pack were hiding. If everything went to plan, they would not be able to see them until the ambush itself, so they would just have to trust that they would be able to keep pace. Otherwise, Kaleeth and Sabine would have to find a way to survive on their own.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Well, if you have a route, then I'm sure it will be easy to pick out a spot to meet. Even if they detour from it, they probably won't detour by that much." Ahnasha commented.

When Fendros moved closer to her, she placed her hand on top of his and grinned. "I'm thinking we'll get some results together. Vile's people have never held a candle to our pack, and these particular hunters are not even looking for us. Whatever strange reasons they have, we'll figured it out."

Slowly, Ahnasha reached down and pulled Fendros' hand off of her waist, allowing her to move back onto her bed.She kept her eyes locked with Fendros the entire time as she laid down in a very intentionally provocative pose. "You intend to stay here with me tonight? I wouldn't mind a nice long talk." She grinned.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As she was listening to Fendros' description of events, Ahnasha guided him over to the bed so they could sit down together. She expected that had some legitimate business in visiting her, so she was not surprised that they had made some progress. She hoped that the rest of the pack were having as much luck in their own tasks.

"I've had some progress too, fortunately. I was given a lead on a mercenary who was reported to have worked with the Talos hunters at some point. I talked to him to try to get some information on his former fellow hunters. He wasn't particularly loyal to them or anything, but he was a really 'manly'-type Nord. I had to challenge him to a fist fight to get him to tell me anything; Kaleeth probably would have liked that. Anyways, I have a list of names, but by themselves, they don't mean much to me. It would probably be too difficult to try to break in to Evermore's Census office, so I'll need to use another method to learn more about the names. There's a village out to the west of town that the mercenary told me about. Supposedly they had a contact there they always reported to. I might be able to interrogate him, or go through his things, to learn more about some of the hunters." Ahnasha explained.

Ahnasha's expression turned somewhat regretful. "Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to be able to help with the ambush. The village is a ways to the west, and I need to find this contact as soon as I can. I need to set out tomorrow morning, and I probably won't be back in time to help you. But, if I am able to learn more about these hunters; who they are, where their families live, and that sort of thing. Then, well, we might be able to take advantage of that to interrogate them. If you know the route that this Viper is going to be taking them, then we can probably pick a spot nearby for us to meet up after you deal with the ambush. Anyone you capture, we can interrogate together." She suggested.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Fendros?" Ahnasha said towards the door, carrying some definite surprise in her voice. "Um, yes, come in." She said, though she walked over and opened the door for him regardless. She beckoned him inside, then wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a kiss as soon as the door was closed.

After her affectionate greeting, Ahnasha stood in front of him with her hands on his shoulders. "Meesei did mention you might stop by at some point, but still, I wasn't expecting to see you tonight. How's your mission going? Were you wanting to coordinate with me, or are you just looking to visit?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There were no other comments or objections from any of the others, so they ended the meeting to allow everyone to get some rest. All that remained was for Fendros to see if Ahnasha was in the inn that Meesei had mentioned during their briefing. The inn was in a bit of a nicer part of the city, near the markets. It was more expensive, with a less "undesirable" crowd. There was an innkeeper still awake who would give a far more friendly greeting to Fendros as he entered than the one at their inn. Though, he would not need to speak to him to find Ahnasha, as her familiar scent would lead him upstairs to the door of her room.

Inside her room, Ahnasha was somewhere between preparing for her next day, and preparing for bed. She was undressed, but had both clothing and equipment laid out on and around her room's table. She had both regular city clothing, and a more rugged set of leather armor and a sword setting at the ready. Ahnasha did not normally wear armor or carry large weapons, but if she had reason to imitate an adventurer or some other warrior, then having armor could help make that image convincing.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Colors appeared slightly uncomfortable as he spoke up. "I would certainly love to be there to support you all in this endeavor, but I fear that I would be of no service to you. Your expert tracking ability would be far more valuable than any advice I could provide, and I would likely just get in the way otherwise. But fear not, I can keep myself useful by watching after all of the belongings we leave here. You may rest assured that no thieves shall even get near touching them."

Ignoring Colors' enthusiasm for his minor task, Kaleeth had one, more relevant question to ask before she decided to retire for the night. "There is one question I have. Meesei mentioned that Ahnasha is also doing something in the city and might be able to help us. Maybe one of us should go talk to her tonight and see if she has learned anything helpful? We know what inn she is staying at. Even if she hasn't learned anything, she might at least be able to lend her bow to the ambush." She suggested.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth, before the meeting, had been collecting together what she felt would be useful to bring, but she did have some concerns about equipment for herself and Sabine. Provided their allies could keep pace and keep track of them, they would have them to come to their aid when and if they were ambushed. However, there would still be a short time where herself and Sabine would need to be able to survive on their own. "I won't be able to bring all of my armor and equipment. It would probably be suspicious of me to show up dressed like a soldier. I could probably justify a sword by saying it is my 'brother's', but I won't be able to have my armor when we are ambushed. Sabine, you can protect me with one of those shield spells, right? Until I can transform?"

"Also, we should probably try to give ourselves any other advantage we can that won't stand out." Kaleeth continued. "Maybe you can brew a useful potion or two to put in our waterskins to quickly drink when needed, without having to go through our bags? Something defensive that could keep us from getting hurt for long enough that the others can come help us. Or maybe some flasks that explode in fire to help separate us from our attackers?" She suggested.