EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha laughed back at Fendros, raising up her hand to wave back as he approached. "Sorry, I only deal in crazed prisoners of war. But it looks like you have plenty of those, so we might still make a deal."

Standing up from her chair, Ahnasha stepped down from the porch and met Fendros halfway to the cabin. She was indeed dressed as if she were a local hunter, with rugged leather pants and a leather vest, in order to help her blend. As soon as she was close enough, Ahnasha leaned in and gave Fendros a quick peck on the lips in greeting, along with a pleasant smile. "Well, I take it from your mood that your mission was fairly successful? I have some information as well, hopefully that will be useful. So, anything unexpected happen, or do we need to just get to the interrogating?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Fendros' threats were enough to silence the woman and child completely, apart from whimpers and cries. The wounded Talos hunters, despite their injuries, were still tied up and put into the back of the wagon, while those that had surrendered were made to walk alongside under the guard of Malithus' pack. They were all in lycan form, so there was not the slightest chance of them escaping. Altogether, four of the hunters were deemed worth the effort to take with them. The rest of those that had survived the fight were too injured to reasonably be able to heal without better resources, so they were given quick deaths before the group departed.

Between Kaleeth and Malithus' pack, the majority of the group was in lycan form. Fortunately, there was no need to go near the roads. Bankorai did not have nearly thick forests to hinder their progress, and Kaleeth was more than strong enough to pull the cart over rough terrain. He was not nearly as fast as a horse, but she could easily pull a far greater load. They had picked their meeting spot as a place that was not too far from Viper's planned path, which they had closely followed, so it did not take them too long to reach it. Based on Malithus' maps of the area, they had decided to meet at an old cabin that had been abandoned for many years after its owner died. It was a small, two room abode on the edge of a small lake, which nature had been steadily reclaiming for years. The grass was overgrown, with the remnants of a garden inside a few mostly collapsed fences that was now filled with weeds. Vines and moss were growing on the cabin itself, and it likely had only a few years left before it too would collapse from the years of neglect. There was nothing significant about the cabin, aside from the fact that it was an isolated, but easy-to-find landmark.

As they approached, Fendros would be able to see that Ahnasha was already present and waiting. She was there alone, sitting on an old chair on the porch, looking out over the lake.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I don't know anything!" The woman repeated, this time shouting in her defense. "They just paid me to take them here; to drive the cart. That's all I did; just drove the cart. They hired me before and nothing happened. I just want to go, please! Just take anything you want and let us go!"

Malithus had not yet looked into the wagon at the Bretons, but he was easily able to hear what was happening. While he still had time to do so, he made a wise decision. He ordered Nelise and Rolaan to remain werewolves, and for the rest of his pack to transform as well after packing away their belongings. Then, he transformed himself. He stepped up behind Fendros, though tried to keep himself out of the line of sight of the pair of Bretons.

"We will probably need to get to the meeting place soon. Maybe we can just take them there? Until they can calm down." Malithus suggested. Although, he had not yet communicated why him and his pack had transformed.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There was very little that Kaleeth would be able to do to stop the woman, and especially the little girl, from panicking. She was a giant, blood-soaked monster in their eyes, and there were no rational words that were going to change that image. But, since the pair were hiding in the back of the wagon, Kaleeth was able to slink away out of their sight to allow them to focus solely on Fendros. He was a much less threatening sight, so they would accomplish more if Kaleeth stayed back.

Even after Kaleeth stepped back, it was another minute before the pair gave anything resembling a coherent response. For much of that time, the little girl was turned away crying while the woman held her protectively in her arms, though she too was horribly frightened.

Eventually, after a while of not being harmed, the woman mustered up the courage to speak between her cries. "I don't...what viper? I don't know what you're talking about. I just drive the cart. They paid me to drive the cart; I don't know anything else."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Fendros would find little of use on the charred Imperial corpse. The spell she had immolated herself with had been a fairly powerful one that had burned her inside and out. Even if Sabine had been able to act quickly enough, it was unlikely that she would have been able to stop her from killing herself. Obviously, she had been a dedicated zealot to Vile's cause, but hopefully, the rest of their hostages would not share her conviction. For the ones that surrendered in particular, it did not seem likely.

In inspecting the wagon, there was one more interesting discovery to make. In the midst of the fighting, a Breton woman and a Breton girl about ten years of age had hidden themselves away behind a crate in the back. The woman had covered them with a cloth tarp to keep themselves effectively out of sight. The horses had been scared away in the fighting, so Kaleeth remained in her werecrocodile form to help pull the cart. However, as she walked past the cart after her meal, she caught a scent, then pulled away the tarp out of curiosity. Immediately, there was a shrill scream as the Bretons laid her eyes on the monster towering over her. Unlike the others in the camp, they were not armed or armored, and the older woman did not move to defend herself with magic.

"Fendros." Kaleeth said to get his attention, though the screaming had likely already done so.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

With the smell of blood thick in the air, and a fair coating of it on her claws, Kaleeth could not deny her beast the ability to feast. Fortunately, the headless corpse of the Orc nearby was a perfectly suitable candidate for a meal. Even after all this time, Kaleeth still gave in to her beast's desires more frequently than the rest of her pack. She could control it when needed, but she felt that she was much more comfortable in her beast form if she allowed it control whenever there was a good opportunity. Her mind was not as rational in the moment, so she was not exactly listening to any of Fendros' orders in the moments after the fighting. In fact, when Rolaan approached, still in his werewolf form, to join in her feast, her beast smacked him away with a swing of her tail. She knocked him clean off of his feet and knocked the breath out of him, but being a lower ranked lycan, he walked away with a few high-pitched whimpers, rather than to challenge her.

Malithus, meanwhile, froze up briefly when Fendros addressed him. It had only been a few moments since the last of the enemy had been incapacitated, and he was not accustomed to the quick, efficient manner in which the Champion's pack operated. "Oh, well, two surrendered and, um..." After a few moments of stammering, he turned to Shurgrag and Arthon. "Secure the prisoners and collect the wounded. Shurgrag, focused first on the ones most likely to be saved."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine, despite not being a seasoned warrior, was able to immediately break the Imperial's jaw with a solid punch, and there was little chance of her wrestling free of Sabine's grip. With her free hand, the woman tried to focus on another spell, but Sabine had taken care of herself for more than long enough to allow her friends to come to her aid. As the flames were just starting to appear in the Imperial's hand, Kaleeth returned with the full might of her beast form.

The werecrocodile put her hand around the Imperial's torso, her claws digging into her flesh, then slammed her into the nearby rock face. Since Sabine and the Imperial had been grappling, it caused Sabine to lose her balance, but to the Imperial, it broke half the bones on one side of her body. Nevertheless, the woman fought through the immense pain to bring herself up to her knees. Now that the fighting had died down, she could look over her lycan opponents with rage burning in her eyes. She was beaten, unquestionably, but she had different plans than capture in mind.

The Imperial brought herself up to her feet, ignoring the fact that she could hardly breathe. In the face of defeat, she started to laugh. "You think you've...won. But you can never win. Nothing can stop it. Nothing will stop it. You...all of you will serve him in the end." The woman raised up her unbroken hand in the air and charged destructive magic through it. Despite everything, her expression turned to a grin. When she released her magic, flames engulfed her whole body. For a moment, she screamed, but those screams quickly turned into frightening, sickening laughter.

"Your time is over! Nothing you can do will stop it! You will drown in the tide of his power!" The Imperial shouted as her clothing, and the flesh underneath, burned away to ash. Her skin blackened, her blood boiled, and her eyes were melting out of their sockets, but she was still walking slowly towards Sabine. It was a nightmarish sight: her burning body walking towards Sabine, screaming and laughing until her charred remains finally collapsed to the ground.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Time for me to get to bed, goodnight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Since the Imperial's ward was already up, Sabine's icicle was absorbed by it. However, between that and the blizzard, it was being stressed to its limits. As such, the Imperial had never stopped charging forward. She knew Sabine to be the superior mage; her blizzard had been enough proof of that. So, she was going to try a different tactic. While maintaining her ward as best as she could, the Imperial conjured a bound mace in her hand just before reaching Sabine, then swung sideways for her center mass to try and guarantee a hit.

The last of the hunters still trying to resist were caught between werewolves on one side, Malithus and Arthon on another, Shurgrag's fireballs, and Fendros' arrows. Being the thoroughly hopeless fight that it was, two of them panicked and dropped their weapons, while the last tried to run off in the most empty direction he could find. The Imperial fighting Sabine was essentially guaranteed to lose, but Sabine would need to protect herself for the next few seconds.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

In the midst of the blizzard, Kaleeth had began her transformation. She kept her grip on the Orc's head and pushed it against the rock as her transformation commenced. As she grew larger and stronger, she continued to push with ever-increasing force until, by the end of the transformation, she had smeared his skull and its contents across the rock face. Needless to say, he was not being captured.

While Sabine's potion did mostly protect her, Kaleeth's beast spirit was still quite intent on getting out of the blizzard. As such, she charged straight through into the enemy, crushing two of those who had been caught in the ice to varying extents, then, once she emerged from the blizzard, struck a plate-armored Redguard with enough force to send her flying fully over the person behind her. Even with all her armor, it would likely be easier to count the number of bones in her body that were not broken.

Nelise and Rolaan were the members of Malithus' pack that were charging in as werewolves. They were quick and ferocious, though were intentionally trying to avoid killing blows. They would not place too much risk on their own lives, but unless any of the enemy surrendered, their strategy for capturing prisoners would simply be to wound everyone they fought to the point of incapacitation. Some would die from their wounds, but as long as some survived, they would have their prisoners. Between Sabine, Kaleeth, and Fendros' arrow, half of the hunters had already been killed or incapacitated. The display of magic from Sabine had naturally attracted the attention of most of the Talos hunters, so Nelise and Rolaan were both able to pounce on one opponent each. Shurgrag was launching fireballs at the remaining three to keep them from closing the distance to the werewolves, while Malithus and Arthon were taking a stealthy approach to move around to attack from the opposite angle. Quick, powerful, and effective sneak attacks were something that the Champion's pack had honed into an art form over the years, and Malithus' pack was now seeing that.

Despite the chaos and death around her, the Imperial woman the Imperial woman had set herself a goal to accomplish. She projected a magic ward around herself like a shield, and walked straight into Sabine's blizzard. The moment Sabine came into view, she let out a rage-fueled scream and launched a fireball at Sabine. She was no novice mage to be able to sustain such a ward while still fighting back.