EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Before they started their detailed discussions on their agreements, Meesei kept her eyes on Orphius. She did not show much of a reaction to Marod's description of Orphius' situation, though she certainly had her own thoughts on it. "Hmm, it is unfortunate that you have been brought into this situation in that manner. Though, we do not make ourselves easy to find, so I understand the need for a good tracker. Regardless, if you do fear me, that is not necessary. As Champion, I serve as the leader to Hircine's followers, and all of his hounds, bears, other creatures. That does not only mean that I command them, but that I have a responsibility to them. Not all choose to follow me, but your well-being is still my concern. If you and your family truly are going to be free after this meeting, then I have an offer for you. Speak to me when you can."

Meesei turned her head back to Marod. "As for lycan legionaries, my clans will of course always have a policy of neutrality between the Empire and Dominion. But, no one in my clans, except those unable to control their beast spirits, are forced to stay. They can make their own choices. There is something on that topic I would like to speak to you both about, but, well, we have these agreements to go over first."

Finalizing their agreements was a long, detail-oriented process, but there were no surprises at any point in their deliberations. As Marod requested, she had Saras take her copies of the documents while she remained to speak with him and Lunise. She was not sure what exactly they wanted to discuss, but she expected there would be more agreements to make. Certainly, she had matters she wished to discuss with them. It did not bother her to be alone with them, as she was confident in her ability to look after herself in the unlikely event that something went wrong. "I am sure you two have something specific to speak of, so I will allow you to start." Meesei commented once they were alone.

---

Ahnasha collected her clothing and other belongings before heading out of their room with Fendros. She did not need to carry too much with her, as most of what she needed was already in her laboratory. Most of the clan was still asleep, so for the most part, only the members of the guard on night watch were in the streets of the city. Fortunately, there were few in the city who would question the actions of two members of the Champion's pack, so they were able to leave the Silent City undisturbed.

Ahnasha had picked a location for her laboratory that was far enough from the city or any of their normal patrol routes that she would not be disturbed, but still close enough that using it would not be too inconvenient. She did not appear to become any less nervous as they made the walk. "I don't think I'll need you to do anything. I just...well I'll be glad to have you there."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There we go, edited.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ah, forgot to write for Ahnasha before hitting submit.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei felt that Lunise had misunderstood what she was actually asking, but it was irrelevant. They had more serious business to tend to. Saras handed Meesei his own copy of their agreement, which she placed in front of her as she took her seat. "If I had known that you would want to go through the trouble of moving the townsfolk, I would have said we could simply meet in the wilderness somewhere. Though, I suppose it is somewhat more necessary for me to avoid disturbing the locals than you. I lack a certain...official authority that you possess."

Scanning through the documents, Meesei did not see any changes to the wording that were meaningfully different from what she had already read. At least, not yet. "Ardan has informed me of all of the terms you previously deliberated together, and I agree with his judgment. We do not, have never, nor ever will desire war with the Empire or Dominion. And your requests are reasonable. Anything to bring about the end of Vile's aggression is something I can support. You can be assured that I would much prefer your taxes to Vile killing my people. This struggle has gone on for years, and I grow tired of it. You will not have to fear any trouble from my people after this is over. Most of us have had enough war for a lifetime. For any who have not, well, they can go find a dragon to hunt if they still crave a challenge. In short, I agree to the terms as they are written, but I am curious about some details of how we might be...interacting in the future."

Meesei turned her head to the other table, towards Orphius, and sniffed the air a few times. "You have a lycan among you: a werebear. Please, tell me of yourself. Are lycans and other...abnormal beings common among your organization?"

---

Ahnasha leaned her head back and relaxed her shoulders as Fendros began to rub her back. "It will be exciting, as long as I do it right." She responded. "There's always the possibility of error. No matter how much I've prepared, how much I've practiced the spells, or cleaned the tools, there is always a chance I could do something wrong. And I would really, really hate to have to gather all of those souls again. I'd have to if I don't do it right, and the worst part is, I won't know for a while after the ritual if it has been performed correctly. From what I've read, I won't feel any different. I'll have to wait for my soul to settle for a few days before I can accurately test how strongly it is bonded to my body. A few days straight of just not knowing."

Again, Ahnasha sighed. "But there's no sense in sitting here and doing nothing. I'd like for you to come with me, to my laboratory out of the city. That is where I have been setting everything up." She requested. Fendros knew of the fact that Ahnasha had created another hidden lair for herself in which she could conduct her experiments, but she had not actually invited him to it before.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei gladly shook Marod's hand to reinforce the sense of polite professionalism she wanted to bring to this meeting. Even towards Lunise she kept up an air of friendliness, despite her thickly sarcastic greeting. Although, Meesei also took care not to in any way seem subservient. She did not want to give any impression that the Empire or Dominion were able to force her into this deal. Her attitude was more similar to that of a polite diplomat.

"I am simply glad that we have been able to come to a peaceful agreement. It is something of a rarity for my kind to find any measure of acceptance among Tamriel's citizens. This kind of rationality is...refreshing." Meesei responded. After a moment, she shifted her attention back to Lunise. "Yes, I do recognize you. It is good to see you made it back to civilization alive. Did everyone else make it back to Orcrest without issue?"

---

Ahnasha heard Fendros get up, so she was not surprised when he came up behind her. Usually, her body relaxed when he showed such affection towards her, but this time, she remained just as tense. "I think it is more early than late, actually. It's hard to tell down here. I just woke up an hour ago. I'm not actually doing much right now, just looking through my things. Making sure everything is right as it should be."

Closing her eyes a moment, Ahnasha let out a long sigh. "Nothing looks to be wrong, and...I don't think I have any more reason to delay. Nothing to wait for, nothing to perfect. I have the souls, the skill, everything. I...Fendros, I think it is time for me to carry out the ritual. Today."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Upon her return to the Blackreach clan, Meesei did not get near as much reprieve as she had hoped. She was alerted the day of her return of the developments between the clans, the Empire, and the Dominion. She did not disapprove of how her council had handled the situation, but it was another source of stress for her. The Empire, and particularly the Dominion, would be unreliable allies at best. The wisest course of action would be to not trust them, but at the very least, Saras had done everything he could to minimize the potential amount of damage they could cause. Hopefully, they would be a problem to deal with after the end of the war with Vile. The day for finalizing the agreement was set, so all there was to do was to wait. In the meantime, Meesei set to work on enchanting more of the propylons. It would not be a quick process to establish their propylon network, but once it was finished, the efficiency of the clans would increase dramatically. For Meesei's pack in particular, they would now be able to handle major issues which arose in the southern clans as well.

Only a month had passed before it was time for Meesei to attend the meeting. Saras had arranged the details over the preceding weeks. They were to meet in the small village of Kynesgrove, south of Windhelm. If all went to plan, then all the meeting would entail would be a simple exchange of signatures and handshakes to finalize the deal. Meesei's pack was not with her, though she was not alone. Saras had decided that it would be worthwhile to join her, and they had a pack of Ri'vashi's warriors as an escort. Although, Meesei did not want to attend the meeting with an entourage of armed guards, so they would be waiting just outside the town. Meesei was confident enough in her own abilities to keep herself and Saras safe in the event that something went wrong.

After allowing their escort to get themselves into position Meesei and Saras walked into the town up the hill from the main road. Winter was setting in across Skyrim, so they were both dressed quite warmly. Saras, naturally, carried plenty of hidden weapons, though Meesei simply had a good supply of potions and a basic knife, more as a backup tool than anything else.The small village consisted mostly of just an inn, a few small homes, an abandoned lumbermill, and a mine. They planned to simply find a quiet spot at the edge of town to carry out their meeting. Meesei kept an eye out for the Penitus Oculatus agents, who, according to Saras, would not be hiding their identities this time.

---

In Blackreach, Ahnasha had been up for about an hour, though she had allowed Fendros to keep sleeping. Rhazii was spending the night with Julan, so there was little to stop her from what she needed to do, except her own anxiety. Eventually, she grew noisy enough that she would certainly end up waking up Fendros. Despite having been awake for so long, Ahnasha looked as if she had just crawled out of bed. She had not gotten dressed, her fur was still a mess, and she had ended up scattering some of their belongings across the floor as she searched for her own magical trinkets among their bags and furniture. At present, she was sitting at their table with two filled black soul gems in front of her, holding up a clear glass vial in front of her and staring intently at the liquid within.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

We can probably skip ahead soon. I wanted to do some of the last scenes I had in mind simultaneously to save time, but I realize that one would be happening a lot sooner than the other. Did you have any scenes in mind that you wanted to do, with someone other than Fendros and Ahnasha?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I do want to keep the propylon chambers a secret from the enemy, but I do not want to be too afraid to use them to their potential." Meesei responded. "They will not be useful to us if we are afraid to use them. What I would like to work on would be a way to ensure that we can use them without fear of them being captured by the enemy. Perhaps a way to destroy them from a distance? With enough security measures, we could use them freely within our own clanhomes. Saras can work on getting misinformation to the enemy in the meantime. Setting the chambers up in a circuit would require the least amount of chambers, which is beneficial considering that I am the only one that can enchant them. It does not necessarily need to be a geographic circuit, but a circuit nonetheless. If something happens and a clan becomes isolated, then they would be in no different of a situation than they are in right now."

Meesei walked back over to her bag and hefted it up onto her back. "At any rate, we should likely start walking. It is still a fair distance to Alftand. If we are to set up this network of propylon chambers, I suspect I have quite a lot of enchanting ahead of me, so I would like to get back soon."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei gave a brief shrug towards Fendros. "Well, these were used by the ancient Dunmer, in strongholds long abandoned and buried in ash. Long even as Elves see time. They may have simply been unaware of them. They are not commonly studied today, as most of the strongholds are fairly dangerous. It took considerable effort for our clans in Mororwind to be able to go to one of the strongholds and locate the index I needed."

Given their sudden change of location, most of the pack started to open up their bags to retrieve their thicker coats and furs. They were mostly packed deep within their bags, since they had not expected to be needing them so soon. "I hope we will not need to deliver them all ourselves. That would be inconvenient. I should be able to enchant the activation spell into a scroll, so with proper instructions, any enchanters or mages in the clans should be able to have them set up properly. As for creating them in the first place, our craftsmen can carve the stones into their final shapes, but it would not be a quick nor simple task to teach anyone else how to properly enchant them. It requires knowledge that has not been taught since the days of the ancient Dunmer, so anyone else would have to start from the basics. In all likelihood, I will need to enchant each and every one of them myself."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

One by one, the pack appeared from the propylon. The enchanted device did not seem to have any trouble transporting all of the pack at once. There was a wide variety of reactions from different members of the pack. Kaj-Julan had been frightened at first, much like Rhazii, but after arriving in the destination chamber, he actually found the strange experience to be exciting. He turned back around to touch the pillar again, but since the index had not been used from this side, nothing happened. Kaleeth very quickly noticed the frigid air pouring in from the door Meesei was holding open, so her surprise was cut short by the immediate desire to get a coat around herself and Julan, along with getting Leaps into his enchanted collar to ensure he did not freeze to death.

Even Lorag could not pretend that he was not impressed by Meesei's creation. Being transported halfway across a continent in an instant was not an average feat. He stepped out towards the door, ignoring the cold for the moment. "So...either that's Skyrim out there, or you've put a real tricky illusion on us all. Either way, it could be useful."

"Hmph, that's an understatement." Ahnasha responded, crossing her arms and beginning to shiver slightly. "I'm guessing you made two of these things, then that one back in High Rock brought us all the way here to Skyrim? Definitely useful, but, uh, you know you could have told us what to expect before we started touching it."

Meesei laughed. "Indeed I could have, but am I not allowed to have some fun occasionally, Ahnasha? At any rate, I have been speaking about this to as few people as possible. Other than the locations of our clans, it is one of the greatest secrets that I would like to keep from our enemy. Having this capability could turn the tide of the war, if I can spread them across Tamriel." She explained before directing her attention more to the group in general. "A propylon can allow a person or object to be transported near instantaneously from one to the other propylon that it is bound to. All that is required is to use the correct propylon index on the device beforehand. I left the index for this chamber back in High Rock, and there is another index here which can take us there. Effectively, these two locations are linked for instantaneous travel in either direction. It requires only a few seconds to be energized by the propylon before being teleported. As you can see outside, it is the same time of day as when we left. Well, it is actually later in the day here, since we are now much farther east, but only a minute or so has passed since we left."

Meesei closed back the door to keep out the cold air, then stepped back over to the propylon to look it over with at least a hint of pride in her expression. "These are an ancient Dunmer creation. They linked their old strongholds together, allowing for more effective communication and trade. The Dunmer placed these chambers in their strongholds themselves, but I am afraid that is too risky for us at the moment. If one of these chambers is compromised without us knowing, and the enemy learns how to operate it, then we could suddenly find ourselves with enemy soldiers in our clanhome. So, all of our propylon chambers are going to be a fair distance outside of our clanhomes, at least for now. Perhaps in the future, if we can develop adequate security measures, we will be able to move them within the clanhomes for even more convenient travel. In the meantime, these chambers could allow us to complete months worth of traveling in under a day. All I need to do is to create two propylons for each of Tamriel's clans. Each propylon can only link to a single other device, so a proper propylon chamber contains two of them. The ancient Dunmer arranged their strongholds into a circuit so that each stronghold linked to two different strongholds, forming a chain that linked back onto itself. We can do the same. It will require us to go through intermediate chambers to reach any destination not directly connected to this chamber, but that can be accomplished in minutes."