EliteCommander

Elder Scrolls: Terror of the Padomaic

We still need the distraction to start before we can move.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei nodded, understanding his issue. When she ended up leaving her own village, she made sure to make them believe she had perished, as she preferred they believed her dead than having abandoned them. Ahnasha had done something similar, so it was far from a rare desire. She recognized that it was important to him to give them closure, so she was more than willing to help. "I understand. I faked my death upon leaving my village to give them closure over my fate. It would not be too difficult to give them a message, but you need to decide what kind of message that will be. Do you think it would be better if your parents thought you were dead, or that you had become something that, in their eyes, is a monster? It would be easy enough to create a convincing death scene using some of your belongings where the guards might find it. I think we even have some cuts of meat from a Dunmer highwayman back at camp that could be useful, and Lorag could easily make replacements for anything of yours we use. You could also give them a message saying you are leaving, without mentioning your lycanthropy, though that may make your parents more upset than if they simply thought you were dead. You know your parents better than I, however, so it is up to you to decide which option to take. I just ask you to understand that you cannot return to them now. In your current state, you would end up hurting, or even killing them eventually. You need far more experience before you can exist among normal mortals for any extended duration."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I think it is entirely possible that some of the meat Fendros already ate had a bit of bandit in it, which probably wouldn't be comforting to him.

Anyway, I'll be back on tomorrow/today/whatever.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"We use whatever we can from the things we kill. To do anything else would be wasteful. I know cannibalism has a certain taboo about it in your culture, but it is not as if we are the only ones who practice it. The entirety of Valenwood falls under a pact that compels its citizens to cannibalism, and they have a civilization much like your own." Meesei commented. Hopefully, the fact that an entire nation regularly practiced cannibalism would help him see that it was not as "evil" of a practice as he had been taught. Before Fendros tied up the sack, Meesei threw a few of the ogre's teeth in the sack as well, as they could be used for alchemy and other purposes.

They had packed as much meat as possible into the hide, so it did have significant weight by this point. Fortunately, it was nothing a simple spell couldn't solve. Meesei placed her hand on the sack and charged a spell of feather into it, drastically reducing its weight. As it was Fendros' kill, she allowed him to carry it. "At any rate, we should head back. I could use a swim to wash this blood away, though it will take a few hours to get back."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Well, ogres are much larger, obviously, but other than their basic form, there isn't much to relate us to them. They have rudimentary intelligence similar to goblins, but still are not very complex creatures. Their meat contains a lot more fat than that of humans. Some people find that desirable, but I prefer the latter, personally. At the very least, you can get a lot of meat out of a kill." Meesei said as she finished cutting away the meat and dispelled her dagger, subtly acknowledging Fendros' point about cannibalism. He would need to get over that taboo eventually, though she knew it was a rather deep-seated one. It would have been so much easier if he had been a Wood Elf instead of a Dark Elf.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei laughed. "Attracting a mountain lion would just mean more meat for us, but yes, we can get to dealing with this ogre. Come on, let's get started." She said, giving him a pat on the back before hopping down off of the boulder and approaching the corpse. She conjured a bound dagger in her hand, then knelt down beside it.

"My original plan was for us to drag this corpse back to camp so you could participate, but that would take a while, and since you already have some experience with skinning, you can just observe for now. I'm sure there is a lot you can pick up from my technique. I wish I could give you my dagger, but sadly, bound weapons do not work that way. Now, watch closely how I do this..." She said as she began cutting into the creature with her dagger. With each step, she explained clearly what she was doing and why she was doing it, as well as giving suggestions on how to improve on the basic technique she assumed he used. Given the size of the creature, it took quite a while to separate its hide from its body without damaging it. The area around the stomach had of course been damaged rather heavily, so she used that area for hide strips that would be useful on the way back. They could use the ogre pelt as a makeshift sack to hold cuts of meat from its body, with the hide strips holding it all together .

Eventually, Meesei, separated the skin from the body in as solid of a piece as possible and set it aside. "Now, we won't be able to carry all of the meat back with us, so I'll show you what cuts of meat to chose to get the most out of the kill. The best course of action is still to bring the entire creature back to camp, but for one as large as this, that isn't always practical. Just like with the skinning, I want you to pay close attention. Feel free to ask questions if you have any." Meesei continued cutting into the creature, placing each slice of meat on top of the ogre's own pelt. By this point, she was covered in blood to an even greater extent than before, but it did not phase her in the slightest. She simply continued to pile more and more meat onto the ogre's pelt.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei gave a bit of a smirk. "To my knowledge, no, but if I had, would I really be able to tell you? Scholars, especially those from reputable organizations, generally have armed guards, even if they are accomplished mages themselves. When they enter a ruin, they carry themselves entirely differently from someone looking to loot the place. I tend to avoid groups fitting that description, though I do find it likely that I have mistaken adventurers for scholars before."

Meesei crossed her arms and chuckled slightly. "You know, I think I'm getting the sense that you've considered becoming an adventurer before, the way you seem to be focusing on them. Perhaps you would want to delve into one of those ancient ruins one day? I could take you to one sometime, provided you don't try to take anything from the site. There is a lot you can learn from such places, and it is always interesting to see history right before you. I may not be a historian, but I could probably teach you something in the process, if you are interested."

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Freeshooter92 said
I am the opposite of naked.

Full body jumpsuit?

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Actually, I think it is technically a time after the scientific method.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Ssarak Dyreackthanose and Coco Bean

---

Ssarak Dyreackthanose
Ssarak saw his new roomate, Leith, wave him over to his table after everything settled down. Since he presently did not have a chair, he gladly grabbed his drink and walked around the table toward the human across the room. As he was rounding the head of the table, however, the teacher he had been waiting for, the Psychomancy instructor, began her introduction. Ssarak stopped immediately, focusing all of his attention on the demonstration. She called for a toast, one of the Human customs that he was actually familiar with, so he gladly complied, but as soon as he touched his drink, his entire world unfolded before his eyes.

The nightmare was intense, and certainly convincing. By virtue of his blood, he felt a hint of something...familiar at play. Somthing about the world around him felt off, like a much more sophisticated illusion than he was capable of. Not that it mattered, as he did not truly need help to torture himself over the events of that day. The vivid reminders of the attack shook him to his very core. Every regret he had was addressed, and amplified. Though perhaps not accurate to reality, it reflected the responsibility Ssarak felt he had over what transpired. Each of his brothers' deaths had been on his shoulders; the faces on the bodies around him were friends, family, his brothers and sisters in battle. Finally, when the nightmare shifted into his own village, the scene he had imagined a thousand times in his mind played out before him. Though in reality he had not been present for the attack, the fact that he was there in the dream did little to change the outcome. Every part of the attack represented the epitome of all his fears. No one knew exactly how the attack took place, so in the time since the attack, Ssarak had conjured up countless variations of what could have happened in his mind, and Satori's magic played on the worst of those fears. The worst suffering he could imagine for his wife and children occured right in front of him. The physical pain he was experiencint from the battle was irrelevent, for the emotional suffering within him tore at his soul far worse than any blade was capable. Eventually, one of the Xoth warriors that had brutilized his family turned his attention to Ssarak. Just before the warrior crushed in his skull, Ssarak looked up and saw that the warrior was himself.

With a wave of her hand, Satori seemed to rid everyone of their nightmares simultaneously, though Ssarak still felt considerably disturbed. A mere reminder of his past could send Ssarak into a depression, and this was many leagues beyond that. The images of his wife and children still ran through his mind, even as he tried to process what this demonstration meant for him. Looking around, he could very easily see that the other students likely had similar experiences by the way they were acting. Many were understandably upset. On the one hand, Ssarak could not help but to be angry with the Psychomancer for bringing up such pain, but on the other, it was an impressive display of power. To reach into every single students' mind at the same time and create a nightmare, presumably tailored to each students' fears, was far beyond anything he would have thought possible. More importantly, this was a power he had the potential to learn. As he now knew, psychomancy had incredible potential for harm, though it could perhaps be used for a more...benevolent purpose as well. The psychomancy demonstration had brough to the surface of his mind considerable suffering, but by the same token, perhaps he could use it to rid himself completely of that pain? Perhaps he could finally be free of the shackles of his past? No matter his opinion of Satori herself, he desperately wanted to learn whatever she could teach.

Coco Bean
It was all amazing and fantastical... But it was also scary and intimidating. She had expected the demonstrations to just be like the Electromancy one, but... They were different, scarier, more intense. The Vitamancy teacher turned into an enormous beast, a wyvern, if she recalled correctly from one Tree Memory, groing through a whole process of disfigurations and horrible sounds. It'd take her quite a while to get those sounds out of her head, and to beat it off, the teacher decided that it was a good idea to slam her tail onto the floor! Everything shook for a small moment, even Coco's footing.

Then, as if it wasn't enough, Lidda, the teacher, saw it fitting to let out the loudest roar she had ever heard- On the good side, she had never seen her environment better, but it was not without a cost, as a slight rinding filled her head once the roar subsided, and caused a small headache. She couldn't quite catch much of what followed of the Vitamancy demonstration as she did her best to deal with the headache and disorientation.

Coco was back to full attention when the Cyromancy teacher, Frost Windsor as she had introduced herself, spoke about her mageblood. Scary stuff, it was. Ice and cold were things that many Foreas hated, and Coco was certainly not the exception to the rule. The cold just somehow sapped ambition and energy out of her!

She wasn't very surprised when she began to feel the temperature in the room drop. A few degrees were okay with her, even up to a dozen, but it was just so much more than acceptable! By when the cold reached its peak, Coco felt sluggish and groggy, and could hardly move or think, she shivered like a sapling's leaves and felt as helpless as a single tree in the middle of the great plains. Thankfully, it didn't last very long, and eventually things were back to normal.

The rest of the demonstrations flew by quickly enough. A man who flew- Who knew wingless things could fly with the aid of mageblood? An elven male who could make armour out of simple stone and earth! She could catch him mentioning something about one memory of his, and that in turn sprung many questions from Coco, but she knew she had to wait.

Then came Craig Gray, the Noxomancy teacher. That one was strange, as Coco couldn't quite understand what had happened to the knives thrown at the teacher. They just... Vanished once they got closer to the teacher. She guessed it had to do with the way bodies ended up rotting and all that.

Then came chantment. Singing, from what she could tell. Not much happened, though. She could feel the increased light, and gladly welcomed it for as long as it lasted, but she couldn't feel anything else. Next was weaving, presentated by a very good dancer! Coco was excited from the moment she saw the controlled movements of the teacher, and was tempted to join him on stage, but she knew she couldn't. He was doing a demonstration, and even though nothing happened for minutes, when it finally did, she was stunned.

Next was Val, the Rune Master. Coco was especially pumped for this display, as she had the pleasure of meeting Val herself earlier that day! And she didn't disappoint, on she was done with her amazing show, Coco clapped for her and cheered. "Rune Master Val, you're the best!" She had exclaimed, excited to just be close to the nice Rune Master who fixed her speech problem.

She had trouble processing the following two demonstrations- Especifically, Tyrael's demonstrations. She was scared and confused, as sounds suddenly warped everything, and she felt hot and she could listen to the screams of the dying- Terrified, she was. reminded of her close scared with the Syphis, she had chosen to try and ignore the things going on around her, but her leaves and skin betrayed her, and soon she was shivering in stress.

Lucilia's, though, was better. Coco had no idea how the heck she could make plants grow, or even make them kill, but she could, and it just made Lucilia look that much more interesting in Coco's thoughts.

Nightmare

Coco Bean sniffed the air, her leaves slowly puffing out as she picked apart at the scents. Within a few moments, her demeanor had escalated from confusion and anxiety, up to excitement and elation. The variety of scents, and their very nature... They reminded her of home, the great forests, the Great Tree, and especially... Spring. She couldn't help but jump start her excitement by clapping her hands repatedly as she jumped on the spot, quickly jumping over to the nearest patch of flowers. She sniffed them, lightly brushing her face against the petals, and let out a few high-pitched sounds that resembled giggling.

"It's spring! Oh by Xiah, it's Spring!" She had said out loud, softly petting the flower in front of her and quickly standing straight up and still for a moment, before shivering lightly in excitement and exploding in a fit of spins and jumps on her spot.

But she could not keep the dancing forever, even with the sun as bright and the temperature as comfortable as they were, she felt compelled to explore this garden. What other things would she find in it? Another Foreas would be a really good thing! That way, she could finally mark this place as perfect!

Slowly, the pathways in the garden disappeared, but this didn't bother Coco. In fact, it aided in keeping her happy! The more flowersshe found, the better the place was, after all. She spent minutes just jumping and dancing in the field, free of any worries or pains.

Yet for all the fun she had and how oblivious she was to the world, she couldn't help noticing a single figure standing still a dozen meters away from her. The figure just stood there, quietly, and eventually Coco wasn't able to keep dancing, and stood just like the figure, but tilted her head in her curious manner.

She sniffed the air a few times, until she was sure of it- Another Foreas. A male! Were her leaves bigger, she was sure they'd have puffed out more as she skipped over to the male, just to give him a gentle hug once she got there. He retuned the embrace, just as gently, and he nuzzled her cheek.

Destiny, though, was not meant for them to be together that day, though, as ever so slowly, the temperature dropped and the male's embrace turned stiff and cold. At first it was barely noticeable, and Coco didn't mind at all, just focusing on the male's warm and comfortable skin and leaves. But the more time that passed, the harder it got to ignore. Eventually, the male was so cold that her skin burned where his arms wrapped around her, and once she tried to pull away from him, he simply crumbled into frozen pieces.

Coco tried to build him back up desperately, but every time she grabbed one of the pieces of the frozen male, they turned into snow. Eventually in her panic, Coco stopped grabbing pieces and ran away from the spot. Everything she touched, blue in hue from the cold and frozen just like her male, turned into snow. Even when she accidentally tripped over and fell onto a patch of once beautiful flowers and the flowers turned into a small mound of the uncomfortable white surface. She could feel everything around her getting colder and colder, she could hear frozen flowers crumbling and breaking to the soft touch of the wind.

She was horrified, and had she been able to run anymore, she would have, but the cold... It ate at her joints, stopped her from moving as freely, it forced her agile body into a now frozen hunk of plant fibre.

Eventually she heard distorted screams coming from far away, and when she focused on the sounds, she was able to feel them- The Syphis, the great, dark beasts. They were back, one by one consuming everything. Her Foreas brothers and sisters, the ones she had met at the College, even Val! Desperately, she tried to move and stand up, she tried to run, but she couldn't- She was frozen in place, on the small mound of snow, surrounded by frozen flowers.

The Syphis wasted no time, and soon they had consumed everyone, destroyed everything. She had hoped that when one of them came closer, she would scare them like last time ,with Electromancy, but... Nothing happened. As it walked over her form and laid a paw on her cold chest, it opened its maw and attacked.
"Hush."

Coco+Ssarak

Coco found herself shivering like mad. her leaves felt like they were on fire due to the cold, her artifact felt heavy enough to attempt to full her down to the floor and she felt like if she tried to move, she'd snap like a twig. So she did the only thing she thought could work in case of cold, and that was to seek the nearest source of warmth. And that turned out to be tallest lizard she had ever touched. Thankfully, she was conscious enough to figure out she was at least two feet taller than her, and that was great, as it meant he had a lot of warmth to share!

So she, as quickly as she could, moved over to the Esyire and firmly hugged him around the waist, pressing her body against his as she tried to take in the warmth.
Ssarak had been looking in the direction of Leith, so he did not notice when the strange plant creature he had saw in the crowd before came running toward him. It (she?) took him by surprise when she wrapped her arms around him. Under any other circumstances, he would have considered it strange and perhaps tried to separate himself from her, but considering that the entire room had just been a victim of terrible nightmares, he realized she could be confused in some way.

Though still considerably shook up himself, Ssarak had calmed enough not to react too quickly to the plant's hug. He calmly looked down at her and spoke, though he wondered if she was even capable of responding, since she seemed to lack a face. "Do not fear; be calm.Whatever you saw was not real, it was an illusion." He said in as calming of a voice as he could muster, going under the assumption that it was the psychomancy demonstration that led to her frightful reaction. With the sudden shock of what happened, he supposed some students may be confused, especially if they were not familiar with psychomancy.

Coco couldn't find the words to communicate, all her thoughts were scrambled. She felt cold and weak, even though to the touch, she was as warm as she had been when the demonstrations started. She moved not even an inch as the Esyire spoke, her only action being a small shiver. And when he finished speaking, Coco found her words again.

"I'm cold," She said quietly, "and scared."

Ssarak could not argue with the plant creature, as he really did not know what "cold" was for her species. She did indeed feel cold to him, but Esyire were used to higher temperatures than most other races, so his standards of temperature likely would not be the best comparison. "Just...tell me what happened." He requested. He was about to advise her to take a few deep breaths, but he did not exactly know what mechanisms her species used to breathe. Plants would not have lungs, would they?

Coco Inclined her head up towards the Esyire's face and nodded. "There was... There was this beautiful garden and this male and I were in it having fun and then everything froze! The male froze too, and I was so scared and I panicked and tried to heal him, but everything I touched turned to snow! I ran, but it didn't stop, everything was so cold, and when I fell over, I started freezing too..." With every sentence spoken, she pressed herself harder against the Esyire in an attempt to find some comfort.

"And then, then I heard screams, and when I focused and listened, I felt the Syphis consuming everything. My friends, flowers, Val the Rune Master, all of the Foreas! I was even more scared, and then one of them came close to me and told me to hush." She told him quickly, leaves flattened against her skin. As she finished, she nuzzled the Esyire's lower chest and tried to calm down.

Through her surprisingly rapid explanation, Ssarak's suspicions were confirmed. She had definitely experienced a nightmare, and, by her description, one that would be specifically fearful to her. After all, it made sense that a plant would be afraid of the sudden freeze she described, and though he had never heard of these 'Syphis', he assumed they were malicious. Given how tightly she was now gripping him, she certainly seemed afraid, and though dealing with fear was something he had been taught during his training as a warrior, he doubted those methods would be appropriate here. Overall, he was out of his element, but he would at least try to help. "Just...try to remember what happened before that. Satori, the psychomancy instructor, raising a toast. That was her demonstration. She gave you that dream to show her abilities. I know, for I received one as well. It was...frightening, just like yours."

"I..." Coco started, before cutting herself off, thinking hard on what the Esyire just said. It... Did make sense. But the memory was too real- What if it was actually something that happened? But she was alive, and no Syphis had eaten her, so... "... It's just an illusion? But it was so... I was even ready to..." She sighed, nuzzling the Esyire's chest one more time before breakign the embrace and stretching herself. She still felt cold, but if it was just one mean illusion, well... She doubted it could even affect her.

"I-I'm Coco Bean. You're an Esyire, right? I remember some memories of your kind, and the headmaster's form is similar to yours. I, uh, I don't even think you like how I smell, right? Mar didn't, and she's a reptile like you.."

Ssarak let out a breath he had not realized he had been holing when the creature, who called herself 'Coco Bean', released her hold on him. She now seemed to be at one with reality, which was a definite improvement. She asked him about what he was, then about, of all things, her scent. He assumed it made sense to her.

"You smelll like...a dessert?" Ssarak said, taking a few sniffs of the air. She smelled oddly like something he had seen Humans and other races eating from time to time, but that he had never actually tried himself. He much preferred meat. "I would not say your scent is particularly offensive. Humans seem to like it. At any rate, you are correct, I am Esyire, just like the headmaster. What are you, if I may ask?"

"Yes, like chocolate! I'm a Foreas. What's your name?" Coco asked, tilting her head a tiny bit to show her curiosity.

"Oh, of course. My name is Ssarak Dyreackthanose. It is a pleasure to meet you. I have never seen one of your kind before, though I must confess I have not seen half of the races at this college before today." Ssarak answered, glancing around the room at the other students. In a way, he was grateful the Foreas had ran up to him in her panic, as anything that could distract him from the pain of his memories was a blessing.