EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei hummed a moment. "Saras has been conducting an investigation to return any bit of information he can find on these people. It honestly would not surprise me if he has already exhausted the options we have been speculating upon. Although, now that we have solid descriptions of the rest of Do'rhajul's team, it is possible he might be able to uncover more information on those he was previously unable to identify." She reasoned.

"I think we're going to have a week or two to plan and decide, whether we like it or not." Ahnasha commented. "There is no way we are going to be ready sooner than that. Kaleeth needs to recover, and the rest of us are not in the best shape either. Still, I think planting those notes sounds like a good plan. I...can do it." She said, albeit hesitantly. "Maybe we can have some of our agents in the area focus on finding their camp, or wherever they might be hiding? I do not want to be surprised again."

Meesei nodded in agreement. "That makes the most sense for now. I will be sure to speak to him. Just...try to do what you can to recover for now; mentally and physically. Rest, try to comfort our families. Rhazii appeared rather stressed when he left, I believe. It would not do well for all of us to spend the next week fearing for our next encounter with our enemy."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lorag raised his brow at Janius. "The Throat of the World? What, to talk to the Greybeards or something. I think I remember pilgrims talkin' about going there when I was stationed in the Rift, but I, uh, don't think they take visitors."

"A locked door would not be likely to stop us." Meesei commented. "But, regardless, I would want to be cautious. Pacifists they may be, but I would not wish to be perceived as...threatening such powerful men. They are said to be so strong in the Voice that they could tear a person apart with a single word. I would say that it is likely an exaggeration, but it also likely has some truth at its core. At any rate, they could perhaps give us more insight into Yerig's origins, but I doubt we would gain any insights into his more recent history. All of our information on him suggests that he has lived as a hermit in the Reach for decades. Descriptions of him that Saras has gathered paint him as a kind old man who offers travelers food and shelter, or even protects them from danger at times. He has always been described as being alone in the mountains, so if he did have a family, they have not been with him for decades. He is obviously no mercenary, so I do wonder how he came to join Do'rhajul. I can think of many possibilities, but it is all speculation.

"It does feel like we're doing that a lot. Speculating." Ahnasha said, before giving a brief sigh. "Still, I do think I'd rather try the diplomatic approach. I don't want to have any more close calls like we did today. I just wish we could get something more solid about why he's with them. I mean...what possibility would even makes sense?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"You are stronger than I was when I faced him." Meesei said to Sabine. "I could not get past his defenses, at the time. Perhaps he has slowed down with time, but he is not the invincible foe we once feared. He can be beaten. Of course, we need not defeat him in battle, necessarily, but we do all need to be aware of the risks of any plan we decide upon."

Meesei uncrossed her legs and placed them flat on the ground, hesitating a moment before standing up to her feet. From the outside, she still looked terrible. The scars from the lightning cut across half of her body, and looked almost like a tree imprinted onto her scales. However, she had been focusing on the more important, internal injuries, so she felt much better than before. As usual, she would be able to heal her scars. "We do not need to convince all of them. If we can make just a few of them doubt the righteousness of their cause, then we can break down their strength. Even if they do not directly help us against their former allies, removing even one or two parts of their team could be all we need. Their strategy focused on having an answer to all of our abilities and strengths. If we are allowed to help each other in the battle, then their strategy fails. However, it is important to realize that there is still risk to approaching any of them diplomatically. We have the original copy of the notes we found in Elsweyr, but getting those notes to them will still be risky. I would wager that the Breton, Arinette, will not be dissuaded by anything. She is a zealot, and a loyal follower of Vile. She may be one of the few among them who knows the truth. If we want to get those notes to them, we have to make sure that she does not see them first, or she will simply destroy them. We could try to hide the notes among the belongings of Do'rhajul, or perhaps Yerig, but that will require finding and sneaking into their camp. I do not need to tell you why that would be risky. But, even so, it may be safer than the alternatives."

Julan had accepted his father's hug, but he was still left speechless, partially because he did not want to interrupt the important conversation around him, and partly because he was too shaken by the experience. Kaleeth was still weak, but she was able to move herself enough to get closer to Janius. She put one of her arms around him, then the other around her son. She still had a splitting headache, but Sabine's potion was starting to help, so for the moment, she just tried to focus on comforting her family.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"It feels like a dagger is going through my mind." Kaleeth remarked, becoming increasingly frustrated at the headache. Her pain at the moment, it seemed, was quite literal. Although, the reality of how close she had come to death was likely to trouble her in the coming days as well. "Yes, please. I can hardly think." She answered to Sabine.

Julan hated to see his mother suffering so much, but was at a loss for what to do. He seemed to have just been getting in the way ever since the pack returned, so he was afraid to do anything at the moment. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, near Kaleeth's feet, with his head hung low while trying to hide his tears.

Meesei too kept her eye on Kaleeth, but it seemed that Sabine had taken the initiative in taking care of her needs. In any case, Meesei also needed to concentrate on keeping herself from falling into a similar state. Her burns were exposed to open air, and it was only through her own magic that she was not in agony at the moment. Fortunately, they would heal up sufficiently soon enough that she could avoid any suffering through the night. "That is a possibility. He does likely believe his cause to be just. Knowing his motive could be useful, depending upon the approach we choose. We need to decide if we want to attempt to dissuade Do'rhajul or otherwise break up his team diplomatically, or if we want to try and kill them outright."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"That is interesting." Meesei remarked. "Yerig seems like too experienced of a person to do something like that by mistake."

Lorag huffed. "So what, he saved her, but then kept fightin' Janius? I don't remember seeing him stop. That could get her killed just the same, if the Orcs kept swinging. Seems like he can't decide if he wants to kill us or help us."

"Maybe he can't?" Ahnasha suggested. "We've all read the report on him. He doesn't seem like a fit to Do'rhajul's little group. I honestly have to wonder why he's helping them to begin with. It has to be something they've told him, or maybe he knows one of them? Trusts one of them. Even still, if he thinks we're as bad as his allies are probably telling him, and he is willing to help them, I can't imagine why he wouldn't be willing to kill us."

Meesei let out a long, soft breath. "That is a fair point, and it is difficult to say. Why raise a sword against us if he is, at the same time, not willing to let one of us die? Though, the magic he commands, the Thu'um, may provide a hint. The only group that still practices it in modern times are the Greybeards, but they are reclusive monks that live in seclusion on a mountain here in Skyrim. From what I know of them, they practice nonviolence and isolationism. They do not involve themselves in the world's events whenever possible. However, I cannot imagine that Yerig could have trained anywhere else. He would had to have been taught through the lens of their beliefs."

Ahnasha looked to be skeptical. "Well, he definitely isn't 'nonviolent'. And I'd say he's pretty involved right now. Are you sure he couldn't have learned anywhere else? You could have tried learning the Thu'um in Apocrypha, after all."

"Wouldn't be the first time someone's turned their back on the Greybeards." Lorag interjected. "Whole reason I ended up in Skyrim was because that Jarl Stormcloak left the Greybeards to fight a war. Eventually ended up killing their king and tried to take over himself. Don't see why this Nord couldn't have done the same."

Throughout the conversation, kaleeth did not seem to be getting any more comfortable. She pulled up her knees to her chest and pressed her head into them, with tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth's drift into consciousness was slow, but steady. She blinked a few times, not responding to either Julan or Janius. However, once her mind was once again awake, she immediately drew up her hands to her head and groaned. "Ah, my head, it...hurts. Where am I? Where are...we?" She stammered, still momentarily confused.

Although Kaleeth did need to rest, her confusion and panic caused her to sit up quickly. "I remember...the fight. We won? Is everyone okay?" She said once she recognized that she was surrounded by her pack.

"Yes, we are all alive and well." Meesei said softly. "You may be calm. Though, I cannot say we won the fight. Do'rhajul's team escaped. Or, we escaped. It may be true to say that we all escaped. The fight was...worryingly close."

Kaleeth lowered her head and pressed her fingers against her temple. "I'm remembering more parts, I think. I...got frozen?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Agreed." Meesei responded to Fendros. She still had her eyes closed as she sat on her bed, as if meditating while mending her own wounds. Her expression did little to reveal how much pain she may or may not have been in at the moment. Kaleeth was more seriously hurt, but Meesei had still received enough burns to seriously threaten someone without lycan regeneration: the kind of burns that could make the air itself painful. "There is no way we can continue our mission without dealing with them. They know we are going to be traveling in that area. Even if they have not yet determined why we are there, they know we will be returning. I am not going to take the risk of trying to avoid them again. Unless a miracle occurs and Cyrus kills that dragon, that axe will be staying on that island for quite a while. Right now, our primary goal is to deal with Do'rhajul's team. We just need to decide how."

Kaleeth did not remain unconscious for too long, particularly with Marcaille and Sabine's treatment working through her body. Her breathing became steadier, and after another minute, her eyes slowly opened. Julan had been sitting nearby, right next to his mother. He had stopped crying, but his face still made it obvious that he had been. However, once he started noticing some movement from Kaleeth, he was immediately overtaken by a combination of fear and excitement. He was certainly glad that she was awake, but he still had the worry in his mind that she might still be hurt somehow.

"Mother!" Julan shouted, wrapping his arms tightly around her in a hug before she even had a chance to speak, or react at all to the world around her.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Good, good. You can tell me all about it later." Marcaille responded to Sabine. "Maybe you can apply one of my other recipes here too. When we get to the infirmary, I want you to take one of the stronger healing potions and mix in some finely-ground canis root and imp stool. One-eighth portions of both. The mild paralysis should calm her body and slow her blood flow by a bit. Make it easier to treat, and keep anything from getting worse. Hopefully, it'll be weak enough won't trigger her body's poison responses."

Julan was still in tears, which he quickly wiped away from his eyes. "Okay...I'll, uh, run ahead." He said, though he was distraught enough that he lacked the coordination to turn around without tripping and falling over his own feet. Regardless, focusing on the task he had been given, and nothing else, allowed him to scramble back to his feet to follow Janius' command.

"I'll be fine, don't worry. I've been through worse before." Ahnasha answered to Rhazii. Although, if she was being honest with herself, she was starting to feel feint from the blood she had lost. It had not been the largest of wounds, but it had gone untreated for a while now. The potion she had taken was helping, but she was looking forward to the attention of a healer. Fortunately, the Silent City had plenty of healers, and most of them would be available at the moment.

---

The pack, naturally, received priority treatment from quite a few healers as soon as they made it to the infirmary. Even if they had not been the Champion and her pack, there was no one else in the city that required such immediate attention. Marcaille and Sabine focused on helping Kaleeth, while the others were tended to by other healers. The wounds that Ahnasha, Lorag, and Janius had sustained were nothing unusual for healers who were used to treating warriors, so there was nothing wrong with them that was beyond the abilities of any of those helping them. That was not to say that their injuries were minor, and they would need time to recover fully, but that recovery was essentially certain. Since there were plenty of healers available, even Lorag ended up accepting treatment without argument. Meesei was the only one to refuse magical aid, but that was only on the basis that she could heal herself more easily without interference from others. As badly as Arinette's spells had scarred her, none of them carried with them the debilitating effects of silver. As such, her spells were causing the burns across her body to recede at an easily visible rate. Kaleeth, meanwhile, had fallen unconscious during her treatment, but Marcaille insisted that it was nothing to worry about, and that she would benefit from the rest.

The infirmary consisted of a large room with many beds, as well as chairs for those visiting the wounded. The whole pack remained in the room, and were mostly silent for a while. Meesei was sitting cross-legged on a bed with a constant glow around her. Lorag was examining his armor, which he had removed after arrival, for dents and other damage that he would need to repair. Ahnasha had got out of her now-bloody clothes, and was currently sitting still while an Imperial healer was wrapping her torso tightly in bandages.

"So...when are we gonna talk about any of this? There's no way we can let them get away with this." Lorag finally spoke up.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

While not always the most outwardly kind of individuals, Marcaille saw the fear in Sabine. "Don't worry, we'll get this all sorted. I had some of the others start preparing as soon as Rhazii warned me. They should be ready for you." Although, she did have to gently push Sabine off of herself so she could get to Kaleeth more quickly. She gathered from Fendros' words the nature of her injury, so while Rhazii was moving to help carry her, Marcaille walked up alongside to very gently place her hand on Kaleeth's forehead, which soon started to glow. "This isn't anything to worry about. Just need to be careful, that's all." Marcaille stated. She had not actually had time to do any sort of examination; she merely needed to keep the child from panicking and potentially dropping her."

Ahnasha crossed both of her arms over her chest to attempt to hide her injury from Rhazii. The last thing she wanted was for him to be afraid for her. Meanwhile, Julan was even more distraught than Rhazii due to his age, and the fact that it was his own mother who was most obviously hurt. He was in tears as he ran up to Janius and Kaleeth. "M-mother? What's wrong, is she...you said she's going to be alright. She is going to be okay, right father?" He stammered. Julan was obviously terrified, but in his panic, he was somewhat getting in the way.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei transformed back while the others were getting her a potion, then started to make another portal as soon as she had downed it.

"Annoying lizard kept dashing around me, shocking me and tryin' to get a knife through my armor with that spell Alpha likes to use. Couldn't get a hit on him." Lorag huffed nearby as he was gathering up whatever they had dropped on the ground. Like Janius, he was moving with a limp, and he was already starting to grit his teeth from the pain of his untreated injuries.

Ahnasha was looking out into the wilderness, alert as if they were still going to be attacked at any moment, despite how unlikely that would be at the moment. "That was definitely exactly what they planned. They separated us, had someone ready to deal with each and every one of us. They planned perfectly to attack us, divide us, and hit us at all of our weaknesses. At least perfectly for what they knew. Some of us have grown in terms of skills compared to their last reports on us, I guess. Still, they easily could have killed us. I mean...just look at us. At this mess."

"Yeah, but we gave as good as we got. Some of us did, at least. I saw some of 'em when they were running away. They were afraid." Lorag responded.

"That just means it could have gone either way." Ahnasha remarked.

After about a minute, Meesei completed her portal back to Blackreach and concentrated on keeping it open. The others would be slower getting through this time. Depending on how they reacted, it was possible the children were still waiting for them on the other side, along with anyone else they might have told.