EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei smiled. "I think that you will find that us ephemeral races weather change well. We do not have centuries for patience, so we have to act quickly, and embrace whatever chaos might follow. The unknown does not frighten me. I know what I can do, I know what you can do, and I believe we are strong enough to face the future together."

Meesei pulled Lunise into a tight hug, rubbing her back at the same time. "Does that help?"

---

"Agreed." Saras replied, gathering up his notes into a neat pile. He stood up and moved his gaze across everyone at the table. "I am sure we all have much to do, whether it relate to this mission, or the clan as a whole. We should get to work, but if anyone should think of any ideas that could at all improve our chances of succeeding here, please bring it to our attention. No advantage is too insignificant to consider."

The meeting adjourned with a far more divisive mood than usual. It was hard to find someone that did not look upset or worried for one reason or another. Regardless, there was at least no one refusing to comply with the agreement they had come to. For better or worse, they had a plan. Ahnasha was trying to keep a confident attitude as she left the chamber, but Fendros would be able to see the hints of fear in her expression.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei showed no signs of budging in her answer. She stared into her eyes with a familiar, unshaking resolve. "Lunise, the very fact that you are having those fears is a sign enough that we should remain together for as long as life allow. People do change over time, but tell me then how Elven couples manage to forge marriages that last centuries? I know very well such couples exist. Why, I once met a vampire that, from all I have been able to gather, has been with her husband since the late Second Era."

Shifting herself over next to Lunise, Meesei put her arm around her and held her close. "You have never had a mate, or a marriage as you might consider it. I can tell by the way you act. Sure, you may have loved before, may have entered into relationships, but I can see that you have never found a true, long-term mate until now. The world changes, and all people change with it, but two souls bound closely together will change along with one another. It is always possible that we are mistaken, but I think that we are meant for one another. If that is true, then we will shape each other, whether it be for another year, a hundred years, or a thousand."

---

There was silence among the council for a short time, with each of its members looking patiently at once another as they awaited any further comments. Eventually, Ri'vashi spoke reluctantly. "Okay, so we have a plan. Ri'vashi will still have some warriors prepare themselves, on the off-chance they are needed."

Ahnasha nodded. "Yes, we can, of course, have more forces waiting outside the range of the life-detection enchantments. Whether it be undead or automatons, they need only make time for further reinforcements. Just...Darahil, be careful not to overdo it, yes? Not only for your own health, but because overworked people make more mistakes."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei looked down at Lunise's hand, obviously having difficulty with her response. There was a long breath filling the pause before she finally spoke. "That is no easy question to answer. I can say to start that I can give no guarantees to my safety in the more immediate future. Facing down Vile shall be no easy task, and I have to be honest to say that I may not survive. As much as it pains me to say it, there may be a day when I do not return. But, your work is dangerous as well, and the same is true for you. That is something we both knew going into this, and is just a fact of our type of work."

"But, beyond the danger..." Meesei continued, "...I am a forty-four year old Argonian woman, and am in quite good shape for my age. Argonians have what I would say are decent lifespans. Much less than an Elf, but our bodies are resilient. And being a lycan would further enhance my lifespan, keeping me free of disease well into old age. In all our time together, I have not seen one reason to make me want to part with you. I, well, I love you Lunise. And I wish to be with you for as long as you would have me. And...that could be longer than just one Argonian lifespan. Life extension is not trivial magic, but I am no trivial mage. If I have the time to hunt for them, grand souls are not much of a barrier for me."

---

"Just a dozen?" Marcaille responded. "Well, if I can get as much help as I think I can get, then that would take no more than a day. If that long. More powerful, more well-made thralls would take longer, but that is not what we need in this case. It does not matter if they fall apart in a month, we need them only for one battle. So...I'm willing to wager the thralls can be done much sooner than the machines."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei showed a light smile as she looked down at Lunise's hand. "You see...the problem I have with riddles is that I tend to end up cheating. I know there is supposed to be a particular answer, but I always tend to keep searching for another. I know that a flower, on its own, is supposed to wither. But, maybe I do not accept it. Perhaps I use all of my knowledge and magic to keep it alive and flourishing."

Meesei moved her other hand on top of Lunise's and looked her in the eyes. "Because that beautiful little thing is worth all of the effort in the world."

---

Ahnasha rested her head against her hand, releasing a sigh. "I can only hope that we have time to carry out your plan. We never know when they might slip away."

"I would advise against dedicating our focus too much upon this moment." Saras recommended. "This is a good opportunity, but we do have the luxury of at least some patience. This attack is not do-or-die for our clan, or our cause. If we have to delay the attack a month, then we have the freedom to do so. We have not seen any indication that Vile is imminently close to completing his plans."

Ri'vashi appeared uncertain. "That may be, but we have the advantage here. If we let it slip, we may not gain this advantage the next time." She said, though aside from that warning, no one else seemed to have anything constructive to add at the moment.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

If the gas was still dangerous, then Ssarak did not yet have the ability to approach, though he did not feel that he needed to. With some fortune on Ssarak’s side, his opponent attacked one of his doppelgangers first. In keeping with its purpose of buying as much time as possible, the doppelganger went to parry the incoming attack to the side with its shield, as opposed to dodging or blocking outright. The primary purpose was to introduce as much uncertainty as possible into Ssarak’s opponent. The fact that his weapon was on a chain would reduce the feedback he could feel from the hit, and make it that much more difficult for him to notice any subtle errors in the doppelganger magic. There was no guarantee that the Esyire would not figure it out regardless, but Ssarak wanted to put as much doubt in his mind as he could.

However, anything done with Ssarak’s doppelgangers was just to buy time. His true attack would come through another source. Ssarak had gathered so far that his opponent had some protections from illusions. As such, Ssarak decided to take the approach of using another aspect of psychomancy to assault his mind more directly. Instead of attacking his perceptions, Ssarak focused his mind on attacking his very emotions.

If he wanted to cripple his opponent, then trying to force him to feel pain might have seemed like a reasonable approach. However, this Esyire was obviously a trained fighter, and warriors tended to become accustomed to pain. That was not to say they were immune to it, but a warrior was better able to ignore pain than most others. As such, Ssarak decided to try to enhance one feeling that no warrior would expect to feel in combat: pleasure. To begin his mental assault, Ssarak tried to make his opponent feel as much pleasure as he possibly could, to overwhelm his mind and body with pure ecstasy. If he succeeded to the extent he hoped, it would be immensely distracting, and entirely contrary to any feeling one would expect to feel in a fight.

The next step of his attack, if Ssarak was able to follow through, was to have his doppelganger stare into the eyes of the Esyire, then delve aggressively into his thoughts. In the Esyire’s compromised state of mind, Ssarak hoped to ferret out memories associated with the sight of Ssarak. He wanted to find memories that could clue Ssarak in on the Esyire’s motivation for this theft against the College. Was he a mercenary just looking for payment? Was it out of faith in a religion, or some other organization that supported Kudd, or perhaps was is personal against the College? If Ssarak could get a sense of his motivation, then further psychological attacks could be easier.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Once the portal closed behind them, Meesei stepped up alongside Lunise and put her arm gently around her waist. Silently, she leaned her head against her shoulder and simply observed the sight along with her. Even after Lunise commented, it took a while for Meesei to respond. "This place has an immaculate sort of natural beauty, which the locals have cultivated to the best of their ability. Even in the middle of the harshest of places, there are jewels like this."

When she finally released her grip on Lunise, Meesei took a few steps forward and carefully sat herself down among a bed of flowers, close to the edge of the beach. For a lycan, and particularly an Argonian, the number of scents was almost overwhelming, even if they were pleasant. It was likely a case where Lunise was actually having a somewhat better experience by the virtue of being less sensitive. "There are so many places in the world like this. Perhaps not as beautiful, I would admit, but still just as deserving to be seen."

---

Unlike Oswall, Darahil had a reasonable argument against the use of undead that Ahnasha simply could not ignore. She may have felt that the taboo surrounding undead was unfounded, but that would not matter to the enemy they were trying to convince. This, unfortunately, just made the situation all the more complicated.

"That is...you may not be wrong." Ahnasha conceded. "Strictly speaking, the purpose of the undead only comes into play if we are discovered, but even if we are successful, we might still be detected when moving the corpses away. But...how do we keep safe, then? What can we possibly do to give myself and Sabine some kind of chance if we are discovered? I do not intend to die for this, or worse. There are the automatons, perhaps, but...can we do it, Darahil? Can we make them silent enough to move them in close enough to be useful? Can we do it reliably? or is there any other option at all?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Made an edit to add a comment I forgot.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Oh, I was not really planning on going into the city itself." Meesei answered. They were essentially done eating, though Meesei still intended to bring some wine with them that they could share later in the evening. She was sure that they would be wanting to stop and relax at some of the other destinations. "We could visit her if you really wanted to, but I would not want to do anything to disturb her. Do you remember that flower grove overlooking the ocean, south of the city? I wanted to spend some time there. In fact, could you help me with the portal?" She requested.

Creating a portal with two people was faster than doing so alone, so once Sabine was ready, it was not long after that they had an open portal linking Blackreach to Thorn. If Sabine remembered the area well enough, she would not be surprised by the sight they stepped into, but that would not make it any less impressive. Like anywhere in the marsh, it was quite hot and humid, but the area around them looked like anything but a swamp. All around them was every color of flower that one could imagine, stretching in both directions along the edge of the sand as far as they could see. The trees were not as thick as they were deeper in the swamps, and on their other side facing the water, the sky was completely open. As such, there was plenty of light from the stars and waxing moons above. The trees too were colorful, between their leaves, budding flowers, and even fruit. Some were not native, and had been planted by locals to enhance the location's beauty, which was something that had certainly been accomplished.

---

Regardless of how Fendros took Oswall's outburst, Ahnasha did not have as much patience or self-control as he did. She was not as practiced at being politically-minded as he was, so she was more prone to giving into her anger. And anger she had. "I don't care how it goes, I don't need your threats and ultimatums, Oswall. I just volunteered to walk right into the den of the enemy, in what is likely going to be the single riskiest mission of this war. I did that without hesitation, for the benefit of you, your family, and this entire clan. But if you had your choice, you would have me go in without any sort of effective reinforcements, just because it makes you uncomfortable to reanimate some dead animals. If I did that, if I went in there without reinforcements and died because of it, would you be the one to walk up to my son and tell him his mother was dead? Unless you have an actual alternative that keeps me from taking suicidal risks, then you have no right to criticize anyone."

"Oh, and just to let you know, the Empire does make use of necromancy. The College of Whispers studies necromancy officially and legally. And I'm certain the Thalmor have something to do the same. You know they won't let go of magic like that." Ahnasha added.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

We can probably have the group with Meesei move to Thorn.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei listened carefully to Karl as he spoke, clearly interested. "So, you have found mention of a forge, then? That is more than we had before, by a large margin. If they went through all the trouble of mining out this massive cavern, and fought wars over claiming its contents, then its power would have to be great indeed. Once...well, once my pack has completed its current mission, I think we will have the resources to investigate the claim. At least in some capacity. Finding that forge could be immensely useful to us. And that is not even to mention the scholarly value."

Meesei gave Lunise a curious look. "Have you ever heard of scholars in the Dominion finding something like Aetherium? Though, since the Dwemer had no presence in southern Tamriel, I imagine there would be less Dwemer scholars in the region."

---

Ri'vashi was the first to respond, after a few moments of consideration. "Chaurus hunters can move quickly, but...we would still need to keep them far enough away to avoid setting off the wards. It is doubtful that it would be expected, at least."

"A Chaurus, even one with wings, cannot cover ground all that much faster than a werewolf in full sprint. That would have the same problem as any other idea with something living; they wouldn't get to us in time to help. Myself, Sabine, Meesei, we are capable, but our opponents outnumber us, and have access to powerful Daedric artifacts. Flying chaurus would be useful, certainly, but they would have to be undead to be close enough to help us." Ahnasha argued.