EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I think you got it all right.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Do'rhajul's expression was one of skepticism, but given that Sabine was still firmly in control of the situation, it was not as if he could stop her from giving her explanation. He looked down at the lines that Sabine had drawn, not quite understanding their meaning or how they related to Clavicus Vile.

"They were Vile's price." Do'rhajul answered. "A Daedra was not going to help Tamriel out of charity, even if it also benefited him. He was to give us the aid of his power and influence to eliminate the lycan threat, in exchange for us sending their souls to him, whenever we could. I took no pleasure in empowering a Daedra, but I also had little sympathy for lycans." He explained.

"What do you say he intends with them, and how certain are you of what you are saying?" Do'rhajul asked.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The demand for help was not something that Do'rhajul expect, particularly since he had no reason to believe there was anything left to help with. Without the background knowledge that Sabine possessed for context, her ramblings sounded almost nonsensical to him. The anger of such a powerful mage would have been something that most would fear, but Do'rhajul clearly no longer feared any such consequences, so he was not beyond arguing with her.

"Towers? Swallowing Nirn? What are these absurdities you are speaking of? You do not need to search for anything; you have already stopped Vile's followers. Unless you intend to keep hunting them down, but you have already said that you do not desire revenge." Do'rhajul responded, letting out a huff and looking away. "I do not understand what you are talking about, but I am sure I cannot help you with anything. The most I can do for your people is to give them something to cheer about when they hang me in front of your clan. I have...killed too many. It was always painful to do, but I thought it was necessary. I thought it was for the greater good, that more lives would be spared because of those that were taken. But I am no 'General.' I am a pawn and a murderer. Whatever foul intentions Vile had by spreading lycanthropy, I allowed it to happen. I was responsible for the early successes that allowed Vile's cult to expand his influence. They were inexperienced and disorganized at first. I did not merely fight for them, I organized them. I built their command structure, their training principles, convinced them to focus on an intelligence network. Had I not prepared them, you would have defeated them within a year, perhaps two. It is not justice for me to go unpunished."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It's quite alright.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Again, Do'rhajul shook his head. "To them, I died over twenty years ago. My wife certainly re-married, my daughter grieved and moved on. There is no reason for them to be re-visited by an old ghost."

Finally, Do'rhajul raised up his head and allowed his eyes to meet Sabine's. The fur underneath them was darkened somewhat by tears, and yet he still managed to maintain a firm demeanor. "But you should not care about my own personal tragedies. I am a broken old Khajiit who lived a lie. Who devoted himself to a snake and became a monster. There is no point in remembering my past. You should burn my body and leave me with no grave, nothing with which to remember me. I would consider it a great mercy if you allow me to be forgotten. Today is your victory. Please, try to drown out the memories of your pain with the knowledge that you shall never experience it again. After over a decade of fighting and toil and effort, you have done it. It's over. It's not just me you have beaten here. Perhaps the most valuable thing I can tell you about Vile's forces right now is that they are, in essence, defeated. They are not dead, nor even too weak to fight, but Vile himself has given up on you. This...my mission to kill the Champion of Hircine, it was the last effort. The last attempt to turn the tide in our favor. Even if it did not defeat you, killing her would mean that Vile would still commit to the fight. But, now that I have failed, there shall be no more war against the lycans. No more attacks on your clans or your people. Some dedicated lycan hunters may still attack you on their own, but they will be acting without Vile's orders, nor his support. The war is over, lycan, and you won."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Do'rhajul shook his head. "No, I quickly realized that would be foolish. I could not control the corruption within me. I would have killed them, or someone else. I failed them. My wife came from poverty, and I wanted to give her and our daughter the kind of life they could have only dreamed of. Then, those werewolves took that away from them, and they took my family from me. If you want to know the reason I accepted Vile's offer when it was presented to me, it was because of rage. My rage towards the lycans that had cursed me. What right did they have to take away everything I had done? All of my dreams, everything I had worked for. Everyone grows up knowing lycans are monsters. Our parents tell us the stories of men who turn to beasts and eat up little cubs who stay out playing in the woods past their bedtime. It did not take much convincing for me to agree to fight you. Then, we started hearing reports of lycan populations growing all over Tamriel. The cultists' story seemed rather believable. Now...I realize that it would have been better for everyone if those werewolves had just killed me outright."

The Cathay-raht ran his claws through the dirt, staring in silence for a few moments. "That is surely the fate that was written in the Imperial records. For an officer like myself, I imagine my wife received a personal visit from a Legionnaire to inform her of my death and console her. Perhaps she was able to invest the compensation she received to start that store she was always talking about. She deserved that much. When I die, I desire for my remains to be burned quickly, to erase any chance of her learning of what I have become."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Do'rhajul showed no resistance when Sabine seemingly started to inspect him, even though he did not understand her motivations for doing it. In that moment, she could have started stabbing him with a knife and he still would not have fought back. It no longer quite seemed like Do'rhajul was afraid of her, but from the context of Sabine's conversation with Yerig, that was likely because he was no longer fearing death.

Initially, Do'rhajul looked slightly confused. "My old life? I don't understand...no, of course. Of course you would wish to know everything. Then yes, I can tell you. I was born in Cyrodiil, my family's home for many generations. Our stories tell that my family was one of the first to embrace Imperial rule when it came to Elsweyr. It has been family tradition to serve our nation, and there are many opportunities for a Cathay-raht in the Legion. I did not have to. My family were not quite nobles, but we had wealth, influence. We had our place in the Imperial City. But it was in the Legion that I found my purpose. I served with distinction, rose through the ranks despite being Khajiit. I would not need to tell you that there is a distinct prejudice against Dominion races in the Legion, but that did not stop me. Perhaps it was my family history that allowed my superiors to trust me, but it was my ability, motivation, and effort that gave me my own command. Distinguishing myself in the Skyrim Civil War, it was to be my defining achievement. Had I been there for Windhelm, had I been there to capture the city and finally kill the traitor to bring about the end of the war, I would have made Legate. I was certain of it. That is more than just a rank. It is an honorable title; a path to true respect within the Empire. There are few ways that commoners or merchants can come to mingle among Imperial nobility, but that is one of them. Not just for myself, but my family would have finally been able to claim the nobility that they had long sought in the home they had so loyally served. My wife and my wonderful daughter, the would have known the life they had only been able to dream of before. That was the life that was taken from me when those werewolves attacked us. When they corrupted me with their cursed blood. I could not walk among people as I had before. I could not return to my duties. Everything that had once been my life was gone."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

For most in Sabine's position, the Do'rhajul in his current state would have been a polarizing sight. He was utterly despondent and defeated. Even as Sabine knelt down in front of him, he could not bring his eyes up to meet hers. He seemed almost a shadow of the great General he once was, and yet, as a general, he had been an ever-present terror for what was now the majority of Sabine's life. He was ultimately responsible for thousands of lycan deaths, including many innocents who did not even bring up arms against his own forces. Although it had been lies that had motivated him, he had led a genocidal campaign against them. And for Sabine, he had not personally participated in her torture, but he had been right there for the entire time. For hours on end, he had watched her suffer and done nothing to stop it. He had been complicit. Now that his righteous perception of his own cause had been stripped away from him, it was of little surprise that he was now so crippled by his guilt.

Do'rhajul did not look up from the ground, and for a while, there was complete silence between them. It was subtle, but the more Sabine paid attention to him, the more she would notice how his body shook, and how irregular his breaths had become. It took several minutes for him to actually speak. "You have my surrender, lycan. I will accept the fate I deserve."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"We don't have homes, really. I'm kind of a hermit, lived in the Reach. And Rhajul has been with those...people for years. Both of us just need to get away from here, away from High Rock, and away from anything having to do with Clavicus Vile." Yerig answered.

"Since you went through all of that trouble to plant that book, instead of slitting my throat in my sleep, I'm guessing your people don't have a grudge against me, specifically." Yerig reasoned. "Since you brought me back from the dead, the least I could do is join you and tell your people what I can about Vile's cult. Truth be told, though, I don't really know that much. They know a lot more." He explained, gesturing around at the unconscious people around them before his gaze finally settled back on Do'rhajul. "He knows a lot more."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

At this point, Yerig felt secure enough to extend out a hand to Sabine's shoulder. "That's good. You shouldn't want to be like that. No one ever should be like that. You had the power, and still do, but you didn't use it like that. That was your choice. But, sometimes, there are things we don't get a choice in. These people have to be dealt with, Arinette especially. And I don't know if there's a good way to do it. I've met a lot of people over the years, a lot of good and bad. Some people do wrong because they're desperate, some start from their own pain. But some people are just wrong in their hearts. Like their soul is cursed with evil. I think that's her. But, uh, maybe you don't have to be the one to deal with that? You've already been through enough."

Yerig gave another look down at the staff protruding partially from Sabine's cloak. "I can't even pretend to understand how Arinette got that thing to teleport us around, but you seem like you'd know a lot more about that than I would. I know your friends also had some way of teleporting like we did. Do you have a way you can get yourself back home? Can you take things with you?"