EliteCommander

Star Wars - Lawless Galaxy

Everything was moving quickly, and Delni frantically had to wake up Boqo again. He did awaken, but while he was not in terrible condition, he also was far from at his best. She worried that he might have a concussion, and she did not really know how to treat that properly. Hopefully one of the others did, but they would need to get themselves to safety first. She had hoped it would be over once they got indoors like the Cartel had commanded, but she supposed they had ducked into a building that was a bit too close to the site of the battle.

Delni let Boqo lean onto her shoulder after he got up, then she helped him through the hole that Willoh had made in the wall. She was following the others’ lead, but she could not help but to have plenty of worries going through her mind. They still did not have any good plan for escape. Just the vague notion of “getting through the Cartel blockade” did not constitute an actual plan. Not to mention, Boqo was in no position to be involved in a fight.

“Look, um, I don’t think we can just…escape right now. Boqo is an excellent pilot, one of Koren’s best, but he’s in no position to fly right now. He needs medical treatment. Can we try to find somewhere safe for the night? Maybe a…hotel or something? Just somewhere ‘legitimate’ to hide, instead of an abandoned building.” Delni suggested.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Neesa grinned, raising her brow somewhat as her eyes looked over Sabine almost analytically. She was judging her, and made no effort to hide it. "Ah, so now your mind starts to touch on the truth. The Altmer have always placed the Aldmer on a pedestal, but it was the Dwemer that surpassed their ancestors, at least based on everything that is known. I suppose it is possible that the inhabitants of Aldmeris had mastered tonal manipulation, which might explain why the whole continent was destroyed. At any rate, complete mastery of tonal manipulation would allow one to reshape reality to their will. What the other races saw as hubris, the Dwemer's goal of surpassing the gods, was a real possibility for them. No Aedra nor Daedra would have been able to stand against their tonal architects. Have you never looked around these cities, these caverns, and wonder how they were created? If you think they got together a bunch of people with shovels and pickaxes to dig their caverns, you are sorely mistaken. No, they rewrote the ground's song so that the stone was never there. Everyone always wonders of what secret metals the Dwemer alloyed together to form their metal; the metal that never rusts, never decays, never loses its edge. But there is no secret of smithing that will forge Dwemer metal, because it was tonal manipulation that created it. They modified the tones so that time itself could not touch their metal, which is why it is all in perfect condition today."

By this point, they had left the building and were on the streets, though Meesei was trying to keep them away from any crowds. It would not take more than a minute or two to come across at least a wandering Dwemer spider. In the meantime, Neesa seemed to have no problems continuing her explanations. "Of course, for all of their intellect and understanding, I do not believe the Dwemer ever came close to mastering their craft. Some might argue with me on it, but they had a long way to go yet. They were never able to make their resonators and other machines small enough to use directly in combat. They could only use them to make armor and automatons. I think their lack of mastery showed when the Chimer forced Kagrenac's hand, made him desperate. He tried to use Lorkhan's song to elevate the Dwemer, then they all disappeared. Ended my first marriage. I've heard some try to argue that the caused the entire Dwemer race to zero-sum, but if that were the case, we wouldn't remember them at all. Maybe that's just what happens when one tries to approach the ultimate power without first attaining Royalty. Or maybe they did succeed, and he brought his whole race to some higher plane of existence. If you were hoping that I had the answers to the mystery of the Dwemer, then I'll have to disappoint you."

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

At first, Ssarak did not pay too much attention to the conversations of the others as they finally stepped out of the carriage. The city was too much of a sight to take in, especially for a first time visitor. He shared some of Annebeth’s enthusiasm for being here, albeit for different reasons. Shimmerstone’s fame was world-reaching, even if it was not universally believed. Some, especially in Djarkel, might think its reputation to be overblown, if not outright fabricated. But, the rumors were known regardless. Having just arrived, Ssarak supposed he could not make any accurate judgments about the merits of its reputation, but he could at least see that its beauty was not a lie. Perhaps it was just because of the festival, or the part of the city they were in, but the streets were cleaner than in many cities he had visited.

Of course, Ssarak could not ignore his companions forever. Hardly a few steps into the city, and there was already an argument. Althalus was not happy with Henri, to put it mildly. Granted, there were many good reasons for him to take this trip so seriously. They may not have been on an official mission, but the weight of representing the College was still on them, and they would be likely to meet some important people in the city. Ssarak was quite cognizant of the fact that this was the first time College mages had been invited to the festival. Still, Althalus was not the most…diplomatic of individuals, so Ssarak doubted that their issues would suddenly be gone just from some strong words from him.

Deciding not to escalate anything further, Ssarak elected to wait until after Althalus and Henri had separated to stop observing the city. Althalus eventually stormed off from the argument, and Ssarak sauntered up to him and Mar soon after. ”Perhaps I am being cynical, but I doubt that will work on him. Maybe there is some hope that Lyn might influence him to be more patient, instead of…the other way around.” He commented to the two of them. ”Is everything else well with you, aside from the obvious?”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Neesa huffed. "I can only hope. Most Dwemer 'scholars' don't have as much understanding of even the Dwemer language as they think they do. It is hard to understand a written explanation nuanced mysteries of reality when you can't even comprehend the words that are written. I mean, just look at you all: still thinking that the Dwemer relied on something as mundane and limiting as 'magic.' It's cute, almost. You're all like children who just started trying to read the books with bigger words. Ah, how to even begin explaining tonal manipulation? Let's see...well first, do you at least understand the fundamental nature of reality?" She asked, as if it were an average question.

As much as Meesei felt as if Neesa's questioning was just meant to mock them, she decided to play along for the moment. "I would say that is a rather vague question, in truth. And I would not know if my notion of reality was correct. The Dwemer had an exceptional understanding of the world, yes, but even those records that are complete are written in a way that seems vague, or perhaps just hard to understand without knowledge of their culture."

Neesa was, as expected, unimpressed with Meesei's answer. "Well, of anything you could study, the Dwemer would lead you the closest to the correct answer. Looking around, it seems like you have lived in the Dwemer's capital for quite a while, yet you apparently have not even recognized the hints. My question was not vague; I would say it was rather straightforward. What is the fundamental nature of reality? If you reduce everything you see around you, the stones, dirt, flesh, magic, energy, all of it, down to its most basic component. If you were to break everything down into its parts until there was nothing left to separate, what would you be left with? Bah, I can see you haven't the faintest idea. It is tones." She explained, ending rather abruptly, and smirking at the inevitable confusion her answer brought.

"Tones? Do you mean the world is made of sounds, or was that their name for something else?" Meesei asked.

Again, Neesa gave a huff. "Is it really not clicking into place yet? Tonal architects, resonators, attenuators, harmonic stability; did you think that the Dwemer simply picked these names because they had a fondness for music? No, the basis for everything in Aurbis, all of reality, are tones. Our world, our bodies, our spirits, are all, at their core, tones. And the Dwemer were the most skilled people in history at manipulating them. It is not exclusive to the Dwemer, but they were the only ones who understood what they were doing. Calling it magic is so laughably incorrect. Magic no matter how powerful or incredible, follows the rules. Magic is a part of Aurbis' song, while the Dwemer could write their own songs. Spells, like creating a fireball, for instance, can be imagined like a song on a page. When you cast a fireball, you play the tones in the right order, expend a bit of magicka, and just like that, you have a fireball. Now, if you were to use tonal manipulation to light a fire, it would be like taking the sheet music for the world in front of you and writing in some new notes of your own that call for fire. Then, Aurbis reshapes itself to match your new song. No magicka is needed, because a spell was not cast. Naturally, tonal manipulation is not limited to copying the effects of spells. With complete mastery, it can re-shape the world according to any song you feel like writing."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Met them?" Neesa replied, a chuckle following a grin that formed across her face. "I married one. My first husband, Curac. I believe I mentioned him before? He was a passionate, brilliant man; a full-fledged tonal architect. Though, he was something of a black sheep to his fellow Dwemer. He would have to be, to run off, become a scion, and marry an Argonian. He never rejoined them after running off with me, not that they would have given him the option. But, he did not stop his research, and I put my best effort into helping him. The man was too kind to admit to me how useless I probably was working on a subject as daunting as tonal manipulation. I was still a young, naive little lizard, hardly a few hundred years old. One who had her sights set on learning the power of the Dwemer. At least until my husband disappeared, at which point I, uh, re-evaluated my priorities." She explained, adding another chuckle at the end.

Meesei had to make some effort to hide her skepticism. The story she told seemed fantastic, not even the least reason being how ancient it would make her. It was true that vampires were immortal, but it was still highly unlikely for one to survive for so long. Even without disease or hunger to concern her, Neesa would certainly have encountered many dangers in that time. Granted, they had all witnessed firsthand how difficult she was to kill.

Meesei did her best to keep her tone neutral. "So you say you walked among the Dwemer at the height of their Empire? And not only that, you studied their magic with a tonal architect?"

Neesa glared at Meesei and scoffed. "Magic? It is an insult to even call it that. Do you have any concept of what tonal manipulation even is? Any hints from all your 'research'? Anyone?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As they spoke, Hal-Neesa walked around the room, sorting through all of the items she found and levitating those she did not want into a pile on one of the tables. She used her hands or magic interchangeably, and with apparently equal effort. "It is no palace right now. At their height Dwemer cities were the envy of nearly every other place on Nirn. They had more of a taste for stone than suits my taste, true, but their power, their technology, granted the Dwemer a standard of living unmatched by any civilization of their day. They held greater power over the the Earth Bones than any people before them, or any that have lived since. Had they mastered tonal manipulation to enough of an extent to bring it to bear in combat, they would have dominated all of Nirn, without question. Massive underground cities, automatons to serve their whims, they were a people far ahead of their time."

Suddenly, Neesa stopped in her thoughts for a few seconds, setting down the last of the items she was levitating and settling her gaze onto Meesei. "And on that topic, I know I saw non-hostile automatons on the way here. Have you...no, why would I even ask? You have not unlocked the secret to their creation; that would require at least some mastery of tonal manipulation, and you certainly have not approached that level of knowledge. Far more likely is that you managed to find some of their control rods, though that would require some luck to find the automatons they are bound to. Perhaps...you reactivated an animonculory, then? That would not be beyond your capabilities, if it were not damaged. Of course, with your level of knowledge, that would mean..."

Neesa's voice trailed off for a moment, though she spoke again before anyone else could get in a word. "I demand you take me to one of the machines."

Neesa's demanding tone was, as ever, far from endearing. Meesei gave a wary glance to Sabine and Lunise, unsure if there would be some danger in giving her what she asked for. Of course, if she was going to stay in the city, then it would be quite impossible to keep her away from the automatons. With that in mind, there was no point in denying her. "Very well, it should not be difficult to find one on patrol. Just follow us." She replied, motioning for the others to follow her out the door.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I understand." Meesei nodded to Fendros and Janius. "It is fortunate that Rhazii was too young to remember anything about Neesa, but you may need to convince him of how dangerous she is. Believe me when I say that I do not relish the thought of her being so close to our families, but I think we should all keep in mind the alternative. If Vile wins, he will ultimately claim their souls. And our own."

While most of the pack was rightfully hesitant to want to be around Neesa, Kaleeth looked more uncertain. "I want to help, but is there anything I could really...do by coming with you?" She asked.

After a moment's thought, Meesei shook her head. "Unfortunately, not likely. If there was any danger from her, you would need magic resistance to help face her, but it would not likely be a good idea to have a 'friendly' conversation with her in full armor. But, I would appreciate it if you could go speak to the council and inform them of what transpired. I am sure we will need to have multiple meetings about all of this, but I suppose they should at least be able to start thinking about it."

With some dread in her eyes, Meesei sighed, then faced Lunise and Sabine. "Well, I suppose we should make sure our guest is settled. Hopefully, there has not already been a disaster."

---

Meesei did know approximately where Lorag would have taken Neesa, since they did have rooms that were usually set aside for guests from other clan, though she did not know which specific room on the floor Lorag would have selected. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, it was not terribly difficult for them to discern where they had gone from Neesa's muffled voice barking out orders through the walls.

If there was some good news, it was that Neesa had not already turned violent. Although, when Meesei and the others stepped in the room, they found she was practically tearing it apart as she examined every detail. She had opened up every one of the Dwemer drawers, cupboards, and other containers, and half of their contents were floating telekinetically around her. She seemed to show no trouble precisely manipulating multiple objects at a time, all while complaining towards Lorag. "Forks? Why are there drawers full of forks? In my room? What am I going to do with a Dwemer fork, much less five of them? And these floors, they simply won't do. I loathe walking on stone barefoot. I shall require a few rugs, and new blankets while you're at it. My preference is in Khajiit quilts, but I suppose Altmer cloth is an acceptable substitute. How much of this are you getting, Orc?"

Lorag, standing in the corner with his arms crossed, replied quite tersely. "None."

Neesa sighed. "Of all the..." She mumbled before her attention finally fell upon Meesei, Lunise, and Sabine. Of course, she did not care to actually greet them. "You Altmer tend to have decent heads on your shoulders, can you remember any of this?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"So, too long, in other words." Meesei commented. "For the most part, we just need her to be content enough not to interfere with the Empire or Dominion. Neesa is irritating, but we can put up with her. Our allies may not be so patient. It would help if we knew more about her. She is an exceptionally powerful and possibly ancient vampire, but we really have no way of knowing how much of what she says is true. If she is really that old, then she likely would have seen or experienced anything we could possibly try to keep her occupied. Novel experiences are probably rare after four thousand years. I would suggest perhaps giving her the freedom to study some of the Dwemer mysteries present in this place, but she dismissed the idea that anyone should study them."

The group's conversation was interrupted when they reached the vault. It was deep underneath the Silent City, in a sturdily built room that the Dwemer might have used for the same purpose. The clan had applied their own enchantments to the door to bolster their security, and as such, Meesei went by herself to store away the axe. She was away for only a few minutes before returning, having thought of no new answers to their problems in the interim.

Ahnasha had been looking uncomfortable for the entire duration of their conversation. She stood somewhat back from the others, her arms crossed and her gaze down on the floor. "Look, I...know it's probably not a good idea to leave Neesa to herself for too long. Never mind how Lorag might be handling her. Knowing him, he might end up either starting a fight, or in bed with her. Not sure which would be worse. It's just that...I really don't want to be around that woman. I hated even having to look at her again. I know that she wasn't the one that hurt Rhazii, but it was because of her and her husband all the same. If you need my help with her, you have it, don't get me wrong. I'd just like to stay away from her if I can."

"That may be harder now that she is here; I doubt she will take kindly to us if we try to restrict where she can go. Nor would she obey if we tried. But, I'll try to keep you two apart." Meesei answered. "Who does feel that they could come with me to speak to our new guest? In any case, I plan to keep this staff on hand at all times. Neesa may be stronger than me, but not with the staff's power on hand."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei considered Lunise's suggestion, though she could not be sure if Neesa's intentions were so straightforward. At least, they knew so little about the vampire that trying to assume her motivations was difficult. She could agree with Lunise that it would be wise to be cautious, however. "At the very least, a vampire cultist's word is not likely to be held in high regard among our allies. Unless she could prove that she gave you compromising information, it would just be the word of a servant of Molag Bal. We would certainly deny that she ever mentioned it. Of course, it would be preferable that she never speak to your superiors at all. Regardless of what you were or were not told, she could be damaging to an already tenuous alliance. Your argument for not speaking to her does make perfect sense, Lunise, and I do agree. But, I do still have a few worries. Unfortunately, it does seem like she has taken a special interest in you, Lunise, and it may simply be because of who you serve. She has been insufferable since the day we first met her, but she became twice as bad the moment she learned you were a Thalmor. If anything she said is true, then she has a genuine dislike of the Thalmor as an organization."

Meesei let out a sigh, rubbing her hand over her temple. "I am conflicted. It does seem to be the safe choice to speak to her without you, Lunise, but I worry what will happen if she catches on that we are intentionally keeping you away from her. She certainly does not shy away from starting trouble, and that might just motivate her. Nessa...the way she acts is strange. It is like she is...bored, almost. As if she is more concerned with keeping herself entertained than dealing with the threats we face, and like whole war we are fighting is no more than an irritant for her. Her arrogance is obvious, but it is hard to imagine anyone taking an invasion of Oblivion so lightly. But I do wonder if we can use that to our advantage? If we can keep her mind occupied with other things, entertain her, in a manner of speaking, then she might be less likely to cause trouble for us elsewhere."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lunise's comments said aloud much of what Meesei had been thinking about internally. Hal-Neesa seemed as strange as she was insufferable, and Meesei had difficulty reading into her intentions. Indeed, Lunise's observations also stirred up a few more questions in her mind. She motioned for the others to step in closer so they could speak more quietly as they headed indoors. "The Ayleids? I thought her phrasing was strange, but I suppose it would make more sense if she was being literal. But if her life goes all the way back to the Alessian Slave Rebellions, then she would be over...four thousand years old. At least. You are right that it is hard to believe."

Meesei paused as they moved through two large Dwemer doors, and she stayed quiet while they passed close to another group of lycans. It went without saying that they needed to keep this conversation private. Meesei would need to meet with her council as soon as she could, but their first task was to get the axe to their vault. It needed to be locked away securely. "But...it cannot be denied that she knows far more than we would have expected. The way she spoke about the Thalmor; it implies that she somehow learned of their ultimate goal of destroying Mundus, and supposedly returning themselves to divinity. It required a high-ranking Thalmor defector for us to learn of it, so I am not sure how she would know. And the way she phrased it was strange as well. She said the Thalmor would 'doom mortals to eternal imperfection.' That seems quite the opposite of becoming divine. Do you think it would be worth questioning her about it?"