EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Rukeewei was finishing up the last touches on their appetizers when he heard the door open. "Oh, welcome back, dear, and girls, and Sabine, and...everyone else." He spoke up from the kitchen, still clearly distracted by his cooking. "Everything is almost ready. I made something special for us; Danee even helped."

After a few moments, Rukeewei stepped around the divider and into the sitting area, clasping his hands together as he looked at the group. "So, are you all hungry right now? It's just one of the appetizers that needs just a few more minutes, so I can go ahead and start setting up the table if you want."

---

Hal-Neesa huffed. "What, did you think that Molag Bal would just hand off enough divine power to defeat a Daedric Prince to a bunch of mortals and just trust them to do it right? No, Molag Bal now has a personal interest in making sure his investment in this little crusade is not squandered."

With no hesitation, Neesa stepped up and leaned forward onto the table as if she had been invited to do so. Though, it was quite clear she cared little for the opinions of anyone else present. "And even if he didn't, you still don't have anyone with anywhere remotely near my level of experience in...anything, really. But particularly not with dealing with Daedric hordes. And I am offering to give you all of that knowledge free of charge; aren't I generous?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei nodded in understanding towards Ariel. She had surmised that the girls would not know about their aunt Sabine's true nature, given the risk that such secrets could hold. Meesei and her pack would not, of course, be affected by the public opinion of the city dwellers in a place on the other side of Tamriel from their home, but even being known associates of lycanthropes could be dangerous for Ariel and her family. It would be best that the secret be kept from the children until they were old enough to be responsible with it, if they ever even learned of it at all. Meesei, Sabine, and Karl followed Ariel's lead out of the Wamasu's Nest. It was later in the day by this point, but both Ariel and Rukeewei were likely leaving their work earlier than usual. Although, with three girls to care for, they were likely experienced at managing their time by this point.

---

Ri'vashi took the time while gro-Tagnud and Teroiah were bickering to refresh herself on the notes that Meesei had given her. Teroiah was obviously the most magically knowledgeable among them, so there was no point in Ri'vashi trying to act as if she had more understanding than she really did. Teroiah would identify a bluff right away. "Ri'vashi is no mage herself; she cannot describe the portals, but the Champion has given her the relevant, practical details. She estimates that it will take several days to move all of our combined forces into position within the Hunting Grounds, but she has not mentioned any expected issues in maintaining the portal from Tamriel. She does mention some limitations to the first portal, but nothing that would affect us. To avoid breaking the 'compact', it has to be an invitation to Mundus, so no Daedra or other beings from the Hunting Grounds can use it to get to Tamriel, and only those from Tamriel can use it to return. The second portal will apparently be much easier to create than the ones the Daedra used in the Oblivion Crisis, since it does not have to bypass any strong barriers, so we can make it much larger. She says it will be...comparable to the size of the great gate used in the famous battle of Bruma. This one's warriors have already been collecting sigil stones for that purpose. If your people have any sigil stones to spare, it could be helpful."

As they were speaking, a sound started to echo through the cavern: footsteps. Ri'vashi was the first to pick up on them. Her ears twitched, and her head turned to face the source once the sound was unmistakable. From their chamber, they could see a short distance down the cave as a figure rounded the corner. It was one that Ri'vashi recognized immediately, and one of the last she wanted to see in that moment. It was Hal-Neesa, wearing an expensive and spectacular violet and gold dress made from pure silk, despite the fact that they were in a literal cave. As she approached, both one of Ri'vashi's guards and one of the Imperial guards moved to stand in her way, but her entire body phased into a cloud of black mist for a few seconds, moving around them and reforming on the other side.

Ri'vashi turned towards the intruder, her hand on he hilt of her blade on reflex. She glared into the vampire's lightly glowing eyes, practically growling by this point. "Hal-Neesa, you were not invited here. Leave."

Neesa was, as expected, unimpressed by Ri'vashi's stern words. "Yes, I know; I'm really starting to sense a pattern there. You people never invite me to the party, and I bore of constantly having to show up late. Now, I am not even going to address the fact that the representative to lord Molag Bal absolutely has every right to be here, because it is enough to say that you will need me. As entertaining as it would be to watch you all fail, it would not be in my best interest for you all to die a horrible death before the Axe can do its work on Vile. So, I need to take it upon myself to keep you people alive."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei chuckled for a second or two. "Believe me, I could give him a lengthy lecture about the perils of taking on too much responsibility. I know that feeling well. But, at least he is doing it out of love. We are fine friends, certainly, but my intuition tells me he is putting in the extra effort so you can have a perfect evening with your sister." She reasoned.

Meesei started to stand up as she continued. "I think Rukeewei wanted us to be able to have some privacy to be able to speak more...freely." She said before giving a glance towards the children. "Although...I do assume we need to remain discrete around the young ones, yes?"

---

Ri'vashi felt that, at the very least, the meeting was not starting off as poorly as it could have been. In no world would she ever expect these two groups to behave in any way that would actually suggest that they could get along. It was true that Marod and Lunise could be cordial to one another, but she supposed they were trained to be able to put on an act. In this case, Ri'vashi would simply be satisfied if the two commanders could avoid causing a diplomatic incident. For Ri'vashi's own two guards, she had made sure to select some of her least opinionated warriors, so their only struggle was to avoid laughing at the Imperials and Thalmor glaring at each other.

"The commander is correct in that: we all have the same goal here. Neither of your governments will survive to fight over Tamriel if Vile succeeds." Ri'vashi began. "Now, to start, we do already have the basics of the invasion plan to build upon. I am sure that both of you have been briefed on the basics of the invasion already, but just to make sure we all have the exact same understanding, Ri'vashi believes it would be a good idea to go over it together. The first step, obviously, is getting to Vile's realm to begin with. Now, one moment..."

Ri'vashi paused briefly to flip through the stack of parchments in front of her until she could get a look at the pages of notes the Champion had given her to explain the important, more magical details of their invasion plans. "As you know, the threat of direct invasion through Oblivion gates ended with the Oblivion Crisis at the end of the Third Era. Likewise, the magical barriers between our worlds prevent us from opening a portal directly to Vile's realm. However, there are exceptions, and a way for us to get around it. A portal can be made to allow mortals into Oblivion if the Daedric Prince invites the mortals to come of their own free will. This prevents any, let's see...compacts from being broken." She said, reading carefully from her notes. "Although we cannot breach the barriers between Tamriel and Oblivion, we do have the means to breach the much weaker barriers between two different realms of Oblivion. Therefore, Hircine will invite us to enter the Hunting Grounds, and from there, we can stage an invasion of Vile's realm through a portal of our making. Once in Vile's realm, the primary objective will be to ensure that Hircine's Champion can strike Vile himself with the Rueful Axe, which has been empowered by Molag Bal. Those are the basics of the plan as they were given to Ri'vashi. It is up to us to fill in the...many gaps in the plan."

Last of the Jedi (EliteCommander and Sep)

The man's response at first was simply a laugh: one that was equal parts confident and sinister. He started to circle around her slowly, and at a distance outside of her most effective range. "I sometimes forget the ignorance of the Jedi. I suppose it will be a mercy for you that you shall be allowed to die believing that."

In an instant, the man let loose the full range of his fury, rushing forward to resume the fight. Although his fighting style itself had not significantly changed, his emotions were plainly on display. He anticipated this kill, longing for it more and more with every rapid beat of his heart.

---

Despite the general rush they were in, Kresst was disciplined and cautious as he examined the carvings on the obelisk. He was careful not to touch it, both out of safety, and to avoid any risk of accidentally altering the temple in an unintended manner. He hovered the camera close to record each of the words as he translated them aloud, first completely literally, then he translated the intended meaning of the phrase.

"Hmm, well if nothing else, I can at least appreciate that the Sith were straightforward. I will not lie; I would have been upset if we had to solve a riddle, or some such nonsense. Now, to give some context, I am sure you are aware that the Jedi have a code that we follow. The Sith, in ancient times, were like a dark mirror to our order, and they too developed their own code. Indeed, they may have created their code as a direct mockery to our own. In any case, it seems their code is a key, though I suppose the inscription is not too specific on what lock it opens. I am not certain if the code is meant to simply unlock the vault directly if taken to the meditation chamber, or if it will give me the knowledge needed to unlock it. I suppose we can just try it now, and if it does not work, we can bring the vault back here later and try again." Kresst explained as he already began to search around to find and identify the mediation chamber mentioned on the obelisk.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Well, feel free to try whatever you like. I can make any local specialty you find yourself curious about. There are only a handful of ingredients too expensive for me to give away. My only condition is that you promise to save room for dinner." Rukeewei grinned in response to Karl. "At any rate, Speaks-With-Thread still has her shop. I wouldn't say she has expanded, really, but her business is much the same as it has always been. It will probably look the same as the last time you were there, if you go see her. Except for the layout; Ariel helped her do some re-arranging."

---

For the duration of their wait in the Wamasu's Nest, Meesei decided to have only a light lunch, as it seemed like Rukeewei was going to be preparing a sizable dinner for all of them. In fact, he left the inn entirely about an hour before he expected Ariel to return so he could go ahead and start cooking.

Being that they knew when to expect her, most of the group was waiting and watching for Ariel and her daughters to arrive when they stepped into the inn. Meesei greeted her with a wave and a smile. "Hello again, I hope your orders went smoothly. Rukeewei left some time ago; he said he was going to head home to cook up our dinner. It is likely done by now, I would imagine."

---

It was hard for Ri'vashi to deny that she was nervous. The Champion and her pack had already paved the road ahead diplomatically, but this was still going to be the first meeting between the top military leaders of each faction. Both the Legate General and Commander Teroiah would be present, from her understanding. They had taken care to set the the meeting in neutral ground, and define the number of bodyguards that each would bring. She just hoped that the meeting would not be as tense as she worried.

Ri'vashi was the first to arrive, by her own choice. She struck a balance between being armed enough to demonstrate her position, but not so much as to appear threatening. Keeping her sword firmly in its sheath, while wearing light mail kept her comfortable without being intimidating. Magical protection enchantments also served to give her some peace of mind. The room itself was located securely underground, and was relatively small and simple. The only real feature of the room was a large table with enough space for whatever maps and documents they needed.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Fortunately, it's not the kind of magic that could really be deciphered from a surface examination. It would probably require a detailed examination of the enchantments to learn about it in-depth. I suppose it's more accurate to say that they would put a stone in a guarded, known location for the respective factions to use, rather than just giving them a stone outright. They would easily be able to learn that the stones connect two fixed points, and they require a key to use.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There are some smaller scenes I wanted to do. For their Imperial and Dominion allies, Meesei would have had a propylon stone sent to each of them that would link to a single other stone for them to meet up more easily. Probably a closely guarded stone in a neutral location. Do you think they would be at the point where they would be starting their military meetings on the specifics of the invasion?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Playing siege with friends at the moment, though I'll post once we're done.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"No, I think we will be quite alright with whatever accommodations you wish to give us. We are not too particular about such things." Meesei answered to Rukeewei.

Rukeewei had not expected any different of an answer, but he had felt it polite to ask regardless. The rest of the walk did not take long, as it was not too far to the Wamasu's Nest. Although, even from the outside, Meesei could tell that quite a lot had changed in the years since they had last visited. It was the same building, but it could have easily been mistaken for another. The outside was now properly decorated, with a more well-made sign bearing an engraving of a wamasu that looked distinctly like Leaps. The wood was in fine shape, and had the shine of a coating to prevent rot.

Once they were brought inside, they would see that it had been similarly renovated to the exterior. The walls were painted, though not in any extravagant color. It simply had a dark coat of brown to protect the wood and make the walls seem more uniform. There were a few paintings hung on the walls which mostly depicted the local landscape, and a single, somewhat large tapestry that, again, depicted a wamasu. Overall, it did not seem to be a "high-class" inn exactly, but it was clearly attracting a sort of clientele with a bit more wealth than before. There was a reasonable crowd at the tables, consisting of both locals and travelers, and as Rukeewei had mentioned before, his employees were handling the customers perfectly well without him needing to be present.

Last of the Jedi (EliteCommander and Sep)

As might have been expected, Mevann's opponent was entirely unfazed by her threatening words. His blade pushed against hers, and after a moment, she would hear what seemed like a low, confident laugh from underneath his helmet. "Perhaps..." He said before unleashing a burst of the Force to, at minimum, push her back and put a bit of distance between them. Despite the obvious darkness surrounding him, just about everything about the form he used would be familiar. He took on a duelist's stance, identical to what would be taught to any Jedi. Despite his aggression fueling his power in the force, his style was still naturally defensive, even when he was initiating. Aside from the mortal stakes of this duel, it was like any sparring match she would have had with another Jedi.

"But, soon enough, there will not be many of you to choose from, so a...weakling like you will have to do." He goaded.

---

Kresst was no longer rushing to keep up with his much taller companions, which meant their pace through the hallway slowed considerably, though he did already seem to be examining each of the carvings they passed on the way to the chamber ahead. "Well, I suppose that will depend on what we can find. I can say that this is certainly a genuine Sith temple: a rare find in modern times. Or even in eras past, if I am being honest. The Sith tended to build in out-of-the-way places, especially those already strong in the dark side, so those places tend not to be found by accident. There are members of my order who disapprove of any detailed study into the relics of our ancient enemy, but I personally believe that there is no wisdom to be found in ignorance. I cannot give a precise age for this temple without in-depth study, but it certainly predates the Republic by a significant margin."

As they were about halfway through the hall, Kresst reached into his pouch under his robe to produce his camera, which, with minor concentration, he could levitate around himself as he worked. "I will be sure to record all of my observations, so you can have a copy for your records."