EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei soon took notice of Narsi beside her. The armor made her seem potentially even more unapproachable than usual as Champion, as the gaze of her dragon skull helmet could not be much else except intimidating. However, her friendly attitude came in stark contrast to her threatening appearance. "Indeed. Dragon bone is an exceptionally rare and dangerous material to acquire to begin with, and on top of that, requires a master blacksmith to even begin to work with. I do not think your father was exaggerating when he suggested this armor could buy multiple houses. It is easily the...third most valuable item I have ever handled." She remarked, letting out a grunt at least somewhat comparable to a laugh.

The forgemaster, meanwhile, was predictably open towards Janius' request. "Oh, of course. It will be our pleasure to have you. I have already begun training some of the more seasoned smiths here in the techniques required to work with the bone. I have every confidence that we will have everything ready for you in time for the invasion. Unfortunately, I...don't think we will have enough materials left over for dragon bone weapons. Even with two skeletons to work with, bone armor, especially for lycans, is resource intensive, and not all the bones are suitable. We do probably have enough scales to make one or two more sets of the light armor than the three you've asked for, but the scales aren't suitable for weapons. We might be able to make one weapon if we're lucky, but...even if we're not, I can still make my best weapons for you. I know how to forge daedric metal. If you'd like, and if you can get the alchemists to part with a few daedra hearts, I can craft you some of the most deadly weapons you'll ever see."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha hummed to herself for a few moments, looking particularly at Janius. "It's a hard call to make for you, to be honest. Between Meesei, Sabine, and me, we do have the pack's magical needs covered, so it might be that you could contribute differently in your lycan form. But, at the same time, you do have a very well-balanced skillset that might make it better to keep your options open. Honestly, I think you would be just fine either way. We can plan around either."

"Well, if Janius is stickin' to this form, then I'll have to take heavy armor for a werewolf." Lorag commented with a nod towards the forgemaster. At least a few of us should go in lycan form. It gives us more options as a team to have both. I can move faster than Kaleeth, so I can take on enemy flanks with the armor keepin' me protected."

Regardless of whether Narsi would actually go through with touching the armor or not, Julan ended up interrupting her when he nudged her in the side, grinning with just a hint of smugness. "See? I told you we ate a dragon."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Valgar nodded back at Sabine. "Of course. Now I'm, uh, no expert on something like magic, but it's my understanding that these bones are ripe for enchanting. Naturally, you can choose whatever magic you want to put in them. I'll leave that to experts like you."

"In that case, I think I'm of the same mind as Sabine." Ahnasha commented. "While it would be wonderful to be a dragon-armored werewolf, we need to think carefully about how we want to approach the battles we're going to be taking. This armor is going to be incredibly useful, but it does mean that none of us will be free to transform unless we're prepared to lose it. So, we need to decide this now. I think a mixed composition between our normal and lycan forms would work best. We're probably going to be taking on special objectives more than we're on the frontline, so the versatility will help us. We should think about what kind of balance would help us most as a team Myself, I think I bring the most to the table with access to my magic, so I'll take light armor for my normal form."

There had been some hesitation from Kaleeth, but Ahnasha's perspective made her realize that the choice for her was rather obvious. "Then I will probably need heavy armor for a werecrocodile. If it's really as strong as you say, then it could let me be very aggressive. Even more than normal, especially if you can enchant it to help protect me against magic. I could charge into enemy formations and disrupt them without too much risk. I know the rest of you can do a lot to take advantage of that."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Even with his prideful demeanor, one could perhaps see that Valgar was holding back a bit of laughter. "Eh, sorry kid. Materials this valuable have to be reserved for the best of our warriors."

Lorag huffed. "'Valuable' is right. I wonder how many houses you could buy with one of these suits?" He remarked, walking in a circle around Meesei as he admired the crafstmanship in the armor. Being that he had some experience in smithing himself, it gave him an even greater appreciation for the accomplishment. He personally had no idea how to even start working with something like dragon bone, but he had never been a "master" blacksmith. "So we can all get suits just like this one, then?"

"Yes. Or to whatever specifications you want." Valgar answered. "I was confident that you would benefit from armor in your beast form, Champion, due to your abilities. But for each of you, I can, of course, craft the armor to suit each of your specific needs. This is heavy, dragon bone armor that can stand against anything short of siege weaponry, but dragon scales, on the other hand, are lighter and tougher than any other light armor you could find. Even for those of you not used to wearing armor, I would say that dragonscale armor would be worth wearing for you. I can make the armor for your normal or lycan forms, though...not both. It's hard to say exactly how much armor we can make with what we have, but you'll definitely need to pick one or the other."

"And since this armor will probably take time to make, that means you all will need to decide soon what form you intend to take for the invasion." Meesei added.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The amazement among Meesei's pack served to quite substantially fuel the forgemaster's confidence. He practically radiated pride as he answered. "You'll be hard-pressed to find anything in Tamriel or beyond that could break through my masterwork. Dragon bone and ebony, all of it. The kind of materials that most smiths will never see in a lifetime, and what kind of forgemaster would I be if I didn't jump on the chance to work it. But, um, well..."

Valgar's demeanor rather suddenly lost its boastful pride and became far more reserved. He shifted in place and cleared his throat. "As much as I'd love to take credit for it all, though, I'm not the kind of scum to go back on his promises. Dragon bone is the hardest damned material I've ever had to figure out how to work with, and considering I can work with Daedric metal, that's saying something. No chance I would have figured it out in time without help. Since we've got those teleporters, though, I can work with experts from all over. Darka gra-Lumbash up in High Rock was the one to figure out the basics of how to reshape the bone without damaging it. I refined her process, made it practical. Taranor, down near Silvenar, figured out how to put the right size of holes in the bones reasonably quickly, so we could get the plates attached properly to the rest of the suit. His method is much faster than grinding would've been, else the suit would've taken most of a year to make. Don't get me wrong, I did forge this suit, but I want to give credit where credit is due."

Meesei lifted up her hand, staring down at the dragon claws. It felt strange to wear anything in this form, much less armor, but even as a mage, she could recognize the power of this armor. Not to mention the fact that she could not imagine any more intimidating beast than a dragon-plated werewolf. It could provide a boost to their warriors' morale to see her projecting such power. "The bones are heavy, but I hardly feel it in this form. This armor is magnificent. It would take some of my stronger spells to even damage these plates."

"Indeed. And with two dragon skeletons and a whole dragon's worth of scales to work with..." Valgar began, his gaze shifting over to the rest of the pack. "I'd say we could make a few more sets. And there is no one who deserves this more than our Champion's pack."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha nodded along with Janius. "You might be right. Actually...you know what, that had better be it, or something like it. Because if the forgemaster dragged us all down here for nothing, I might just have some anger to take out on him. I have, uh...something I need to be doing." She remarked, her voice rather suddenly becoming softer and more calm.

"Relax, the man ain't that stupid." Lorag remarked. He was not outwardly showing the kind of curiosity or anticipation as most of the others, though he did seem to have a keen interest in watching the nearest forge. "He wouldn't risk wasting the Champion's time, or ours. In case you've forgotten, we're in charge of this whole place, and he's...what? The third forgemaster we've had in the past two years? He'll make it worth our time."

It might not have been fair to say that the forgemaster had understated how long the pack would be waiting, with how vague he had been, but they did end up waiting more than just a minute or two. Still, it was not more than ten minutes later that the door finally opened, and what it revealed would likely overshadow any agitation that the wait may have caused.

Meesei led the way through the door, no longer in her Argonian form. Janius had been correct in his guess, though it was no normal suit of armor that the forgemaster had crafted. Meesei's werewolf form was now armored in a suit primarily crafted from what could only be the bones of a dragon. The bone plates covered the majority of her imposing form, though at the joints and at any gap in the armor, one could see chainmail that appeared to be made from pure ebony. It was hard to identify many of the bones on sight, as they had likely been grinded into more ergonomic shapes, but they fit together well-enough for her to retain most of her range of motion. This was not likely the first time that an armored suit had been made for a werewolf with particularly good control, but it would perhaps be a safe wager to say that none had ever been crafted of such fine materials. Even her claws were now tipped with the claws of a dragon. Of any type of armor that werewolf could wear, bone did seem like a fitting material, and the fact that said bone was stronger than any metal seemed fitting for the Champion of a Daedric Prince.

The helm of Meesei's armor looked to be made from at least a portion of one of the dragons' skulls and covered the majority of her head, which obscured Meesei's own reaction to the armor. However, the forgemaster himself wore his pride openly in his expression as he walked out alongside Meesei.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei grinned back at Janius. "Oh, no, I got the feeling that he was being quite intentionally vague. He wants this to be a surprise. But, I agree with Ahnasha's assessment. He would not have requested all of us if it did not pertain to all of us. He did only take the title of forgemaster a few months ago, so perhaps he is wanting to impress? To forge us his mastercraft works."

Even out in the hallways, it was quite obvious they were nearing the smithy. They had gone through great effort to make sure the place was well-ventilated, but that did not stop the heat from the many forges from filling the relatively tight space. Anyone who could sweat was probably doing so by the time they were in the smithy. At this point, the forges were in use almost constantly through the day and night, thanks to the blacksmiths that had been brought in from other clans to assist with invasion preparations. Dwemer metal from all around the cavern was constantly being salvaged, melted down, and forged into new weapons and armor for their warriors. Their armories were practically overflowing, with still more equipment on the way.

The largest smithy was a long room with a tall ceiling, yet still managed to feel as crowded as it was hot. Forges and smelters lined the walls all the way to the end of the chamber. They were built in the Nordic style, but their design had been modified to connect to the Dwemer steam pipes that ran along the walls. The rest of the room felt like a sort of ordered chaos, at least to an outsider. Meesei could not spot any obvious order to the carts of Dwemer scraps moving to and from the smelters, tables of scattered tools, and piles of coal, but clearly, the blacksmiths themselves had their own systems they were familiar with.

It did not take long after Meesei's pack stepped into the smithy for the forgemaster himself to greet them. He had more than likely been waiting on them. Interestingly, the blacksmiths of the clan were almost more competitive than the warriors. The title of forgemaster had changed hands several times through the years, and it seemed like every few months there was another challenge among them to test their craftsmanship. Such competition was certainly suitable for servants of Hircine, but Meesei had a feeling that the situation would not likely be too different even if they were not lycans. The current forgemaster was a Nord man named Valgar Blue-Shield, who, on first glance, seemed to fit every description of a "typical Nord blacksmith" that one could make. He was a tall, rough-looking man who seemed to live with a permanent coat of soot on his hands. He was bald, but with a beard thick enough to be mistaken for a bird's nest.

"Champion, it's an honor to have you in my forge." Valgar greeted, respectfully bowing his head towards Meesei. Though, he had to practically shout thanks to the clanging of metal from the forges nearby.

"Indeed, and it is an honor to have such dedicated people here working to equip our warriors." Meesei replied. "I would ask for a more in-depth tour of your forge since the most recent renovations, but I am afraid my pack does not have a great deal of time to spare in times like this."

The forgemaster gave a quick nod. "Of course. Though I promise, you will not regret taking the time to see me. Still, I will try not to take up any more of your time than necessary. Champion, if you could please follow me, I have something that you will be quite interested to see. If your pack could please wait here, I promise it will not take long to...show you. Then, you will see why I have called you all here."

Meesei agreed and followed the forgemaster into one of the adjacent rooms, leaving the rest of the pack with just a short time to speculate.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Julan huffed, quickly grabbing a pebble beside him and tossing it at Rhazii. "Hey, stop that! Her name was Hal-Leeus, but she just ended up being...irritating after a while. She was fine at first, but all she ever wanted to do was ask me questions. I enjoyed asking her about the village at first too, but she had a lot more she wanted to ask me. Just...questions, questions, and more boring questions. Her friends were better, though, so it wasn't all bad."

After his attempt at deflection, Julan gave a look around away from the fire and back towards the city. He started to stand up, then glanced back at Narsi. "Are you dry yet? Maybe we should get back, find something new to do. If you've just been alone so far, then I'm sure there's plenty you haven't done yet back in the city."

---

Ahnasha's answer did not come quickly. For a few moments, she just breathed before setting down her mostly-full cup and standing to her feet. "I feel like getting back home. Work on the portal is starting this week, and I am going to have a lot to do helping to get it ready. They are going to need conjurers and enchanters alike working on it. Meesei said I didn't have to see to it personally, but...I would rather make sure it is done right."

Meesei would not be arriving to collect the pair any sooner regardless of what Ahnasha wanted, but that did not stop her from leaving the table regardless. Even if she was no longer angry, it was clear that she was not in the mood for much conversation.

---

The next several weeks saw an almost unprecedented amount of activity in the Blackreach clan. Just as Ahnasha had commented to Fendros, work on their portal began in earnest, which called upon the expertise of the best conjurers and enchanters available from any of Tamriel's lycan clans. Not to mention, both the Empire and Dominion had their hands in assisting with the project. Though it was perhaps pessimistic, Meesei doubted they actually wanted to devote their resources to assist, but it was likely that they would want to have their own experts verify the safety of the portal before they would send any of their own soldiers through it.

Of course, only a small portion of the clan would even notice the portal's construction, since the building site was in a clearing a fair distance away from the city. However, what would be obvious were the other preparations they were making. Namely, they had already begun to bring in people and supplies from all of the clans in Tamriel to take part in the invasion. The bulk of the warriors would not be arriving for some time, as Meesei did not want to weaken the other clans' defenses until the last possible moment, but they were already preparing for them. The Silent City would be housing some of them, but they were building camps to accommodate the bulk of their forces outside the walls. They were only simple wooden barracks, but as some portion of them would need to stay there for weeks, they would be better than tents.

For the moment, the majority of those arriving from other clans were either leaders, or support staff handling the logistics of moving in their army. In addition to the camps themselves, they had to bring in more food stores from other clans, plan for the transport of clean water to each of the camps, and set up infirmaries with skilled healers and sufficient stocks of potions. It was a great deal more work than even Meesei had expected, but fortunately, there were those among the clans who had the sort of experience needed to make it go reasonably smoothly.

Thusfar, the preparations had not required too much additional work from most of Meesei's pack, apart from those, like Ahnasha, who volunteered herself to help. As such, the Silent City's forgemaster was able to find an opportunity to call in all seven of them at once for some matter about which he had been noticeably non-specific. Although, Meesei had been assured that he had only good news for her.

Meesei moved together with her pack, through the tunnels into the depths of the Silent City. Lorag was intending to bring the children out for more training afterwards, so the three of them were tagging along as well. Their forges had been built close to the machines that powered the whole of the city, and were heated by a seemingly limitless supply of steam. From what Meesei had been told by their blacksmiths, adapting the steam to their forges allowed them to operate them more easily, and get their fires even hotter. They had expanded their forges and had built several of them in multiple rooms in the lower floors of the city. Their productivity in forging weapons and armor for their warriors had exceeded expectations...at least until those expectations had been raised up to match.

Despite having been working late the previous night, Ahnasha appeared to be in a strangely good mood. Or at least, she was not showing signs of any fatigue she might have. She was even the first to speak up, smiling lightly. "Okay, so I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering what this all is about. Personally, I'm willing to bet they have something for us. If this was something like new techniques, or...some discovery to make new kinds of weapons for our warriors, then he would just be talking to Meesei. I'm willing to bet he has something for us, specifically. Really, I'm just wondering what."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There isn't much more I have in mind for these scenes. I could skip us ahead. There isn't much left I have in mind to do before they start the invasion, just a few things.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Oh, it's all the way on the other side of Tamriel, In Black Marsh; the north part of it. They're, um, nomads, so the village moves around a lot." Julan answered. "And yeah, I thought they were pretty tough, too. They act more like our clans than I thought they would, but I guess it makes sense. Black Marsh is a dangerous place to live, so they have to work hard to survive."

The topic finally steered Julan towards talking about his trip. So far, he had not had much of a chance to talk about the last few weeks beyond the obvious regarding his tattoos. He had wanted to talk about the trip with Rhazii for a few days now, even before he had returned. He supposed it did not bother him to talk to Narsi about it as well. "It was just weird being around so many more Argonians. They had all sorts of weird customs, and games, and just...ways of doing things. I didn't think that I would think they were weird before I got there, since I'm Argonian too, but...I don't know. I probably shouldn't have thought it would feel normal being there, since I'm not from there. There were, uh...some people who didn't like me, since I was an outsider. But there was one girl who was really curious about me, and she introduced me to her friends. She was nice to me. Kind of...too nice."

---

Ahnasha sighed along with Fendros, finally going through the effort to pour tea first for herself, then Fendros. Although, she just ended up holding the cup up in front of herself for a while, resting her elbows on the table. "Probably best to avoid too complicated of a story. If it comes to it, I will say that you, and only you, were infected some time after we were married. That would make you into more of a victim, and would probably be better received than if you were already a lycan when we met. As long as that the souls of me and Rhazii are safe, then they will probably be fine. Perhaps not at first, but eventually."

Ahnasha placed down her cup after only one sip. She finally made firm eye contact with Fendros, but at least not in a way that suggested anger. "It will still probably be weeks or more before we will know anything, so we best just get back home and try to focus on our preparations. Regardless of anything else, the invasion is still our priority."