EliteCommander

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Hmm, need to figure out what Ssarak can do other than grieve. Maybe someone can read his mind...or his obviously depressed expression?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I may be delayed by the fact that this post is taking forever to write.

ESO is down for maintenance though, so I don't have much else to do.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

So far, I count 6 dead, one wounded. Just to keep track

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I'll let you handle the fighting for Janius and Sabine. Everyone's first kills in the fight will have the element of surprise, so they will be easy pickings, but the other half of the room will be more of a standard fight, since they will have had time to arm themselves.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The lookouts had no time to react to Ahnasha and Fendros' arrows. They made a small measure of noise when they slumped over, but it was nothing suspicious. The group move up on the sides of the doorway, keeping up their same formation. Without a word Meesei nodded to Ahnasha and pointed to the room ahead.She returned the nod, then cast invisibility over herself and stepped through the pathway into the next chamber. For about a minute, they heard nothing more than the same movement and chatter from the other room that had existed since they arrived. Ahnasha silently returned shortly afterwards and dispelled her invisibility.

"I count twelve. Seven on the left, five on the right. Eating, talking, drinking. Looks like the same group from the ambush. There are weapons all over, not all are immediately on hand. I saw an Orc woman, but no male. There is a passage on the other side leading deeper in the cave, though." Ahnasha explained quickly at a low whisper.

"Then we shall strike quickly. Sabine, Lorag, Janius, charge in and quickly strike on the group at the right. Take out one group so we don't get surrounded. Ahnasha, Fendros, we will move in behind them and go to the right as well. Be sure to stick to the wall to keep our melee allies between us an them. Be sure to pick off any ranged opponents first." Meesei ordered, having no time to take suggestions. Everyone moved into position, with Janius taking the lead, Lorag behind him, and Sabine behind both. On Meesei's signal, they all charged in. As per the plan, they each picked someone from the group on the right to attack. Lorag rushed toward the closest enemy to the door, while Janius and Sabine ran for two near the back to flank them.

Meesei, Ahnasha, an Fendros came in immediately behind Sabine, sticking to the right wall. Meesei witnessed Lorag meet his foe first, though it could hardly be called a fight. They had ran in so swiftly that a few of the hunters on the other side of the room had not even noticed by the time Lorag's hammer met the Imperial man's head, crushing in his skull immediately. The Nord beside him at the table shot up and scramble for the longsword leaned up against the wall nearby, but Meesei quickly put an end to his resistance. After casting a shield spell on herself, she hit the sword with an exploding fireball to stop him in his tracks, then hit the man with an intense stream of lightning, maintaining it for a few seconds. Once she released it, he fell to the ground either dead or unconscious, so she lit him on fire for good measure.

Ahnasha saw that the others were handling the group on the right well, so she moved to the right with Meesei, then focused to the left. She had made note of where some of the weapons were sitting when she scouted the room, so she knew where to look when looking for an archer. An Argonian male shot up toward a bow on a nearby table, so she fired an arrow which struck him in the hip, sending him to the ground. She nocked another arrow quickly and fired again at his torso while he was on the ground. She could not be certain if he was dead, but he definitely wasn't fighting anymore.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Lucius Cypher said
I can understand Alaria, but I'm sure Mar can tap into her maternal rage if something funny happens.

I don't know. she did just go through something pretty strenuous and exhausting, not to mention all the blood loss. The body does have its limits. Ssarak is kind of trapped in his own thoughts, but he's not completely locked off from the world. If someone else approached, he would likely pay attention to it.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Even though he knew Mar was far along in her pregnancy, he had certainly not expected to happen along her directly after the child had been born. Mar, Althalus, and for some reason, Alaira, were surrounding the small, half-reptilian child. He could not see too clearly from where he was, but it seemed rather humanoid in shape, with arms and legs. To an outside observer, the scene would appear disgusting. There was no shortage of blood and other bodily fluids scattered about, and the child itself was still a mess. Live births were inherently messy, and yet, Mar and Althalus were acting as if it were the most beautiful scene they had ever witnessed, because, to them, it likely was. The flood of joy and other emotions from bringing a child of one's own into the world would seemingly erase any other issues for Althalus for the moment, and Ssarak assumed it was at least partially the same for Mar.

Witnessing this scene made Ssarak's following thoughts inevitable. At first, it was fond memories of his own children which flooded his mind. He remembered when his first born was so small that her entire hand could scarcely fit around his finger. He remembered how she used to roll into a ball and chew on the tip of her own tail. He had to find a way to stop her from making it a habit before her teeth started to form, but it was one of the most satisfyingly cute things he had seen in his life up to that point, and indeed beyond it as well. Ssarak remembered the pride he felt when his oldest son completed his first flight, and how happy his daughter had been when she became accepted for training as one of the clan's hunters. Of course, such fond memories only served to lead him into despair once his thoughts shifted back to the attack. He vividly remembered the mangled face of his daughter as he buried her, the same daughter who had been celebrating her first kill as a hunter's apprentice only a week prior. He recalled how his youngest son, who had only just begun learning to speak, was hardly recognizable when he found him. Ssarak closed his eyes as tears formed in them. His hands trembled and he lost any form of concentration on mental wards. He said nothing aloud, as he did not wish to detract from the joy the others no doubt felt, but he could hardly bear the pain he was experiencing.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

I cannot remember if I have asked this before, but if so, I have forgotten. Are Esyire viviparous, or do they lay eggs as other reptiles?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"It is doubtful they have any deadly traps, at least none that are not manual. This is their home, after all, and they need to be able to come and go safely. Their greatest protection has been how well they have been hidden. You saw how well they covered their tracks; I doubt they expected anyone to be able to follow them here. They likely do have traps that will alert them to our presence, so watch your every step. The element of surprise will be key here." Meesei observe. After a brief moment of concentration, she cast a spell of muffle across the group to quiet their footsteps. She slung Sabine's potion bag over her shoulder and hid the rest of her equipment away under a nearby tree.

"Ahnasha, Fendros, take the lead with your bows. If we're lucky, you may be able to quietly dispatch a few before the fighting begins. Lorag, Janius, Sabine, stay just behind them. If you see that we have been spotted, quickly move ahead of them to take up the front lines. Once the fighting starts, Ahnasha, Fendros, and myself will provide ranged support while you three engage up close." Meesei ordered. As they advanced forward, the pack moved into their positions, entering the cave two by two to avoid crowding each other too greatly. Meesei was in the back just behind Sabine. Although her werewolf form was certainly small compared to other lycans, she was still larger than Meesei. They did not have too much room to maneuver in the tight cave, so Meesei hoped Fendros would quickly be able to exchange positions with Janius, Lorag, and Sabine if they were spotted. The others had experience with such maneuvers, but they had not had a chance to practice such specific maneuvers with Fendros yet.

Moving through the cave was just as Meesei had expected. There were bones on ropes hanging from the roof in easy to miss places that would certainly alert any nearby hunters to their presence, as well as small tripwires that undoubtedly activated more noise making traps. Due to the acoustics of the cave, any small sound would travel far, so they needed to be careful and keep any talking to a minimum. Fortunately, the cave's echoes worked in the opposite direction as well, as they were able to hear the hunters talking ahead well before they saw them.

Ahnasha carefully peered around the corner, making sure to keep herself in the shadows. She saw two hunters, clad in light mixes of fur and leather, sitting at a small, rotted table playing a card game while conversing about their last hunt. Directly beside them was a narrow passage which seemed to serve as a doorway into a larger chamber beyond. If she had to guess, she would say there were many more than just two in the chamber beyond, and these two were meant to be lookouts. If they took out these two quietly, then they would be able to surprise the next group. She nodded to Fendros, then took aim with her bound bow at the Dunmer woman on the right, allowing Fendros to set himself up to shoot the one on the left.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"As long as we do not fall too far behind, we shouldn't lose their trail." Meesei whispered. "Still, stay on your guard. Something about that ambush does not sit well with me, other than the obvious. I doubt these hunters just sit in that exact spot all day waiting for someone to come along, so someone must have warned them, but we have been following them since before the other pack even learned where to go. How did they manage to get a message to the hunters so quickly? It is not as if they could have sent someone to run all the way to their camp in the time they had. There is something else at play here."

Tracking the hunters proved to be a balancing act between staying far enough away not to be seen, while simultaneously keeping close enough to avoid losing their trail. Meesei and Ahnasha worked together to keep their scent hidden as they moved along, just in case there were Khajiit or Argonians among the hunters who could detect them. They kept a close eye out for traps, but it was doubtful they had traps that did not have to be activated manually in or around their camp. They had to live there, after all, so traps would just end up being more of a risk to their own people. They seemed to rely more on not being found, which, to be fair, they seemed to be doing rather well. Had they not allowed their rival pack to be ambushed, there was scarcely a chance they would be able to find the hunters' camp.

The group had been moving straight west from the ambush site for a while, and eventually, the hunters reached their destination: an unassuming cave hidden between large rocks at the base of a mountain, which was part of a range that separated the grasslands and forests from the ashlands. Meesei caught only a glimpse of the hunters as they entered the cave, it was enough to confirm that it was their camp. The hunters did not seem to have so much as a lookout on the outside, likely to keep from drawing attention to themselves.

"Alright, this is going to be close quarters, so we should plan appropriately. Sabine, perhaps you should give me your satchel of potions and take on your wolf form? There is not going to be too much room to maneuver in there so your normal tactics of evasion may not be as useful. More of us can shift forms as needed, but I definitely believe some of us should remain as we are now. We will need the variance of skills. Does anyone else have suggestions?" Meesei asked.