Muttonhawk

The Depths of Deception

As was required, Shiva's first reaction after walking onto the hangar was to salute to captain Solace and his crew. The masked one, Opus, seemed to hit it off with the rothian maintenance officer, discussing the ship itself. The ship was very impressive, but Shiva didn't pretend to know its underbellies. Rather than stand around awkwardly, Shiva took a step forward and continued the introductions. "First echelon Shkitliktuit Tasthagk, the medic. Just call me Shiva, it's easier."

Unlike Opus, Shiva didn't have a means to really start a conversation. Being that there mission was going to start soon, Shiva actually would have preferred to be dismissed sooner rather than later so she could continue the train of thought she was on yesterday. Another reason was so that the comms officer didn't start asking questions about her convict mark that she didn't want to answer.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The morning seemed inactive, if aimless before Meesei awoke. All of a sudden, they were gathering supplies and beginning to move out. Some asked questions as to their heading, but Meesei didn't answer. Tension started to rise until Meesei finally spoke after leading them to the southern road out of Stormhold. It was a relief to find that they weren't in any particular danger, but it wasn't exactly a comfort that they would have to confront and negotiate with a genuinely sinister daedric cult.

Fendros in particular had not been looking forward to when they would be stepping into danger again. Even though the pack had an obligation to their patron, he didn't like the idea of having Rhazii anywhere near the followers of Molag Bal. There wasn't much he could do to protest, however.

On the other hand, Janius felt reluctant for different reasons. After Meesei's explanation sunk in, he spoke up, "So, how exactly are we to go about trying to convince them? I don't know a great deal about Molag Bal, but if what you say is true, then what could we do to stop them trying to attack us? Molag Bal's servants are likely to stab us in the back after all is said and done anyway."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Yeah, I'm not going to try and revert her back to the way she was, but I can't leave the slate blank forever.

Skip as you see fit. I think I need to take some time to do some cleaning anyway.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

To be perfectly honest, I didn't have much but casual conversation planned at the pond to fill out time until everyone else finished for the day. Unless you want Tricks to awkwardly hit on Meesei, or continue the conversation other ways, we can skip to the end of the scene.

Also, I've found that taking much of Sabine's anxiety away has left her personality rather bland, so I had a think last night and I'm going to throw her into some situations later on after Stormhold to redevelop her a bit. It won't involve more severe trauma though, unless things happen.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

For the moment, Fendros remained sitting up and looking over the first few pages of the nanny book. He spared a glance and a smile to Ahnasha with a response, "I have a feeling it will be easier once we get to the point where he doesn't wake up during the night so often." A moment passed where Fendros sat silently and finished reading the foreword of the book. From the introduction, it covered taking care of human children from babies to about ten years old, but it was rather thinly spread. There were probably many useful pieces of information, but Fendros didn't hold out hope that it would give him a complete and confident understanding of the subject. Not that any book probably could. What seemed to unnerve him the most was the emotional disconnection in the tone of the book. It was very clinical, like the more strict nannies he had encountered.

Realising he was also somewhat tired, or at least enough to have trouble learning much, Fendros closed the book and lay back beside Ahnasha. He put an arm around her and began to run his thumb over the fur on her shoulder. "If you like, take a nap. I can watch over Rhazii."

Tricks understood enough of what Meesei said to give an answer this time, though he still found an errant treeminder to be a strange concept. "No, no, it is interesting, I understand like you say. When I learned, it was for being practical, but there were...spaces. It not until I read later that spaces are filled. When I saw that techniques in advanced alteration could make most of all spells, that is when gaps were filled for me. Some techniques, though...they do not find my mind- how you say...go over my head, yes."

"Now my brother's native language comes forward. He has tried to teach me magic, but he is a horrid teacher." Weetnam commented, pointing a thumb to Tricks beside him.

Tricks gave a sarcastic, "Har har, Weetnam."

"I did teach him the tone of sarcasm in Cyrodilic very well, though." Weetnam had a hearty chuckle, then began turning toward the centre of the pond, "I will let you talk on your own. I think my son's game might do well with an extra player." With that, Weetnam disappeared under the water.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I believe so," Fendros mumbled. He smiled at Rhazii's face poking out of his swaddled blankets, but didn't hold the look for long. "Lorag and I ran into some trouble on the way back. Some street thugs. We drove them off, though. Also, Lorag is...well, I'd better let him tell everyone first. Let's take a look at the books we have."

Fendros took the books again and sat down next to Ahnasha. He showed her each one in turn. "This one is Cyrodilic. A book for nannies, but the bookshop owner said it can help parents. This one is apparently for Khajiit children in particular. I think it has mostly to do with health, but you'll have to tell me." He opened Kitten Rearing to a random page, revealing more script that was beyond Fendros' comprehension, "As you can see, it's all in Ta'agra."

Tricks needed a little help with some of Meesei's words, but after clarification from Weetnam, he opened his smiling mouth in understanding. "My interests are less for research. Though magic is very interesting, exploring mysteries deeply is not strength I have. I learned destruction, alteration, and restoration Imperial magic, as well as instruction from Argonian mages. It more helping protect, I am good at. Many marsh creatures are hard to keep away with weapons and walls. The Cyrodilic word is..." Tricks looked up at the sky and repeated "Fighting mage...Fighting mage..." in Jel under his breath.

Weetnam interrupted in Cyrodilic, "Battlemage?"

"Battlemage, correct." Tricks agreed, "In spare time, I have sometimes read about marsh powers, like you say, but is much more...traditional. For Treeminders, yes. Very different magic, very powerful. But, like you say, you stopped being a Treeminder? You must have been from large village that Treeminder loss was not difficult."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Thanks Lorag," Fendros said, tapping Lorag on the arm and heading for the rooms. He didn't knock on the door, rather he carefully opened it and entered. Retrieving the books from his bag and setting them down on the dresser. He didn't want to wake Rhazii or Ahnasha if they had found the time to rest.

Sabine replied with a bit more comfort, "I'm from Morrowind. We travelled from there, but we went through Cyrodiil as well."

Calls seemed especially interested. "Ah, wonderful. I have always wanted to travel so. There are many ingredients that I wish to experiment more with. One was...Roobrush, I think. The dry shrub. I only bought the dried amount from the caravan. It helped with agility with what I found, but not enough to find all it would do."

Sabine nodded more enthusiastically, "I remember that. I only found some, but what I found was only for use in poisons."

"Well, the caravan owner told me that it is no longer poison when dried. Very useful."

Before anyone knew it, the two alchemists were off in their own world. Sabine conversed with the woman so naturally on the subject that her previous sub-standard social skills almost seemed to disappear. Weetnam was the first to remark, "I think they have found their own language to speak. Even when my wife talks about alchemy in Jel, I cannot understand her."

"Perhaps practice with Cyrodilic will help anyway." Tricks said, turning to Meesei, "I am mage, I work for city to...defend. Not many mage here, all in colleges and guilds. What are your interests?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

All things considered, Lorag was correct. Fendros raised his head and looked around for a place to hide the corpse. He found the thug-shaped hole that Lorag had made in the abandoned and rotting building nearby and looked at it with narrow eyes for a moment. "Take his ankles. In there ought to do." Fendros said, before placing the thug's mace under one arm and hooking his hands under the body's armpits. He and Lorag both lifted the body up and carried it to the building, where they pushed it inside, adjusted such that it was out of sight, and tossed the mace in with him, making a thud on what was left of the floorboards. One last scan of the area found no sign of witnesses, so now all there was to do was hope that they would be well away from the city when the body was found.

Fendros sighed again, "Alright, now maybe we can head back. Hopefully that was the last we'll see of them."

Weetnam's wife, Calls-From-Reeds, lifted a hand and shook her head. "Oh, not for anything exact. I simply like talking to foreign alchemists. It is not the opportunity that comes very many." Calls was clearly less fluent in Cyrodilic than Weetnam was, but she seemed no less friendly, "So, I did not hear your name?"

Being interrupted, Sabine had forgotten to share her name over the space of a few seconds. "Mm, Sabine. My name is Sabine."

"That is the very nice name," Calls smiled, "where are you from?"

With some slight impatience, the boy turned around to Ramten and tugged on his arm. "Uncle, let's keep playing!"

"Very well. I believe you were tagged before we were distracted," Ramten chuckled and dove under the surface, with the child quickly following.

Tricks-With-Colour and Weetnam decided to converse with Meesei. Tricks began by gesturing to himself, "Hello, my Cyrodilic is not good. Weetnam, my twin, teaches, but he is horrid teacher." By both Tricks' smile and Weetnam's laugh, the phrase was clearly a joke that they shared often, "You speak Jel? Is easier."

"If not, I can interpret," Weetnam added, before patting his brother on the back, "Or maybe you could use this as a conversation exercise, right Tricks?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

G'night!

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

After a quick flick and wipe of his sword, Fendros sheathed it and squat down to look at the dead Argonian. He was in deep thought on what to do. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen his fair share of dead bodies before, but killing someone in a city was troublesome. Fendros took a deep sigh, then rubbed at one temple. "Well, either we drag him to the river and hope the wildlife deals with him, like that other fellow threatened on us, and risk getting spotted. Or we could find some guards and report that I killed him in self-defense, and risk getting jailed. Or we could leave him here, drag his body into an alley and hope our trail is cold before anyone finds him, not that those thugs don't know I got him." It was rather tenuous. Fendros cursed under his breath, then squat down to get a better look at the man. "I shouldn't have killed him, that was stupid of me. I should have just cut his shoulder and hoped he ran like the others." He looked up at Lorag, "What's your opinion?"

The orange man smiled in understanding at Meesei. "Ah, very good," he said, before turning his head to his original group and shouting in Jel. "Hey! Calls-From-Reeds, I found an alchemist!"

Sabine's previously unsure face became more neutral as she followed Meesei into the water and lowered her head under. She surfaced with her hair flattened against her face and head, feeling refreshed. When she wiped the hair from her eyes, the orange-scaled Argonian was joined by two more Argonian men, a woman, and child who looked no older than five. All except the wife and the child had similar colouring to the man that called them over. The sudden appearance of them all was surprising to say the least.

The orange-scaled one started to laugh in futility, "You didn't all have to come over." He said to the others.

The youngest man responded, "We just came to see what you were shouting about."

"Whatever," The orange one responded, before turning to Meesei and Sabine again. "I'm Weetnam, a merchant on his day off, this is my family;" he gestured to each in turn, starting with the child, "My son, who has not been named yet," then to the younger and similar aged looking man, "my egg-brothers, Ramten, the younger, and Tricks-With-Colour, my egg-twin, and finally, my wife, Calls-From-Reeds." Weetnam ended with the woman, "She is an avid alchemist herself. What are your names? Are you new in Stormhold?"

For the first time since entering the city, Sabine felt very welcomed, although this family's overwhelming attention was different compared to the Argonian stereotype, perhaps they just liked meeting people. A twinge of suspicion crossed her mind, but it didn't appear as if they were in any danger.

Even if their first session training Leaps was not fruitful, Janius expected that more time would be needed as much as Kaleeth did. What Kaleeth mentioned about Leaps' belly being rubbed appeared to be correct, even if it was hard to read the exact expression on the creature's face. "On the belly, you say? Let's try that." Janius leaned his head against Kaleeth's and brought his hand around to join in Kaleeth's fingers in calming Leaps. The hatchling seemed quite comfortable and lethargic in her arms after naught but a few moments. It slowly closed its eyes and it made Janius wonder. He moved his hand to Kaleeth's middle and started to run over it. He doubted that it would make her fall asleep, but he wanted to see if her reaction lined up with her words. "I'm not going to put you to sleep by doing this, right?"