Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

So after having a sleep and a think, here's what we might do if you're up for it. Give me your thoughts:

Perhaps Meesei gets a vision from Hircine for the pack's next task. Another pack has been seduced into Clavicus Vile's service in the area around Chorrol. I have some ideas for it, but it wouldn't be a terribly long or complicated episode. More of a stop gap to get us partway across the continent. More importantly, on the way there, we could run into Fendros' siblings. I have some more in-depth things outlined there if that happens.

As for after Chorrol, if we wanted to keep heading west, we've got a few options in either Valenwood, western Cyrodiil, Hammerfell, or High-Rock. Valenwood could be interesting, mostly because I've not really read up on their lore. The Thalmor might present some challenge, though. Western Cyrodiil (Anvil, etc.) could be a spot for a plot point, but if anything it would really be a stop over on our way to High-Rock or Hammerfell via boat (rather than scaling the mountains they have lining those places). Hammerfell would be an interesting change of scenery, but hunting there could be more difficult than even Black Marsh. As for High-Rock, again, I'm not read up on the lore. Could be nice, given that it's far removed from big geopolitical stuff, while still being open-ended enough to have just about anything happen there.

As for what business we would actually have in those places, I think I'd need to spend some more time brainstorming. I was thinking, like I mentioned a few months ago, perhaps we could have need to join up with one or more packs with clashing dynamics. It would be an exercise in leadership for Meesei, and a prelude to a big confrontation in this daedric war. Going so far as to invade Clavicus-Vile's plane itself might be a little over-the-top, but I think by then the RP will have driven enough miles to allow for something that big. If you can think of anything else to do with a multiple-pack situation, please tell me.

Right now most of my other ideas revolve around characters. For instance, given that it seems like the only known therapeutic counsellors on this plane are the Hist, Ahnasha and Fendros are going to have a rough ride over the next few months. The trauma they've been through might drive them to some compulsive behaviour. For Janius, he's already gone through a lot of change in being responsible for Kaleeth. He'll realise this after a while, and when he does, I have some small events that could happen. Now Sabine, Sabine I've been intending to try and develop for a while now, since she had her anxiety dealt with, but I think I've only met with some success. I'd like to line up some pitfalls for her that make use of her state of mind. It will shift her relationship with Meesei, but not for the worse, I believe. I won't give away too much, because most of this stuff is probably only going to come up with opportunity, and it's not set in stone.

ParaCom: Adversary Inside

The other squadmates embarking onto the dropship was noticed by the siblings, but not with any body language. They were too busy ripping into each other with words and likely none of the others understood. The argument was finally cut off as their commanding officer for the mission talked them down. Anya was quick to jerk her head to the officer and slowly shut her mouth, before her lips outright pursed in frustration and she responded in English. "Yes sir." Luc was still a little sore from not resolving the, frankly pointless, argument, so his own "Yes sir," was a bit higher in volume.

Now that they weren't too focussed, they could inspect the rest of the squad properly. It was an eclectic bunch from the looks of things, people of all different shapes, sizes and weapon choices. Though shotguns seemed to be a trending fashion.

Scanning across the faces, Anya only then noticed the dark haired woman next to her looking at her expectantly. An awkward pause confirmed that maybe Anya had missed something. Anya's cross expression turned into a curious frown at this realisation. "Oh, I am sorry, yes, my name is Anya." Anya extended a hand, "It is nice to meet you." Anya wasn't quite ready to crack a smile after such a heated discussion, but this Ezri woman didn't deserve any flak. "You are...American?" Anya hazarded. It was only a guess by the accent Ezri had, but there was the occasional weird inflection in it. Anya figured if she knew English half as well as she knew French and German that she would probably be better at judging such things.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine's eyes flicked to Ahnasha's in the moment that her movements made the plan clear. In the instant that the noble lost control of his sword, Sabine sprung forward, closing the distance between them in a second. He barely had time to face Sabine again before she leapt upon him and slammed him back-first onto the ground like other foes behind her. As soon as the noble hit the hard stone floor, however, there was no scream, no resistance, not even any movement. Just a sickening crack that sounded as the back of his skull broke against uneven masonry. Sabine still bit into the noble's throat, but released him and withdrew her head to look curiously at this event. Her beast spirit had been sated beforehand, so it took very little effort to leave the now dead noble where he was and stand up to transform. She would need the dexterity of her Breton form to unlock the shackles that bound Fendros and Ahnasha.

Fendros stared at the noble's final terrified expression, silent and utterly shocked. The torturer was gone, and he went so quickly. No ceremony, no real revenge. It was as if he had escaped them after all. Fendros hardly noticed Sabine taking the keys from the noble's belt and releasing the shackles from his limbs. That was, until his arms were lowered for the first time in half a day. He winced in pain at his pinched nerves and cramped muscles. In actuality, Fendros hardly had the strength to stand, and Sabine had to steady his balance before she went to work releasing Ahnasha.

Being finally free again was overwhelming after their horrible experience. Fendros spent a few moments staring at nothing and trying to process the reality of it all, then his eyes looked up to Ahnasha. He had been so afraid for her. He had seen her suffer and he suffered in turn. Before Ahnasha was completely released, Fendros stepped forward and wrapped his arms as far around her beastly body as he could. He never wanted to let go ever again, but there was no time for celebration yet. "Come Ahna, we can't let this be for naught. We have to get back to Rhazii now." Fendros' voice was trying to stay resolute, but shook with his own sadness at their ordeal.

"Meesei! Over here, I found them!" Janius shouted back down the corridor from where he was just by the iron door. The dungeons weren't so extensive when the pack had begun to search them, but Janius had rushed ahead as soon as it was clear that there were no more enemies in the keep to oppose them.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It appeared as though Kaleeth didn't need as much help as Janius thought, but she was still heavily wounded. She didn't immediately run off to attack more mercenaries, so Janius presumed that either she was too wounded to go on, or she was lucid enough to have better control. Either way, it meant that she wasn't as much of a danger to innocent people as before. He couldn't say as much for Neesa and her attacking force, but that much was completely out of their control. Janius tried to lift Kaleeth's massive form from under her shoulder but struggled where she could not lift herself. As they walked, Janius moved his head to lick some of Kaleeth's wounds he could reach out of instinct, but he didn't know how comfortable Kaleeth's beast spirit was with that. She would get at least some of her strength back from regeneration after several minutes anyway.

Now together and mostly in beast form, the pack proceeded towards the keep and towards Ahnasha and Fendros' captivity.

---

Sabine stalked down the dimly lit dungeon corridor, sniffing at the air. It was moist and mouldy, but Ahnasha and Fendros' scents were so close now. As she proceeded, she detected other scents. Ahnasha's blood, and more worryingly, the scent of a stranger. An Argonian man, clean, afraid. The scent was strongest from an iron door to Sabine's left, one she lowered her nose to and sniffed at loudly at the base. The scents were strongest here. This was their cell. Trying to open it found it unlocked, but in her excitement, Sabine pushed it open with full force, slamming it against the wall it was hinged on.

Before her, Sabine saw Fendros and a beast-formed Ahnasha chained up vertically, and between them, the clean, prim Argonian she had detected before. Fear was in his eyes and scent. He held a silver blade to Ahnasha's throat which caused Sabine to stalk forward with a growl, ears flat, neck hair bristling and teeth bared.

Fendros' face was awash with relief at the sight of her, "Sabine? You came for us!"

Sabine took a step forward and Fendros face quickly switched to one of panic. "Wait! Sabine, wait!" Fendros shouted. Sabine stopped growling and licked her nose in confusion. After a moment, her mind quickly saw sense and the danger Ahnasha was in. Up until now, Sabine never spoke in beast form, but for this situation, her voice was heard through a werewolf's throat for the first time. It was higher than any other in the pack in beast form, but still deep and lisped. "Sword...down..." she said slowly. She slowly raised a hand and pointed a single claw to the noble. "Sword...down..."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Yup, it's been a fun writing afternoon. G'night!

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius made short work of the mercenary he had pounced upon, mauling his upper body with tooth and claw. Meesei's efforts to keep the rest stunned gave Janius time to slash diagonally down on an Imperial swordsmen. His attempt to raise his shield was met by the crushing force of Janius' blow and he was knocked to the ground. Another mercenary tried to take the opportunity to stick Janius with his spear, but Janius saw it coming from a long way. The mercenary's mistake was thinking he was now fighting a complete beast as Janius grabbed the spear shaft with both hands, tugged it towards him and at the same time lunged towards the mercenary, catching his head between his teeth. The mercenary screamed in shock and pain before Janius silenced him by shaking his head until his neck snapped.

In a last ditch effort, the Khajiit from earlier jumped up and latched onto Janius' back, driving a dagger into his upper-back. Janius roared out in pain and dropped his kill, then reached around his body to grab the mercenary by the legs and pull him off. The dagger cut further and slid out as the Khajiit tried to hold onto it, but Janius was upon him before he could recover from the daze of hitting the ground. The last mercenary was the Imperial swordsman with a now heavily dented shield. He tried to clamber up from where Janius had knocked him down to run away, but there was no escape from the pack.

Janius wasn't the one who wanted to chase him down, however. As soon as he had some space, he turned his attention to Kaleeth and rushed to try and lift a heavy beam that was pinning her down. "Kaleeth..." he growled through grit teeth, "...Lift!" Pain shot through his back as the stab the Khajiit had left oozed more blood, but he was too full of adrenaline to let it stop him.

---

Sabine gave herself some space to confront her pursuers. All of two guards descended the stairs. With a sword, a mace, and two shields between them, they cautiously stepped up to Sabine and tried to back her into a wall, but they were ill-equipped in both weapons and will. Sabine growled, bared her teeth, and stood the hair up on the back of her neck.

"Give up," one of the mercenaries started nervously, "there's no escape-"

The end of the guard's words were cut off by a loud howl from behind the door Sabine intended to proceed through. It was distraction and motivation enough to lunge forward and swat low at the shield of the mace-wielding mercenary and rake at his face. The mercenary was unprepared and cried out, holding a hand to his now bleeding head as he was blinded by his own blood. The other guard tried to act and slashed at Sabine's shoulder, causing a deep gash and a yelp from Sabine. However, without any effective help, the guard quickly witnessed the world spin as Sabine leaped onto him and drove him to the floor. His neck ran with blood without the time to scream like his companion. Seeing little of the scene was enough for the other guard to break and run. Sabine didn't have time for him. He was not a threat.

She turned her attention to the door and tried to open it again. It turned out it was still locked. Sabine took a few steps back, then charged the door with her shoulder. It was a heavy slam, but did little but split the wood in a few places. A couple more slams broke the latch and allowed passage into the dank corridor beyond.

---

Fendros was utterly furious, but there was nothing he could do yet. With only one foot released, he couldn't hope to fight the noble, much less defend Ahnasha. But there were other noises, closer this time. What Fendros was convinced were their rescuers were getting closer. He just wished that this noble would hurry up so he wasn't threatening Ahnasha any more.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

All done.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Damn it, I hit the submit button then realised I had forgot Sabine. One moment.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius looked to Meesei and Lorag both, and caught his breath. "Thanks," he said with a grateful look, then looked to the group that had formed against them, "but I think they'll be too much to fight in this form..." Janius dropped his axe and pulled off his shield, then spread his arms and grinned. He managed to keep his smile as his body contorted and reshaped itself, growing bigger and bursting the weak ties of his armour. His skin was replaced with a dark fur and soon he had to fall to his front paws to keep balance. Just in case the mercenaries had any morale left, Janius opened his tooth-filled mouth and roared into them. He hardly gave them a chance to form up before leaping for the nearest one who wasn't armed with a spear.

---

Sabine continued for a short while on the upper floor, but didn't get any closer to finding them. She quickly realised that they were probably being held in lower levels. Prisoners were held in dungeons, right? That's how it was in the coven, and the dungeons there were underground. Sabine made her way to the staircase down and heard a scream down the hallway followed by a crash. She turned her head and saw a female Argonian servant with her hands covering her mouth and her eyes wide with fear. At her feet was a shattered bowl of some description, its contents not easy to identify, but now rapidly soaking into the floor. She was petrified by Sabine, apparently. Sabine's beast spirit let out a growl, which caused the servant to back away, then Sabine proceeded down the stairs. It wouldn't be long for the alarm to be raised now, she had to move more quickly.

Making her way down stairs proved to be rather precarious with her feet in this form. She had to descend carefully to make sure she didn't tumble down. At least she was big enough to hold herself against the walls to stop if she did lose her balance.

The next floor had her spotted by a number of civilians and guards alike, quickly eliciting an uproar of panic from the corner of the room in which she showed herself. Sabine's ears flattened from the noise and she could smell the fear, but she needed to focus. Even her beast spirit understood that the safety of her packmates was a greater priority than her appetite. She went further down the stairs, faster this time, with a couple of guards chasing her. On the next floor, the way further down was blocked by a door that she would have to break down, after dealing with those who would chase her.

---

Fendros flinched as the blade touched him, but he could not avoid it. The noble's plan seemed desperate, foolish even, but Fendros was too focussed on his intention to kill Ahnasha. His look was beyond threatening, it was single-minded, completely devoted. His voice was still gravely, but carried menace enough to make a god shudder. "I promise this; if you kill her, either you or I will die in this place as well."

ParaCom: Adversary Inside

The first to board the nearest dropship was a fully-geared female soldier with a spring to her step and an assault rifle in her hands. Anya always made a point of being prompt, it at least earned some appreciation from her superiours both here and in Belgium. She opted for conventional equipment all around, partly because she wasn't familiar with those railguns and power armours, and partly because most of the other stuff on offer would weigh her down too much. Being in the right position was far more important against these things than slowing down for the sake of taking - what - one extra shot? If these things caught you, you were dead. She learned that on behalf of others. For this engagement, Anya took her sidearm, rifle, kevlar, knife, smoke grenade, and medkit, all as provided by the ParaCom armoury. Their tools seemed reliable enough.

As she strapped herself in, any enthusiasm Anya held in her face was dissipated by the reminder that her brother was clomping up the ramp after her. He carried a heavier compliment; powered armour, a light machine gun, a grenade and a rocket launcher. His disproportionately bulky armoured form gave its usual infuriating smile as he saw Anya and secured himself on the seat opposite her. "Nice opening mission, I've always wanted to visit Marrakech." Luc commented in French as he clipped on his seatbelt. Anya simply glared back. "Quoi? What did I do this time?" Luc said defensively in response to Anya's look.

"Do you ever take this seriously? This is a mission, not a holiday." Anya said sharply.

Luc furrowed his brow, and faced both his gloved palms up, "Of course I do! Come on, sis, it's not as if everything has to stick-up-arse serious."

Anya threw up her own arm as she shot back in rapid-fire French. "Argh! It's bad enough you have to be on the same team as me, let alone this program, but do you have to be so big headed as to toss around your big over-compensating weapons like beach umbrellas!?"

"Hey! They're delicate instruments, they have a role-"

"Yeah, like making up for your tiny prick!"

The arguing continued for anyone to witness after stepping inside, if they could understand it, that is. In any case, they could probably understand that it wasn't a civil conversation. Both siblings had agreed to speak English when talking to most others in the program, as it was the common language used, but they tended to keep their arguments in their first language to preserve the potency of their vocabularies.

For this mission, the siblings' friend, Angus, was sitting out and observing from the control room. As there was a limit on how many people they were going to take on a sweep and clear, he would have to wait for next time. In the control room, he chuckled cross armed at the siblings' argument coming through the radio. "Some things never change," he said with his distinct Londoner accent.