Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

All this time, Sabine had been wondering where Leaps was hiding. Leaps-On-Elves was normally a free-spirited creature, even for a young one, so he would often wander off a short distance. She imagined that if they didn't find him dead in their rooms that he would turn up eventually. The relief from finding the pack's pet brought a smile to her face.

Rhazii was just as happy to see Leaps, as it turned out. There was little doubt that Rhazii would have tried to taste the end of Leaps mouth if he could. He seemed to do that with everything that entered his grasp once he was strong enough. However, he had to be content with touching Leaps on the nose while the wamasu hatchling stretched out his head as much as he could and sniffed at him.

Even though Meesei was holding back on asking about Fendros and Ahnasha's ordeal, Sabine decided to take the peaceful moment to speak. Unfortunately, Sabine's naivety was present in her tone, noting that her words may have been ill-advised at that moment. She looked at Ahnasha with her blank face, that nowadays gave of a more serious expression. "Ahnasha, back when the Hist helped me, one of the things they let me do was go back to when Meesei first asked about what happened to me, so I could talk to her. It hurt to talk, but not as much as when I decided not to talk for so long." Sabine craned her neck to try and be more convincing, "I tried to talk to Fendros about the dungeon, because you were both hurt when I found you, but he was scared, and yelled at me. You are scared, too. You don't have to tell us what happened right now, but remember that it will hurt more if you don't talk."

ParaCom: Adversary Inside

Waitin' on other turns.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Gah, of course! Damn, we might need to update the character list in the first page just so they remain in the back of my mind better.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Fendros gave a look of worry at Ahnasha's words as well, but he had to stop and think whether it was worth giving them sympathy. He hoped that Ahnasha's tone was not brought about by sheer hate, though that was wishful thinking, but rather the prisoners that had been captured were likely going to suffer the horrible fate of whatever these cultists had planned regardless of their actions. Fendros glanced to the ground, then stood up with a frown. "Let's get some food. The sooner we get there, the better."

Thankfully, the larder was not set in flames by the attacking mercenaries. Obviously they were more concerned with hitting the target of the bedrooms at the time, so finding something to eat was not difficult for the pack. Glances at them from the cultists this time were not regarding them as strangers so much as their lack of attire. No one seemed too bothered to demand that they cover themselves, which was a convenience, but reminded Fendros just how oddly uncomfortable he had become with his own nudity in comparison to when he was first turned. He held onto these introspective thoughts as much as he could to obscure the pictures he held in his mind and the guilt he still felt, but trying not to think of something inevitably led his mind back to it time after time. It made him quiet during breakfast and impatient to leave.

Fendros visited Rhazii and Ahnasha one last time before heading out, kissing Ahnasha on the forehead and Rhazii on the unburned side of his little face. Again, he was rather quiet. The portion of the pack that tasked themselves with retrieving and scavenging items soon left with little more ceremony and no resistance at all.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Fendros had awoken to Rhazii's sounds and Ahansha's movements. He was sore from sleeping on a chair with his head against the table all night, but that wasn't his biggest worry. He had hoped that yesterday was just a nightmare, or at the very least that it could leave his mind quickly, but once he spotted Ahnasha's scars, the images flitted back into his mind's eye and his stomach instantly twisted. Interactions were quiet until Meesei woke up and they were visited by Orskan. By the way Orskan spoke, Fendros imagined that if he had skin instead of scales that his cheeks would be beet red. It was a nice distraction.

The commotion roused Janius from his sleep. Thankfully he wasn't met with a crushing force around his torso this morning. In fact, he woke up more refreshed than ever, albeit with some soreness from the previous day's fighting. Janius witnessed the last half of Orskan's audience, which was enough to get a small laugh out of it. After a few moments of properly waking up, he sat himself up straight against the head of the cot and spoke. "I'm quite sure I remember where we transformed. I'm willing to go out and pick up our things after breakfast."

"I'll go too," Fendros said, his voice gravely from the shouting last night, "I don't know where they kept our belongings where they held us, but as long as the keep hasn't burned down, we should be able to find out. Up until seeing Orskan, I had forgotten about that task he gave us. I'm not sure we'll be able to fulfil it completely after all." Normally, Fendros' disappointment for such an event would be more severe, but he was understandably uncaring about the soul gems after the other trials of yesterday.

Through the entire conversation so far, Sabine sat sideways in a nearby chair with her knees tucked up to her chest, oblivious to everything in her slumber. She had obviously not taken her body's advice earlier in the night to go to sleep and was catching up now. Without a sun to wake her, she was liable to be there for the next few hours unless someone shook her awake.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Study time :)

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius was more than relieved to find a place to sleep. Today had been long, stressful, bloody, and tragic, but it was finally over. Everyone in the pack still lived. The one remaining cot was small, only really designed for one person, but with how tightly Kaleeth tended to cling to Janius, he doubted they would want for much room.

Janius sat down on the other side of the cot before Kaleeth even finished asking her question. "I would rather not sleep on the cold floor," he answered with a small smile. After brushing the dust off his bare feet he laid himself down and let out a long exhale once the back of his head pressed into the pillow. Before he completely lost consciousness, an effort to do at this stage, Janius wrapped his hand around Kaleeth's. "I know you don't like feeding on people, but today was very hard. I'm proud of how you handled it."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Cool beans.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I think I spotted a couple of empty beds around there, but they may have since become occupied by others in the pack or other cultists. Let's have a look." Janius began towards the makeshift infirmary again. He was eager to move on from the throne room, as it happened; the skeletons seemed even more eerie when the room was empty save for Kaleeth and himself.

The infirmary was in about the same state as it was when Janius left. Perhaps with a few more people sleeping, including Ahnasha and Fendros seated next to the table with Rhazii, Meesei and Sabine. Janius approached to see the progress, but only raised a hand in greeting rather than risk waking anyone. Rhazii in particular was peacefully dreaming in spite of the wince-inducing marks he still showed.

Sabine moved up to Kaleeth and gave her a hug at seeing her safe, but also stayed silent for now. She moved as if she still had a lot of energy, but her eyes were forming dark rings indicative of fatigue.

"How goes it?" Janius whispered to Sabine while she was close.

Sabine pulled away from Kaleeth and answered with her own whisper. "We have to make sure he can rest, so we are keeping the pain at bay. Everything else must heal over time."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

At first, Janius thought that Kaleeth's healer was simply furtive about Kaleeth's nudity, but with what she described, Janius raised an eyebrow. "It sounds rather like he was enjoying himself a bit too much," Janius surmised with a frown, "The next time someone makes you feel uncomfortable like that, you be sure to tell them, Kaleeth."

Janius turned his head around to look at the ashes as Kaleeth was, then raised a hand to scratch his head. "I'm actually not sure about where to sleep. None of the bedrolls survived the fires, but perhaps there is some spare bedding elsewhere. Let's find someone to ask, I can barely keep my eyes open myself." Putting one arm around Kaleeth such that they could keep each other from stumbling, Janius began to walk out to the corridor in search of anyone still awake. There might have been a few people still cleaning up in the training room. If they were lucky, the mercenaries might have brought some camping equipment of their own, or the cultists might have had stored away spare linen such that they could make a spare bed on the floor somewhere..