Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

With glances to one another and traded nods, approval permeated amongst the four recruits quietly, but confidently. That was until silenti gave it more hearty confirmation. "You can count on us, champion!" The Bosmer thudded his fist on his chest. The others seemed somewhat bashful in response, but at least it was nothing more than mild annoyance.

The rest of the days tasks were trivial. The second test of the poison gave results that were slightly different, but not so much that the time frame of the poison being administered opened up any further opportunities.

The new guards Meesei had recruited followed Lorag dutifully in attending an increasingly vulnerable looking Harriet. She gave no indication of understanding why she had a new entourage, rather she had other things on her mind.

Finally, Sabine was able to set up proper equipment and protections to inspect the last drop of substance in 'Clavicus' vial' whenever Meesei was prepared to relinquish it. The little jape of in the name of the object was one they both silently agreed was purposeful on Vile's part, but neither of them laughed. Sabine estimated having results in the early hours of the next morning and was not willing to leave the task until tomorrow.

If previous mentions were any indication, Meesei only had one task left in the day.

The Depths of Deception

Seeing as how Shiva and the other members of the initiative were acquaintances at best, she settled to see them off with a simple nod. They were all the quieter types anyway.

While the others made motions to be seated, Shiva opted to lean against the back of one of the couches. She still had too much energy to relax right then. Without a drawn-out debrief, she was at a loss for what to do with it all. For now she just thought anxiously about what was in store for them. One thing that gave her a skerrick of hope was the shorter human life-span. There would undoubtedly be a more significant proportion of humans amongst the general population that were born after the war than in a masulu community. That might at least make those with grudges fewer in number. Hopefully.

Shiva looked up at Shuo when food was mentioned. She reasoned that a lighter topic of conversation might help make the idea of heading to Earth more buoyant. Glancing between the faces of the Rothians, Shiva asked, "What is human food like? Is it anything like masulu food, or is it smaller and fleshier, like they are?" Shiva let out a small chuckle, but trailed off as she noticed the bad taste while Ashley was around.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Right, sorry about that. He's male.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There were no more words spoken, but there were a few unsure nods from both sides. Slowly, they turned and went their separate ways, mulling over the new information.

Safina stepped up and craned her head towards Meesei as the people dispersed. "You did well to talk them down. I thought there was going to be a fight."

With the number of lycans loitering around the main chamber, Meesei had her pick of whom to select to guard Harriet. Given the tension between Oswall and Harriet's packs, the alphas present were uneasy about allowing any of their number to be taken under Meesei's command, but after much searching, there were a few that Meesei caught up with in private who had more loyalty to Hircine and his champion than their lieutenants. There were only about five fighting lycans among them, but it was heartening of them to volunteer.

The best candidate from amongst Harriet's followers was a grumpy looking Dunmer spellsword by the name of Hadal. He had no last name that he wished to share, but those present vouched for his skill. The one from Oswall's was a stocky Bosmer man by the name of Silenti. He carried a disproportionately large mace alongside a shield, but he expressed no effort in hefting them. He was far from quiet, despite his name.

The final four that Meesei had chosen regarded each other as strangers, but they had one question in common. They waited with baited breath for a briefing of what exactly to do.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

While the groups had enough respect to keep listening to Meesei, not many of them attempted to understand what she was talking about with the nuances of mind control. Those who weren't completely confused seemed consoled to an extent. One of the instigators of the original incident on Oswall's side, a young adult Imperial, turned to Harriet's followers and owned up with a hung head. "Well I guess if it wasn't her fault, there's no point fighting about her loyalty..."

There was a pause. With it, the last of the original anger seemed to disappear. The young orc itched the back of his neck and responded. "Alright, maybe we should spend less time pointing fingers and more time looking out for people who might be mind-controlled." There was a murmur of agreement and the crowd began to dissipate. "Wait," the young orc raised his head in realisation, then turned to Meesei, "what should we be looking out for?"

The Depths of Deception

Shiva wasn't really sure how to react. "I've never been to Earth before," she mentioned, if only for the sake of mentioning something. Really, she had expected some rimworld or backwater colony. Some kind of pirate den, or perhaps some place more similar to her own home planet. The most fortified location in human controlled space was the exact opposite. And I might be firing a weapon there, Shiva thought to herself, I'm not sure whether to be more or less comfortable.

Thinking about it more carefully, the only things that Shiva knew about the human home world were scant details. She had read some texts from earth-born medical academics, that was about it. Shuo brought up a good point, though. "What's it like in...Pear-ess, anyway? Are the people there dangerous?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Given Meesei's experience with oration at this point, and the subject at hand. The witnessing crowd of people grew in size as she spoke.

At first, the groups of young people she was originally addressing were not satisfied with her answer. They believed and followed Hircine as a whole, but they suspected Meesei to be a liar. The young orc tightened his fists, but did not get an opportunity to get a word in. There was nothing he could really do in the first place. Even he was not rash enough to attack Meesei. As it dawned on everyone present what Meesei was eluding to, their demeanour collectively changed from anger to a suspicious fear.

"Wait, so you're saying that Harriet was...controlled by Clavicus Vile?" The young orc asked apprehensively, "So she didn't do it on purpose?"

Another behind the orc turned to his friend and murmured, "That would make more sense."

His friend responded, "But how did it happen? Could we be controlled like that?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

All heads turned quickly to Meesei as she silenced half of the entire chamber. Everyone knew her voice by now, even if it was a dominant and commanding tone. The two who were pushing each other around halted and backed off each other. The both looked at Meesei for the most part, but continued to shoot sideways glances at each other. The atmosphere seemed to tell of slight fear.

Though some of the groups members positioned around the back were backing off entirely. A young adult Orc, The ringleader of Harriet's group gathered enough courage to step forward. He shot a finger forward and spoke angrily, but with noticeably quivering knees. "You've got some nerve, champion! You framed Harriet from the start, didn't you? You found the body, you were there!"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Upon Meesei entering the scholar's loft, those present turned to her, but didn't seem immediately interested and went back to twiddling their thumbs and waiting for the poison test to change. Harriet inquired about Oswall's state, having heard the news from a runner. She seemed to have a frustrated expression about her with the whole issue. It was the same kind that she had most times where she found herself restricted by her current accusations.

A private word with Sabine had her feeling very nervous about testing what was left in the vial Meesei had obtained. The two reasons that Sabine gave was that the poison would be very dangerous in its undiluted form, and she didn't want to risk losing what was left if she failed her only chance at a test. After some persuasion she informed Meesei that testing the vial poison would be difficult, but if she was allowed to use some of the more precise glassware of the scholar's loft, there was a chance that she could do it. She was less than confident, however.

Afterwards, finding an entourage of guards from each of quarter of the clan was at first somewhat more difficult than expected where started at Darahil's packs. Each person in the scholar's loft pointed to another in a wild goose chase, all of them too absorbed in their tasks to desire guard duty. Enough persistence eventually lead Meesei once more to the young Altmer alchemist, Safina. Upon demonstration, she proved adept at battle magic as well as a rather friendly conversationalist.

Moving on to the packs of Vera's clan was fortunately successful in a shorter time. Meesei swiftly found a burly Breton man with an axe on his hip by the name of Francis. He had a stability and girth to his entire demeanour that made one mistake him for a stone pillar at times, and the few times he spoke brought about an equally stony voice. Francis always wore a small smile for some reason, but it was perhaps because he was honoured by being selected for the champion's bodyguard.

The search went on from there for a guard from Oswall and Harriet's packs. However, before even one pack could be asked, Meesei and her pair of new followers were beheld by the beginnings of a scuffle in the main chamber. Two small groups of young people, apparently from Harriet and Oswall's packs, were shouting aggressively at one another. The words blended together, but what was being said could be roughly understood.

"You heard the kid! It was Oswall that did it, not Harriet!"

"Our alpha was loyal for decades, why would he murder Jerrick now?!"

"The champion is charging Harriet with this! She's guilty!"

"You should all be banished for this! Harriet is a stronger leader than a murderer!"

"Don't speak like that about our leader!"

The aggression escalated to the point where two of the young men from the argument began to trade shoves. With the lieutenants either watching the poison test, visiting Oswall, or attending to other duties, it seemed these people had sparked their disagreement when none were present.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

We'll have one more encounter today before getting to the search. I'll lead you up to it in this post.