Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei was able to dodge away from her claws, but Harriet was not in a prime position to be pounced upon. Though Meesei was fast, and her jump was impossible to completely avoid, Harriet twisted to one side and attempted to strike away Meesei's oncoming arm. Harriet would have jumped away if it weren't for the success in Meesei's manoeuvre. Harriet yelped in pain as she tried to tug her arm from the clutches of Meesei's teeth. There was a grapple despite both still standing. This was exactly where Harriet did not want to be. In an attempt to fight back, Harriet brought her free hand up under Meesei's chin and tried to tear at her throat.

---

With a growl, the Argonian gave nothing back but a scornful tone. "Let me go, you brutes! Once my packmates hear of this, the duel will spread to a fight and you will be slaughtered!"

"You know..." Janius blinked a couple of times as he regarded the side of the Argonian's face that he could see, "You don't seem like the dobbing type. Perhaps we might find more answers in your belongings, or your contacts. I hear that a certain fatherless young man was consulted by an Argonian with your description...right before he took a silver knife to Oswall's gut. Perhaps he's got something to say about you?"

After a few silent moments, the Argonian's breathing slowed and he closed his mouth to swallow. He spoke further with desperation, but this time held a more diplomatic approach. "Alright, I can lead you to my belongings if you like, just let me up."

Janius guffawed. "Nice try. How about we tie him up, Lorag? I think Meesei would want a word with our new friend."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Good morning! Got a quick post up before heading to bed.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Harriet roared with anger when she was shunted backwards by Meesei to separate her from the spell reflecting ring. She didn't quite lose her balance such that she fell over, but she stumbled far enough to be out of the way in the final moments of her transformation. Harriet's beast form was impressive on its own merit, being the alpha in charge of a number of packs. However, Meesei's imposing form still loomed over her. Another roar in Meesei's direction with her ears turned back showed that Harriet was not cowed.

Where previously Meesei had been the one evading Harriet due to disadvantage in combat, the tables were now turned. Harriet began by darting to one side and lashing out with a rake of her claws at Meesei's side. It wasn't anything of like a mortal blow, but rather meant to wound without exposing herself. Harriet's form was surprisingly light on its feet, likely a result of extensive training. Still, she never trained against the likes of Meesei after altering her own potential for strength, speed, and endurance.

---

A pained grunt sounded as the Argonian's back arched in response to the large hammer striking his back. One more step was all his balance had left to afford as he tripped onto the ground in front of him. "Good aim, Lorag," Janius remarked.

By the time he reached around to his back to feel like wound, Janius had already caught up to him. His straining attempt to get back up was cut short by Janius pressing his foot into the man's new bruise, causing him to cough as his chest hit the floor again. "Leaving so soon?" Janius asked, leaning down with his elbow on his knee. "Why is that? Have you got something to tell us?"

The few onlookers in the dining chamber remained silent. They looked concerned, but they did not move against Lorag and Janius. They were still known to be investigating on behalf of Meesei, after all.

"I will speak of nothing to you, you are both the dogs of a fool! You know nothing of-aaargh!" The Argonian was cut off by Janius pressing a little harder for a moment. Janius was sick of all the deceptive rhetoric.

"What do you think we should do, Lorag?" Janius asked.

D&D 3.5 Adventure

Hey everyone! looks like I'm a little late to join in. Even then, I've played more pathfinder than 3.5; I wouldn't want to slow you all down. Nevertheless, would you guys mind if I spectated if your sessions line up with a time I'm awake at?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

A silence swept over the shouting audience around Meesei as she assumed her beast form. The front row pressed against those behind them as they instinctively backed away a small step as a collective. Harriet maintained her guarded stance, but her eyes grew a touch wider and one side of her upper lip lifted in barely suppressed fright.

"What? How did...?" Harriet stopped herself from getting too confused at the expediency of Meesei's transformation and levelled her expression. The champion was easily twice her current height, four times her weight, and Harriet suspected that even sixteen of herself would not match Meesei's strength. Short of a suicidal attack to just the right spot on Meesei's throat, the Harriet's steel was useless. She stood up straight and tossed her sword lazily to one side. It sang briefly as it hit the stone. Harriet had no other choice but to transform herself. She pulled off her ring in preparation, it being the only thing she was wearing that wouldn't come apart in a planned way like her clothing. Unlike Meesei's transformation, Harriet's one was conventional, leaving her vulnerable for a moment. Harriet's survival in that moment really depended on Meesei's good will to allow her to keep fighting, but given Meesei's position, underhanded tactics were least necessary now.

---

Janius came upon the door to the dining chamber and held up a hand to Lorag while he looked ahead. "Yes, I've a scent. It is most likely our man." Janius continued forward, leading the way. In truth, the commotion had choked this particular passage with scented tracks, but Janius' nose had been practised in Black Marsh now. He had a better handle on such things. What is the weather like in the Deadlands, I wonder?

As it happened, Janius did not need to follow his nose far. Their quarry was by the rations amongst the gaze of a few curious onlookers at their fires. Lorag and Janius both came across a dark-green scaled Argonian in fur lined hide armour frantically filling a hempen sack full of as much food as he could carry. He was alone, so Janius walked carefully up to him and loudly cleared his throat once he and Lorag were in reach. He didn't even seem to sense their approach in his distraction.

The Argonian fumbled and dropped an apple back into the barrel he had just fished it out of and became very still. Janius was about to reach forward when the Argonian twirled around quickly and threw his food bag in Janius' face. By the time Janius blocked the bag and regained his balance, the Argonian was sprinting away. This was the kind of situation Janius was thinking of when he reasoned to bring a packmate along. The Argonian was not an impressive sprinter.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Harriet's approach became subdued after Meesei's next bolt escape. She had to pivot harshly in place to face her opponent again, and jump even more quickly to avoid the oncoming bound sword. Harriet's dodge would have meant an injury for a spectator, but fortunately the bound sword faded out of existence right before it hit the raised hands of the man behind Harriet. Harriet attempted to dodge again the spell thrown by Meesei, but was caught in its radius as Meesei planned.

Harriet regained her balance and faced Meesei down again. Meesei's evasive strategy may have seemed cowardly, but Harriet knew that she was not fighting a martial warrior. She would have to counter her strategy in kind.

There were no uncaring charged from Harriet this time. Though she was cautious enough to at least attempt dodging Meesei's spells. Her effort to fight Meesei now was to keep her under pressure. Wherever Meesei bolted to, she would turn and attack. Harriet was going to test her own endurance against Meesei's magicka reserves.

The dance went on for another two bolt escapes. Harriet was being hit by spells such that it was taking a toll on her ring, but she seemed more concerned by adapting to the spells that Meesei was reflecting onto herself. While Meesei was still as focussed and calculated, the crowd continued to jeer and encourage them both. "You can't run forever!" One man said. "Keep going! You can defeat her!" Another said, not being clear on who he was supporting.

---

On the edge, Janius and Fendros continued, concerned. Meesei seemed to be handling herself well, but Harriet's blows were getting too close for comfort. They didn't want another incident similar to the Orc Slayer's spear. It was luck that Meesei had gotten through that at all. The same luck may not extend this far.

"Wait," Janius looked to something across the crowd. He touched Fendros on the shoulder without taking his eyes off it. "I'll be back in a moment..." Janius started to move into the crowd to get past it.

"What? Where are you going?" Fendros asked incredulously. He tried looking at what Janius was seeing, but he couldn't find anything of note. "Janius?"

"I'll just be a moment," Janius held onto the top of his axe and strode as fast as he could through the crowd.

Fendros was left wondering what was going on. How could he go at a time like this!?

Janius followed his quarry until the entrance to the dining chamber. He would need some help. As fast as he could, he skirted the crowd until he found Lorag. He didn't even greet him before he pulled his shoulder down so that he could speak into his ear over the sounds of the crowd. "The one who threw her the ring is trying to sneak away. I have a feeling he's someone we should grab. Let's go." Janius glanced to Meesei, then to Lorag again, "This is Meesei's fight. She can take care of herself."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The flash of lightning from Meesei's escape made many in the crowd gasp or yelp with surprise. Harriet's hubris made her over-swing with a short shout. Slicing the air did not quite bring about the triumph she almost had. Even so, she spotted Meesei's arm weeping and gained a confident snarl.

Harriet did not give Meesei much time. She stepped up for another attack and parried as expected. Harriet's next motion was planned; she began to bring her sword around to cut at Meesei's exposed middle right, but jerked to defend herself from the sudden bound sword coming from the other side. Harriet partially sidestepped, causing the blade to glance off her torso. It had cut through the cloth on its way through but by the texture felt up the blade, Harriet was wearing mail to protect her body. By the way her clothes moved, it seemed that her head, arms, and legs were not similarly protected. It was likely all she could successfully hide from the trial.

While the move did take her by surprise, Harriet was ready to recover. Her first move was more something to ward Meesei off; a step back and forward with a swing to Meesei's side. Now Meesei had forgone her advantage of reach, Harriet would press further. Her next strike was quick and aggressive. Harriet's sword swung high as if to strike Meesei's shoulders again, but turned low at the last moment. It was followed up by a thrust to Meesei's chest to keep her on her back foot.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

By habit, Harriet flinched to avoid Meesei's spell, but stopped herself right before impact. There was not enough time to process the possibility of Meesei's plan in the time that the spell flew through the air, so Harriet decided to take whatever it was she could reflect. A flash of confusion flashed across Harriet's eyes as she realised the result. In the following second, Harriet discerned what was going on. She knew that the time for tarrying was over.

Harriet brought herself forward and stepped to provoke a thrust from Meesei that she could knock aside and use to close distance. She would attempt a short combination of strikes to Meesei's forward arm, left shoulder, and arm again in quick succession before breaking off. The shield spell would make it difficult but not impossible to harm her opponent. Despite her relative stature, Harriet's blows came raining down with a strength and speed to match Lorag, and a calculated skill to surpass him.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As commanded, the clan warriors on the dais started backing off. They gave sideways glances to each other with suspicion, and there was some small relief that the matter would be resolved in an isolated manner.

"I am disappointed that it has come to this." Najirra wheezed. He gathered up the energy to slowly rise from his seat. "Saraya, Vharei. Help me up, if you please. We must stand aside." Najirra's already extremely worried daughters were already at their father's side and wasted no time in helping him up and past the warriors lined around the dais. Vharei and Saraya both gave glances over their shoulders as they left, but Najirra's expression was defeated and grave.

Only once the Dais had cleared did Harriet's circle of warriors back off into a line behind Harriet. They kept their weapons out, but kept their points to the ground. The werewolf that had transformed sat on his haunches and looked on with a snarl.

Janius and Fendros acted similarly, giving uncertain glances to Meesei. She had to know what she was doing, but they couldn't shake the feeling of danger. Meesei's magic could not be used to such powerful direct effect like it normally could, and Harriet was clearly a seasoned and skilled fighter. "Be careful," Janius warned, "This may be desperate, but she's prepared."

Indeed, Harriet had no visible reaction to Meesei's retort. This was her last chance, and she faced it down with the resolve befitting an Orc warrior and werewolf alpha alike. Her sword was held forward in both hands. She took a few steps forward and sized Meesei up. Just because Harriet had protection from spells, it didn't mean that Meesei had tricks up her sleeve. Harriet kept Meesei on edge by pacing around just out of reach and flinching in the occasional feint. It wasn't clear whether she was still working out how to strike first, or waiting for Meesei to open the duel.

The atmosphere in the crowd was tense at first, but soon enough a few voices threw out encouragement to either side, or just goaded them. "Strike!" Shouted one man. Another, younger voice added to it, "Bring the traitor down!" The shouts were few and far between, but they were present. What sounded like a high voiced woman gave her encouragement as well, "Harriet the untouchable!" To that, almost all those in Harriet's pack's repeated in unison. "Harriet the untouchable!"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The intention with this is to have Meesei face a challenge where she can't use her greatest strength. I reckon we could make a concession where weaker magic isn't reflected. For the sake of this, let's say that the ring will not reflect anything less powerful than an expert level spell. Does that sound workable?