Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

When Ahnasha entered the room, Darahil had been writing something at his desk while the runner was speaking. Her entrance caused him to look up with a look of slight confusion as to why a lycan in its beast form had barged in. The runner was notably less stoic, jolting at Ahnasha's presence.

There were a few seconds where Darahil sat still and simply looked at Ahnasha, digesting the news. He calmly put down his quill and looked to the runner. "You should take lessons from Ahnasha here and get to the point as quickly as she did," he said to the runner, before looking to Ahnasha and standing up. "This is not a good day to have the strongest of the clan's fighters out in the mountains. How long until the enemy reaches us?" Darahil didn't wait for an answer before he walked quickly around his desk and towards the stairs. He gave the runner one last instruction, "You, find Vera in the school chambers, explain the situation quickly, and tell her to meet me in the main chamber." His pace increased, "It is time to call to arms. It has been too long since our home defences have been tested so."

Harriet had already been untying some of her armour while she ran back behind Meesei. The warband gave curious looks at the nature of their arrival.

Oswall breathed in to ask Meesei something, but Meesei spoke first, and her message caused Oswall's eyebrows to lower in anger. "There is what!?" The question would be left unanswered as he immediately turned around and barked at the warband. "All! Hear me! Equipment off!" He gestured to a spot under an outcrop, "Pile it up! Bury it in snow! Prepare to transform! We are needed back home!"

The last detail of Oswall's orders pushed a noticeable rush onto the entire warband as the situation dawned on them. It got to the point where they were virtually tearing off their armour and belts. Weapons, clothing, bags, and other equipment were unceremoniously piled up in the small natural divot under the outcrop. It eventually grew to a size where the hurried attempts at covering it with snow were somewhat futile. This changed when a number of the warband began to shift into their beast forms. With their larger hands doing the work, the snow was shifted in short order until the pile was covered sufficiently. It would not serve in the long term, but they didn't have the luxury to account that far.

Oswall himself sported a beast form that was visibly aged in fur colouration, but no less physically imposing than any other clan lieutenant. He gave a howl to the sky, to which the entire warband joined in. Such a cacophonous peal would be heard for miles around as it echoed off the Jerralls. Oswall then broke into a full sprint on all fours and the warband streamed behind him like a great wave of fur, teeth, and claws. None but Harriet and anyone else not under his rank overtook him in his path, though he was keeping up a blistering pace on his own.

The warband was headed home. Nothing short of divine intervention would stop them now.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There was a moment of tense silence. Ahnasha could barely see the silhouette of one of the sentries lean to one side and say something to another. Another few seconds passed before the same male voice was heard. "Open the gate!" Some scraping of wood on metal preceded the main doors to the clan home creaking open.

An Imperial with a lowered crossbow stood at the gate to greet Ahnasha with a worried expression. He had the same voice as the one that addressed Ahnasha before, "Our apologies, we didn't recognise you. You'll want to find Vera and Darahil. We've sent runners ahead, but you'll find them in the scholar's loft and the school room. You know which is where, I presume."

As if reminded of the closeness Galsek was to death, Harriet loosened her grip on Galsek enough for him to take a rough breath in, though Harriet wasn't letting go of him. His eyes were too wide to look any more fearful at Meesei's spell, but he seemed to react readily enough other wise. "Wait, no, NO!" Harriet squeezed hard enough on Galsek's neck for him to put up a hand, scrunch his eyes shut, and break. "There's a lodge! A hunting lodge! North of Bruma!" Harriet loosened her grip enough for Galsek to calm slightly and spit the rest of his story out, "We found hunters! Soldiers with silver weapons. They are to rally at a hunting lodge today and strike at the pit you call a home. They were meant to take the place after the clan squabbled over a new leader and scattered during the full moon, then roam and kill you off, but the plan had to change. I lead you out here, and you brought more of your military might than I could have hoped, so I had to take the opportunity. You might track the hunters from the lodge, depending on how fast that lackwit High Elf travelled, but I am willing to bet that you are too late. Even if you all shifted, you would have no hope of getting back before the attack is started. That was my purpose, I have fulfilled it. You have failed, champio-"

Harriet pulled Galsek from the tree and threw him to the ground. She had heard enough. With a javelin in either hand, she pinned Galsek's chest to the ground with one boot and put a javelin through each of Galsek's upper arms. Galsek screamed in pain again, but the last sound he made was one last "NO! PLEASE! YOU SAID-" before Harriet's boot impacted his head with a final crunch. Harriet twisted her foot for good measure, eliciting more crackling, before pulling her javelins free and stepping off of Galsek's ruined face. The spatters of red made the snow around him give off steam.

"She promised to wait, I didn't," Harriet said to Galsek's body. She yanked the third Javelin from Galsek's leg and regarded Meesei, "We've gotta get back to the warband."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There were no obstacles of note that stood in Ahnasha's way on the trip back up to the clan home. Turala's warning about Imperial patrols was thankfully not fulfilled, so her journey was as direct as her navigation. Unfortunately, the sentries at the gate had not witnessed her appearance in her beast form and had the front gate shut.

"Hold on! Who goes there? Your smell isn't familiar, sister," A male voice came from the darkness in the arrow holes above the gate, where the silhouette of crossbows and longbows could be seen trained at Ahnasha.

Harriet's sprint did not slow at all. Her single-minded pursuit of Galsek meant that she didn't appear to be listening to Meesei. Even if she wasn't transforming yet - a testament to her control of her beast spirit despite her rage - Meesei had trouble keeping up with her.

Soon enough, a fur-cloaked figure with an Argonian tail was spotted trudging through the snow ahead of them. He turned his head to peek over his shoulder once he heard Harriet's approach, and a flash of fear was all he could express before he attempted to start running away. Before Galsek could gather any good speed, Harriet held one of her javelins back and hurled it with inhuman power. The javelin was deadly accurate as it impaled the back of Galsek's knee, causing him to scream in shock and pain and crumple to his other knee. Harriet caught up to him before he could fall completely to the ground and swept up his neck in her hand. Like a stuffed doll, he was lifted up and pinned to a tree trunk by the neck by the enraged Orc. Galsek's attempts to scream were stifled and choked as he desperately tried to pull Harriet's arm off him.

"You set me up from the start Galsek, but it ends here!" Harriet shouted into Galsek's face. "Where are your friends!? You're gonna tell me what you had planned, NOW!"

Between the shock induced from his still impaled leg and the sudden fear of death right in front of him, Galsek did not have the mental capacity to play with his interrogator. "It's...you are too late!" Galsek desperately sputtered, "Your clan will be massacred..." he took a small, whistling breath in, "...and your souls taken!"

"Don't-" Harriet pulled Galsek back by the neck and slammed the back of his head against the tree trunk again, "-give me that crap, Galsek! Who's doing the killing!? Where are they!?!"

Galsek's eyes began to glaze over. Meesei had an opportunity to intervene.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I would say Meesei would have that foresight, yeah.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Turala slid down the bluff and gave one last quite point to Ahnasha, "Just be careful. There are Imperial patrols that sometimes come up this way. Stay a distance from the roads as much as you can." Turala turned to head back south, "I'll find the warband, no trouble." Turala didn't so much as say farewell before she sprinted off downhill. The snow that padded her footsteps soon became more audible as her body morphed slowly during her run into the shape of a lycan. Strangely enough, much of her equipment was secured with straps that seemed to snap into longer lengths and stayed attached to her body. She must have trained her beast spirit to tolerate such trappings for the sake of long ventures.

Over the bluff, the mercenaries had all but marched off down the road, leaving just the Altmer woman, who listlessly walked into the lodge and shut the door behind her.

"Blasted snake," Oswall muttered as he raised a fist to halt the warband.

Even though Oswall might have seemed disappointed, Harriet's reaction was utterly fuming. She had been relatively quiet up until this point, but now she leaned slightly forward, opened her mouth to show her tusks, and let out a blood-curdling shout of anger in Galsek's direction. Even after she spent her lungs, the shout echoed against the mountains for a short moment before the entire area fell silent. All of a sudden, she broke into a full sprint towards Galsek, causing a breeze to hit Meesei's side as she overtook her. Whether she was going to tear Galsek apart or simply talk to him, it was unclear, but she was clearly furious, and she was making no attempt to stop for Meesei's power over her life.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Unlike Galsek, the Altmer woman did not cover her tracks in any way. Turala and Ahnasha did not need to put forth much effort to following her. With the silence between them and the pace they kept, it seemed like barely half an hour before they caught up with something that gave them pause.

It was a different scent in the air to the Altmer that made Turala stop and stand to discern it. It was stronger, made by many people. "Do you smell that? There might be a settlement nearby." Turala spoke for the first time since Bruma. She began moving forward again, far more focussed on the road ahead. "The only thing I know of around here is a hunting lodge, but it has never housed so many as I can smell. At least, as long as I've come across it. The last time was a couple of months ago."

As the pair got closer, Turala veered off the Altmer's trail. She sneaked through a copse of trees off the road and wheeled around a small snow covered bluff before squatting low and shuffling up the bluff until she was peeking over the top of it. "You should see this," Turala said while gesturing Ahnasha to look over the bluff as well.

Over the bluff, a distance away, was a luxurious looking, two-story wooden hunting lodge. Judging by the broken windows, it wasn't maintained too closely. The general mess around the building spoke of squatters. What caused Turala to show worry were the characters gathered out the front of the lodge. Roughly sixty armoured mercenaries were lined up in rank and file. Each either had magicka potions on their belts, spears and shields in their hands, or some other manner of weaponry. All bare metal on weapons reflected off the sun with a lustre indicative of silver and several of the mercenaries, more notably the leader, wore trophies of fangs or dark fur. They were accompanied by a regal looking figure who appeared to just be watching the show, and next to him was an Altmer in a plain dress and apron who looked as if she hadn't slept in weeks, their quarry. "That is a large group of lycan hunters." Turala ducked her head down until it was behind the bluff and looked to Ahnasha, "What should we do?"

Just then a shout was heard and the hunters began to march over to the road and begin travelling. There were no other packs living in the clan's territory that weren't already in the clan.

Continuing the trend, Meesei found no signs of humanoid life in the area, both throughout the high ground and down the gorge after Galsek. Once they were through the gorge, they found more open terrain again and found that Galsek was now heading west, back in the direction of the first gorge. The revelation brought a snarl from Oswall, "He is leading us on a goose-chase! He doesn't mean to ambush us at all, he must be drawing us out for his own amusement!" A realisation caused Oswall to look thoughtful, "Unless his plan is to tire us, I suspect the snake wants a force from our clan here for some reason. I do not like this."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Turala continued to lead such that Ahnasha could not see her face, but her voice was solemn. "I want to presume the process of your decision, but, your mate, he is young. The young are naive of death close to themselves. It's...cruel that you would..." Turala seemed to cut herself off. She hesitated and glanced over her shoulder to Ahnasha for a moment. "It's none of my business," she said quickly before Ahnasha could respond, "Never mind."

No more words were spoken by Turala by the time the grey walls of the city came into view. They reached Bruma in much less time than they had spent marching away from it, courtesy of their pace, but also Turala's shortcut. A quick check-in with Finley's pack had them following one of the sentries a short distance from the city to retrace the steps of their Altmer quarry once Turala vouched for Ahnasha. Before long, they were following a different trail. This one was on a wider mountain path, but it was headed uphill, to the north.

Back with the warband, Oswall's nostrils flared out a huff of steam in amusement. "I have kept a rearguard this whole time, but if you believe they should trail further for safety, I see no reason to object. As for stealth, there's hardly anywhere to hide, let alone darkness in which to sneak." Oswall gestured to the snowy slopes around them. Up this high, there was little vegetation or tall rocks to contradict him. Anyone sneaking would have to stalk through taller snowdrifts on all fours. "Lorag," Oswall regarded the Orc with less of a barking tone than with the others in the warband, "Get back to the four bringing up the rear and wait until we're roughly..." He paused to look at the path ahead, "...three hundred paces ahead of you before following. You know the rest."

The warband continued for another half an hour, ever vigilant. An uneasiness was coming over everyone with how quiet and uneventful this day had been given the potential hazards. Eventually, Meesei detected Galsek turning sharply south again. He was now heading downhill again, back to an elevation he could have reached more easily by not taking the path up the gorge.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

For a few moments, Turala didn't respond. Trying to be tactful while concentrating on the word ahead obviously caused a short delay. "You...you are aware that Dunmer are not a short-lived people, yes?" Unlike the aloof and aghast response that might have been expected from one such as a Dunmer, Turala spoke softly, and as if Ahnasha was an equal. She did not glance back to meet Ahnasha's eyes this time.

After a while, the warband's march continued on more level ground, though they were more spread out as the path narrowed into something not much larger than a goat trail. As per Harriet's predictions, Galsek did turn East again. There didn't appear to be any good spots for an ambush along the road.

As they gained more distance from Bruma, Fendros observed the environs to their right. Due south, there was a expansive, if partially cloud-obscured view of the near terrain. "I think that gorge was the only way up to this path. I haven't spotted a safe way down the mountain since we last changed direction."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Without another word, Turala was off. She set a pace that was much faster than the lumbering, stalking warband, and she didn't lie about the terrain. It was an effort not to slip on the ice and snow that had settled on the inclines they skirted, but the jutting rocks around them served to encourage careful foot placement lest they meet upon their falling heads.

For a long while, Turala concentrated on the path ahead and didn't speak. However, once they had reached a certain altitude and were moving along the slopes rather than climbing up them, she relaxed enough to glance back and apprehensively ask a question. "You and the Dunmer in your pack, you're...closer than just packmates, aren't you?" Turala's spoke as if it was an unfortunate turn of events.

Back with the warband, the march went on for another hour before anything of note happened. The party came across a small gorge that immediately stank of an ambush to everyone, let alone Oswall. The band began to slow down before either Oswall or Meesei ordered a halt. Thankfully, after searching for signs of life via magic and sending up scouts, the gorge turned out to be a false alarm. The band moved on having lost some ground, but it was better than being attacked.

Past the gorge, the path began to curve uphill, making pursuit more of an effort. Much of the warband had little trouble, as they lived in such environs, but those with legs unaccustomed to the mountains soon felt it.

"There's nothing up there 'cept cliffs and snow," Harriet said, using one of her javelins as a walking stick, "He's gonna change directions soon."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It took a short moment for Oswall to mull over the idea, but he eventually nodded. "As you say. Turala!" Oswall looked over his shoulder while a female Dunmer ran forward.

Turala had a short sword and an axe on her belt and was one of the less-heavily armoured of the band, though she was clearly more warrior than mage. She had her black hair held back in braids and looked to Oswall and Ahnasha with a severe expression. She looked somewhat older than Fendros, partly in visual age, but also in the maturity of her posture. "Alpha?" Turalis spoke in a voice that was not nearly as severe as her face would have implied.

Oswall gestured to the Dunmer, "Ahnasha, this is Turala. She is a seasoned tracker, and she knows the mountain terrain well." Turalis gave a nod as Oswall continued, "Turala, you will accompany Ahnasha to track the Altmer that parted ways with Galsek outside of the city gate. You will follow Ahnasha's lead and offer respect as befits her status amongst the champion's pack. And watch out for anywhere you don't see an escape from. That Altmer woman could be setting a trap just the same as this bastard we're following, is that clear?"

"All heard, alpha," Turala said clearly.

"Good, any further questions are for your new tracking partner. Off with you, now," Oswall waved the back of his hand to casually shoo Turala away.

Fendros stepped up and took Ahnasha's hand before she left. "Good hunting, Ahna." He gave her a smile, though it was more to ward off he apprehension of Ahnasha going off to a potentially dangerous situation without him.

Turala curled her lips and looked to Ahnasha, waiting for her to move. She offered a suggestion in the meantime, "I know a more direct way back to the city, if you don't mind uneven ground." Her words seemed more quite, despite the way she held herself. It was no wonder with the reputation Meesei's pack held, but she may have found it also awkward to speak to Ahnasha while Fendros was saying a farewell.