Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

A mercenary corpse that had previously been laying face down near the fire with arrows between the chinks in his body armour slowly rose up to its feet with a groan. Unlike the other mercenaries around it, the walking corpse hung its shield arm lazily to one side while it drew a silver sword from its belt. At first, no one noticed the corpse with the arrows still sticking out of it as it shuffled towards one of the enemy crossbowmen. When it got within a few metres, some shouting could be heard for the mercenary to raise its shield and fall in again. None thought anything was particularly amiss until the corpse thrust its sword into the back of the crossbowman who was trying to reload. Ahnasha's gambit had paid off. With another shout, a couple of mercenaries around the undead thrall brought axes down upon it. The thrall put up a pitiful defence and was disabled to the point of uselessness. The confusion seemed to unnerve the lines. Now they had to look out in front of and behind themselves.

While the barrage against the ram team by the mages was devastating, it could not last forever. Several mercenaries lay dead or dying, but still they found numbers to replace those that had fallen. The ram marched on and reached the gate. The first thud against the gate carried a shock that could be felt up on the walkway.

Vera's voice screamed out immediately in response to the impact "Darahil, the oil! Now!"

Before the ram team could register what was going on, Darahil flung a small fire spell down at the base of the gate. What followed was a blue and orange light that gave the entire chamber a bright hue. The carnage of the scene was inhabited by a series of pained screams as the ram team was exposed to the sudden conflagration. It was hard to listen to, even for the most jaded of the defenders, but it bought time and exposed the attackers as they dropped the ram and fell back.

Ahnasha's arrows, much like the other arrows that had made their way to the mage at the back of the cavern, seemed to bounce off despite their accuracy. With each hit, there was a tell-tale shimmer of white magic indicative of shield alteration. It was unknown how long it would last, but Ahnasha's arrows only seemed to succeed in breaking the mage's concentration as she flinched with the arrows. However, her frost spell did not require as much concentration, and the smoking pile of wood they had set was soon reduced to pitiful wisps.

Now that she was unoccupied, the mage began to march forward. One hand was raised in a ward to deflect oncoming threats, while the other hand was swatting away the mercenaries who were on the ram and were desperately running back. The expression of the mage was impossible to see behind her helmet's visor, but there was a demeanour of impatience about her as she stepped closer to the abandoned, burning ram. This time, she launched a whirling orb of cold magic at the oil fire. The orb expanded as it moved forward and extinguished the flames as if they were hit by a snowstorm. She pointed forward and barked an order for the shield wall to advance and pick up the ram again.

Darahil was watching on and grimaced as he saw the display of powerful magic. The entire defence on the walkway felt the hairs on the back of their neck stand on end as power gathered in both of Darahil's palms. Sparks of lighting jumped from his robe to the ground and between his fingers as he prepared a spell while looking firmly at the enemy mage. This would not be stopped by a mere shield spell.

It was then that Ahnasha could spot the second crossbowman lining up his next shot. As if he could pick another target, Darahil was exposed and glowing with power.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Things should be alright for now. Back to the battle!

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The first volley of arrows was not as effective as it could have been. Most glanced off the shields or the armour behind them. In the narrow area, only one enemy was felled with a shot to the arm at just the correct angle, followed by another shot to the neck.

The target of Ahnasha's fear spell immediately froze in place when he was hit. She could see his eyes widen and his knees begin to shake as the line advanced ahead of him and closed the wall in front, but he started to stumble back until he turned around to get to the entrance of the chamber. Without his shield, he was hit in the thigh by an arrow. His struggle to stand made him a threat no longer. Ahnasha's arrow took another mercenary in the leg, disabling him, but he simply fell in behind the shield wall while his comrades advanced.

As if sneaking in behind the shield wall, a pair of crossbow toting hunters suddenly sprang up from behind their allies. They shot up at the defenders for a split second before ducking out of sight again. The bolt aimed at the first target whistled past his ear narrowly, but the other target was not so lucky. A small puff of burning steam rose from the struck bowman's shoulder as he began to scream in pain and buckled to the ground. Another defender took his place after pulling him behind cover, but the screaming lingered while a mage tended to him with healing. The silver bolt would kill him if he was unlucky.

Through the tumult, the disciplined mercenaries continued to rush in. They were coughing loudly, but they were able to hide themselves behind their long shields well enough to survive and recover. It was not just mundane soldiers that came through. Before long, an armoured figure that carried no shield or weapons stepped into the chamber with the smoke curling around her in a bubble of sorts, repelled by some magic of her making. She immediately sought the source of the smoke and began to blast it with a spray of magical frost.

Behind her, a sight that the defenders dreaded came through; a group of six heavily armoured mercenaries came clanking forward in a rushed march. In their arms, they carried a single long log, reinforced with metal bands, and whittled to a blunt point at the front. The shield wall closed them in as they advanced the ram towards the gate.

"Mages! Open them up!" Vera's voice carried across the walkway. The wind that was blowing the now shrinking smoke through the cavern began to weaken slightly. It was replaced by a more direct form of offensive magic. The shield wall around the ram was pummelled by an avalanche of explosive fire spells. The mercenaries did the best that they could to stay in formation, but the impacts were opening up windows for the defending archers to shoot into. As the best archer present - possibly disputed by Ahnasha - Caldris took the opportunity to fell three more mercenaries as they struggled to keep composure. One her targets was carrying the ram, so the orderly advance was interrupted as it slumped to one side with the falling body.

The crossbows leaped up from behind the shield wall once more. The first took a defender in the chest, causing her to stagger and fall backwards off the walkway. Ahnasha spotted the other trained right at her.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Hey, some personal problems have come up in the last day. Posts won't be guaranteed for the next couple of days. Sorry.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine and Kaleeth eventually came upon a chamber that didn't seem to have an obvious purpose except for holding non-combatants. Their group stopped here, and Sabine decided to find a place to sit and finally get to rocking Rhazii back to sleep. Upon further inspection, the room had four doorways. The one they entered through had one of the Ayleid's old but strong metal gates opened around it. More people were streaming in, but it looked like there weren't too many left to come in. The doorway directly opposite to the entryway was another Ayleid gate, but it was locked and chained shut, complete with extra boarding to fortify it. Only a small round window into blackness gave any clue as to where it went. The other two doorways seemed to be symmetrical to each other on either other side of the chamber. One led to a caved-in passage, while the other lead to another empty chamber that some other non-combatants were occupying. Most of all, however, the inspection yielded a sense of vulnerability in how few fighters were assigned here. Their hopes were well and truly with those at the gate. Sabine continued to try and hide her worry in an effort to keep both Rhazii and Kaleeth calm.

Ahnasha was given immediate attention despite the rush Vera and Darahil were in while mounting the defence. Her suggestion caused Vera to look to Darahil, who looked thoughtful for a moment. Darahil glanced to the gate, craning his neck to assess the viability of the gambit, then looked to Ahnasha. He didn't quite give a smile, "This may indeed help us. Caldris!" A familiar Bosmer in light armour leaned out from atop the walkway over the gate. Darahil looked up to her, "Have your men gather firewood from the forge and place it a short distance from the gate. We shall fill the caverns with smoke when they arrive."

"Won't that smoke us as-?" Caldris began to ask.

"-Leave that to my followers, just get the fire built!" Darahil turned to Ahnasha again, "Let us hope we can build it by the time they arrive. As for everything else, I have some students placing runes upon the walls, but they are proving slow. I will go out and expedite the process." Darahil then began to walk towards the open gates, leaving the rest of the points unnoticed.

Vera seemed to take some sort of cue to do address the rest of the points instead. "I can have some of my men try to find oil, but we do not have an awful lot of it. It would only be a small area outside the gate. As for the ram, I think it would be easier to kill the soldiers rather than the carved tree-trunk with handles they would likely bring. I cannot imagine them bringing anything heavier through the cave."

After barely half an hour of hurried preparation later, a sentry came sprinting through the cave, taking a particular route to avoid the runes that had been placed. He entered the chamber in front of the gate shouting to-arms and announced the hunters' arrival. Vera's men had just finished upending a large pot of oil in a slick layer in front of the gate before they got everyone inside and barred the gate. There was a tense silence then, as everyone listened and waited.

The first trace of footsteps through the cave, however distant, immediately made Darahil commit the first move. He launched a ball of magical fire onto the pile of gathered firewood and set it alight. Some foresight had granted the warriors carrying the wood to splash some oil upon it before they finished, so the fire caught quickly. "Now!" Darahil ordered, short and sharp. Just as quickly, a tangible charge of magical energy collected in the area as all the mages on the walkway pushed a spell out in front of them. The displacement of air made it feel like a light wind was coming in from the defender's backs as the magic created a draft to direct the rising smoke towards the mouth of the entrance cavern. The occasional explosion of runes being set off punctuated the noise coming from the cavern as clumsy and blinded footsteps set them off.

With the closer noise, Vera called out, "Draw!" Those who carried bows drew them back and trained them upon the cavern mouth.

A lone lycan hunter, heavily armed and armoured, and separated from his comrades, came forth with a stumble, coughing and spluttering from the cavern mouth. Vera held a crossbow in her hands, but she didn't order anyone to fire. Insead, she nudged Caldris on the shoulder beside her. The Bosmer loosed an arrow from her longbow and struck the invader in the neck. His attempt to raise his shield was too late as he fell. "Hold!" Vera urged.

Then came the rest.

The rest of the lycan hunters who came forward did so as a collective, fanning out with their shields raised properly. "Loose!" Vera shouted at once.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Between Kaleeth's outward concern, Rhazii's crying, and her own share of the worries, Sabine was beginning to feel closed in. She didn't respond to Kaleeth for a few moments while she realised just how anxious she had become. In a stray lucid thought, Sabine didn't want to be trapped by her anxiety any more. Even if it was just the help given to her by the ritual keeping her going, she channelled as much focus as she could into mental resilience. Even then, it was hard. She didn't make eye contact with Kaleeth as she found a response. "Ahnasha will come back if anything goes wrong. She will know what to do." Sabine's voice was straining not to stutter, "Let's just keep going."

Vera and Darahil gave looks of mild disapproval at Ahnasha still being transformed while idle, but now was not quite the time to raise such issues.

Darahil spoke first. "If there is another entrance to the inhabited parts of the ruin, we would have found it by now. The only other openings are the vents from the forge and the dining chamber, but they are vertical drops, too narrow for an attacker to fit through. The only other potential entrance would be through the unexplored parts of the ruin, and that would hold the danger of traps we have not yet disabled, let alone discovered."

"Oswall is the one who is intimately familiar with the defences of this place," Vera said to them both, buckling on some sturdy looking leather armour as she spoke. "We must admit, we may have to improvise in some regards. We will have to hold them at the gate as long as we can and wait for the warband to strike them from behind. If they get through the gate, which is the weakest point if they had the sense to bring a ram, we will have to start moving everyone out into the unexplored ruins while holding a fighting retreat. If what you said is true, we have little chance of beating them back on our own. They are likely trained to fight us and confined spaces favour them over our beast forms."

It was clear that Darahil and Vera were planning to save as many lives as they could. Either they didn't have the acumen, or they weren't willing, to take any risks to give them an edge if there were any. Darahil glanced to some warriors piling up quivers by the base of the defences and looked to Ahnasha. "While you're in that form, use your reach and pass those quivers up to the men up by the arrow windows. Unless you have anything further to add, of course." Darahil may not have been deliberately trying to sound caustic, but he didn't seem to make an effort not to.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth still has her wamasu hide armour, right?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Even with the urgency of the situation and Rhazii's crying, Sabine stepped up to Ahnasha's imposing form and placed what little of her arm she had available in not supporting Rhazii around Ahnasha's torso. "Keep yourself safe as well, sister," Sabine said in a demanding tone. When she stepped back, her brow was wrinkled in worry, but she was determined enough that her lips were pursed. Sabine then took Kaleeth's arm and began to follow the group that Ahnasha pointed out.

The group appeared to be mostly free of weapons, and completely devoid of any who looked like warriors. Craftspeople, labourers, children, and the infirm were tacked on, all being led by a confident looking High Elf in simple clothes and a sword on his belt. Sabine caught up with the leader as they were moving. "Where are we going?" Sabine asked. For some reason, having the nervous Kaleeth around seemed to make her more confident with engaging other people.

The High Elf gave Sabine a glance. "You haven't been told? You must be new. There are some doors that can be barricaded further back in the ruins. We will stay behind them, and if the worst comes, we may unseal the doors deeper into the ruins and retreat through there." The High Elf sniffed, as if he wasn't worried that it would come to that, or at least wasn't showing it. "Most of the creatures and traps that we'd otherwise encounter have been dealt with, but it's not exactly liveable. Darahil reckons there's another entrance somewhere that might serve as an escape. Might."

"...Okay." Sabine wasn't exactly sure what to make of that, but it gave her hope that the clan had at least planned for this eventuality. Sabine edged back from the High Elf so she could talk with Kaleeth, "Sister, I don't like this."

Back with Ahnasha, the atmosphere was alert, but not overly panicked. There was concern on just about every face, but most people were quiet as they rushed about. They knew what to do now that the alarm had been raised. Groups of non-combatants were gathering with some odd sacks of provisions to take to the back of the ruin, while warriors donned armour and carried about barricades and weapons near the gate. The only figure that seemed not to be walking around at the gate was Darahil. He was pointing and directing orders at various teams of warriors and mages, securing defences and briefing on strategies. Soon enough, Vera came forth from the general direction of the school rooms with a bunch of leather armour and a sword in a scabbard under one arm and a round wooden shield in the other. Behind her were a couple more lightly armoured warriors that appeared to be pack mates of some description.

What was alarming to one who would watch carefully is the relative lack of strength on the present fighters. Though they seemed to have enough people to almost match the coming warband in numbers, they would be outmatched in skill, experience, and equipment if the fortifications didn't hold.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Oswall gave an affirmative nod and snort, but didn't deviate in any other way. It seemed that despite his shock at hearing about the enemy hunters, he was still assessing the situation as he was going. By any informed estimate, it would still be a while before they reached the clan.

At Ahnasha's entrance, Sabine displayed surprise that quickly became immense frustration as Rhazii began to cry. Ahnasha's tidings changed her reaction once again to a slightly fearful focus. Sabine stopped and quickly swaddled Rhazii into some cloth before picking him up and moving out of the chamber with everyone else. She didn't know exactly where she would go, but she was moving all the same. "Where is everyone else?" Sabine asked frantic with worry above Rhazii's cries, "What happened to the Argonian you were following?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

No problem.