Muttonhawk

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

Accurate according to information in the stats file. If the stat file was not updated for your character, then your stats will necessarily be inaccurate.

@Kho

Kho, you are deferring your human factor, mang.

Toun is level 7. Has been for a while. The stats sheet said this before the turn change.

THIS IS WHY WE CANNOT HAVE NICE THINGS!

(You got the might correct, though. So no worries there.)

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine did not look up. Her voice got quieter as she continued. "I have tried talking to her before. Before we all tried this. I want to try to talk to her again and if that does not work..." She pursed her lips. "I will challenge her for the position of champion."

In reaction, Fendros shifted his gaze to Sabine's eyes and lowered his brow. Janius' eyes widened in surprise. It was unthinkable to even attempt, especially since the fresh memories of the last challenger were with them. However, if Meesei did not want to kill Sabine, this would clearly be one way of getting her attention back to reality. Then again, that wasn't exactly convincing enough for Fendros.

"Sabine, if you publicly challenge her, you will seal your fate," he protested. "What you say is rash."

Sabine looked at Fendros and tried to defend her idea. "I know her magic. I could survive."

Janius butted in. "No, Sabine, that would be far too dangerous. Think about it, if Meesei doesn't make an example of you for challenging her, her authority is threatened. You should not put her in that position."

"What if I threaten to challenge her with only her knowing?" Sabine pleaded, looking to the others. "You said we had to get her to come out to us, Janius. Will that not work?"

Fendros crossed his arms and Janius sighed and shook his head. Sabine waited to hear other opinions.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius bent forward over the table, supporting his head with his hand and elbow. They were back to where they started. "What other approaches are there?" He hissed. "We are her inferiors, being family doesn't seem enough anymore."

Though clearly just as disappointed, Fendros spoke his thoughts out loud in case it helped come up with ideas. "We cannot take that book away by force. She keeps it close, even in her sleep. She even threatened us, just then, if we try to bother her about it again." He looked up at a corner of the room and took a frustrated breath. "We cannot exactly find an antidote for the gas. That has been pursued for the past several years."

"I have seen this pattern with other addicts," Janius said, cupping a claw-fingered hand in the air. "The more the retreats into that book, the more she pushes us away. The more we express concern about the book, the more she will retreat to it. We have to make her realise what she is doing so she can come out of it herself." He faced the others with wide eyes. "That is the only chance we have without destroying the book!"

"I could-" Sabine caught her breath and looked down. Her stoic look was beginning to show cracks. "She still loves us, yes? She still cares? I think I have an idea. I do not want to do it, and you will not like it, but it might work." Sabine hesitated just in case anyone else had ideas of their own. There was a hint of desperation behind the reluctance in her speech.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"And then what, Meesei?" Janius virtually interrupted. He held out a hand. "You covet that book as if it will be stolen away. If you're still around to even help us by the time you find the cure -- which is not likely with how little you have even been here with us lately -- what's to stop you getting one more piece of knowledge? Or one more after that?" He shook his head and lowered his hand. "You are acting just like them. You are making up excuses just to go in one more time."

"Janius, please." Sabine quietly stopped him before he could continue. She looked to Meesei with a slightly parted mouth and a worried brow. "Meesei, when you started using that book, you promised me that you would not let it consume you," she said. Her eyes flicked down to Meesei's visible ribs and back up to her eyes. "It is consuming you. It has changed you. This is too much. If we lose you, none of us will get a way to counteract the gas. And...we will lose you. It hurts me. What you are doing is hurting me. I cannot stand you disappearing like this."

Throughout, Sabine was completely frozen apart from her face. She was evidently making as much of an effort as she could to be stoic.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

If it hadn't already, the many consecutive assaults on clans brought the highest stress of the war onto the entire Blackreach clan involved in the effort. There were those that had lost friends and loved ones when the distant Orcrest clan had fallen, evident due to the people Meesei had brought from all over Tamriel. The lost clans sent shockwaves many magnitudes greater through the community. The lycans around them lashed out with anger and words, demanding action and safety. They could only do so much.

All the emotion coming from every direction made Sabine pliable to Meesei's extra time in Apocrypha. She was upset, anxious, and even angry herself at times. Every time she protested, however, Meesei could justify the sacrifice. It became a recurring argument between them as Meesei's visits became longer and the subsequent consequences were made apparent.

The rest of the pack knew. They had tried to speak to Meesei with similar results on their own. However, a short time ago, Meesei had missed Sabine's twenty-eighth birthday. It was the age at which Meesei had completed her pack by finding Fendros and Kaleeth. At the pack gathering they had, Sabine burst into tears when it became clear why Meesei was absent.

After some comforting, the pack was now in a room together with the gaunt and unkempt Meesei. The children were asleep, despite Rhazii's increasing nightmares that would inevitably lead to his first transformation within the next few months. They all had their eyes on Meesei, Sabine's still ringed red with her previous tears.

Janius opened up. He had just as much determination as Lorag, with his arms crossed and his mouth scowled. He looked at Meesei with his head angled to face the table in front of them. "Meesei, you know why you're here. It may not be skooma you're taking, but everything about you is the same. You're addicted to that book." Janius glanced at the pouch at Meesei's side that she kept it in.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"No, that will be all," Marod confirmed with a broad grin. "We are going to continue our work. Reports will be sent to you regularly. And, don't be afraid to send a friendly letter."

Marod opened the door to let Lunise and Meesei back out into the snow. He also beckoned Orphius to follow. "May this be the beginning of a better future for everyone. I am glad we were able to meet before things came to a head between lycans and us. I hope your clans will be receptive to events going forward."

"Don't make them think we're going to enslave them, at the very least, champion," Lunise added tiredly.

The small group saw off Meesei and Saras without any trouble. Now equipped with documents that protected their clans from the empire and dominion unless they harboured criminals, they could distribute them to clan leaders around Tamriel and rest sure in the fact that it would not be national armies that threatened them. For now, at least.

The real treasure was the information they would gain from Lunise and Marod, as well as the daedric reagents for their cure. Supply of both would start slow, though they would grow into an invaluable resource. It was not the solution to all of Meesei problems, but it was the edge they needed.

When informed of their meeting, the Blackreach council was largely agreeable. They only hoped that the clan independence they would trade in the future would be worth it.

---

"I wouldn't mind doing that some time," Fendros thought out loud. "Your family were pleasant company." Fendros glanced at Ahnasha on his shoulder and smiled. "Not any time soon, though."

The pair took the rest of the day to themselves when they reached the Silent City again. They took enough drinks to relax, but not thoroughly intoxicate themselves. After Ahnasha fell asleep while receiving a massage, it was mostly naps and reading books for the both of them, all the way until the late afternoon. Only then did they decide to make themselves useful and catch up with their duties.

Neither of them were normally so slothful. Today was an exception that they could tacitly justify without a conscious thought. In the further few days, they worked hard to avoid the worry about the results of the ritual, whatever they might be.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sounds good. I'll close off the scenes and you can bring us ahead. The only thing I can think of to skip to is Rhazii's first transformation, but that probably won't happen for another two or three years.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Orphius lowered his eyes again. Meesei's words had made sense, and though he was still showing fear, he did not look like he was liable to sprint out of the room in the notice of a blink.

"I don't know," he said, not immediately seeing that Meesei's question was likely rhetorical. "If they are going to be safe, that is all that really matters. Thank you for understanding."

---

Fendros hummed. After a long breath in, he frowned and shook his head. "No one in Whiterun, no," he said. "There may be someone in the clan that can help us. We should ask around at some point."

At the absurdity of it, Fendros let out a small laugh. "We haven't got the most harmonious relationships with our birth families, don't we? Not that they were going to be normal to begin with. It just seems more...what's a word to describe it?"

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

_{why do I feel like drawing shit related to this RP}

@Lauder

Keep doing it. Drawings are cool.

Also, as for political maps. I might get to Yorum eventually, though the areas of those city states are currently so small that I don't see it as especially significant right now.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

... Secondly, do white giants attack urtelem? If white giants ignore urtelem then I think that the ogres are good, whereas if they attack urtelem then I would presume that the ogres would only have to deal with one or the other in any given area.

@Cyclone

The reason that urtelem were deemed safe from white giants is because Urtelem could duck underground a short distance to hide while a giant strolled by. The giants aren't too clever, so they normally don't pursue creatures they can't detect with their limited senses.