Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Contacting Daraza after the while of waiting would have felt like a more fortunate turn in the heads of the pack if Do'Rhajul's group had not been preoccupying them. There was not a sense of safety in obscurity any more. As such, they were anxious. Even being in a closed area like the stable had them on-edge.

Nevertheless, when Daraza the driver entered the stable, Fendros took the lead as he had been with their other interviews. "If your name is Daraza gra-Nargal, that is most certainly true," he said directly, placing a hand on his chest. "My name is Fendros. We need to ask you a few questions about your latest fare, Cyrus Derrunding. It is a matter of the utmost importance."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Fendros sighed. "I wish there was more we could do if and when we come to blows. Without knowing their individual capabilities, the best I can think for us to do is stick together and be on alert. You're right, Kaleeth. We should find this carriage driver, in any case."

"I can follow them if I have to be a raven again," Sabine added, with only a portion of enthusiasm.

"Now that they know that you can do that, Sabine, I would still stick with the rest of us," Fendros said, pushing off the wall he leant against. "The first thought that I had to catch Arinette was to use a net or an arrow."

Sabine nodded. The pieces put themselves together in Fendros' statement.

Fendros glanced around, settling on Meesei. "So, it's still morning. What are we going to do first?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"That would be just it, wouldn't it?" Janius said, lighting up. "We have already learned all we can from those documents, made copies of them, all that. We could show him the original copies. Surely he would recognise them."

Fendros cast his eyes down. "We can't guarantee that. Even so, we could use the documents to find out if he does know while shaking up any in his group that have doubts." He looked up, taking a deep breath. "We attach a note declaring that he's either ignorant or complicit and ask that if he was ignorant, he meets us in the city again to explain things better. If he doesn't show, he would have known after all. We could also deliver it via someone else, such as Gerig, or anyone other than Arinette, to add dissent. There is little to lose in trying and certainly much to gain."

"Lorag," Sabine asked cautiously. "You said that Do'Rhajul was acting like a puppet. Do you think he would normally be acting this way if he knew about the lycanthropy spreading?"

Everyone knew that Do'Rhajul was a sore topic for Lorag. Sabine only asked what everyone was thinking to ask anyway.

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

@Kho You sure it wasn't a foot?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine turned her head up to look at Meesei with a small measure of surprise. It wasn't often that she heard Meesei declare Sabine's superiority in an area of magic, however esoteric it might be.

Janius huffed a laugh. "It's a clever trick, Sabine. And just what we needed. Good thinking."

Sabine nodded in thanks. "It was Ahnasha's idea."

"Getting back to our plans, how would we prove anything?" Fendros lifted his palms in a shrug. "I doubt they would stop to study how the towers work. And anything about the spread of lycans from our end could be dismissed as lies as well." He crossed his arms. "If they think we're out to spread lycanthropy across Tamriel, simply not doing that wouldn't say much."

"We do not have to prove that," Sabine said between breaths. She put her hands on her knees and sat up straight. "We have to prove what Vile wants. Attacks on Talos or..." She swallowed. "...proof that they are infecting people."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine fluttered onto the wood of the floor in the centre of Meesei's room as soon as she opened the door. She had to hop to avoid the others shuffling in behind her, but soon stood still and pointing her beak down.

Janius chimed in, crossing his arms. "It still stands that they wouldn't start anything violent in the city. All they can do is watch." He peered down at Sabine. "Call me naive, but if they keep watching, we might be able to approach and talk to them. If they are splitting up to keep an eye out like that Gerig and the Breton woman, it's not as if they'll have everyone pressuring them. They'd probably just walk off, though."

Some purple sparks arced from Sabine's feathers to the floor at regular intervals.

"I wouldn't count on it being that simple," Fendros said. "Meesei, we might have to spend our nights magicked away, maybe back home, and come back into our inn rooms in the morning."

"Do you think they'll try to sneak in and take us by surprise?" Janius asked.

Fendros nodded. "It's possible. Unless we have a good way to alert us of their intrusion, we had best not be there in the first place."

The purple arcs intensified and brightened around Sabine's raven form. With a bright glow, the bird swelled and elongated into Sabine's previous shape, clothes and all, squatting on the floor. She was breathing heavily.

"Are you alright, Sabine?" Fendros asked.

Sabine jerked her head across to look at Fendros. She was pale and wide-eyed. "Uhm, yes," she answered, slowly standing up. "It makes my skin crawl. That is all."

"How...long have you been able to do that?"

"I only made it consistent a few months ago," she stepped out from the centre of the group and took a seat on the bed to catch her breath. Her head slumped down. "It is a spell that requires...strange thoughts. I do not like using it."

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

@Kho I concur, question time can be fun to watch once in a blue moon for the savage rhetoric that would make a battle rapper blush.

Anyway, the last time dear Pauline got a seat, she was on a platform against Asain immigrants. Then people in Queensland got jobs again, they got a taste for Asian food, and Pauline faded into obscurity. The same will probably happen with her near-identical platform against Middle Eastern immigrants.

Feel free to enjoy the memes in the meantime, though.

EDIT: Pauline Hanson was mentioned in this thread in the past, wasn't she? Meh, not much has changed.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Fendros would be lying to claim that Do'Rhajul's stare was not unnerving. He stared right back, not giving a twitch on his face. All he said was the truth after all. When the general's group motioned to depart, Fendros broke his stare to try desperately to commit the faces to memory. His heart was racing and had been for the past few minutes, he realised.

"It was risky to talk like that," Janius quietly remarked. He kept his eyes on the departing faces. "But that raven woman seemed eager to get going when you two got into truths. Something about Do'Rhajul's eyes seemed to me that he was thinking. Maybe that's something."

Once the coast was apparently clear, Sabine leapt from the rooftop and glided down to the pack, settling gracefully on Meesei's forearm. Her head twitched to briefly eye everyone. She did not transform back, whether she was capable or not.

In response to Janius, Fendros shook his head. "We can't say. It's not a good idea to assume they'll change their minds. We ought to stay vigilant." He looked to Meesei with an unsure glance. "What should we do now?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine remained on the roof to overlook the scene. She flinched at the woman pointing her out, though she knew she was not inconspicuous in this market in the first place.

"This goes beyond the lives of you and the ones you know, Do'Rhajul!" Fendros tried to speak over the fanatic running into the conversation. "Don't let people to manipulate you with what you want to hear. The gas takes souls! Daedra feed on souls. Vile wanted more to feed on them! Think about what he wants next." He flung out an arm. "It does not serve us to spread any curse. Even if we did want to subject it upon unwilling people, it is only more people to hide -- more people to feed and take care of. Look again at the patterns of its spread and tell me honestly as a military commander that it was done with consideration to conquer."

Janius decided to speak up at this point. "If the price is paid to Vile, Do'rhajul, we do not want your cure."

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

Holy hell, I just spent so much time building a portfolio website, even though I followed a tutorial for the majority of it .-. I haven't had any time to write lately and I'm supposed to attend a final interview with the art director for my internship today

@Frettzo

Good luck for your interview! Your link's not working for me, though :P