Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The disciplined Dominion soldiers did not join in the cheers and triumphant gestures of their allies when the fighting began to abate. They only allowed themselves to catch their breath and see to the residual tremors in their hands that the prolonged charge of magic put into them.

The Dominion commander rapidly barked an order to set the Altmer into block formations to continue marching forward. It appeared he had no intention of stopping to recover the dead and injured save for the scattered teams of Dominion restorationists straggling behind them.

"Commanders!" Rossarm shouted through a scowl. "My unit is staying behind to revive the wounded! We will catch up in due course."

The Dominion commander's brow creased with fury at the words. "Impossible, Dunmer!" He spat. "Your formation is needed against the next counterattack. You will remain with the army!"

"You will need every body you can muster," Rossarm retorted less emotionally, if sternly. "Even your Nordish allies. Do not waste my time."

Fendros caught up to the commotion, back on Leaps' saddle. Leaps slid to a stop by Sabine and Meesei. "What is keeping us here?" he asked.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The only detail that betrayed the impact of Meesei's spell in the eyes of the Dominion -- apart from eyes darting left and right to the soldiers beside them -- was the delay before they responded. They had to process the site in front of them as if it was an illusion.

The Dominion officer on the ground showed the most expression through his helmet. It was the most incredulous he had ever been in his long life. But he knew exactly what Meesei's magic meant. He pointed a bound sword towards the enemy. "Advance, lightning!"

His order barked across the lines and lit up the right hands of every dominion soldier. A cavalcade of lightning bolts flashed and forked directly into the Daedra pincered by the Nords and Senche-Raht cavalry. Bestial cries of pain and indignity played out between the magical sparks that cut them down behind their fallen defences. When the front rank ran short of magicka, they would fold back to allow the next rank to take over the magical assault.

And the slow march resumed in the Dominion forces, closing in on the Daedra to reduce their manoeuvres.

Sabine found her chance to help then and there by ensuring the spells kept flowing. She raised the Staff of Magnus towards the sky and let a bright restoration magic flow into all the Altmer around her, keeping their magicka reserves comfortably replenished.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Just a moment!" Sabine shouted over the blasts washing over her and Meesei's wards, sounding as if she was distracted by something marginally more peaceful than a battle. She stepped back from the edge of the tower behind Meesei to conceal herself, and then began forming another portal. "It will be a distance above the ground for safety!"

Just behind the frontline, the Dominion commander on the ground saw the initial shock of their charge wane. He knew the Nords would be cutting their way through until their arms grew tired, but his own forces needed cohesion again. He raised a bound sword and shouted a word out, barely intelligible over the melee around them, but just recognisable enough by the Altmer in their golden and glass armour. They took their chances to peel back from the fighting and formed a staggered line with their comrades in arms. As they did, each that did not already have one conjured a bound shield and spear into their hands. Spaces between the individual soldiers left room for Hjergir's Nords to give ground with spear points between them to cover their retreat. Within a few moments, though it felt like an eternity, Skaafin and various Daedric monstrosities were already bending the new line.

"You! Lycan commander!" The Dominion leader cried out. "Rhajul!" He approached Do'rhajul when he spotted the massive Khajiit. "Get your men into order! We need every one of them!"

Just as the pressure mounted to desperation, Sabine's portal opened up above and behind the Dominion formation.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Another spike of activity at work. I'll try to get a post in tomorrow.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

After the brief jetstream Sabine conjured with the use of her frost magic, she gave herself a moment to refocus beyond the pounding of her heart. She had to check her amazement at the spell working more or less as intended. Following Meesei's lead, she carefully aimed and fired smaller explosive spells at valuable enemies. Even if they were not brought low by such measures, they were slowed, distracted, and otherwise made vulnerable.

The spiderlings were far beyond the view of the tower. They were the problem of the people on the ground.

As if trained this very scenario, one word barked out with magical volume from Rossarm's mouth that every one of his mages (and a few of the Dominion soldiers) tensed at immediately.

"SPIDERLINGS!"

The teams of warding mages, already spread from Rossarm's formation to protect the lines, switched roles. The two up front of each team remained warding while the other two worked together to take a deep steaming frost magic between their hands and spread it upon the ground in front of them. A number of Dominion troops reformed their charge to perform a similar magic. The effect started as a chill at the charging warriors' feet, but rapidly grew into a low carpet of white cloud that encrusted the grass and dirt in a layer of crunching rimefrost. It would not stop all of the spiderlings, but the small bodied creatures were hard pressed to not freeze at the joints and find themselves in the path of many rapidly advancing armoured boots.

It was a pivotal moment, then, with the allied mages occupied, that the combined attackers began to see their fierce momentum slow.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The Dominion commander appeared to take his time reallocating sections of his force to repel the counterattack. The tower was well and truly secured from the outside by the time the Dominion manned the barricades they had just captured. Meanwhile, the token force sent to keep the reinforcements at bay were at once awed and goaded by Hjergir's charge.

"Do not be dishonoured by heretics, Altmer!" One sergeant shouted in a rage, holding up a bound sword in signal. "Slay the Daedra before us!"

A renewed wave of morale in anger drove the Dominion's arms forward. Spells flew up to the airborne Daedra to drop them out of the skies. Blocks of spears and shields advanced to methodically cut down the forestalled enemy. But they were still outnumbered. The little burst of energy would only last so long.

Sabine could see it all too clearly from where she stood. Until this point she was nervous about attracting too much attention to their flanking force. But, she reasoned, if this is what they faced here, Hal-Neesa would undoubtedly be making a deific impression in the main clash. Sabine lowered her stance with the Staff of Magnus gripped tightly in both hands. She brought about a destructive magical technique that was imprecise but still immensely powerful as it gathered at the front of the staff.

She launched it forth in a beam like a shooting star. It leapt clean over both forces of Daedra and aligned Nirnian troops in an apparent miss, before blasting outward in a freezing white cloud immense enough to encompass almost the entire pass. The effect had no impact on the Daedra except to make them feel a chill on their skin until the second effect triggered. Above the tower, Sabine let out the second half of the spell's energy in an equally large blast of heat. Heat that was sucked through the air towards the cold cloud in a sudden field-encompassing gale of wind that made her stumble atop the tower, even after bracing for it. The daedra in the air had no such leverage and were forcefully spun out of control in the turbulence, spiralling onto the battlefield in a rain of blunt bodies.

The forced on the ground had a reprieve for now.

Rossarm lowered his brow at the display. He took the opportunity to bark an order back at his mages. The formation sounded a disciplined confirmation in unison and split into groups of four. The groups spread amongst Hjergir's warriors and kept their eyes up and forward behind the shield wall. Wards sprang up the moment the recovering Winged Twilights and other magical Daedra renewed their volleys.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The pack's rush down the stairs left little room for Janius to help behind Kaleeth. When he saw the shields of the enemy Skaafin ahead, he turned himself to press his back to the wall. Ahnasha and Fendros were best suited for working around Kaleeth's influence.

Fendros already had an arrow drawn. While he aimed, the back of his mind made a note to get Ahnasha on to the Daedric writing at the top story of the tower. Her study of conjuration exposed her to such text all the time. She, Sabine, or Meesei could decipher it with any luck.

Fendros waited patiently for Kaleeth's arm to fall on a shield or a weapon to open up a more exposed joint in the Skaafin armour. His fingers let loose at just the right moment to catch one under the arm.

Outside, the more patient Dominion forces had their attention drawn to Do'rhajul's warning. The section leaders had to defer to the field officer in charge of their formation, though he quickly waved a dismissive hand and ordered two sergeants to 'keep them assailed' while the rest took the tower. His next order was to send a message to the leader of the Senche-raht cavalry over the short distance. They would need their mobility.

Another message was almost sent to Rossarm's mages, though a quick glance back showed that the Dunmer was already repositioning his formation to face the reinforcements. They had an odd layout and were charging a peculiar spell. Rossarm himself had an arm held up while he waited for the reinforcements to crest the landscape into sight. He shouted the signal and his mages collectively sent a large streak of orange fire forward. At its zenith, the fireball split into many smaller magical projectiles and showered over the top of the oncoming charge.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine followed Meesei's eyes and spotted the oncoming enemy reinforcements. She nodded in full agreement by the time Meesei finished. It was a simple matter to edge over to the parapets and wave around a bright magical light at the end of her staff to get attention from below. The hard part was to pick out either of the commanders. the Dominion commander was leading from the front but not without clear protection from bodyguards. However, Hjergir would be stuck right into the front line with his rushing warriors.

"We shall make it fast!" Fendros answered Meesei's order. He slid down from Leaps' back and gestured everyone to the staircase. Everyone knew the order to proceed.

While the others scurried below, Sabine cut out her hesitation and sent a bright red magical flare arcing out towards the reinforcements.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Fair enough.

It would make narrative sense for Sabine's pack to stick together but it would make more logical sense for them to be down one the ground. There's only so much space for them to go down the tower. I'll let you decide, it doesn't matter too much at this stage.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei's pack went through armour-first. Lorag, Janius, and then Kaleeth poured in and went straight for the nearest threats. The few Skaafin that levelled their arrows or took out weapons were hard-pressed to find anywhere to wound their foes before they were engaged.

Janius made an example of one Skaafin by thrusting his axe-bearing arm into its middle and sent it flying over the edge of the tower.

Fendros leapt through upon Leaps-On-Elves with a more slithering landing and put an arrow in another Skaafin's neck in short order. He knew Ahnasha would not give him the chance to pick his targets carefully before the rest of them dropped. Besides, there would be plenty of arrows to replenish his quiver here.

Sabine was the last of their group through, needing to keep the portal open for everyone else. By the time she landed and gained her bearings, the present Skaafin were already overwhelmed. She spared an inquisitive look at the orb above the pedestal at the centre of the platform they stood upon. It could not have been a sigil stone unless it was reserved for a portal made later.

Back at the command post, the commanders watched on after Ri'vashi gave the signal to skirmish the enemy's main force.

Teroiah gave a moment to regard the position they sat in. "It would appear our fortifications are nearly complete. By my estimations, if your feint succeeds, we may be ready to bring artillery to bear. Most efficient."