[IC] Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

[Muttonhawk]

"I see," Fendros said, taking it all in. So, these people were cunning tricksters, but they were also fighting for a cause. What cause? Fendros thought, I don't remember reading about any particular Aedra or Daedra having a hate for werewolves in particular. Maybe it isn't religious. It could be something else.

The rest of the night was brief. There wasn't much else to do with the storm raging, so they all settled to their bedrolls early.

---

Morning came unexpectedly for Fendros, who has inadvertently positioned his bedroll away from the rays of the morning sun. He was shaken awake by Janius, "Rise and shine, Fendros. Time to hunt."

Fendros took a deep breath and sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes and suddenly realizing what time it was. He hurried to collect his equipment and stood ready in a short amount of time given the circumstances. Everyone was ready to hunt, even Sabine, who had twisted her cloak into a heavy rope-like sash over her shoulder. It was a rare sight to see her exposing her gaunt figure, maybe even the only times where she did so was in preparation for a hunt.

[EliteCommander]

As everyone was waking up and getting ready for their morning hunt, Meesei returned to the cave from the outside, after having scouted the immediate area. The group had been to Morrowind before, but never Vvardenfell. The island held significantly more barren ashlands than any part of the mainland, and while it had recovered somewhat from the Red Year almost two centuries prior, it still only held a fraction of its former beauty. The particular area they were in was grassy, with tall mushroom trees and other types of foliage, but much of it was covered in a layer of ash from the previous night's storm, and it was not far to the start of the ashlands.

"I've scouted the area, and it seems it will be safe for us all to go on this hunt. The direction on the winds likely will not be bringing another ashstorm our way." Meesei announced as she entered. "Make sure to store our belongings, especially our food stored, deep enough in the cave. We do not want their scent attracting scavengers while we are gone. This hunt is going to serve two purposes. First and foremost is that we need leather to make cloaks and other shields against the raging ashstorms that can form at any time on this island. As you all know, we do not have an unlimited time frame to complete our task, so we cannot afford to stop and find shelter every time the weather falls out of our favor. Beyond this, the hunt will serve as an introduction to Fendros on how we hunt together in our beast forms. When we finally track down our quarry, the Orc, we will need to be working together at our best to defeat him. Now, let's get our final preparations ready, then head outside." Meesei explained.

Meesei helped the others to move all of their belongings deeper into the cave, away from any prying eyes that might pass by, then undressed herself and walked outside to give herself enough space for her transformation. The others followed suit, and one after another, they began their shifts into werewolf form. At first, the gruesome sounds of bones cracking filled the air outside the cave, but it was quickly replaced with the bestial growls of their wolf forms. Lorag in particular let out a fearsome roar when his transformation concluded, as he was always excited to unleash his potential. Even in their wolf forms, they each had their own talents. Although the size of Meesei's body was fitting for an alpha, Lorag was larger and physically stronger, though Meesei had a better combination of strength, endurance, and speed. Sabine was of course the smallest, but had the advantage of agility, while Janius and Ahnasha were in the middle of the strength vs. agility spectrum. To an outsider, the collection of beasts outside the cave would have been a frightful sight indeed. If one werewolf was intimidating, then an entire pack was a nightmare.

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros nearly hit himself as he realised that a pack hunt meant for them all to transform at once. He had just assumed that it would be a regular hunt where they would all be assessing him some more. He joined the rest of them in depositing their belongings at the back of the cave and followed them outside as if it were nothing, but he felt as if having his bow at the ready from the beginning may have given away his ignorance.

In a way, Fendros was worried about indulging his beast form in such a way, but he was more confident than before after the instruction he had been given. He would have more control this time, and more importantly he had been taught when to control, rather than trying to resist the beast the entire time. It was slightly terrifying to transform among the entire pack. The sounds of all the morphing and warping seemed to multiply on one another until it was the only thing he could perceive.

After transforming, Fendros could feel his heart pounding with excitement. He waved his head from one side to the other, looking at everyone in their beast forms. The prospect of a pack hunt completely took over his emotions to the point where he emitted low whines instead of trying to talk. Fendros' consciousness perceived his own excited behaviour as childlike (or more appropriately puplike) in hindsight, however his beast form was not exactly a paragon of civil maturity. Fendros' own beast form was similar to Janius and Ahnasha's, but in a way slighter and less dominating. He was still the newest and least experienced member of the pack and it manifested physically.

[EliteCommander]

Meesei stood in front of her pack, her wolfish eyes looking over each member. She had hunted together with her pack many times, but this time they were one stronger. With nothing but a grunt and a simple head motion, she started to run off to the northeast, with the rest of the pack immediately knowing to follow. As usual, she kept up a quick pace as she scanned the air for the scent of prey. Unfortunately, she was not nearly as familiar with the scents of the creatures of Morrowind, so she could not tell what exactly she was tracking, but she knew how to identify the scent of a prey animal.

Unlike some of her previous hunts with Fendros, she was taking the lead completely, and no one was guiding him through what to do. Although she was capable of speech in this form, any direction she gave was in the form of either a specific movement, or a short grunt or growl. Experience had taught them all to pick up on the cues the others were giving, so they did not need speech to effectively cooperate on their hunts. Fendros did not have such experience, but he was performing well enough, given the situation. He made a few mistakes, but they were expected and not particularly damaging. Mostly, he was able to follow the lead of the others to figure out what to do, and hopefully, he was trying to learn how to pick up on the cues Meesei gave as well.

The tracking was taking longer than Meesei would have liked. The ashstorm from the previous night had covered most of the scent trails that she would normally find on the ground, and she was having little luck finding a strong scent in the air, at least for a while. After a few hours, she caught the scent of something interesting, something familiar. She led the others in following it, slowing down and growing more silent as they drew nearer to its source. As the scent grew more intense, she recognized that it was not a guar, alit, netch, or indeed any local creature, but rather a scent she already knew: Dunmer. Individual scents became more distinct as they approached, so she was able to tell that there was a group of them, and from the faint hint of skooma in the air, she doubted they were your average travelers.

"What did I tell you about drinking the product, s'wit? Give me that!. Idiot." A Dunmer woman's voice shouted out from just over a small hill between the group of Dunmer and Meesei's pack.By this point, Meesei was crawling along on her belly as she peered over the hill to minimize the noise she was making. What she saw was about six or so Dunmer, perhaps more if they were hidden away within any of the three tents around their campfire. There was a Dunmer woman in chitin armor holding up an opened bottle of skooma, trying to keep it away from a short Dunmer male, who seemed to be arguing with her. The others just looked to be watching while chatting amongst themselves. They were all armed, and most were armored. The smell of skooma was strong enough that they had to have more than just one bottle, and combined with the argument she overheard, Meesei guessed they were smugglers: a target she did not mind attacking. With a simple glance, she could see that they had furs, leather, and other supplies that would be useful to them...not to mention the meat on their bones.

Meesei looked at Ahnasha and Janius, then gave a quick head motion to the right, signaling for them to flank from that direction. She did the same for Lorag and Sabine to flank from the left, then looked at Fendros and pawed at the dirt next to her, indicating for him to stay with her. Once the others were in position, they would all converge on the camp.

[Muttonhawk]

They had caught a scent after a long time wandering. It was enough time for Fendros' initial excitement to become less intense and settle into the flow of the pack hunt. There was still much to learn, but he was quick to adapt, and seldom made the same mistake twice in terms of communication. As Fendros followed, he recognised the scent they were following, but couldn't place it. It may have been humanoids of some description, that was his best idea.

Hearing the voice of the Dunmer woman ahead was something that caused small apprehension at first, still caught up in the hunt as it were. As they stalked closer, his apprehension grew from his own Dunmer side of his consciousness. He began to feel resistance from his beast spirit, a bumping and pushing in his mind that would proceed a conflict. Everyone took their positions, Fendros obeyed his alpha and stayed by her. Signs of conflict began to show as his foreclaws clutched at the ground beneath him, digging out a divot under his palms. His arms began to shiver in addition. He hadn't killed anyone in his werewolf form as of yet. In fact, he hadn't killed anyone in general, only animals. It seemed so wrong to kill these people in cold blood, but he was readying himself to pounce in any case. He had to stay silent, he had to find his place in the pack. The command of the alpha was not something he could resist while in this form.

Everyone silently lay in wait while the Dunmer group continued to argue. All Fendros could do was brace himself, it would be over quickly. His beast blood prevailed this time. He opened his eyes again, he spotted his pack mates behind concealment. Without warning they pounced and charged, running on all fours. It didn't look like the first few of their prey would even have the time to draw their weapons.

[EliteCommander]

As soon as Meesei began to charge, the others all immediately followed suit, rushing forward in full sprint. Two of the Dunmer happened to be facing the correct direction to see them approach, but their initial surprise prevented them from yelling anything more helpful than "Look out!" before they were upon them. Though it certainly would seem chaotic to the Dunmer, each member of the pack was moving with precision. Sabine was the first to reach the Dunmer, and the first to select her target. She pounced on the Dunmer male who had been arguing with the woman who snatched his skooma, catching him completely off-guard. She tackled him to the ground and began clawing at his unarmored flesh.

The woman he was arguing with jumped back in surprise and fumbled to try and draw her sword, but it was far too late for her to do anything now, as Meesei was already lunging for the kill. She pounced on her woman, her jaws latching down on the Dunmer's throat before they had even hit the ground. With one simple motion, she tore through the thickest of her arteries, causing her to lose enough blood to kill her in seconds. At the same time, four of the Dunmer had managed to draw their weapons and were moving together toward Meesei and Fendros, but what they did not notice was Lorag flanking around behind a tent to the left, while Ahnasha and Janius were rushing at them from the right. Each of them would inevitably pounce upon the closest target to them, which would leave Fendros fighting a tall, sword wielding Dunmer woman wearing a slightly worn iron chestplate with leather pants.

Meesei looked up and was about to help Fendros when she saw movement to her left. Glancing over, she spotted a confused male, this time Altmer instead of Dunmer, crawling out of the tent beside her. She jumped at him, and his response was actually rather impressive. He managed to flawlessly reach for a short blade beside him and slash at her with reasonable enough accuracy for the situation to create a gash across her left shoulder. Of course, it mattered little, because as soon as she was upon him, she stabbed two of her claws into the back of his neck and gripped tightly onto his head. Her claws severed his spinal cord, so he was already doomed, but when she ripped his head from his body, it sealed his fate.

[Muttonhawk]

A fraction of a second of hesitation passed as Meesei lunged forward into the fray. Fendros threw himself into a run behind her, damning it all. There was one Dunmer man that he had decided to target, but was beaten to it by another of the pack. It was all too fast for him to notice who. There was a cacophony of shouts and the tearing of fabric and armour as the majority of the prey were snuffed out in the space of a few seconds.

Fendros looked about himself for a new target, but one seemed to find him. A tall, strong looking woman wielding a sword and an expression that bordered on panic and confusion, but a stance that seemed to be braced to fight. Fendros growled and lowered himself to jump at her. No, do not fall into her trap, Fendros tried to inject his own sense of the battle into his instinct. Instead of jumping, Fendros stalked around her for a couple of steps, then lashed out with one clawed arm. The woman stepped back out of his reach at the last moment and tried to follow through with a thrust at his throat. Perceiving the movement in her footwork, Fendros reared and stood up out of the way of the blade and swiped at the woman's sword arm with his other arm. The woman cried out in pain as a loud snap could be heard from her arm breaking and the sword thudding onto the ash. Now was the time to go for the neck. Fendros let his instinct guide his teeth to the woman's throat and push her to the ground in the process. Blood, the taste of the blood and flesh was satisfying, but as he raised his head from his kill, a portion of her throat still in his mouth, there was still a fight going on. Fendros felt as if his head were in a vice with how loudly his Dunmer conscience was protesting, but the beast was dominating his mind this time. There was no stopping.

Fendros could either smell the fading life of the ones they had just killed, or there was more to be found. The tents. Fendros approached one of the tents and tore at its covering to try and find any more. There was nothing. He moved to another one, the same thing. He stopped and stood to sniff the air and tried to hear any more signs of life.

[EliteCommander]

Meesei did not much care about the wound on her shoulder. Adrenaline negated much of the pain, and it was minor enough that, with lycan regeneration being what it was, it would heal quickly. Instead, she searched around the camp with the others, making sure there were no more of the smugglers before proceeding. After walking around the camp for a minute or so, Meesei grabbed the corpse of a Dunmer woman Janius had killed and dragged it to the center of the camp. Her clothing was made of simple cloth and would not be particularly useful to them, so it did not matter if they ripped into it for their meal. Even if it was not entirely necessary, it was traditional for them to eat at least some part of their kills right after a hunt, and there was more meat on the bodies than they could carry anyway.

As usual, Meesei ate first. She ripped into the corpse's torso with her teeth and tore out her favorite organs, including the heart. She carried them off to the side for her own meal, then let the others have their take. One after another, they each came by the body in order of their rank within the pack and tore off pieces for themselves, whether it be cuts of meat, or perhaps a limb. After Sabine took her share, it was Fendros' turn to eat.

[Muttonhawk]

And just like that, there was no one the pack had left alive. There was still the thrill of the moment running through Fendros' mind by the time Meesei decided to take her share of the kill, so his beast form looked on hungrily as the corpse was torn apart. As the rest of the pack took their turns to feed, it was enough time for Fendros' Dunmer mind to gain some footing. Different parts of his mind began to push and shove once more. He was disgusted at the gore, at other Dunmer being ripped to shreds, but the other end of his mind wanted to join in and feast.

Anxiety swept over his entire demeanour by the time it was his turn. It was at the point where his footsteps were slow, reluctant. This wasn't like feasting on beasts or animals like it was with Meesei. Even if some of the food that he might have tasted in their stores could have been humanoid, even Dunmer, to have it all in front of him was tearing him in two. He stepped up to what was left of the Dunmer woman, and took in the scent. Fresh meat. This attempt to control was as futile as any other time and Fendros knew it. He let go and tried not to observe too much of what his beast form did. By the time he had regained some semblance of control, he felt somewhat sated and had blood dripping from his claws and his mouth. The corpse was a scatter of bone and viscera, unrecognisable. Oh Ancestors, what have I done now? Fendros thought sullenly. He suddenly felt exhausted, as if the reality of the situation had completely evaporated his energy. I can't... this is... he fell to his haunches and kept his eyes away from the contact of others in the pack. He wondered whether it was even worth trying to transform back now. He was a monster, he had just been reminded of that with his worst fear. What was the point of pretending otherwise?

[EliteCommander]

Meesei watched carefully as Fendros stepped up to take his share. He seemed hesitant, which was to be expected. For those raised in cities, eating other mortals was one of the more difficult things about adapting to life as a lycan. He went through with it, however, which meant it was only going to become easier from there. His beast spirit was probably the driving force behind the act, but Meesei was confident Fendros would adapt in time.

Now that they had finished their breakfast, it was time to take stock of what they could recover from these smugglers. A quick glance around seemed to suggest they had enough leather, fur, and other materials to make the cloaks they needed. Even if they did not have enough tanned leather, it would be easy enough to tear apart their bedrolls and tents to make up for the rest. Meesei transformed herself back into her Argonian form, which prompted the others to do the same.

"It took longer than I had hoped, but the take is better than I expected. There should be more than enough materials here for our purposes, and then some. Look around and see what of value they have hidden away, and if they have any weapons or armor of good enough quality to bother with. I believe the corpse over near that tent has a good set of chitin armor." Meesei suggested. She herself had no sort of skill with moving in armor, but several of her pack members did, and it was rare for them to find groups of bandits and such with any decent quality armor. Before taking a look around for herself, Meesei decided to approach Fendros, as she wanted to complement his performance...and make sure he was coping with his recent act of cannibalism.

[Muttonhawk]

For the first time since the time he blacked out with his very first transformation, Fendros' beast form receded of its own accord rather than with Fendros leading it away. After flexing and rediscovering his pained joints in his Dunmer form, as he did after each transformation, he held his head bowed forward. He could feel a lump in his throat and a pressured tightness in his chest. He was furious with himself. As if trying to play it off for a moment, he tried gathering up materials from the smuggler's belongings, snatching up a couple of bolts of cloth, each with more frustration than the next.

He went about his task with shallow breaths and no words. Meesei approached before he could gather much. Fendros threw her a quick angry glance and considered shouting at her, but he settled for fuming as he had been and ignoring her presence. His beast spirit wasn't around to be in such awe of her as usual now that it had fed, so Fendros didn't talk and silently blamed her for everything. The only confirming communication that he expressed to her was to shake his head.

[EliteCommander]

Meesei crossed her arms as she looked at Fendros, who was not hiding his anger well, if he was even trying to. "Be angry if you like, but that does not change that you performed well. You followed along with the pack well enough and contributed to our attack."

Meesei said nothing more to Fendros, preferring to leave him to calm down on his own. Instead she walked around camp and gathered any bag or pouch she could find and collected them near the campfire. Anything that was either directly useful to them in and of itself, or could be turned into something useful, could be placed inside. The also dragged three more bodies, including the one wearing chitin armor, next to them. While she would have liked to have taken them all, they would not be able to successfully store all of the meat they would gather from them.

Beyond what one would normally expect to find in the camp of armed travelers, Ahnasha also found a chest filled with pouches of moon sugar, while Meesei uncovered a few crates filled with bottles of skooma. Ahnasha had an interest in the moon sugar, but even she avoided skooma. The most value that they could derive from it was that it could be sold, but that was a risky venture, and not one Meesei would even want to get involved in.

"Hmm, leave the skooma here. We have no need of it, and I am not keen on selling the narcotic." Meesei said, closing the lid on the chest. Even being raised in a remote village in Black Marsh, she had seen the effects that such an addictive substance could have on people. Skooma could reduce them to shells of their former selves, if they became too obsessed, and it was not something she wanted herself or any of her pack members becoming involved in.

[Muttonhawk]

Meesei was not the only one to notice Fendros' mood. After Janius had finished with the area he was searching, he approached Fendros from behind, who was still fuming and withdrawn. "Hey, Fendros," Janius said with one hand on his hip, "that was the first one of your own kind that you've killed, wasn't it?" He gestured to the red smear where the corpse they fed on used to be. "I know it's hard-"

"-Don't! Even! Talk!" Fendros burst out, making rapid movements with one hand on each word for emphasis, "just..." Fendros gritted his teeth, then pushed back whatever anger he had left and resumed what he was doing.

Janius stood his ground, he kept the same pose and tone. "I was like you, Fendros. We were all-" Janius waved his hand around to pan in the direction of the rest of the pack, "-like you. For the most part, we had qualms about our new nature. I remember when I first killed and ate an imperial, it was a bandit, but that didn't change the fact of the matter." Fendros piled up the hides of leather he had found with a more hurried pace, and Janius continued, "listen, I've had much time to think about my own situation. It may or may not help you to think of it this way, but... some things in the world... they're not problems to be solved. There are some things you just can't deal with, you can't get rid of. Once you know what those things are, you must treat them like the immutable facts of life that they are... you must adapt." Janius glanced to one side and took a deep breath, "Your beast blood, that is something you cannot control completely. No one can, at least not permanently." Fendros slowed to a stop and stood with his back to Janius still. "Look, no one asked you to enjoy your position, but where you are now, you are not an evil beast. You have a beast within you that you're probably fearing that you would become, but as long as you have our support -and you do- you can still be the Fendros that you want to stay as. Just think about that." Janius turned on his heel and went on his way, "... you can make it up to me with a bottle of mead, if you find one." Janius added as he strolled away.

Fendros remained still for a while. He could feel a cool tear run off the edge of his chin. It took all of his will to not turn around and strike Janius on the nose, but he could not refute him. Except maybe that he couldn't go back to his family, but that was a reality he had accepted weeks ago. Fendros sniffed and wiped the tears from his face. The anger had been replaced with a kind of hopelessness now. At least it was a peaceful hopelessness.

There was a nudge on Fendros' shoulder that took him by surprise, he turned around and saw Sabine in front of him, with what looked like a number of enlarged crab shells fashioned onto armour. Sabine shoved the pile of shells into his arms, much to his confusion. "What's this?" Fendros asked with a tired voice. "It's your size, don't waste." Sabine said, before walking off without another word, as she did. Fendros looked down at the objects he held now, it was the chitin armour that Meesei mentioned. He was surprised that no one else wanted it. He held a few of the pieces up to his body, it would indeed fit him. It was at least something else to occupy him to try it on. After several minutes of working out the various fastenings and sections, he tried moving around a bit in it. It was surprisingly lightweight and seemed rather sturdy. It even had a mask to ward off the ash, if he needed it.

Keeping the helmet under his arm for now, Fendros approached Meesei with a calmer mind. "Meesei, I apologise for being... difficult," He said with distinct lack of self-confidence, unsure whether it was worth trying to say sorry, "it's just another thing to get used to."

[EliteCommander]

Meesei listened with interest to Janius' attempt to console Fendros as she searched the largest tent for supplies. It was moments such as this that she was especially grateful for her pack. As much as she wished she was, Meesei was not perfect, and she did not have all the answers. Unlike Janius and Ahnasha, she did not have the same experiences as them; she did not have to adapt nearly as much to her current lifestyle. Cannibalism was still definitely taboo in her village, but it wasn't nearly as entrenched as with Imperial culture. She could not speak with the same empathy as they could. Additionally, her relationship with Fendros was a bit different than theirs. Being the Alpha, she was an authority figure, while his relationship with the others was more akin to that of peers. Perhaps not with Lorag, given his high rank within the pack, but the others did not carry the same weight of authority.

Meesei emerged from the tent carrying a few soul gems and some ingredients for Sabine shortly before Fendros approached him. He was wearing the chitin armor from the Dunmer she had killed in her initial strike, which seemed to suit him. It was tailored for a female, so it did not fit him perfectly, but it fit well enough. Janius' speech seemed to have worked at least partially, as Fendros was willingly approaching her to apologize. It wasn't really necessary, as she had not been offended in the first place, but she appreciated the sentiment. "You need not apologize, Fendros. As I said, you performed better than I expected. It would be unreasonable for me to think that you would adapt to all of our customs immediately. Remember, all of the challenges you are facing are something I have dealt with a few times before, such as with Janius and Ahnasha. For all her pride, even Ahnasha had the very same issue as you are now.

Ahnasha set her crate full of moon sugar down next to the rest of the bags, then approached Fendros, having heard Meesei's response. Normally, this would be the time for a quip defending the strength of her resolve, or perhaps a joke, but this was a special case. She could easily see Fendros was having a hard time, and having gone through it herself, she could definitely relate. The child she was carrying had brought her a bit closer to Fendros than the others, so she felt obligated to help if she could. She put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "You're not alone, Fendros. I'm always ready to talk, if you need it."

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros nodded. It certainly took some weight off his mind to know that he had not proven a particular inconvenience to the pack. To also have some empathy and support gave him some solace, especially from Ahnasha. Fendros brightened a little and smiled, "thanks. Both of you."

Before long, the pack had consolidated had consolidated what they deemed useful from the smuggler group. Fendros found a few notes of transaction that strongly suggested that they were indeed trafficking skooma to sneak into less protected borders through well payed for secret routes. Perhaps not something that Fendros deemed deserving of death, but there were certainly many lives that they may had abused through this practice.

Besides a comment from Lorag joking that Fendros looked like a girl in his armour, at which point he only just realised why it was such an odd fit in some places, there wasn't much else to do but ask Meesei what happens next.

[EliteCommander]

By Meesei's estimation, there was almost enough leather to make cloaks for all of them, but with Fendros having taken the chitin armor, they would not need to make one for him. Most of the bags and sacks they had collected around the campfire were filled with leather, but there were others packed with other useful items. They had recovered a decent amount of gold, though the number was not overwhelming. Perhaps that would have been different if they had found them after they sold their product, but that was not the case. Ahnasha packed the pouches of moon sugar she found into the bag with the other ingredients they had recovered. It was true that the substance could be used in alchemy, especially for magicka potions, but Ahnasha mostly wanted it for...personal use.

Once they had recovered as many useful items as they could find, they each took on their own share of the load, dividing the backpacks, sacks, and pouches between the entire group. Meesei walked over to the bodies by the fire and pickup one, the Altmer she had beheaded, by the arms. "Sabine, help me with this one, grab its legs. Everyone else, split two and two between the other two corpses by the fire. In this environment, it should be a while before they start decaying, but I would like to get them back to camp soon, just to be safe." Meesei said, casting a wave of alteration magic over the Altmer's body. The feather spell reduced the weight of the corpse significantly, which was why she specifically requested that Sabine be the one to help her, as she was far from the strongest in the group.

[Muttonhawk]

As commanded, Fendros lifted one of the corpses by the arms while Lorag took it by the legs. It was a bit macabre to be carrying around a Dunmer whose neck had been so badly ravaged that its head was bent back further than naturally when lifted, but Fendros just tried not to look down during the hike back to camp.

It was a longer distance than Fendros had anticipated. With how fast the pack was moving in their beast forms he had completely lost track of the distance they covered. Thankfully the way back at least seemed more direct than the meandering paths they took trying to find a scent. Fendros stayed quiet most of the way, deep in thought about Janius' words. Janius was right that independent of Fendros' beast form, he was still the same Dark Elf. He wasn't some terrifying stalker of the night that relished in killing and eating travelers. Then again, the corpse he was carrying would probably be part of what fed them all in the near future, did that contradict his thoughts? He certainly didn't like the idea of eating his own kind still, but chances are that he had already done so with whatever was in their stores before. His beast form could not be some kind of scapegoat when he ate in his Dunmer form. Maybe I'm thinking about this the wrong way, he pondered, I should probably try to find out why cannibalism is frowned upon, rather than just accept it.

It was not an obvious question to answer for Fendros. While they walked back, he decided to take the opportunity to ask Lorag. "Hey Lorag, if you don't mind me asking... how did you deal with, you know, eating people for the first time?"

[EliteCommander]

The trip back was slower than their dash to the northeast, but it was at least an uneventful walk. Meesei was keeping a close eye on her surroundings and spotted a few creatures tailing them, following the scent of the fresh meat they were carrying. Fortunately, their group was large enough that most predators would not even attempt to attack them, and the scavengers lost interest. Since it was taking a while to get back, and they would need to finish their cloaks before moving, they probably would not be able to head out before the next day. Regardless, what they had recovered from the smugglers' camp made the delay worthwhile.

Lorag glanced back at Fendros when he asked how he dealt with cannibalism. He wasn't really sure what to say, as consoling others was not exactly a strongsuit of his, but he couldn't really ignore the question either. "I didn't get much of a choice the first time. I was alone when I first turned; didn't have any experts to teach me like you do. When I transformed, my beast killed and ate whoever and whatever it wanted. If you're askin' about the first time I did it in my normal form, I guess that was a bit harder. It probably helped that I didn't have any other options. I wasn't good at all that hunting stuff when I first turned. I was a soldier, not a hunter. I had to take what I could get. I guess there's one thing I can say that might help, and that's this: why? You have a problem eating people, you think it's wrong. Why? Thinkin' about that helped me a lot."

[Muttonhawk]

"Hmm, right," Fendros nodded. It made sense that they came about the same thought processes, but Fendros could hardly imagine what it must have been like to be alone amongst all of it. Lorag must have been a real survivor, and survival drove him to do what he did. Fendros thought about it further, taking Lorag's advice. Thinking about it with a clearer head lead him down some lines of speculation. Perhaps the abhorrence was driven by empathy, eating someone after killing them would probably only make the act worse in the eyes of others, especially those that would grieve for the deceased. Was it some kind of disease? A madness? Werewolves didn't have to worry about the disease possibilities at least. The rest of the pack may have odd customs, but they weren't insane in his opinion. Perhaps in an extreme case, eating one another would drive one's one people into extinction, but this was rather far spanning and Fendros wasn't sure.

By the time they reached camp, Fendros had rationalised it to the point where he would avoid eating humanoids unless there was no other food. There may have been more to consider, but that was all he could think of at the time. It helped that these were criminals, he found that to be a more apparent truth as he continued to think. Hopefully he wouldn't stay too shaken by the act of killing someone for long, even if it was his beast form that drove him to do so.

More of the day was spent fashioning cloaks from the materials they had found. Everyone seemed content making their own cloaks for themselves, but Fendros used the time to attempt to adjust pieces of his new armour to fit him better, to varying results. It was a peaceful activity, a lethargic rest from the hunt. Fendros was in better spirits now after calming his emotions from the events of earlier that day. Casually, Janius spoke to Fendros from across the campfire while sewing a cowl onto his new cloak, "So, Fendros, I spotted you disarming that Dunmer before you killed her. You've gotten a lot better at controlling your beast form, you know that? You had your eyes on her movements and everything."

"I'm not sure how I feel about it, to be honest, Janius." Fendros looked up from his own work, "she was scared out of her wits. I could smell it and see it in her eyes."

Janius smiled, "Come now, give yourself some credit. You fought well, and avoided some serious injuries. With what we're hunting, next time they won't be so scared."

Fendros felt a chill as he was reminded of the werewolf hunters. He was apprehensive, but at the same time at least it would be a fight between adversaries rather than a massacre. Supposedly. "I'm not sure how I should feel about that either," Fendros responded.

[EliteCommander]

Cloaks were not particularly complicated garments to create, so it did not take long for each of them to create one for themselves. They did not need them for the moment, so most of the group stored them safely away with the rest of their belongings. Janius and Fendros were by the fire talking about the hunt, Sabine was organizing the alchemical ingredients they had collected, while Meesei and Lorag began preparing the bodies. They stripped them of their clothes, then laid them side by side, ready to be skinned. Lorag started on the Dunmer male, while Meesei conjured a bound dagger and began work skinning the headless Altmer.

"I would suggest feeling a healthy amount of fear." Meesei commented. "The hunters will not be trivial foes, and you must approach the situation appropriately. Just remember that you will not be fighting alone. We will all be there to support each other. Let others make up for your weaknesses while using your strengths to help everyone else."

Ahnasha took a seat next to Fendros by the campfire, holding a sweetroll with moon sugar sprinkled on top. It was one of the miscellaneous items she had brought back with her, and unfortunately, it was the only one she had found. She took a bite, then closed her eyes as a euphoric sensation came over her. Being Khajiit, she had a natural resistance to the substance, so its effects weren't nearly as potent on her. Still, it was a sensation she found pleasurable. She hoped Fendros did not give her too much trouble over it, given that she was with child. Unlike alcohol, eating moon sugar would not be harmful to a Khajiit child, but she didn't know if Fendros knew that.