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

[EliteCommander]

Despite returning immediately from her meeting with the Legate General, it was still several hours before Meesei was close to ready for her mission to Black Marsh. To avoid word spreading about what she intended to do, Meesei went to each person that was to accompany her and told them in-person to meet her in her chambers. She had no wish to hide anything from her own pack, so she did inform Fendros and Ahnasha of what she intended to do, but she also made it clear that they were free to remain in Blackreach, due to their rather horrifying experiences the last time they met Molag Bal's cult.

Meesei was patient in waiting for everyone to arrive; she had specifically told them not to rush, and to make sure they were ready. She had approached Lorag, Janius, Kaleeth, Sabine, and, after their conversation the previous night, Lunise to join her. She was sat on a cushioned stone chair in her room, with the Staff of Magnus sitting across her lap. Though, it was the Rueful Axe on the table nearby that perhaps drew more attention. This was the first time since they acquired it that it had actually been taken out of their vault. The entirety of their plan hinged upon that Axe being empowered for use against its very creator.

[Muttonhawk]

Lunise was naturally the one who ignored Meesei's advice not to rush. At least, that much was suggested by her relatively early appearance. She was out of uniform, instead opting for a rather understated set of trousers, a wrap shirts, and shoes. Glass vials tinkled together in a small leather satchel on her belt. With her hair tied up, she looked ready to act as support for Meesei in a fight. No Dominion agendas, no psychological impositions, nothing more than support.

Lorag and Sabine emerged next, equipped as they usually were for missions these days. Sabine was still displaying dark rings around her eyes. On top of still holding anxiety over her recent experiences, she was never glad to leave Yerig and Do'rhajul alone for more than an hour or two.

Little time remained before Janius and Kaleeth both strode in, suited in their respective heavy armours. It was only when they were fully equipped like this or transformed into beasts that their image as gentle parents was challenged in others' minds.

Then again, how everyone looked was telling enough of how they had changed over the years since last at Molag Bal's cult. They all remembered it gravely, though. Lunise could pick it up in their expressions.

"So, do we have a plan?" Janius started off.

[EliteCommander]

Meesei stood up and took a few steps over towards the Axe on the table. "Ideally, none of you will need to do anything. We are meant to be...allies, after all. But, events may not play out ideally. If something should go wrong, our priority is simply survival. The Staff of Magnus should provide the advantage we would require to escape. Hal-Neesa or her husband may recognize it, so Sabine, I would like for you to wield it. Hopefully their attention will be focused too much on me to notice. However, should we need to escape, we will have to make sure that the Rueful Axe stays with us. If they should have the Axe and turn on us, then we will need to fight them only as much as is required to reclaim it. After that, we should stay close to Sabine so she can create a portal for us."

After handing off the staff to Sabine, Meesei picked up the Axe in her hands and held it out to Kaleeth. "And I believe you should hold the Axe. No one will be wrestling it from your grasp."

Kaleeth accepted, giving a firm, determined nod as she gripped the haft of the weapon. It was heavy, but otherwise did not feel much different from any normal axe, at least on the surface.

"Otherwise, we just need to avoid offending our hosts." Meesei continued. "They are a cult of vampires and necromancers. Not pleasant to be around, but we have to show respect for their power. Interacting as little as possible with them would probably be best. Though, take care not to seem too 'passive' or 'weak.' If all goes to plan, then we are going to be communing with Molag Bal himself. I doubt the Prince of Domination holds much respect for mortals he does not consider worthy. In fact, I doubt he holds much more respect for those that are worthy. But, he is as angered with Vile as we are, if not moreso. As long as he believes our alliance will be beneficial to him, he may yet help us. Sabine, you remember the xanmeer, yes? You should create the portal when you are ready."

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine, though clearly hiding some anxiety about returning to the Xanmeer, agreed and carefully took the offered Staff of Magnus. She only turned halfway around before looking back. "Would it make more sense to use the staff to defend against the leaders of the cult? They are very powerful. We might need the staff for warding."

Lunise lifted her chin and clasped her hands together. "From what I understand, we have more magical power amongst us than your previous experience this time, even without the staff. Even I have had more years to practice than Meesei."

Meesei may have been a special case in terms of magical power for her age, but Lunise's point still stood. Albeit without Lunise having first hand experience of Hal-Neesa's sheer power.

[EliteCommander]

"That is true, but the staff can create a portal very quickly. Though, you do make a good point. Using the staff's ability to absorb magicka may be the wisest option. You could absorb the attacks of the cult leaders and use the power to quickly create a portal, should we be attacked. Those two would be the most dangerous opponents, though their cult should not be underestimated. They seem to be almost exclusively magic users, from my memory." Meesei replied.

Kaleeth looked down at the axe in her hands. She knew her responsibility was, in reality, not too difficult or complex, but it still made her nervous to hold the artifact. It was such an important object that losing it could quite literally doom them all. "I just hope we don't have to fight anyone. We don't have any other Daedric allies to power up the Axe."

Meesei hummed a moment in thought. "Perhaps, though if Molag Bal's reputation is any indication, even killing his followers may not erase the possibility of him helping us. He certainly cares little for them; he might actually be impressed by a show of competence on our part."

[Muttonhawk]

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that," Janius said. "The last time was the only time I have ever seen you so easily overcome in a magical duel, Meesei." He raised his brow and looked to Lunise. "Though I'm glad we'll have an extra ward on our side, at least. I...did not expect you would be joining us, Lunise. I would have thought it a diplomatic risk."

"I am not coming along for diplomatic reasons, Janius," Lunise explained with an unusual amount of patience. "You have all known for some time now what Meesei means to me. And, by extension, her family." She crossed her arms. "Even if I have to do so in secret, I will not let this dangerous stage be the end of anyone here."

Janius smiled. "It's appreciated."

Sabine nodded acknowledgement to Lunise as well. However, she did not seem eager to continue brooding over the danger. She brought the portal spell to her hands. "Is everyone ready?"

Janius pat his hand axe. "Ready."

Lunise flexed her fingers. "Take us there, Sabine."

With confirmation from the others, Sabine opened a small portal to the inside of the Xanmeer to check for danger; a precaution since Do'rhajul's ambush and also against possible flooding in Black Marsh. Once ready, she would open a larger portal for them all to step through.

[EliteCommander]

After everyone confirmed that they were ready, Sabine was able to create a portal to the xanmeer without issue, or at least it would seem so as the portal was being made. It was not until the moment she crossed through the threshold of the portal that she would feel that something was...off. The feeling was unlike anything she had experienced with any portal she had made in the past, even when he was just learning the spell. It was as if her connection with the location she had pictured in her mind had been, for an instant, disrupted. She, and everyone else in the group, would be able to pass through safely, but the place they arrived was not the one that she had chosen.

Instead of being indoors, the group arrived in the swamp, knee-deep in water, outside of the xanmeer. The fog that perpetually surrounded the cult's home was just as thick as Meesei remembered, so they could only barely make out the silhouette of the structure. Since she had not created the portal herself, Meesei was not immediately aware that something was wrong, though she had not expected to arrive outside.

[Muttonhawk]

Everyone was some measure of surprised that their first step was into a body of shallow water. Their stumbles for balance made plenty of noise in the otherwise dead mist around them.

"I thought you were taking us inside the xanmeer?" Janius asked.

"I was," Sabine responded with confusion. "I think...something is wrong. That was not supposed to happen. Something touched the connection. Nudged it. I do not know what."

She inhaled deeply and tried to reopen another portal into the xanmeer. She paid closer attention to the sensation disrupting her spell. No matter how she tried it, there was always something stopping her from precisely placing it inside.

"I cannot do it," she said with a hint of fear. She slowly turned to Meesei. "There is a risk. If I cannot open a portal to the inside, I might not be able to open a portal from the inside."

Janius peered around into the fog. "It's too late to let anything else on, now. They will know we're here."

[EliteCommander]

Meesei nodded in acknowledgement to Sabine. "I see. Teleportation, portals, they are forms of magic that are very old, and mostly lost to time." She said, giving an intense look towards the xanmeer. "But some mages may have never forgotten."

With a sigh, Meesei started to step towards the structure. "But Janius is right; there is no turning back. I am glad to have you all with me for this."

Trudging through the water made the approach to the xanmeer somewhat slow. It seemed like the area had flooded recently, given how high the water was on the stonework. Meesei did not doubt that the ancient xanmeer were designed to withstand such a common event, and if that failed, she was also fairly sure the cultists would have solved the problem in their own way. Nevertheless, the water did appear to have risen into the entrance of the stepped pyramid.

Just as they reached the entrance, the group would be able to hear the sound of footsteps in water echoing out from within. Meesei stopped where she was and prompted the others to do the same. Moments later, an Altmer stepped around the corner in front of them. He was wearing dark clothes that, just like himself, were completely drenched, though he did not acknowledge that fact in the slightest. For anyone with a particularly good memory, his pale face might have been familiar. "Hmm, so she was correct; we do have guests. Given your...method of arrival, there are only a few people you could be. Let me see, that smell...yes, so the dogs have returned, then. I suppose we can just skip the pleasantries, I am not in the mood. You wish to see the lord and lady, yes?"

Before Meesei could even open her mouth to speak, the Altmer interrupted her and turned back inside the xanmeer. "Of course you do. Come, come, follow me. I am sure they will be glad to interrupt their dinner for you."

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine traded a glance with Meesei. The Altmer did not so much as glance at Sabine's staff. That much was a hopeful start.

Lunise also gave Meesei a look. Hers was a mildly confused look.

After a moment, Sabine shrugged and resumed her forward movement behind Meesei. "At least we know we will be speaking to the same people," she murmured.

[EliteCommander]

The pale Altmer did not acknowledge anything that the pack said or did, even if they were to try and speak to him directly. The only thing he cared about was that they followed him through the corridors. Thanks to the flooding, they were as difficult to wade through as the swamp outside, until eventually they came to the point where they were waist-deep in water, and ahead of them was another ramp downwards. Once more without a word, the Altmer cast an alteration spell upon himself, then submerged into the next hallway.

Meesei took a moment to stop and cast a water breathing spell onto Lorag, but otherwise did not linger. The extent of the flooding was hardly surprising to anyone who had lived in the marsh. She and the rest of the pack followed behind the Altmer, swimming through the submerged hallways. Although, given the weight of their armor, it could hardly be called "swimming" for Kaleeth, Janius, and Lorag. For the most part, they had to walk along the floor, which forced the irritated cultist to slow his pace.

The pack was underwater for about a minute going through hallways that seemed to always angle downward, until they finally started to climb back upwards again. They were, of course, designed in such a way as to specifically allow water to collect in the halls along the outskirts of the underground complex so that it could drain back outside through specially designed stone pipeways. As the group headed back upwards, they emerged from the water into a hallway that was almost surprisingly dry. From there, it was just another minute before the Altmer guided them to their destination.

As the Altmer had alluded to before, he had taken them to a large dining chamber, with several, quite full tables. Meesei would not have been surprised if most of the cult was present. About half of the plates contained perfectly normal food, by Black Marsh standards. The only dish among that half that was uncooked was the trodh. However, the other half of the cult dined on raw, bloody mortal flesh, or simply drank from bottles of pure blood. Of course, for lycans, it was not terribly off-putting, given their general acceptance of cannibalism. The only detail that might have made the pack uncomfortable was the fact that this cult's victims may not have been as deserving of their deaths.

At the head of the very center table, sitting in elaborately decorated chairs were the familiar faces of Hal-Neesa and Llarvan Samarys, the "lord and lady" of the cult. Although, Neesa hardly even seemed to notice when the pack entered until the Altmer announced them. "Lord Samarys, lady Neesa, our...you seem to have been right about our guests."

"Yes...our guests." She replied, immediately quieting down the room. She gave a long, silent stare towards all of them as she placed down her bottle of blood. "Who are they again?"

Llarvan turned his head slowly to his wife. "The lycans, I believe. I think that one is their leader."

"Right. The 'Champion' as they say. Just...wait over there by the door, I will get to you all in a moment." Hal-Neesa instructed, surprisingly dismissively.

[Muttonhawk]

Hal-Neesa's apparent lack of retained memory of the pack was hard to place. If it was true, it could be an advantage should she have also forgotten their capabilities. Unfortunately, it could also mean that the details of their respective Daedric patrons' alliance also slipped away over the years. The other option was that she was putting on an act. Why she would do that was not clear either, except perhaps to send a message of how little the pack mattered to her.

Either way, Sabine took solace in her not feeling a particular gaze against the Staff of Magnus she held in her right hand.

Janius traded glances with a few cultists. He considered taking Meesei's advice and not appearing meek, but he had a feeling that bluster for the sake of interrupting a meal in progress would display more arrogance than was useful.

Once the pack had shuffled to one side by the door, Janius leant in to murmur to Meesei. "Can we afford to wait?"

"It is just a meal," Sabine whispered. "They will not be long."

Lunise opted to remain silent, vigilant, and scowling. She kept her thoughts and feelings to herself.

[EliteCommander]

Meesei too elected to wait patiently, taking the opportunity to observe her surroundings. It seemed like quite a few of the cultists were apathetic to their presence, which she supposed made sense due to the fact that they did occasionally send representatives from one of the local Black Marsh clans to exchange information with the cult. It was not as if they never had contact with them. However, the fact that the Champion's pack was directly present likely had clued their leaders in to the fact that their business was more serious than usual.

Fortunately, the pack did not need to wait until the entire dinner was concluded, as Neesa, Llarvan, and a few others merely finished up a brief, but obviously confidential conversation before motioning for the pack to approach. Llarvan had the more serious expression of the pair, and a more keen eye towards Meesei's companions.

"So, the 'Champion' comes to us in person, and with one of Vile's trinkets. Suffice to say, I doubt this is a social visit." Llarvan commented. "Well, ally, speak your business."

"Of course." Meesei replied, waving a hand towards the Axe in Kaleeth's hands. "I shall not waste any of our time. As you see, we claimed an artifact of Vile. From what we have learned, something made from the blood of a Daedra, when empowered by another god, can be used to weaken the Daedra that created it. We seek your aid in communing with Molag Bal to request his power for our strike on our mutual enemy."

The reactions of Llarvan and Neesa were quite opposed to one another. While Llarvan stared at the Axe in serious contemplation, Neesa soon started to laugh. "You wish to commune directly with lord Molag Bal? Strangers in service to another Daedra, entirely ignorant of what it means to serve our lord. I sometimes forget how naive mortals can be."

Meesei supposed it was too optimistic for her to have hoped to secure their aid without any resistance; it seemed like Neesa, at least, did not want to allow them an audience with Molag Bal to begin with. "I assure you, we have no intention of disrespecting either you or your lord. However, I must speak to him. If you have no wish to assist us directly, then all I would ask, on behalf of our alliance, is information on how to commune with him on our own."

"Hmm, oh, no, you misunderstand me, child." Neesa replied, her grin becoming almost pernicious. "It is hardly any effort at all for me to help you. In fact, this will be far too entertaining for me to even consider stopping this audience from occurring. Why, it may even be more amusing that watching Vinaremo fail to transform himself into a bird. Come, husband, we should give our allies exactly what they desire. We can even lend them our altar."

Llarvan hummed a moment and returned a more subtle grin towards his wife. "I suppose so. I will have the altar prepared; it should not be long."

As the Dunmer stood up from his seat, Neesa motioned at the table around her. "In the meantime...care to join me for dinner? It is such a coincidence that we are having so many guests so soon. We just had a wonderful evening with a group of traders all the way from Leyawiin that got lost near our home. The Imperial in particular was such a treat." Neesa commented as she telekintetically levitated what appeared to be a raw human heart from a plate to her right and pushed it towards the pack, as if to offer it to them. In particular, she seemed to be offering it to Lunise, oddly enough.

[Muttonhawk]

Everyone in the pack was doing their best to remain stoic in the face of the already dreadful allusions Hal-Neesa made towards their plan. Lunise was neither the least stoic nor the least practiced. She crossed her arms, staring with a soft frown down at the glistening heart hovering in front of her.

With a slow blink, Lunise looked at Hal-Neesa. "I'm not hungry," she said flatly.

Even if Lunise did not squirm as Neesa had perhaps been goading her to, there was a restraint to Lunise's reaction. It told the pack that she was taking Meesei's warnings seriously regarding Neesa's power.

[EliteCommander]

Meesei found it curious that Neesa had singled out Lunise from their group to focus her attention on, especially considering that Meesei doubted that Neesa remembered which of them had or had not been present over ten years prior. She had hardly even remembered Meesei's face. Regardless, that mystery did not remain for long as Neesa continued.

"Hmm, a shame." Neesa replied, dropping the heart back down on a plate. She took a sniff of the air, then clasped her hands together in front of her. "But I am curious, what is it that a plain, regular mortal is doing with a pack of dogs? Are you their handler?" She grinned.

[Muttonhawk]

Lunise's back somehow stiffened a fraction further. "I am...one interested in seeing Vile stopped," Lunise answered evenly. "My interests align with Meesei's pack and I thus assist them. That is what allies do."

The hairs on the back of Sabine's neck stood on end. Lunise may have let perhaps a hint of her displeasure through with her choice of words.

"She's a friend," Janius added to try and close off the questions. "We have friends who aren't infected. There's nothing strange about that."

[EliteCommander]

"No, of course not. Until you phrase it like that." Neesa replied with a brief, passing glance to Janius, though her gaze quickly settled back onto Lunise. Her stare was intense, along with the agonizingly long moments of silence that accompanied it before she finally spoke again. "Whether you are truthful or not, you make sure to stay on your best behavior, child. You are new to my home, so I will give you the fair warning that I do not take kindly to troublemakers."

Following her threat, Neesa abruptly disengaged from the conversation, or any real interest at all in the pack. She left them standing in silence as she finished up the large bottle of blood she had been drinking. She took her time, and ended up finishing the last drop just moments before her husband returned to the chamber. He said nothing, as merely being present was enough to alert Neesa that the altar was ready. "There we are, it looks like we are ready. Soon enough, you will finally be able to say that you have spoken to an actual, powerful Daedra. Or you will be dead; it is really all in Molag Bal's hands at that point."

The location that Hal-Neesa and Llarvan guided the pack to was far down, deep into the xanmeer. Meesei did not know the structure's layout, but she would not have been surprised if they were being taken to the absolute lowest floors in the underground complex. Although, it was also one of the larger ones. Meesei could not so much as guess its original purpose, as the cultists looked to have repurposed it beyond any recognition. The walls were smooth, and any carvings they once held had been removed. Instead, the walls were decorated with paintings depicting all forms of violence and suffering, including one, rather graphic painting at the back of the chamber that depicted the corruption of Lamae Bal. There were also a variety of ornate spears, blades, and maces hanging on the wall, all with strange, spiky designs. They all appeared to be inspired by what Meesei recognized as descriptions of the Mace of Molag Bal, though none appeared to be the mace itself.

In the middle of the chamber, near the back wall was the altar. It was near completely black and had a sculpture of Molag Bal's head with blood pouring from the mouth into a spiky basin below. There were a few other, robed cultists in the room, along with one near the altar with an Argonian standing beside him. Unlike the rest, the Argonian was wearing little more than rags. His scales were pale, though was far too gaunt and weak to be a vampire. His hands were not bound like a prisoner, but he made no effort to move anywhere. The robed man next to him wordlessly held out a curved dagger to Meesei as they approached the altar.

Despite their surroundings Hal-Neesa still carried a smile. "And here we are; it looks like everything is ready for you. Just make the sacrifice on the altar, and we shall see if lord Molag Bal decides you are worth his time. Make sure plenty of blood gets into the basin."

While Meesei did take the dagger in her hand, she froze in place in silence, and with a blank expression. Slowly, her eyes moved between the members of her pack, and to Lunise.

[Muttonhawk]

There was no comfort gained in getting to this point, especially with the way Meesei looked at them all. Sabine and Lunise were unlucky enough to know that Molag Bal's demands were invariably cruel. There was no doubt Janius, Kaleeth, and Lorag could gather as much by the situation.

Lunise was the one who spoke. She did so jut as flatly as before, but with no disrespect to how she believed Meesei felt about the situation. "You know what you have to do, Meesei."

She then turned her eyes not to the weakened Argonian man, but to the robed figure who handed Meesei the dagger.

"You know what this place favours," she added.

[EliteCommander]

Clenching the dagger tightly in her hand, Meesei took a step forward and stared into the man's eyes. The silence was, at least for those in the pack, tense. The Argonian was even more emotionless than Meesei, but after a few seconds, whatever Meesei found by staring into his blank, orange eyes caused her own expression to soften just slightly. Letting out a long breath, Meesei grabbed the Argonian's arm and pulled him up to the altar, turning him to face it. She gave him no more than a light push, as he offered no resistance whatsoever to anything she did, even when she leaned his head over the basin and pressed the dagger to his throat.

"Molag Bal, I would speak to you. Here is your sacrifice." Meesei said aloud, her tone firm and her words concise. She was quick and efficient in her kill, pushing the knife deep into his throat to ensure that he bled as quickly as possible. Nearly every drop that was spilled landed into the basin, and once it ceased, she allowed his corpse to fall to the side of the altar.

When Meesei dropped the dagger to the ground, the sound of the metal hitting stone echoed through the large chamber for what seemed like ages. She could not even hear her own breath for the silence that she held in waiting of Molag Bal's response. After the eternity that was the next few seconds, it appeared that Molag Bal might decide to ignore the sacrifice entirely, but then there was a change in the basin. The blood flowing from Molag Bal's sculpture ceased entirely. The rest of the blood in the basin began to bubble as if it were boiling, though there was no heat.

Molag Bal made no apparition of his form, but what did follow was his loud, omnipresent voice. It did not emanate from the shrine, but rather seemed to originate from all around them at once. "So, Hircine's favored dog desires an audience with the Lord of Domination. Do you think being the Hunter's pet makes you worthy to summon me?"

Along with the words came a feeling, almost like a sickness in Meesei's stomach, along with everyone else in the room. There was not a shred of doubt as to who was speaking; it was no trick. Even the vampire lords Hal-Neesa and Llarvan seemed to lose some of their confidence in the presence of Molag Bal.

[Muttonhawk]

No one enjoyed watching Meesei slay the broken man over the altar. It left an awful taste in their mouths that only increased their desires to leave. But it was necessary. They had to get what they came for.

The voice was like a slowed down sighting of a predator pouncing out to each in the pack. They were powerless in Molag Bal's presence. Janius clenched his teeth and hardened his look to obscure his trepidation. Lunise's already quiet breathing slowed to silence as if she was hiding. Sabine clutched the Staff of Magnus so closely and tightly that its surface and her palms emitting a creaking.

Janius flicked his head to one side. He gave Kaleeth a look, as well as the axe she held. Everything was as it was before. Meesei simply had to negotiate with one of the less pleasant Daedric Princes in existence. They waited for her response.