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

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth had gathered her weapons just as Janius had been. When she approached him, she had her bow slung across her chest with her quiver on her back, a sharpened bone dagger tied around her waist, and her spear in her hands. The excitement was palpable in her expression as she nodded enthusiastically to him. "Of course. let us go; I know a good place to hunt in the area."

As the pair started to walk off from the village towards Kaleeth's hunting grounds, she started to talk to him once more. Her excitable personality and general fondness for Janius meant she could not stay silent for long. "I very ex-...I am very excited to see you hunt. I have never seen anyone hunt without a spear or bow. Master-Hunter always tells us to watch for new ways to...approach situations. He...might not like me learning from a Imperial, but...I am not caring.You say you have not hunted in Black Marsh much yet, though, right? Do you think you can track as well? Maybe I can give advice?"

Thorantilth gave a nod, then began to lead Sabine and Meesei over to the edge of the village, where the trial would be beginning. "This next trial is not directly hazardous, but it is more dangerous than your last. You will not be required to do anything directly dangerous to your health, but this trial does, for the most part, take place our in the marshes, so be on your guard. I will let Shaleer-Za explain in detail once we arrive at the start, but I will say the trial is essentially a foot race against time. However, it is more nuanced than a simple test of your speed and endurance. We have several people positioned along the path we have laid out for you to observe your progress. Speaking of which, you should get to your position too, Tunxeek."

Tunxeek nodded affirmatively, then ran off into the marsh just as they reached the edge of the village. Waiting for them was a brown-scaled Argonian woman with orange eyes and no horns or fins to speak of. Like many villagers, she wore very simple clothing, but was tattooed in a less intricate, but similar manner as Thorantilth, indicating her service to the Hist. Thorantilth motioned to Sabine as they approached, prompting Shaleer-Za to begin her explanation. As she did not speak Cyrodilic, Thorantilth served as her interpreter.

"Greetings, I am Shaleer-Za, and I am in charge of your second trial. This is a test of your speed and endurance, but most of all, your judgement. We have marked off a path through the marsh with colored cloths tied around the trees. You are to follow them as quickly as possible to reach your destination. The path does loop around, so you will end up back in the village, though not necessarily in this spot. The objective of this trial is simply to run the course in under fifteen minutes, but the course itself is not so straightforward. The first half of the race is simple and direct, but around the midpoint, the path diverges. This is where your judgement will be tested. There are many paths you may choose, but only one will allow you to complete your trial. I should also mention that you only get one opportunity to pass this trial, so choose well. Given the length of the course, the time limit is not too restrictive, but nevertheless, I would recommend carrying as little excess weight as possible and keeping up the highest speed you can without exhausting yourself prematurely. Do you have any questions for me before we begin?"

[Muttonhawk]

As they proceeded out of the village, Janius kept his eyes peeled and his nose up as he usually did when travelling the marsh. However, this time he was not only looking for threats, but also prey. He tried not to emphasise sniffing the air so as not to look odd, but even so, Kaleeth probably wouldn't know the average Imperial's sense of smell even if she did notice.

Kaleeth's words made Janius smile. He wondered when he would have to inevitably clash with the Master-Hunter. "Well, spears and bows are all well and good, but I was never very good with either. A bit of destruction magic can work just as well though, depending on what you hunt," Janius explained. To Kaleeth's question, Janius felt more confident than with his marsh hunting experience, but kept an open mind. "I can track well enough, but I'm always willing to hear new tips." Janius said, glancing to Kaleeth with a curious smile. Honestly, he wondered how anyone survived in the marsh without a keen sense of smell. Even if the visual signs to track with were harder to spot in the marsh, smells still lingered.

---

Sabine looked ahead from the start of the trial. It seemed simple as well, but she wondered what exactly would be tested. Her judgement? Her speed? What did she have to judge?

"Only one. What is the difference between the paths?" Sabine asked monotonously. She didn't expect a clear and complete answer if the policy was similar to the first trial, but she didn't want to have to choose between seemingly identical looking paths because she missed a detail by mistake. Especially if she only had one chance at this trial. Other than that, the rest seemed clear to her.

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth kept her nose to the air to watch for the scent of predators, though until they reached her hunting grounds, she was not especially looking out for prey. Until then, there was no problem with her talking to him and explaining a bit more about the marsh. "There are many creatures we can kill. There are usually many hackwings flying around, but they are fast, hard to hit. You have to sneak up on them when they rest, or eat. Voriplasm are easy to kill, but really hard to move, and to cut up right. They have this...stuff in them that...what is the word? It is...what your body does to food. It melts skin and flesh in a few seconds, then they drink it up. You have to drain that stuff before moving it. I think these hunting grounds are far enough from the inner marsh that we might see alit or kagouti, maybe. They usually aren't here, though. I know I can kill things like those, but there are other dangerous things we need to watch out for. Wamasu sometimes hunt here too, so we need to keep away from those. A tribe of lamia also lives here. I think I could kill one, but I would not want to. They are smart. They don't make weapons or build things, they do not have a...a civ-ill-i-zay-shaun, but they can talk. Not many know Jel, but they are still smart. I just wish they did not always attack strangers."

---

"The difference in the paths is that one will allow you to pass the trial, while the others will lead to failure. I'm sorry, but you have to judge these paths for yourself. I cannot give much description on what you will face." Thorantilth interpreted for Shaleer. Meesei placed a hand on Sabine's shoulder and looked down at her with a calming expression.

"I cannot say much about the trial as well, but what I can say is that you will not need any specific knowledge of the marsh to pass. All you need is your good judgement, which I trust in completely." Meesei added.

Shaleer-Za walked over to a marked spot on the edge of the village and conjured up a small ball of light just above her hand. When she started, it would pulse at a regular interval to help her keep time. "When you are ready, walk up to this line, then start I will start your time as soon as you start running. Be sure to keep up a good pace. If there is anything you do not wish to carry to cut down on weight, leave it here and I will make sure it is returned to you."

[Muttonhawk]

Even though Janius had seen his fair share of stomach churning sights in his life, he had to admit that a mental image of a creature dissolving its prey in its spat out bile was a repulsive one indeed. The other things that Kaleeth described were more or less known to Janius, except lamias. "I had only heard myths about lamias. Very old myths. I didn't even know that they existed. You say they are intelligent? Has anyone in your tribe tried to reason with them before?" Janius asked.

Hearing a telltale distant call over the chirping of insects and frogs around them, Janius looked up and spotted a small flock of hackwings up in the air in the distance. They were too far away to catch, but it was a reminder to keep an eye out. He felt a twitch in his mind from his beast spirit now that he was in the mindset to hunt, but it was not a problem. Sorry wolfy, this isn't your show.

---

Sabine didn't show any clear reaction, but she was slightly annoyed at Shaleer-Za's answer. It was to be expected. Perhaps it would become more clear when she arrived at the fork in the road. She didn't like going into the trial so blind, but Meesei's encouragement helped.

With nothing else for it, Sabine stepped up to the starting line. The only belongings she carried were a few skins for clothing. Everything else was back at the common hut. Sabine glanced up at Shaleer-Za's light, then ahead. She could see a few of the ribbons already. The path was clear. A moment passed where she started to breathe faster, but not in panic, in anticipation. She knew things would only get worse if she stalled, so she bolted off from the spot with haste before she could get any more anxious. She ran at such a speed that belied her slight figure, but she wasn't worried about disguising herself if it meant some extra time. However, she stopped short of transforming; she would need all her judgement and a clear mind.

The cloths continued through scrub and low branches, across small bodies of water that were swum. Apart from keeping track of where she was and finding the next cloth down the path, it didn't seem too hard. Sabine was making good time before the second half, whatever that entailed.

[EliteCommander]

"Lamias do not attack our village, and we do not attack them, but if someone is alone in the marsh, they might get attacked, then eaten. The lamias are not like us, but...they are not...not like us. It is hard to explain. I think we have talked to them before, but it is better to avoid them. Safer that way." Kaleeth explained. She had to admit, she did not like the current state of affairs with the lamia, but there was nothing she could really do to change it, not at the current point in her life.

Eventually, the pair got to a point that Kaleeth recognized, so she became more quiet, and readied her bow. "Okay, we are close now. Let's keep a look out for prey, and predators." She explained, raising her nose to see if she could catch a scent on the wind. The marsh was a dynamic place, so it was often hard to track prey with how much it changed. Even scents could be suppressed by the marsh, though not to the extent as signs such as tracks. Nevertheless, she could get a general direction of where she thought a scent might be coming from, though it was vague at this point, and distant. It smelled sort of like a mix between an ogre and a crocodile, so it was possible that both were in the area. She started moving along more quietly, but still felt safe enough at the moment to ask another question in a lower voice. "Do you have advice for tracking I might not know?"

---

By the time she reached the halfway point, Sabine was rather far from the village. At the speed she was running, she was making excellent time, so she had a bit of time to spare for her choice when the path diverged. One path, marked by a blue ribbon, seemed to lead to a shallow river. The area beside the river was very uneven and hard to walk on, but the river itself came up only just above Sabine's ankle, at the present point, at least. It was possible that the river could deepen later. The other path, marked by a red ribbon, was completely dry, at least by Black Marsh standards, but had thick reeds as tall as Sabine's shoulders. Those were the only two marked paths, but there was one other thing of interest at the intersection. Just as there had been one villager at the quarter way mark to observe her passing before returning to the village, there was another at the halfway mark. This time, however, he was not standing on the sidelines watching for her to pass, he was laying on the ground partially obscured by a bush, crying out for help in a pained, familiar voice. It was Tunxeek, and as Sabine ran closer, he looked up at her with a look of pain and desperation.

[Muttonhawk]

Now that they were in the hunting grounds, Janius became more alert to reflect Kaleeth's demeanour. It took a short while for Janius to think of what advice to even give. He wasn't clear how much or how little Kaleeth knew, so it wasn't really obvious. "Um, I'll point things out as I see them or think of them, but there's probably quite a bit that you know already." Janius stopped on the spot and looked around the canopy of the large trees, trying to focus on the scents in the air. "I think there's an ogre somewhere," he murmured, beginning to move again. By habit, he wet his finger in his mouth and pointed it in the air to get the rough direction of the wind. Today, as usual in the marsh, it was fairly stagnant. Not of much help to see if the ogre was upwind, but it meant that the ogre, or something smelling of the ogre was nearby.

"Outside of the marsh, where there is more wind, your own smell can be carried on it, and your prey might smell you sooner. It's better to move upwind as much as you can." Janius mentioned while it was in his mind, deliberately skipping the boon of smelling the prey downwind to keep track of them. "Not so useful today, but if there's a day with a breeze..." Janius shrugged. "Also, I noticed to take a look at any water nearby, whether it be puddles or ponds. The mud makes footprints clearer, and if the water is murky, there might have been movement in it recently. You know, if it isn't already flowing strongly or filled with feeding fish."

Still looking around the ground, Janius kept his eyes out for any sign of the ogre, but came across something else instead. There were some reeds that were slightly bent next to the body of water that Janius had gestured to. At first, Janius thought that it was the ogre and they were closer than they thought, but upon reaching the reeds, he found a heavy, clawed inprint in the mud with a smoothness to its right. By the angle of the print, it looked like something sliding on its belly. It wasn't a scent that Janius was particularly familiar with though. The last time he smelled it was only hints on the air when hunting with the pack, and something cooking at Thorn's day of feasting. Janius squatted down and hazarded a guess to Kaleeth. "Crocodile?"

---

When the path finally split, Sabine slowed down to a stop to try and scrutinise each path. It looked as if both had their upsides and downsides, but she didn't get to think about it for long. She heard and smelled Tunxeek at the same time. Her eyes snapped across to find him. He was in pain, but Sabine couldn't see why. Her first instinct was to help him, but she stopped herself for a moment, suspecting a trick. She glanced at the two paths for a moment. What if she wouldn't have time to help? She only had one shot at this trial. If she didn't make it through the paths, she would never reach the ritual and she would never be free of her terrors.

She glanced between the path's and Tunxeek with a pained and worked up expression. If Tunxeek was to die where she could have helped, would that not make it worse? Would Thorantilth even perform the ritual if she had left his son to die? And Tunxeek was a nice person, he didn't deserve to die here, not in the way that he had been afraid of all along.

In defiance to the unfairness of the situation, Sabine screamed, then ran up to Tunxeek tried to pull him by the arms out of the bush. If there was anything holding him, she would deal with it. If he was wounded, then she would try her best and carry him if needed.

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth nodded, then answered in a barely audible whisper. "Yes, but..." She began, taking a few steps toward the nearest body of water. She examined the muddy shoreline for a moment before pointing to a disturbance in the mud, which appeared as if something had slid across it. "...it is in the water. Very difficult to find underwater, and dangerous. Even Saxhleel do not fight crocodiles in the water. Need to get them to shore, or surprise it with an arrow."

Standing up, Kaleeth raised her snout in the air to try to catch the scent she detected earlier. With how overwhelming some more mundane scents were, it was very difficult to gauge distance or direction, but she thought there might be an ogre nearby. Perhaps it would be easier to go after a crocodile, but an ogre would provide far more meat, and would be a more challenging kill; certainly a better way to prepare and train her skills. She brought herself lower to the ground, then, with a subtle motion, signaled for Janius to follow. Without a breeze, she couldn't really use his advice, but she drew upon everything the Master-Hunter had been teaching her to move silently, and try to hone in on their prey. Some of the foliage did look like it had been disturbed relatively recently, and as Janius mentioned, there was some evidence in the mud that something had passed by.

As Kaleeth was familiar with the area, she had a suspicion of where their prey might be after they drew closer. They came upon a large hill with a steep cliff on one side, and a cave leading a short distance underground. She had explored the cave as a child, so she knew its layout. Her father, however, had stopped her from visiting it due to the fact that creatures sometimes used it for shelter, which she had a feeling was the case in this situation. She hid in the foliage within sight of the cave, then looked to Janius next to her. "See that cave. Ogres are smart, they like to use them for shelter. What do you think, should we look inside?" She asked.

---

When Sabine grabbed Tunxeek and pulled him out of the bush, he moved easily enough, but when he was out in the open, it revealed a rather gruesome-looking sight. His right leg was terribly bloody, with dozens of cuts and gashes. It looked like something had grabbed a hold of his leg with a mouthful of teeth and would not let go, tearing his flesh to shreds in the process. There was no indication of where the creature was or why it left, but there was no scent of a predator in the area. He looked up to Sabine with tears in his eyes, unable to form words for a few moments until he finally managed to say "help" in a soft, strained voice.

[Muttonhawk]

As far as time spent tracking, if the ogre turned out to be in the cave that Kaleeth had pointed out, then it would certainly be a short hunt. Though, ogres were dangerous if they didn't handle this correctly. It would be harder to go unheard without the crickets and frogs to mask their movement, and they wouldn't have much room to move around in a confined space. If they were unlucky, either Janius or Kaleeth would be pinned against the wall and crushed. There was of course the possibility that the ogre was not in the cave at all, but Janius doubted that. Its smell was particularly strong around the cave.

After a moment curling his lips and assessing the space they had to work with outside, Janius replied in a whisper. "The cave might be too small to fight the ogre if we fail to sneak up on it. It might be a better idea to fight it out here. I don't know, though. If it's sleeping, we could get at its neck. We'll keep outside as an option, but, do you know this cave? How big is it? Draw me a picture on the mud."

---

Sabine fell to her knees with an open mouth, fast breathing and wide eyes. Tunxeek had clearly been attacked. All of the blood came as a shock to Sabine. Between Tunxeek's wounds and failing the trial, She became scared. She frantically scanned her surroundings for any plants that might help treat the cuts, but there was nothing she could immediately make use of. If only she had more time!

She had to move, she knew it. She was at the halfway mark, so she could still complete the trial without backtracking if she picked one of the divergent paths. But Thorantilth and Meesei might not be at the point in the village that she completed the course. They could help Tunxeek, they could heal him. If she took the path back the way she came, there was less chance of any danger, and she could hand Tunxeek over. With the pace she had made, there was a chance that she could still complete the course. She might just have to transform to speed up. That seemed like the only chance.

Sabine stood up and shifted around. She positioned herself properly and hefted Tunxeek up over her back. Once secure, she set off on a jog as fast as she could back through the first half of the course. Sabine was moving at a pace that suited her strength, but Tunxeek was still slowing her down. Her hopes of completing the trial were fading.

[EliteCommander]

"Yes, I know the cave." Kaleeth answered silently. "It is not big. No turns, no chambers, just one straight path, leading down. It is pretty wide, enough for the ogre, but it gets narrower near the end. There is a stream going through it, into a hole at the end of cave." There really wasn't much detail she could draw, but she complied and used two claws to draw a narrowing path and tried to convey that it sloped down.

"Hmm, it is small space, and ogres are strong, but...if we go in, we will have our backs to the entrance. We could always back up; the cave is not wide enough for it to get around us. We can back it into a wall, but it can not. The stream makes noise, we might be able to sneak up on it. We could try to lead it out, but then we will not be able to surprise it. It will be ready. Should we try to sneak in? Do you think it is too dangerous?" Kaleeth asked.

---

Tuxeek seemed surprised that Sabine was able to carry him as well as she was, especially at the speed they were going. It seemed Human girls were stronger than he thought. He said little on his way back and mostly seemed to be focusing on blocking out his pain. They moved at a fair pace, but even so, it took longer to get back than it did for Sabine to run to the halfway mark. Thorantilth, Shaleer-Za, and Meesei were all still at the starting line, and all except Meesei seemed surprised that Sabine was returning so soon. The moment she came into sight, Thorantilth walked forward to meet them, then dropped down on his knees to accept his son from Sabine. He looked down at Tuxeek with a concerned expression, then looked Sabine in the eyes. "What happened?" He asked simply.

[Muttonhawk]

Janius looked at the cave entrance and considered for a moment. "We'll try to sneak in to try and kill it quickly, but at the first sign of danger, get to the entrance of the cave. If it charges at us, we'll have no way to avoid it if we are inside. The ogres I've faced can sometimes lash out if they are cornered. You can strike when that happens, but it doesn't guarantee that they won't hit you as well."

Carefully, Janius slid his axe from its loop on his belt, took one last look to check that the coast was clear, then crept up to the cave, motioning for Kaleeth to follow. Peering into the cave from the outside didn't help Janius much. It was too dark. They stood side by side as they entered the cave and allowed their eyes to adjust. The scent was getting stronger.

---

As soon as Sabine carefully put Tunxeek down, she took a moment to take a few short breaths. Her expression was still frantic. "I found him." Was all she said before she began to run back down the track again. This time, she was in full sprint. She didn't have time to stay around. Tunxeek would be safe, if not with Thorantilth, then with Meesei. Sabine knew that her pack leader was a skilled healer. She intended to transform as soon as she was out of sight, if there were no more interruptions.

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth moved as silently as she could alongside Janius. Just as she had been trained to do, she did her best to keep herself more silent than her surroundings, in this case the stream flowing alongside them. Without it, their footsteps would quite obviously echo throughout the cave, so she was glad it was there. Nevertheless, she was growing nervous. Her breathing grew more heavy and irregular, but at least her hands were steady enough. She had her bow ready and an arrow nocked so she could fire as quickly as possible, if need be.

The pair needed to move slowly through the cave to make sure their eyes stayed adjusted to the darkness. They could still see the light of the entrance behind them, so it wasn't complete darkness, but it was growing more difficult to see. The smell of ogre grew strong and unmistakable, but once they were close enough to the end of the cave, Kaleeth saw something she did not expect. There was indeed an ogre, but it was lying on the floor of the cave on its back, quite dead. Walking up to the body, she could see that there were large chunks bitten out of its flesh, with bones and bits of organs strewn around it. Kaleeth quickly grew concerned. It had not been dead long enough for it to be a scavenger that mutilated the body, and there were few creatures in the marsh that could take down a fully-grown ogre. Even worse, a loud, echoing sound suddenly sounded out behind them, from the entrance of the cave. As Kaleeth turned to look at the source, she spotted a small form just to her right in the shadows. In such low light, she had to lean in to get a good look, but once she did, she gasped and had to physically cover her mouth to stop herself from screaming.

"I stupid! I stupid! I stupid!" She said in a frantic whisper to Janius. "We should not have come in here. Dead ogre must have masked scent. In the corner, the eggs, this is..it is wamasu nest. We need to get out, quickly!"

Unfortunately, the time to escape had passed, as the wamasu had returned to its home, following the scent of intruders. Looking back up at the entrance, they could see its silhouette in the light, raising its nose to the air as it followed their scent. With how large it was, there was no way they could get past it in such a narrow cave, and Kaleeth knew it. "Oh no, no time. Maybe...I don't know." She whispered, looking around frantically for some kind of option. Her eyes followed the stream down to the point where the cave narrowed like a cone to its smallest point, certainly too small for a wamasu to fit its sizable body. As quickly as possible, she rushed to the very end of the cave and laid down, sliding feet first into the narrow part of the cave and trying to position herself behind some rocks to break line of sight. "Quickly, hide here!" She whispered frantically to Janius, seeing no other way to survive but to stay out of sight.

---

"Stop!" Shaleer-Za's voice rang out, and was quickly echoed in Cyrodilic by Thorantilth. "You have completed the Trial of Heart."

Once Sabine had stopped moving, Thorantilth let go of his son, who stood on both legs as if nothing was wrong. The treeminder charged a green ball of magicka in his hand and started to wave the energy over his son's leg. "Hold still while I remove the illusion." He ordered, allowing his magic to weave through Tuxeek's leg until there was no trace of anything being wrong. After he was finished, he stood up and began to interpret for Shaleer once more.

"To commune with the Hist, one must show that they are of a pure heart, which you have demonstrated excellently. Even with the stakes as high as they were, you showed a willingness to sacrifice your own well being for one who is, essentially, a stranger, with no guarantee of reward, and indeed, no request for it. You showed the wisdom in your judgement to select the path that led to your success, the path to return and aid another. I apologize for any stress the deception may have caused you, but you have demonstrated the strength of your character. Through the first two trials, you have shown your wisdom, and your heart. Now, all that remains is to show that your body is strong enough to undergo the ritual. You will need to be in good health for the Trial of Body, so it will be held tomorrow, after you have had a chance to rest and recover." Shaleer explained.

[Muttonhawk]

While Kaleeth stayed tense, Janius kept fairly calm. The situation was under control unless the ogre woke up. The sense of control started to crumble when they found that the ogre would not be waking up at all. It shattered when the large shape of the wamasu blotted the light from the cave entrance. Janius didn't need see Kaleeth's reaction to have his own heart rate begin to soar. Thankfully for them, the wamasu's eyes would need to adjust as well, so it didn't spot them immediately.

Janius snapped out of an initial freeze of fear with Kaleeth's footsteps leading further into the cave. He followed her tentatively, but wondered what they would accomplish by trapping themselves further in. The hiding place that Kaleeth slid into made more sense. It wasn't a guarantee that they would survive, but it was probably better than trying to fight the beast, especially in its own nest. Janius followed Kaleeth's instruction and slid himself into the narrow passage beside her. The hiding place was small and they were bunched up close. Janius could feel Kaleeth's heart racing as fast as his, but he was too distracted with trying to stay silent and listening to the wamasu's movements to feel awkward about their position.

---

Slowing to a stop, Sabine turned around to look at Shaleer-Za and Thorantilth, breathing heavily. Completed? Sabine was confused at first. She did not complete the course, how could she have completed the trial? She walked back and looked on with a mix of astonishment and relief as the illusion sustaining Tunxeek's apparent wounds were dispelled.

As Shaleer explained the trial, it began to make sense. Sabine listened while she caught her breath properly, not knowing whether to feel relieved or betrayed. Honestly, she felt both, mixed with fatigue.

Tunxeek smiled at Sabine reservedly. "Sorry for... pretend... pretending. Thank you for carrying me, though." he chucked, "I was surprised. You are stronger than you look."

Deciding that the event was overall a good one, Sabine's mouth twitched into a smile while she looked to the ground. She started to come down from her rush of adrenaline and felt exhausted. Still looking at the ground, she turned to Meesei, wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly. Sabine didn't sob with sadness or panic, but she started to sniff as tears streaked down her cheeks. In her mind, she had been so close to failing, or worse, alienating the village by transforming. Everything turning out okay out of nowhere was overwhelming.

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth tried her hardest to keep her breathing silent. At the very least, she was keeping the volume below that of the nearby stream, but the wamasu was already suspicious of their presence. It had their scent, and they were in its nest. The beast would do anything to protect its eggs, so it was very alert at the moment. Both she and janius were hiding behind the rocks, so she couldn't see it, but with a beast of its size, even its sniffing was easily audible.

The wamasu's heavy footsteps reverberated through the entire cave, so it was easy to tell that it was very close to them, probably right on top of the ogre's body. The beast shifted around the cave, first checking on its eggs, then continuing to search for the intruders. Several long, tense minutes passed as the creature searched. Kaleeth held on tightly to Janius, unconsciously searching for any form of comfort. She could feel his heart beating just as fast as hers, and with good reason. She had never been as close to death as she was at this very moment, a thought that struck fear in her very soul. She looked Janius in the eyes, with tears in her own. She did not want to die, and wished she hadn't been so stupid as to suggest setting foot in the cave.

When Kaleeth looked away from Janius for a moment, she noticed a dead silence in the cave. She had not heard the wamasu leave, but neither did she hear it shuffling around any longer. Had it laid down to rest, perhaps gone to sleep? They would need to wait a while just to be safe, but perhaps they could sneak out? She decided to take the risk to peer around the rock, but before she could even make a movement, her worst nightmare became reality. The wamasu's large scaled head appeared around the corner, its eyes meeting theirs. They had been spotted.

The wamasu immediately let out a growl, then lashed out and tried to crush them in its jaws. Fortunately, the narrow width of the cave saved the pair. Its wide body could not squeeze far enough into the cave that its head could reach them, even if it cut it very close. Its jaws snapped down with unbelievable force mere inches from their heads, causing Kaleeth to let out a frightened scream. Fear had overwhelmed her, and she was practically sobbing by this point. There was a brief glimmer of hope when she noticed that the wamasu could not reach them. No matter how hard it pressed against the cave's stone walls, it could not get any closer to them. After a few moments, however, she felt a charge in the air. Electricity started to arc across its scales, concentrating in its mouth. It would take a few moments to charge, but once it unleashed its storm of lightning, what could they do? She had no wards or magic to block the lightning. She felt powerless to do anything to stop it.

---

Meesei gladly hugged Sabine. She looked at her with a smile and a proud expression. "You did well, Sabine. I know the Trial of Heart can be a difficult one, not because it is physically difficult to complete, but because of the emotional conflict it can create. I did not think for a second that you would fail, though. You are not a person who would leave someone to die like that. Now, I am sure you are tired from all that running. Would you like to return to the common quarters and rest, or perhaps stay and talk? If I am not mistaken, there is more we can tell you about the Trial of Body."

Thorantilth nodded in agreement as he chimed in. "Indeed we can. The last trial is much more straightforward than the previous two. There are no puzzles or tricks, it is just the merits of the trial itself which provides the challenge. We can tell you anything you like to help you prepare."

[Muttonhawk]

Baring his teeth, Janius felt the rush of air as the wamasu lunged. He fully expected to die in that moment. When the creature slammed its head against the rock in vain over and over again, Janius flinched each time, shutting his eyes and hoping the cave wouldn't crumble. Kaleeth was terrified as well, but showed it some more. She held Janius close and looked to him for hope. Even though he wasn't screaming, Janius didn't realise that he was searching for similar comfort until he looked up at the blue glow of the charging lightning around the wamasu's mouth. There was only one thing left for it.

Janius squeezed Kaleeth as close to his body as he could with one arm, and extended his other arm. The lightning was launched with the wamasu's roar and they both braced, but the bright light that forced Janius to shut his eyes was harmless. There was barely a couple of seconds where the lightning washed over them, but once it stopped, the bright barrier of Janius' ward held intact from his extended arm. Janius opened his eyes with a more determined expression. The pale blue light of his ward spell changed the colour of everything around it as it transformed into a ball of fierce orange fire. With a flick of his wrist, Janius threw fire into the wamasu's face to force it back and damage it if possible. They needed some space if they were to defeat this creature.

---

Calming down and regulating her breathing through her mouth now that her nose was blocking up from the tears, Sabine slowly released Meesei and turned around to Thorantilth. She wanted to know more about the final trial while she had the chance. "The trial of body. What do I have to do?" Sabine asked. She still spoke softly, but her posture was more open now. Overcoming this trial had given her a boost of confidence by the looks.

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth thought death was upon her when the wamasu unleashed its storm of lightning, but much to her surprise, and relief, Janius' ward saved both of their lives. Still, she wanted to scream out in terror once more, but looking at Janius beside her, she realized how useless she was. He had stayed calm and reacted quickly to save their lives, but what was she doing? Screaming, crying? Janius was being brave while she was being a coward. She knew she was better than that; she was a hunter, she had to be better than that. She did not have magic like Janius, and probably not as much experience, but she had to do something, anything to stop the monster. Even if she got herself killed in the process, it would be better than doing nothing and letting both of them get eaten by the creature.

While Janius was still blocking the lightning storm, Kaleeth grabbed her spear, which was slung over her shoulder with a leather strap attached to two points on the haft, and held onto it tightly. She wasn't strong enough, nor was her spear durable enough, to break through the wamasu's armored scales, but...there was one idea she had that might at least hurt it. It was probably a stupid idea and would likely get her killed, but at least if she did it, she would have done something to try and kill the beast before the end. As soon as the wamasu's storm let up, and Janius launched his fireball, Kaleeth decided to make her move. She was more afraid than she had ever been and her hands were shaking profusely, but pure adrenaline and dedication kept her going. She bolted out from their hiding spot and scrambled to her feet as quickly as possible as she thrust her spear forward. All of the spell light had temporarily blinded her, and probably the wamasu as well, in the dark cave, but she had a rough idea of where the beast's mouth was. As the fire was clearing, Kaleeth's spear rushed forward and embedded itself into the roof of the wamasu's gaping maw. The wamasu immediately began to thrash its head around, causing Kaleeth to lose her grim instantly, but the spear was still stabbed into its mouth. On reflex, the wamasu bit down to try and destroy the foreign object, but only made its situation worse in the process. While it did manage to bite the spear's haft in half, it ended up forcing the rest of the spear deeper into its head and pressing the spearhead up against the bottom of its skull.

The wamasu was now hurt, but it was certainly not dead, and since she had dropped her bow before hiding, Kaleeth was now standing directly in front of the enraged beast with only her bone dagger to protect herself. Still, she had hurt the wamasu more than she could have expected. Unfortunately, the spear didn't look like it was going to be enough to kill it. It was bleeding pretty badly, and the spearhead was close to hitting a lethal spot, but it wasn't going to die in its current state. Still...the beast was hurt, and definitely distracted. It couldn't even close its mouth properly. Surely there was something more they could do to it?

---

"In the Trial of Body, you must show that your body, like your soul and mind, is strong enough for the ritual. This is going to be a trial of combat, hence why it is the most dangerous trial. Now, it is certainly not a fight to the death. The fight will be monitored closely, only practice weapons will be allowed, and we will have healers watching, just in case of accidents. While you were gone, I asked Meesei about your combat training and abilities, so we will be sure to select an appropriate opponent for your trial. For the most challenging aspect of this trial, you will need to demonstrate that you are capable even when you are not physically at your best. To that end, before the trial, you will need to drink a specific poison. I can assure you, it is not a deadly poison, and it has no capability of killing Argonians or non-Argonians. Nor will it cause any lasting harm. It will, however, weaken you for the fight. It will blur your vision, slightly weaken your muscles, and make you fatigue more quickly. You must overcome these challenges and defeat your opponent in order to complete your final trial." Thorantilth explained.

[Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth's move was one that Janius didn't expect. Mostly because it was timed and aimed so well with his spell that he found it hard to believe that she was too terrified to act an instant beforehand. Well, Janius was terrified as well, but there wasn't time to go into technicalities. Janius clambered his way out of the hiding place and stood upright a fraction of a second after Kaleeth did. The wamasu was now wounded, but Janius didn't want to depend on it fleeing if this was its nest. There was now a little more room to fight, but not much more. They would have to keep pushing it back if they wanted to escape.

Janius held his axe at the ready and stayed back from the creature as it thrashed in pain. His eyes darted around to features of the cave and the wamasu, searching for options. Options were something they were short of right then. The scales looked as tough as described, his axe would be useless against it. If he transformed, he would be in a tight spot, but he couldn't guarantee that he would be stronger enough to push the wamasu's bulk back, let alone kill it in the cave. The eggs could be vaguely seen from where they stood. If Janius threw his axe, he might break or displace them, perhaps distracting the beast, but even if they got past the wamasu, it would emerge from the cave angrier. Finally, Janius spotted a detail that had changed. Now, the mouth seemed to be a weak point. Even with its powerful bite, Janius could see that the wamasu could not close its maw effectively without the broken spear causing more damage. Janius didn't have the magicka to launch an ice spike into the soft mouth flesh, but he saw one way to do it that would require Kaleeth.

They didn't have much time before the creature tried to charge again, one way or another, so Janius was concise. He took Kaleeth by the arm and pulled her behind him. "Kaleeth, when you get the opportunity, you have to push the spear further." He glanced back, "Trust me!" He looked forward to the wamasu. He dropped his axe. A challenging grin turned into a grimace as his body convulsed and warped into the form of a lycan in the space of a few moments, breaking through the premade weak spots of his clothing and tearing through the rest in growth. He wouldn't be able to push the wamasu back, but he would be able to halt it. Janius' beast spirit could smell the wamasu's blood, but it was still in Janius' control. The lycan lunged forward from all fours and slammed into the shoulder of the wamasu. Janius had one arm around the underside of the creature's neck, and the other around its front left leg, lifting its foot slightly off the ground and forcing it to support itself fully with its other forward leg. Even though its head thrashed and roared, he had the creature held. The wamasu tried to resist Janius with all its might, but it didn't have the room to maneuver much in the cramped cave. There were jolts of pain that made Janius angrier as the wamasu arced lightning across the spines of its body, but it was an annoyance at this stage.

Even with the creature fighting back, it still held its mouth agape. The spear was so close to felling the creature. In an effort to try and make Kaleeth's task easier, Janius shifted to throw his left arm over the creature's neck and try to pull it to the ground, or close to it, and to still it. It was difficult and not entirely successful, but it was better than the thrashing head before.

---

Sabine's new confidence seemed to fade slightly from her eyes upon hearing the explanation for the Trial of Body. She may have been strong, but she was not a skilled fighter. Meesei knew this, so an even match might not be as big of a problem as it could be. Still, she could hardly hold her own if she didn't get to sneak up on her opponent, or fell them with a slung stone from a distance. It didn't seem like either would be options, especially under the influence of a weakening poison.

With a lowered head again, Sabine began to walk back with the group. She still had more questions in light of the information given. "What weapons will be used?" As the possibility of helping her chances with her own brews came to mind, she thought to ask about them too. "Will I be able to use my own potions?"

[EliteCommander]

At first, Kaleeth nodded to Janius in understanding. She did not know what he was going to do, but she could jump in whenever she saw the opportunity. When he began his transformation, however, fear filled her once more. She might have been told stories of werebeasts when she was a hatchling, but it had been so long that she couldn't even remember the tales at the moment. She had no idea what was going on. One moment, he was Janius, an Imperial, and her friend. The next, he was a large, hairy creature that she had never seen nor heard of before. In her confused and frightened state, she would have ran if she could, but there was nowhere for her to go. Even as the beast started to wrestle the wamasu to the ground, she was momentarily paralyzed by fear. Her mind could not form a rational thought, but...she was not meant to think rationally, not now. She just needed to act. One thought came to her mind, a thought that she could focus on, something to latch on to. She had been told to strike as soon as she could, and when she looked down, she saw that the beast had managed to stop the wamasu's head from thrashing around just long enough for her to do that.

Without even a thought, Kaleeth lunged forward towards the wamasu's head. Reaching into its mouth and grabbing a hold of the remainder of the spear and pushing on it with all her might. The weapon cut deeper into its flesh and pressed against the bottom of its skull. Normally, no normal person could strike with enough force to break a wamasu's skull but that was when they attacked from the top. The bottom of the skull did not need to be nearly as strong, so when she pressed hard enough, the spearhead broke through and plunged into its brain. In an instant, the wamasu went from struggling fiercely, to completely dead. Its tail and legs twitched for a few moments afterwards, but its body was essentially limp, and lifeless. Kaleeth cut up her arm moderately on the wamasu's teeth, but that did not matter to her at the moment, as she was still deathly afraid. She tried to pull away from the wamasu to run away, but ended up tripping in her haste and falling on her back. As she sat up, she tried to back away, only to put herself in a corner, trembling in fear at the sight of Janius' werewolf form before her. With the rush of emotion and adrenaline from the fight, she was not thinking logically at the moment. In her mind, she had just traded being eaten by a wamasu with being eaten by some other unknown beast. In her current state, she did not even identify the beast as being Janius.

---

Thorantilth could see that Sabine was less than thrilled to hear about the next trial, but that was understandable. The Trial of Body was the toughest of the three, and not one he particularly liked himself. From just describing it, the trial sounded extremely difficult, especially considering the poison. Still, it was not meant to be impossible. The opponent selected for her was not meant to be equal to her level, but rather an appropriate amount below it, to account for the poison. Out of all of the trials, it was the one that was failed the most often, but unlike the trial of heart, she could attempt it multiple times if needed. "The weapons will all be practice weapons, but they may be of any style you are comfortable with. Both you and your opponent will be able to use what you are best at using. As for potions, I spoke with Meesei about this. The trial is meant to test all of your skills, and from what Meesei has described, alchemy is one of your defining skills. You may use alchemical concoctions, but with some restrictions. Firstly, every potion must be brewed solely by you. Secondly, you cannot create anything that will negate the effects of the poison. Lastly, we will need to examine anything you make that is meant to be used offensively, to ensure it is not too dangerous for the trial. The safety of both you and your opponent are a priority for me."

[Muttonhawk]

In the wamasu's death throes, Janius tried to wrap his jaw around the creatures neck from where he was holding it, but only managed to cause shallow scratches in its hide. He couldn't latch on properly. The creature stilled save for some twitching and Janius could not stop his beast spirit from trying to feed. Unfortunately, even after spending a few moments trying to slash, maul and bite various parts of its body, he could not find anywhere that he could draw blood, let alone feed. Nor was he strong enough or had enough space to flip the creature over entirely to see if the belly was any softer. He roared in frustration, and in that moment he noticed the smell of fear in the air. The smell of Kaleeth-Rei.

The last pack hunt was fairly recent, so Janius' beast spirit was more compliance and lucid. He managed to calm down for the moment, but he could not transform back so easily unless he got away from the kill or ate. Perhaps he would try some of the ogre on the way out while it was still fresh. He sniffed at the air. Kaleeth's blood was flowing as well. He spotted her curled up in a corner, trembling like a mouse. Janius wanted to apologise, but she was probably so scared out of her wits that she didn't know who or what he was. There were indeed scratches on her arm, perhaps Janius could encourage her to heal them. He looked and sniffed around until he found his backpack that he had dropped when he transformed. It took some effort with his not-so-dextrous claws, but he pulled out the healing potion he had brought, and extended it to Kaleeth as he slowly stepped towards her.

As he got close, it seemed like she would either lash out or run away in panic. Janius glanced aside in thought, then looked at her in the eyes and tried to speak in a low grumbling voice, "Kaleeth-Rei... it would... be... my... pleasure." At first he thought pronouncing Jel would be impossibly difficult through his snout, but somehow he got it right on the first try. Hopefully Kaleeth would recognise him as peaceful now, or at the very least take the potion.

---

Sabine looked away and chewed her lip. The previous disappointment had become a determination. It didn't seem so hopeless now, but she would need a plan. None formed immediately in her mind, but she felt that if she had her options in front of her, she would be able to make something appropriate. Other than that, she would need some practice. Lorag could help with that if he was still around. As soon as they reached the village again, Sabine walked to the common hut to find him. Sabine didn't have the highest energy levels at the moment, but she thought it would be easier to fight than to concentrate hard on making a new potion.

Standing and blankly staring until She has Lorag's attention, Sabine spoke confidently. "Teach me to fight."

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth took the potion hesitantly, but as she did not yet know what it was, she did not drink it. She was still frightened of the beast before her, but after a few moments passed, the stress and chaos of the fight diminished and she started to think more logically. She had saw Janius transform into the beast. This...thing was Janius, though she had no idea exactly what he was. Any stories she may have heard about werewolves were lost in childhood memories.

After taking a few, deep breaths, Kaleeth started to calm herself. Janius' new form was intimidating, but...it was still Janius, right? He was still her friend, no matter what kind of exotic shapeshifting magic he was using. Uncorking the bottle he had given her, she took a few sniffs of the contents, at which point she recognized that it was a healing potion. Kaleeth downed the contents quickly, then cautiously stood to her feet and took a few steps toward the strange beast. He was now much larger than her, with a long snout and powerful-looking muscles. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. "You...Janius?" She asked, with more curiosity in her voice than fear.

---

Lorag had been relaxing in the common hut, helping himself to some of the food and drink the locals offered him. Since he couldn't really talk to them, he didn't know if anything they had was alcoholic, but if there was, he hadn't yet found it. The last person he expected to interrupt him was Runt, even more so with the question she asked. He sat up and looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Yeah, I can do it, but...why you wanting to learn how to fight all the sudden? These Argonians makin' you fight someone in these trial things, or something?"

[Muttonhawk]

With how Kaleeth stayed scared for so long, Janius just felt worse for subjecting her to his werewolf form. Once she took the potion, Janius squat down and sat on his haunches so he was at Kaleeth's height and let her calm down. He tried to be nonthreatening, but it wasn't easy in this form. He couldn't just leave her in case she would tell the village without allowing him to explain.

Thankfully, Kaleeth did eventually calm down. Janius nodded twice in response to her question, then looked down and away from her face in guilt. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the corpse of the wamasu, and looked up at it for a few moments. "You killed a wamasu," Janius spoke slowly, then looked at Kaleeth again, "You are a real hunter now, yes?"

---

There was no response from Sabine to Lorag's question except an expecting stare, then a terse nod. She didn't exactly feel like explaining herself to Lorag in detail. He could ask Sabine or Thorantilth if he really wanted to know the details.