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

[EliteCommander]

After they dumped the body near where Lorag knocked out one of the thugs, Lorag took a moment to feel through his pockets for any coin he might have on him. There wasn't much, just a few septims, but it was enough to help him justify buying a drink or two. Lorag had taken a good hit to his stomach, but any bruising was well-hidden, and Fendros externally looked fine as well, so they didn't face much issue getting back. Though there were still a few patrons, the tavern had cleared out somewhat, so there were at least a few free tables. Lorag sat down to catch his breath for a few moments. He had to stop and think for a moment to remember if that was something he always had to do, or if this was a recent development.

One of the men and the child swam away to continue their game, so their corner of the pond started to feel a little less crowded. It seemed the merchant, Weetnam, was the most adept in Cyrodilic, which made sense. The others were more heavily accented and spoke less fluidly, but they seemed understandable, though Tricks didn't seem confident in his ability. "I speak Jel, but Sabine does not at all. It would be easier for her if we could continue in Cyrodilic." She recommended, switching back to Cyrodilic. If not, one of us can interpret."

[Muttonhawk]

"Thanks Lorag," Fendros said, tapping Lorag on the arm and heading for the rooms. He didn't knock on the door, rather he carefully opened it and entered. Retrieving the books from his bag and setting them down on the dresser. He didn't want to wake Rhazii or Ahnasha if they had found the time to rest.

Sabine replied with a bit more comfort, "I'm from Morrowind. We travelled from there, but we went through Cyrodiil as well."

Calls seemed especially interested. "Ah, wonderful. I have always wanted to travel so. There are many ingredients that I wish to experiment more with. One was...Roobrush, I think. The dry shrub. I only bought the dried amount from the caravan. It helped with agility with what I found, but not enough to find all it would do."

Sabine nodded more enthusiastically, "I remember that. I only found some, but what I found was only for use in poisons."

"Well, the caravan owner told me that it is no longer poison when dried. Very useful."

Before anyone knew it, the two alchemists were off in their own world. Sabine conversed with the woman so naturally on the subject that her previous sub-standard social skills almost seemed to disappear. Weetnam was the first to remark, "I think they have found their own language to speak. Even when my wife talks about alchemy in Jel, I cannot understand her."

"Perhaps practice with Cyrodilic will help anyway." Tricks said, turning to Meesei, "I am mage, I work for city to...defend. Not many mage here, all in colleges and guilds. What are your interests?"

[EliteCommander]

When Fendros arrived back in the room, Ahnasha was still awake, while Rhazii was wrapped in blankets on the bed, asleep. There was still some noise coming from the main room, but it didn't seem to be bothering him. Still, she felt it best to stay quiet. Fortunately, Fendros seemed to be thinking the same thing. She had packed away her dress and was now seated on the floor near the bed, on a fur blanket. "I see you found some books. Are they what we're looking for?" She whispered.

Meesei was glad to see Sabine found someone to talk to who shared her interests. Since they were talking about something they cared about, it didn't seem like they had any trouble communicating. Meesei leaned back and allowed herself to relax and float on the water's surface. Tricks spoke up shortly afterwards, identifying himself as one of the city guard, or at least that is what she assumed he meant. "I am a mage as well, though I am more dedicated to studying the mysteries of magic. You might call me a...scholar. I was hatched in a village in the swamp. I was one the Treeminder of my clan, but I have since moved on to travel. What aspects of magic most interest you? For myself, it is how magic can shape nature, from the fearsome power of the storm, to the ebbs and flows of the energies of the plants that make up so much of the Marsh."

[Muttonhawk]

"I believe so," Fendros mumbled. He smiled at Rhazii's face poking out of his swaddled blankets, but didn't hold the look for long. "Lorag and I ran into some trouble on the way back. Some street thugs. We drove them off, though. Also, Lorag is...well, I'd better let him tell everyone first. Let's take a look at the books we have."

Fendros took the books again and sat down next to Ahnasha. He showed her each one in turn. "This one is Cyrodilic. A book for nannies, but the bookshop owner said it can help parents. This one is apparently for Khajiit children in particular. I think it has mostly to do with health, but you'll have to tell me." He opened Kitten Rearing to a random page, revealing more script that was beyond Fendros' comprehension, "As you can see, it's all in Ta'agra."

Tricks needed a little help with some of Meesei's words, but after clarification from Weetnam, he opened his smiling mouth in understanding. "My interests are less for research. Though magic is very interesting, exploring mysteries deeply is not strength I have. I learned destruction, alteration, and restoration Imperial magic, as well as instruction from Argonian mages. It more helping protect, I am good at. Many marsh creatures are hard to keep away with weapons and walls. The Cyrodilic word is..." Tricks looked up at the sky and repeated "Fighting mage...Fighting mage..." in Jel under his breath.

Weetnam interrupted in Cyrodilic, "Battlemage?"

"Battlemage, correct." Tricks agreed, "In spare time, I have sometimes read about marsh powers, like you say, but is much more...traditional. For Treeminders, yes. Very different magic, very powerful. But, like you say, you stopped being a Treeminder? You must have been from large village that Treeminder loss was not difficult."

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha grabbed the book and skimmed through the page Fendros opened it to. It was in Ta'agra, so he undoubtedly had no idea what it said. After a few moments, she determined that it was indeed talking about the right subject, so he had not been swindled. It was obviously written for Khajiit readers, so what it contained was probably not common knowledge to every Khajiit. "Thank you. Now, you said you were attacked? I'm guessing you're okay; it is probably good that Lorag went instead of me. I need to get back into practice when it comes to fighting."

Letting out a sigh, Ahnasha laid down on her back and stared up at the ceiling. "I wonder if this book will tell me how not to get exhausted raising our cub?" She commented.

Meesei was used to answering this question, so she gave no hesitation in her answer, or at least no unintentional hesitation. "It is...difficult to describe the circumstances that allowed me to leave. Suffice to say my path brought me elsewhere. My replacement was a wise and skilled mage, so I have no doubt my clan thrived after I left. Anyway, I have at least some knowledge of all of the "schools" of magic, mostly in Alteration, Restoration, and Destruction, but I did not learn based on the Imperial schools. I think the Imperial ways of teaching magic do make sense to help make the learning easier, but I don't think it makes sense to help develop greater understanding. A Treeminder's education teaches us to teach ourselves. It is harder, and slower, but it makes it easier to see...connections. The schools are helpful, but they are an artificial construct. All magic is intricately woven together. No matter how different it may seem, as forms of magic, at their most basic level, are the same. But...I believe I am rambling. I enjoy sharing my philosophy on magic with others."

[Muttonhawk]

For the moment, Fendros remained sitting up and looking over the first few pages of the nanny book. He spared a glance and a smile to Ahnasha with a response, "I have a feeling it will be easier once we get to the point where he doesn't wake up during the night so often." A moment passed where Fendros sat silently and finished reading the foreword of the book. From the introduction, it covered taking care of human children from babies to about ten years old, but it was rather thinly spread. There were probably many useful pieces of information, but Fendros didn't hold out hope that it would give him a complete and confident understanding of the subject. Not that any book probably could. What seemed to unnerve him the most was the emotional disconnection in the tone of the book. It was very clinical, like the more strict nannies he had encountered.

Realising he was also somewhat tired, or at least enough to have trouble learning much, Fendros closed the book and lay back beside Ahnasha. He put an arm around her and began to run his thumb over the fur on her shoulder. "If you like, take a nap. I can watch over Rhazii."

Tricks understood enough of what Meesei said to give an answer this time, though he still found an errant treeminder to be a strange concept. "No, no, it is interesting, I understand like you say. When I learned, it was for being practical, but there were...spaces. It not until I read later that spaces are filled. When I saw that techniques in advanced alteration could make most of all spells, that is when gaps were filled for me. Some techniques, though...they do not find my mind- how you say...go over my head, yes."

"Now my brother's native language comes forward. He has tried to teach me magic, but he is a horrid teacher." Weetnam commented, pointing a thumb to Tricks beside him.

Tricks gave a sarcastic, "Har har, Weetnam."

"I did teach him the tone of sarcasm in Cyrodilic very well, though." Weetnam had a hearty chuckle, then began turning toward the centre of the pond, "I will let you talk on your own. I think my son's game might do well with an extra player." With that, Weetnam disappeared under the water.

[EliteCommander]

Meesei and Sabine stayed at the pond for some time, swimming and speaking with Weetnam's family, as well as a few other swimmers. After an hour or two, it grew late enough that they got out to dry off, then headed back into the city. Fortunately, the pair faced no trouble on the way back, other than a few stares from a group shady individuals that looked as if they had been in a fight, and lost spectacularly. They all retired to their rooms for the night, with Lorag being sure to inform Meesei of their encounter with the group of thugs. They had not planned on staying in the city for long anyway, so it would be no issue for them to leave early the next day.

It had been months since the pack had received any direction from Hircine, but that was to change that night. In his usual manner, he used Meesei's dreams as a medium of communication. Just as last time, she found herself in a vision of his Hunting Grounds. The towering form of the Hunter himself was before her once more, before which she bowed.

"Rise, my Chamption. The glories of your accomplishments have more than earned you the right to stand in my Hunting Grounds." Hircine commanded.

Meesei stood to her feet, but still kept appropriate reverence in her expression. "Thank you, lord Hircine. What task shall my pack perform for you?"

"Your eagerness to serve pleases me, my hound. In the time since your last task, our Vile prey has been moving against me, and I against him. The other Princes have taken notice, and there are few who will remain neutral. Alliances will be formed, rivals will be made. Your task, my hound, is to sway the followers of the lord of brutality, domination, and schemes, Molag Bal." Hircine revealed.

"You...wish to forge an alliance with Molag Bal?" Meesei asked with genuine surprise.

"The Lord of Schemes will form no such alliance...but neither will he align himself with my foe. But he will not refuse to involve himself. His hunger for the souls of mortals will drive his followers to take advantage of this conflict for their own advantage. You, and other packs I command, are to travel to the lairs of Molag Bal's most powerful servants to convince them to focus their scavenging on Clavicus Vile's ilk. How you do so will be by your own judgement." Hircine explained.

Hircine stopped and slammed his spear into the ground. All at once, the landscape around them shifted into one more familiar to her. It was obviously in the swamps of Black Marsh, though she had never been to this particular place before. She could see hints of sunlight shining through the canopy above, but even so it was dark, moreso than was usual for Black Marsh. The land smelled of decay, leaving her with a sense of foreboding. At the center of this place was a ruin of the first Argonian civilization, a xanmeer, though she suspected it was not entirely abandoned.

"You shall go south, to this place. It is a ruin of your people directly east of the settlement you call Gideon. This is where you will find some of the most powerful followers of the Lord of Schemes. Sway them to fight our enemy, or kill them, but do not allow them to hinder our efforts." He commanded.

Despite the daunting nature of the task set before her, Meesei gave no protest. "It shall be done, my lord."

"Indeed. Go with my blessing, my Champion."

As suddenly as it had formed, the vision of the world around her vanished, and Meesei awoke in her room at the inn. A few of the others were awake, with some having their breakfast, but Meesei did not tell the others immediately about their new orders. Instead, she gathered up the remainder of their coin and told the others to be ready to leave after their breakfast. From there, she went out into the market and spent the remainder of their gold to restock their supplies. The next time they wanted to stay in a city, they would need to have hides and other items to trade, but for the moment, they were well-supplied enough to make progress on their journey.

The pack left the inn shortly after Meesei returned with the supplies. She had been reluctant to even attempt to mention their orders while in earshot of any of the townsfolk, but once they left the city by its south road, she was finally confident enough to speak up. "Ah, it should be safe to speak now. We are heading to Gideon, or at least that area. Hircine contacted me in the night and gave us a task. To the east of that city, there is a xanmeer that is serving as the lair of a group of Molag Bal's followers. This war with Vile has attracted the attention of the other Princes, and Hircine wants us to persuade these followers not to attack us. Our lord does not believe that Molag Bal would ever form an alliance with either him or Vile, but his followers will exploit the weaknesses this war gives us. We are to convince them to focus their attention on Vile's followers, or find a way to kill them if we cannot."

[Muttonhawk]

The morning seemed inactive, if aimless before Meesei awoke. All of a sudden, they were gathering supplies and beginning to move out. Some asked questions as to their heading, but Meesei didn't answer. Tension started to rise until Meesei finally spoke after leading them to the southern road out of Stormhold. It was a relief to find that they weren't in any particular danger, but it wasn't exactly a comfort that they would have to confront and negotiate with a genuinely sinister daedric cult.

Fendros in particular had not been looking forward to when they would be stepping into danger again. Even though the pack had an obligation to their patron, he didn't like the idea of having Rhazii anywhere near the followers of Molag Bal. There wasn't much he could do to protest, however.

On the other hand, Janius felt reluctant for different reasons. After Meesei's explanation sunk in, he spoke up, "So, how exactly are we to go about trying to convince them? I don't know a great deal about Molag Bal, but if what you say is true, then what could we do to stop them trying to attack us? Molag Bal's servants are likely to stab us in the back after all is said and done anyway."

[EliteCommander]

Meesei understood Janius' worries, as she shared them herself. To persuade such an unsavory group of people would be difficult, to say the least. Not to mention the fact that they would be in considerable danger for as long as they were in the cult's lair. "That is a difficult question, I will admit. Hircine gave me no insight in how to deal with this cult. I believe that, above all, information will be key. I know enough about Molag Bal's servants to know what they might respect. Also, I do not believe the Daedric Lord himself is likely to become involved, as Hircine's concerns seemed to be solely focused on his followers. We might try demonstrating our strength to show that Vile's servants would be easier targets, or perhaps providing them a service to show that we can be allies, or both. Should that fail, we will need to find a way to eliminate them, which I suspect would not be as easy as charging in through the front door."

Both Ahnasha and Kaleeth seemed to be nervous at the revelation of their new mission. For Ahnasha, she shared the same fear as Fendros that it would be dangerous to bring Rhazii anywhere near these cultists. They couldn't just ignore Hircine's orders, but there was no way she was going to allow her child into a lair of Molag Bal's followers. Someone would have to stay behind to watch him. For Kaleeth, her fear originated from the fact that she did not actually know who Molag Bal was, but she did not want to interrupt to ask.

[Muttonhawk]

The next to put forward a question was Fendros. "I've read a little about all the daedric princes. Molag Bal didn't seem pleasant. Would his followers respect his domains? Do you think we'll have to...dominate and subjugate them?"

"Well if that's the case, we might be attacking anyway. Perhaps it would be smart to try and scout ahead once we get there." Janius added.

Up until now, Sabine had been quietly listening. Of the daedric princes, Molag Bal was not one she had much exposure to. In the few times she witnessed him being summoned by the coven, it never ended well for the followers summoning him. Whenever she asked about why Molag Bal was so insidious, the other witches just patted her on the shoulder and said it was because he was evil. This conversation had begun to renew her curiosity. "Who is Molag Bal?" Sabine asked in a an intentionally non-specific manner. It sounded like he was something to be worried about and she wanted to know why.

[EliteCommander]

"Molag Bal is the Daedric prince of brutality, domination, and schemes." Meesei answered. "As far as Daedra go, he is one who might be considered the most wholly evil, perhaps alongside others like Mehrunes Dagon. But, he is powerful, and though Hircine does not desire an alliance with him, he does not wish to fight him. He is the Prince who created the first vampire and inflicted the condition on Nirn. As you might imagine, his followers tend to be power-hungry and merciless. They are capable of causing great harm, but it isn't as if they just attack everyone on sight. We should be able to deal with him as we would the followers of most other Daedra, we just need to be cautious. I wouldn't say his followers are any more powerful than those of other Daedra, but there are groups that are quite formidable. I am assuming the one we are being sent to is one of those groups."

[Muttonhawk]

"Vampires," both Janius and Fendros said in unison. They were both on the same thought as well. If Molag Bal was the patron of vampires, they were probably going to face some in this lair they were going to. Both knew some of what they were capable of, or at least enough to know that if a fight broke out, they would have a much harder time killing them.

Sabine turned her head forward again. It was no wonder that Molag Bal was considered as such by the way Meesei described him. She was amazed that such a cruel being could exist.

Janius took a deep breath, "So our task is to convince power-hungry and conscience-devoid scions of a patron of violent dominance, some of whom are vampires, not to strike out against Hircine's followers during a daedric war where they may be left vulnerable." Janius looked at everyone in turn, clearly daunted beyond believing the task to even be plausible, "Any ideas?"

Fendros didn't respond beyond his own worry. Sabine seemed to be thinking, but didn't have any immediate insights.

[EliteCommander]

Meesei could not claim to have all of the answers to her packs concerns, or even a few of them, but she did have some thoughts on how to approach the issue. "I believe we will just need to appeal to their sense of self-interest. If we can make them believe that focusing on Clavicus Vile will benefit them the most, then that is what they will do." She commented. As they lacked any real information on the specific cult they were after, they could not really make any more specific plans until they reached the cult's lair.

The rainy season was nearing its end, so the journey to Gideon was not quite as difficult as the one to Stormhold. They moved much more quickly, but even so, it took several weeks of travel before they started to get close to the city. In that time, Rhazii grew rapidly, moreso than one would expect for a child of another race. Of course, he started out smaller than a human or elven child as well, but now he was just slightly larger than a human child of the same age. It was clear he was becoming a Cathay. Additionally, the patterns in his fur were just starting to form. Like Ahnasha, they consisted of black lines and spots, but they were still too faint for them to tell what they would look like. The only thing Ahnasha was sure of was that Rhazii was difficult to take care of. The books were helpful on giving them techniques to calm him down and keep him happy, but being in the marsh, he was more uncomfortable at all times than the authors of those books expected. The heat and humidity caused him no small measure of discomfort, which passed on Ahnasha. Even so, she was bearing through it. Fendros was of immense help whenever he could be, so she had some time to relax...not that she actually used it for relaxing. Whenever she wasn't taking care of Rhazii, Ahnasha was training. Her bow, acrobatics, magic, swordplay, anything she had been neglecting during her pregnancy, she doubled her efforts on now. With the danger they were going to be stepping into, she would need to be ready.

Similarly, Janius and Meesei had to spend quite a lot of time helping Kaleeth learn to control her beast spirit. A few days after leaving Stormhold, she was once again feeling the urge to turn, as well as some aggression towards other members of the pack. She tried to become closer to the others to lessen her beast spirit's tendency to see them as competitors, but it was difficult to get past her beast spirit's lack of pack instincts. She made sure to transform regularly to mitigate her aggression, but she always felt it creeping up again after a few days. Still, she couldn't deny that she was improving. With luck, and a lot of practice, she would one day be able to gain the same level of control as the others.

As usual, the pack made its camp in the driest place they could find. It would be a few days before they would reach Gideon, but they were drawing near to their destination, or at least they assumed so. Meesei only planned to take them into the city for a few hours so she could ask around about the locations of Xanmeer in the area. Whichever one was most directly east would be their first target. For now, they were all finding some way to pass the time. For Meesei and Janius, they were about to take Kaleeth out for another transformation and training session. As usual, Kaleeth packed away her belongings and walked to the edge of camp with Janius while Meesei readied herself. "What do you plan on trying this time?" She asked. "I'm sorry for biting you last time...but at least I stopped myself from biting too hard. At least I am getting better. Meesei got rid of the scar, right?"

Meanwhile, Ahnasha walked a short distance from the camp to the nearest source of water with Rhazii and Fendros and sat down by the riverbank. She let her feet soak in the water while she nursed Rhazii. She had been given plenty of opportunities to bond with him, but as much as possible, she wanted to give Fendros those chances as well. They were already to the point that he could usually calm him down if he was crying, as long as he wasn't hungry. "So...we're getting close, aren't we. How do you think this is going to go, with this cult I mean. Rhazii obviously can't go anywhere near that cult, but with how dangerous it will be, Meesei can't just afford to leave good fighters behind. That could end up getting someone killed."

[Muttonhawk]

Janius flexed his wrist and rubbed at his forearm. Both his lycanthropy and prompt magical healing had got rid of any visual evidence, but it was still a little sore. "Don't worry, it's all learning. It's better that we had an incident like that later on than when you were just starting out." Janius said with a smirk. If he were completely open, Janius would have admitted that he may have put Kaleeth under too much stress last time, but at least he didn't lose the arm outright. That Kaleeth held back was telling of her progress.

"Today, we are going to try something to help bridge that instinctual hostility. We might not make much progress immediately, but I think it will get better over time. Allow me to explain:" Janius tapped a finger against the side of his head, "Now, in our heads, or at least in the heads of our beasts spirits, we have a pack instinct that forges a primal bond of trust between us. Unfortunately, being a werecrocodile, we've found that it isn't present in you, as you know. But where instinct ends, training begins. I've seen you have been making the effort to try and get closer to the pack to help to get used to us, and that might help, but it also gave me an idea. After we do an initial hunt, getting our spirits calm, we're going to stay in our beast forms and try some exercises to get your form used to our presence first hand, starting with myself and Meesei. Your beast spirit might be an animal, but it can learn. It might not be quite as effective as pack instinct, but it may make life easier." He placed a hand on her shoulder, "And if you get uncomfortable, try signalling by snapping at the air and we'll back off. It'll be safer than going for my arm." Janius grinned.

Over by the riverbank, Fendros looked into the water with a frown. After thinking for a few seconds, he turned to Rhazii, then looked up at Ahnasha, "It's too risky to leave him alone or to have strangers watch him in the city. Someone from the pack will have to stay behind." Fendros' voice didn't indicate any compromise, but he rubbed at the side of his neck as he continued, "As for who, that will probably be Meesei's decision, but I had been thinking about it as well. Since you started training again, you've gained back much of your ability, so I think it will still be worth it for you to come. We would have to ask her whether it would be okay, but I was thinking that if we need as many fighting bodies as we can, then...perhaps Sabine would be willing to watch Rhazii? We might be able to try that trick in the nanny book with the milk bottle and cloth. We can probably get milk from Gideon, and if Rhazii takes to it, then he can be fed. What do you think?"

[EliteCommander]

Rhazii finished nursing, so Ahnasha shifted to focus on rocking him in her arms to lull him to sleep. Some of the techniques they had picked up from those books certainly proved useful, though the environment they were in was drastically different from a city. "Hmm, I'm not certain about feeding him anything but Khajiit milk this early in his life. I would have to check that book again, but I don't think it is good for him. We might still be able to use mine, though it will be...unpleasant to get enough of it to last him a few days." She let out a sigh, then looked down for a moment and rubbed his stomach gently with one finger, causing him to giggle briefly. "Anything for you, little one."

"Anyway, I'll be ready for a fight when it is time. Hopefully, we won't need to, but I've been getting back into practice. Speaking of which, we need to have another session of archery practice for you soon. You're definitely getting there, but there is still more I can teach you." She commented.

Kaleeth nodded along as Janius spoke. "Okay, I'll do my best. I'm...not too sure I understand everything, but I'll do what you say. I just look foward to when I can get rid of this...anger. I don't like being mad at you all for all the small things. Again, I am really sorry for yelling at you yesterday when you stepped on my tail. I know you didn't mean to, I just can't help it."

Meesei approached the pair at the edge of camp, ready to get started. She had discussed beforehand with Janius what they would do for this session and had come up with the current plan. Kaleeth needed to have a lot more conscious control over her beast spirit before she could function in the same way in the pack as the rest did in the beginning. She wouldn't need any more control than well-practiced lycans such as themselves, but she needed to get up to their level. "Alright, I am ready. If Janius hasn't already mentioned it, we will be going through a few exercises after our hunt, but we can get to the details of that later. For now, are you ready to go?"

[Muttonhawk]

Knowing that Ahnasha likely knew more about Rhazii's health by virtue of the book in Ta'agra, Fendros dipped his head to one side in trust of her opinion. It sounded like trying to stock up on Khajiit milk sounded like more pain than it was worth, but perhaps it was the best option. As for the archery, Fendros smiled, "I was wondering when that would come up again. I've kept up practicing, but I'm not sure that I've gotten much better on my own." Fendros looked to Rhazii's closed eyes again, "Once Rhazii is comfortable, perhaps we can pick up where we left off. Hopefully the bowstrings won't be too loud." Looking more closely at the markings that were forming on Rhazii's fur, Fendros' tone turned to be more matter-of-fact, "You know, he's starting to get a similar pattern on his fur to you."

"I appreciate it, but I understand," Janius said with a raised hand to Kaleeth in consolation. "Hopefully today will be a step towards helping with that." When Meesei approached, Janius responded, "I'm all set." He looked at Kaleeth again, "Transform when you are ready." With that, Janius took a couple of steps back and began to warp into his beast form. Once he was done, he waited for Kaleeth to finish before they set off to the nearest body of water so Kaleeth could catch something. With either Meesei or Janius keeping an eye on Kaleeth, the other would then find something to feast upon, and drag some uneaten carcass to a spot where they could begin their exercises. That was the plan, at least.

[EliteCommander]

As Ahnasha rocked Rhazii in her arms, his eyes grew sleepy and he started to calm. Hopefully, he would drift off to sleep soon...and stay that way. "Well, with the eyes you gave him, it's about time to see something in him that he got from me...other than the fur, tail, claws, whiskers, and...you know, everything else about him." After a few minutes more of rocking, it finally seemed that he had drifted off. Perhaps with the constant sound of the river nearby, he wouldn't be too disturbed by any additional noise. As gently as possible, she wrapped him in a few furs for warmth and comfort and set him down in a soft patch of grass next to her. She would move him back to camp soon, but she wanted to make sure he would stay asleep first.

As per usual, Kaleeth transformed, then they sought out the nearest river, on the opposite side of camp from Ahnasha and Fendros. She slipped underneath the murky surface, allowing herself to lie in wait for her prey. Some time passed with no sign of prey and she moved upstream for a while, then waited once more, again with the same result. This was not an uncommon occurrence in her hunts, as some waterways had little more than small fish that would hardly serve as a fitting meal for a werecrocodile. When that occurred, they simply moved on to find another river, which was what Kaleeth did in this case as well. She climbed out of the water agitated, but still in control, with the others following behind. Rivers were never far away in Black Marsh, so it should not have been too difficult to find another, but fate had something else in mind for this hunt.

The pack had not made camp too far from the road they were traveling along, so Kaleeth accidentally ended up crossing it. Under most circumstances, this wouldn't have been an issue, as it was unlikely to randomly cross paths with another at a crossing on any part of a road in Black Marsh, but this time, the lesser chance proved true. Kaleeth caught a scent which caused her to perk up.. She wasn't a land predator, but the scent of prey wasn't something her beast would ignore. In her normal form, she might have recognized it, but all her beast spirit could smell was prey. To the others, though, they would know she was approaching a Human.

[Muttonhawk]

Janius was otherwise calm as he and Meesei ghosted Kaleeth for a while. Janius' intended plan was to have either himself or Meesei try and find something for them both to eat so they had an easier time focussing. However, before they separated, Janius saw a reaction in Kaleeth's demeanour that connected with the scent of a nearby human. This wasn't good. If Kaleeth was heading in the direction of the smell, then she would either be seriously injured, or eat an innocent traveller.

There was no time. Janius had to think quickly. He looked at Meesei for a moment, then bolted off around Kaleeth and towards the road, intent on outrunning her there. If he could scare the human away and try to distract or hold back Kaleeth, she might avoid doing something that she regretted. Hopefully Meesei would catch on and help. Janius knew he couldn't outmatch Kaleeth's strength on his own.

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth broke out into a (relatively slow) sprint as well as soon as Janius ran past her, as her beast had no desire to be denied its prey. Meanwhile, Meesei ran up behind her, just barely outside of the range of her tail. While Janius attempted to stop her from the front, she reasoned that she might be able to trip her up from behind. Unfortunately, the Human, or rather, Humans, along the road were much closer than she would have liked.

The pair of Imperials were hidden in the brush along the side of the road, just around a bend. Their ambush was fairly simple, but unknown to them, their greatest mistake was relying on sound, instead of sight, as when they heard the footsteps approaching, they jumped out with weapons drawn. "Alright, just stay calm, hand over your gold, and- OH SWEET MARA!" The first Imperial shouted as soon as he saw Janius' werewolf form approaching. The pair of highwaymen could not turn to run any faster; however, when the first one started to run, he bumped into the second and knocked him off of his feet.

"Come on, get up brother!" He screamed as he tried to help his brother up to his feet. They might have been able to outrun Kaleeth normally, but by this point, they had wasted too much time, Kaleeth was going to reach at least one of them before they could get away. Meesei had but seconds to make a difficult choice. On the one hand, without intervention, Kaleeth was going to kill and eat one of the Imperials, but at the same time, any attempt to intervene would be highly dangerous, as her beast spirit was in command now. She knew that Kaleeth was yet to eat another person, so it would not be a pleasant experience for her, but in the end, she determined it was not worth risking their lives to save a pair of highwaymen.

[Muttonhawk]

Janius didn't have to so much as roar at the highwaymen to get them to turn tail, which gave him some space at least. Their own clumsiness unfortunately negated the advantage before Kaleeth began to close in. Janius spun around to face her and only had an instant of time to realise that Meesei had backed off. Without his alpha backing him up against the strength and bulk of Kaleeth's werecrocodile form bearing down the path, Janius flinched, then dodged out of the way. He knew he couldn't stop her, and if he tried, at least one of them would be torn to pieces.

In the moments that followed, Janius' mind frayed into panic, and he backed off and froze. Perhaps he had made the wrong choice in that split second. Maybe he could have given the highwaymen a chance to escape in he had held Kaleeth for only a few seconds. Now Kaleeth was going to kill someone probably for the first time in what will be a horrible way. They could only look on as the events unfolded.