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

[Muttonhawk]

With loud clacks, Kaleeth succeeded in stopping Janius' attacks, swatting Janius' sword away for long enough to repeat the process for the next few strikes. If Janius wasn't intent on repeating his combo, he could have exploited Kaleeth's openings as if he was fighting a child. He kept his grip on his sword, though. Even though the hits were jarring and made Janius' fingers sore, he knew not to hold his wrist too rigidly. When he stepped back into his defensive stance again, Janius spoke. "I am all that you fear, remember? Can you defeat all that you fear with brute force? Observe more. Again." Janius struck once more with his combo.

With how unorthodox Ahnasha's next moves were, Fendros didn't have time to process her movements before he tripped over his own feet and landed back-first on the ground with a pained cough. Ahnasha had knocked the wind out of his lungs, and his grip had loosened enough that she could escape, but the fact remained that Fendros had his arm around her. Heaving Ahnasha's body to one side, Fendros tried to roll such that Ahnasha was pinned with her front towards the floor and try to hold her down.

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth tried doing what Janius said, and indeed she did succeed a few times. She might have been clumsy with her movements, but there were a few combos she blocked. Regardless, every failure still added to her frustration, to the point that she was disregarding her successes to focus on the times she got it wrong. In her impatience, she started to view herself as hopeless. Kaleeth had not turned in a few days, and though she had a few more left before she would need to turn, her beast spirit was exacerbating the small amounts of anger within her into stronger forms of rage. As they continued training, she started barring her teeth and showing more signs of her frustration until one failure threw her over the edge.

"I'm just not fast enough!" Kaleeth yelled, more at herself than anyone. "Why can't I just..." She began as her beast spirit started to throw her into a fury. Grace and agility wasn't working for her, so she fell back on the one thing that had seemed to work so far. She rushed forward and swung her sword at full strength, but whether he blocked it or not, a simple swing wasn't what she was going for. Kaleeth slammed into Janius and forced him into a wall. She ignored any pain from whatever hits he delivered in the process and kept him pinned against the stonework with one of her arms crushing his throat. Looking into her eyes, it was hard to tell how much of her mind still recognized that this was just a training exercise.

Ahnasha felt Fendros grip loosen on her wrist, but as she tried to get up, she found that she had a new problem. His arm was still around her, and he was quick enough to take advantage of it. He tossed her to one side, face-first into the ground, and immediately threw his weight onto her. At this point, she had no leverage. He had a good hold of her arms, leaving her with no way to move them, and she didn't have the strength to throw him off of her directly. She tried to use the sharp claws on her feet to her advantage, but he had seen her try that trick before and prepared for it. She really had nowhere to go, and she tasted a bit of blood on her lip, likely from the point where it became well-acquainted with the ground. "Ah, I think you have this one." She conceded.

[Muttonhawk]

Janius had suspected that Kaleeth would get frustrated with this exercise, but rather than simply give up, her violent outburst was more than Janius had bargained for. The wooden cut to her arm didn't halt her charge as she held Janius against the wall. Janius opened his mouth and found with a pained face that he couldn't breathe. Immediately, his sword clattered to the ground and he brought both hands up to try and pull at Kaleeth's arm, just enough to take in a small breath and speak with a strain. "Perhaps...a bit...passionate, but...that works..." Janius wheezed in a breath, then tried to smile, "...If you would be so kind...as to release me, then...then I might put a reason to this exercise..."

Even though Kaleeth's face showed a burning anger, Janius trusted her not to go over the edge. He would just rather speak to her without being asphyxiated.

With her limbs restrained and Fendros' weight pinning her, Ahnasha had nowhere to go. Fendros smiled and brushed a hand over Ahnasha's ear after she conceded, then stood up off from her. "That was new," Fendros remarked, rolling one shoulder, "might need some work, though." Stepping back a couple of paces and putting his fists up again, Fendros waited for Ahnasha to recover and ready herself before proceeding.

Once the next bout started, Fendros shuffled forward immediately and threw left jabs at Ahnasha to keep the pressure on her. He tried to keep her out of reach until she inevitably attacked, upon which point he went for a kick to the side of her knee to put her off balance.

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth's barred teeth started to turn into a macabre grin as she satisfied her anger through choking Janius, but as her beast spirit's anger diminished, the rational part of her mind recognized what she was doing. Immediately, she dropped both Janius and her wooden sword and took a few steps back, shocked at her own actions. She looked at Janius with her mouth agape, her expression full of regret and fear of what might had happened had she not stopped.

"I...no, I'm sorry...I just...I couldn't..." Kaleeth stammered incoherently before quickly turning and running out of the room in shame. She didn't care about the cultists watching her as she ran back to her room. Back in the guest rooms, Lorag, having finished maintaining their blades, was standing in the hall trying to figure out some other way to pass the time. He saw Kaleeth running back in tears, which was honestly becoming a normal sight. Since they were in the lair of a group of murderous cultists, he figured it wasn't the best time for one of her outbursts, so he tried putting himself in front of her to stop her, but she readily brushed him aside and ran into her room.

Lorag grumbled after being forced into the wall. "I swear, I'll never get used to that."

For their second round, Ahnasha stuck with strategies she was more familiar with, but still tried to mix up her attacks. For his jabs, instead of blocking, she redirected them to less-sensitive parts of her body while retaliating with strikes of her own. When he struck her knee, she shoved him back to throw him just as off-balance as she was. Through their fight, the pair attracted the attention of an onlooker. It wasn't Vinaremo, but it was someone close.

"Hmm, you two certainly put on a show." The man commented. It was the Argonian male that always seemed to be with Vinaremo: Orskan-Tan.

Upon Orskan's intrusion, Ahnasha and Fendros halted their fight. She gave him a distrustful gaze, though she tried not to appear threatening. "Look, we just want to spar. We don't want any trouble like yesterday."

Orskan held up his hands and shook his head lightly. "Calm down, I am not an arrogant kaoc always looking to prove himself like Vinaremo. I am merely satisfying my curiosity."

"I'm right here, Orsk." Another, mildly frustrated voice sounded out from behind him.

"Yes, I'm well-aware." Orskan retorted to Vinaremo, who was a short distance away practicing breaking one of the wards. "That Altmer has not changed for the past hundred years that I've known him."

Ahnasha cocked her head to the side slightly. "Hundred years? You don't look like a vampire."

Orskan gave a slight huff. "That would be because I am not. There are other ways to stay alive than becoming a creature of the night."

"So, you found a method of arcane life extention?" Ahnasha reasoned. Her curiosity was, quite suddenly, piqued. Suddenly, she did not seem too concerned with how dangerous this Argonian could potentially be. "What method is that, if I may ask?"

"Oh, now you have gotten him started." Vinaremo quipped in the distance.

Orskan's expression turned to a grin. "Curious about my work, are you? It is necromancy, of course, as is any magic that gives life where there should be none. Souls can be used for much, much more than just putting a magic effect on some trinket."

"Really? That sounds interesting. How much about that would you be willing to tell?" Ahnasha asked with genuine curiosity and excitement in her eyes. At the mere prospect of learning about life extension, she seemed to completely disregard caution. The fact that this cultist could not be trusted, or could have ulterior motives, did not appear to register in her mind. All she could focus on was learning more about how he had managed to overcome his natural lifespan.

[Muttonhawk]

Once Janius was released, he held his head forward and coughed his airways clear. Unfortunately, he didn't quite regain his speech in time for Kaleeth to start running. "No- Kaleeth, wait! I haven't even explained..." Janius called after her, but trailed off when she left the room.

Janius stood for a moment, wondering whether to bother pursuing. After a few seconds, he retrieved each wooden sword, put them back on the stand on which he found them, then made his way down the corridor in the direction that Kaleeth ran. Along the way, he spotted Lorag going in the opposite direction. At first, Janius simply nodded to him and walked past him, but before they walked too far apart from each other, Janius stopped and turned around. "Hey Lorag, can I ask you something?" Janius put one hand on his hip and the other on his forehead, closing his eyes in a look of uncertain thought, "Have you ever had a point in your life where you felt as if you couldn't win at anything? If you have, how did you get out of it?" Janius' tone suggested that he was frustrated, but still wanted to solve the problem in his head. There was no particular way of telling whether Janius was asking for himself or Kaleeth.

It was a nice change to have a cultist that wanted to speak and did not outwardly want to show some inherent superiority, but Fendros kept a cautious outlook. Given the nature of the cult, Fendros didn't really want to speak to Orskan-Tan about anything, but he could see hope in Ahnasha's eyes. He crossed his arms and observed with a neutral expression, ready to step in if Orskan crossed any boundaries. Already, the mention of necromancy brought Orskan close to said boundaries, given the ethics of the followers of Molag Bal.

Speaking about the subject of prolonging one's lifespan caused Fendros' memory to be cast back to the temple in Vos. If there was even a trace of any Bretons involved, Fendros would likely drop the offer on the spot. Technically, Molag Bal and Mephala were old enemies. But then again, would Mephala really be a more trustworthy being in this case?

[EliteCommander]

Lorag gave Janius a nod. "Yeah, I have, but how about instead of tryin' to make sense of analogies or something, we just get straight to the point? It's about the girl, isn't it? She has a mental breakdown about twice a week by this point. What happened this time?" He asked directly. Lorag did not really think he would be good at dealing with whatever issues Kaleeth had, but getting his advice was one of the few things Janius hadn't tried. Besides, it wasn't as if he could make it worse...probably.

"Hmm, an interesting question. If you are wanting me to extend your life, then no, that is not possible, even if I wanted to. You would need to have the prerequisite skills. If you are wanting me to teach you to do it, then no, at least not the entire process. It takes quite a lot of study to come close to extending one's life, and that is far more time and effort than I would be willing to give to an outsider, no matter what you gave me in return. But to explain the process, and perhaps get you started on the path...I might be persuaded to lend you my knowledge. How much knowledge of conjuration do you have? Or can you even cast magic?" Orskan questioned.

Ahnasha nodded. "I can, actually. I am actually rather skilled in illusion...but I have only a little knowledge of conjuration. Enough for a few bound weapons, and maybe a simple familiar or something."

Orskan seemed a bit displeased about her lack of knowledge, but continued nonetheless. "Better than nothing, I suppose. I will tell you for free an overview of what it involves. You'll need a number of black souls to begin the process; the exact number varies from person to person. The process uses tenants of reanimation and enchanting by using the souls' energy to keep your own soul bound more strongly to your own body. This, in turn, prevents your body from decaying. Of course, just explaining it is not nearly as easy as actually doing it. It requires a very strong understanding of how souls are bound to flesh, and how to recreate that binding. As well, the effect will wear down over time, so you also have to keep strengthening the bonds with more black souls every fifty to a hundred years, depending on how good you are at it. I have some old tomes that could get you started, but you will not get them from me for free. I will require payment for this gift, in some form or another."

The essence of what Orskan describe was that Ahnasha would have to kill other mortals, take their souls, then use them on her own body to keep herself alive. It would require dooming others to a fate worse than just death...but Ahnasha still did not hesitate. The allure of an extended life was powerful enough that she could find a way to justify destroying souls for it. "What is your price?" She asked, her expression frighteningly cold and serious.

[Muttonhawk]

With a sigh through his nose, Janius twisted is mouth and conceded that he should just be forthcoming with Lorag. "She has...well, she is afraid all of the time, but we're all a bit afraid here, no it's...she's having a difficult time coming to terms with her nature as a werecrocodile and she's got it in her head that she can't. That she's useless. I know that's not true, she has learned a lot since she joined us, and I think she's capable, but whenever she makes a mistake, she just completely loses her mind and withdraws. It doesn't help that whenever that happens, she seems to get quite homesick." Janius leaned against a wall and crossed his arms, looking low at the opposite wall of the corridor. He had to admit that even with all this time to think about it, actually putting the situation into words helped to give him some perspective, no matter what Lorag's response to it all might be. "I tried to talk her out of that anxious torpor she put herself in yesterday by trying to lend her some optimism, then she snapped at me and said I was lying to her. Today, I thought I would try something to prove that she could overcome challenges when she was out of her element. I thought of trying some sword sparring where she would have to experiment and try to overcome a simple technique." Janius extended a palm out in front of him, "At the very least it would get her moving, maybe help against sitting still and constantly letting the stress get bigger and bigger." He looked away, ashamed at his failure, "Then she just got too frustrated, had an outburst where she pinned me against the wall-" Janius' tone went from recounting to reasoning frantically, almost interrupting himself for a moment, "she didn't do any harm and I doubt she would have under any circumstances - it was just her beast spirit I think. Anyway, she got scared again, now she's run off again."

Janius turned his head to Lorag again, angling forward. He had an expression as if he was overwhelmed and at his wits' end. "So that's why I thought I might as well ask how you might have dealt with what she's going through. I was on my way to explain why she didn't have to be upset about her outburst, and why I lead her to get frustrated just now. I'm not sure whether that would be enough, though. I feel like I'm spinning in circles."

As Orskan explained the general concept of his necromantic extension of life, Fendros shifted uncomfortably. Black souls came from people. To bind them in such a way would be cruel beyond measure. With what Ahnasha knew of magic, Fendros doubted that she was unaware, but she still latched onto the idea. Before Orskan could respond, Fendros placed his hand on Ahnasha's shoulder to pull her attention away. "Ahna," Fendros said with a worried look, "Can we talk about this? Please?"

[EliteCommander]

Lorag rubbed the back of his neck, not really sure what advice to provide. "Well, uh..." He began. He had never dealt with an issue such as this before. Sure, when he first became a lycan, he was often filled with anger and frustration, but he was already well trained by that point. Most of his episodes of anger had come from failing on his early hunts, but whenever that happened, his beast spirit took over, and it was perfectly competent at hunting. He didn't really know what Janius could try other than removing the source of her frustration, but they couldn't stop training her. The girl wasn't near as skilled in a fight as most of the pack, except for maybe Sabine.

"She got frustrated by failing, right? Maybe...you can have her do something she would be good at? Just...what has she got going for her? I haven't trained with her as much as you, so you would know more than me. I'd pick something that suits her natural abilities. If that don't work, then I don't know." Lorag suggested.

Upon Fendros' interruption, Ahnasha looked at him with an almost confused expression, then glanced back to Orskan. The Argonian shrugged his shoulders, then motioned her away. "Go ahead. I need to determine a price anyway." He remarked before walking over to talk to Vinaremo.

Ahnasha walked with Fendros away from the pair of cultists with an expression that was actually mildly annoyed. "What is this about Fendros? This could be our chance; I could live beyond just a tenth of your life if I can just study that tome he is offering."

[Muttonhawk]

Janius looked forward again. "Perhaps." Janius curled his lips and stopped to think. From what Janius could recall, there were only a few things that Kaleeth appeared to be well trained in. She exhibited some skill in hunting outside of her beast form, though that wasn't really an option now. There were some basic skills that she picked up from living in her village that had made life in the pack easier, but those were really just chores. There wasn't really much that they could do while detained here. As Janius pondered, he thought he might be looking at the wrong angles. What were Kaleeth's 'natural' abilities now? Well, her condition has given her strength that she may not have tested the limits of yet. Perhaps it might help to provide the opportunity to experiment. Whether it would make her any more or less ashamed of herself was another matter entirely. It might just help to ask her.

"It might be of some help," Janius pushed off the wall and nodded to Lorag, "Thanks Lorag." With at least some other option in his mind, Janius turned and continued toward the guest rooms.

Janius entered Kaleeth's room more quietly than before. He gathered up what he wanted to say before stopping by Lorag, then took a spot standing and leaning against the doorframe. "Kaleeth, please don't run off like that. I know you didn't mean any harm." Janius' tone was trying to play down the situation, trying to convince Kaleeth that there was no reason to panic like she did. He craned his neck to one side cautiously, "Before you left, I was about to explain why I picked swords to train with this morning. I knew you weren't trained with them. I wanted you to demonstrate to yourself that you could overcome challenges when not under the best conditions. In a way, you succeeded, and that's the truth. I wasn't expecting you to rush me like that."

Back in the training room, Fendros faced away from the cultists and spoke to Ahnasha carefully. "I'm not saying you aren't being cautious here, but I'm not sure it would be a good idea to rush into something like this if it's going to mean using black souls. I've read about them. Regardless of what these cultists want, or get up to, do you think we can really justify this method? It won't just mean killing people, it will mean condemning them to suffering." Fendros put up a hand before Ahnasha could respond, "Hold, just..." Fendros exhaled, his mind jumping between two sides of a very grey issue in his mind. "Okay, we'll find out more, but let's just keep that in mind. And let's stay on the lookout for anything underhanded, I still don't trust these people."

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth was sitting on her bed, not quite in as bad of a state as the day before, but nevertheless distressed. She had expected Janius to follow, so she wasn't going to run out of the room this time. "I understand, but...it was just frustrating. I think my beast spirit made it worse. I know I do not always have to be bad at fighting. I mean, anyone can get better with practice. I am just afraid of how long it will take. I know how to use my spear and dagger, but I mostly only ever used them on animals, and I don't think any of you know how to teach me to fight people with a spear. And it would take so much training for me to become good with a sword. With this war, I am going to die before I can learn."

"Look, I know it sounds bad, but..." Ahnasha began, placing her hand on Fendros' shoulder to try and placate him. "...but I think it is worth it. I mean, it isn't like we have to use the souls of innocents or anything. We come across bandits from time to time; we can take their souls. Or maybe take some souls from Vile's followers. Whatever we do, this is too good of an opportunity to pass up."

Ahnasha noticed that Orskan seemed to be waiting for them to finish their talk, so she gave Fendros a reassuring nod and walked with him back to the Argonian. "We are definitely interested in this tome. What would it take to acquire it?" She asked, trying to ignore Vinaremo's judging gaze. He crossed his arms and gave a quick glance to his Altmer friend before responding. "Well, I am willing to trade, but I still need to come up with an appropriate price. Gold has little value to me, and I would prefer something more useful anyways. You cannot leave this place until the Master gives you a task anyway, so I will take the next few days to come up with an idea. I will make sure to find you when I do. Now, I have an experiment I need to check on. Good luck with your sparring." Orskan explained before taking his leave.

Ahnasha and Fendros quickly left Vinaremo to return to their former sparring area. Ahnasha seemed almost excited, despite the noncommittal answer from Orskan. "Hopefully, his price won't be anything too unreasonable, because this has the potential to be great. Just think, if this works out, we could be together for centuries, instead of decades." She commented, wrapping her arms around him as she pulled him in for a hug.

[Muttonhawk]

"If that's what you are afraid of, Kaleeth, then you don't have to fight until you're confident. None of us want to throw you in any position where you'll die." Janius stated in as casual a tone as needed, "Even Sabine always transforms before we go anywhere deliberately to fight, she didn't really express any interest in learning to fight before her trial of body. What's most important right now is learning to control your beast spirit, so take other things at your own pace for now." Janius raised a smile. Even though Kaleeth was still obviously anxious, she wasn't completely withdrawn like yesterday. Perhaps the sparring did end up doing some good after all.

Janius walked over to the bed and sat down next to Kaleeth, leaning forward and looking up at her face. "Would stopping to meditate and calm yourself help, do you think, or would you like to go out and try something else? Spending another day curled up in bed won't be good for you, and I have a feeling that the strength you have might suit a...heavier weapon."

The expression that Fendros had still looked conflicted, but he didn't protest. Ahnasha was right, they wouldn't likely get an opportunity like this in the future. He just hoped that his conscience could guide him true if they went through with it. Even with bandits, Fendros wasn't sure he wanted to wish the fate they planned on anyone. Orskan's response didn't raise Fendros' confidence either. If he didn't want gold, then he could only guess what held value to him that they could relinquish. He hoped it wouldn't be anything harmful. Ahnasha's hug was something he returned, though. It was nice to see her hopeful for once about this issue that hung over them. He breathed in to speak, but couldn't think of anything to say.

[EliteCommander]

"A heavier weapon? Like a club, or mace?" Kaleeth questioned. It was hard for her to imagine going out and training again after almost trying to kill Janius, but at least he wanted to try something different, instead of just swords again. "I guess we can try. I have never used anything like that before because I was never really strong enough, but...I guess I am now." She commented, putting her arm around Janius with a very tight grip and pulling him close. "I just...I don't want to hurt you. I don't really know how strong I am; I haven't tried to test it before."

Ahnasha showed much less doubt than Fendros and instead put one arm around him and smiled. "Don't worry, I am sure we will figure something out that will work just fine. Now, instead of worrying, how about we get back to training?" She suggested, pausing to conjure up a bound bow in her other hand. "Instead of beating each other senseless, let's go for the bow this time. It's about time we start getting into some advanced techniques."

[Muttonhawk]

"Oh, don't you worry about hurting me. Just follow the rules we have for safe sparring and if you end up crossing any lines, I'll let you know right away." Janius said, at first normally, then tending towards strain as he realised the difficulty he now had with refilling his lungs. He would have put his arm around Kaleeth as well if it weren't for the fact that his arms were trapped against his torso. Instead, he let the moment continue with shallow breaths for a moment, then patted Kaleeth's knee and started to get up, motioning for her to follow. "Lorag taught me how to wield maces properly a while ago, back in Morrowind. I'll get you to swing it at a mannequin first to get used to it, and test your strength while we're at it. Also..." Janius turned and put his hands on either side of Kaleeth's face, showing a warm smile, "...your spirits have returned a bit. It's good to see."

Ahnasha managed to turn Fendros' mood around rather quickly, eliciting a small, slightly surprised laugh from him. "Advanced techniques? You mean up until now hasn't been advanced?" Fendros questioned jokingly, retrieving his own bow, "I'm not sure how I'll match you even in my own lifetime at this rate."

[EliteCommander]

Kaleeth's training with blunt weapons went notably better than before, if only because she did not attempt to murder Janius in the process. Using blunt weapons required significantly less agility or grace than a sword, so her strength became a more influential factor. When it came time to test the extent of her strength, she ended up breaking both the mannequin and her wooden training club, which hinted at her potential. However, despite the advantages she had, Kaleeth's technique was still clumsy, and she wasn't quick to react to incoming blows. In a fight, she could indeed overpower most foes, but her weaknesses in defending herself would undoubtedly cause her serious injury, or worse.

After another two days, one of the cultists informed the pack early in the morning that Hal-Neesa's husband had arrived and that they were deliberating on how to respond to their offer. For the next hour or so, they were told nothing. They started to prepare for the day and have breakfast as normal, but there was a strong silent tension in the air. Their fate relied on the opinion of a Molag Bal worshiper whom they had never met. If he decided not to go through with the deal, then they would likely have to fight their way out of the catacombs. Not all of the pack had not even finished their breakfast when Vinaremo and Orskan-Tan showed up once more, telling them to follow them...immediately.

The pack proceeded to the throne room wordlessly. Each of them were armed as if they were going into a fight, so it was no doubt obvious that they did not trust that the meeting would end without violence. Vinaremo and Orskan made no comment about it, however, as it seemed they were perfectly confident that the pack could pose no threat. The silence of the walk was only broken when Orskan walked alongside Ahnasha and made a quick, quiet comment just before they reached their destination.

"I have determined the price I want for the tome. Once we are done here, I will explain in detail." Orskan quickly explained. For Ahnasha, it was an encouraging statement, as it meant that their masters had decided to at least give them an opportunity to prove themselves...unless Orskan had not yet been told of their decision, and was merely guessing.

This time, when the pack entered the throne room, there were a group of guards on either side of the two thrones, each in finely embroidered black and violet robes, along with an equal number of reanimated skeletons, each with uniform ebony weapons and armor. Given how rare and expensive ebony was, one could only imagine how long it had taken to acquire suits of armor made from it for skeletons, of all things. Meesei supposed it was for intimidation, a purpose which it was serving rather well.

Now, both thrones were occupied, one by Hal-Neesa, and the other by a pale Dunmer man with piercing red eyes and a fine, almost royal looking crimson red and black set of clothes, consisting of a fine shirt and pants instead of a robe. As before, Vinaremo gave a bow and introduced the pack. "These are the representatives of Hircine, my Lord and Lady." He said. The normal venom in his tone when speaking to or about the pack was completely gone, instead replaced by strict formality.

"Ah, yes, my lovely wife has told me much about you. I am Llarvan Samarys, Lord of this court." The Dunmer said, his tone nonthreatening, but nevertheless commanding.

[Muttonhawk]

With how imposing Samarys' guard were, all of the danger that the pack knew they were in returned to the forefront of their minds. It was almost hard to believe, but with no incidents over the past few days, they were actually beginning to feel safer here. At least before Hal-Neesa's husband returned.

Fendros didn't quite know what to make of the man. Llarvan wasn't anyone he could immediately remember the name of, neither for the Samarys family. In frankness it was surprising enough that it was a Dunmer. Though, he supposed he shouldn't be too surprised that he wasn't the only Dunmer in the world that had broken convention and paired with one of the beast races.

As opposed to Fendros' reaction, which was of curiosity if anything, Janius kept his wits about him. With Hal-Neesa's power, he knew that these cult leaders both had the pack under an unsaid duress. Whatever his verdict was here, it might mean the end of them. Janius' confidence was not improved by how well protected their guards were under that ebony plate.

It was a thread of optimism that kept Sabine from true fear. Even though they couldn't trust these people, there was no denying that they had been accommodating thus far. Hopefully Vinaremo didn't have too much say in the pack's fate.

[EliteCommander]

Hal-Neesa picked up after Llarvan's introduction. "After a brief discussion, we have come to a decision on what to do about your request. We have a task we are going to set you to in order to prove your usefulness. If you succeed, we will discuss a more formal truce."

"Be grateful for this opportunity." Llarvan added. "We do not often offer such leniency to outsiders. Being lycans, your souls are strong, and valuable to us, but my wife believes you will be more useful alive. I would advise you not to disappoint us."

Meesei nodded affirmatively, hiding any emotions she might have been feeling. "Of course. What task are we to perform?"

"Your arrival here has came at an opportune time." Hal-Neesa began. "For the past few months, we have been dealing with an annoyance in the form of the son of a local noble. He fancies himself a vampire hunter, and while he has little skill in that regard, he has the coin to hire people who do. He has a small army of mercenaries at his command that have been annoying us under the blessing of the Gideon city guard. We seek to eliminate this threat. In his little crusade, he has managed to capture a few members of our coven, as we have of his mercenaries. As such, he has arranged for a hostage exchange tomorrow afternoon in the ruins of an old village nearby. Of course, this will obviously be a trap. He has likely already executed his hostages, as we have for his. What we want from you is to help turn this trap against those setting it. They are expecting to fight necromancers and vampires, not lycanthropes. If you are there to fight them, it will be marginally easier to kill them. I want every one of you there, alongside a group led by Vinaremo. Even if the noble himself does not arrive, it will likely be possible to capture one for interrogation, or search their bodies for reference to where they are hiding."

"One of us will need to stay here to watch Rhazii." Ahnasha objected, immediately regretting speaking up without thinking first. She had brought Rhazii with her, as she did not trust the cult enough to leave him alone.

"You need not worry about your child. He will be staying here while you are away." Llarvan explained.

"No..." Ahnasha blurted out quickly before quickly trying to backtrack and add something more. "I mean, I need to make sure all of his needs are met. He is a Khajiit child and..."

"I am sorry, but I do not recall giving you a choice." Llarvan interrupted in a firm tone. "If you think we are being unfair, I can rescind the offer entirely."

"No...no, that...will not be necessary." Ahnasha answered meekly. She lower her head and looked down at her son with worry. Undoubtedly, the reason they wanted to keep him here was so he could be a hostage, but there was nothing Ahnasha could think of to stop it.

[Muttonhawk]

Admittedly, the task that Llarvan and Hal-Neesa set was not something that was completely objectionable. Although it seemed cruel to kill their hostages, it appeared as if the hunters were just as cruel, and the pack knew what it was like to have those driven by blind hate at their backs.

Janius' notion that they were under the cult's thumb definitely manifested in them holding Rhazii as a hostage. It was as cruel as their reputation suggested. Also concerning was how Kaleeth would handle herself. She would have to transform if she wanted to be effective in this fight, but Janius didn't want to force her to kill. If she did end up fighting, she would also have to restrain herself from attacking Vinaremo and the cultists.

Holding back his own anger at their decision, Fendros kept his eyes on Llarvan and moved closer to Ahnasha. He put his arm around her and comforted her quietly. "I don't like this either, but if they still want our help, Rhazii will be fine." Fendros wished he could promise such a thing, but right now they had no control of the matter. This was all he could do.

[EliteCommander]

"Vinaremo, inform your group that you will be leaving tomorrow morning. You may bring some of the thralls as well, but be sure your group is not too large, or our prey will flee on sight. You are dismissed." Hal-Neesa ordered. The pack was quick to leave, as they did not wish to risk angering either of the cult's leaders. Based on the impressions they gave during the meeting, Llarvan was merely accepting the possibility of a truce, instead of advocating for it. Neesa, of all people, seemed to be the one who had argued in favor of their deal. It was difficult to tell from their brief interaction, but Meesei hoped that Neesa held just as much influence as her husband, as she seemed to be their closest ally in the cult, which was not saying much, in all honesty.

On the way back to their rooms, Orskan-Tan parted ways from Vinaremo, then stopped Ahnasha and Fendros in one of the halls. As promised, he intended to explain the terms of his deal. "Now that we have a moment, I can give you my terms. It is a fairly low price, actually, as I will be providing the supplies you need. Mostly, you will just be giving me the convenience of not having to do it myself. You see, I have used my allotted share of souls for this month in my experiments and require more. I could go out and gather more myself, but that is time I could be spending on my experiments. I could also take the souls in our upcoming fight tomorrow, but I prefer to focus on the fight itself, instead of filling soul gems. That is why I am passing off the task to you. I require four black souls; I care not where from. I will give you the gems, you just need to fill them. If you do not know a spell of soul trap, I can give you a dagger with that enchantment."

"Deal, do you have the gems on you?" Ahnasha answered without hesitation. Orskan nodded and unslung a small pouch from his shoulder that contained the gems. He handed it to Ahnasha, to which she glanced to Fendros. "Could you take that, Fendros? My hands are full."

[Muttonhawk]

The pack walked away from the interaction with the cult leaders with at least some relief. Between more objectionable tasks and breaking out in a fight, that audience could definitely have been worse.

Fendros paused, then took the bag from Orskan's hands. With one hand, he rummaged in the bag and pulled out one of the gems. Even though it was dull and clearly empty, Fendros wasn't entirely comfortable holding it. He placed the black soul gem back into the bag, then looked up at Orskan. "I think I'll need that dagger as well," he said with less enthusiasm than Ahnasha had.

When they walked into the corridors, Janius caught up with Kaleeth to speak with her about the task that was set. They specifically mentioned that they would all be going out to this ambush, but Kaleeth had only been training with her weapon for a couple of days. "Kaleeth, we'll all be together for this one, but if you don't feel confident enough to fight, then you may hide yourself for the duration when we arrive. What did you want to do?"

[EliteCommander]

Orskan took the dagger from a pouch and handed it to Fendros. "Here you go. Oh, and whether you end up filling those things or not, I need all of them back. They are a pain to make, and quite valuable. Make no mistake, I will make you regret it if you try to take what is mine. Beyond that, good luck. If you succeed and get that tome, you may very well be on your way to eternal life...or at least a very long one. Now, I am sure Vinaremo is going to bring me along for this venture tomorrow, so I need to go find him. I will see you two tomorrow."

After Orskan took his leave, Ahnasha continued on with Fendros back to their rooms. "I think I remember how to cast soul trap. I'll need to practice it once or twice to be sure, but I think you can hold on to the dagger. Hopefully, we can get all four souls during the fight tomorrow." She suggested. Her tone was surprisingly casual; even if the people they were going to be fighting were not outstanding individuals, she seemed to have a disturbing indifference to what they were planning on doing to them.

Kaleeth rubbed her hands together nervously, thinking about the coming fight. "Well, um, I don't know. I know I don't want to leave all of you to fight alone, but...I also don't know if I am ready. I can stay with you, but, well, you know I can't defend myself as easy as you can. If we can get a good mace that won't break when I use it, I can hit really hard with it, but it is even slower than the sword. I tried to learn to block with it, but you still kept hitting me yesterday, and we were just practicing. If we are fighting real people with real swords...I will get hurt. Can...can you think of anything to help me protect myself better? My armor is strong, but it is not like the metal armor Lorag has."