Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The charging adversaries met with a rolling wave of claws, teeth, weapons, and noise. The faster combatants positively leapt onto their first kills. Bones and shells were crushed and broken, while pained yelps and whimpers heralded retaliation from the Daedra themselves. But without a solid formation, not to mention without silver, the Daedra were at a disadvantage in breaking the lycan momentum.

Janius took his axe blade to the enemy in a frenzy that his werewolf form relished. A surprised hunger was planted into the ground by his first overhead swing. With the leverage, he pulled himself forward to grab the beak of a charging clannfear and directed its momentum upwards to slam it body-first into the ground behind him. The next row of Daedra were cleft across the middle or otherwise forced to dodge away from another swing. Barbs, claws, cruel weapons, and arrows failed to surpass his armour as he cut a swathe through the growing numbers before him.

Sabine had much to concentrate on. At first, she struck lightning and frost into the enemy in wide areas to fell as many as she could in a short time. When the smaller mindless chaff of the enemy thinned and proved ineffective, she directed more focussed spells to benefit the pack. She fortified their speed to keep up with the waves of the enemy and she struck her more powerful debilitating spells out to the spider daedra and other magically-inclined creatures to keep them from disrupting her allies.

All the while, Fendros aimed for the most dangerous. Through thin keyholes in the lines, dark arrows would appear through the necks, armpits, or knees of the most heavily equipped Skaafin and Dremora.

The orders shouted out by the Legate-General were hard to hear for the pack at their distance, but the army of steadily marching armoured boots behind them was apparent to all. The shield wall was consolidating their ground as they received more sections to widen the formation. With their uphill advantage, the occasional stray Daedra that would break through the lines was stuck with several spears before it could see the eyes behind the crested legion helmets before it.

The spare moments allowed legion, lycan, and dominion archers to bring themselves to bear. Again, the high ground gave them more range to fire volleys over the lycans, though the commanders were sparse with their fire orders. The staggered arrangement of the enemy and the possibility of another airborne attack kept them reserved.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The commanders were calm and in complete control. While their initial rush had not been given the time to solidify into a fortified bastion, what they did have was a foothold, enough room to manoeuvre, and a vanguard of disciplined soldiers.

"Shield wall!" Gro-Tagnud boomed with an experienced, resonant voice. "I want this plateau fenced end-to-end!"

Battlemages either side of him shot signals up into the air towards the enemy. The covered formations of the legionnaires broke into a chorus of unified footfalls as they morphed into a many-ranked line formation to face the oncoming enemy. Rows of spears lowered to meet the charge.

Teroiah, standing with her still sparking hands clasped behind her straight back, opted for a magically enhanced voice. She carried just as much weight in her words. "Command Sergeants! Break this charge!"

The thinner numbers of Dominion soldiers in their yellowed moonstone armour rushed up behind the legion shield wall in teams of three, each team several meters apart. Unlike the legionnaires, their shields were on their backs and they had only backup weapons at their belts. In a graceful series of movements, the centre dominion soldiers began gathering purple-blue conjuration magic in their hands while the two either side hefted them up by the legs. At the height of the lift, the spellcasters shot a hand each out beyond the formation, opening up thrumming portals from elsewhere in Oblivion. Each one brought forth the a steaming, crystalline forms of large ice atronachs.

The atronachs did as they were mentally commanded; curl into a ball and roll down into the oncoming horde.

The pack kept their eyes out for particularly powerful threats. Fendros already had an arrow nocked with a long shot in mind for the vital point in the best target.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Good to hear you're doing alright with it.

I agree, it'll be a while. I already miss going out to do things other than exercise and grocery shopping. Here's hoping the economic fallout doesn't hit us either.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Yeah, thankfully my job can be worked from home and my partner has been living with me for a while, so I'm not as screwed as a lot of other folks. To tell the truth, living with my partner has been the main cause of going multiple days without posting.

My family is healthy and safe as well. My partner lost their job, though, so that sucks.

Everything is really quiet in town here. Just chugging along, really.

How about you? Staying sane and healthy?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The pack closed as safely as they could around Meesei to protect her. Fendros loosed arrow after arrow, each one punching an arrow halfway through a twilight's body and tumbling them to the ground. Janius coordinated with Kaleeth to boost his jumps into the air to snatch at twilight legs and tails in his mouth, pulling them down with his weight and tearing them apart.

Sabine was the one capable of taking the broadest approach as she gathered her own power and whirled her arms in a magical pull. The air around them blew into a tornado-like gust a ways above the ground, throwing the smaller of the flying creatures out of control in Meesei's vicinity. Fendros pushed through the gale towards Sabine to cover her with his own ward should any of their enemies notice the source of the effect.

During the commotion, Janius finished up catching another twilight from a surprising altitude. It gave him a terrible idea. "Pull that big one further down," he snarled, hefting the affixed axe blade on his hand, "and I could cut its wing open!"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

A bit delayed on my responses. I'll get one in tomorrow.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The response to the Daedric Titan above demonstrated the specialised nature of the formations coming through the portal. A few callouts by the sergeants were unintelligible for all who did not have the reflex training to lock shields, raise wards, and keep together. The coldfire washed over their defences, though some broke down under its sheer power. Those clear enough from the sweeping flames started launching arrows and spells as ordered.

Fendros defaulted to his well-practiced ward. He, too, moved to cover as much of the pack as he could, but his work was not quite enough. Janius, Kaleeth, and Lorag's forms were difficult to cover at the best of times. Against the titan's breath, they could probably survive, though they would not be unaffected. It was Sabine who stepped up and projected a ward large enough to cover them all -- impossibly large, some would say, but the power in the Staff of Magnus was immediately familiar in her hands, and she made full use of it.

Off to one side, a recognisably incensed voice shouted out some cursing taunt before gathering a noticeable amount of power. Teroiah, shortly after coming through the portal, took matters into her own hands against the great beast above their command centre. A whirling spiral of ward-like ethereal chains cast out in a drilling pattern from her towards the titan, seemingly deflecting the fire off her in a cone of safety. Then, through the middle of the spiral, a more brutish form of magic charged and released a line of crackling lightning directly towards the titan's chest in retaliation. The display lit up the entire plateau in bright white.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

Thank you, Capy. That was a gratifying read.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I can topple a watch tower if we get close enough!" Sabine said over the calls and thunderous feet of rushing lycan spirits. "If we move now we can get to at least one before they can defend it!"

Already, the turf below their feet was getting torn up and replaced by mud and dirt from the advancing numbers of allies. Legionnaires and Dominion troops set up in blocks of soldiers ready to be deployed. Dominion battlemages deployed runes at the edges of the cliffs to ward off and warn of climbing enemies. Legion engineers brought through pieces of artillery to put together on the high ground to rain bolts and stones at range.

Over the sounds, the shouts and yells of officers held traces of Vera signalling the stages of fortification. Ditches, stake barriers, and eventually raised observation platforms would join their invasion. The Dominion would take a little more time to set up their machines of war, but the magic they would bring to bear had the potential to be devastating.

"No use us being the tip of the spear if we fall behind the front!" Fendros announced. "What is our next move, Meesei!?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There was no holding their breath. Come curses or floods, the pack surged forward without hesitation. The sound of their armour clicking and scraping as they moved was quickly drowned out by the formation behind them marching their feet at double-time behind them to rush their assault through.

They had been instructed on what to expect, though the apparent similarity between their origin and destination planes was unnerving. The true differences did not show themselves on those green fields.

Everyone who knew the spell used magic to detect life around them. Sabine stretched her view out the furthest in search for distant hazy traces of life force. To be sure, she detected traces of undeath in the area as well.

As soon as it was apparent that their immediate surroundings were clear, Fendros clutched the control rod at his hip to send Dwemer spiders out to the peripheries of the portal, even at the cliffs, to spring any ambushes that might be waiting for them out of sight.

"Anything, Sabine?" Fendros asked.

"Nothing of size." She noted loud enough for them to hear. "No formations I can find. Not nearby. Just individuals."