Groin-Cruncher climbs up hurriedly in fear. "Was that a werewolf? Please don't tell me that was a werewolf!" Groin-Cruncher pleaded. "It could just be normal wolves, right?" said Nisfar. "No, there are no wild canine mammals in Akavir. We bred dogs underground and they look like… short, fluffy, cream-coloured huskies. A werewolf was possibly stowed away on your ship. There were no lycanthrope reports for years." Tyermaillin remarked worriedly as Teldryn and Drachen climbed up to the kitchen. The bodyguards aim their guns at Drachen with fast reflexes.
"Wait, wait, wait! That's my great-times-ten-grandfather, he's also a guest." Drake intervened. "What did you guys see and where's Billy?" Drake asked. "He insisted on fighting the beast and for all we know he might be dead!" Teldryn replied nervously. They hear screaming getting louder until they hear a wall breaking upstairs. A bodyguard investigates the sleeping quarters to find a hole in the wall with Billy lying on top of the debris injured.
"Just five more minutes, mom!" Austin whined tiredly in his sleep. The bodyguard climbs back down to inform Tyermaillin in another language. "Is the long-haired Nord with black eyewear Billy?" Tyermaillin asked. "Is there a doctor in the house? I bet he's just a few inches away from the patient." Sheogorath commented. "Guys, why is there a beat-up former bounty hunter here?" Austin asked from upstairs.
Hours later, Billy wakes up in bed having his heart checked by Austin. "Guys, he's awake!" Austin announced to the crew, standing over Billy in the tower sleeping quarters. "What happened? All I can remember was being thrown towards the tower." Billy groaned tiredly. "Easy there, your back was broken and is still healing. I did my best with what we have, but you still need to rest. There were some large wounds possibly caused by a predatory animal. What did you see before being thrown?" Austin asked. "I dunno, it was all dark and the thing was fast. I'm guessing it was a werewolf and I'm pretty sure I'll turn into one." Billy commented.
"Dude, I'm a doctor. Wouldn't you think that I would check your blood after treating your wounds after you had been allegedly been attacked by an unknown creature? Well… I did. I found foreign pathogens and injected a cure potion into you." Austin said. "What about Richard?" Drake asked. "He'll be fine. He suffered a skull fracture, likely from a coconut, it's not as bad as damage from a rock." Austin explained. Billy looks over to another bed with Richard lying unconscious with his head wrapped in bandages. He suddenly remembers knocking a coconut on a werewolf's head, the image flashing in his mind.
"No, no, anyone could have their skulls cracked." Billy denied in a soft voice. "Hey, the automatons are ready. We can move out to the nearest settlement. Hope this'll make Garvey proud." Groin-Cruncher informed Drake. "Tell me about it. When I did that quest to get back The Castle from the mirelurks, Preston gave me another quest to another settlement. I would blame Todd but he wasn't in charge of specifically creating Preston… probably. Okay I'm done ranting let's go!" commented Drake. The two go downstairs to find a squad of Dwarven spheres lined up. "Spheres, follow me." commanded Groin-Cruncher.
The two mount a quadbike and they head towards the jungle with the spheres following suit. Later they arrive at a fort with walls made out of metal, covered in Akaviri text that the two couldn't read. "Who's there? Is it the Dragonguard?" a Tsaesci guard from a tower asked.
"We were sent here by the Dragonguard for reinforcements. We made some mechanical guards for you. They're not much but they're good enough." Drake replied. "Open the gates!" the guard commanded. The gates open and they enter. "How many more settlements do we need to go to?" Drake asked Groin-Cruncher as they pass Tsaesci villagers staring at them as they drive slowly. "Like, four squads to four settlements." Groin-Cruncher replied.
They meet the same guard from the tower at the barracks and hand him a stack of restoration and alteration spell tomes. "These are for repairing and improving the spheres when needed. The commands are simple: follow me, wait here, take aggressive stance, passive stance and deploy here. You'll get the hang of it." Groin-Cruncher instructed. "Thank you, scaly brother. I will inform the other settlements of your arrival." the guard thanked. "Because there is a chance that we will defeat Tosh Raka and you won't need the spheres, they will return to our homeland once we do so. You'll know when they roll into the sea." Drake informed. They exit the settlement and head further into the jungle.
Meanwhile in Shin Akavir, Todd and Nisfar are walking into a meeting room in Dragonguard Temple where Tyermaillin and other Dragonguard council members are sitting around a ring-shaped table. They take adjacent seats in front of the council. "First off: what's your battle plan so far?" Todd asked. "So far we plan to eliminate their aircrafts first and then capture one to get into the city. Since you have the Dragonborn we can kill Tosh Raka without worrying about him coming back. The real question is how we kill him?" Todd explained. "It has been deduced that his skin is stronger than any mechs we are able to manufacture, so we cannot penetrate his skin. We have been developing a strong poison to kill him, but we can't get close enough to make him ingest It." Tyermaillin explained.
"Maybe we won't have to get close, but as far as possible. We can put the poison in a dart and load it in a sniper rifle. When he opens his mouth we can shoot it there. We just need to lure him somewhere clear enough for a shot." Todd said.
"I hope Jiggy ain't messing up my pad… or checking the fridge corner. I should've brought a book." Sheogorath commented while standing in a corner.
To be continued…