After calming down from forgetting about one of the coolest base game companions, I reorganize my thoughts to figure out when I should go to rescue her and when, or if I should join the Dawnguard.
'Well... The Dawnguard do have armored trolls... Buuuu~t I could become a vampire lord if I side with Harkon... Hmmm...' While I'm lost in thought, Marcus clears his throat.
"Um, sorry, I was thinking. Could you repeat that?" I ask apologetically.
'I said we should really set aside some time to refine that outline of a plan you shared." Marcus says with a tone of mild annoyance.
"Oh, yeah..." I say, taking a moment to review my status effects...
'Hm... I only have a little over a day left... Might as well stick around until it expires so I can have an easier time dealing with those hags.' I think to myself.
"It's late; how about we continue this discussion tomorrow after we've all had a good night's rest?" I suggest to which Marcus and Valerius agree, and we go to bed.
M'rissi joins me in a small bed in one of the ruined houses, though we just cuddle, and I go to sleep with her warm breath against my neck.
The following day passes by uneventfully.
M'rissi continues training with Cienna and a few of the others, having fun with mock battle training.
Inigo goes with Falco to scout out Fort Neugrad to the South East, while Gringar, Korst, and Balfring have a sparing match before running through their training regime with the recruits from camp who were already tired from their forced march to Helgen.
Aside from catching up with Kasia after her training, I spent the entire day with Valerius and Janus, going through every stage of the plan, contingencies, and what to look for and what to avoid.
It's tiring, but their contributions really helped solidify my plan and prepare me for how to execute it.
At the end of the day, I find myself lying in the same bed I had last night, with M'rissi cuddled up next to me. I'm left staring at the status effect bar slowly ticking down.
[3 seconds...]
[2 seconds...]
[1 second...]
[0 seconds...]
As the counter ticks down to 0, I feel a surge of strength return to me as I feel my health, stamina, and physique return to normal.
"Finally!" I exclaim in relief, but before I even have time to celebrate, I feel a terrible headache come on, and my vision starts to go black, and I feel my mind and body disconnecting as I'm wrapped in a thick darkness that seems to go on forever.
After what feels like an eternity, I finally feel my senses return to me as an unfamiliar landscape greets me.
*Chirp, chirp.*
The sounds of birds chirping herald me from the darkness as a thick soup-like mist begins filling my vision, and I reach down to realize that I'm not on my ruined bed with M'rissi but instead on a thick bed of moss.
"What the hell?" I say in confusion. Looking around, I realize my inventory is empty, and the only thing I'm wearing is a loincloth.
"Greetings, Blüdtoth. It has been many an era since I pulled your kind from the primordial ooze for Malacath." A well-built, bronze-skinned man wearing an unknown beast's pelt as a loin cloth and a huge antlered deer's skull which covers his whole head and hides his facial features. He wields a spear which he twirls around deaftly, almost as if in a dance with it.
"Hold on..." I say aloud as I look around and see humongous pillar-like trees surrounding me in a forest that seems to be holding up the sky, and I remember something from a few old wiki posts about Elder Scrolls lore.
"Are you... Hircine?" I say in disbelief, as this definitely didn't happen in the base game, and I'm sure a mod didn't make this possible, as it has to do with the orcish werewolf.
"Hmmm, nice to know my cub hasn't forgotten its father... Well, one of their fathers." Hircine says, correcting himself.
"Um... Yeah... Dad? Why am I here?" I ask in confusion.
"It's quite simple, my cub. You removed the curse I placed on that turn-pelt Sinding and even kept it from affecting you. Quite clever, I might add, despite how infuriating it has been waiting to contact you, because of that blasted mage." Hircine praises, but I can sense a low, simmering displeasure hidden in the tone of his voice, raising to a boiling point as he curses the mage that wounded me.
"Um... Thank you?" I say hesitantly.
"But you see, I gave that curse for a reason, and someone must be punished... A prey must take place of prey. And I am left with a choice... Should I punish the first Blüdtoth in over an era... Or should I take away your new packmate? What is it you suggest?" Hircine asks, slowly circling me with the gaze of a predator hidden beneath his deer skull mask. The spear begins to twirl faster as he gets closer.
I rack my brain wondering if I should throw Sinding under the bus or if there's something else I can do based on the old random Wiki posts I'd read on Elder Scrolls lore.
And then it hits me, "You said prey? Didn't you? What if I volunteer to be hunted? To be the... What's it called?" I say, scratching my head, trying to recall that post on Hircine.
"You wish to be the Hare for a hunt?" Hircine asks in pleasant surprise.
"Yes! That's it! But I'd like to ask two conditions if you don't mind." I ask, hoping he won't blast me to pieces for my insolence, cause you never know with Daedric Princes.
"Hmmm..." Hircine contemplates while caressing the lower portion of his deer skull mask, switching his spear to his offhand.
"Let me hear them first, and I'll decide after." Hircine decides before stabbing his spear into the ground and using it to lean on.
"The first is that for the duration of the hunt, I'd like time on the plane of Nirn not to pass or to be returned in the morning to where you took me from if that isn't too much trouble." I say politely, proposing my first condition.