'Got jealous? Felt like giving her a gift... being polite...another part snapped... felt out of control of emotions.' Elek looks from the local man to his companions, running his fingers through his shoulder length hair, he asks the man. "So were you having weird dreams as well?"
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Tenora takes her to the secluded corner and says in a firm voice.
Of four who have the inborn ability that you have, three die if the Aes Sedai do not train them. I suggest that
after this is over you come to the Tower to be trained."
I dont know. I just...for a moment, felt like a kid again, wild swing of emotion. You remember what that felt like, right?
'Wild swings of emotion when I was a kid?' Scowling, then spitting, "I remember being a kid, I don't remember ever trying to hurt a woman." Elek turns from the man, looking from Korin to Marik. "Do either of you have any questions for this piece of work?"
He then looks at Bataar, giving a smirk, "At least you didn't run this one through." Moving closer, "Is that like the dreams you were having as well?"
Korin shakes his head, his lips pressed into a thin line. "No. Yes. I do not know. There is something at work here. Very bizarre. One person alone would be one thing, but the innkeeper as well, and at the exact same time. It is as if they were under the influence of something... or someone."
To the man he asks, "How many days have these dreams been going on exactly? Anyone else complain of them?"
Tenora takes her to the secluded corner and says in a firm voice.
Dreams of Bataar with his wife. His wife possibly having dreams of being with Bataar. Dreams of him defending his wife from Bataar. I wonder if the others who were fighting had dreams like this.
"Did something happen with Sherl, that was similar? Were both you and her husband competitors for her affection?"
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Tenora places her hands on her hips.
That woman...SHE arggh She abruptly turns her back on the noble and walks away back down the hall to the party with a sour look on her face.
Cor'ellis nodded with as much grace as she could muster, thinking to herself, 'She do be little more than a girl... and just learning to wield the influence she shall one day possess. At least she do be concerned for others beside herself.' Of course, her own crisis had long since passed, and if the girl knew much of the power, she must soon realize that as well.
She reached down and gave Val a scratch between his ears and then followed, in considerably better humor than Tenora. She took up a spot near Elek, hoping Bataar would be forthcoming about his experience with these strange dreams.
The man shrugs his shoulders and looks off into the distance. A little over a week now. 9 days i think would be my best guess. first couple days were just dreams, interactions with others were slight. But after that, the sex was the first to happen...then, after that, the fighting in the dreams occurred. so, by day 6, the dreams fluctuated between sex and fights.
Bataar gives Elek a flat look. The day is still young. The man held Saidan, and looked like he was ready to use it upon your ward. Perhaps less glower and more thanks are in order? Bataar quirks an eyebrow at Elek.
He looks at everyone and simply nods at Eleks quiet question. Yes. eerily similar. The emotions. The sex. the killing. Each act intertwined with intense emotions.
'Bloody ashes, He still doesn't get it. I should not have joked about it.' Shaking his head, he waits until after Bataar comments about the dreams. Turning from the local man, hoping to dismiss him, Elek lowers his voice and his tone. "Thanks in order? Bataar? Don't you get it? Your lucky glower is all your getting! Danger or no, your actions makes it nearly impossible to trust you." He gestures towards Bataar, waiving his hand "This childish arrogance you insist on displaying just makes it worse." Running his fingers through his shoulder length hair. "You need to worry about convincing us that you shouldn't be locked up, not that we should be thanking you."
So, these dreams prey on raw emotions - lust and violence, for the most part. What could be the cause?
Hesitating, Renlo asks his next question. "May I ask your wife about her dreams, if both you and she permit me to do so?"
Bataar shakes his head at hearing Elek's statement. Locked up? For saving Tenor? Ok. fine. Tell you what. Next time I see something bad is about to happen, i'll just let it happen. Because Hey, it might look bad for me. You dont get it. The man held Saidan. He had that look in his eye that he was going to use it upon Tenor. She was helpless. Flat footed. Do you have what he could have done? How he could have used her for his own whims? Bataar stops and takes a step back, breathing deep, his face flushed with the intensity of his own words, his own conviction evident.
Im sorry, Elek. I understand i put myself out there in a manner that you cannot comprehend. Having you, having others, judge me harshly is a matter of course for one of my kind. To be honest, i am surprised you havent just knocked me out and had me shipped off tar valon for stilling. That!, stilling, is what keeps me up at night, keeps me guarded...
The man, seeing the quiet discussion between these two...figures, gets up and walks away, swaying as he does so.
'Still justifying his actions?' Seeing the emotions wash over Bataar's face, 'I'm sorry? Well that's a start. knock him out and send him to Tar Valon? I guess that's what they would have done with him.' Elek gives Bataar a half smile, "I'm not 'judging' you because you can channel, my issue is you stabbed the guy. You could have just knocked him out, like your saying I should have done to you."
He nods towards where Tenora is talking to Cor'ellis. "As for 'stilling' that's between you and them." His smile going full, "Besides, your the one who thought it would be good to join us." Shrugging. "To me Tenora's just my little cousin, to everyone else she's Aes Sedai."
Seeing the man stagger off, Elek gestures towards the Inn. "Let's finish our discussion in the inn, so we can finalize what were going to do in private."
"Thank you, goodman. I appreciate and thank you for this. Where may I find your wife?"
Bataar shrugs his shoulders. I dont have the skill to rendering a man unconscious as you would. Last time i did i caved in his skull. So, it's either the blade or the Source...Perhaps i could practice on you? he says, a long look upon his face as he stares at Elek. The moment draws out before Bataar smiles and a chuckle errupts from his lips. Peace Elek! I kid.
He steps through the large double hung door and stops suddenly, his whole body going rigid. Renlo stops quickly as well to prevent bumping into the man. He goes to ask the man why he stopped when he hears a noise coming from the kitchen. Renlo looks up and past the man's shoulder, and sees who he can only assume to be the man's wife bent over the table, skirt around her hips, and a man behind her...in a very, very compromising position. The woman moans loudly and opens her eyes, a distant gaze upon them. She glances at the door and suddenly goes rigid. Harlon!!! Youre! Im! What! she says, shifting position to get away from the man who stands behind her.
The man, sandy haired, broad shouldered, heavy hands, thick muscles, moves gracefully as the way an armsman can move. He slides to the side and pulls up his pants with an enviable fluidity to his motions. Peace Harlon.
Renlo stops and stares. He is simply too stunned at what he sees happening to even think for a moment. Seriously!? Did Bataar actually seduce the man's wife? Has she been unfaithful to him at night, sneaking out to have an affair? And who is this? I do not want to spend a night in this town.
Clearing his throat, he says, "Peace, good sir. Peace, lady. Would you both wait where you are? Harlon, perhaps you should wait in the common room?" He places a hand on Harlon's shoulder, both to restrain and reassure the man.
Korin shakes his head, looking none too happy about... well just about anything and everything at the moment! He sighs and then breaks into the conversation.
"Yes, well. Perhaps going inside with the others is a good idea, hmm?"
He followed the others in quietly his hand still gripping his sap. For some reason he didnt think the madness that was this town was down just yet. . . and they werent even in the blight yet. He had read back in Tar Valon that weird things happened in the blight not near it. When they walked in on the innkeeper's wife well...
"Damn. Blood and ashes what is wrong with this place."
He muttered lowly more to himself than to any other his hand reaching up to run through his hair as he shifted the weight of the sap in his hand.
Marik hangs back with the innkeepers wife and her....companion while renlo leads the beleaguered innkeeper away. His shoulders slumped to the floor, his head hanging low; his entire being is just down.
My wife. how? how could she? Why? the dejected man mumbles as he shuffles to the bar and sits on a bar stool. the man looks at Renlo Bottom shelf, behind the cask of brandy, is a bottle. Homebrew. Strong...i need it. he asks.
He asked cooly, slowly slipping the sap back into place on his belt. He stood there and crossed his arms leaning back against the doorframe. It was clear he found all of this distasteful.
She took up a spot near Elek, hoping Bataar would be forthcoming about his experience with these strange dreams.
'Well, it looks like Tenora and Cor'ellis have worked out whatever was going on.' Nodding to Cor'ellis, gesturing toward the bulwar, "Shall we M'lady.' As the others head into the common room, Elek falls back beside Tenora, whispering. "Are you ok cousin?"
As they enter back into the room, his head spinning, Elek looks around the room. 'There are too many questions: What's going on with Tenora nad Cor'ellis? What's going on in the villiage does it have anything to do with us or the aes sedai we follow? What do we do with Bataar? give him to the authorites or take him along and hope his taint doesn't drive him against us.?' Beathing a heavy sigh he shakes his head as if to clear it. "What in the name of the light do we do now?"
'Where's Marik and Renflo?' Realizing Marik and Renlo hadn't joined them yet, he shrugs looking fatigued, flopping in the chair he had claimed earlier. "We may as well wait until everyone is here."
Renlo leads the Bulwark keeper out, then goes behind the bar and gets the homebrew from behind the brandy and a cup. He pours a drink, puts it in front of the man, then waves over Elek. "Keep him here, and keep his cup full. The poor man needs it. I'll explain in a bit."
With that, Renlo returns to the kitchen to find out if his wife's indiscretion was a similar byproduct as the violence that seemed to plague others in this town.
Upon returning, he looks at the two and says, "Have you two been in this...affair...long?"
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Tenora heads back to her cousin.
She whispers to him.
"Sorry about that. I swear by the light that, that woman Cor'ellis channeled the power. She's a wilder...Says she's old enought to be my mother!" She scratches her head. "I wish there was a sister around. She turns back to him. "What's going on here?"
Channeled? a wilder? Old enough to be her mother? More Aes Sedai? No thank you.' Hearing Tenora's revelation, Elek Keeps his face as passive as possible, He tries to fill Tenora in.."We've learned very little, people are having similar dreams to the ones Bataar described. Speaking of which, he seems worried about the 'tower' learning about him and he's trying to cover it up with bravado." Elek shrugs, "You still need to figure out what to do with him."
'Keep him here?' As they walk into the room, Elek hears Renlo call to him, breathing a sigh, he turns to his cousin, "I'll join you in a bit." He walks over to the bar. Watching as Renlo heads to the kitchen, 'Seems easy enough,' Nodding to the man at the bar, "Peace favor your sword, I'm Elek," Nodding to the brandy, "Do you mind if I join you?"
The man at her side, Soldan, nods with her. Yes. Tis true. just a couple days. well, if you exclude what was happening in the dreams.he says.
The man takes the drink from Renlo, thanking him as renlo leaves, to be replaced by Elek. He downs the drink and pours himself another, and hammers that down as well, his face screwing up as he tastes the drink for the first time.
Name's Aarkon. WAS happily married for the last 20 years...now, just an innkeeper i guess. He tosses back the third drink and pours himself a third. He nods, waving his hand at the bar. Glasses are below the counter here. Careful of the drink. This stuff here will make a myrddraal renounce the Dark One.
There it is, Renlo thought. Aloud, he asked, "I take it you've had...encounters...in dreams before you began physically meeting. Could you tell me how long the dreams have been going on? Have you had similar dreams involving anyone else?"
Two more who fought over a woman. Renlo nods as he listens to Soldan explain things more. "And have either of you had dreams involving anyone else? Either of a similar nature to the ones of each other or of fighting with someone else over another person?"
Soldan scratches his head, his hands sliding through his elegant mane of hair. You know, i did hear that Kedo was having a tiff with his wife Suze, and that one lady he dated, emgil. Yesterday, the neighbors had to pull Suze off of Emgil. By the Dark One! that is strange, because they've been friends for the longest time...since they were teenagers. It's odd
'Well at least he isn't in a hurry to run off, Glasses are below the counter.' Stepping behind the counter Elek starts looking for glasses. 'Careful? make a myrddraal renounce the Dark One? is that a good thing or a bad thing?' Looking from under the counter to the inn keeper, setting several glasses on the counter, he asks the others, "Does anyone else want a drink?"
Bataar nods and sits down next to Aarkon. Sure. ill take one. No hard feelings, right? he asks Aarkon, offering his hand to the innkeep. Aarkon looks at the hand, at Bataar, and then does a slow nod. Indeed. At least you werent actually with my wife.
"I'm not from these lands, light bless my soul in thanks for that evidently, but what is the punishment for adultery in these lands? I know further south the penalties range from a whipping to worse. You are lucky the innkeeper decided to drink out his troubles instead of to gut you like a fish."
His fist clenched up on the hilt of his rapier before he took a deep breath and then just shook his head.
"You both, odd dreams or not, should be ashamed of yourselves not standing here gossiping about neighbors. I thought your lands held better honor than this Renlo. Light."
He finished stalking back into the common room. He noticed Elek and Bataar there with the glass of whatever it was with the innkeeper and gave the man a nod heading up to where the Aes sedai was with the Illianer. The sooner they were in the blight the better... How in the light was that actually something he believed?
Looking at Marik as the Tar Valoner turned to leave, he quietly whispered, "There is more here than simple indiscretion."
Looking at Soldan, he said, "When they were teenagers, did Suze and Emgil compete for Kado's affection?"
Yes, both Suze and Emgil did compete for Kado's affection. It was brief, lasting a few weeks, but in the end, Kado was for Suze.
Renlo nodded, unsurprised. "Thank you for your time. Soldan, I suggest you leave the inn as circumspectly as possible. Karen, I believe you and your husband will need to speak about this. Peace favor you both."
Leaving the kitchen, Renlo nods to the innkeeper, then walks over to where Tenora and Marik are standing. "Marik, Tenora Sedai, we should speak in private."
Pouring himself a drink and then one for Bataar, Elek watches as first Marik returns to the room saying nothing, then Renlo returns, 'Marik, Tenora and Renlo?' Leaving his drink sitting on the bar, nearing the others he asks, "Shouldn't whatever needs to be said be said in front of all of us?"
Renlo looks over at the bar and, seeing Bataar still with the innkeeper, quitely says, "Yes, but I don't want to say it in front of the innkeeper, and as Marik and Tenora are the leaders of the expedition, I thought I would speak to them first. If you think we can leave Bataar and the innkeeper alone, you should come along."
Tenora leads the party into the private room, standing at the door waiting for everyone to enter. Once all parties are in, she closes the door.
Alright. What is going on here? I had to have a discussion with Cor'ellis there, but I think we have an understanding there. But, what is happening here? Tenora asks, her voice filled with authority, her stance confident as she takes charge over the situation.
With the door closed, Renlo says, "We need to leave here. Immediately. It appears that those in this town have been plagued by dreams over the past few weeks. Dreams of their spouses engaging in extramarital affairs, or themselves engaging in extramarital affairs. The innkeeper told me that he'd been having dreams of his wife with other men, including Bataar, and his wife has had the same dreams as other men. The violence we saw today is a part of it. The innkeeper was reminded of the same jealousy he felt towards a man who he fought with over a woman when he was younger, and the man Marik and I found the innkeeper's wife involved with said that he'd heard of two women who had competed for the same man fighting with each other. It would not surprise me to learn a similar motive for the fights we witnessed and attempted to break up outside. My worry is that if we spend even one night here, we will be plagued by the same dreams. We should leave at once, which means we need to make a decision about Bataar. Bring him with us, or leave him here."
"I had hoped to further resupply here maybe, but you are most likely right Renlo, It is probably best to be off before anything else crazy happens. Light what sort of dream can do this to a person?"
He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. This was crazy.
Tenora nods at both Marik and Renlo. It is troubling that these people are affected by their dreams. Its odd though that it looks as if it's only affecting people who were once in love triangles...
Following Tenora back into the private room, Elek circles the table and retakes his seat. He smiles, 'A discussion? I'm afraid to ask. Placing his elbow on the table he leans down and rests his chin on his knuckles covering his mouth, hiding the smirk. Watching Renlo as he speaks. Leave immediately? So all is forgotten with Bataar? Dreams of affairs? Ah, so he hasn't forgotten about Bataar.' Looking to Marik as he speaks about leaving and resupplying, Elek, begins to point out they were waiting on a wagon, but pauses while Tenora speaks up. 'In a love triangle?'
Blurting out, "So Bataar was in a love triangle with the innkeeper's wife? I though it was just in the dream." He shakes his head, 'Not surprising nor relevant.' Continuing. "Back to Bataar coming with us. We could leave him here with the officials for attempted murder, or we can take him with us, then turn him over to the tower as a man who can channel. If we take him along, he will be able to sense another male channeler, right? Would that give us an edge?"
He looks back to Marik, "We have a supply wagon coming so we should be able to leave whenever we want. But..." He frowns while shrugging. "Do we help these people? We've already seen one man killed today. I think Bataar has told us all he knows, but still..."
He looks to Tenora, 'What would the White Tower want her to do. Light, what should we do?' Shrugging, "I have no idea what to do about the dreams. Do any of you?"
Cor'ellis massaged at her temples, feeling the beginnings of a headache from trying to reason out what must be causing such awful violence between neighbors in this place. "I do feel we should try to help here. But how to do that, I do no understand. They should be warned at least, no? And I must locate my traveling supplies."
"Warned of what though? Their own dreams? Remind them they shouldn't try to murder each other? They know that already, little good it seems to do. It is as if they suffer delusions cut from the same cloth, but tailored for each one. I fear this may require a full investigation into whatever... malady afflicts these people, or perhaps even this place? When are your supplies supposed to arrive?"
[ooc]ill say that since you all are inside one room, and to make things a little easier, everything below is what is discussed amongst yourselves.
So what we know
Thorn fourth day of travel, undefended this close to the blight, odd
The Bulwark, this two story structure, makes you think of the Stone of Tear.
The tapestry 'the last stand' a small house at the head of a bridge
Bataar's first reaction "This blokes wife is far more attractive then him, quite a physical mix match. He remembered her fondly for a moment, before he had to give into the sickening conclusion he had been afraid of.
I was right, something, wrong, is happening in this town, some sort of shared dreaming experience. Oh light, how many husbands are going to try to kill me in the street now? How many will run in fear?
Bataar had been there five days.
Rizz said for a knowledge check...yeah, you could make a Knowledge arcana check. Make a roll, and ill post what you figure out, customized to each roller. so we know there is something, but it may be interpreted diffrently
outside a scene of limited Chaos. does this infer that it only effects people who had been in a youthful relationship?
Bataar: He perks up seeing his ethereal encounter partner, Oh light, now they're fighting in the real world.: this was not the inn keepers wife, so he was having dreams about more than one person. This doesn't seem to fit the pattern of dreaming about youthful relationship/lust
Time frame: two different quotes: Started a couple of weeks ago. and .A little over a week now. 9 days i think would be my best guess. first couple days were just dreams, interactions with others were slight. But after that, the sex was the first to happen...then, after that, the fighting in the dreams occurred. so, by day 6, the dreams fluctuated between sex and fights.
The people having sex were at it longer than the people fighting, but still seemed to be under the influence of the spell The woman moans loudly and opens her eyes, a distant gaze upon them. She glances at the door and suddenly goes rigid. Harlon!!! Youre!Im!What! she says, shifting position to get away from the man who stands behind her.
General observations:
The emotions/event hit everyone at the same time. all over town,
Two different people make reference to when they were a kid.
Except for bataar, the 'situations' seem to be happening between people who have known each other a long time.
This seems to have been going on before the Aes Sedai would have passed through town. Though we have not enquired after them.
Cor'ellis looks flummoxed for a moment before she answers, "This lover's triangle business do seem to be key. And the people did no act violently until faced with these persons from their dreams. If they do avoid seeing whomever they do be having violent dreams about, perhaps they will do no more violence." She shrugged, realizing it was little to go on, and yet all she had.
"Master Otto did say there did be a trading post near here."
'Lover's triangle, what a mess.' Looking around the silent room, Elek shakes his head. "If we can't think of anything to help these people we should leave before the dreams start effecting us."
Master Otto?' Looking at Cor'ellis, he nods, "Yes, he did say ye would send a fast rider and have your supplies ready for you." He gestures towards the other room, "Hopefully our innkeeper isn't so drunk that he won't be able to tell us where the trading post is."