When the brawl breaks out, Jedric is hardly surprised, given the number of humans packed into the Inn. His hand begins to raise to his hand to his shoufa, as if about to veil himself. Then, Chen's voice thundered through the room, and the Aiel stilled himself before lashing out at anyone nearby with a killing blow. Looking to the massive Ogier seated on the floor, he winds his way out of the Inn, sticking close to Fiallain on the way out.
The incredible bellow from Chen's massive frame has a shocking, immediate effect upon everyone in the room.
They all stand still.
Heads turn towards the large ogier in the foreign armor, glaring at everyone with a look that belies an absolute truth of violence should anyone not heed the Ogier's command. Men, fists raised, stand still. Women, with fists or holding plates, remain in their attack position, staring at the strange figure seated upon the floor.
The stillness lays heavy within the room as collective breaths are taken in and out, bodies capturing the heavy thick air.
Jingle Jingle a small bell chimes from the far wall, as a door opens and closes...
Looking across the stunned silent crowd, "You'll have to excuse us." The large Ogier says in firm but polite tone. Pulling his feet under him Chen sat in a crouch and somewhat waddled toward the door. Squeezing through the room can hear the strain on the wooden frame. The bell above the door jingles and rattles loudly for longer than normal as it is bent upwards by Chen's back.
Once outside, Chen scans the street quickly.
Looking for the man he saw or any possible accomplices. He keeps his eyes searching as he hurries to the stable and grabs his sword a massive blade powerwrought and marked with three herons. He glances at his armor and shield almost a thousand stone, no time to put it on right now. Armed he returned to the street and continued to scan the party's surroundings for the man.
When/if his companions join him outside he looks at them and says, In the scuffle I noticed a seeker for truth. We should find him or move on to avoid him."
"Well. That was odd." Fiallain says before following in the wake of the ogier behemoth.
Outside, she asks Chen, "What am I looking for, exactly?"
Jedric, uncertain of what, or whom, exactly the Ogier is talking about looks to the left and right as well, his hand straying toward his veil...
He looks to Fiallain for answers, but doesn't ask at this moment, with everything being too new and uncertain; he merely keeps watch.
"A man, short for your kind, dark hair in a sort of bowl cut. His clothing was torn in the beginning of that row. He has a tatoo on his back. Two towers, two ravens. I would prefer to speak with him, but also you all may want to avoid him. If that is the case then I will accomodate you."
Chen continues his search with the Aeil, walking down the center of the street, looking down alleys and into windows.
"A seeker of truth is, like myself, an imperial agent of the Seanchan throne. They tatoos that man bore are their mark. If I had to compare them to something this side of the ocean, I'd say they are like the White cloak's questioners."
"That was repulsive," Ryvin grunts as the group leaves the inn. She calmly taps out her pipe bowl against her heel, cleans the pipe, wraps it in cloth and stows it in her belt pouch.
Then she follows after Chen.
"Questioners are bastards," she notes when the Ogier has finished his description of the seeker. "How bad is this one likely to be? And d'ya really want to go at it without backup? What if this fella was there to find you? You'd be walking into an ambush if you go it alone."
"How bad are they?" Chen mulls over how to explain it to these people who all came from seperate broken lands. "Ryvin, you especially know how tenacious and cohesive the Empire can be. The seekers for truth are like the questioners for truth, but instead of wearing pompous white and walking around like they have the permission of the creator, Seekers are also spies. In Seanchan society they represent the eyes and will of the Empress, may she live forever, and none are above their reproach, even the Sul'dam or the High Blood. They are a secret police, similar in a law and information capacity to the Deathwatch in a military capacity. If they are here, they are likely investigating threats to the empire as they have taken practical control of Ebou Dar and Altara and may have designs on Andor next. A more likely scenario, is that they are hunting down someone labeled as a traitor to the Blood."
Chen casts his eyes down at that. "They will not believe I am not a traitor, even though I feel that I have only come to a better understanding on how to serve the true interests of the Seanchan people and hope to bring about a peaceful alliance between the throne and the Dragon."
[ooc]@myself: just for my notes, chen is without armor.
Chen seeing movement points his sword and says "Movement that way, maybe 200ft." He takes off at a jog, knowing that he would be better off letting any of the Aiel track the seeker but wanting to be there if they captured him.
Jedric, not having seen the quarry, follows with Chen and attempts to look again for this person. He questioningly looks at Fiallain, but doesn't break stride or move his veil, yet.
"If he is a spy, then he should be dealt with. If not, then we should find out why he is here." Fia says in response to the questioning looks. She embraces the source and looks again in the direction Chen indicates.
rushing down the narrow road, the group turns the corner to the left where Chen saw the figure disappear. Immediately, not 30 feet ahead, the lane turns to the right. Jedric and Fia, faster than the rest of the party, sprint the short distance and look down the road. There, they see a figure matching Chen's description turning to the right, and disappearing out of sight.
Only 7 and 10 for me
Jedric starts down the road, veiling himself as he moves through the wetlanders in pursuit of the fugitive,
So, lost him on the 3rd roll?
Otherwise, would have spotted on 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Jedric, veiled, begins to point out different things to Fiallain as they wind through the wetlanders. I think that is him, he is sneaky, like a rat hunting for crumbs in the roof.
Chen hurries down the road searching amongst the light crowd for the Seeker.
THERE! Chen and Fia both shout at the same time, raising their arms and pointing down the long alley at the figure ducking around the corner to the right. Everyone takes off at a sprint down the alley, jumping boxes and crates (except chen, he just crushes through them). The heavy tread of the large ogier sounding like thunder in the narrow confines. Fia and Jedric quickly move ahead of the rest of the group, the quickness of their gait, honed upon the unforgiving three-fold lands, lead them to the front of the pack. Jedric reaches out, his right hand grasping at a storm drain pipe, while his left hand clasps onto Fia's right. The sudden shock of stopping with his right hand causes his body to stop, and in turn, forces fia to turn to the right while keeping her pace.
Rounding the corner, she spots the man in the torn shirt duck behind a couple of large storage boxes, attempting to hide, yet the ruse doesnt faze her, as she rushes hard towards him. This unknown quarry leaps to his feet and sprints off away from her, his arms pumping hard to gain speed. he quickly covers the short distance to the next interchange of streets and turns right again.
Fia bears down hard, her path forward and true as jedric catches up behind her. As they both take off down the road, CHen and the others round the corner, seeing their companions quickly outdistance themselves from the main.
Fia and Jedric round the corner, turning left, and see the man just a short distance away. Go! Fia Shouts at him, her breath a bit hoarse. far too long amongst wetlanders she thinks to herself as Jedric pushes forward.
Closing the distance Jedric takes out one of his tried and true Aiel Spears. Reversing it in hand, he simply thrusts the hardwood shaft between the running man's legs. Both legs connect with the immobile object, and the man falls, face first to the ground, sliding several feet in the filth upon the road.
Jedric trips the man, and then circles him, with his spear in hand, as if daring him to rise and run.
Someone wishes to speak with you... He'll be present in a moment. You should remain there until he's ready for you.
The Aiel doesn't look out of breath or even tired from sprinting down the man.
Keeping just out of reach of the prone man, Fia runs past until she is on the opposite side of him as Jedric, cutting off the most likely avenue of escape. Still holding the power, she prepares to snare him in strands of air should he not submit.
Chen catches up to the Aeil momentarily. He felt that he could outpace them over an open field, but in these heavily obstacled and sometimes annoyingly tight streets and alleys they were unmatched. "Well done." he says to Fia and Jedric. Neither Chen nor the Aeil were winded from the chase, and neither was the Seeker. The Death Watch are brutally trained and conditioned from a very young age after all.
Looking down at the man, "Hello Seeker. How fares the Return."
When Taldo catches up and ignites his sword, Chen watches the Seeker, The presence of a male channeler may very well unerve this man into speaking he thought to himself.
"Is it worth the trouble trying to make him talk?" Ryvin asks once she's caught up, one hand on the hilt of her sword and her voice dangerously flat. "Or should we just slit him like the honorless pig he is and bury him under landfill or something?"
"I would not destroy the da'covale of the Empress if I can avoid it Ryvin Altessar." Chen responds in his booming voice. He turns back to the Seeker.
"Answer our questions and I will release you alive."
The man on the ground, dark hair damp from persperation, breathing heavy from his exertion, looks up at Jedric, and then eyes the long bladed spear pointed towards him. Turning he looks at Fia, and finally at the others as they round the corner and approach. Looking back at Jedric, he nods. Fair enough.
The man sits on the ground, looking at everyone, a simplistic calm to his actions. His head and eyes are the only things to move as he looks at everyone, staring at them, looking at them from head to toe and back up again. He gaze lingers a few extra moments upon ryvin as he examines her a bit more thoroughly, before finally he looks upon Chen.
A'vron'mord the man nods his head in greeting. It is a bit...odd, to find someone such as yourself to be with these others.
"Who's a death-watcher?" Ryvin says as her weave takes hold.
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Jedric observes Taldo's reaction to the whole scene with a look of interest and concern. Is this one sick? I hear rumor that can happen, but seeing is different..
He hears Taldo speak with Fiallain, but does not lower his weapon, should the seeker attempt to rise without Chen's approval. The Aiel man keeps his faced veiled as well, marking to those who know that he is ready to act and kill if need be. Finally he adds, What is a Death Watcher? to no one in particular.
The bound man nods his head at the Ogier. One who protects life against death. One who himself becomes Death to defeat Death. To become one of the A'vron'mord is to become the living personification of Death, able to remove life more skillfully than a sniper on a clear day with no wind. when one of the A'vron'mord targets you, your life is measured in hours, not years. No mountain, valley, stout walls, iron fortifications, no sul'dam or damanes can protect you from this extension of...will
Yet they are not ones who actively seek it out, but instead, normally, shield a life with theirs. They protect certain...people, within the Lands.
Chen nods to the man. "He speaks true. The easiest way to explain it in terms of this land is that is a kin to being an elite military force and a royal guard and a slave and a noble all at the same time. Our hierarchy can be confusing to those not raised in it." Not we Gardeners of course Chen thinks to himself but decides not to explain the racial nuances involved unless asked.
"I say again Seeker, how fares the Return and what is your mission in this town currently."
Jedric looks at Chen, nodding slowly, In a way, it seems like a type of Ji'e'toh; although it sounds different in your lands than in the Three-Fold Land. One could never be Gai'shain and Algai'd'siswai together, but I understand the concept you explain.
Content with that understanding of Chen's culture, he watches the Seeker to see how he responds to the massive Ogier.
Quickly regaining control he Moves near Fiallain. "If Jerdric isn't the reason were here, it must be this one." He looks from Fia to her long time companion, Ryvin. "We need to keep him alive."
"Perhaps he is," Fia says, quietly. "Perhaps he is not. We should not assume. At the least, I am curious what his purpose here is. She studies the stranger closely, waiting his response to Chen's inquiry.
The man looks long and hard at Chen; the wheels within his mind spinning as he considers the questions that Chen has asked.
He responds
I am no military guy, but i would have to say rather well. We hold the lands of Tarabon, Amadica, Altara, Illian. We are progressing across the Almoth Plain, and are prepping to invade the lands of Tear. As for my reason for being here...I seek a traitor to the Empress. I followed him to this town, actually to that very Inn we were all at. Too bad it got so crowded; could have secured him tonight.
"Really," Ryvin says in a flat tone of voice. "And just how has this person betrayed your master?"