Naja wines and lets out a pained cry as she feels the weapon open up her body and lifeblood pours out. She grits her teeth and swings.
"You think that'll finish me off, a little nick like that. Give me more credit than that" Naja spat out as she breathed a bit, fighting off the pain.
Ceirn pulls his veil into place and steps into the room and lashes out at the strange man attacking Naja.
Feeling then one power rush into her, Niketsu reaches out with Weaves of Air to catch the man in place.
Adroushan peers into the room. The Wilder realizes the situation as a bit unforeseeable.
He begins to Weave strands of air, spirit and fire to form a Ward Against Shadowspawn right outside the window across from him.
Naja swings her club and connects with the odd man's side, the club striking him a solid blow.
Ceirn flows into the room, death made manifest, and lands a single blow into the mans gut just below the rib cage. the heavy sound of a mans air being driven from him belches forth from his lips, shock evident upon his face.
Catching the distant look upon Niketsu's face, The man turns and drives his blade into niketsu's leg, slicing into her thigh muscle, seeking to disrupt her concentration for her weave casting. She is able to minimize the pain from clouding her mind and the air begins to rapidly thicken around the man. Recognizing the danger, He turns and tries to quickly step out of the way towards the window, but doesnt move fast enough. He is held fast in mid motion.
Adroushan, looks at the far window that was the man's egress, and concentrates momentarily.
"Who was this? And how did he get in here?" Ceirn asks as his eyes try to slide off the man even as he is held in midair.
Naja goes over and begins to look over the woman and summons the one power. As she does she will then use it to delve into the girl and see if there is any sign of life, so she can then try and save her.
"Is she alright?" Morel asks Naja anxiously from the doorway, stooping slightly to bring his head through the door. "And the two of you?" He asks further, including Niketso in his inquiry.
"Does anyone recognize this man?" He points at the figure held rigid in midair.
Naja shakes her head at the question."No she is gone, Light"
Naja then tries to stand and winces through the pain as she leans a bit on her cane, oar club abomination.' I took a couple of good strikes, but I still am standing. As for him. Well...' she stopped and took a seat on the edge of the bed a bit woozy from the fighting and blood loss.
[b]"He was here for her. Stealthy and hard to read. The face is hard to place as well"[/b[ She says wincing through it all. She was clearly injured.
Niketsu looks at her leg, applying a wadd of cloth with pressure to stem the bleeding.
Turning to see Naja, and that she might be worse off, she asks, "Would you accept Healing? I know something of it, if you are willing."
If she accepts, Niketsu will provide a healing weave.
Naja nodded."I have no problem with it"
Naja had grown up around others who could use the power. It was a way of life, something that everyone learned to get used to.
Adroushan continues to concentrate, before tying off his Weave. The Wilder then quickly approaches Naja, but he stumbles and trips over the bed post when he notices that one of these women were Channeling!
Lying on the floor, he closes his eyes and thinks
What the f&%+ do I do now!
Ceirn watches Niketsu use the weave and forces a neutral face as he unveils and turns back to the strange man hanging in the area. He reaches out and tries to poke the man to see what holds him.
The cat's out of the bag now... hopefully we can keep a bit of a lid on the full story. Of course, better they run now than latter...
Niketsu lays her hands on Naja, forming the complex weave for healing. As always, the sensation washes over Naja like being doused in ice water.
Taking out a clean cloth and wetting it in the washbasin, Niketsu cleans away the blood from the wound. A thin line of pale pink stands out dramatically from the seafolk's dark skin.
a slight grown comes from the held man. Blood pours from his mouth, flowing over the invisible barrier that holds him in place. Although he is held in place, and unable to move, a sort of relaxed ease overcomes his features as his eyes close.
Morel's eyes widen and his eyebrows droop sorrowfully upon learning that the girl was gone. He smiles slightly upon learning that Niketsu at least could channel. Perhaps she had been to the tower and might be able to piece together something of what could be going on? Then his eyes try to slide over to the man held unnaturally rigid in the air. Assuming the blood trickling from his mouth was the result of whatever was holding him in place, he says,
"Err.. Perhaps we should try to question him rather than squeeze him to death? Something is happening with your assailant."
"He appears dead now. It may be an act. Or it may be the damage we dealt to him before he was...caught. Regardless he seems dead now." Ceirn says as he watches the man caught and cocooned like a fly in a web.
Adroushan releases the source at Ceirn's statement. He rises from the floor.
Kunala has been....burnt to cinders. An assassin attacks Naja. What the f@&* is going on!
The Wilder eyes wonder about the room with a bit of fear, anger and intensity in them.
"Kunala...is dead? Do you think this assassin did that as well...or was it the dream?" Ceirn asks in more of a rhetorical fashion as he doubts anyone would really know.
Niketsu slowly approaches the body held by her weaving, tentatively reaching out a hand to touch it on the forehead. Fearful of touching such a creature with the power, she nonetheless reaches out with a delving.
"It is dead, though I'm not entirely sure what it was could be considered truly alive, even before this. It feels... empty, like everything that once made it alive has been stripped out. The closest comparison I can think of is a beast that has been hollowed out for a mounting by a taxidermist, though it is more like the soul has been hollowed out, instead of organs and bone."
"There was a foulness to it while it lived, but even that feels gone now; this is just a corpse."
She steps back from it, and after checking that everyone is far enough back as to not be hit, let's it fall to the ground.
"Kunala is dead as well? Take me to him, I wish to see it."
Naja gets up and walks over to Niketsu and looks at her wound."Would you like me to heal you?"
The now healed Sea Fok swung her club over her shoulder and shifted on her hips looking at the man. She would need to pull all the blood out of her clothes.
You stand in the common room downstairs, at the bar, holding drinks, discussing everything that has just transpired.
"We still have the writing the Kunala made about the Foretelling. Perhaps that is the hint we must follow. But what do you all know of the places mentioned in the Foretelling?" Ceirn asks.
Head hanging inches from his second drink, Adroushan glances over at Ceirn.
A bit...
The Ebou Dari takes a sip.
This Hunt still on? Assassins, flaming nightmares that follow you out of nightmares, leaderless and perhaps an....
The Wilder closes his mouth, but his blue eyes landed on Niketsu for a telling moment.
The shaken doctor returns his eyes to his drink.
"I could still use an escort to the north." Naja says as she takes a drink of some tea she had ordered.
"I think perhaps if this truly was a foretelling, that all this, well, whatever it is, will find us whatever we do."
Morel ponders Ceirn's question a moment as he recalls what her words...
everyone crowds around Adroushan as he lays out kunala's paper and look for keywords to leap out at them.
Unsworn Lord, inverted steel, takes shelter amongst those that thought to fight fire with fire
north and north, trapped under ice, airach proflean awakens at Callandor's sign
south and south, the hunters must go, held and escape agit'dredan, they bring back a fate.
creeping death upon the pattern, it descends upon the mirk. one young soul, a thread to be snipped, sacrifice the one for all
mental anguish, soul destruction, everything fades to black, absolution is only sought within tel'aran'rhiod
oasis upon the plains, caught between the white and the shine; the water tastes of iron and flows red, the Dragon's answer for whom the bell tolls
Messenger of fear in sight, dark deception kills the Light. Out from ruins once possessed, fallen city, living death. Lurking beneath the sea, great old one, answers the call of his name
Ceirn tries to figure out the words.
The writings are a bit blurred it seems...
The Doctor smiles before remembering that things have gone decidedly bad.
"The Mountains of Mist, is a range of mountains that borders Tarabon and Amadica, Ghealdan and Tarabon, and the western edge of Andor before extending even further North." Morel responds to Ceirn in his deep rumble of a voice.
"The Mirk", I believe is slang for Haddon Mirk, a large area of marsh and swampland fed by the River Iralell. Now, I recognize some of the other references as well, mostly from legends and old tales. Tel'aran'rhiod, unless I've missed my mark entirely, is what I believe we have just experienced, to our loss. It is the World of Dreams. Callandor, that is a sword of glass, which the Tairen hold in their capital. This 'tainted man' could be a reference to a male who can channel, or perhaps one touched by the Dark One itself."
"Some of these other references though, I am curious over and may need time to puzzle out. Unless you recognize them perhaps?" The Ogier looks up at Niketsu hopefully, before returning to thoughtfully study the writing once more.
"Well, many of those would be heading north of here. But I am not sure if they are too out of the way for where Naja is going." Ceirn says.
"It is fascinating to hear a foretelling, and be present for it, as it happened. From everything I've read and heard, they are rare these days. They have something to do with the power, I'm sure. There are probably women amongst the Aes Sedai who would know more, if we knew where to find any and were willing to ask."
She glances ever so briefly at Naja, who had said she intends to train at the tower. She still felt the grip of the Three Oaths on her, still just a few weeks old, like a girdle or corset wrapped just a little too tight for comfort. Still, it made her wonder of what use they were when you could say things completely true, and convince all that heard it you had said the exact opposite.
"However, this foretelling sounds more like a listing of current events than anything we can act on. All the stanzas are simply things that are happening, or possibly will soon be happening. The only exception I see is the verse, 'south and south, the hunters must go, held and escape agit'dredan, they bring back a fate.' As Hunters of the horn, this could potentially apply to us, if we were so presumptious as to assume the pattern would take note of our tiny threads. The only reason I might make that leap is that we were present for the telling. It might apply to all Hunters, suggesting that the Horn might be found somewhere in the south, but hunter is such a generic term that it is as likely to refer to something else as the Hunters of the Horn. If it did, the term agit'dredan might be cause for concern. 'Agit' refers to a living creature, and 'dred' to a twisting of nature or form. Trollocs might be a reasonable guess as to what is meant, but it is just a guess."
"Even if it were to refer to us by name, 'South and South' is not much in the way of directions. Though, I would suggest we keep an eye out for any clues that point us southward."
Naja gets up and walks over to Niketsu and looks at her wound."Would you like me to heal you?"
Niketsu looks down at the bloody bandage wrapped around her thigh, "If you have that talent, I'd appreciate it greatly."
Naja takes the leg in her hands and focuses on the One Power and the wound. With skill, she begins to weave a pattern letting it enter the body and knit the wound back together.
Adroushan simply stares at Niketsu's leg being healed by Naja. The Wilder begins to tremble. He reaches a shaky hand out for his drink. He downs it!
"This does appear to be the Old Tongue, but I have no clue what is being said." Ceirn informs the others.
Ceirn looks over at the others and says, "We need to pick a direction. This does seem to be our best bet, but do any of you actually get a place we should go? Perhaps these mountains?"
Stepping out of the waygate, the iciness of stepping between the Ways and into the real world forces you to shiver momentarily as you step onto the dirt of world once again. Although the travel was only two days, the fear, the anxiety, that feeling that something odd stuck in the back of your mind. Sounds were different in there. somewhat muted. The light. It didnt shine properly, as if it was subdued by the surrounding darkness that pervaded the Ways.
The sun, high above, glared down onto an expanse of plains to the south, east, and west of where you stood. and to the north, the tall hills that rolled, as if a giant had stubbed his foot upon the dirt and kicked up the grass carpeting. Both the hills and the plains around you rippled to and fro, the grasses brown and dormant.
the wind itself felt wonderful, if a bit odd. it touched and caressed your faces, your hair, your arms. it pulled gently at your clothing as you stood there inhaling the deep aromas of the wilderness, fresh and clean compared to the nothingness of the Ways. The wind blew from the east, and then the north, then west, and finally up from the south. A gentle push here, a light touch there, it flowed around and around and around you, causing unique patterns in the tall grasses to wave and bend.
You look around, and spot a darker cut the land to your east. a mile or so away from you, it runs south and north. South you know, leads away, far away and eventually lands you in Tear. Take it north, and it'll lead you to your destination. Far Madding.
Stepping out of the waygate, the iciness of stepping between the Ways and into the real world forces you to shiver momentarily as you step onto the dirt of world once again. Although the travel was only two days, the fear, the anxiety, that feeling that something odd stuck in the back of your mind. Sounds were different in there. somewhat muted. The light. It didnt shine properly, as if it was subdued by the surrounding darkness that pervaded the Ways.
The sun, high above, glared down onto an expanse of plains to the south, east, and west of where you stood. and to the north, the tall hills that rolled, as if a giant had stubbed his foot upon the dirt and kicked up the grass carpeting. Both the hills and the plains around you rippled to and fro, the grasses brown and dormant.
the wind itself felt wonderful, if a bit odd. it touched and caressed your faces, your hair, your arms. it pulled gently at your clothing as you stood there inhaling the deep aromas of the wilderness, fresh and clean compared to the nothingness of the Ways. The wind blew from the east, and then the north, then west, and finally up from the south. A gentle push here, a light touch there, it flowed around and around and around you, causing unique patterns in the tall grasses to wave and bend.
You look around, and spot a darker cut the land to your east. a mile or so away from you, it runs south and north. South you know, leads away, far away and eventually lands you in Tear. Take it north, and it'll lead you to your destination. Far Madding.
Jak stepped out into blessed light and shivered despite himself. As his horse, Ginger, eagerly stepped through behind him, he saw that the landscape was normal and pleasant, rippling hills and vast plains, normal save for not being at all like where he had last seen before entering the Ways.
Taking stock of their surroundings, he nodded towards the darker cut of land to the North. "Reckon that should be Far Madding, assuming we're where we should be."
Leading his pack mule out Lahzar smiled and breathed in deeply. " Oh glorious Day! We are finally free of that dreadful bleak void!" The Domani man exclaimed as he walked the mule out and next to the road.
" I hear Far Madding is quite a wonderful place. A man can wed and get fat off the cities many Inns and taverns! Think of all the wonderful dishes to try why I might even get me some herbs and spices as well as some cook ware!" Lazar says with a broad smile standing to the side so others can leave the Eay Gate