Search Posts
Alathea rushes to the doorway to help her companions through. Once Ryvin stumbles through, she steps back and slumps again in exhaustion. "Thank the light," she breathes, "I feared that we would need to go back to that place...somehow. Are you all well?" Alathea gratefully takes the [i]sa'angreal[/b] belt back from Ryvin. "Thank you."
To Fiallain, Alathea shrugs. "If we have the maple-wood key, maybe we can. But opening a door requires an intimate knowledge of the other side. I'm not sure that our flight from that place left us with enough time to learn the land as needed, yes?"
Alathea shakes her head. "It is not like that. I could have all the qualifications to become Aes Sedai, and I could have all the wisdom in the world, but that is not what matters. Unless the White Tower raises me, I am not Aes Sedai and I cannot call myself as such, yes?" She looks coolly at Argrand for a long moment. "Tell me, what do you Asha'man do to those who claim to be Asha'man without earning the title?"
I'll take one, and I'm not picky as to which.
Alathea's shoulders slump even further. "I trained in the Tower, and I was once Accepted, yes? I had hoped to take the Shawl before much longer, but then the Tower cracked into two factions. I refused to be raised by the false Amyrlin, and it seems that I have burned my bridges with the true Amyrlin's faction as well."
Fiallain:
Alathea's face clouds as Fiallain tells her of Litheene's fate. "I...have been concerned with Litheene's behavior since we came to this world," she admits. "It was nothing that I could put a finger on, yes? But it seemed like she was...hiding something. Perhaps it is just madness, or perhaps something more." She sighs. "We should have paid closer attention, yes? Perhaps Vala and Chen will find a reason for her actions, but I do not like that they are alone with her. I think that if we are able, we need to follow them, yes?" Alathea nods in agreement with Argrand. "What this man says is true. I thought that Ryvin and Analin Sedai were right behind us, yes? But when I turned to help them through the doorway, it had already shut." Turning to Argrand, Alathea bows slightly. "I am no Aes Sedai, Asha'man. I know that you mean respect, but you should not give me a title that I cannot claim, yes?" To Dengorin, she says, "If you wish to return to your home, we will arrange for such as soon as we can,yes? But for now, you are most welcome here."
Alathea scowls and motions for the men to sheathe their blades. "There will be no need for that, yes?" Hobbling on still-too-weary legs, Alathea hurries to the door and throws it open. "Fiallain! It is so good to see you, my sister! I was worried that we were separated from everyone else, yes?" After embracing her, she looks the other woman up and down, searching for wounds or burns. "Are you well? Did you take injury in the woods?"
Alathea pulls herself away from the wall she's leaning against. "Of course, my lord. I am sorry to have left you injured for this long, yes? It has been a trying day." Kneeling at his side, she takes his hands in hers and wraps his body in healing weaves. Seeing nothing more important that she can do at the moment, she knits together not just his superficial wounds, but also the deep ones that a more hurried healing would miss.
Oh and the old DD is qhere the idea of "you need a fighter to hit things, a rogue for traps, a wizard to answer non combat threats like chasms, and a cleric to ne healer" came from. You NEEDED rogues since they are the only trap guys. You NEEDED a healer cleric. Unless you wanted to die... a lot... (now a days, there are so many options that you do not needed a dedicated healer, amd this was intentional) True or not (and I don't think it is), this is just as applicable to new editions as old. I can't count how many times I've heard complaints of "oh, man, I have to be the cleric AGAIN because we need one and all the other classes are taken!" or seen players getting together and assigning classes based on the fighter/cleric/mage/thief paradigm for 3.x/Pathfinder games. In part, any class-based game will have this issue, because that's what the classes are for. But a lot of it depends on the GM. A game with a GM that runs a game with no regard to party composition probably does require a fighter, a mage, a cleric, and a thief, regardless of which ruleset the game uses. Likewise, a GM who fits the game to his or her players can use any ruleset and run a game where the four-class paradigm is not needed.
"We are...I do not know where exactly we are," Alathea admits. "But this is where we came from to enter the forest, yes? It is a place connected to a ter'angreal, one that allows travel to many places. I do not know where it is in the world, or even if it is at all." With a worried shake of her head, Alathea answers the other, more important question. "I do not know where my friends are," she murmurs. "I hope that they are here, too--there is more to this place than just this room, yes? I hope that they are safe, but I am much more concerned with those I know are not."
Alathea speaks slowly, although the alarm rising in her voice is readily apparent. "I...I do not know what happened. We cannot open the portal again, but I believe that Ryvin can, yes? But...she may need to find another maple tree to do so." She looks at Argrand, her worry written all across her face. "From where we are, we are no help to her. We can only hope that the Light keeps her, yes?"
With safety just a step away, Alathea slumps in exhaustion and stumbles through the door after Dengorin.
and alathea could keep the sa'angreal if she's joining the link Ah, I didn't know that. I thought that the leader of the circle would be the one to get the most effect of the sa'angreal. Alathea'll have to demand it back as soon as the party is to safety...
Oh, hey, I just realized that I forgot to answer your question about the sa'angreal's power, Ryvin. I was going to do it in the post where Alathea tells Ryvin to be careful because it's powerful, but I see that I missed it. Sorry! The sa'angreal allows its wearer to cast weaves at four levels higher than normal.
Alathea waits for Ryvin to begin pulling saidar through the sa'angreal, then draws upon saidar herself--after so long with the belt, her own unaided strength seems but a weak trickle. She adds her strength to Ryvin's and surrenders control.
Alathea shakes her head. "I was once an Accepted of the White Tower, and I would have soon taken the test to become a Sister, yes? But the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills."
Alathea hesitates a moment before slipping the--her!--sa'angreal belt from her waist and handing it reluctantly to Ryvin. "Be careful, it is very powerful, yes? You should link with us as well--you will need all the strength you can get."
Alathea shakes her head ruefully. "Your question does not offend me, and I am no Aes Sedai. It may be that he did not choose to begin channeling, yes? Some of us begin to channel before we are aware of what we are doing."
Alathea throws a sidelong look at the Illianer as she pants towards the tree. "You may as well ask why he breathes, yes? I could not stop channeling even if I knew it would drive me to insanity and death. I would think that he feels the same way."
Alathea follows Ryvin's eyes and understands her intent immediately. Weaving quickly, she wraps the tree in protective bands of Air to shield it from the encroaching flames. "Let us hurry, yes? We must reach that tree quickly."
Alathea frowns at the newcomer's comment. "It must be a sad way to live, counting every breath as one less until your last, yes?"
I enjoyed the tainted-saidar world. I'd have liked to get to the bottom of that story...
Alathea follows the sound of Landa's voice and hobbles towards him as quickly as she can.
Alathea nods at Ryvin's suggestion, but is too tired to speak. Instead, she draws upon the One Power and to hurriedly heal Ryvin.
Gritting her teeth against the pain, Alathea hobbles across the embers, following Ryvin's lead.
Alathea nods grimly. "I am ready."
In her weariness, Alathea barely shrugs. "If you think you can, then try it, yes?" She fills herself with as much saidar as she can hold and opens herself to link with the other women. "My strength is yours to use."
Alathea shakes her head. "Do you have enough strength to channel ice and snow, and then to follow Analin Sedai's plan if yours fails? We know that the walls of Air can keep us safe from the fire, yes? And we do not know if your ice and snow will snuff the flames. We do not have much time--I would rather not gamble on trying something new, yes?"
Alathea nods. "I can keep the fire and falling trees out as long as we need, yes? But I don't think I can move the weave, and I don't know how long it will be until we run out of air in here."
"Hell's bells!" the Ebou Dari hisses as she struggles to her feet. "Not good! Everything within fifty feet is bloody on fire! Alathea, we need to set up a ward, maybe a dome of hardened air to keep the flames off of us while I try to reactivate the key!" Alathea nods grimly at Ryvin's words, but does not reply in words--she's concentrating instead on weaving through her weakness and panic. Following the other woman's advice, she draws deeply and weaves ropes of Air about the clearing into mighty walls, strong but invisible.
Caught up in the chaos, weakness, and confusion, it is a long while before Alathea notices that Ryvin's opened a new door with her key. With the last of her strength, she staggers towards the portal, only to have it wink out of existence before she can reach it. Gasping, she stumbles to a stop and leans hard on Ryvin. "Do it again," she says. "As far as I know, it will work again, yes? You are bound to that key and it will work for you."
Alathea shudders in disgust and scrambles away from the creature. Only when she feels she's far enough away from the monstrous thing to avoid its reach does she draw upon saidar again.
Congratulations, Dengorin! Enjoy the honeymoon, and don't worry about what's going on here!
Alathea feels her life force draining out of her, but she manages to remain conscious. With the world spinning around her, she remembers...someone...saying that the thing feeds on the One Power. Knowing that it is likely too late, she releases saidar and struggles to free herself from the tentacles.
Uh oh, it looks like Alathea's in trouble with Analin. Using a forbidden weave in front of a full Sister...but considering the only other offensive weave she knows is fireball, she had to do something that wouldn't blow herself up as well.
Alathea's White Tower training allows her to keep her concentration. Even though there's an alluring scent hidden in the putridity of the thing's smell, she pushes its temptation aside to focus on pulling it from Merdrith. To her surprise, though, it pulls away far more easily than she had expected, and it is far larger than she could have imagined. She tries to dive away from its lashing tentacles, but is not quite fast enough and is ensnared. "It has me!" she cries out, hoping that her friends have escaped its clutches. Knowing that her time is short, she draws deeply on the One Power and wraps the thing in ropes of Air, Water, and Spirit. She pulls and twists at her weaving, trying to rip the thing asunder.
Exhausted from running from the trolloc horde and channeling against them, Alathea can only look on with disapproval as the usual suspects--Ryvin and Merdrith--continue their argument. As far as she can tell, the substance of their argument has not changed since their last conflict, only the minor details that they use as an excuse to argue.
Nor does she notice the thing creeping up Merdrith's leg. It's only when Fiallain cries out for her to remove it from Merdrith that she sees it. Wasting no time, she weaves ropes of air and attempts to remove the thing without touching it.
Alathea shakes her head grimly at Ryvin's request. Unable to do as the woman suggests, she instead weaves another fireball and hurls it into the midst of the trollocs. "If this must be a war of attrition, then so be it."
Looking back over her shoulder, Alathea sees the trollocs edging around the boundaries of the ward. Pausing only long enough to weave, she conjures a roaring ball of fire to prevent their advance, then resumes her retreat.
Alathea nods at Analin's suggestion. Pulling on Kodokura's hand, she starts to limp as quickly as her exhausted body can manage down the trail towards safety. "This place is lost to us, yes? Let us leave it behind."
Seeing what Analin is weaving, Alathea holds saidar at the ready. "Protect Analin Sedai!" she calls, her voice sounding shrill with fear or strain. "Do not let the Trollocs interrupt her!" "And Light, let her finish before they are upon us," she prays.
Alathea gasps as Kodokura leaves their circle, but she nods in understanding. With Kodokura at her side, she limps back towards Amorial, her eyes keen for movement behind them and saidar held at the ready.
Constitution checks for running:
Alathea hurries along after Kodokura as quickly as she can manage. However, it's been a trying day, and her endurance soon gives out. After a mile, she staggers to a stumble. Leaning against a tree, she gasps for air for a few moments before struggling back into motion. Though she can't run any farther, she doesn't give up and hobbles along as fast as she can.
|
