09/05/2000

Catacombs Beneath Dorelle Caromon: Battle Room

A winding series of maze-like tunnels, each wide enough for about four men
to stand shoulder to shoulder. Occasionally a groove in the walls will open
up to serve as the final resting place for a member of the long forgotten
Poranas War Barons and their families, a group that was finally taken into
oblivion when the Ten Nations were formed and the compact signed. The old
standard of the Poranas...five blue daggers on white all pointing in
different directions, so that they appear to be spinning, can be found
periodically painted on the stone, the paint beginning to fleck away.

From time to time in small holes in the walls various bits and pieces
formerly owned by the Poranas can be located. Sometimes it is simply a
sword or other weapon. Here and there its a gold encrusted mirror or other
such valuable bit. One might spot, as well, several pieces of crystal:
plates, cups...bowls...


It was Dreams and Foretellings that led both those of the Tower and the
denizens of Cubiyari'Shain to sit down and begin doing some hard research.
What they each found was plenty to galvanize them, travelling each in
secret towards the catacombs where a particular ter'angreal may well have
been housed: a ter'angreal known as the Bowl of Winds. With it the Dark
could simply re-order weather to its liking and set off, attacking any
country it so chose, while that countries own armies remain locked in by
tight walls of ice and snow, ice and snow currently keeping the war at a
standstill till Spring. The implications go further than that, of course.
Weather control on the scale that the Bowl of Winds would allow for could
create mass devistation in the Shadow's hands, or simply dictate the time
and place of any battle. Sometimes it is the small things upon which a war
is lost or won. For want of a nail...And so the Tower is here to attempt to
recover the Bowl and take it away, to be locked down as something too
dangerous to be playing with. And Cubiyari'Shain, of course, is here for
the massive power the Bowl can command. Each side, however, thinks it is
way ahead of the other, and each is about to be in for a surprise.

Leading his small group of people through the tight quarters, Tetrarch
holds a small ball of light in one hand. He grumbles softly as he does so.
He never was much of one for tight, inclosedplaces. Zashta stands by his
side, her hand on her sword. Both sets of eyes move around in the near
darkness, looking for the goal, looking for threats. The formation for his
group is simple. Him and Zastha in the frount, the rest behind and to the
sides in a diamond formation. None getting too far from the others.

Keay wanders along through the tunnels, a dull ball of light going slightly
before her. She leads, well for the most part, her Warder Jedan insists on
being at her side, The others she leads are behind. Warders onthe otsde and
to the back Sedai closer to the front. Everyone is close, so as not to get
lost in unfamiliar teritory.

Well, Corain could not say he's especially happy to be here. He's got
problems of his own burn it! Though a little bit of information does tug at
the back of his mind that this could become everyone's problem. So,
quarterstaff in hand, and bearing his wickedly curved, Eharon dagger in his
sash again he follows the Keeper down the tunnel, eyes alert to the shadows
cast by Keay's ball of light like a good Warder Trainee. All in all, he's
hoping they can just slip in, grab this.. whatever it is they're after, and
slip out with no problems. Wishful thinking.

Rhys follows the Keeper as well, her ball of light casting shadows and
lighting up his aware and alert gaze. His sword rests in his hand, held
their with an uncertain hand, as if he isn't quite sure how to use it, or
what to do, should the situation arise.

Agaziel just keeps grinning as he wonders what would happen if he were to
do some of his earth experiments while underground. He muffles a small
chuckle at the thought and squints his eyes at the never ending darkness
ahead. A lot of tunnels, to many possibilities. What if he were to. Nah.
Better not. He stays behind with the rest of their group.

Caranthon keeps silent as he moves together with all of the other soldiers
from his side. His face has taken on an expression of mostly determination
in doing what he has to...

Following Tetrarch and the small little band. The dreadlady dressed in
black stays with the group as her light gray eyes glance around the
tunnels. Oh the fun she could have here too in these tunnels. Just say the
direction of the thing and she'd cut you a hole straight there. Every now
and then she glances to Agaziel, but never a smile crosses her face. It's
really hard to tell what she thinks of this excursion.

Taking deep breaths as he walks through the area, Neelkan sticks to about
the middle of the area, near Corain actually. He reaches up to run his
fingers lightly along the wall of that catacomb and looks for a moment to
be a little breathless. He shakes his head and turns his attention back to
the direction in front of him. Just the place gives him the creeps. And
it's familar too, which is just as creepy. If not more so. He has on hand a
sword, already drawn, but held downward in the hand not near the wall, and
there's a few knives at his belt, along with a... strange almost
knife-looking weapon. With no point. And multiple, layered blades at first
sight.

Roderick follows the Tower group, following the Keeper, he stands near
Rhys, his heron-marked sword drawn and at the ready if it is needed, his
eyes darting this way and that

Moving along with the group of Sedai, Gaidin, and such is Vashta who seems
a bit less nervous than she should be. Perhaps she's just frozen with fear
but she continues on towards with the others, her eyes moving across the
stone.. She's on the verge of embracing... never one to keep herself un
protected.

Sunan marches alongside the party eagerly, with barely contained
excitement. He's grinning like a fool and his eyes seem full of energy.
Still, the danger is not lost him. His right hand is tightly grasping his
hilt, drawn and held near the floor. His left is at his side, but ready to
be used in a moment. He walks a close as he can get to the front, but still
stays near his brother, Neelkan.

Alys is, also, tagging along with the Sedai group, looking for all the
world like a child that decided to come along to play with the adults. She
appears a good deal /less/ nervous then most, simply because she doesn't
appear worried at all.

Yet another child with the adults, Kennyth trudges along, hands in his
pockets. A slightly sardonic and unenthused expression on his young
features. Yay! I'm out to help screw over the Light a little more! Yay me!
He radiates the sullenness as only a 15 year old kid can.

Johiah brings up the tail end of the Light group, acting as rear guard. His
staff in hand, and a sword that looks mostly unused at his side. He looks
sharp and quick, a contrast to his normal laid back and in no huury visage.
He keeps his eyes to the rear most of the time.

Viceract moves quietly within the center of the dark group, silent and cold
as stone. His sword is drawn and raised, and he seems to be watching every
direction, his eyes in constant motion. Every muscle of his thin body is
tensed, and he moves with unnaturally fluid grace.

Tetrarch comes to a stop. He can feel a woman channeling up there, and he's
just now seen the light which tells him what the woman is channeling. He
pulls his light back so that it can't be seen forward and looks around. He
points to Agaziel, "You and Shi'Loh take a group that way. Cara, you're
with them." He only brought /ten/ people. He makes a couple more follow
Agaziel and his group. He grabs Kennyth's shoulder. "You're with me,
Kennyth, as are you Viceract." He starts to move towards the party,
completly drouping the light. He motions for his group to stop. "Attack on
my command, we're a distraction. Keep channeling to a minimum. We could
hurt ourselves just as much as they."

Keay stops dead in her tracks. She turns towards the group and signals that
balls of light be dropped. She lowers the brightness of hers. Very lightly
she whispers, with accopanying points and gestures. "I think /they/are down
there. Against my better judgment, I guess it would be best to split up,
that way if something should happen we have more of a chance to survive. "
She then, not wanting to talk anymore than possible, points to neelkan,
Alys, and Sunan and then herself. A quick flick of her hands towards Rhys,
Vashta, johiah are to go in the other direction. Slowly she leads her group
down in the tunnel in darkness.

In your tunnel, Kennyth kind of just shuffles along behind Tet. Yes sir, no
sir, I await your every order to do a bunch of stuff I don't really want to
do with baited breath, sir.../why/ did there have to be opposing people in
here? Then again...he heaves a big heavy sigh. Oh well. He'll be /glad/ not
to channel a lick if he doesn't have to. He looks more and more the
dejected cocker-spaniel/bulldog cross as he follows along, dragging his
feet.

In your tunnel, Corain throws a slightly curious, and slightly derisive
glance at the layered blade thing Neel is wearing, but it's a playful
derision, and now is not really the time to voice things like that. He
hmmms a little, and glances towards the tunnels, but he's just following
his Keeper. Of course, he is oblivious to those coming towards them. Oh
man, for an Essenian, who doesn't want anyone channeling on him.. this is
going to be quie a shock. His eyes widen as Keay splits them up. Uh.. uh..
THEY?? This wasn't in his contract. Wait, wait, when have you ever shirked
from a fight before? That bucks his courage a little and he nods, joining
the Keeper's group and following down that tunnel.

In your tunnel, Viceract  steps to the side of the hall, pressing his back
flat and lowering his blade to conceal himself for as long as possible. He
studies the tunnel as best he can in the dark, waiting like a coiled snake
for a chance to end this quickly.

In your tunnel, Neelkan raises his eyebrows as he gets pointed to, then
shrugs, glancing over at Corain and Sunan. Least he's sticking with people
he knows, sort of... He reaches with his free hand and pulls out the oddly
layer bladed weapon, and continues along silently, still looking at the
walls with a minor sense of worry. He's not all that happy to be here.

Sunan quietly follows the group, using every iota of the new dexterity
Kirra's... ministrations have blessed him with. His hand tenses on his
blade, it's edges coated in witch hazel. There is a reason he's wearing
gloves. One always has many weapons at his disposal. His body, his sword,
his environment. Herbs can give one an edge, but it would be dangerous to
get some on oneself. Sunan grimaces. Herbs should be meant to heal, not to
kill. Still, he will do what he must do. Plants have a deadly side too. And
so does he.

In your tunnel, Tetrarch curses softly as the light from the other group
goes away. "Close your eyes." he orders to his group quietly so that he's
not overheard by the enemy. Once they have all done, the soft his of his
blade is heard as it's drawn. He steps over, near a wall, and strikes along
it, weaveing as he does so. A loud crack sounds out, and he closes his own
eyes as the searing light flashes down the hall, then cools to a normal
soft one. Enough to blind the approching group if they are not quick enough
to close their own eyes. "Charge!" he orders and pulls his blade back to do
just that, long steps carrying him for the enemy. Zashta runs right behind
him, her own blade out and ready.

Rhys stays back a little bit. Certainly he was told to go on this search by
Master Savren, but he is not a full Gaidin, at least not yet...He walks
slowly, keeping his sword drawn and near...

In your tunnel, Kennyth makes a face as he runs along behind. Charge? He's
gotta /charge/? He doesn't want to charge...maybe he can scare these nice
ladies and gentlemen into running away so they won't get hurt. He seizes
Saidin, Fire and Air forming so that, appearing around the Tower group, are
a bunch of Fades. Anyone who can see Saidin would see them for the
Illusions they are, but to anyone else there are now four sinious writhing
eyeless creatures to back up the Fort Group. Run away! Run away! Please?

In your tunnel, Keay hears the first scapre of the wall and looks around,
the ound distorted by the echoes. She turns to see where the mysterious
sound comes from. She catches the end of the light and her vision is
blrred. At the sound of Charge she calls out the same, not really knowing
how her "troops" are. As she stumbles along, Jedan is beside her, morning
stars out heading into the soont o be frey.

In your tunnel, Neelkan has his eyes over on the wall again despite himself
when the flash of light finds it's way down towards him. He catches it in
the corner of his eye and instinctively closes them, but then opens them a
few moments later and blinks. Arg. Thank you, Tet. He now has huge purple
splotches in his already distorted vision. But that's still not enough to
make him miss the sight of a Fade, even an illusion one. How unfair is
that? This is the second time he's had illusion Fades thrown at him. Grrr.
He immediately flicks his wrist, the sound of metal rubbing together and
holds up his sword as well. He also (heh) tries to put himself between
Corain and the Fades. How strange is that? Doesn't he hate the other
trainee?

In your tunnel, Corain should probably be very afraid, but he's easily
gotten into the spirit of the battle since now there's an actual enemy in
sight, and people are screaming Charge all over the place. Brown eyes widen
at the sight of the illusion Fades (fortunately, he was glancing down
another tunnel when the flash of light came, so he just caught it in the
periphery of his vision. Oh pigsguts. He starts to lunge forward, but then
Neelkan's in front of him and ack! He mutters something very under his
breath before casually side stepping the overprotective Trainee and running
past him. He has enough bravado to call over his shoulder, "Last one to
kill a Fade drinks..." and it's probably just as well that exactly what
gets to be drunk is lost in the commotion of tromping feet. He twirls his
quarterstaff and aims a blow for the side of the illusory Fade's head.

Viceract dashes down the side of the hallway, his feet seeming almost to
push his lithe body forward. He races straight for Corain, using the short
interval to weave strands of fire and heat his blade. When the young man
steps out to swing at the Myrdraal, Vice smiles. He sidesteps just before
he reaches melee range, taking a precise swing towards the Corain's back.

Sunan also happened to be looking the other way. It hardly mattered. The
crack stunned him to such a degree he dropped his sword, the blade barely
missing his toe. Wincing, his mind cuts through his confusion and decides
now is no time to coddle his hurting ears. Hand which had covered ears in
reflex reach downwad. Grabbing a herb from his belt, he moves swiftly
forward, as if he were doing a form of his own making, and hurls a mixture
of black lotus powder and black pepper toward the face of the man attacking
his comrade-in-arms - Viceract.

In your tunnel, Tetrarch nods once to Zashta, then to the star wielding
crazy one coming for them. He then steps behind her as she rushes forward
to attack the Gaidin and Tetrarch slips behind Viceract and around, his
sword coming down low and up high in a backhanded swing for Sunan's chest
and stomach. If it connects, it's not a killing blow, but will hurt a great
deal and give Sunan a thing or three to think about before throwing herbs
about. His sword hums softly as it's charged with a bit of Spirit. The kind
to help knock a man out. Zashta's sword gongs nicely as it connects with
Jedan's morning stars and the two are quickly in a dance of flail and
sword.

Keay avoids being trampled as she stumbles along. She leans across the wall
to the catacomb. AS her vision clears she gets a veiw of Tetrarch and does
what any semi-crazy, self respecting Sedai would do, attempt to Shield the
Asha'Cor. Quickly she grabs the flow that comes the easiest to her, Spirit.
A loop here, twit there and a functional, if not pretty shielding weave.
She moves iowards Tetrarch. Hmph, be brave in the attempt girl.

Sunan falls into a nice unconcious heap. Well, that's no good, the boy is
going to get trampled on. Kennyth moves him against the wall, tying him
there with Air, figuring that way at least nobody will be mean and just
kill him right off. Nope, he doesn't want to fight much at all. He leans
against the wall and watches for more people to rescue. Burn it, why didn't
they just run? Next time he'll illusion up Darkhounds.

In your tunnel, Neelkan growls softly as Corain goes around him, cursing
something under his breath that almost sounds like something he used to say
to women, but that doesn't make too much sense, does it? He stumbles a
little to get out of the way of the other trainees attack on the illusion
fade, backing up against the wall. This is not going good at all. In the
corner of his eye he sees Sunan go down, but he's got bigger things to
worry about. Namely guy with a sword is swinging at Corain. And since he's
behind the other trainee and off to the side, he tries to raise his sword
to either catch the blade incase Corain misses it. Or if he can't make it
in time, at least the guy'll have a sword swinging in the direction of his
shoulder. No one messes with his.. um... Non friends? Grump.

In your tunnel, Corain does a little doubletake as the Fade goes
transparent for an instant when he hits it. "What the-" And the supposed
Shadowspawn isn't even doing anything but growling and flailing it's sword
about in a manner that even Corain can tell isn't how a sword should be
weilded. Is this some kind of practical joke? Unfortunately for the Tower
Trainee... all this distracts him from the blow coming from behind, and
man, if that hits, it's gonna -hurt-. So much for the not being Healed
preference?

Viceract snarls as Neelkan's superior footwork allows him to deflect his
sword stroke. Before Viceract is even fully aware of the interruption,
however, his vision is filled by a black cloud. He holds his breath
instinctively, but it is far roo late. His eyes tear up as a burning
sensation seems to pour across them and into his brain. He staggars
backward about six paces, behind the other advancing darkfriends, as he
realizes that in addition to the pain washing over his eyes, his whole body
has started to spasm lightly. He steps back against the wall, pressing his
arm to his face in a futile attempt to wipe away the toxin.

In your tunnel, Lisia runs into the tunnel, her skirt hiked up above her
boots so she doesn't trip all over herself. Her mind smind still tickling
from the amount of channeling going on, it only gets worse as she enters
the tunnel and the full blown battle going on before her. She herself
quickly grasps the source and prepares for battle, weaving a quick (if not
somewhat tenuous) net of Air, which she then proceeds to throw over the
nearest baddie she sees. Of course, if it hits its mark or not is another
story, since she still is a bit winded..

In your tunnel, Tetrarch blinks at the use of Saidin to move Sunan out of
the way. His eyes quickly spread around and get access of the situation.
"Kennyth, Heal Viceract." he can't let that go long, or Viceract may not be
savable. He steps towards Neelkan, blade coming around in another quick
slash. it starts to hum again, and then stops. In his attempt to distract,
he himself has become distracted and Keay managed to slip her shield onto
him. Blast it all. He doesn't stop his attack on Neelkan, however.
Midranged and fast, and... hasn't he been here before? Zashta is standing
unarmed, Jedan much the same as the two fight against each other, their
weapons lost in the mire. Zashta moves in, fast and furious in a straight
line while Jedan dances about her. He's getting two hits in for every one
of hers, but she's holding her own.

In your tunnel, Keay leans agianst the wall to keep from getting trampled
and to concentrate on holding Tet's shield. "Hmph, that should keep him
busy.." She kicks an attacking darkie in a spot near and dear to his heart
and returns her attentions to holding the shield and silently cheering her
fighting Gaidin.

In your tunnel, Kennyth pushes off the wall and runs over to Vice. His
illusioned Fades wink out of existance with a final hissed, "I'll get you
my pretties, and your little Gaidin too!" Well, he's got a sense of humor.
He touches Vice's shoulder and weaves of Fire, Air, and Spirit mingle in a
complex (if painful) array to remove the poisons. Its just not the same as
with Water...pour Vice probably feels like he's getting burnt away from the
inside out, but it'll be over soon.

In your tunnel, Neelkan lets out a rather harsh oath, something around the
lines of pig dung smoking on a summer rock. Or something of the like. He
blinks as the weird kid who was attacking Corain goes... back and starts to
look as if he's going cra--- oh wait. Probably a male channeler? ... Oh
Light, that's the last thing he wanted to-- What the...? The Fades are
dissolving and saying... Well, no one ever said the dark didn't have a
sense of hu--ACK! Now face to face with the 'Big Dreadlord Boss Man' who
he's met before and rather disliked too, and he's swinging a sword at him.
The oaths just keep coming out, as he raises his sword to block as best he
can, blade pointed down and hand holding the sword nearly in front of his
face, falling back a few steps. His multilayered bladed fan-like. He's not
a slow-poke either, but it's clear who has the advantage in a sword fight.
And it's /not/ the white streaked red-haired trainee either. He holds the
fan weapon down for know, ready to bring it up as a shield. He's not
attacking right now. More worried about his head remaining on his
shoulders. He likes it there.

In your tunnel, Corain glances over his shoulder and blinks. Great, that
means now he owes Neel one. Well.. it's better than being dead, or getting
Healed *shiver* He turns back to the Fa- oh.. but it's gone. He glances
around for someone else to fight and hrms at Kennyth. He has no clue what
the kid is doing, but he's with the Darkies, and that does not look like
just a friendly tap on the shoulder, especially with the pain it seems to
be inflicting on it's subject. The reflection is cut off though as another
swing from behind distracts Corain. At least this time he notices it though
and twirls his staff to knock the blade off course. The sword weilder
dodges the blow for his face, but his ankle gets hooked by the other end of
the staff and it sends him crashing to the floor. Except Corain's left his
back exposed again. Silly trainee, and his 'protector' is busy this time
with the big scary Boss Man.

Viceract growls low in his throat as the pain intensifies, repressing the
urge to cry out. When his vision clears, he nods at Kennyth in thanks,
Vice' face already returned to a cold mask of stone. He quickly surveys the
scene again, shaking the pain from his eyes. He sees Corain, and smiles,
but then steps back, determined not to let vengeance get the better of him.
In Lisia, he finds a better target. He dashes across the hallway lightning
quick, swinging sharply upward to slice into her shoulder, rolling in the
strike so that if she manages to dodge the slice, he has a good chance of
connecting with a strong blow to the back of her head using the flat of the
blade.

In your tunnel, Lisia scowls as her net doesn't do as well as she would
have hoped. A curse escapes her lips, and she begins to weaves flows of
Fire and Air, in order to create a rather large flame. She pivots, though,
and in the corner of her eye sees Viceract running towards her. Her body
doesn't move fast enough, however, and his sword connects with her
shoulder, ripping silk and linen until it cuts through her flesh. Her
cursing stops, and instead develops into a strangled scream of pain as the
feeling reaches her brain. She moves back, and with whatever strength she
has, whips a knife out of her belt and throws it towards her assailant.

In your tunnel, Tetrarch closes his eyes and enjoys himself for just a
second. A /challenge/. He's up to it. His eyes open again as another
assalent comes at him, and he spins from Neelkan with a low cut that takes
the legs out from other the soilder. Literarly. He then keeps spinning
around and goes for Neelkan with a triple strike down one side, lighting
fast and with as much strength as he can put into it. Likely the boy won't
be able to keep up, but the blows also won't kill. Tet's still pulling his
punches. He doesn't fight the shield right now, but concentrates on the
sword fight. His blue blade hums softly as it flys through the air. Zashta
and Jedan roll accross the ground now, as one or the other tried a throw
and the other countered with much the same.

In your tunnel, Keay gets all in a fluster over the fact that Jedan falls
on the ground. Focus girl! You are trying to shield th Asha'Cor!!!! Its no
time to get sentimental. She stares at the eave, making sure its still
good, then pushes someone, back into the frey, whoever it was, she doesn't
need their company at the moment.

In your tunnel, Kennyth lets out a big sigh. If he lets Nole's father get
injured because Nole's dad is shielded -- which he seems to be from saidin
winking out around him -- she's going to be pissed. On the other hand, if
he comes to the rescue, he might get kissed again...there are other reasons
for his next actions as well. Namely there's a rat bastard who stands to
take Tetrarch's place if anything nasty happens to him. Not a pleasant
thought. A big net of Spirit falls over Keay and ties off. It is a calming
weave, strong enough to where she feels...good. Imagine smoking 4 pounds of
marijuana without the nasty physical effects. She grins up at the ceiling.
Kennyth goes to one of the crypts where a skelton lies. He clears it away
for her, picks her up with Air, and sets her on the little stone bed to
stare happily at the ceiling for the next day or so, or whenever someone
finds her. He pauses as a glint of gold catches his eye. Well, its not the
Bowl of Winds but it is a pretty necklace that he can give to Nole. Maybe
that'll earn him 2 kisses. He drops it into his pocket and slips back out
of the old war baron's final resting place, brushing dust and bone bits off
his shirt fastitiously.

In your tunnel, Neelkan is no slow poke. And if he were pissed off enough
right now for his earrings to kick on, he very likely could have kept up
with the 'Big Bad Dreadlord Man' and blocked or dodged pretty good. Though
there's not that much room to dodge, and seeing the guy /literally/ lose
his legs is enough to put a little wariness in the brave kid! He's not
exactly scared, and he certainly isn't about to try to back off and let
someone else fight the guy. He's a Dreadlord! He saw him hurl that water
stuff around. And he took Verbena! Grrr. Grrr. The anger kicks in, but not
enough for his earrings, and he brings up his sword to block the first
strike, the second one gets knocked away enough to only rip a decent hole
in his shirt at the his chest and a fairly light cut there. He yelps out a
curse and stumbles upon being hit, one of his necklaces caught in the blade
and spilling red and yellow circular beads everywhere. The last one leaves
him decently wounded along the ribcage, and he falls backwards and hits the
floor with a thump, boot tripping over one of the beads and sword falling
out of his hand. He keeps a hold of his fan, but is pretty much not going
to do anything but grumble and curse.

Viceract blinks a little, surprised when his strike connects. Caught off
guard, he is struck firmly in the shoulder by the knife, which sinks in
more than an inch. His face belies his expression for the first time, but
strangely, it is a look of sorrow that crosses his featues as he hurls a
blast of air at Lisia to kock her off guard, and strike her wounded
shoulder near her neck to usher her into unconciousness. Even now, he is
vigilant, unwilling to assume that his strike will connect. His left hand
balls into a fist, ready to strike if his blade fails.

Rhys fights off and keeps at bay one more attacker from the rear as he
feels Denn slump next to him. He quickly, and almost angrily finishes off
the man he fights, and looks down at his sword arm for a moment in shock at
what he has done, quickly snapping out of it to grab Denn'ryiel in his arm,
taking care not to injure her any further, calling out to the others "I
think we need to leave...we are overmatched here..."

In your tunnel, Lisia grits her teeth against the pain that throbs in her
shoulder, the surprise also reading across her face as her dagger finds a
mark, specifically Viceract's shoulder. She smiles, a wide gash across her
face that could be mistaken for being deranged. It leaves her face as
something - she feels her skin tingle slightly - comes into contact with
her still bleeding wound. Pain washes across her mind and clamps itself off
in her brain, leaving her with no more strength, and not much will to stay
on her feet. She sinks to the ground and falls in a heap of blue silk and
blood, her eyes closed. She's obviously unconscious.

Agaziel snaps his gaze up to the ceiling as it begin to crack. He rolls his
eyes, "Oh great. Foolish girl. Someone shield her he shouts out begin them.
Vashta cracks begin to widen on their own, dust begins to fall everywhere.
These tunnels are very old and fragil. "Bloody...." Agaziel quickly
embraces the source, thick weaves of pure earth slamming into the cracks.
"This whole place is going to come apart, I can't hold it. Shi'loh!" The
walls begin to crack, and slowly, the cracks stop spread, yet he's not
going to be able to hold it off.

In your tunnel, Corain turns to see Neel getting sent to the floor. No.. he
doesn't care (yes he does) but he does kind of owe him, so he's not just
going to let that go unpunished. Now it's his turn to put himself between
danger and the white streak haired trainee. Oh Corain, don't you know an
unshielded dreadlord when you see one? No! So he brings up his quarterstaff
and makes a series of swift swings, one end after the other aimed for
random spots on the Asha'Cor, kind of like Boar Rushes, but with a staff
instead of a sword.

In your tunnel, Tetrarch spins around to face Corian. Normally, he'ld have
no problem slicing the boy apart. But he's not fighting to kill, and
Corain's got revenge on his mind. Staff and blade crack together ofen as
Tetrarch goes on the defensive. He keeps it up for a long moment, getting
the flow to Corain's movement. Once he has it down, he waits for the
opening then drops down and does a quick spinning sweep for Corain's legs.
Zashta and Jedan have all but disappeared in their fight.

In your tunnel, Kennyth decides to follow Gaidin and Oramane and end their
bit of fun, figuring the Asha'Cor can handle Corain alright. Oh. There they
are. Rolling around on the ground. He waits till the mess is Jedan-side-up
and hits the Gaidin with a sleep weave. He then shakes his head as Zash
gets up, punches Jedan one more time in the jaw while she's done, and
staggers against the wall to nurse her wounds. Kenny moves back down
towards the main group of fighters.

In your tunnel, Neelkan has brought a hand to his wound, holding down on it
and already finding his hand rather wet after only a few moments. He
presses down there with his empty hand to stop it as best he can, and as
soon as he looks up again there's someone else engaging the Dreadlord. ...
Corain. He immediately tries to sit up, scrambling to find where his sword
went off to, and as he grumbles, "Light." Yeah, he didn't know the guy was
shielded at all, nor that he's no longer shielded, but he doesn't want his
.... nonfriends fighting him either... (Guess the guy might as well stop
insisting that he hates Corain, huh? Grrr) Well, the staff weilding trainee
seems to be doing as good, if not better then him at least. He slides up
the wall, still swordless as it was knocked away by the fighting somehow,
hand still pressed against his side and apparently having a hard time
moving much. Leaning against the wall works okay though!

In your tunnel, Corain oofs as he goes down, staff clattering out of his
hands. He insantly rolls to the side though, expecting a killing blow to
follow that and not wanting to be under it when it falls. Nope, he doesn't
know his opponent at all. He calls out to no one in particular (he hasn't
noticed his Keeper is down, and her Gaidin is no where to be seen, off
fighting the right hand of the Asha'Cor) "I vote for a retreat here."
Sorry, whatever it was, it can't be worth this.. He rolls to his feet and
snatches up his fallen staff, eyeing the man with the ravens on his sword,
before glancing around to see where people are and who is down, and who
isn't. How is it that he's the only one not wounded? Dumb luck I guess. He
still doesn't know Tetrarch is a channeler though so he backs away, keeping
the staff up and slowly moves in Neel's direction. "Come on, we have to get
out of here." Oh burn it! He notices Lisia lying on the ground, and just
can't leave her there! Or Keay either! Ok, maybe retreat is not an option
after all. He turns his brown eyes to the dreadlord and tosses his staff
down. There's no way they can win this one at this point, and he can only
hope he has more honor than those Gaidin at the Tower. :P

In your tunnel, Viceract looks down at Lisia, the sorrowful expression
leaving his face. He whispers something too quietly to hear, obviously
inteded for her unconcious ears. He looks to the battle, searching for an
opening to enter back into the fray. He glances at the knife in his
shoulder, and something glints in the corner of his eye. Reaching into a
groove high on the wall, His fingers come into contact with a smooth, cold
surface. He quickly grabs the weighty object and pulls it into sight. It is
a large glass bowl, inlaid with aerial designs and clouds. The bowl
shimmers and the pattern begins to shift, emitting a faint light. Viceract
does not smile, but he does nod in satisfaction. He uses a subtle weave to
magnify his voice over the fighting, speaking both to encourage the
soldiers of the dark, and to stir dispair in the hearts of those fleeing.
"We have the bowl of the winds..." he says simply, almost monotone. "all
hail the Asha'Cor...we have won."

In your tunnel, Lisia is still on the ground, her shoulder still seeping
blood from the ragged wound.

Tetrarch nods and sheaths his sword. He looks around, Air and Fire
projecting his voice through the tunnels. "Let them go." he calls. "We have
the bowl." He walks over ot Viceract after giving Corain a half bow. He
enjoyed the fight. He waves for Zashta and Kennyth to join him. "We're
leaving." he says simply, and leads them that way. Zashta limping a great
deal.

Rhys holds Denn in one arm, draped over his shoulder as he fights with the
other arm, sword slashing at those few remaining attackers at the back. He
hears the rumbling, and the falling rocks and quickens his pace, pushing
along some of the younger trainees near the rear still
alive..."move...now....we are going, before this whole place ends up on top
of us."

Oh, I dunno Bossman, I thought, you know, after going out of my way not to
kill anyone I'd just start exploding heads while they were down. Kennyth
gives the Asha'Cor a sort of 'well duh' look as he falls in behind the
other Darkfriends, looking back towards the fallen forces of the Light...a
little wistfully, letting the struggle of saidin seep away from him.

In your tunnel, Neelkan curses loudly under his breath at hearing they got
the bloody bowl and just continues right on cursing as he presses his hand
against the wound on his side still, already a dark red from the blood. He
glares over at Tet, and if his eyes could shoot out bolts of fire, the
dreadlord might have a nice fireball coming towards his chest right about
now. But nothing like that happens, because Neelkan's just a trainee, and
he can logically shoot fireballs out of his eyes, and if he did, the Reds
would have an even bigger reason to hate him, wouldn't they? Heh. He holds
himself against the wall and starts to stumble backwards so he can head
out, trying to make it over to the downed women to help one of them. Too
bad he could use some help himself, isn't it?

Vashta groans as all but overuse of the power and her wound on her leg over
takes her... "hurry.. Save.. Denn'ryiel.." She says, before she passes out,
slumped against Johiah's chest.

Corain arches one of his eyebrows, the one with the scar splitting it down
the center, but he does incline his head back before scooping up the staff
again and trotting over to Keay to help her. Where is that Gaidin of hers
anyway? Burn it, if he has to drag his... behind.. out of here too-
actually that would be rather funny, in an ironic sort of way. Maybe
dragging his bond out will be enough for the irony though so he
unceremonsiously wraps an arm around her waist and holds her arm around his
neck. Yup, he's stronger than his small size would indicate. He glances
over towards Neelkan to see how he's doing. Honestly? He doesn't care about
the bowl. He's more interested in getting out, and getting everyone else
out safely. What? Tunnel collapsing? What were they -doing- over there? He
starts to head out, making sure the other trainee is with him.

"Shi'loh!" He shouts just as the rock knocks her out. A slow rumbling can
be heard down the tunnel, slowly becoming louder and louder. He snaps his
head towards the sound, eyes going wide at the site. The wall crack down
the tunnel loudly and begin to crash into the tunnel, a wave of stone and
earth heading his way. "Not good, not good." He shakes his head. With air
pushes Shi'loh out into on of the other tunnels. He glances towards it,
-Can I make it?- No use staying here, and with that he release the source
and runs like he had an entire trolloc army at his heals. The tunnels
collapse behind his heals, dust engulfing him. He grabs Shi'loh using a
weak air shield to keep the stone from knocking him out to and runs as fast
as he can which isn't really fast. At the last second he jumps out of the
crumbling walls into the other tunnel. (where everyone else is)

Caranthon just lies somewhere on the ground, as the rocks rains down. A few
more of them hits him, and he's gone...

Johiah doesn't have time to fight their way out, so he moves his staff in
front to ward off any front attack, lowers his sholder, and charges full
force into the last line of darkfriends between them and the tunnel's exit.
his staff deflects a few slashes as he barrels into tow darkfriends who
couldn't get out of his way, but one manages to sidestep and slash a large
gash in his side. With Vashta's added weight, he easily plows through, but
has to bounce off a wall to maintain his ballance after the charge impact.
Ouch, that was already his bad shoulder, he cringes to think how much of
that Vashta took. He manages to keep his feet long enough to get out of the
tunnel before tripping and coreening back first into the far wall. With
that the void shatters and he slumps form the pain.

Viceractbacks away down the tunnel where Tetrarch and the others are
walking, watching the light group to make certain no last strike is coming.
Satisfied, he looks at Lisia and then over the area, saying the words, "Mai
Culpae" almost ceremoniously as he turns and departs.

Vashta doesn't grunt as she's already out of it, but it does smash up her
shoulder pretty good.. her whole left side taking a fairly good beating...
She slumps to the ground along with Johiah.

Rhys follows right behind the charging Johiah, having fended off the
remaining darkfriends who moved to attack him from behind. Reaching down he
tries to rouse Johiah. He can't carry four people out, and the few young
trainees left aren't exactly in the best shape...

A loud sound enters the halls. A clear sound. Which of the darkfriends whom
attack now, their life is forfeit. Tetrarch looks around the Light's forces
and kneels next to Johiah. He quickly heals the man. "Tell Wyntere hello
for me." he says and smiles. "And that I would not want to see her Gaidin
unduely harmed." he stands and nods to all of them. "We're leaving." he
says simply and leads his small force out, helping his wounded. He pulls
Zashta close to him, helping her out. Jedan stumbles after Corain and
Neelkan, the feeling of his bond in movement having overriden Kennyth's
sleep weave which wasn't ready to deal with a Gaidin's stamina.

Lisia moans as one of the last trainees left hefts her up and carries her
out, though definatly not being too careful with her wound.

Kennyth scratches his head. Why does Tet have to go and do stuff like that?
It messes with his moral compass. When Tet does stuff like that it screws
with his notions of All Fort People=Bad, Other People=Good. One more blow
to his ability to fight what appears to be his destiny. Maybe it won't be
so bad. Maybe. He shoves his hands deep in his pockets and walks out
looking pretty much like a very confused and dejected young boy, quite
counter to the Big Bad Darkfriend most people envision when they think of
slavering male channelers and Dreadlords and whatnot.

Not accepting any help from Corain, or able to give much himself, Neelkan
just holds down on his wound and heads out beside the other trainee. His
eyes widen at the sight of Denn'ryiel over someone's shoulder and he growls
a few unaudiable curses. And then in a more audiable voice, basically says
that he hopes Tet and the rest of his Milkdrinking pigpeople choak on the
bloody bowl before they can use it. Colorful, ain't he?

Johiah blinks in supprise as he comes to with Tetrarch standindg over him.
He certainly didn't expect that. Well, he'll take all the help he can get.
He stands and Helps Rhys with the other wounded. This has not been a good
day, but at least he survived to tell Wyntere about it.

Vashta gets carted up by some others and whimpers as she wakes up..
"Aaaaaah!" She cries out, not being able to move left leg or arm..

Waves of stone and earth collapse into the poor souls that were left
behind. The tunnels now their grave. Great clouds off dust shoot out from
the tunnels that connect to the one that collapsed. On the ground right
next to the collapsed tunnel, Agaziel coughs and tries to wave away the
dust. "That was fun." He chuckles soflty then glances down at Shi'loh. He
can't heal, but she seems to be alive. "You better be alive." He whispers
to her. And with that, he stands and pulls her onto his shoulder grunting
from the weigth "Dear, you are heavy. You need to loose a couple of
pounds." He says happily, hoping she really is unconcious. He begins to
whistle quite cheerfully out of the catacombs. Hmmm, not where is the exit
to this place I wonder?

Rhys moves now, with Denn still over his shoulder. He wants to leave, and
do it quickly. He may not be a full Gaidin yet, but he understands what
their duty is...and so he will protect her at all costs...

Johiah points in the direction of the exit, "So, shall we leave this
place?" And with that he helps those that he can towards the exit.


Courtyard, The White Tower, Tar Valon

Marble tiles gleam from a straight path which leads from the Gates of the
Tower to the wide double doors which announce its entry point. Soft grass
and well planned patches of flowers can be found to either side, with the
occasional shady tree. Accepted and novices sit on stone benches, some
practicing their Power to the dismay of uneasy petitioners passing through.
To the side there is a stable, near the fenced entrance to the clearly
visible yard where shirtless boys go through sword forms through the day.

Guards take the weapons of those wanting to enter, though the Gaidin spread
about the courtyard, seemingly about their leisure, look ready to pounce on
any men who "forgot" a dagger at the gates. Aes Sedai pass through on
various errands, some nodding to acknowledge bows or curtsies. The
atmosphere is busy, but calm.


Vorsha is sitting on her bench, reading over a a book, looking completly
unworried and rather happy. She's about to get a nasty surprise.

Staff in one hand, Keeper of the cronicles in the other (ok, so she's not
actually in his hand but you get the idea) Corain walks back into the
Tower. Aside from looking tired, and a little dirty he seems unharmed. Keay
on the other hand is unconscious, and her Gaidin is trailing along behind
them in some kind of daze. "Accepted," he calls out across the courtyard,
"we have people in need of Healing here."

Moving in behind Corain, Neelkan has a rather bloody hand and half of his
clothes stuffed in his wound to soak up even more of it on his side.
Another slash seems to have cut off one of his necklaces completely, and
left a good tear in his shirt and another wound, but that one isn't
bleeding near as bad. He looks as if he's going to need to lay down very
soon, but he's keeping himself standing out of sheer will, even if he
doesn't have the stregth to do it much longer. No one is helping him along,
because he shoved them away when they tried.

Vashta is sitting on the ground, being tended to by a Yellow Sister... the
rest of the Infirmary already going around.. She's laying back on the
ground, a shoulder looking very out of place and a leg broken quite a few
places.. she's barely keeping awake.

Vorsha hopes up, seeing Denn'yriel and Neelkan both heavly wounded. Not to
mention the Keeper. She rushes over. "Denn! Neelkan! Keeper." she has to do
this by sight first. Denn's out cold, so she starts there. She doesn't
expect the woman to wake up, but she probes and heals. Next she moves to
Neelkan and does a probe there, looking over the damages.

Corain sets Keay down in the grass and puts his hands on his hips,
surveying the damage so to speak. He shakes his head murmuring something
about how stupid this all is (oh, yeah and duels aren't?) Well.. believe it
or not (sniffle!) the Tower is changing the young man. The Tower and..
other things. Hrm? He goes to one of the wounded's side and takes some
bandages from a novice and starts to help, doing the best he can. He only
knows what he's seen others do though, but at least he can bind some wounds
so they stop bleeding, "Hey Neel, put your finger here while I tie it, k?"
He must not realize the other trainee is wounded as badly as he is, but he
-was- really distracted...

Watching Vorsha work on Denn, Neelkan nods and looks a little relieved. He
was worried about her after all, but it wasn't too apparent next to all the
pain he was in himself. He didn't complain too much though, oddly enough,
except when people tried to help. Speaking of which, he raises his bloody
hand, his other still gripping his fanlike weapon as if expecting an attack
even in the Tower and tries to shoo her off. All this does is manage him to
close the bunched up half of his jacket he was using to soak the blood up.
It falls to the ground, showing off just /how much/ blood he's lost. It
won't kill him, not right away, but it will if he lets it bleed like that.
It's also started to get infected. He glances at Corain and takes that as a
distraction and says, "I have t' help with 'er, Vorsh." And starts to
stumble over, the almost completely soaked through bandage on the ground,
and new blood coming out of the wound on his side. But unfortunately (as
far as he's concerned), he's too weak to stop Vorsh if she grabs him and
stops him.

And the Accepted does just that. "Don't you dare." she growls. "I could
never forgive myself if Denn lost you." he sits him down. "I'll help with
the wounded in just a moment." And Yellows are pouring out of the Tower as
it is. "Sits still while I'll Heal you, or I'll let Denn lose on you as
soon as she's well enough." First to the infection. Her hands turn around
the wound and Fire joins the flows of Healing. It burns, slightly, not
enough to hurt, but a clear liquid starts to run faster out of the wound
than the blood.

Corain glances over his shoulder at the commotion and oopses. "You tell
him, pumpkin." Ooops. Oh well.. "He won't listen to sense unless you rub
his nose in it." Besides, he can tie it on his own. He finishes up there
and comes to watch, and hold the white-streaked trainee down if it ends up
being necesary. Vorsha pretty much seems to have it under control though.

Neelkan lets out a long grump and glares over at Corain and mutters
something about women in general as he sits down and lets Vorsha do what
she's going to do. He doesn't watch what she's doing though, and that's a
good thing, because he may be a 'big strong guy who's seen it all' but
that's just plain icky. He does squirm a little at the burn, but only a
little.

Once the infection is out, Vorsha's hands move a little. It might appear
personal, with one hand firmly on Neelkan's chest, but her eyes show that
she's not in that sort of mood right now. She gurmbles. "I'm going to have
to knit a rib after moving it a little, Neelkan. This won't feel good." she
warns before she starts. She was right, moving ribs /hurt/. However, the
knitting, with Earth used for both of them, only tickles slightly and she
is quick about them both.

Corain winces for Neel and silently vows to himself -never- to get hurt so
bad that he needs Healing. At least no one actually touched him wiht the
Power during the battle. Phew!

Blue-green eyes bludging, Neelkan lets out a long growl through his teeth
and shudders a few times. The growl trails off into oaths, and once the
pain is done and the knitting begins he just tries not to move around very
much. This probably wouldn't be a good time to mention he's ticklish, would
it?"

Vorsha nods once when that's done. "Good. Alright, the next bit is just
cold." she says, as she starts to Heal the wounds together, the skin
growing over and then together slowly all over Neelkan's body. She's good
at this, but the sweat's already appearing on her forehead. After all, she
started using Fire, and she'll end using Fire. She should get a bleeding
angreal for this stuff.

Ian watches the healing quietly from the wall near the gate.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing," Corain murmurs to Vorsha, eyeing
Neelkan skeptically. He looks like he's in a lot more pain than normal,
even if she did warn him about it before hand. Sorry, he just doesn't trust
this whole channeling thing still. Actually he's trying to suppress a good
bit of anger. All this for absolutely nothing! It's ridiculous! It's
insane! And he wasn't even here for the attack on the Fort. He would have
-loved- that. "Who cares about a stupid bowl anyway," he mutters under his
breath.

Well, here comes the feeling he was all too used to. Neelkan gives a gasp
and a few shivers and shudders and just tries to hold himself all in one
piece. But that isn't hard, because his skin is knitting up. Not just the
wound at his side, but also the one across his chest that made him lose one
of his necklaces. That Dark milkdrinker owes him a necklace, darnit. Grrr.
And then he turns towards Corain and snaps at him loudly, "Because 'at
bloody flamin' bowl was in m' bloody d--" he cuts his voice off and looks
way with a grump and corrects, "I mean it's just flamin' important,
a'right!? I think we should break int' 'at boody fort 'n steal it back!"
That's exactly what a guy who used to be a bandit would say, isn't it?
"Can't be 'at hard. M' 'm Denn've been in 'ere 'fore." Of course... They
didn't technically escape... But still...

Vorsha nods to Corain. "The only Healer better than me is Kirra Sedai." she
says through gritted teeth. Her hands move to Neelkan's arm. "This will
help with the tiredness and hunger after the Healing. I'm going to restore
your blood volume, Neelkan. tell me if you get dizzy." she says as she adds
Fire and Water in equal amounts to slide into his arm. That still wierds
her out... and she starts to increase his blood slupy.

Corain's eyes widen at Neelkan. In his bloody what? No one tells him
anything! He's just a lowly Trainee. "Yeah, that's a great idea. Why don't
we attack Shayol Ghul while we're at it! See if we can't kill off a few
more people while we're at it for nothing!" Either he doesn't get the whole
'this is a war' concept, or... it's something else.

Neelkan glares over at Corain and shakes his head. Even if it seems that he
wants to know, he isn't gonna tell him. Only three people that he knows of
knows he has dreams that predict things, and he's reluctent to talk to any
of them about it as is. He nods to Vorsha, and blinks a little as he starts
to feel a little dizzy. He's glad he's sitting down. Is he going to say
he's dizzy? No... Admit weakness? Neel? Never... ...Alright. "I'm startin'
t' get a lil' dizzy..."

Vorsha nods and slowly relaxes the weave. "It's okay, Neel." she says
softly. "I simply put to much power into the weave. You'll stop being dizzy
in a few moments. Get a good meal in you and get some sleep. I'll be
sure..." she releases the source at that moment, and wishes she hadn't as
dizziness takes her over and she falls back, towards Corain in a faint.

What kind of Trainee would he be if he wasn't ready at any instant to catch
a channeler faiting from overexerting herself? So catch Vorsha he does,
even though he feels a little silly doing it. He's hardly a knight in
shining armor after all. He smirks a little at Neel. "Just don't make me
carry you too. I've had it up to here with carrying people." His hands are
kidn of full so he can't say up to where, but he's just teasing anyway. He
winks the eye nestled in the cheek with the scar in it.