The Hand of Justice [Attn: Liaran]

The World outside the Grey Tower is a vast place.
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Bella
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PC: Miahala Darrow Sedai
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QC: Andraste Alhandra Sedai
Location: New England

Re: The Hand of Justice [Attn: Liaran]

Post by Bella » December 3rd, 2021, 11:49 pm

Haeden watched his Aes Sedai as she spoke, nodding along with her words. "I did not see any either, nor even anyone going up to the upper levels. Not even servants." He frowned slightly, his hand on his chin as his mind rolled over what he remembered and now mixing it with what had just been reported. "It makes me wonder if there's something up there he doesn't want others to see."

That was something that could work both for them and against them.

"Perhaps a bit of fog around the upper level and the archer slits could help us without ringing too many alarms," Miahala suggested, glancing at Liaran. "If memory serves, you know a bit of Cloud Dancing?"

Alianora
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Re: The Hand of Justice [Attn: Liaran]

Post by Alianora » December 13th, 2021, 2:27 am

Liaran Sedai
Liaran looked at her Warder, surprised by his suggestion. It did make sense, but the idea was concerning. She put it from her mind for the moment, to be revisited when they were ready to attack, and nodded at Miahala's question to her. "I can create some fog around that part of the manor," she agreed, and embraced through the angreal to carry out the task.

Using multiple strands of Water and Air, as thin as she could handle, Liaran wove what appeared to be a translucent, almost insubstantial sort of cloud. She directed this towards the nearby building, wrapping it around the sides and the windows, including the archer slits. She added a few similar, much smaller weaves in a few spots to make the fog she'd created seem natural. The result was a patchy white haze surrounding the upper floors of the manor, almost transparent in places, yet completely obscuring the view of the building in others.

After letting go of saidar, Liaran explained, "That will hold until the early morning hours. I can do it again if we need it, but if the fog remains much past sunrise, it will be much more likely to raise suspicion."

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Bella
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Re: The Hand of Justice [Attn: Liaran]

Post by Bella » December 28th, 2021, 12:25 am

"Nicely done," Miahala said with an appreciative nod to her future daughter-in-law.

The Green inhaled slowly and thought deeply. "We'll approach from behind," she finally declared, "and our main group will go in through the stables. Incapacitate the stable-hands, but leave them hale. They are likely naught but children and do not deserve the ire that Lord--" And this was said with all sarcastic contempt as the woman allowed. "--Hiron has earned for himself."

"The channelers will comprise the force moving around the back and in through the servants entrance. Use caution with the servants. Harm no one unless necessary of the staff but be wary, because they may well be more deeply in league than those outside. Watch for the guards, and we'll split our forces between two points of entry."

'There are three servants' entrances that I could see,' Lysira supplied.

Mia nodded in acknowledgement. "We'll enter through the first two that we find. I don't want to split us up more than that coming in from the back. Myself and Ravak with Haeden and Liaran, then Jerid and Lysira and Liana through the second."

The small Gaidin lifted her onyx eyes to the sky and then back toward the house. 'I think I hear dinner bells,'' she signed with an idle expression.

"Then we join the party," Mia said darkly. "Advance with all stealth. Use the Power sparingly, just in case there is a channeler among the guests... You never can know these days. Take Hiron alive for questioning if possible, but don't try too hard. Anyone else is considered a combatant. Incapacitate as much as possible but we do what needs doing." Her blue-green eyes moved between the group. "Any questions?"

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Re: The Hand of Justice [Attn: Liaran]

Post by Alianora » January 9th, 2022, 11:17 pm

Liaran Sedai
A short time later, the two groups split up and advanced towards their separate entrances. The manor's stables were large, but rather dark, and smelled like the horses that lived there. Liaran ignored that and instead focused on the several stablehands, all of whom had scattered as soon as the four of them entered. She hurried after one who had chosen to run, watching as he ducked into one of the stalls farthest from the door the group had used. Following him, she swung open the door and removed a coil of rope from where it hung on a peg in the wall. The brown-haired young man cowering in the corner was barely more than a child, which made Liaran feel just a little guilty about what she was planning to do. She did not, however, feel bad enough to even consider not doing it.

Using the tiniest amount of saidar she could manage, Liaran cut off some shorter pieces from the rope, then hung it back on the wall and forced herself to let the Power go before moving towards the scared young man. He offered no resistance as she took hold of one of his hands and tied them together in front of them. She took care not to tie them too tightly, not wanting to scare the poor man any more than was strictly necessary for what had to be done. She tied his ankles together next, then left him in the corner of the stall to see if any other stablehands needed to be dealt with.

It seemed to be over quickly, then the four of them left the stables behind to proceed through the door to the manor. Entering without holding saidar, the only weapon she had, made the Aes Sedai uneasy, but she stubbornly resisted the temptation to reach for it. Instead, she kept to her place behind the Gaidin and looked around the hall they'd just entered. Much more plain than the parts of the manor she had seen before with Haeden, it was clearly where the manor's many servants went about much of their work, and was occupied by more than a few of them. Most didn't bother looking up when the stable door opened, but a couple of maids, near enough to see that they were definitely not fellow servants, squealed and fled towards the stairs at the far end of the hall.

Their frightened cries drew the attention of many of the other servants. The majority of them followed the lead of the two maids and ran to the stairs for escape. Liaran watched them go, suspecting that they were about to raise an alarm. It was something she couldn't take time to think on, as the servants who had not fled were approaching in a small group, and they were not empty handed. They had nothing like actual weapons, but carried items ranging from shovels to heavy candlesticks, and even what Liaran assumed to be pots and pans from the kitchen.

They were no threat to the armed Gaidin, but there were enough of them that one still managed to grab Liaran by the arm. Reaching out, she tried to push him away from her and yank her arm free. She struggled, both with her attacker, stronger than she was, and with her own desire to draw on the One Power to defend herself. She was finally forced to do just that, using strands of Air to move his hand from her arm, but as he was pulled away, the man turned and brought the large candlestick he held down hard against her upper arm. The Aes Sedai hissed at the sudden flare of pain and the vibration that traveled up to her shoulder, but she didn't allow herself to cry out. She pulled the arm in closer to her body, let saidar go, and looked warily around her.

Some of the servants were on the floor, others who were still able to run were running from the group. Liaran couldn't see any other immediate threat, but there appeared to be some figures moving down the stairs instead of up. Dark eyes narrowed as she watched the staircase, guessing that anyone coming towards them might be much more of a danger than the servants had been.

The small group of men and women that stepped off the stairs appeared to Liaran to be wearing the uniforms of guards. It was a reasonable assumption, one that lasted mere seconds until one of the men stalked closer to them, raised his hand, and hurled a fireball down the length of the hall. Liaran ducked, blinking in surprise even as she reached for saidar herself. Everything in her wanted to respond to the fire with more Fire, which had always been her strength, but she decided it would be better not to show that strength this soon. Instead, she wove threads of Air together as quickly as she could while the man paused. She could only assume he was weaving something else, and needed to be ready to act before he could finish. A part of her mind insisted on questioning whether the man was really a guard of the manor, or something else, and what that all meant, but she made herself stop that line of thought as fire sparked to life once more in the man's outstretched hand.

As he moved to throw the fireball, Liaran struck, wrapping her weaves of Air around his leg and pulling hard. The fireball flew far above the others' heads, striking just below the ceiling. Taking a deep breath, Liaran braced for more, and this time, did not let the One Power go. Subtle use of it might have been wise earlier, but it seemed to her that the time for subtlety with the Power had come to a rather abrupt end.

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Bella
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Location: New England

Re: The Hand of Justice [Attn: Liaran]

Post by Bella » January 31st, 2022, 12:46 am

Miahala ni Sha'hal t'Darrow Miahala could be distant, impassive, and even politic when she needed to be...but there was something that almost always prevented her better, more subtle graces from taking precedence. There was something that could set off every edge-of-madness aspect to her personality, which was usually something that left a trail of bodies.

That one thing was cause harm, or just attempt to cause harm, to her child.

She stopped herself from simply burning the manor to the ground, of course, as there were undoubtedly innocents still inside and the maternal fires would not let her go that far. There could even be children. Once the attackers came, however, she did not mind unleashing herself to stop them.

Liaran was clearly doing the same.

Heron-marked blades flashed to either side of her. Anyone who got close to the Blue did not stay close for long before meeting the long blade of Haeden Ives. Anyone who got close to the Green did not stay close for long before meeting the dual short blades of Ravak Darrow. What was not caught by steel was instead caught with fire.

Black Ajah, Mia thought with disgust as the channeler began. Liaran caught him first, pulling his leg from under him, and Mia caught him last. She thrust a column of Air at him, but it crashed against his own apparent Air shield--though she couldn't, of course, see it. Even as she did this, though, she was using Air to move items behind him. A frying pan caught him to the temple, sending him reeling to the side.

As his head jerked one way, Mia caught the sight of a tattoo on his neck. It was familiar and called up dark thoughts, but she didn't have the time to think much about it. It was for later... While he was disoriented, she threated his blood with Water and Fire. She burned him alive from the inside and then left his corpse smoking.

As the last of their attackers fell, Mia felt something that snapped her head up. She couldn't see through the floor, but she knew what she felt above them... "They have a female channeler too," she said grimly.

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Re: The Hand of Justice [Attn: Liaran]

Post by Alianora » February 13th, 2022, 10:35 pm

Liaran Sedai
Once the fight had ended with all their attackers lying dead around them, Liaran noticed the presence of a woman who could channel on the floor above. She tilted her head back, looking up at the ceiling for a few seconds until Miahala spoke. With no need for the other woman's warning of what was waiting for them, Liaran moved swiftly towards the stairs. As she climbed, the Blue sister wove threads of Air, Fire and a little bit of Water. A tiny lightning bolt flickered into life, and she held the weave, concealing the lightning between her two hands.

At the top of the stairs, the expected channeler was not the only person present. Around the black haired woman, already glowing with saidar, were arrayed even more people than they'd fought against below. The combination of this larger group with the smaller made Liaran question just how many guards the manor had. This seemed more than excessive, but she was hardly an expert and this was not the time to ask Haeden what he thought. Putting the question out of her mind, Liaran hung back on the staircase and sent her lightning flying through the air.

She directed it at the female channeler, who appeared to be eyeing Miahala warily. If she'd assumed the Green sister to be the greater threat, she was not precisely wrong, but she had underestimated the capability of the younger, weaker, Blue. Liaran's lightning found its target at the woman's feet. The resulting shock prevented her from taking any further action against either Aes Sedai while Liaran wove a large ball of fire and threw it, aiming for the channeler's head. She missed, catching the woman's left shoulder instead, but the result was as she'd intended: the woman burst into flame.

She turned away from the sight and began to weave again, much tinier balls of fire that she could direct around the efforts of the Warders and Miahala on fine threads of Air. As she worked on this, giving the others as much support as she could, Liaran thought she heard a female voice crying out for help from somewhere down the hall. In the commotion of the fighting, she knew she might be mistaken, but she let the thought linger in the back of her mind, to be addressed once they were out of danger.

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Bella
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Location: New England

Re: The Hand of Justice [Attn: Liaran]

Post by Bella » March 10th, 2022, 9:19 pm

While Liaran set the Black bitch ablaze, Miahala trusted the Blue to take care of the task and use her considerable power to clear the rest of the way. There were, indeed, an awful lot of guards for what was not a manor at war...or not supposed to be a manor at war. She couldn't imagine Hiron knew they were coming. Perhaps something else had been afoot.

It was, however, a thought for another time. A time when cords of Air weren't wrapping around soldiers, yanking them around and thrusting them onto the waiting blades of the two Gaidin. A time when Water and Fire wasn't threading through bloodstreams. When razor wire of Air wasn't cutting the enemy into pieces.

...this was why Mia never got invited anywhere anymore.

The Black Ajah burned on the floor below and the floor before them. Guards now lay in pieces and piles. There was quiet, if but for a moment, which was when Mia heard what Liaran heard.

"Where is that coming from?" she asked, her face seemingly stone but the rush of battle making her blood roar in her ears while her blue-green eyes took in the condition of the corridor and the many, many doors. "Someone is calling for help. A trap?" She always had her theories and suspicions but she could, for the moment, restrain herself from rushing ahead without at least speaking to the others.

For now, at least.

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Re: The Hand of Justice [Attn: Liaran]

Post by Alianora » March 28th, 2022, 8:56 pm

Liaran Sedai
When their attackers had been reduced to smoking corpses, Liaran looked down the hallway the cries seemed to be coming from. Nothing she could see suggested any further danger, and her first instincts were the same as Miahala's. She turned towards the Green sister and admitted, "It could be." Given what they'd experienced in the manor so far, it seemed obvious that the pleas for help could easily be meant to lure their group in that direction, but something still felt off to Liaran. She turned away from Miahala to focus on the empty hall again and closed her eyes to concentrate on what she was hearing. Instead of increasing in volume, the voice Liaran heard begging for help still seemed quiet, almost timid, with a note of desperation the Blue sister thought would be difficult to fake. She opened her eyes again, blinking as she thought back to the first time she and Haeden had been here.

She recalled that Hiron's wife had been similarly quiet, almost reluctant to have their attention on her for even such a short time as an introduction. At the time, Liaran had written the woman's behavior off as normal from someone who had so recently had a child, but something about their current circumstances and the fear in the cries she'd heard was making Liaran rethink that conclusion. She tried to remember the interaction she'd had with the woman, which was mostly unhelpful since it had lasted for such a short time. What was her name, Allista? She looked at Haeden with a questioning glance before the name came to mind. Allistira. She couldn't have said whether the voice still calling for help belonged to Hiron's wife or not, but the possibility meant that Liaran couldn't bring herself to dismiss what they were hearing as no more than a trap.

Turning away from the hallway, Liaran faced the rest of the group. "When Haeden and I were here last, Hiron introduced us to his wife, Allistira. We were told she'd just had a child, so it didn't seem unusual that she was very quiet and unwilling to talk to us for long." She looked towards Haeden again, hoping he'd contribute anything he felt important since he was the only other person here who'd met the woman. "I don't know if that's her voice or not, but it seems possible enough that I think we might want to look into it before we go after Hiron. I don't know what, if anything, she knew about her husband's attack on Haeden, but if she knew nothing of it..she may actually need help to escape this place."

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Bella
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Location: New England

Re: The Hand of Justice [Attn: Liaran]

Post by Bella » April 1st, 2022, 12:25 am

"She seemed meek," Haeden supplied, his voice low and his words quick. Who knew how much time they had for discussion in the middle of the ruined hallway? "She didn't seem particularly close to her husband. I don't recall seeing the child, to be honest, but I would not guess an affectation on her timidity. There was no benefit to it."

Mia listened to them both, glancing back at Ravak. They exchanged a nod. "We should find out more, but be watchful just in case it's a trap..."

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Re: The Hand of Justice [Attn: Liaran]

Post by Alianora » April 10th, 2022, 7:59 pm

Liaran Sedai
Liaran allowed the Warders to lead the way as the group followed the sounds to their source. They stopped in front of a door that looked like any other in a long hallway, and the Aes Sedai waited there as the Warders entered the room. The wordless, fearful shrieks from inside confirmed for Liaran that they were in the right place, and she wasted no time going in once the two men declared that it was safe for the Aes Sedai. She had thought it strange that the door hadn't been locked, but once she was inside, Liaran could see why. At the far end of the room, a dark haired woman sat in an armchair with her wrists tied together before her, nervously studying the Warders by the door. There was other furniture in the large room: a small table, a wooden chair, a pitcher and basin, and even a narrow bed. All of it was perfectly adequate, yet nothing like the ridiculous ornateness Liaran recalled seeing in other rooms in the manor. Something was odd about that, but she made herself ignore it for the moment as she crossed the room to reach the seated woman.

Once she was closer, it wasn't difficult to identify the woman before her as Allistira. Hiron's wife looked much the same as she had at their previous brief meeting: exhausted, pale, and withdrawn, looking down at the stone floor beneath her feet as Liaran approached her. "Allistira," she said softly. There was no response, but Liaran hadn't really expected one. She stood in front of the woman and picked up the bound wrists, unraveling the knots to loosen the bindings. Fury flared up within her again as she saw the reddened skin beneath. What is going on in this place? The Aes Sedai shook her head as she laid the woman's hands carefully back in her lap. They were still tied, just in case this was an elaborate trap, but Liaran hoped she'd at least made the woman more comfortable. This close, she could see that Allistira's ankles were also tied, and she repeated the same process with those ties. As she did this, Allistira spoke in a voice Liaran could barely hear.

"I remember you......Haeden's wife." Liaran looked at her with the calm expression of an Aes Sedai, using that to force back the completely inappropriate smile that threatened to appear at those last two words. "Not yet," she responded. "What happened, Allistira? Who left you tied up here?" And why? the unasked question echoed in her mind, one Liaran wasn't sure Allistira could answer even if she did ask. Moments passed in silence, and Liaran waited patiently until the other woman lifted her head and met Liaran's eyes, allowing the Aes Sedai to see her face for the first time since she'd entered the room.

Her eyes, a lighter shade of brown than Liaran's own, were red and swollen as if she'd been crying, and the right one was surrounded with purple bruising. Liaran had a bad feeling that she already knew who was responsible for that, and added it to the growing list of Hiron's crimes. That list was getting long, and still she wasn't entirely prepared for the answer Allistira gave her.

"Hiron....this is where he keeps me."

"Hiron?" Liaran repeated flatly, keeping the surprise she felt out of her voice. "Your own husband confined you here?" She didn't doubt the man was capable of it, but needed to be sure she understood Allistira correctly.

Allistira's response was immediate, the words spilling from her lips as if she couldn't contain them any longer. "He's not my husband!" she cried out. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she turned her head away from Liaran as if she didn't want to be seen.

Liaran was honestly stunned, and stood still and silent before the other woman. She reached out and took hold of Allistira's hands as the woman began to cry harder and started to talk again, telling them how she'd been kidnapped while out for a ride, taken from her husband and sons, and forced at knifepoint to play the part of Hiron's lady wife. When she finished her story, Liaran was sure of two things: that this was no trap, and that they needed to free Allistira and get her back to her own family. She had no idea how to accomplish this, and looked to the other three for their input as she let go of Allistira's hands. How can we possibly keep her safe while we confront Hiron?
Last edited by Alianora on July 12th, 2022, 8:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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