Hypertension

The World outside the Grey Tower is a vast place.
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Matty
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Hypertension

Post by Matty » November 28th, 2022, 7:42 pm

Nate Carridus In the overheated disasterzone that is the Waste, there was no water. No real wind to speak of, not on a normal day. The air was heavy, still, and stagnant like air trapped in a corpse.

But this was not a normal day, and the Grey Tower may have been partially responsible.

Standing alone atop one of the large rocks jutting from the sand like broken teeth, Nate had one big boot planted in front of the other, front knee slightly bent. He shielded his eyes with a thick hand and looked out at the horizon, a golden blanket of nothingness swimming a little from the heat reflecting on the sand. His other hand gripped at the handle of the hammer he wore on the thick belt around his waist - sometimes things needed a good smack rather than a lashing with the Power and there was something comforting about the heavy metal tugging at his side. He'd given up wearing the hammer on his back, as his hair was long enough now to tangle with it and it just wasn't worth it any more.

Their target was not to be found here either, it seemed. Nate tsked and hopped down from the rock to look at the group that had gathered with him. Most of the people there were Greens, but when Nate had reappeared at the Grey Tower to report a crime circuit in the depths of the Cairhienin merchant's district, the opportunity to snag one of their better Winddancers had proven too good an opportunity to pass up. Nate liked to work with the Greens, they had a job and they got it done with minimal politicking, so he was easily persuaded to come along on this mission fronted by one of the most badass Greens he knew - former Amyrlin Miahala, of course.

They all had a job to do. The objective: find the strange pocket of weather in the Waste- uhhh, Three-Fold Land. Deal with it. Fellow Mayener and all-around awesome Green Alric was providing the Gateways as they navigated the Waste, and Nate was trying to feel out the strange weather phenomenon as best he could. Alric Gated them along, he looked around dramatically and extended his senses, then they moved on to somewhere else. Presumably he would have to channel to deal with the strange weather when they arrived, but that was Future Nate's problem.

"It still feels dry as a bone," Nate confirmed, his deep voice bemused. They'd been travelling and Travelling both for some time now, but the Waste was large. "Did we go too far East?"

There were some NPCs in the mix who aren't important, including some Aiel and a squat Green whose primary function was to read the map. "We should be close," she said primly, pushing her spectacles up her nose. Just as Nate might well have been fine as a Green, Lissa would have made a good Brown. "The bubble may be moving."

"The sands here lie still, Lissa Sedai," one of the crouching Aiel said softly. "If it moves, it does so in a way we do not understand."

Nate raked his hair back from his face. He could ignore the heat like any Asha'man or Aes Sedai but that didn't mean he hadn't rolled the sleeves of his blue shirt up, or that it was more unbuttoned than it was buttoned. Not to worry though, if it grew cold at their destination then he had a coat and cloak prepared at the insistence of their more organised leader. "Let's keep going!" he declared. Though he did have the grace to blanch a little and grin broadly at Miahala. "If that works for you of course," he added with a slight bob of his head. Nate was loud, brash and a bit bossy, but he was also trying to be a team player and he respected age and experience where it was due vs his youthful enthusiasm. He moved to the side, standing alongside some of the Aiel and planting his hands on his hips. While he stood of a height with the Aiel, that was where the similarities ended, but he had always thought of them as pretty fun to be around. The Aiel in turn tolerated the enthusiastic Wetlander as one might a new puppy with too many teeth.

There was a sudden gust of wind. The sand whipped up in a frenzy around them. The Aiel donned their veils, Lissa put up her thin hood to protect her hair, and Nate's hair whipped around his face dramatically and appropriately. His cloak would have done the same, if he was wearing one. More importantly though, his nose itched, and he got the sense all of a sudden that they were long overdue for a great big motherburning storm. "South-East!" he shouted, pointing in exactly the right direction.
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Re: Hypertension

Post by Locke » November 28th, 2022, 11:29 pm

Alric Aurella
Even Alric had to admit that his friend cut quite the dashing figure, with his sleeves rolled up and long hair in the wind. Scruffs’ roguish figure stood in stark contrast to Alric, who dressed in a spotless black Asha’man’s coat and a pair of shined but well worn boots in defiance of the heat. Even after all these years, he still cut the figure of a career military man. Some things never changed though. He waved to a squad of newly raised Greens he’d recently taken under his wing. “On your feet, looks like we’re moving again,” he said. He was met by a chorus of yessirs even though that wasn’t quite necessary from one Full rank to another. They all wore sharp black coats, though the Aes Sedai’s coats were deliberately shorter than a traditional Asha’man’s. Just another oddity about his little group.

Striding over to Scruffs’ side, Alric squinted against the blast of wind and grit as his coat flared around his hips. “Give me a range, I can get us closer, but I don’t want to drop us right on it… whatever it is,” he said, eyes peeled for traces of the One Power.

Terric
Spending time around other Aiel always left Terric with an odd mix of emotions. He loved to be back with his people, but he could feel their eyes on him. Gone for so long, living among Wetlanders, training them, loving a few of them over the years. He tried to put the doubts aside while he crouched among their Duadhe Mahdi'in guides, eyes peeled for danger. Water Seekers and a lone Aethan Dor to help find a strange One Power based weather anomaly. It seemed fitting.

He squatted watching Nathaniel Carridus, a Blue, in conference with the leader of the Duadhe Mahdi'in and some of his fellow Channelers. A stray thought crossed his mind comparing the burly Asha’man to the exuberant Dog Gaidin. He glanced over to where Natlya Cade stood watch, reminding himself to mention it to her later.

A sudden wind brought him back to the moment and he, like his fellows, veiled himself by reflex. Even as he lowered his hand from the veil, he could not help but think that he was veiling against more than just the wind.
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Re: Hypertension

Post by Bella » December 2nd, 2022, 8:35 pm

Miahala ni Sha'hal t'Darrow "If that works for you of course."

"By all means," the Green had replied with amusement in her eyes, if not clearly anywhere else.

Miahala was not a woman lacking in pride by any conceivable measure of any mind that had ever existed, but she usually was pragmatic enough to balance out that pride. While she certainly had seniority in the group, she also knew that her channeling ability when it came to weather matters was not her strong point.

She could create some of it, whatever was especially destructive, but she couldn't read much. Her ability there was more akin to the weather rock style of meteorology.

Am I wet? It's raining.
Am I covered in snow? It's snowing.
Have I blown away? Tornado.

And so forth.

They could easily estimate that there would be trouble once they found the source of this matter, since really, there was always trouble. It found you or you found it. It lived down low and up high. Trouble was just everywhere, and this group of Grey Tower citizens had an air about them that suggested they were especially good at finding the ubiquitous concept.

When the cry of "southeast" was given, her eyes turned in that direction. Alric was already on top of asking appropriate questions so he could Gateway them there, but in the meantime, she looked for any sign of...anything, really, that would be relevant.

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Re: Hypertension

Post by Matty » January 9th, 2023, 1:03 pm

It didn't take Nate all that long to gauge where to go. Even as the dramatic wind died down as suddenly as it had appeared, Nate felt the weather doing its thing now, in a way he hadn't just a moment before.

It was a bit weird really. Growing up he had never had any inclinations or indications that might point him towards his current skills with the weather. He had as much clue as anyone about whether it was going to rain or not. But now? If there was going to be rain, Nate knew pretty accurately when to expect it. Out here where the weather was so consistently hot and arid, any small shift was noticeable to him, so it was not a difficult task to detect the anomaly now.

"Three leagues, South-East," he told Alric. "We should be on the edge of it there."

Scruffs was gracious enough to make the Gateway and as was normal, the Aiel trotted on through first. Nate wasn't sure why they went first but hey, that was up to them. He stomped on through after them to get a look at their new surroundings.

More sand. More hot sky. It looked very much like the previous spot they had just travelled from, with some rocks strewn to the south but nothing noteworthy whatsoever. The sun was relentless and disappointing. Despite how it looked, Nate could feel the storm, he just couldn't... see it. "It's here," he told the others, sounding not at all defensive. Lissa arched a single eyebrow over her glasses and Nate stomped down the urge to rip her stupid map in half. "It is! I can feel it. We should be in the middle of a-"

As soon as the Gateway closed, it rained.

There were no clouds for the rain to come from. The sun was still burning brightly and rainbows coloured the skyline over them. It wasn't even a particularly heavy rain, though it was persistent and cold. Nate let out a laugh at the absurdity of it all. "It's here!" He said, but that was quite obvious so never mind. It wasn't normal, no, but they had found it and now the Blue could see what they had to do. He turned to look at everyone, raising his voice above the rain hitting the sand around them. "Think of this weather as a big animal. It's a... uhhh... chicken." He had chicken for lunch. "It's loads of chickens, and in one place they're a pain. I need to break it up. But when I do some of the chickens will break out so you might need to do something about them."

Nate tied his hair back as it was now wet enough to be irritating, and went to stand on a large, flat rock. There he reached out with Saidin, pulling as much of the Power as he could safely handle. By all accounts he was pretty strong in the Power, not enough to make people weep tears of joy but enough to feel a bit smug. He used this to reach out with threads of Air and Water, moving his hands in broad, circular motions with his eyes closed. It was about how it felt, not how it looked, and he concentrated on breaking up the metaphorical chickens overhead. Pulling them apart so they could dissipate into the atmosphere starting with the outside of the anomaly.

True to Nate's word, the strange effect did not appreciate being targetted. From the sky fell large clumps of water that writhed and shaped into faceless beasts, mixing with sand to create earth creatures more suited to the Blight than the Waste. They advanced upon the group, though it was clear that they were particularly interested in the one responsible for disturbing them. Nate didn't notice, he was rather busy and not in a position to split any more weaves than he already was.
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Re: Hypertension

Post by Ashfalcon » January 13th, 2023, 1:22 am

Darthalien watched in fascination, as he had throughout this entire expedition. His mentor, Cavros Asha'man, was still encouraging him to acquaint himself with various Ajahs, so when he'd learned that the Greens were planning an expedition to the Threefold Land, he'd all but begged to come along. For a chance to see more of this world -- especially now that he could speak with the people in it -- he would have been willing to grovel convincingly. For a chance to travel with Asha'man and Warders, he'd have willingly... he wasn't sure what, actually. But he known from the start that he didn't want to miss this.

Then, of course, they'd arrived in the Waste, and he discovered that no, he'd been wrong: he really did want to miss this. The heat was unrelenting, the sun was murderous, and with his pale skin he was forced to keep himself entirely covered no matter how hot he grew. Fortunately, the Gaidin Terric had given him a lecture on what to expect, and he'd managed to acquire a broad-rimmed hat that kept the worst of the sun off his head and neck, and thin leather gloves that kept the sun off his hands. On top of that, their Aiel guides still seemed to think that he might be some sort of strange shadowspawn; they'd somehow arranged it so that no matter what they were doing, one of them was always watching him.

But then the search had begun in earnest, and he'd changed his mind again. The Asha'man were not shy about using the One Power, and Dar had seen a dozen new weaves already. Even if some of them, like the mix of Air and Water that stretched from Nate Asha'man into the sky, were doubtless beyond his abilities and might always be, they were still fascinating to watch. And whatever he was doing, it was definitely having an effect; what had been an impossible rain was now coming down in much larger clumps of water, which would be uncomfortable if they struck someone--

Those clumps of water weren't splashing when they landed. They were holding together, mixing with the sand, and transforming into horrible shapes. I've seen some bad storms, but never one that rained monsters. Well, they'd warned him the expedition might be dangerous.

The woman beside him was marking something on a map, looking back and forth between it and the sky, apparently oblivious to the thing that was building itself out of water and sand not a half-step behind her. "Pardon the interruption, Aes Sedai," Darthalien said calmly, then gestured at the thing that was rising up behind her. "But I think it may be time to fold up the map and put it away."
Last edited by Ashfalcon on January 23rd, 2023, 5:57 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Hypertension

Post by Bella » January 18th, 2023, 7:38 pm

This was...actually new.

There were very few things in all the land, in all of existence, that Mia hadn't seen or experienced in her more than two hundred years of life. After all, she was an Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah. She had traveled to all corners of the nations, encountered many people, and fought many monstrosities. She had even blown up one of her in-laws once. Really, she had seen and done a lot. It was quite a surprise when she encountered something, then, that she had yet to encounter.

Today got to be a novelty.

Saidar crashed through her with the strength of a tsunami, pulling in what she could hold comfortably. Even without pushing herself to the limit, it was a considerable amount of power. She quickly assessed the situation, her thoughts racing to determine the best way to attack such a creature. Earth and water. Unusual for a woman, she was strong in Earth. Her hands shot out, weaves leaping to life around creatures angled to the left and right of her immediate field of vision.

The one on the left saw a skewer of Earth rise up from the previously-dry land. The earthen weave molded with the sand within the beast, tying the two together and lifting it high off the ground.

The one on the right, she wrapped with cords of Air. She yanked her right hand back, those cords going razor thin as she did so and ripped them through the beast. It fell apart into clumps of mud, hitting the ground with a splosh just before the beast on the earthen pyre was exploded by her second weave.

"Just another day of work for a Green, eh?" asked a male voice beside her.

Mia smirked slightly and cast a brief sidelong glance.

Anaris Kane Asha'man was one of the few members of the Grey Tower who was older than Mia, although it was by very little. A fellow Green, he had spent many decades traveling as part of his duty to their Ajah but had returned to the Tower's halls more often in recent years. There was an imposing intensity to his steely blue gaze, but he and Mia had pretty much always gotten on well. His silver-streaked black hair and long green coat now ruffled slightly in the winds as a beast that had been beside Mia's Earth experiment also popped apart.

"All in a Green's duty," she agreed with a slightly-maniacal laugh as the two Greens worked back to back doing what Greens did best.

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Re: Hypertension

Post by Ashfalcon » January 19th, 2023, 1:17 am

She wasn't going to be fast enough.

The Aes Sedai had the map half-rolled, and hadn't so much as stepped away from the thing behind her; Darthalien doubted that she knew it was there. It was still adjusting its shape, but it was already starting to move. They were out of time.

So he channeled. Technically, this was breaking the rules -- since he hadn't been given permission -- but he doubted anyone would trouble him about it. And if they do, well, I can survive a few extra chores. This, on the other hand... He knew he wasn't the strongest channeler, and more to the point what he knew of battle weaves was a bare spoonful compared against a river.

But he was strong in Fire.

And in his youth, he had nurtured a great, strong love for well-turned pottery.

The Aes Sedai took three quick steps away from the sudden burst of heat at her back, still rolling up the map with quick, determined gestures. "If you damage my map..." she began.

Darthalien's attention was firmly on his weave. "Your pardon, Lissa Sedai," he said absently. "We appear to be in a battle."

In front of him, the mud-beast was acquiring a dull red glow as steam boiled off of it. It was still moving, but it was slowing, stiffening. A moment more... and he had a grotesque but harmless statue. He touched it with a weave of Earth and Spirit, but as far as he could tell it was just stone now.

"Behind you," said Lissa Sedai, lifting a hand as she tucked the rolled-up map back into its case.

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Re: Hypertension

Post by Bella » February 3rd, 2023, 11:19 pm

A mud creature had been rising behind the Dedicated, preparing to stop his future in statue-making.

Before it could reaching him, however, lines of Air that Darthalien would not be able to see shot across the space between them and collided with the monster. It was driven sideways to a harmless distance before it became so many pieces of mud, scattered by a small explosion that sent it. Well. Everywhere.

"They're massing," Miahala shouted. Her voice was amplified by the One Power. "Form a defensive circle around Nathaniel Asha'man!"

Indeed, while many creatures were still trying to get at everyone, there was a group forming that was racing toward the channeler who was pretty preoccupied with other tasks.

"All others to the defense line," Anaris Kane, elder Asha'man, shouted on the heels of the captain-general's words. "Miahala and I will cover you till you're there."

Saidin and Saidar raced in an impressive number of intense weaves at the various creatures around them, handled deftly by the Greens who were each, respectively, over two hundred years old. They were both powerful channelers in their own right, and enough to keep some monsters busy while the Grey Tower group got themselves into order.

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Re: Hypertension

Post by Ashfalcon » February 8th, 2023, 1:08 pm

"Also," called Lissa Sedai as they raced to join the circle, "you don't fold a map! This is good parchment! You don't want to put creases in it!" She lifted her arm and waved it vaguely behind her, and three of the creatures chasing them suddenly crashed into a wall they couldn't see. "It weakens the parchment! Roll up your maps, Dedicated."

Darthalien paused long enough to channel Fire again, this time trying to focus it into a small ball in the centermost of the three things behind them. The monster shuddered, and there was a sudden crack that he could hear even above the sounds of battle, but then his heel caught on something and he realized that he was walking backwards when he needed to be running. All right, I'll finish you once we're assembled...

Then a narrow river of stone with lots of little legs on either side and a face like a giant clamshell slid around them, half-racing and half-slithering and far faster than it had any right to be. Its body partly encircled them, blocking them off from the others, and then its head rose up like a snake about to strike...

And at that moment, Lissa Sedai tripped over a small, stony outcrop in the sand and fell flat, catching herself on her hands. It was just exactly the kind of stupid accident that got experienced warriors killed in battle.

Darthalien threw himself in front of her, pouring the One Power into the long-spear that -- until now -- he'd mostly been using as a walking stick. He traced its shape with Spirit, wove Earth and Fire all through it as he tried to strengthen it, and grounded the butt to receive the attack.

That horrible clamshell head opened wide, and Darthalien ducked down as it fell on him like the Dark One's own hammer. At least his death would be quick...

The spear shattered and the metal tip went spinning off to one side, but Darthalien was still holding... something. A spear. A spear wrought of Fire and Earth and Spirit. A spear that was buried deep in the mix of dirt and stone where the monster's throat should be. A spear that was pulling him up into the air as the monster tried to rear back and shake itself free.

Darthalien, in an action befitting his full stature as a warrior, pissed himself.

Then Lissa Sedai raised her head and one hand, and a massive rent split the monster's head, and started carving a crevasse down the length of it. The thing shuddered... and then Anaris Asha'man glanced their way.

Darthalien saw the weave of Saidin even as he hit the ground again. It was a mix of Fire and Earth, almost a string of bubbles, that the Asha'man traced along the length of the monster's sand-and-stone body. Oh, I could do that one. Well, a little of that one. Darthalien staggered to his feet, still holding the channeled spear, as the thing exploded into a shower of muddy sand. Lissa Sedai was already back on her feet, disheveled but undamaged, and already spinning back to the three monsters that had been behind them.

They were down already, torn apart. "Teamwork," she said, and shook her head, then turned around and shoved Darthalien in the shoulder. "Get on the line!"

He turned and ran, releasing his hold on the... spear-weave? Was there a word for that? Was that even something that Asha'man did? A moment later he had found a place in the rough circle of defenders around Nathaniel Asha'man. Whatever he'd done in recreating the spear, he didn't want to do it again. He didn't want to be that close to any of these things, ever again. No, he was going to try that shatter-beads weave that Anaris Asha'man had used, and if that didn't work he'd fall back on Fire.

A wave of unseen power brushed across him, and suddenly his pants were dry. Beside him, Lissa Sedai was in the process of using Air to sandblast one of the beasts into nothing. The only hint that she'd done anything was a hand that had swept vaguely in his direction and was now returning to help her focus her battleweave. The set expression on her face suggested that they would never, ever speak of this. Any of this.

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Re: Hypertension

Post by Matty » February 17th, 2023, 12:52 pm

As far as all the fighting went, it was probably a good job Nate wasn't paying any attention to it. He was all up for a scrap on occasion and was very happy to throw his weight around in a figurative and a literal sense, but he wasn't able to do so when he was concentrating on his weather weaves. So while everyone around him was channelling and making a fuss over the creatures intent on stopping him, Nate was blissfully channelling away, great weaves that danced into the sky and pulled apart the wrongness. The symbolic chickens were sufficiently plucked apart and, in a great heave of effort, the clouds were dispersed.

The end result was an incredible amount of rain in a very short space of time. It fell in a thunderous downpour, so loud that one had to raise their voice to even be heard. It drenched Nate's hair flat to his head and his uniform was soaked. However, the water beasts and such melted into the sand and were no more, so that was probably more important than the state of Nate's hair. Any sand constructs very quickly fell apart, quicker than Nate could see it happening.

He looked down from where he'd been channelling and took in the people around him, blinking with surprise at how close they all were. He let out a whoop of a laugh. "We did it!" he cheered, throwing his fist into the air. "Good job everyone!" However, people were more interested in shelter, some of the Aes Sedai making a covering of Air for folks to stand under. Nate rolled his hulking shoulders in a shrug and languidly made his way over to one of these makeshift gazebos, the wet sand clinging to his boots and water dripping from his hair. He was in no rush, and was pretty oblivious to the struggles of the people around him having been in any sort of trouble. As he stood there and wrung his hair out, he said "I think that went pretty well."

Channelling at his full strength for those complicated weaves took it out of Nate more than he had expected or realised. One second he was wringing his hair, the next he felt his head swim a bit, and he promptly sat down on the wet sand in a very undignified manner.
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