Novices of the White Tower IC - Part 1

Lilleah and Nicaene

The novice runs off in hot pursuit and follows them right on to the street. For a moment she pauses unable to see where they have gone, but it is only momentary as Nicaene bursts past and yells "This way!" before darting into the crowd.

They can make out the two thieves ahead of them disappearing onto another main road in the city, but the pair are quite far ahead.

Spoiler

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If you want to continue chasing them then:
Constitution rolls to outlast them
Dexterity rolls to run fast than them
Or Knowledge local rolls to find a short cut.

If you can think of another way to catch up then go for it.

Cirelyn, Nesta, Ella and Taryn

The man behind the bar nods and shouts for one of the regulars to go fetch them. The barman himself grabs a heavy wooden stave from behind the bar and grips it firmly: he clearly doesn't like what's gone on here. The woman beside him, his wife perhaps, is ashen faced and keeps glancing outside.

Within a few moments Cirelyn feels relaxed enough to embrace the Source and power floods into her: does she still attempt to pursue?

Seeing her older compatriot finally glowing with the light of Saidar, adds, embarrassed to admit it, "And... I can't Heal myself... no one can. So, if you could..."

Ella turns to the innkeeper, trying to distract and keep him talking, she asks "Did you knew any of these man? Have you seen them before?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Diplomacy:
[roll0]

Lilleah
"I'm not running into danger," she briefly protests. "They're running from the both of us. Should they stop and turn... I'll..."

She hopes the others will be fine. And half hoping they are following along. The idea of her facing down two thieves should they think to turn and confront her isn't something she's thought out entirely. She will be prepared for such a thing regardless. And Nicaene is with her. They should be enough. But what if they aren't? No... stop it. Keep a hold of the source. Don't let it go. With worry comes fear and panic.

The novice continues to follow her friend and the two that got away. "Oh, just hurry! I can't imagine telling Ellina Sedai we lost some of her belongings. What could they have wanted? They must surely have known something about what she was carrying. Oh, burn me..."

Spoiler: OOC

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Con check to keep running [roll0]
Dex to catch up [roll1]
No, knowledge local, but a check anyway for Int and her 2 years in the tower and frequent enough visits to her friend in the city [roll2]

Nicaene's brow creased in worry. She could picture a dozen ways for this stunt to go very, very wrong. As far as she was concerned, Ellina's possessions were a distant second to the true priority: Keeping Lilleah safe. She was prepared to literally carry her reckless friend away from danger if necessary. But for now, the chase continued. Nicaene certainly wanted to put those thieves in their place. She just wasn't willing to pay a high price for that pleasure.

Spoiler: OOC

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Con check: [roll0]

Finally, finally Cirelyn manages to cast her mind into the correct patterns - and then Nesta's question nearly makes her lose her grip on the Source again. "Heal? Me?" She pauses, then chuckles softly, and a little nervously. "Well, I've never tried it before, but if you don't mind being my first test case... let me know if you see anything wrong with the weave, and I'll try again."

She carefully weaves the threads of Power together, trying to follow the precise pattern that Nesta used on Taryn. The weave forms with surprising ease, but she doesn't release it to sink into Nesta's arm until she's studied it carefully, checking it against her memory.

She watches in a little awe as it works, the cut closing neatly. "Thank you for teaching me," she adds to Nesta. She pauses, and then says slowly, "Ella, Nesta, when I didn't channel earlier, to help - I'm sorry. I have a, a block. But I think I have it under control now."

"Let me show you the weave I've been taught to find people? We can see if Lilleah and that trainee are still within range - if so, one or more of us could go after them. Or Ella, if you saw the men who fled, you might even be able to search for them directly."

Without further ado, she weaves strands of pure Spirit into the air about her, sending them out into the street and courtyard to sense the traces of Lilleah's recent passage.

Spoiler

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Casting Heal at L1, from a L0 slot, as Cirelyn has all the necessary Affinities for Heal. [roll0] healing.

Casting Trace from a L1 slot, so at L2 effectively; this should point the direction to Lilleah if she's still within 1500 ft, or within 3000 ft if she's experiencing strong emotions.

I don't know if someone who'd seen the men could use Trace to find them; it only works on people "known to you", but I don't know how much that requires. DM ruling?

Ella looks at the weave being spunned and replies "I just saw them in a quick look. Don't know if I'll could recognize them. But at least we know Lilleah and Nicaene well, so we can follow them".

Spoiler: OOC

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[roll0]

For a moment, Nesta listens to herself, "Tired. That's how I feel, tired. But I think it's how I'm supposed to feel, after the Heal, so..." she gives a wide smile, "I'd say you did great for the first time. Now just do the same with that seeking weave of yours - how did you even do it, I only saw Spirit, and I'm usually good with Spirit, but I can't tell what you just did at all, and stop worrying about little blocks or anything! Besides, even without Weaves, the way you shoved that man aside - that was great!"

For some reason, she never interacted with the older Atha'an Miere that often before; can it change, though? There are so many things they could talk about...

"If the ones here are taken care of, I think we should go after the others if we can," Taryn suggested as he rejoined the group. "We're safest together. And I wouldn't like the idea of them taking those other thieves two-on-two, if it came to that." He bit his tongue a moment too late, cursing himself for assuming that kind of authority with the novices--but then again, they didn't seem especially eager to order him around. He let the suggestion stand.

Cirelyn hesitantly returns Nesta's smile. It feels a little strange - have I really become so unfamiliar with smiling? Certainly she rarely smiles like that, wide and unrestrained. "Thanks. You were pretty impressive with that knife yourself." She hadn't sought out the younger Atha'an Miere woman when Nesta arrived at the Tower, not wanting to assume a familiarity that might be unwanted; somehow she'd never expected her to be friendly. Both exiles, yes, but...

... well. But what? A Windfinder apprentice who couldn't manage Air probably stood barely higher than a scandal-born orphan who could only channel sporadically, in the hierarchy of the seas. Manifestly, since Nesta had been sent to Tar Valon as well.

"I'd be happy to show you the weave again, whenever you like," she adds, turning to politely include Ella as well as Nesta. "It is just Spirit, but I was probably weaving too fast." Her smile turns a little wry. "I don't have much practice teaching, either."

"But right now..." She twines her fingers together. "Taryn, I agree, but it might be worth questioning these men, if we could do it quickly, to see if they'd reveal where their companions were planning to go. Better to cut them off, if we could, rather than chase them through the streets. Ella, you Healed that one - could you tell, will he be conscious soon?"

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Just wanted to reply to Nesta, but I guess I'll wait to say more until I know if (a) Ella's Healing woke up the bandit, (b) how the innkeeper responds to Ella, and (c) if Nicaene and Lilleah are still in range of Trace.

If we're doing interrogation, Cirelyn has Plans for a Persuade-weave-enhanced Diplomacy check - too many options, not enough time!

Spoiler: OOC

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Sorry, I think I totally missed that Ella woke the lookout up. :smallredface:

And regarding Trace. We'll probably do it case by case if that's alright. Seeing someone once is not enough, but interacting with them for 5 minutes should do it. As general guidelines.

Ella's weave quickly sets about repairing the damage done to the lookout, and as he wakes he glances around groggily. "Wha-what happened?" he mumbles.

The innkeeper is clearly already on edge, and doesn't take kindly to Ella's overtures, but still he recognises the authority of Tar Valon and answers quickly "No mistress, no. Well that one there is a good for nothing lay about. Sam, Sem... something like that. Seen him a couple of times, but I didn't know what his friends were up to. Elinar Sedai will have ma' skin!"

Cirelyn's weave spins out, hovering above the novices for a second before beginning to resonate. Cirelyn feels a tug pulling against her net of Spirit: beyond the courtyard and further into the city. Along with this tugging, Cirelyn begins to feel a sense of eagerness and curiosity that is not her own, tinged with apprehension. Both sensations last briefly, but Cirelyn now knows where to go!

Spoiler: Trace

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Cirelyn senses that Lilleah is about 500 feet away to the South west.

For their part, Lilleah and Nicaene's pursuit is not going to plan. Having leaped into the fray with such zeal earlier, Nicaene is now beginning to flag: the pair of thieves are getting further and further away! Even Lilleah's spirited effort isn't enough; clearly a life in the Tower has not prepared her for chasing through the streets. Luckily though, her trips to the city have helped and Lilleah leads her friend down an alley to the side. Thgough Nicaene is confused Lilleah knows that it is much quicker to head through a few of these streets than the main thoroughfare of the Alindaer Road, which will be packed in such a season.

The pair scurry along and rejoin the main road further down, and as hoped the girls are now in front of the thieves! The roguish men dart down a side street and the girls shadow them, running parallel before finally cutting across into a junction.

They've found themselves in an old part of Tar Valon (well, it's all ancient, but this part looks it and looks like it hasn't seen a caring hand in quite a while). The two men drop their belongings, fear evident on their faces, but they draw their swords anyway. And soon it becomes evident why, the four are not alone in the street as two women in similar rough attire enter down a side street. The older of the two shouts to Nicaene and Lilleah in a coarse voice: "Pretty sure two lovely girls like you shouldn't be here all alone." There's arrogance to the woman's words and she hefts what looks like a pretty weighty cudgel. The girl with her is tall and lanky and lets two knives run through her hands whilst the other woman talks.

Spoiler

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If it comes to combat then you're both going before any of your opponents, so feel free to post your actions.

And here's a map of much lesser quality, but it shows where everyone is standing so hopefully that's alright.

Edit: The thieves are R1 and R2, the older woman with the cudgel is W1 and woman with knives is W2

Success could sometimes be worse than failure. In this case, Nicaene and Lilleah had successfully found a few too many thieves. Now they were outnumbered 2 to 1. This was scenario #3 in Nicaene's '12 possible ways that this chase could go wrong'. Her eyes flickered between the four enemies. She keenly felt the absence of her usual armour. These thugs were probably less skilled than her; But even ants could kill a scorpion if they ganged up on it. While her enemies were busy taunting, the young trainee whispered to the novice beside her.

"Here's the plan: we take down the two men, grab Elinar Sedai's things, and run. There's no need to fight those women too. If something goes wrong, I'll hold them off while you escape."

That was all that Nicaene had time to say. The enemy wouldn't stand around waiting for them to think up the perfect plan. Best to seize the initiative while she had the chance. Without warning, Nicaene charged straight at the two male thieves. Her trusty axe sliced at both of them in a wide arc.

Spoiler: OOC

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Nicaene moves in front of R1; And attacks him and R2 with Steel Wind Strike.

R1: [roll0]; Crit confirm: [roll1]; Damage: [roll2]
R2: [roll3]; Crit confirm: [roll4]; Damage: [roll5]

Lilleah
The run through the streets was tougher than she expected. By the time they catch up to the two men, she's feeling fairly out of breath. It was only seemingly by chance and her obscure visits to the city that allowed them to gain such ground. Now facing the two, she feels confident that they can frighten them further at the least. Overconfidence perhaps swelling within her. After seeing Nicaene and Taryn decidedly handling the three from before, now there are only two.

The two women present a good bit of concern. Outnumbered? No... perhaps not. Perhaps its two against two against two. The men seem fearful... she wonders how much so.

"This is Tar Valon," Lilleah responds to the two women. She tries to read their postures and expressions. Looking for signs of their own confidence as well as their... targets. Was it the men or the two girls? "And we're both with the White Tower. We're hardly alone. We're only here for what these men have taken from us. If they wish to flee... we'll allow them to leave the city."

Spoiler: Sense Motives

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Some sense motive
[roll0]

And maybe diplomacy [roll1]

EDIT: Darn. Took too long and Anyr ninjad her post in. Plus gee... these rolls are horrible.

Lilleah and Nicaene

"Bold words girl," the woman with the cudgel replied, "but we don't see many of the Aes Sedai round here. And if my friends have taken something of yours, I'm sure you can go back and get another. What are a couple of bags to the great White Tower?" The woman is clearly mocking you at this point, but both seem ready for a fight.

Which is probably sensible, as Nicaene blurs into motion, closing the gap with their enemies and immediately dealing one of the rogues a deep blow. She knocks him to the ground and it's clear he's not going to be getting up anytime soon.

The remaining rogue barely dodges her blow and tries to strike back.

Spoiler

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R1 v Nicaene: [roll0] Damage [roll1]

With cries of surprise and dismay the two women charge into the action, the tough looking woman with the cudgel charging in behind Nicaene, whilst the other goes for Lilleah, twin knives flashing.

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W1 v Nicaene (including flanking): [roll2] damage [roll3]
W2 v Lilleah: [roll4] [roll5]
[roll6] [roll7]

Nicaene's fears once again became reality. Gashes were carved in her flesh from both in front and behind. In a few short seconds, she was brought to the brink of collapse. Was this where it all ended? No long career, no glory. Just being stabbed to death in some random alleyway? Behind her, she could hear Lilleah trying to negotiate with the thieves, instead of fighting by her side. Even Nicaene's closest friend had completely ignored her battle plans. Maybe she didn't deserve to be a Warder. If she couldn't grasp victory or respect here, what hope did she have of doing so in the years to come? That is, if there were any years to come.

Well, so be it. This wasn't at all the fate she'd hoped for; But she'd face it nonetheless. Nicaene managed to choke out a few more words as she sliced desperately at her foes. Though she already knew that (just like the last time) they'd almost certainly be ignored.

"Run, Lilleah! Just run!"

Spoiler: OOC

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Nicaene recovers her maneouvres with an attack against the woman. She fights defensively: Taking -2 to attack, and gaining +2 to AC.

Attack: [roll0]; Crit confirm: [roll1]; Damage: [roll2]

Edit: Apologies. That attack roll should be 2 points lower. Fighting defensively actually gives a -4 penalty.

Lilleah

One of the woman's two blades strikes her, and Lilleah hisses with the wound forming across her arm as she tried to get out of the weapon's path. Blood forms a red patch just beneath. Barely, but it's a cut nonetheless. Nicaene seems far worse off.

How? Tar Valon is of the White Tower. Who would attempt to attack any of the White Tower here in Tar Valon? These two women seemed not to mind any claim for the White Tower. They jumped into combat as quickly as Nicaene did. She has to keep her head. She has to continue to hold onto saidar. It is going to take every bit of concentration and crafty use of all her faculties for them to even make it out of here with... She had no idea what the women even wanted. Any hope at diplomacy went out to door early on.

"Run, Lilleah..." Her friend calls to her. She appears very poorly off.

Lilleah couldn't just leave her friend. It is a warder's duty to die for their aes sedai. And Nicaene, though only a trainee, is willing to embrace this duty even if just for a novice. But not just that, she does so for a friend. Lilleah couldn't just... could she? Well, maybe... just maybe one thing can be done. Having done this once before, she wonders if it would work again... She takes a step away from the woman with the two blades. Then she takesa gamble that both this will work again and that it will help Nicaene. Her friend is by far more outnumbered. And if she is to live, then it will be only by help.

"You too, Nice!"

A novice and a trainee. If they are to both survive, she can already hear the lecture they will be given. Her visits to the Mistress of Novices will be welcome and deserved.

Spoiler: OOC

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Is there a save/check that needs to be made to maintain a hold of the source after taking damage? Going to harden air on the cudgel. DC 15 Ref. Sorry for using that so quickly again...

Lilleah HP 7 (8)

And again! I type my posts too slowly...

Cirelyn bites her lip. "Lilleah's about five hundred feet away, almost directly southwest." She points in the direction she senses the tugging. "She feels nervous, but not anything worse, not yet... Taryn, do you want to start heading that way? Ella, Nesta, maybe one of you should go with him?" She fumbles in her belt pouch, pulls out a small coin and hands it to Taryn. "I can catch up - I'll be able to find you, with this."

"As for you..." She turns to the man on the floor, and forces her voice to remain calm, almost sympathetic. "What happened? Well, you can probably tell us better than the reverse. You were standing lookout for those men, right? Did they not tell you in advance what they were going to do? If they were going to steal from an Aes Sedai, and didn't warn you what you were getting into..." She shakes her head, sadly.

And she weaves, fast and deft, looping coils of Air and Spirit shot through with fragile strands of Fire. Fire has always come less naturally to her than the other elements, but this weave can't be done without it; it needs that hint of warmth. Listen to me. Heed me, forget about them. I'm trying to help you.

The Power streams into her like a rising wave, and she lets it come, cresting the wave rather than trying to fight it. It's a little frightening, as it always is when the seas are high, but the exhilaration of it is worth the fear. And this is still, potentially, a life-or-death situation; she can't hold back.

Spoiler

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All right, let's give this a try.

Cirelyn is attempting to overchannel to weave Persuasion as a L2 weave (per our discussion in OOC, I'm going to have her try to overchannel a fair bit). This requires a DC 20 Concentration check, which I will roll below (assuming I can't take 10).

If it works, L2 Persuasion can be negated with a DC 15 Will save. If the Will save fails, the weave will improve Sem/Sam's attitude by one band, and then Cirelyn will probably be attempting Diplomacy, to get him to tell us anything he knows about his erstwhile friends and where they might be going. Her approach is basically going to be to suggest that he needs to save his own skin now, since they ran off without him and clearly don't care about his welfare. If Persuasion works, her Diplomacy bonus will be +11; she'll probably just take 10 for a result of 21 (assists would be welcome!)

Concentration: [roll0]

Nesta

And she was worrying about being unable to channel... Nesta shakes her head in amazement as she tries to make any sense of the tangled Spirit, Air... and... is that Fire? "I will", she quickly nods. Thinking of an older Sea Folk woman's suggestion as an orde just comes so naturally... "Let's go, Taryn - southwest... which streets are that way..."

Spoiler: OOC

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Know: local [roll0]

Taryn almost protested--splitting up even further sounded like a way to cause even more problems--but once again, there was no other option. Someone had to stay to make sure the thieves weren't set free. And every second spent debating was another Lilleah and Nicaene could be in danger. Cirelyn and Ella would be fine here.

He nodded at Nesta, immediately heading for the door. "We'll figure it out." Ella hadn't exaggerated about the drain from the healing; he felt like he'd been fighting for an hour rather than a few seconds. Nothing he couldn't handle, though. "Stick close to me."

"We'll follow you suit. If lost search for this. Lilleah' strong..." says Ella pointing to the flow of saidar into her. Turning her attention to the weave being cast "you should listen to us. We're the only ones that can help you now."

Spoiler: OOC

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Try to learn
[roll0]

Help Diplomacy
[roll1]

Lilleah and Nicaene

Nicaene lashes out in anger and deals the club-wielding woman a deep blow, forcing her back. Perhaps it was sudden clash, or the woman's own deft movements, but as Lilleah tries to disarm the woman with her same weave of Air, she snatches her club back and out of the enfolding net. The remaining rogue also joins in, trying to skewer the trainee. Seeing his blow strike home, the woman cracks her club down.

Spoiler

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W1: [roll0] [roll1]

Lilleah finds that even though her weave didn't disarm the woman, she has left herself open to multiple strikes from the knife wielding woman in front of her.

Spoiler

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AoO vs Lilleah from W2: [roll2] [roll3]

Attacks vs Lilleah: [roll4] [roll5]
[roll6] [roll7]

Taryn and Nesta

The pair barrel out of the door in pursuit, and luckily Nesta knows the streets of Tar Valon as well as a native. Perhaps wanting to spend as little time as possible with the Aes Sedai had come in handy, for Nesta was able to guide the trainee into a side street that ran parallel to the main thoroughfare. Soon they heard the sounds of fighting and rushed towards it.

Turning into the street they found themselves at a junction where both Nicaene and Lilleah were embattled! They saw Nicaene fall, grievously wounded, but Lilleah seemed to be holding her own. Someone needed to get to Nicaene now, before it was too late!

Spoiler

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Everyone else has acted, so you will both go before the remaining enemies act.

Map

Cirelyn and Ella

Cirelyn's weave was already one of the more complex ones she knew, but this time she pushed herself harder than she ever had to use this weave. The sweetness of Saidar burned just briefly and the threads of Air, Fire and Spirit glowed just a bit brighter before fanning into the man, without him even seeming to notice.

The lookout, who identifies himself as Sam, seems to relax and nod along at the two novices' words. "Mac, just saw an opportunity you know. He said he'd heard there was a merchants carriage waiting with no one to collect it. He thought we could grab a few things, make off without being caught you know? I was just there to tip them off."

There's a pause as he squirms, then shakes his head: "Alright, so we knew it was an Aes Sedai alright. Look, she wouldn't even have noticed what we'd taken. That's why I panicked when I saw you. But Mac, he did say no one would be coming back. And I just wanted to get out of here!"

"Look, if they are anywhere, they'll be near the factories. The old ones, south of here. Lots of them aren't used now you know. That's where they'll go. It's southwest of here."

Cirelyn nods, feigning sympathy. "I see. Do you know, was Mac hired by someone else, or was he just doing this for himself? Were you meant to meet others at the old factories? And do you know if Mac was after anything specific?"

Saidar burns in her veins, a fiery sweetness at the edge of pain. She can see every hair on Sam's head, smell the faint aroma of the beer still in his mug on the table. It takes discipline to keep her voice calm, and her mind on the task to hand - but despite the distracting glory of the Power, she keeps weaving, keeps speaking in that soft persuasive tone.

"I'll try to help you - I believe you just wanted to get away, you weren't trying to hurt people - but you need to be up-front with us, and tell us what you know."

Spoiler

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Cirelyn is continuing to concentrate on Persuasion, and being diplomatic.

Nesta

Seeing the scene of the fight makes Nesta scream silently; but the horror of the fisrt moment quickly gives way to anger. [i]Do not use One Power as a weapon, except to save yourself, your Warder, or another Aes Sedai from death... well. Technically speaking, Nicaene isn't a Warder yet, and nor Lilleah Aes Sedai. But then, Nesta hasn't sworn the Oaths yet, either... hurrying towards Nicaene, she starts weaving the Weave she just learned earlier today... the onle she hoped she won't have to use, aiming the twisted, perverted verson of healing power at the last of the thieves. It has nothing to do with being unwilling to harm women, it's just the rogue would be harder for Taryn's sword to reach.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move to K8, L1 Rend on R2 for [roll0]

Turning to the innkeeper, but keeping an eye on the crook, an his answers she says "Sorry about earlier sir, and any damage we might have brought to your establishment. My name is Ella, and if you ever need anything that I can help please say so." taking a deep breath she continues "Did you ever heard about this Mac?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Diplomacy
[roll0]
Sense motive on the answer
[roll1]

Nicaene had the satisfaction of feeling her axe inflict one last wound: Before her own wounds overcame her. She fell to the ground, bleeding profusely. Her mind practically screamed that she couldn't drop yet. Lilleah was still in danger! But her body refused to listen. Try as she might to hang on, Nicaene lost consciousness.

Lilleah

The novice watches helplessly as her friend is stabbed and beaten into an unconscious heap on the floor of the broad alley. This can't be happening! They're with the White Tower. They're in Tar Valon. This should not be happening. But it was. And the two blades from the woman before her seem to miss but only by a stroke of luck, Lilleah's sure. All seems for nothing at this point. And how foolish is she to have run after two thieves. A novice! Even an Aes Sedai would exercise caution even with the One Power. But its sweet embrace is so powerful. Filling her with confidence more than she knows. She realizes it now. The lure and how deadly it can actually be. Oh, Nicaene! She pleads the maker.

But just then she spots Taryn and Nesta making it into the alley from where the women first appeared. And Nest uses a weave she's never seen before... but her mind is too focused on maintaining her own grasp of saidar at this point that she dare not pay anything else attention. She fears too much losing her grasp and falling completely useless. As if she is of any to begin with. This is her fault after all...

The only thing she can do is what she's already done thus far... Moving out of the range of the woman with the who knives, she weaves air once more around where the other woman's cudgel is. This time, she weaves it tighter. Pulling the weaves like strings around in a knot. Hoping, wondering if it'll make it more effective.

Spoiler: OOC

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5-foot step back out of the reach of W2. DC 15 Ref to harden air over the cudgel once more. She's tying it off. This will leave the 5-ft sphere of air near or in W1's space.

Time seemed to slow for Taryn as Nicaene fell--it was like watching her sink into quicksand. In that suspended moment, his head felt strangely clear. He found himself remembering their time together as trainees. The first time they'd fought; the humiliation that had burned him at losing. The hours he'd poured into training, gripping his weapon until his hands bled, imagining his opponent was her every time, taunting and laughing.

He felt nauseous, bile rising in his throat. In a flash, he was barreling toward the woman with the cudgel, sword in his hand and rising into Folding the Air before he could even think about it. A wordless cry tore free of his throat as he brought it down in Kingfisher Takes a Silverback. "You think you get to die now?" he snarled. "Get up, burn you!"

Spoiler: Action

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Moving into melee with W1, opposite Nicaene.
Activating Iron Guard's Glare as a swift action. W1 takes a -4 attack penalty against Nicaene and Lilleah.
Attacking with Crusader's Strike: [roll0], [roll1], Nicaene regains [roll2] hit points.

The battle!

Lilleah once more weaves Air, but again, the woman caught in the fray avoids the ball of Air and steps out of the place where it now hangs immobile. Nesta and Taryn arrive just in time, but though Nesta uses the weave that Ella showed them earlier, it doesn't seem to slow the man. Taryn too seems unable to land a blow on the woman with the club, who parries his blow easily.

Yet with the arrival of reinforcements, it becomes clear to the surviving enemies that they need to get out of there. Stepping back neatly, the older woman turns and runs, her thuggish friend quickly joining her heading north. The woman with the daggers also takes heed and turns to flee south.

The bags containing Elinar's belongings lie forgotten on the cobblestones: you have been victorious. But at what price? Will you pursue her, or stay and save your friend.

Spoiler

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The map shows the directions the group ran, but they are a bit beyond those spaces by now.

The interrogation

Sam shakes his head, this time all traces of deceit gone: "Honestly mistress, I don't think so. I think he just heard it was there. I'm not sure who told him. He seemed to think there'd be plenty of expensive stuff and that."

The barman shakes his head: "There aren't many like them in Tar Valon: it's a safe city. But all cities still have crime: there's always some. I've not heard of a Mac, but that don't mean there ain't one."

Lilleah

Seeing the women and the one man flee, Lilleah turns immediately to where Nicaene lay on the stones. She almost falls as she goes to kneel by her friend. A frantic look on her face with a bitten determination not to let it fray her too much. She has to hold onto the one power.

"I'm so sorry," she mutters again and again as she nervously clasps her hands before her and weaves spirit into a pattern that allows her to see how badly wounded her friend is. Or where she is wounded. It also helps her as she begins to look over Nicaene for a way to stop bleeding, prevent further pain or just... keep her alive. "Nesta! D- Do you know healing weaves?"

The moment robbers start to flee, Nesta runs towards the Warder trainee and falls to her knees. At first, she curses herself for wasting power on the thief, power that she now might lack to save Nicaene... but then she remembers Healing isn;t only limited by the amount of power one can channel, but also the amount of power one's body can receive. It should be enough... I have to make it enough. Please, let it be enough! She touches Nicaene's hand and starts pouring Saidar into the Warder trainee.

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[roll0], and I'm out of L1 slots. Now, to make sure I understand what happens here - any amount of Healing should at least stabilize Nica automatiucally, right? But, since Healing is converted into non-lethal, total of Nica's HP lost and non-lethat received would still be above her Max HP, so she'll be unconscious either way?