Camigwen sighed inwardly. She expected as much from the White sister. In fact, she had a feeling she was very alone in this objection. Her ownhands were tied. As an Aes Sedai, she wanted nothing to do with the Black Tower or at least nothing to do with the men channeling, but at a Yellow, this mission presented an excellent opportunity to study the effects of Saidin and perhaps how the Bond would world. For all she knew, the Taint could be held back by.... something. There had to be some kind of measure against that right? Light.

"Very well. I see your point. And yours, Regalia." Camigwen interrupted as Regalia opened her mouth to speak. She would have some sort of decorum out of the Blue. Even if it meant spanking the girl.  "I will speak of this with my Ajah and we will see what our contribution maybe. I do not supprot this wholeheartedly, but I do see reason."

Regalia shrugged and backed down. That was a start at least. Perhaps she could work her magic in other ways. She looked at Astradore, the White, in marvel. Logic was such a powerful weapon but it made little to no sense to Regalia. She had no time for such thoughts. But everything counted. She just wished she was as sure about this as she looked. "Astradore," She looked at the White. "What are your plans then?"

Skechid nodded coldly to himself as the two other Black coated men began their work. He peered into the darkness of the cavern. The cave lookd ancient, carved by water that has since receded when the area was affected by the Breaking. The late Storm Leader who had found the cavern was a personal friend of Skechid's, one of the first few Ashaman who had joined the Black Tower during it's founding. But he was long gone. The Taint had taken him and Skechid had been the one to administer the poison. Even though it had happened a long time ago, the memory still burned him. Too many had been lost. And too soon.

His attention was distracted by a movement in the shadows. Somewhat like a flickering of a torch but...

"Who goes there?" Skechid bellowed as twin daggers appeared in his hands. The other two men looked up in alarm, but Skechid ignored them. His eyes scanned each shadow and tried to map it against what he remembered when they first entered.

There.

The first dagger flung missed a moving form narrowly and clicked off a stlagtite harmlessly. But Skechid was already moving. In his mind, Saidin sang to him. But it was too dangerous to channel here and indeed, it took every ounce of his will to not give in to the song of the One Power.

"Well, well, well... if it isn't the Healer of the Black Tower." Skechid spun and almost caught the figure that appeared behind him in the chin. But the other man moved fast and avoided it easily.

Shadows melded together and now there were six other men in the cavern. Three behind Skechid and his two and another three blocking the entrance.

"Karavin." Skechid hissed between clunched teeth as he felt the Shield slide into place. His own strength in the Power meant nothing when the other man was holding on to a figurine of a bird in flight... an angreal of average strength. But it meant that Karavin was incapable of channeling much more, since he barely matched Skechid's strength with the angreal. "What is it you're up to?"

"Mmmm... I'm not sure who sent you here, Storm Leader, but whoever it is was foolish. This store belongs to me and I intend to use it for my own purposes. To fight the dark and take over the role of the M'hael. I will birng glory to the Black Tower. And you've come on a rather inconvenient day. Of all days to decide to visit this place."

Skechid could hardly believe his luck. Of all days.  It meant they had been doing this for a while. "Let us go." He suddenly recognised two of the men as the guards of the cavern. Bloody fools.

"No. Let's play a game. If you can fight us all and live... you win. If you die... well... you lose." Karavin grinned. "Sadly, my coronies here are too new to use Saidin in this cavern, barely able to light a candle unassisted, but still... I bet they're capable of so much more."

Skechid knew that the other Ashaman had better sense than to channel when surrounded by such items of Power, so perhaps they had a chance. But even as he tightened his hands on his dagger, he could feel the Shields on both of his other men. He wondered who held the Shields, but he knew they would be able to do little whilst holding it. Perhaps they had a chance.

He barely had time to react when the fight began. This was going to be one of those days...

Regalia frowned at the White sister who had interrupted her meeting with Camigwen. Her face was smooth, but Regalia could sense tension in the sister. And that wasn't surprising. Most people in the White Tower were tense these days, considering how things were going on in the world. But still, for a White sister, it was unusual. They were uncaring about events of the world to a fault, constantly spending their time considering logical problems that gave Regalia a headache. Understanding this, seeing Astradore in such a fix, shocked Regalia,

"Perhaps you could give us some views." Before Regalia could say anything, she heard Camigwen's description of the process of Male Bonding and the idea of Aes Sedai holding Bonds of Ashaman. Her description was quick and almost curt. A sign of her disgust and lack of interest to personally take on a Bond. "And tell me, as a White, perhaps you could break this down logically. Would such a move be ideal?"

Before Regalia could protest, the Yellow Sitter silenced her with a look. Camigwen clearly had no intention of allowing her side of the story. Sighing, she pouted her lips sulkily and waited for the White Sister's thoughts. In her Blue mind, the gears were already shifting, trying to figure out how to turn the arguement around had Astradore's logic work against her. Could she afford to even fight this battle? She did not know.

Camigwen regarded the Blue Sister standing before her with a pursed lip. Regalia Frantelle was Blue to the bone and was every picture an Aes Sedai today. Her stance was quiet and her face emotionless, matching Camigwen's own stone face.

"So what now, Sitter?" Regalia asked churlishly as she straightened the front of her dress. "Will the Yellow Ajah join us in our mission?" Regalia kept her face smooth, only her wringing hands betrayed her nervousness. It was not an easy mission.

"I cannot speak for the whole of my Ajah, but personally I think this mission is insane and slightly suicidal. Light knows we have been Gentling male channelers for Ages past and now you speak of...." Camigwen could hardly contain her disgust at the thought. It was not a pleasant idea.

"Yes, but do you not see the need for it?" Regalia tightened her resolve. What had to be done, had to be done. Light only know what consequences awaited them. "With this amnesty, such a move would cement relations between us and give us a chance to progress against the Dark One. Without it, we could not hope..."

"It is one thing to request an alliance, which I have my hesitations about, and another to request that we let these... men, into our heads. Do you not know the significance of what you ask for? I would not make myself a martyr for such a cause unless absolutely necessary." Camigwen wanted to embrace Saidar there and then to delight in its ecstasy, if only to avoid thinking of the proposed nightmare.

"But you know.,," Regalia started.

But what she wanted to say was interrupted by the arrival of another sister. Camigwen recognised her as Astradore of a White. Regalia wrinkled her nose in irritation at the interruption.

"Good day, sister. How goes you?" Camigwen greeted familiarly.

I'll look into it. I'd really rather hunt Darkfriends or at least some sorta dust bunny demon.

Skechid looked at the two men before him. He sensed eagerness in one and slight distress in the other. He could empathise with both, since his own first impression of the store was one of intrigue and shock. Intrigue because he could remember feeling the resonance of Saidin in the place and it throbbed. And shock because he never realised there were so many of these relics.

"Ter'angreal are dangerous. No less dangerous than a knife in a baby's hand, so it would do you good to not be too eager. Many of these items are unknown for their usage and purpose and there have been instances of... accidents." As their eyes grew accustomed to the dark gloom of the cavern, they could make out deep gashes and chunks of rock that had been blasted off the walls. Here and there there were remnants of broken pieces of... something. Best not to look too close. "First of all, let's get some ground rules straight. There is not to be any channeling in this place, under any circumstances. No touching of anything unless I give you permission and definitely no handling of anything that is marked with a barricade." There were a couple of those. And Light only knew what they did, but Ashaman before them had done... experiments, and the results were not kind.

"I want you to start with this pile." He gestured to an old box that was frayed at the edges and held a couple of odd looking things. "You can touch these and feel them for whatever you can describe and tell me what you feel or what you think it can do. And we will progress from there."

((I'm thinking of hunting darkfriends, interested? Probably someone evil trying to steal ter'a greal somewhere. I'm bored. Just suggesting. FIghting's always more fun.))

"Recrafting ter'angreal?" Skechid whispered with an upturned brow. Was that even possible? Of course, it was simple and common place in the Old Age, but these days few had the ability to even study those relics much less make them. Skechid's own Talent with Healing was marveled to be rival to what was done during the Age of Legends, but so far with ter'angreal... "How many of these items have you studied so far? We are far from being archived in terms of our own ter'angreal store. Light knows someone could afford to tidy it up. Perhaps you would be keen to check them out? WIth supervision of course." Skechid was sure Arath would have no issues since the M'hael hardly dealt with common place issues such as stores.

Skechid wove a Gateway and gestured for the two men to follow him. "The ter'angreal store holds many items of Power, collected from various sources. I, myself, have only looked through some of them. Many have uses unknown to us... would you be keen to look at them together?"

The Gateway opened up to a dark cavern, guarded by 2 Ashaman who saluted the Storm Leader hurriedly. They were not expecting visitors. But their dangerous stance spoke of ready defense and no games. Weaving Spirit to unwind the Ward that guarded the gate to the cavern, Skechid led the two others in.

((Sorry for slightly slower responses as I live in ASia and the time difference means I sleep when you post and vice versa))

"Interesting." The word slipped out of Skechid's mouth as he let himself feel the residues of Saidin which had been woven. Clearly the newbie had beene xperimenting with Saidin and perhaps they had somehow stumbled upon something. That was quite common these days, considering the fact that so much was lost in terms of knowledge of the One Power. These so-called experiments were the only way they could learn more about Saidin and its uses. "Nonetheless, it is dangerous  to try weaves without proper instruction. You should be more careful."

Skechid gestured for the injured man to step forward. Laying his hands on the man's face, he channeled the usual weaves of Water, Spirit and Air, Healing the man's injuries with the basic weaves of Healing. "Just as well that he's been injured. This is called Healing. I don't really need to explain what the weave does, as you can see for yourself. Not all of Saidin is dark and destructive. Perhaps it would do you both good to learn some of the more positive aspects of the One Power." He stepped back as the man's finished convulsing, cheek now smooth as a baby's behind. "I am Skechid, Storm Leader and Head of the Black Tower Infirmary. Pleased to meet you both."

*yawns* So... did this Head application go through? I dunno... I suddenly have the itch to RP/

I... could... be... active... *digs nose*

Hi.

That's all.

I'm bored. *points to the giant doodle of a frog on a nearby wall in explanation*

((Mind if I step in?))

Storm Leader Skechid brushed his hands over his tired eyes. It had been a long night, followed by a busy morning. It seemed like the Eyes and Ears reports would never end. Being Master of Spies was no joke. At first, it had seemed fun. Handling the intrigue and portends of the world, but these days all it involved was reading and signing paper work. Paperwork. Yucks. Whilst nothing was alarming in itself, the lack of overly exciting news worried him. The End Times were coming, Skechid was sure of that, and there should have been way more activity in the world that there seemed reported. Wearily, he rolled up the scroll in his hand and wove a quick weave of Fire, burning it to ashes which floated away in the afternoon breeze.

He barely had time to pick up the next scroll when an explosion woke him up from his revelry. Ordinarily, he wouldn't have bothered. Explosions and such were common place in the training grounds and more of often than not, the casualties could be treated by nearby Ashaman and didn't need his bother. But he was bored. And reading through the night had made him slightly fidgety. Reweaving the Wards that protected his room from prying, he slammed the door shut behind him and headed towards what appeared to be a gathering commotion.

"So what's going on here?" Skechid enquired as he stepped into the circle of activity around 2 men who seemed to be at the centre of it. Skechid waved away the salutes, fists to chests. One of the men had a shard embedded in his cheek, blood poured down his face into rivulets. "Is that something that needs tending to, or are you capable of settling it?"

I'm from Singapore. Which is kinda near Philippines and many of my friends are from there! So... Mabuhay! Nice to have a fellow South East Asian here... There are so few of us.

Wow you got a new game console? So fun! I wanna play too!

What games have you bought? It's been a while since I played games so I'm probably not familiar with the newer games. LIke Mario or Street Fighter I probably get. Ya know?

,,,

Kidding. Congratulations!

Awww it's OVER? Just when I returned from Lurk.

Oh well....

White Tower because... well... this IS the White Tower board and I hear Elgee has a special "toy" that many of us have heard of but so few of us have actually... "played" with.

Edit: I just realised this is over. *sad face* Oh well... *goes play with Elgee's "toy"*

*hugs* I'm so sorry. My love and prayers are with you.

*hugs* Keeping you and family in prayers. Please rest as well... you're gonna need your strength over the next few days/weeks.

Cancer really sucks. Gah.

Happy Birthday!

URGH. Cancer. I'm so sorry to hear about your sister. I pray she gets well fully and that the cancer goes away and is eaten by the Monster That Eats All The Nasty Things So They Really Never Come Back And Thus Really Isn't A Monster But More Of A Large Cuddly Teddy Bear With Sharp Teef.

And don't worry about us. We will be good. And try not to break another of your cuendillar "toys". *shrugs* It happens.

In all seriousnesss... *hugs* I'm so sorry. Cancer sucks.

Meh. Things have changed. Just in mysterious and slightly stinky ways.

Also... poooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooppies!

Pooopies.

Mmmm... this is nice. It's like the old family gathering altogether again. Except minus all the boring baby photos and unacceptable pet names.

*prances around sprinkling powdered mildew* Merry Christmas everyone!

Sorry, you smell funny. Who're you?

Hi. I think I know you.

*squints*