[Sanctuary] Urban Warfare

In which Kanikra takes it upon herself to teach Kavala's sons a little about the art of war... using Sanctuary as a staging ground.

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Built into the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, Riverfall resides on the edge of grasslands of Cyphrus where the Bluevein River plunges off the plain and cascades down to the inland sea below. Home of the Akalak, Riverfall is a self-supporting city populated by devoted warriors. [Riverfall Codex]

[Sanctuary] Urban Warfare

Postby Raiha on February 7th, 2012, 3:47 am

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Open to Sanctuary folks/staff.

Midday, 60th of Winter, 511 AV.



It was midday, and it was colder than Raiha remembered it being last year, even with the sun shining overhead, dancing off of the snow. Chores were done, she had collected Tasival and Shayru from Kavala, bundling the child up in as many clothes as necessary to make sure he stayed warm, and put him in the sling. He was getting a bit big for it, but she needed her hands, even as she waded through the deep snow that had come drifting down through the season. The courtyard arena was completely useless in this weather for the horses, or anything else, for that matter, so that meant that she could occupy it. “So,” Kanikra told Tasival, “this is important. You’ll hear this from a dozen teachers in your life, but I wanted to tell you first.” Well, that and Kanikra was itching to make an utterly impregnable snow fort, and it seemed like a good a day as any to do it with Kavala’s little boy. Even now, it was beginning to snow again, though the skies overhead were blue, not grey, and Syna shone in the sky, making everything seem crystalline and beautiful.

She’d already worked out the plan. She wanted a round fort, if only because this gave the enemy... well... everyone else... no corners to use to their advantage, and because the walls could be stronger and built in as opposed to square, because with the squares, there were weak spots in the places where the walls met. “War is an important event. It is presided over by the Goddess Myri. War, and battles, are not something to be taken lightly,” Kanikra began as she shoveled snow into place with her leather-mitted hands, grinning down at Tasival as her braids were well within his grasp if he wanted them. Her hair was long enough, and thick enough, that it didn’t bother her if the child gave it a good yank. He didn’t have the strength to really hurt her yet. “This is a practical demonstration.” She stuck her head out and about, looking to see if anyone was watching as the fort was slowly growing through diligent scooping so that it the better part of seven feet in diameter. She wanted to be able to lay flat in it, after all, just in case they did get an ambush. Now that she had a foot of walls surrounding them, she began to pack them in and down, scooping up more and more, packing and pressing.

“It is costly, both in terms of resources and in terms of life. They say that picking your battles is winning your battles, and they are right. Numbers, of fighters, resources, whatever, are not everything. What matters, what really matters, is right here,” she peeled a glove off and touched a warm finger to the toddler’s covered forehead. “It’s all up here. A smaller number can defeat a bigger army just as easily as the bigger army could crush a smaller one. The first part of war is the laying of plans. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Her glove had gone back on, and now she set the little boy down in the packed-down bunker, letting him sit up, and giving him a snowball. “This will be ammunition later, when we get to the part of ‘picking our targets’. That folds into the thing about picking your battles that I mentioned earlier.” She sat down on her leather-covered butt in the snow and surveyed the battleground. “You need to know the area you’re planning to fight in. You need to know about the weather, because the seasons will help determine the winner in terms of preparation and resources. There’s a story, you know,” she gathered Shayru into her lap, “about the grasshopper and the ant. The grasshopper sang all spring, summer, and fall, and watched as the ant worked hard every day to gather what it needed in its hills for the winter. And when the winter came, the grasshopper died because it wasn’t prepared,” she said solemnly.

Raiha, for her part, was just sitting back and enjoying this, for once. There was no harm in letting Kanikra pull stunts like this. She’d just make sure she didn’t put ice into the snowballs, or worse, rocks, and just let her sister-soul have some fun. Gods know, she could use it. Kanikra was a good teacher when she had a mind to be, and when it came to Tasival and Shayru, she took that duty very, very seriously. But she needed some fun, and if attacking everyone with snowballs was going to be that outlet today - she had already built the monstrous snow-slide off of the mews a few days ago - then so be it. Kanikra used her long limbs to climb up and over, gathering and packing snowballs by the armload and bringing them back in to the boy, who clapped his hands and began to climb on them, rolling and shoving them around as she brought in a mountain of them, filling half of the fort with snowballs. You’ve got this? We should soak the walls, too. Make them really hard.

I’ve always got this, Kanikra reminded her. Listen and learn.

I have been, Raiha admitted.

“The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer. And miracles come by appointment only,” she told the boy. “But those appointments can be made often, if you only look for the opportunity.” By now, they had been outside in the snow for over a bell, and the walls were getting taller and thicker with each passing chime, and break time was over. The walls were blocking out the wind, which helped. The whole fort was up past her head when she sat on her knees, and that worked for her. “Leadership is important,” she told the boy, as she slowly began to empty her mind out, her voice quiet, even as he sat in her lap again, her arms folded around him. “A good leader can oversee everything. And they should. They need to control and encourage their troops, to inspire them and earn their loyalty. I think, though my sister would disagree with me, that it is better to be feared than loved. Ideally, you can have both.” She paused for a moment, becoming quiet, having taken her gloves off. The next part was going to take a little bit, as she became quiet, letting the Makath around her in the shadows of the fencing perimeter, in the snow fort, become a soft chatter in the background as she pushed it outside of her mind. Her arms went from cradling the little boy to sitting on her legs in a resting, meditative posture.

In that moment, she remembered where Raiha had gone to produce Res deep inside, and found that glowing core. She sunk both hands in it, and drew it out in great quantities, opening her eyes to see the thick, white res beginning to pour out of her skin, her blue hands steaming in the cold. More, more, more. They needed so much more to really fortify this place, and the Akontak had very deep reserves. She began to smooth the ethereal substance over the walls, staying mostly in place, using her long arms to guide the res, sometimes just throwing it on the walls before beginning to move and shape it, returning her hands to her knees as the smaller Akontak poked and prodded at more and more Res as she continued to produce more before finally pulling her hands from that core and looked at her handiwork. “One more thing,” she told the unsure little boy once she had everything smoothed in. “This is fortifications. Water, when introduced to the cold, will freeze. Undoubtedly, it will freeze. And when it does, it becomes hard. And just like that... we have some very, very powerful walls,” she grinned down at him, putting her gloves on before wrapping her arms around him, and drawing her knees up, so that he was cradled there, and exhaled, turning the Res bit by bit to water.

She breathed again, and reached into an inner pocket, and unwrapped some cookies, passing Shayru one of the proffered cookies. His mother had been prodding Raiha to eat healthier, and in in a lot of ways it was working, but Raiha would eat most anything she got her hands on in bits and pieces, and now was no exception. “Enjoy,” she handed one to Shayru, taking one for herself, and beginning to devour it hungrily. One cookie became two, three, and four. “I’m going to get fat,” she told the boy as she bugged her eyes at him and sucked in her cheeks, making fishlips at him. “Or, rather, Raiha will,” she gave him a second one, feeling better. “Now, we’ll wait. We have laid the trap, and now they can just walk into it. It’s not always how long you can draw it out and wear the others down. Doing that costs you too. What you want is to end it quickly with very decisive action. Limit their resources and movement, and victory shall be ours.”

The first person that crossed that courtyard was in for a sudden surprise as a snowball came flying out of nowhere with deadly accuracy.
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Last edited by Raiha on February 12th, 2012, 9:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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[Sanctuary] Urban Warfare

Postby Kavala on February 11th, 2012, 5:42 pm

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It wasn't that she was paranoid. No, really, she wasn't. It was just that Kavala had spent a lot of time looking over her shoulder these days. And when Raiha got quiet, Raiha was either gone and Kani was up to something, or Raiha was being influenced by her sister to make mischief. Though incredibly mature for her age, Kavala knew the Akontak was still poised on the cusp of womanhood and that slippery slope somehow always ended up capturing Raiha and dragging her into childhood and holding her there for a bit more.

Kavala knew it was good for her. The way Rath had been looking at Raiha lately meant that it was only a matter of time before Raiha was forced to leave childhood behind in one way or another. Kavala hadn't been worried, not at all because Raiha could take care of herself physically, but when Raiha started looking back at Rath the same way, Kavala knew it was only a matter of time. The Akalaks, one and all, had a strong drive to reproduce. It was almost an obsession with them, and one that drove them to pair up often. Rath was of the age where he should by rights have at least one or two sons by now. And Kavala was sure - as sure as the winter was long - that he'd set about making one with Raiha before the Winter was over. And it worried Kavala because in her eyes Raiha was still a baby. But it was Raiha's choice, and Rath's decision, and none of her business. Kavala would be there if they asked or needed her, but otherwise she was staying out of it.

Except, of course, to help Raiha steal a bit more time like this. A courtyard snow battle was just what they needed. However, Kavala wasn't one for not coming to a fight well armed. So instead of wandering right into the fray, she hit the philtering lab at a dead run and began working on a mixture that she called 'Laughwell'. It was a series of herbs that promoted laughter and joy, inhibiting worry, almost to the point of making a person high. They tended to laugh and laugh and laugh when exposed to the concoction. She'd blend it first, load her darts, and then get some blowgun practice in on the snowball fighters before she joined the fray.
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[Sanctuary] Urban Warfare

Postby Kadrath Onktaka on February 11th, 2012, 7:25 pm

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Rock and Chain scouted ahead as usual, practicing their scenting skills with enthusiasm. They ran lightly and swiftly over the snow, their noses in the air to catch an elusive smell. Rock barked and wagged his tail at the familiar scent of Raiha/Kani while Chain chirruped at an unfamiliar, young scent.

A hard snowball flew through the air directly at Rath's chest and Fidens leaped up to catch it with a happy half yip, half bark. Two heads peeped over the snow fortress revealing Kani and Shay in their brilliant ambush.

"Incoming!" yelled Uruk, his eyes going icy green like the cold bay waters in winter.

"Haw! Gee!" he commanded as he dropped to the ground and rolled forward into a hunched over position.

The pup and kit moved to the left and right of Uruk, guarding his forward flanks at a ninety degree angle. Rock barked high pitched and excited, his front paws bouncing off the ground as he surged forward, closer and closer to the fort. Chain kept pace with her large paws barely touching the snow and she stretched out in a wide half circle. While Rock and Chain flanked the snow fort right and left, they maintained enough distance to stay just at the limit of the firing range. Meanwhile Fidens streaked back and forth in front of the fort, temptingly within range of the snowy missiles. His enormous bark sounded over and over and he vehemently wagged his curly tail as if begging them to let him catch more snowballs.

During all the barking, yipping, running, and distraction, the Akontak made it under cover to a nearby downed tree and he rapidly stripped off the smaller branches. This had a two fold purpose. It gave him enough room to shoot back some 'ammo' and give him the kindling he needed.

He made a series of snowballs as quick as possible, while jamming a small twig in each of them. At the right moment, he could light the missiles and send them to the base of the snow fort to melt its icy walls and smoke out the 'enemy.' When he felt he'd used up more distraction time than he wanted to, he called out in mock desperation,

"Don't worry Shay! I'll rescue you from the evil Kani! Has she tried to eat you up yet?"

The tall man had an actual smile on his face for the first time in a long time.

(When Rath speaks and when Uruk speaks.)
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[Sanctuary] Urban Warfare

Postby Serrif Von Chatlyn on February 13th, 2012, 11:40 pm

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The mornings had become a daily routine for him. He did one of two things once his feet hit the cool ground. He either ran or he went to the lab. He wasn’t aware of Raiha’s little ploy, nor the way Kadrath was assaulting her in her little fortress. No, his mine was focused on other things. Such as the days oncoming work. So, instead of running he decided he would instead go to the lab and see if there was anything he could do. He got there first light and began setting things up for his morning philtering. Maybe being focused on work would get his mind off how lost he felt about Lilly. So he focused on his work and what he was going to do to help out here. It had almost became an obsession of his; how useful could he be to these people?

He was just about done setting things up to make some sedatives when Kavala came in, obviously with a purpose of some kind. “Morning to you as well.” He spoke greeting Kavala as he checked his work and made sure everything was set up the way it needed ot be. Which Kavala would find was ironically just the way she needed it to be as well…saving her time. It was almost like he knew what she was up to. Or maybe it was just by chance.

He noted that she seemed rushed, after all she did bolt into the lab at match haste. Something was going on, something that he was going to make himself a part of. Possibly he could make himself useful to her and the rest of them. Maybe in this situation that seemed rushed and chaotic he could prove that he had a level and calm head about him. Lym had trained him in things like this…but he was indeed jumping to conclusions. For the situation at hand was far from dire…but there was a war being waged wasn’t there?

“Is there an emergency that we need to prep for? Some urgent medicine we need to put together?” She could feel the excitement in his voice. He wanted to make himself useful to her. Prove his worth in more than one way.

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[Sanctuary] Urban Warfare

Postby Raiha on April 1st, 2012, 11:31 pm

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“And just like that, the fish swims into the trap,” Kanikra murmured at Shayru as she heard Uruk’s shouts. Definitely Uruk. He spoke differently than Rath, after all. She listened for what he was doing, not at all worried about the dogs and the cat. Her voice was low and quiet, perfectly calm. “What he’s doing,” she continued her lesson with the little one, “is offering me sacrifices to waste my supplies on minor skirmishes when he is the real target. He stays out of range while sending his troops... the pets... in to act as distraction. One has to be able to see all of it to act with a plan.” She tickled the little boy, grinning down at him, though the light expression didn’t reach her eyes. It rarely did, unless she wanted to expend the effort in maintaining the illusion of her sister’s presence.

“See, his goal, in the mean time, is going to be to force me to come out and surrender, which would happen if we were not well stocked, or he damages the walls enough... in his dreams he damages the walls enough... ” Kanikra scoffed quietly. “And he goads with his words, hoping to spur me into making a mistake. Know this. Emotions are a weakness, Shayru. I have an advantage over Uruk in that he has a temper that he can be easily coaxed into losing, and when he loses his temper, he is prone to making mistakes. Mind your temper. Learn to stretch it, to hold it, to bite your tongue and smile when you want to scowl.” She lobbed only the occasional snowball at the animals, smaller ones, nothing she couldn’t afford to lose, just enough to keep them at bay.

“Why don’t you come and find out?” she called back at Uruk. “Unless you’re scared of a girl.” She smirked a little at that, listening to the crackling of sparks before exhaling, dropping herself back into that meditative state of open awareness, reaching inside of herself for more Djed to transmute to Res. Her eyes seemed far away, hidden from sight of the older Akontak as she was, but breathed out a cloud of Res, expelling it from her mouth and nose. In the cold, crystalline air, it seemed almost like it was just breath. But it clung, and she moved it, slathering it over the walls as more and more poured from her, and she smoothed it over the twigs and snow within a solid five foot radius of her, letting it gather the moisture from the air. With a nod, she let it go, turning it into a thin layer of water which sunk into the walls and ground, extinguishing the little firebombs with a puff of smoke.

More floated upwards as she thinned it out to make it less noticeable, moving it in the direction of where she had thought she had heard his voice last. Kanikra risked another glance over the walls of the fort to find out where he was before lobbing a snowball in Uruk’s direction. Just enough to keep him distracted, too, and see if she could keep him from noticing the growing cluster of snow overhead that was being drawn in to the Res...
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[Sanctuary] Urban Warfare

Postby Kadrath Onktaka on April 6th, 2012, 5:16 pm

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He hoped his triple play distraction was enough to work. Use visual distraction with harmless smoke snow, check. Make her ignore the exact number of troops to underestimate, check. Engage them to talking so their attention is always in more than one place at once, check.

Admittedly Rath didn't know much about Res and such things, but the one thing he was sure of was the concentration needed to perform with it. She'd obviously used a lot of time to make the snow fort, and then reinforce it. Definitely a water related thing. When he threw over the low to no threat items to be 'defeated' by water type res, she bit on the hook and felt smug about it!

Impatiently giving a three count, he waited for her to be deep within concentration on res production. His infravision showed Tasi's little form just to the side--perfect place for a grab! The crafty Akontak gave a two fingered pointing motion to the cat, Chain. She was placed just out of Kani's line of sight, behind her. The lean feline leaped gracefully beside Tasi, grabbed his collar in her mouth, and swiftly plucked him up and away from a very distracted Kanikra!

Simultaneously, the dog and pup barked louder on the opposite side, rushing the ice fort. They lunged for the side wall of the fort, nearest Kani, their front legs battering the ice again and again as they barked loudly. Myriad spider like cracks appeared under their paws and they crashed their large paws into it, giving a constant volley of painfully loud barks. The huge canine pair's combined weight was too much for a concentrated attack on that corner, and it cracked and crumbled beneath their noisy efforts.

"You're right about one thing; Kavala is a woman and you're still just a little girl!"
He answered quietly with a smirk. He didn't want to break her concentration in res formation....

(When Rath speaks and when Uruk speaks.)
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[Sanctuary] Urban Warfare

Postby Kavala on May 27th, 2012, 11:19 pm

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"Nope. There's no emergency. Its just a snowball fight in the courtyard and I'm going to cheat." Kavala said, chuckling to herself. She stretched up on her tippie toes and pulled down a large glass jar already filled with herbs mixed and carefully labeled 'Laughwell'. She unscrewed the metal lid and set it aside and drew forth a small cup full of the herbs.

Taking out a mortar and pestle, Kavala loaded the herbs in and began grinding. "I'm going to make a quick tincture. Usually I create them on the new moon and don't use them until the full moon, but this one works fairly well. I could use plain oil, but I'll use alcohol because it will sting like crazy." She said with a grin, pulling down 100 proof alcohol from the shelf and two jiggers of it to the mixture of dried herbs she had in her mortar. Grinding carefully she made a paste that she then added to cheesecloth and strained into a small vial. Then, taking her darts from the belt pouch she almost always wore, Kavala carefully started loading them up.

One after another were filled, her blowgun assembled, and off she went headed for the courtyard to see how many unsuspecting people she could dart with the laughwell which would give them uncontrollable giggling.
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Please Note:
  • This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.
  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
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[Sanctuary] Urban Warfare

Postby Serrif Von Chatlyn on June 5th, 2012, 1:05 am

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It seemed he had missed the onset of something very interesting in the courtyard. A snowball fight? Well he imagined it was likely between Raiha and Kadrath…which meant that there was a very high possibility that things would get out of hand. He knew Rath and Raiha tended to do whatever suited them at the time. Riaha he had learned to stray away from if at all possible; something about her didn’t sit well with him. Maybe it was in her eyes…maybe he felt something that he couldn’t explain. She just didn’t sit well with him.

“Or maybe you are just leveling the playing field.” He commented as Kavala mentioned cheating.

This is likely not wise… Unsure of how Rath and Raiha would react to Kavala cheating through the fight. Whatever the case what was would be and all he could really do was sit aside and watch it all unfold.

He watched her carefully as she measured out everything she was to mix together. Committing everything to memory so he could make note of it all later in his books. Every little bit of knowledge helped him in his journey. He decided he would have to see the effects of this mixture for himself. If he was to know what it did what better way than to see for yourself first hand. He followed her a few steps behind as his mind began to run through the possible effects…she did label the glass ‘laughwell’. To be honest he hadn’t seen Rath or Raiha laugh since he had come here. This would be…an experience for sure.

As Kavala entered the courtyard he would stay aside and watch to see more what everyone’s strategy was. He didn’t want to just run into this thing…he was surely out skilled. Raiha was a reminicer, Rath an Akalak and Kavala was cheating. So against these kind of odds he decided that it may be best to watch and maybe launch a surgical strike if and when the opportunity presented itself. But until then he would have to see what unfolded here.
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[Sanctuary] Urban Warfare

Postby Raiha on June 7th, 2012, 2:13 am

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Uruk was right. Kanikra lost her concentration at the rush. And when she did, the clouds of snow that had seemed awfully low as she had been slowly, slowly gathering them came crashing down, burying the other Akontak under a mountain of freezing cold, wet, snow. More came down on the fort to cover the dogs, as Kanikra focused on the one thing that had disrupted her concentration. From behind, the shadows around them, hiding from the sun in the fortress of snow and ice that she had manufactured, whispered. He moves the cat. Uruk and Rath, for all that they felt they knew the young Akontak they had taken as a mate, seriously underestimated the “girl” and Kanikra’s drive to protect Shayru and Tasival. Like lightning, she snatched at the hunting cat’s tail before she could jump over the mass piling of snow, and gave it a good, sharp yank, grabbing with both hands and a coldness in her eyes that matched the snow around them.

Gently! Raiha scolded. Don’t break her tail.

So be it. The child is of far more importance than that cat. Kanikra’s gambit worked as she forced the cat to let go of the toddler, pulling him back to the safety of her lap. Chain was streaking off with a yowl. The cat would probably never like her much again after that, she mused, but Kanikra did not give a damn. It would probably hurt her and Raiha’s standing in Rath and Uruk’s eyes, because to Kanikra, animals were tools. She had never hurt her sister’s animals, though it would have been such an easy way to torment her - they were far too useful in that regard. But Kanikra did not form attachments to them. There was no point in it. In this life, nearly everything was expendable and replaceable. Except, of course, for your own life.

“You’re okay, aren’t you?” she checked over the little boy, and aside from having been grabbed that way by that damnable cat - Raiha would have to stitch his coat and hood back together tonight - he seemed to be perfectly fine. Which was good, because if Shayru and his brother had gotten hurt by that ridiculous retrieval attempt, Kanikra would have done a lot more than pull the cat’s tail. Rath would have been trying to find another hunting cat for Chain’s replacement before the sun went down. “Good,” she wrapped her arms around him decisively as he babbled in the language that was his and Tasi’s in response, feeling him relax and snuggle against her belly. Ah, Tasival was back at that. “Don’t worry,” Kanikra assured him. “But the next lesson here is that you should not abandon your soldiers. The best commanders are seen as sharing the sacrifices and successes of their troops. You don’t have to coddle them, because then they will no longer respect you, but you need to show that you stand with them, too."

With Uruk trying to catch his yowling cat, and the dogs soaked and almost crushed, Kanikra started to rebuild her damaged fort. “We probably should have started this last night,” she told the giggling boy as she began to reform the wall while he sat there, and she heard others coming out. “Who was that?” she murmured in Makath, packing snow and ice into the damaged wall and concentrating on her inner core, her breathing becoming calm and easy again. She had to reach inside of herself, letting the murmurs and whispers of the shadows around her inform them of what was going on outside while she connected herself internally in order to transmute her djed to Res. She plunged her hands into that core in order to produce more as the shadows giggled. She took a deep breath inward before exhaling a cloud of res out of her mouth to soak and saturated the damaged wall, guiding it over the little boy ensconced in her lap and beginning to release it, slowly, slowly, from mist to gel to water.

That was what Kavala and Serrif found when they came out - chaos with completely unrepentant Kanikra at the center. Nothing surprising there, certainly, as she took advantage of the moments of relative calm to pat her wall down with more snow and ice. There. Unless Kavala brought a horse to the party...and both souls of the Akontak hoped she didn’t... that should hold once more, with the dogs out of the way. Kanikra picked up a snowball, from the arsenal, then, rising up onto her knees as she pinpointed the locations of Kavala and Serrif, only to let two big snowballs go flying before sinking back in behind her wall and preparing for war.
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The first rule of Akajia is you do not talk about Akajia.
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Raiha
Raiha Shadowplayer
 
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Joined roleplay: February 6th, 2010, 4:07 pm
Race: Mixed blood
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