Completed The avalanche

Ornea overuses fire reimancy in an accident

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The westernmost tip of Kalea, Wind Reach is home to an amazing group of people and their giant eagle mounts. [Lore]

The avalanche

Postby Ornea on November 9th, 2014, 8:17 pm

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The avalanche
Timestamp : Day 60 of Winter 513 AV

A hunting party gets trapped by an avalance and they have to dig themselves out through the snow. Ornea uses her fire reimancy to support it, but she goes too far.

THE HUNTING PARTY LEAVES MOUNT SKYINARTA

The weather was good in the morning when the hunting parties from Wind Reach set out. Syna was shining brightly and painted the snowy landscape outside Mount Skyinarta golden. It was cold of course, but in comparison to the latest few days the temperature had suddenly risen a great deal. For a winter’s day it was unusually warm. It was a good opportunity to replenish the food stores. The excellent hunting weather was not going to be wasted.

The three people, who would soon find themselves hunting on a snowy mountainside out there, were far from the foremost hunters of the city. They were just, one of many small extra hunter groups sent out this clear and sunny winter’s day, looking to contribute to the need of food in the city as well as they could. Ornea was avora; a metalsmith, an artisan and crafter, not a professional hunter. Like many other Inarta she had received the first basic training in shooting with a bow to hit a target though. Despite this, she was quite the novice at real hunting, as she had been busy with other things and not used the bow so often.

But now it was about food. Or more correctly it was about the city being low on food.

Every person who could handle a bow at all was better used as hunter right now. Nobody would need her metal items if they had starved to death, as Ruian, the endal who commanded her out as hunter, had told her in the blunt and direct way that was their people’s way. Why try to say things in a soft and less brutal way, when you could as well just face truth and say as it was?

The man stood before her self-assured and confident, sure of his endal authority. Ornea of course immediately obeyed orders without questioning them. She nodded in agreement at Ruian and in a hearty tone of voice she said she’d get ready at once. Then she fetched her bow and arrows, donned her katinu and other things she needed to keep herself warm in the unforgiving cold outside and joined the others. Her two team mates were chiet, and she was the only avora, which gave her authority over the others as she was of a higher caste. This went without saying, so nobody commented on it, they all just knew that the avora was the group’s leader and the one who would take the decisions this day.

They would get to fly out on eagles, as the plan was to spread out the hunter groups over a larger area in the hope of finding more prey this way. The endals with their eagles were the most skilled hunters and thus the most valuable people for survival of the Inarta people. This meant they would hunt where the chance of quick success at low risk was relatively lower. The experienced hunters would get the next promising places, and the less valuable extra people would get the somewhat more remote hunting areas and try to get at least something.

While they waited, Ornea took on the role of group leader by taking the initiavite to a chat. She evaluated her company by asking them questions to find out more about their competence. She listened to their answers with full attention, gathering what information she had time for. The two chiets, a man and a woman, weren’t working as hunters regularly, but both of them had some experience of surviving in the wilderness and they were competent enough with their bows, they assured her. These facts seemed somewhat reassuring to her when she analysed the situation. She concluded their little group would be able to cope well enough, as long as nothing seriously more dangerous than average happened.

As she was of higher caste the others didn’t ask her any questions, and Ornea didn’t offer any information. Why would she. She was fully able to observe how the others would do, when they moved in the wilderness. When it came to shooting with the bow, she would either hit or miss her potential target. There was no need to speak about this, as the words wouldn’t change anything anyway.

It was time for them to get their flight out in the terrain and they jumped on the eagles. The cold outside Mount Skyinarta enclosed them while they flew, and nothing was said during the whole trip. They weren’t too far away from the city really, for practical reasons, but they would still be just a small team of three people alone in their part of the huge wilderness. The danger was obvious, but Ornea composed herself and didn’t comment on it, for what use would it be. What had to be done, had to be done. It was about food and their people's survival. Silent and determined she jumped down to the ground once they had landed.

“In best case you’ll get some kind of prey. Anything will do. Something is better than nothing!” Ruian said straightforwardly before he and the other endals and eagles returned to the city to continue their job. This was perhaps meant as encouragement.

Ornea watched the endals fly away until the disappeared out of sight. The others watched too. As they were chiet and also lacked the confidence that fulltime hunters might have felt despite being of lower caste, they were naturally waiting for the avora to take lead. They wouldn’t see the endals again before the evening, when they would be picked up and brought back home. Until then they had only each other to rely on, and the survival of their team as well the hunt was their own responsibility.
...
Last edited by Ornea on October 28th, 2016, 8:01 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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The avalance

Postby Ornea on December 5th, 2014, 10:32 pm

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THE STAG COMES

They moved slowly and silently in the snow covered landscape, with their weapons at ready, a small vulnerable group of people in the great silent wilderness. Seen from the departing eagles, they had looked like small dark silhouettes outlined against the white. The endals had went away without giving any signs of feeling troubled about it, but later on Ruian would go as far as to mention there hadn’t been any other choice than using all people they could possibly use as hunters, despite how dangerous it could be for those who didn’t really have any experience of the wilds. This wouldn’t be an excuse exactly. But he would mention it and say he’d been aware it might be the last time he saw her. A simple statement, straightforward and short, no unnecessary words.

But now was now and in low, nearly whispering voices, the hunters made plans. As Ornea was seen as leader for caste reasons, she did what was expected and took lead as well as she could with her limited knowledge and experience of hunting. “We need to plan this so we don’t just act at random” she started, showing the self-confidence befitting an avora speaking to chiet. There she paused a bit, as she didn’t know how to go on. She looked at her companions and decided to rely on their knowledge. “We must support each other do the best for the team, which is also the best for our people” she said. “So we will use all knowledge we have and when everybody has spoken and said how they think it’s best to do we will agree on a plan.”

The others nodded. If they felt relieved it didn’t show in their faces, but their voices where hearty when they answered. The chiet had more hunting and wilderness experience than she had, this was obvious. And lucky. This situation really wasn’t the right situation for giving priority to pride, she thought. She would act as leader formally, but in practice she would listen to the people who knew more than herself and follow their advice. At the end of their discussion, when the plan was made and everybody seemed content with it, she said: “We’ll do it like this then. Let’s start.”

They weren’t going to do so much. They found a good place, an indent in the hillside, nearly a small cave, where they were going to hide, wait silently and hope for prey come within range for their arrows. Silence was their best bet. A group of people moving around would be detected by the superior hearing of prey animals and was guaranteed to scare them away, while it could serve to attract predators and make the hunting team the prey instead. So they moved into the shadow of the shallow cave, made their bows ready and waited.

The fresh cold air was invigoration in the beginning but after a while it started to feel crippling. When they were standing still like this without the warmth movement would have given them, their bodies started to slowly go number and slower and the mental patience and endurance was tested. Ornea didn’t say anything, just braced herself, endured and waited. The other’s did the same.

It was natural to her that they had to endure. Physical hardships were to be expexted once in a while and there was not use complaining about it or allowing oneself to feel like one suffered. She was set on doing her best to succeed with this hunt for the sake of her people, and she accepted the cold and the strain. Silent and stoic she stood in the shadows while her gaze roamed the sunlit terrain in front of them, incessantly searching for signs of a prey.

Nothing happened.

Time passed until it felt like bells must have passed or like time had stopped.

Then a stag appeared all of a sudden, gracefully moving out between snow covered trees. Without a word Ornea lifted her shortbow, put an arrow on it, pulled the bowstring with the arrow back and aimed. While she did this she focused mentally on nothing else...and then she let go of the arrow and shot.

Her skill with the bow was higher than for an absolute beginner, but it was still lower than for a really skilled novice. Thought the arrow she had shot hit the stag, it just grazed the animal’s back and continued over it to drop down in the snow on the other side of the prey. The stag jumped and as it moved it was hurt by the arrows from the other hunters, but they too were bad hits and didn’t kill.

While the hunter were in a blind hurry to put new arrows on their bows and try to shoot again, the wounded and panicking stag ran up the hillside at high speed and when new arrows nearly hit it again, the animal lost all sense and rushed out irrationally on what looked like a dead end, much like a shelf of snow still within range for the bowshots, though barely. There was no escape now for the prey.

For a tick the hunters felt the sweet euphoria of victory. Once again, they reached for new arrows.

Then the unstable shelf of snow moved under the weight of the stag and the avalance began.
...
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The avalance

Postby Ornea on December 6th, 2014, 8:42 pm

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THE AVALANCE

A roaring chaos of snow ran down the hillside and it was only by taking shelter in the shallow cave the hunters managed to survive.

The chiet in the group had some experience as hunters and were used to be alert and observant in the wilderness in order to protect themselves against predators. True. And they had taken this into consideration when they planned and when they choose to hunt by waiting and trying to not draw this kind of danger on themselves. And Ornea had adapted to this and followed the advice people had given. They had been standing with the cave behind their backs and the weapon in front of them, ready to attack possible threats as well as prey. True again. They had done everything right, and well thought through.

But their experience had only been so much. Predators isn’t the only kind of danger people can meet in the wilds and they had forgotten to count with nature itself. They hadn’t understood what that “shelf” of snow on a somewhat warmer day could mean. Their experience of the wilderness was being suddenly and brutally improved right now. Thanks to the shallow cave the lesson wasn't immediately deadly.

The avalance was a force of nature and the fear they felt while they stood there in the sudden deafening thunder and watched the onslaught of snow pass by was beyond description. And soon enough they were shut in. They were had been buried alive behind the snow.

And it went silent again. Very silent. Ornea could hear the other people breathe, the way people breathe after a shock, and she was breathing this way herself, so hard and fast that it made her dizzy. But though she hadn’t had much to add to the hunt bar her limited skill with the shortbow, she actually had something to add now. Being a reimancy user she had meditated once in a while. Though she had neglected to do it as often as she ought to have done it, she had still worked at the strength of her mind. She knew enough to be able to use it to calm herself down so she could start to think.

She choose a breathing meditation. For a while she made herself breathe in another way, a systematic and controlled way, where she counted every breath in her mind while she focused on the sound and where she felt the air in her stomach, chest, throat and nostrils. She didn’t know how long time this took, but it was actually not so long time, even if it felt so to Ornea, seriously stressed as she was.

The two chiet were slower to recover and just stood there and seemed to totally have lost all ability to move or speak.

Ornea had compose a bit more and thought of the snow. She thought of how to get out. There was no way to know how thick the layer of snow in front of them was, no way to know if it would be possible to dig themselves out. She reached out and felt it. The now seemed to be quite hard. But they would have to try to get through, as this was the only option that was left to them if they wanted to save their lives. Slowly, as she started to envision them digging at the snow with their hands, it dawned on her she had something she could do to improve their chances to succeed; fire reimancy. The fired would warm and soften up the snow and make it easier to dig, she thought.

This thought made her able to make a simple plan. She would use fire on the snow, and then they would dig like crazy until she needed to use fire again, then dig anew. They would alternate between bursts of what magic fire she would be able to make and the digging it would enable them to do. This was all. Planning is uncomplicated when there’s little you can do. But it was still a plan.

At this point Ornea made an effort and managed to speak, because despite her own shocked state she realized she really would need to take leadership now. Her voice was raw and strained when she told the others what she had been thinking and what she wanted the group to do. It felt a bit surreal and weird that the situation had changed so totally and she who had only formally given orders before, actually was the one with more knowledge and able to lead them for real now. But she was, and she did it.

There wasn’t much room in the shallow cave but the chiet stood back as well as they were able while the reimancer started to work. Ornea turned her awareness inwards and delved into herself to find her djed. She found it, got a good contact with it and started to move it forth pushing it to her hand, where the res started to seep out, pale, looking like a kind of liquid gaze. She focused on it and did her best to shape it like a spear she could aim forward, at the snow, in the hope of not losing control of it and burn herself and the others. The mental vision of flames formed in her mind as she started the process to ignite the res. And then she ignited the res, and the fire burst forth and hit the snow. The distance was so short that it would have been hard to not hit it. It was also so short that she felt the heat of her own burning res unpleasantly near.

She focused like never before in her whole time as reimancer. This wouldn’t be so easy. She didn’t allow herself to think of anything else than keeping the res burning and keeping the fire on the snow, and only on the snow.

And then they digged. The snow was considerable softer where she had worked at it with the fire. It worked the way she had figured. But there was no way to say if it would be enough to take them the whole way through. There was no use thinking of it either, which the whole group understood without saying it. Silently and with a fierce dedication they alternated between warming the snow with magic fire and digging. Hope made them go on and they would go on as long as they were alive.
...
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The avalance

Postby Ornea on December 18th, 2014, 8:20 pm

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UP TO THE TOP AND OVER THE EDGE

Reach into the djed, call forth res, transmute, ignite and blast ! As she repeated this over and over again, creating spear after spear of fire which she sent forward into the wall of snow in front of her, the initial feelings of effort seemed to decrease. Her mind seemed to settle into a comfortable and pleasant rhythm. It felt like she could go on casting fire forever; just reach in, call forth, transmute, shape and ignite the spear, blast, repeat. It became easy, she felt euphoric, her awareness floated on top of a wave of endless happiness. Never before in her whole life had she experienced such flow, such easiness, such a feeling of flying like an eagle at the top of her capacity. It seemed natural and right. This was how magic was meant to be, flowing free like river of power, unstoppable and unlimited.

The fire she made was actually quite limited in power, but her feeling was not. And albei she wasn't aware of it, there was no longer a clear and steady connection in her mind between reality and how she experienced the situation.

More, more, more, more ... he felt an irresistible desire to go on and on and just follow the rhythm of the magic, let the magic have it’s course and take over more and more and more and more ... this desire whispered inside her, a silent longing, unexplainable and luminous whisper; magic itself was speaking to her like she was its dearest of sisters and most precious friend. Oh beloved, beloved, beloved, my love...

Magic’s own sweet whisper spoke to her, called out to her and led her on. And in the wall of snow in front of her the image of a god had started to appear, or so it seemed to Ornea, as she watched the hallucination of Ivak himself materialize slowly, in her fire, on the snow, going redder by the chime until the her sight was overwhelmed and darkened, blinded by the crimson shadow of the vision she thought she saw.

Come, said the vision. Wizard, come.


The others digged on with desperate resolution, knowing nothing about what was going on inside the hallucinating wizard. To them it just seemed like she shared their efforts and did her part of the job they needed to do in order to try to save their lives. They saw no image in the snow and flames in front of them, they saw no god, they felt no rytm, no secret silent magic longing tore at them. They just digged and none of them took time to turn around and see the wizards bleeding eyes, blinded by her own blood as she went deeper into overgiving.

Time passed. Time ceased to be something to count with. The rhythm of magic was everything. Her hands had started to shake oddly and there was a strong taste of metal she hardly was able to locate. The fire was getting troublesome and it felt like the spears she made tried to break free and go in a random direction, or scatter in uncontrolled shapeless fireworks. The easiness and flow she had felt had now turned into a surprising, helpless, trembling struggle against a power that seemed to grow stronger and harder to control. Euphoria slowly turned into exhaustion and pain. The happiness that had soared like an eagle towards the sky was fading and the opposite emotion was taking over, as her mind started to descend instead of rising, like in a dream, falling, falling, falling ...

Air. Cold winter air touced her face; a sudden cold moment of clarity opened her mind to reality for a few ticks, and she understood what was happening to her. A feeling like a spike of horror ran through her and she heard herself scream.

... Other voices, people, only shadows in her narrow and quickly darkening consciousness before she passed out ... and she knew nothing more.

Ornea had ironically enough been saved from going on to more serious overgiving to her own death, by the fact that her mind wasn’t strong enough to allow for it. A wizard who had been more serious in her use of magic and meditated to strengthen her power and mind alike, might have been able to continue for longer time once overgiving had taken over. Ornea was not. Her magic had stayed fairly weak and so had her mind, from a wizard’s point of view. Thus she bent and collapsed, instead of being broken. The weaker can sometimes be able to survive what the strong can not, as they give in before the final crash comes.

The hunters in the cave had eventually managed to dig a hole through the wall of snow, which had enabled the air from outside to wake Ornea up for that tick of horror and start screaming. And so other people had heard the screams, found the trapped people and come to the rescue.

This didn’t mean all was well. Ornea was alive but still unconscious. The overgiving continued by it's own force. When they arrived back to Mount Skyinarta, she was on the brink of starting to shake uncontrollably in the throes of epilepsy. They put her in a calm cave under supervision of a healer. Luckily ... or so they hoped ... there were no huge, fatal wounds. The healer concluded that the total of it meant the overgiving was more than light, but it was still probably limited to medium strong symptoms, and not so serious that it would cause death. Cloth was placed between Ornea's teeth to protect her from biting her own tongue off during the colvulsions that moved through her body, and the blood was washed off of her face.

And then they waited.

Continues in The dance of change
...
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The avalanche

Postby Brandon Blackwing on January 12th, 2015, 7:20 pm

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ORNEA

XP:

  • Leadership +3
  • Interrogation +1
  • Observation +3
  • Planning +2
  • Endurance +1
  • Hunting +1
  • Weapon Shortbow +1
  • Wilderness Survival +1
  • Meditation +1
  • Reimancy +2



Lore:
  • Everyone capable needs to help hunt for food during a famine
  • Making a plan to increase the success ratio of the hunt
  • Wilderness Survival: Seeking Shelter inside a cave to escape an avalance
  • Meditation: Focusing on your breathing
  • Reimancy: Fire Spear
  • The Sweet, oh so Sweet, Whispers
  • Overgiving with Reimancy


Notes:
Well, enjoy your fancy bleeding eyes and epilepsy, you have been awarded with severe overgiving effects, though I'm sure you figured that out already :smirk:

Great work, as always :thumbsup:

Please remove or edit your post in the request thread.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding your grade, please do not hesitate to send me a PM.



credit goes to Adelaide Sitai
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Fighting Style and Techniques

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