Quest Attack on Riverfall[Rear Healing Station]

[Kavala]

Kavala acknowleged the young Akalak joining her with a nod. She was still scanning the area, her sharp azure gaze a deep blue of excitement and worry. The crossbow was loaded and leveled, pivoting with her body as she looked around. Her eyes fell on the pair walking down the street and she knew, just knew, they weren't Rivarians. They weren't native. They were invaders trying to be where they shouldn't be. Humans were clean. Not dry, not dirty, and certainly not walking along Riverfall when the city was under attack as if nothing was out of the normal. Everyone was getting ready for the battle in a hurried organized fashion.

Time stood still. Kavala held her breath.

Everyone knew there was danger. And yet these two were not 'concerned'? Kavala hissed between her teeth, softly, to alert the young Akalak at her side, and nodded the men's direction. Most of her, if not all of her, was an assassin named Crescent that had lived in prevalterrian times. Kavala knew Crescents life like the back of her hand having walked the Chavi and relived her life. She pulled from Crescents instincts and her knowledge, to use her observation to decide.

Then she took a deep breath forcing herself to breath normally.

Then she took aim and fired her bolt, not skilled enough for a head shot but looking for vital organs in the chest area. She didn't look to see if she hit or not, there would be time for that later. Instead she reached up and behind her, pulled another bolt from her quiver, and reloaded the crossbow.

Then she screamed a warning to everyone in the area, especially the healing station behind her. "Look out. Invaders!" And leveled the crossbow again, trying to get off a second shot. She aimed the trigger and squeezed, taking note of what damage the first shot did if any and where the pair were now. But she didn't look to see where the last bolt fell. She was already moving, getting out of the line of fire in case the men had ranged weapons as well.

[Mist]

As the man was tied down, he continued to thrash, fighting at the bindings, trying to grab at his weapon at his waist, which still was not there. But the fact of its absence had not trickled down yet into his conscious mind. However as it did, he suddenly froze, his entire body stilling. Then he turned to look at one of the people, tears in his eyes, and tilted back his head to let out a screeching shout, YUK YUK YUK! After that, he suddenly got sick, vomiting. Unfortunately, he was on his back, and tied down, and so he began to choke on his own sick, some of it shooting out his nose, some gurgling out his mouth. Over all the noise and activity, the sound of someone shouting from outside was drowned out... --- Outside, Kavala had decided to fight, which may or may not have been a wise decision. Luckily for her, a crossbow was a pretty simple device, much easier to use than a bow, and at this distance was little more than pointing and shooting. The first bolt hit the cloaked man in the side, to the sound of a rib shattering. He stumbled and fell, his hood falling back. As he turned to look at who had shot him, his face became clear, which made things all the stranger. Though he was much closer to the size of a human, his features were more like that of a Akalak. Except his skin was the wrong color, not blue, but a tan dirt color. As he opened his mouth and let out a YUK! his teeth became visible, looking like a bunch of irregular jagged stone, all of different sizes, across his mouth. Exactly how the mouth of a yukman looked, even if the rest of him did not really look like one. If she looked close, she might see that they were caked in dried blood, and that they were in a similar pattern to the wound on the mans neck who had been brought in. Though likely they were to far away for an ordinary person to make that out. The second one turned to look at the woman, and let out a YUK! to, only to catch a bolt in his shoulder, and to be knocked off his feet onto his back. However by then the first one was rising, and began to amble at them, not nearly as fast as he would have been unwounded, but still decently fast. And likely soon the one knocked down would be rising to, he had hardly been injured at all. Worst of all, coming from too close for comfort, perhaps a block or two away, a answering YUK! could be heard. Either alerted by the cry of Kavala, or by the yell of its kin.

[Elem Bree]

Elem was at a loss. That was really the only way to put it. He had certainly dealt with shock and trauma, but nothing like this, that seemed more psychological than anything. The fact that the essence of Rak'keli wasn't calming the man was what was really throwing him off. The sudden change of demeanor seemed very strange as well. All Elem could do was monitor and observe the patient, in case this kind of thing would repeat itself with the coming of new injuries. The man's face was a canvas of complete terror, his face pallid and his eyes watery glass orbs.

Then he started screaming. This, at least, Elem was ready for, due to the last round, though the sound he was making seemed to be gibberish. Yuk, yuk, yuk. Madness of the temporary kind? The patients after the storm seemed to have this kind of demeanor, though it was different. Or maybe it was because back then he had much more help. Either way it certainly wasn'--

The patient began vomiting profusely and with his arms restrained, it quickly began to choke him.

"Petch! Get him on his side!"

Elem quickly untied the bindings on his side, while leaving the other arm bound. No telling what this man might do if freed completely. He leaned him over with the help of the others, the vomit stremaing down his face as gasps of air came in. Elem held firmly to the man's arm and elbow, should he try to swingover completely.

"Rinse him off! What on Mizahar is going on!"

Elem looked back over his shoulder toward the station's entrance. Where was Kavala? Even the guards that were there were gone. He couldn't be bothered with it at the moment, turning his attention back to the patient as his sickness continued to pour.

[Kavala]

Kavala focused. Training with Akalaks had left her unafraid but respectful of 'big'. Yukman, even of these type, were far different though. She had her tamo daggers and her unarmed combat, but she'd learned a long time ago that if you could kill a man with a ranged weapon, you should do so. Crossbows were notoriously user friendly, even to the person who hadn't had much experience using them. So she decided she had time, just barely, to get one more shot off. She pulled a bolt, slid it home, and having practiced this for hours cocked the crossbow and brought it up level just in time to release one more bolt. She aimed for the creatures head just out of arms length, drew in a breath and released the trigger just as she released her breath.

Calm. The Konti stayed calm. Killing was easy. Surviving was harder. This season had saw many things upon The Sanctuary. A yuckman army was a serious thing, but a late night attack of Zith had almost ended her life and the life of her companions. So this.. this lumbering toothed horror was not so frightening as leathery wing beats in a pitch black night sky or being hoisted aloft and dropped, so bones shattered and broke on impact.

She hoped the bolt hit home, but she was taking no chance that it didn't. Kavala threw the crossbow back over her shoulder, trusting its strap to hold it there securely, and drew her Tamo daggers, sliding them out of each other and gripping one in each hand.

If the bolt went wide even at almost point blank range, she had no problems cutting his throat. The tamo's were old friends. They almost gripped her hands as she gripped them. And even though the compulsion to heal was hard on her in the face of the creature being wounded, she was determined to kill it fast and thus eliminate the need to want to heal it with an overwhelming drive.

Kavala didn't know where the boy was, but she hoped the young guard took advantage of her shots and was all over eliminating the other lumbering creature before one or more of the things she could hear calling out down the street joined them.

[Mist]

Elem seemed if nothing else, shocked by the ineffectiveness of what he had done. Perhaps the damage to the wounded mans mind was just to great for someone so marked as he. Only so much could be done at his level, a glaring reminder at how much he could or could not do. The man thrashed a bit, as he choked and could not breath. It was pure instinct in a human, wanting to live, and doing what one could to continue living, and perhaps this instinct had overrode the mentality that had taken over his mind... After a bit more coughing and spluttering, the man finally stopped getting sick, the last bit coming out, and he let out a groan... Looking around with his eyes full of confusion, he finally spoke something clearly, if in a voice that was a bit highly pitched and near cracking... "What? But how did I... How did I get here?" He only know seemed to realize he had been tied down, and looked down at the binding with utter confusion... Looking up at Elem, he asked again, "How? How did I get here?", already having forgotten that he had just asked that, and possibly had it answered. After that he would sort of slump and grow quiet, his eyes shifting from one thing to another, but not really taking anything in. After about a chime of this, he finally looked up again, and asked simply, "Who are you?" --- Kavala's wait had been worth it. While her aim had been a bit off at a distance, even with them barely moving, there was little target easier to hit than one really close, and running in a straight line right at you. As she calmly reloaded the bolt, it kept coming, ignoring its wound, almost there... Almost in reach... !5 feet away... !0 feet away... 5 feet... Thunk. The bolt hit home, squarely in the center of its forehead, between the eyes. There was a sound of bone breaking, a small splat of blood and brain, and the yukman froze, tensing its body and standing tall, and then falling to the ground, skidding to a halt with its head ending up just a foot short of Kavala, as its momentum carried it forward. If Kavala were to look over at the young Akalak, she would see he had disposed of the other one, the beasts neck slit open wide, and one of his long daggers not to unlike Kavala's, except thicker than hers, standing up out of were it had been stuck, straight into the eye socket of the yukman. He yanked on it, and had a bit of trouble getting it out, so stuck into the bone was it, but after another tug, got it out. He quickly wiped it off on his pants leg, and then ran back to Kavala with it in his hand. "My lady, we really need to go back. They need to know what has happened. Perhaps we can send out a party to try and get to the office, but we are not safe here. And they need you." The boy was a bit uncertain of himself, but doing his best to look like he was sure and full of bravery. But his worry was clear in his eyes, clearly more worried about her well being than his own. As he said this, two more cloaked forms came out of the end of a street onto theirs, looking around and focusing there stare on the two of them. One of them let out a single YUK! before both began running at them. Though for now they were a good 50 feet away, if they ran, they might make it back to the healing station in time. "My lady, go! I will hold them off! Go know!" As he said this, he drew out his second long dagger, and turned to face the oncoming foes, both weapons held out and ready to fight, his feet locked and bent ready to launch at the first one to come close.

[Elem Bree]

Just like the storm had come so violently and then disappeared, so did the man's malady. Elem would surely be writing about this in his jounrals at the Sanctuary. A very curious case, indeed. Once the last bit of sickness was free, the patient began to relax, looking at his bindings in an odd manner and around the room as if he had just awakened that way. Elem's first instinct was to untie him, but he waited. He put his hand on the man's forehead, praying for Rak'keli's assistance in calming him.

His second instinct was on the vomit. Whatever had happened, once he was sick and purged himself, he seemed to be better and back to himself. His finger pointed down at the pile of warm filth. "Pour hot water on that and rinse it out of here. I don't want a chance of infection. Him or anyone else. Let's wash him up." The other attendants set about to following through, washing away the vomit as the patient began to be sponged. Elem used a calm, even voice as he spoke to the man.

"You are at the healing station. I am Elem Bree. You were brought in having been bitten by something and we took care of that. You are going to be alright. Just try to relax. I will loose your bindings soon, once we know you are not going to have another attack. Just try to calm your mind and rest a moment. There will be time to talk soon." Elem didn't know if that was true or not, but if it helped ease the patient's mind, so be it. He needed the information from the patient, but best to set up a dialogue first. Be friends.

"And what is your name, Sir?".

[Kavala]

The boy was good, very good, and Kavala was grateful he'd escorted her outside. But he was right, they had no time. So when he said they needed to go back, she nodded, agreeing. She didn't hold him up, and didn't want to linger. Kavala was ready to run. However, she was a healer and not one to waste life senselessly. So when he valiantly offered to stay and hold them off, she firmly shook her head.

"We go together or I stay. We can make it. We just have to run!" And with that, she latched onto him to make sure he didn't pull a bait and switch, staying back and facing his death while she ran. Her fingers wrapped firmly around his belt - avoiding the two dagger bearing hands - Kavala took off running, her small form not large enough to drag the Akalak youth with her, but doing her darnedest to try.

"You can sacrifice yourself some other day, hopefully when your older, have lots of boys, and even some grandsons." The Konti said in a firm but soft voice as she beat feet back to the healing station, hopefully with the Akalak in tow.

If they made it back to the clinic, Kavala would burst through the door and yell... "They are right behind us. Yukman, and not normal looking ones!" And with that, she'd dart to one side, take a moment to reload her crossbow, and get ready hoping that the Akalak inside would be enough to fend the new threats off.

[Mist]

The man simply looked at Elem with a confused look on his face, his eyes a bit unfocused with a glazed stare, as he looked but seemed to not really take anything in... he grew quiet for a moment, and then reached down for his weapon, only to look down and notice once again that it was not there, which seemed to confuse him even more... He needed his weapon... Though he could not recall why... He grew still, lying back and resting, as if he had just gone for a long strenuous workout and needed to rest his muscles... Finally, he raised his head a few inches, and looked at Elem, still confused. "But wait... How did I get here? And who are you? And were is my weapon!" He said the first bits calmly, but his voice grew a bit of pitch near the end, as he was genuinely worried about his weapon. ----- Kavala took away any decision from the young Akalak, yanking him along. He had not choice but to go with her. Admittedly, he had been thinking of staying anyways, whatever it took to keep her alive. He would be filled with guilt now if anything did happen to her, but she had left him with little choice, he told himself. They ran and ran, and soon enough they came bursting through the door. The guard gave them a confused look, as he could not see anything pursuing them, but his eyes widened in surprise as she said there was yukmen after them. He did not even question what she said for a moment, before he turned to the rest of the room and its inhabitants, and said "Defensive Positions!" Almost at once, every Akalak in the room, down to the youngest only 14 years old, to the oldest, drew out a weapon and faced the door. Knives, daggers, lakan, maces, swords, a hodgepodge of weapons came out as every Akalak readied themselves to fight. Three of them bearing longer weapons, such as longswords or spears came into the front to stand next to the older guard who had taken charge. Invariably they were all adult Akalaks, who had chosen to wield such weapons. Coming in behind them was a pair of Akalaks who had bows, one a youth, the other an adult. No one questioned them on why they had brought such weapons with them for duty within a medical station, just thankful that they had. Akalaks came prepared to fight, even when they went to the bathroom, let alone for a medical assignment in the middle of a battle. Within a chime the door was defended, 4 Akalaks out front, the two bowmen behind them with arrows readied, with the rest of the younger Akalaks spread out. Coming into vision was a grouping of bodies, all wearing cloaks, at least 8 of them, with sounds coming in of more approaching... As they came in closer, the archers fired at them.

[Kavala]

NoteMaking a quick out of turn post here. I hope it's okay. I thought it would give Elem more food for fodder for his post.


Kavala toggled the safety pin on her crossbow, swung it back around so it rested against her back, and moved to where Elem was. The Akalak had the immediate vicinity covered, so it was time for her to go back to being a healer. She really wanted to fight with the Akalak, but she also didn't want to be a distraction to them either.

"Elem.. can you give me an update? Whats going on with our one patient?" She asked, wanting to assist if she needed too.

[Elem Bree]

With no response as to his own name, Elem was suspicious as to the patient's apparent recovery. Perhaps this confusion was just another stage of dementia brought on by whatever he had vomited out."Sir, I want you to forget about your weapon. You are in no condition to fight. Until you can tell me your name and what happened, we have no reason to release you." He suspected the man would fight more and if he had to hold him down and tie him back to the table, so be it. Elem had no clue who this man was. He could be part of the attack, for all he knew. It's not like he even had a weapon when he came in, for one thing.

Then things got sticky. A group of scouts with Kavala in tow burst into the room, calling out for defensive positions.Whatever the problem was outside was on its way toward them. When all of the Akalaks wielded weapons and positioned themselves within and around the station, Elem didn't panic. Panic was for random Zith attacks, not a coordinated defense within the City. His attention quickly returned to the mad patient, though his confidence was bolstered by Kavala's return and her questions.

Looking to the attendants, he asked them to monitor him and keep him tied. If he became violent, to tie his other arm. It wasn't humane, but it made sense in a possible combat situation. Elem stepped away toward his mentor and benefactor, keeping his diagnosis concise. "Well, he seemed to have some sort of panic attack when he awoke. I thought it initially to be an episode of shock, but he kept making this weird 'Yuk yuk yuk' sound and screaming about teeth. I assume that was from the trauma of being bitten by whatever is out there. He vomited quite a bit and when he finished, his eyes became clear and he seemed to wake up from whatever spell he was under. He seems mostly competent now, though he keeps demanding a weapon, which I will not be giving him. What on Mizahar is going on out there?"

Elem felt that if anyone could clear up the fog of this strange situation, it would be Kavala.