The two men faced one another as the silence permeated the area. Both men stood still watching the other waiting for an opportunity to strike. Goradon had seen Teaeran fight against Zlack and took from that a mild understanding of Teaeran's fighting style. All except the Teaeran before him was not the same man who had fought against Zlack. The Teaeran who watched his every move was a calm concise person who was weighing his opponent instead of blindly charging in to do battle as he had in the fight with Zlack. Goradon considered his different methods of attack. He could attack with a downward swing but if he connected with such a blow he could easily kill Teaeran by crushing his skull and that was not necessarily what he wanted to do. Back in the frozen planes he would have killed Teaeran simply because he had become a feral beast but no longer was that the case. Over the past couple of days that they had been within Halas Teaeran had laughed, smiled and all around been a joy to be around, someone he could consider a friend. With lightning speed Teaeran loaded an arrow and let it fly before Goradon had a chance to react. The blunt arrow harmlessly bounced off of Goradon's chest right over his heart. Then turning his head away from Goradon Teaeran addressed Yeenya. "There are three things that will spell the difference between success and failure; speed, accuracy and conviction." "Huh?," was all that Yeenya could stammer in her surprise at how quickly the fight had ended. "I said pay attention!," Teaeran sternly scolded Yeenya as he waived the bow pointing it at her. "I am," she pouted which brought out a new round of giggles from Rose. Frowning at both Rose and Yeenya Teaeran turned his attention back to Goradon. "Care to start again?," Teaeran grinned. "I hope you don't think that that quick fire will work again," Goradon jested. "Oh I've got more then one trick up my sleeve," Teaeran smirked. As the two squared off against one another for a second time Goradon quickly launched an attack. He wasn't going to be made to look like a fool a second time. There was a certain elation that came with a battle between two powerful persons. Even though the sparing match was using headless arrow shafts and wooden swords, the thrill was still there. A delight filled smile shown on Teaeran face as he stepped to the side to avoid the downward strike from the barbarian. Yeenya took in the movements of the two men striking and counter strike at one another. At first the moments had appeared to fast for her eyes to follow but as the duel went along the moments seemed the slow down. You could see clearly the way that Teaeran twisted and contorted his body with each movement. Compared to the relatively static movements of Goradon Teaeran seemed to always be moving, staying just one move of Goraon. It was not per say that Teaeran was so much more powerful. More along the line of, while Goradon concentrated on his attacks, Teaeran was concentrating on not getting hit. As Yeenya watched him move she started to subconsciously dip her own shoulders and twist at her waist following along the movements the Teaeran made. Goradon delivered a merciless downward strike that gave Teaeran no time to move out of the way. Yeenya snapped her eyes shut not wanting to see Teaeran's head be crushed by the blow but reopened them as she heard the crack of the wooden sword striking Teaeran's bow. The combat seemed to pause as Goradon's wooden sword was held in place by the bow. Yeenya could clearly see the look of surprise on Goradon's face and grin on Teaeran's. As best Yeenya could surmise Gordon had expected his blow to strike and not be blocked. Even though he held the hilt of the sword Teaeran was holding his blow back by holding his bow aloft with only one arm. The look of astonishment on Goradon's face seemed to feed Teaeran's grin. With the same lightning quick speed as the first bout Teaeran loaded an arrow and let and fly at Goradon's forehead. As in the first set that they had had Teaeran expected Goradon's mind to be working against him. In the first match the Barbarian had been thinking too hard about how and from which direction Teaeran would attack from. Since his mind was working too hard to figure out what way he was going to be attack from he was too distracted and Teaeran had defeated him with one arrow shot. As the first had raged on Goradon has been studying the manor in which Teaeran fought as well. So when the arrow leapt free of Teaeran's bow Gordon was able to duck his head to the side so that he wasn't struck head on by the arrow. Instead the arrow, without its killing steel point, scrapped across his temple and along the side of his head. Goradon had figured that is he continued to stay close to Teaeran that he would not have been able to launch any attacks. The way that the ranger had continued on the defensive avoiding his attacks instead of counter attacking has spurred on that belief. Now it appeared that with only a bow, he was still able to launch attacks. With both hands on his sword as opposed to the one that Teaeran used to hold Goradon added his weight to his own blade to push Teaeran back. Even though Teaeran had been able to fore an arrow at him Goradon was still in the dominant position. Feigning a back step Teaeran let Goradon push his sword down toward him. It was pointless to try and push back against the power that Goradon was able to put behind his weapon. Kicking his foot out to place it atop Goradon's forward foot Teaeran turned his bow to the side pushing the blade of the wooden sword away from him while his foot atop Goradon's didn't allow the barbarian to adjust his footing. Finding himself nearly on the ground with Goradon's mass about to crash onto him Teaeran spun his body rolling around Goradon. Caught off balance the warrior had no choice but to crash into the door face first with the nimble ranger halfway onto his back. Quickly disentangling himself Teaeran stabbed a practice arrow into Goradon's back while he jumped clear. Even though he'd been able to knock the warrior to the ground his strength was nothing compared to that of the barbarian's rippling muscles. If Goradon were to get a hand on his Teaeran wouldn't have much of a chance against him. Sprinting a few feet away Teaeran skidded to a stop. Then quickly loading another arrow he pulling it to full extension watching the barbarian warrior. Resounding laughter filled the training hall. Teaeran slackened the tension on the bow as Goradon pushed himself to his feet holding a hand over his bloody nose. Spitting out a mouthful of blood Goradon continued laughing. "Teaeran you certainly are a crafty one," the barbarian complimented Teaeran through his chuckles. "What happened?," Yeenya blinked. She could see the whole event playing through her mind only starting to make any sense as more time passed. Placing the practice arrow back into his quiver Teaeran as about to start explaining to Yeenya when a heavy knock pounded on the door. A moment later a group of heavily armored barbarian warriors stepped into the training hall. "Teaeran Sayer you are bound to come with us," one of the group announced. "Just a moment," Teaeran commented as he walked over to place the practice bow and quiver back on the wall with the other weapons. "Rose can you show her a bit about how to move like Pummels used to?" Rose, who stood at Goradon's side handing him a handkerchief, turned her head toward Teaeran and nodded. "Yeenya Rose will show you a bit of how to move," Teaeran explained as he grabbed a wet wash cloth to wipe the sweat off of his face with. Then grabbing another fresh damp cloth he tossed it to Goradon. "You coming to?," Teaeran asked Goradon as the warrior wiped his neck and face with the towel moving toward were most of his armor stood against the wall. "As the offended party I am bound to as well or else you would be acquitted of all accusations." Teaeran only smiled and helped Goradon fit the last few straps of his armor and grabbed a small parcel before the two left together with the armed escort. "I don't understand," Yeenya stated to Rose. "Half the time they treat Teaeran like a prisoner and the rest of the time they let him walk around and do whatever he wants." "It's complicated," Rose responded as she tilted her head to the side insinuation that Yeenya should come over to where she stood. "So what, someone attacked him and he defended himself. Plus the other day in the market place half of the vendors refused to take his money yet today they send armed guards to collect him. I just don't get it." "Like I said," Rose frowned. "It is complicated." Yeenya only pouted in response. "Fine," Rose frowned. It wasn't that Yeenya had ever done anything to bother her but yet at the same time Rose found it as difficult to like the young woman as it was for her to dislike her. "What do you know about tea?" "All around he is a good person he can be testy at time but when it," Yeenya started before Rose waived her hand to stop her. "Not that, what do you know about Tea's past?" "I know that he is well traveled," Yeenya started before she stopped to think a little more about it. "Not all that much really." "Nearly a hundred and fifty years ago there was a battle at the base of Kelethin where Teaeran's wife was killed." "He was married?" Yeenya interjected. "Please don't interrupt," Rose frowned which was met by Yeenya pursing her lips. "He wasn't married at the time but they got married after she had died." "That doesn't make sense." "Do you want to know or not?" Rose complained "Yes, I'm sorry," Yeenya apologized "Tea's wife died and he was left with an infant daughter on the same night." Yeenya's eye budged. She had not known that Teaeran had been married yet alone that he had a daughter as well. "He felt that the best course of action was to leave his daughter with me to raise while he traveled to Antonica to seek revenge against those who had attacked Kelethin and caused the death of Aloska." Rose's facial features faded while she retold the story to Yeenya. "During his time here on Antonica he spent a few years here in Halas with Ironwolf and his clan. During that time he along with seventy one other heroes of Halas went to fight the lady dragon Vox. Because he was one of the few who returned from fight that had vanquished the dragon he was blooded into the Ironwolf clan and made a citizen of Halas." "How did you know about it if you were in Kelethin the whole time raising his child?," Yeenya asked after waiting a few seconds after Rose had stopped. "He used to write nearly everyday the first few years," Rose had to blink her eyes quickly a few times as she felt them getting a little heavy as well as a touch misty. "Same as when he was on Kunark." "Rose," Yeenya interjected into the silence that followed Rose's statement. "What?" "Where you and Teaeran lovers?" "What no, nothing like that," Rose scowled. "I only took care of Crystal because I had no other choice and it is not like he would make a good father anyway. Always running off when he should have just stayed put." "Why do you always do that?," Yeenya asked. "Do what?" "You always sound like you really like him then you put him down right afterwards." "Because that man only thinks about himself and never anyone else," Rose said after only frowning for a few moments. "I disagree," Yeenya started. "And I think it is time to get back to training so pull off all of those pads," Rose ordered. Then after taking into account that loose shirt that Yeenya wore Rose sent her to get into her armor. Teaeran stepped out of the changing room adjoined to the great hall where the elders would be waiting. Flexing his arms and chest a few times he missed the feel of the old leather. The Kithicor night hunter armor was the uniform he had worn when he'd first come to Halas. The magical adornments on the armor must have protected it from decay while it sat in a store room at the Ironwolf clan's home. "Looks good on ye," Goradon grinned as he punched Teaeran in the shoulder. "It has been a long time since I had seen fit to wear this," Teaeran said as he ran his finger tips over the imbued steel ivy vines and leaves that melded seamlessly into the leather to make a single solid piece. "Aye it was a pain to find ye know," Goradon grinned. "Should be only a minute or two more before we're called in." Teaeran only nodded and turned his head slowly to the side at the sound of armored boots clanging on the polished granite floors. Thrown off balance by the sight of William Winryder striding down the hall in his full regalia he coughed, caught in the middle of swallowing and trying to breathe. "Teaeran my son," William's voice boomed. "General," Teaeran stammered before regaining his bearings. "What are you doing here?" "Ah," William grinned. "I was about to ask you the same thing but I'm here to enlist the held of the Halasians in defending Qeynos." "So Kelethin has been abandoned?," Teaeran couldn't help but to let the disappointment seep into his voice. "Shortly after you left," William stated doing his best to keep his voice and facial expressions even. "The Fer'dal, Koada'Dal, and Ayr'Dal have all relocated to Qeynos as well as the Dwarves and Gnomes. It was not just Kelethin that was lost but all of Faydwer." "The Teir'dal followed us to Qeynos?," Teaeran asked. "It would seem like that but here the cities of Qeynos and Freeport have both been fighting orc hordes of their own. We're adding our forces to those of the humans in an effort to save at least this small piece of Norrath even though we were not able to save our own home." "I see so you're here to enlist the help of the Halasians to defend Qeynos,?" Teaeran asked. "To defend Antonica," William corrected. "These hordes are not after just one citystate or one region they're out to destroy the entire world. We could really use your bow Teaeran." "We'll see in a moment if I may be able to join you," Teaeran said with a forced smile. "I was involved in an incident of mistaken identity." "I hope it is nothing to serious," William commented "I over reacted myself." "May Tunare look over her childe," William offered as a small prayer. "If everything goes well for the pair of us I would be proud to stand at your side on the battle field," Teaeran smiled genuinely. He had his own opinions of Tunare and the other gods who had abandoned the denizens of Norrath but on the flip side of the coin there was no reason for him to rub that into William's face. "Lets us hope so," William grinned placing his hand on Teaeran's shoulder. "I have three dozen ships in the harbor as well as any others that the elders will give to me. We make our exodus in two days. Before Teaeran could respond the door to the meeting room of the elders creaked open and Teaeran was summoned inside.
While the rending thread is down I'll be tossing this here. Posted is the not visable continueation of the story on page 40.
[p]thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you[/p][p] [/p][p] [/p][p]oh and btw[/p][p] [/p][p] [/p][p]THANK YOU! :-D[/p]
[p]well one more chapter and i'll post the story i've been writing on my guild's site. they seem to like it, but then again it's populated w/guildmates so that's probably why :lol:[/p][p] [/p][p]but yes you must post another! :XD:[/p]
well if those are the terms than i guess i have no choice other then to figure out the last two details about the next chapter that I've been fretting over.
[p]<<I'd like to dedicate this post to all twitching from my cliffhangers past, present and future>>[/p][p] [/p][p]Chapter X[/p][p]Family[/p][p] [/p][p] [/p][p]Teaeran sat atop the roof of the rear cabin of the great ship. With his feet dangling off of the edge he looked to the left and the right at the mighty armada that surrounded him. As his gaze turned forward he could see the metal hulled eyesores that were the gnomish ice breaker ships.[/p][p]The seas around Halas were always a dangerous place with icebergs, as the sailors called them, and the very sea its' self turned into a wrinkled sheet of ice thick enough for a man and horse to walk on. Thick and ever moving the sheet of ice was enough to crush the hull of a wooden ship like the one he was on.[/p][p]For that reason alone the pass that was now occupied by the orc and teir'dal horde was used to transport trade goods to Halas. Now in the first months of fall the sea was already cloaked in ice and even in the hottest days of summer mountain sizes blocks of ice patrolled the seas looking for ships to consume.[/p][p]Like nearly all gnomish inventions their ships were not being used for their original design. On the Halasian guardsmen who was fortunate, or unfortunate as far as Teaeran was concerned, enough to understand the gnomish gibberish that they claimed was the common tongue had explained this to Teaeran. [/p][p]The six gnomish vessels that tore and crushed the ice sheets into shreds were originally designed as fishing boats. They would pilot the monstrosity into a large school of tuna and turn on the blade and hammers. The concept was one where the boat's hammer would crash into the surface of the water pulverizing any tuna close to them while a set of ballista would fire large steel spears attached to long heavy chains to wench in any to large or deep to be effected by the hammers. [/p][p]The downfall was that the ships moved too slow to keep pace with the schools of fish. It was said amongst the crewmen that it was William Windryder himself that had come up with the idea to use the ships to devour ice instead of large quantities of fish.[/p][p]Teaeran watched the gigantic gnomish machines work. So loud roared the furnaces that fed the ships that they had always scared away their query of tuna but now they merely annoyed his ears. Yet Teaeran could not place a hand as to what was worse. The ever present obnoxious noise created by the machines that even drown out the oarsmen and drum that guided them or the giant plumes of acrid smoke that filled the air.[/p][p]Same as the foul smoke generated by a blacksmith but concentrated and overbearing all at the same time it hurt the throats of all unfortunate enough to break its toxic embrace. All at the same time though, none were spared from its sickening blanket. Even those not overcome by the sickness of an ever rocking boat were occasionally seen at the side of rail emptying their stomachs.[/p][p]Blinking his eyes to clear them of the water that had welled in them from an especially thick waif of smoke Teaeran watched the boats clear away the ice. The ballista on the bows of the gnomish ships firing forward into tick ice and wenches designed to hall in tons of fighting fish instead pulled the metal encased ships onto the sheets of ice. There after the weight of the ships cracked the ice beneath them and allowed the hammers to pulverize the once thick sheet of ice into pieces small enough to slip into a glass of chilled wine.[/p][p]Just barely over the dull roar of the gnomish ships, and constant shouting of shipwrights hurrying to patch the holes created by pieces of ice larger then a mammoth that escaped the gnomish ships, Teaeran could barely make out someone calling for his named. Looking across the length of the ship before him, he could make out Rose shouting to him and waiving her arms to get his attention.[/p][p]Giving him self a push Teaeran allowed himself to fall the fifteen or so feet to the ever so slightly swaying deck and walked over to her.[/p][p]"It has been five days now so out with it," Rose stated as she crossed her arms across her chest.[/p][p]"Out with what?," Teaeran feigned ignorance.[/p][p]Rose stamped her food on the deck of the ship to avoid from hitting the man. Even though it drew looks from the surrounding crew it was less obtrusive then if she had decided the slug him. Teaeran had righted his behavior to the point that he was no long a walking gloom but he was still able to get under her skin at the drop of a hat.[/p][p]"You're meeting with the elders!" Rose al but shouted at him. "You've been rambling along for the last few days and still haven't told any of us what happened."[/p][p]"Oh that," Teaeran paused tapping his forefinger against his chin as if trying to remember what she was talking about. "Why don't you ask Goradon he was there to."[/p][p]"I did you *******," Rose shouted as she punched him in the chin. "He said it wasn't his place and I should talk to you."[/p][p]"Ouch that hurt you know," Teaeran said as he rocked his jaw back and forth. "No wonder you can't find a husband running around slugging people."[/p][p]Teaeran couldn't help but to smile widely as Rose stomped away across the deck.[/p][p]"Ye really get a kick out of giving her a hard time don't ye," Goradon's voice boomed from behind Teaeran. It was not that the barbarian warrior was shouting just that a man of his size had an encompassing booming voice that caused Teaeran to flinch.[/p][p]"Yeah," Teaeran said still grinning as he turned to face Goradon, "I guess I do."[/p][p]"That was a little harsh about her finding a husband though wasn't it?"[/p][p]"Eh," Teaeran shrugged.[/p][p]"Ye do know that by the time you tell her she's going to slug yah for so much build up over nothing really."[/p][p]"I'm sure," Teaeran's grin returned to his face. "At first I was just too busy with Mr. Windryder spreading the word inviting warriors to come south to fight the horde in the pass rather then waiting until the spring thaw. So I just didn't have a chance to explain things to her and before I realized it she was acting like this."[/p][p]Goradon only shock his head and patted Teaeran's shoulder with out of meaty hands.[/p][p]"Just don't come crying to me when she dots you eye when you eventually tell her."[/p][p]"It's a deal then," Teaeran chuckled before heading off to find William.[/p]
/runs screaming in horror that she completely guessed the gnomish technology that could be corrupted to create an icebreaker ship & it's original purpose, after Niko dropped her a few very vague hints. /Stops for a moment to contemplate the financial gain from setting up a gnomish 'skunkworks' w/ Niko. /Continues screaming.
[p]Well I was watching a TV show on the Ross ice sheet <insert rant about destroying the earth, devoping third world countries, stupid humans and how much Niko hates Greenpeace and Peta yet hates all of humanity even more> /pant pant pant[/p][p]But anywho back to the point. So they had this cool like 15 second long peice where the bow of the ice breaker is jumping a good like 5 - 6 feet into the air above the ice sheet then crashes back down shattering the ice in teh process. So plugging that into my scenaro with Hala's port being frozen the majoriety of the time (think that northern island processing plant in deathliest cath) I needed a way to get my halasian warriors down to the kanaran plains. MY my militaristic mind put together this concept of the gnomes making some sort of ice breaker ship. Then combine that with some eq1 lore (from velious expansion, God I'e been an eq geek for WAY too long) of the gnomes having a shap with mechanical hammers to smash up the ice.[/p][p]But see jsut big hammers wasn't cool enough. So i have this image in my mind of them firing balista into the sheet of ice to haul the boat up onto the ice then the hammers pulverizing the ice into little peices. But in the end Nikohates gnomes to, but all the time i have to reconize their place in fantasy. So every gnome invention has to be pointless in its orrigional concept but canbe put to better ues at a later time. IE klackers, and Tea's portable meat smoker <gnomish tan revitilizer, invted by a vain gnome that wanted to keep his tan while visiting colder regions of the world. but in the end ended up cooking himself extra crispy and made for very tender meat according to the trolls that ate him.>[/p][p]But i get off topic again. So yeah these balasta bolt shot out and burry them selves into the ice only to hault the ship up on the ice and then smash it all to pieces. Yet... since they put all of hte technology into killing tuna <since that is what theship's orrigional design was> They forgot to add a propulsion system. hehehe so the ice breakers make a good pace across ice but other then that they have to be towed around by other ships.[/p]
[p]Well, I suppose since you posted the next chapter :mrgreen: that I now have to copy over my story. It's one chapter away from completing the first book. No where near as good as my fav threads, but not horribly awful either (least that's what I'm told).[/p][p] [/p][p]Edit: OK, it's posted go read and try to be gentle. [/p][p] [/p]
Yay! *does the snoopy happy dance* *hugs Tea/Niko* *shrieks in delight at the masses of story to read* *hugs Tea/Niko again for good measure*
Just to give a little update about the issue that is causing havoc on the Rending thread: There is a new build of the forums in line for internal testing. This build *should* have a fix for the bug that is locking your original story thread, and once it's all better, we can merge this into that one and keep the flow going. ETA is "Soon(tm)!" ie: Once it's fully tested we can slate a date for a forum patch. Sorry!
[p]/humbly bows before Grimwell[/p][p]As always you are the means to keeping things good and well[/p][p] [/p][p]Edit: As a side note is there anyway to make my title as 'slayer of threads' or something along that line instead of lore master? I mean i did manage to kill 3 so far.[/p]
