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A Rose In The Wind: A Saga of the Halmae -- Updated June 19, 2014
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<blockquote data-quote="ellinor" data-source="post: 4987510" data-attributes="member: 14561"><p><strong>7x03</strong></p><p></p><p>“TAVI!” It was all Savina could do to stop herself from running into the middle of the circle to the fighter’s side. But instead, she prayed. As she prayed, she could feel Alirria’s warmth course through her. Tavi’s eyes blinked open and, slowly, he began to push himself up. </p><p></p><p>Lurx puffed his chest and roared. The derro crowd cheered, beating their swords against their armor. In the din, Savina could hear their allies. Twiggy was chanting a spell. Mena was barking what Savina supposed was encouragement, her armor hissing and sputtering and roaring with intimidating fury. Zirkai was berating Tavi for being slow to rise. Where was Arden?</p><p></p><p>As soon as Tavi was on his feet, his sword ignited. A burst of flame caught Lurx and the derro behind him. But Lurx still had the high ground.</p><p></p><p>Kormick’s voice boomed from beside Savina. “He’s above you! Now’s the time for the femoral artery!” </p><p></p><p>“Slice his balls off!” screamed a voice from across the room. It came from a Sovereign woman. Savina hadn’t noticed her before. Where had she come from?</p><p></p><p>“Who is that enchanting creature?” Kormick quipped.</p><p></p><p>Savina didn’t have time to marvel at Kormick’s gallows humor—or, apparently, his romantic preferences. Although Alirria had given Tavi renewed strength, Lurx was giving him quite a beating. </p><p></p><p>From his place atop the pile of scree, Lurx had pushed Tavi into a small crowd of derro. Tavi’s hummingbird flew out of the crowd, confusing Lurx for a moment, and Lurx smashed one of the derro, nearly killing his own ally. It gave Tavi the chance get in one more good strike before Lurx shoved him to the ground with a massive, crunching punch. It hurt to hear.</p><p></p><p>Tavi was unconscious, again.</p><p></p><p>###</p><p></p><p>The last set of shackles was the dwarven boy’s. “Thurran?” Arden asked. A dusty head bobbed up and down in assent. He tugged at his restraints, clearly itching to pull free. </p><p></p><p>Arden looked around for help in communicating with the boy. Nyoko, who had translated before, was too far away and too close to the fighting to be any help. Her Sovereign voice rang out as loud as anyone’s: “Now you’ve got him!” “Hit him harder!” “Slice him good!” </p><p></p><p>Arden tried her best to express to Thurran that he should stay here, in the passage, where it was safe, but she knew it was a losing proposition. Arden positioned herself in the tunnel between Thurran and the fighting, fixed Thurran with a stern look, and popped open the shackles. He pushed forward toward her, then against her . . . but did not pass her. As long as she was blocking the way, he would not force himself through. They would both have to watch the battle from here.</p><p></p><p>###</p><p></p><p>Zirkai was really starting to piss Mena off. </p><p></p><p>It would be glib to say that berating Tavi was Mena’s job, but by the Cursed Bitch, it certainly wasn’t Zirkai’s. Yet there was Zirkai, harping from the sidelines as if she could do it better. </p><p></p><p>“Let me at ’im!” Zirkai slurred. “I’ll show you some real fight!”</p><p></p><p>Then Tavi went down, again. He lay just a few feet from Mena. Just out of reach. </p><p></p><p>Mena gripped her sword in frustration and anger. The derro were in near-riot conditions. Their little band seemed almost out of options. She knew it was not yet the right time, tactically, to break out of single combat… <em>but is it the only time?</em> Her body tensed as she prepared to rush in. </p><p></p><p>Mena was torn from her quandary by the piercing voice of Zirkai. “Lemme help!” she screamed, from the other side of the circle. Zirkai pushed and shoved at Savina. “Lemme go! Now!” Zirkai kept yelling, pushing. Savina, stunned, let her pass. Zirkai began jostling her way around the circle toward Mena.</p><p></p><p>“Lemme through! I can help!” Zirkai sounded almost lucid now, as she forced herself through a knot of derro. By the time she reached Twiggy, she had some momentum. Twiggy added to it, with a shove on the back. Kormick pushed even harder. By the time she reached Mena, Zirkai was almost airborne. </p><p></p><p>Mena grabbed Zirkai, pulled her forward, and planted her in front of Tavi. </p><p></p><p>Zirkai leaned down and yelled, inches from Tavi’s ear. “GET UP! GET UP YOU LAZY BASTARD!” </p><p></p><p>And something amazing happened: Tavi got up.</p><p></p><p>And he got up strong. This time, Tavi’s sword swung true, and hit twice, once on each of Lurx’s enormous arms. Now Lurx was starting to bleed, and finally, <em>finally,</em> beginning to show some small signs of slowing down. </p><p></p><p>Zirkai kept yelling. “Oath breakers! Scum!”</p><p></p><p>That didn’t help. Lurx had Tavi in his grasp again, and threw him again—this time, Tavi landed directly <em>on top</em> of Mena and they rolled in a tangled heap. It made Mena hurt, and it wasn’t a good idea to make Mena hurt.</p><p></p><p>“You okay?” She asked, as she helped Tavi up.</p><p></p><p>Tavi swallowed hard and looked over to the corner where Rose stood in front of the crowd of dwarves. “Still going,” he replied.</p><p></p><p>Mena steeled Tavi with a look of cool preparation. “Remember your training,” she urged. “Use your environment. All of it.” Tavi looked around, nodded in understanding, and without another word, pushed off against Mena and barreled across the ring, hurling himself into Lurx so hard that it pushed Lurx against the electrical moss on the wall. Then he stepped back and swung his sword, and its green flame married with the green electricity of the moss and Lurx—finally—shook with what looked like pain.</p><p></p><p>When Mena recovered from the shove, she turned to Zirkai, who was still screaming her head off. </p><p></p><p>“You will never call that boy lazy again,” she said, calmly. </p><p></p><p>“OATHBREAKERS! HOMEWRECKERS!”</p><p></p><p>“Shut. Up.” Mena said, and slapped Zirkai across the face.</p><p></p><p>For the first time, Zirkai shut up.</p><p></p><p>###</p><p></p><p>Arden thought it would feel better, unlocking the dwarves. And it did, mostly. She’d <em>chosen</em> to free the slaves. Whatever happened next, she’d done that. Thurran was vibrating with excitement behind her, and she understood his feeling. She shared it: She'd claimed a moment of freedom, which, as always, left her feeling strong and craving more—</p><p></p><p>—but she would need to remember to address the boy as Master Thurran now. And she would need to learn Nyoko's title and use it scrupulously. She touched the bracelet on her own wrist, the one shackle she couldn't remove. They were free, but she wasn't. So it didn't simply feel better, unlocking the dwarves. It also felt wrong. </p><p></p><p>She heard Nyoko’s voice, across the room, addressing Signor Octavian: “Keep pushing!” She felt Thurran's small hands against her back as he fought to contain himself. <em>They did this to Thurran, to the others,</em> she thought. <em>They forced us to wade through blood to stop them. And we're following <strong>their</strong> rules of combat?</em> It was wrong. </p><p></p><p>Everything about this was wrong. And it wasn’t even over.</p><p></p><p>Arden peeked through a space between the derro, and what she saw put the finishing touch on her anger. Signor Octavian—bruised and battered in a way Arden had almost never seen in a freeperson—sliced at Lurx’s side as Lurx raised his arm. Lurx was hurt, but nothing like the young Signor. Arden knew death’s door intimately, and this well-intentioned kid had stood under its lintel for too long already. Lurx let out a bellowing roar, swung his powerful fist, and punched. The Signor staggered back. Unconscious. Again. </p><p></p><p>That was it. This needed to be over, <em>now.</em> Arden pulled the shortsword from her belt and stabbed the nearest derro in the back. It tumbled forward into the circle, dead.</p><p></p><p>###</p><p></p><p>There was a brief moment of silence—ever so brief—as the derro in the circle realized what had happened. </p><p></p><p>Then all hell broke loose. Derro stopped pounding their armor and began stabbing at the nearest heathen. Hood was the first to get hit—she had started it, Nyoko supposed—and Armor, Glasses, and the Alirrian girl weren’t far behind. The derro fought with the manner of those afraid of their attackers, and they were right to be: Sword had gotten up three times from unconsciousness, and had made Lurx bleed. Now they would see what his friends could do. Armor’s sword sliced one of the foremen; Glasses chanted a spell; the Alirrian girl prayed. Two derro shook and collapsed.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, the young dwarf—Thurran—came hurtling out of the passageway, screaming and letting loose a barrage of rocks that seemed larger than himself. Nyoko witnessed it, although it seemed unbelievable: the rocks hit four derro in the heads with such force that they fell, bleeding, to the ground. They weren’t so outnumbered anymore . . . and less outnumbered by the minute, as two more fell, batting at some imaginary foe in the air.</p><p></p><p><em>DM’S Note: That would be the use of Thurran’s Daily Power, by the way…”</em></p><p></p><p>Warhammers stood in front of Lurx, held his hammers in front of himself, and said a word: “Elizabet!” Raw energy crackled from between the hammers, shooting out toward Lurx and then on toward the green moss. Lurx trembled from the energy of the blast and the moss at once, but Warhammers was not done—in a single motion, he hooked his hammers back on his belt, pulled out two crossbows, took a step back, and fired two bolts straight into Lurx’s chest. Lurx staggered back, batting at the crossbow bolts, finally showing weakness. </p><p></p><p><em>There’s my opening.</em> Nyoko grabbed a rock in one hand and a shortsword from one of the fallen derro, and whirled into the center of the circle. <em>I don’t know you, but sorry,</em> she thought, as she stepped on to Sword’s unconscious body and pushed off, propelling herself into the air and slicing at Lurx’s neck. The sword connected with a satisfying <em>swish</em>.</p><p></p><p>“We really need to win this fight,” she said, as she landed next to Warhammers. <em>And is that a holy symbol under his robe?</em> she thought.</p><p></p><p>“Really?” he replied, “I was thinking we could just call it a tie and move on.” He let loose another crossbow bolt. It hit.</p><p></p><p>“I am tired of teaching you your place!” Lurx bellowed at Nyoko, reaching down toward her. She somersaulted from his reach, but he came after her again, grabbing, crushing. Suddenly, she was up in the air, then hitting the wall . . . pain screamed from her joints and she could feel the warmth of blood against her temple. </p><p></p><p>Armor planted her feet and her armor hissed at Lurx. “<em>You’re</em> tired? Really?” She lifted her sword above her head and brought it down across the body of the last remaining foreman. Blood poured from his chest as he fell.</p><p></p><p>Lurx staggered back to the center of the room, where the Alirrian girl was kneeling over Sword. “You!” he roared. Sword’s eyes fluttered open. Lurx reared back to swing . . . and the Alirrian girl brandished her holy symbol. “Alirria!” She yelled. “Lend us your might!” </p><p></p><p><em>Alirria? Might? What a strange turn of phrase,</em> Nyoko thought—but as the girl yelled, the cave itself seemed to tremble in response and ray of light burst from the Alirrian holy symbol, engulfing Lurx in blinding light and knocking him backward. With a great cry of anguish, Lurx fell to the floor, finally, still.</p><p></p><p>Warhammers approached the body and poked it with his toe. Then he shot the dead body with a crossbow bolt. </p><p></p><p>“I like how you think, Honored Justicar,” said Nyoko.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ellinor, post: 4987510, member: 14561"] [b]7x03[/b] “TAVI!” It was all Savina could do to stop herself from running into the middle of the circle to the fighter’s side. But instead, she prayed. As she prayed, she could feel Alirria’s warmth course through her. Tavi’s eyes blinked open and, slowly, he began to push himself up. Lurx puffed his chest and roared. The derro crowd cheered, beating their swords against their armor. In the din, Savina could hear their allies. Twiggy was chanting a spell. Mena was barking what Savina supposed was encouragement, her armor hissing and sputtering and roaring with intimidating fury. Zirkai was berating Tavi for being slow to rise. Where was Arden? As soon as Tavi was on his feet, his sword ignited. A burst of flame caught Lurx and the derro behind him. But Lurx still had the high ground. Kormick’s voice boomed from beside Savina. “He’s above you! Now’s the time for the femoral artery!” “Slice his balls off!” screamed a voice from across the room. It came from a Sovereign woman. Savina hadn’t noticed her before. Where had she come from? “Who is that enchanting creature?” Kormick quipped. Savina didn’t have time to marvel at Kormick’s gallows humor—or, apparently, his romantic preferences. Although Alirria had given Tavi renewed strength, Lurx was giving him quite a beating. From his place atop the pile of scree, Lurx had pushed Tavi into a small crowd of derro. Tavi’s hummingbird flew out of the crowd, confusing Lurx for a moment, and Lurx smashed one of the derro, nearly killing his own ally. It gave Tavi the chance get in one more good strike before Lurx shoved him to the ground with a massive, crunching punch. It hurt to hear. Tavi was unconscious, again. ### The last set of shackles was the dwarven boy’s. “Thurran?” Arden asked. A dusty head bobbed up and down in assent. He tugged at his restraints, clearly itching to pull free. Arden looked around for help in communicating with the boy. Nyoko, who had translated before, was too far away and too close to the fighting to be any help. Her Sovereign voice rang out as loud as anyone’s: “Now you’ve got him!” “Hit him harder!” “Slice him good!” Arden tried her best to express to Thurran that he should stay here, in the passage, where it was safe, but she knew it was a losing proposition. Arden positioned herself in the tunnel between Thurran and the fighting, fixed Thurran with a stern look, and popped open the shackles. He pushed forward toward her, then against her . . . but did not pass her. As long as she was blocking the way, he would not force himself through. They would both have to watch the battle from here. ### Zirkai was really starting to piss Mena off. It would be glib to say that berating Tavi was Mena’s job, but by the Cursed Bitch, it certainly wasn’t Zirkai’s. Yet there was Zirkai, harping from the sidelines as if she could do it better. “Let me at ’im!” Zirkai slurred. “I’ll show you some real fight!” Then Tavi went down, again. He lay just a few feet from Mena. Just out of reach. Mena gripped her sword in frustration and anger. The derro were in near-riot conditions. Their little band seemed almost out of options. She knew it was not yet the right time, tactically, to break out of single combat… [i]but is it the only time?[/i] Her body tensed as she prepared to rush in. Mena was torn from her quandary by the piercing voice of Zirkai. “Lemme help!” she screamed, from the other side of the circle. Zirkai pushed and shoved at Savina. “Lemme go! Now!” Zirkai kept yelling, pushing. Savina, stunned, let her pass. Zirkai began jostling her way around the circle toward Mena. “Lemme through! I can help!” Zirkai sounded almost lucid now, as she forced herself through a knot of derro. By the time she reached Twiggy, she had some momentum. Twiggy added to it, with a shove on the back. Kormick pushed even harder. By the time she reached Mena, Zirkai was almost airborne. Mena grabbed Zirkai, pulled her forward, and planted her in front of Tavi. Zirkai leaned down and yelled, inches from Tavi’s ear. “GET UP! GET UP YOU LAZY BASTARD!” And something amazing happened: Tavi got up. And he got up strong. This time, Tavi’s sword swung true, and hit twice, once on each of Lurx’s enormous arms. Now Lurx was starting to bleed, and finally, [i]finally,[/i] beginning to show some small signs of slowing down. Zirkai kept yelling. “Oath breakers! Scum!” That didn’t help. Lurx had Tavi in his grasp again, and threw him again—this time, Tavi landed directly [i]on top[/i] of Mena and they rolled in a tangled heap. It made Mena hurt, and it wasn’t a good idea to make Mena hurt. “You okay?” She asked, as she helped Tavi up. Tavi swallowed hard and looked over to the corner where Rose stood in front of the crowd of dwarves. “Still going,” he replied. Mena steeled Tavi with a look of cool preparation. “Remember your training,” she urged. “Use your environment. All of it.” Tavi looked around, nodded in understanding, and without another word, pushed off against Mena and barreled across the ring, hurling himself into Lurx so hard that it pushed Lurx against the electrical moss on the wall. Then he stepped back and swung his sword, and its green flame married with the green electricity of the moss and Lurx—finally—shook with what looked like pain. When Mena recovered from the shove, she turned to Zirkai, who was still screaming her head off. “You will never call that boy lazy again,” she said, calmly. “OATHBREAKERS! HOMEWRECKERS!” “Shut. Up.” Mena said, and slapped Zirkai across the face. For the first time, Zirkai shut up. ### Arden thought it would feel better, unlocking the dwarves. And it did, mostly. She’d [i]chosen[/i] to free the slaves. Whatever happened next, she’d done that. Thurran was vibrating with excitement behind her, and she understood his feeling. She shared it: She'd claimed a moment of freedom, which, as always, left her feeling strong and craving more— —but she would need to remember to address the boy as Master Thurran now. And she would need to learn Nyoko's title and use it scrupulously. She touched the bracelet on her own wrist, the one shackle she couldn't remove. They were free, but she wasn't. So it didn't simply feel better, unlocking the dwarves. It also felt wrong. She heard Nyoko’s voice, across the room, addressing Signor Octavian: “Keep pushing!” She felt Thurran's small hands against her back as he fought to contain himself. [i]They did this to Thurran, to the others,[/i] she thought. [i]They forced us to wade through blood to stop them. And we're following [b]their[/b] rules of combat?[/i] It was wrong. Everything about this was wrong. And it wasn’t even over. Arden peeked through a space between the derro, and what she saw put the finishing touch on her anger. Signor Octavian—bruised and battered in a way Arden had almost never seen in a freeperson—sliced at Lurx’s side as Lurx raised his arm. Lurx was hurt, but nothing like the young Signor. Arden knew death’s door intimately, and this well-intentioned kid had stood under its lintel for too long already. Lurx let out a bellowing roar, swung his powerful fist, and punched. The Signor staggered back. Unconscious. Again. That was it. This needed to be over, [i]now.[/i] Arden pulled the shortsword from her belt and stabbed the nearest derro in the back. It tumbled forward into the circle, dead. ### There was a brief moment of silence—ever so brief—as the derro in the circle realized what had happened. Then all hell broke loose. Derro stopped pounding their armor and began stabbing at the nearest heathen. Hood was the first to get hit—she had started it, Nyoko supposed—and Armor, Glasses, and the Alirrian girl weren’t far behind. The derro fought with the manner of those afraid of their attackers, and they were right to be: Sword had gotten up three times from unconsciousness, and had made Lurx bleed. Now they would see what his friends could do. Armor’s sword sliced one of the foremen; Glasses chanted a spell; the Alirrian girl prayed. Two derro shook and collapsed. Suddenly, the young dwarf—Thurran—came hurtling out of the passageway, screaming and letting loose a barrage of rocks that seemed larger than himself. Nyoko witnessed it, although it seemed unbelievable: the rocks hit four derro in the heads with such force that they fell, bleeding, to the ground. They weren’t so outnumbered anymore . . . and less outnumbered by the minute, as two more fell, batting at some imaginary foe in the air. [i]DM’S Note: That would be the use of Thurran’s Daily Power, by the way…”[/i] Warhammers stood in front of Lurx, held his hammers in front of himself, and said a word: “Elizabet!” Raw energy crackled from between the hammers, shooting out toward Lurx and then on toward the green moss. Lurx trembled from the energy of the blast and the moss at once, but Warhammers was not done—in a single motion, he hooked his hammers back on his belt, pulled out two crossbows, took a step back, and fired two bolts straight into Lurx’s chest. Lurx staggered back, batting at the crossbow bolts, finally showing weakness. [i]There’s my opening.[/i] Nyoko grabbed a rock in one hand and a shortsword from one of the fallen derro, and whirled into the center of the circle. [i]I don’t know you, but sorry,[/i] she thought, as she stepped on to Sword’s unconscious body and pushed off, propelling herself into the air and slicing at Lurx’s neck. The sword connected with a satisfying [i]swish[/i]. “We really need to win this fight,” she said, as she landed next to Warhammers. [i]And is that a holy symbol under his robe?[/i] she thought. “Really?” he replied, “I was thinking we could just call it a tie and move on.” He let loose another crossbow bolt. It hit. “I am tired of teaching you your place!” Lurx bellowed at Nyoko, reaching down toward her. She somersaulted from his reach, but he came after her again, grabbing, crushing. Suddenly, she was up in the air, then hitting the wall . . . pain screamed from her joints and she could feel the warmth of blood against her temple. Armor planted her feet and her armor hissed at Lurx. “[i]You’re[/i] tired? Really?” She lifted her sword above her head and brought it down across the body of the last remaining foreman. Blood poured from his chest as he fell. Lurx staggered back to the center of the room, where the Alirrian girl was kneeling over Sword. “You!” he roared. Sword’s eyes fluttered open. Lurx reared back to swing . . . and the Alirrian girl brandished her holy symbol. “Alirria!” She yelled. “Lend us your might!” [i]Alirria? Might? What a strange turn of phrase,[/i] Nyoko thought—but as the girl yelled, the cave itself seemed to tremble in response and ray of light burst from the Alirrian holy symbol, engulfing Lurx in blinding light and knocking him backward. With a great cry of anguish, Lurx fell to the floor, finally, still. Warhammers approached the body and poked it with his toe. Then he shot the dead body with a crossbow bolt. “I like how you think, Honored Justicar,” said Nyoko. [/QUOTE]
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A Rose In The Wind: A Saga of the Halmae -- Updated June 19, 2014
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