Stories/TwistingWind
I'm still working on this story, but what I've got down here is fairly self-sufficent. Twisting Wind is a favorite NPC of mine from my Chronicles' second coming, of the batch I made to populate it. Quick rundown, though I don't think it's hugely necessary to enjoy the story; in my Chroncile, the players have conquered much of the South and reinstated the Solar Deliberative to some large degree -- along with other worldshaking events.
A Canyon in the South, near Gem\\ “Well,” Twisting Wind said to himself softly as he continued to hold onto the shaft of his spear hanging over a tall gorge. “This is certainly a fine mess you’ve gotten yourself into,” he continued, grinning just a bit as he looked down below him. Sure enough, the Zukuluka were still down there, anxiously waiting for his grip to fail and for him to plummet the hundreds of feet down to the bottom of the canyon. “Now the question is, how do you intend to get us out of it?”
Falling silent, the Eclipse just hung there, wishing the wind would give up for a moment or that his hands would stop aching. He’d been up here nearly 20 minutes now. He’d hoped to get a little higher, to tell the truth. It was a foolish plan anyway, but he had been forced to find a way to get free of the Butcher – jumping to the other side of the canyon just wasn’t possible; it was too far across for his own meager legs. Maybe if it had been Kaea, she’d have been able to make the leap, but he couldn’t have done it. Even with a running jump!
Therefore, he’d tossed his spear with all of his strength, and then leaped after it – grabbing hold on the outer wall of the canyon. Effectively being trapped here, however, was not his plan. He’d hoped to swing his way around the spear, kick off and perhaps do an acrobatic flip up to the edge of the cliff face and then pull his way out. However, he’d landed too low on the wall and he knew that he’d never be able to make that jump.
No, there was no way he was going to get up to the top of the cliff. Which, really, left only one option. Glancing down once again, at the gathered Zukuluka, he grimaced slightly. The almost legendary Wyld Barbarians, with the snouts of pigs and cloven feet. Famed for their ability to eat anything, and dine on the very soul. It didn’t surprise him very much that they had been associating with the Abyssals, when he thought about it. He was just glad, as he begins to move muscles that had just begun to go numb, that the Butcher hadn’t stayed to see what his final fate would be. That would have been yet another strike against him that he just didn’t need.
Slowly, he gained momentum, kicking his feet and adjusting his hands as he began to twirl around the spear just as he’d envisioned. He could hear the murmuring of the pig-men below and grinned slightly at what he imagined was their confusion. Then, just as he had picked up starting to get a little dizzy, he adjusted his course slightly twisting his body to the left. Feet impacted rock, and he tightened his grip on the spear as he kicked his way free of the cliff face!
He was falling now, the air rushing past him as he plummeted with his spear in hand. His own voice joined the screaming of the wind, as he let out one of the War Cries common to his tribe and zeroed in one on of the rather startled Wyld Barbarians.
There was the sound of meat hitting meat, a scream cut short as a fall had abruptly ended. Twisting Wind didn’t let his elation at being on the ground or the pain of the bruises he’d taken distract him however. “Hey, thanks for breaking my fall,” he said in quick-witted Flametounge, even as he redoubled his grip on his spear and grinned at the approaching Wyld Barbarians. “Ooh, I’m sorry, I guess he can’t answer me very well right now can he?”
Then, the battle began.
A Good Deal Earlier, in Gem\\ Twisting Wind didn’t much like Gem. He imagined it went back to his days as a boy in the Del`Zahn Horde, when so many of the older men were consumed with lust for the treasures of the city. Most of them just bothered with finding pretty rocks and selling them to the Despots merchants in exchange for silver, tools, weapons, sweetmeats, a night with whores or the various other things that could be hard to get on the open desert. Some went beyond that, however, selling their children or unwed sisters to the Guild. A few entire tribes had been taken in and resorted to capturing men to be sent off into chains. In his mind, Gem stood for all of that and thus he didn’t much like it.
However, the Chikee had begun to notice a few strange irregularities in Gem lately and him and Kaea had been dispatched to investigate further. He, of course, was investigating through the guise of diplomatic relations. Kaea…well, Kaea was around here somewhere. He’d probably run into her eventually, either once she got bored or once she found something important. She tended to be the kind of girl that liked working on her own.
So far things had been pretty ordinary, with dinners and discussions and other diplomats and all the things he’d grown used to in representing the Rohan Empire. Few people in the Threshold wanted to take a risk of pissing off the Anathema Kingdom, so he tended to be treated like visiting Royalty. Which, in a way, he was but none the less there was usually a tinge of fear around this respect. Which was also somewhat earned…
One thing had bothered him, however. Except for a few glimpses during the dinner the first night he’d come here, he hadn’t really seen Rankar himself. It seemed as if he was being herded through the loops, but wasn’t getting much contact from the leader himself. True, he got treated like this whenever he was in Paragon (creepy place, even for a Realm Satrapy), but Gem was the kind of place where the Ruler should be all over him trying to convince him how much in favor he was of the Rohan Empire and how he meant no harm.
Maybe the Chikee were really onto something here; he’d find out tonight.
Back in the Canyon\\ There was, for once, no time for diplomacy. His left side and Shoulder, where he’d impacted the Zukuluka, was aching but he knew that he had to get up and fight or he’d just be dinner for a bunch of Wyld Twisted freaks who would consume both his body and his soul. Maybe even his Godspark would be in danger, in these beasts maw.
The Eclipse barely had stood up and gotten his Spear-guard ready by the time he was set upon by three of the beasts, who tried to slash open his flesh with their powerful claws. A Castemark burning on his brow, he rolled away from them like a Reed in the Wind, moving by instinct even as his spear moved out to knock aside a spear-thrust from one of the other barbarians! Easily knocking the beasts spear aside, he reversed his hold on the spear and brought the point of it up the beasts stomach – the dumb Pig ran right into it like a boar impaling itself in it’s attempt to vent it’s rage, blood running down it’s wounds.
To the eclipses horror, though, it merely continued to advance – running up the length of the Spear in an attempt to reach the human that had drawn his blood. The things mouth moved, shouting out some insensible taunt! The other Barbarians struck then, and Twisting Wind quickly pulled out the spear even as he dodged away from their blows – one slashed at air, but another managed to tear his already-bruised shoulder sending a fresh dram of pain up his arm.
Barely a moment to think, Twisting Wind summoned up more of his Essence and threw back his aching arm, unleashing the spear in a vicious throw – it burned golden in the light of his magic as it sliced out toward the Barbarians, sinking into one of them and continuing past that beast to spear another! The first beast, hit solidly in the chest, was forced to the ground as the Spear blasted past him with it’s Sun-given strength! The second, though, was less injured by the then-slowed spear but it nonetheless imbedded itself in his shoulder and slowed him down.
Now aglow with Solar Fire, Twisting Wind was caught off-guard as more of the Wyld Barbarians charged at him – two of the pigs just heading past their wounded and dying friends and aiming right at him with their claws gleaming in the noon-day sun. Unable to move aside quick enough, their sharp-sharp claws cut into his flesh. One, grunting hideously, raised his body up and lapped at his blood, letting out a hideous laugh.
The pain was so bad that he could barely think, much less act, and he knew that this was it, the end, he was going to die. Even so, he wasn’t going to die easily – maneuvering for the knife sheath in the back of his boot, he could feel the hot metal of the hilt in his hands. “Here’s a utensil!” he yelled out, as he suddenly drew the blade and thrust it up under the Barbarians chin in one smooth motion.
Even more blood flowed down readily from the wound, and the beast let go of him in pain sending him to the ground with a final ignoble thud. He laughed, then, even as he bled to death and stared up at the remaining barbarians! “Come on! Come and get me!”
A few of them were prepared to take him up on the offer, moving slowly and cautiously forward when he heard a whistling in the air and saw the overpowering glare of more Solar Fire whistling past him. Five Dazzling Flares burst through the canyon, raining down on the Pig Men like a Storm of Arrows. They cried out as the burning arrows hit, trying to tear them free even as they were consumed by the brilliant burning essence.
Then, with five wet thumps, they collapsed onto the ground – critically wounded, or dead from the sudden onslaught. Twisting Wind slowly pulled himself up, gathering his breathe, trying to breath easily even through the pain in his chest. “About time you showed up,” he commented, idly, as he willed his bleeding to stop.
“Yeah, well,” Kaela said softly, as she moved closer, putting arrows in the two Zukuluka that still twitched lightly, “It’s a good thing I did. I wouldn’t want to have told Balthasar that I’d let you get killed, now would I?
Twisting Wind just laughed, “Oh come now, we both know he’d just bring me back and put me right to work.”
She grinned a bit at that, and helped him up.
