Closed [The Anthonius Fighter's Pit]Through Swords and Shields

[Garland]

His flurry had worked to some extent, but it seemed that Daresh still had some fight in him. It was expected since he was a knight. He had fought battles longer than this and far more frequently.

Garland had fought a few prolonged skirmishes, but it was always with a group, always with someone to switch with him when needed. Still, if he was fighting Daresh when he just joined the squirehood, he would most likely be panting and nearly on his knees.

Now though, he still had a few more minutes of fighting in him. By the looks of it, Daresh had made a solid defense up front. His sides were unprotected but he could quickly move to cover that. It would be best to break his defenses, aim for the legs.

Garland took a deep breath, calming himself a bit and licked the sweat forming on his upper lip. "You're pretty good yourself." He replied to him and circled him slowly, he was just catching a short breather.

Garland tensed his muscles and ran forward, making his shield ram into Daresh's own. The bash was hard, even though Garland was tired, he put as much energy in that bash as he could..

The squire crouched down and extended his leg and literally swept Daresh off his feet. He wasn't making the same mistake twice, this time he put in a lot more power into his kick. Though he felt his leg hurt as it hit Daresh's armored leg.

Catherine had enough of this facade. It is true that Daresh was holding back, but she didn't expect that he held back this much. She grabbed a sword and shield and walked down to the pit.

"Is this really the best you can do Daresh? I would have expected more, even if you were holding back." She said with a scowl on her face, she didn't actually mean it, in truth this fight was quite admirable. Still she wanted to show him just how much Daresh held back. "Don't baby him."

She looked over to Garland and watched with a small frown. "I thought you were going to fight seriously, were you holding back because he was holding back, or have you been slacking in your training while I was gone." She said and jabbed her finger on Garland's chest, making the boy stumble back. "Right, why don't you two come at me, I'll show how to really spar!"

[Daresh]

Daresh Talir Daresh chuckled as the boy circled, that blow to the chest may have left him sore but the boy was obviously getting tired. It was apparent in his motions they were starting to become sluggish and disjointed. The squire seemed to be loosing his natural rhythm. Daresh followed the boy with his eyes, moving in tandem so as not to let the boy get on his sides. Daresh was falling into a rhythm now, it was beginning to feel almost like a real battle, a duel between knights. When Garland rushed Daresh steadied his stance bracing himself for impact, the squire's shield dropped as he gathered his strength for the obvious bash. Daresh saw his opening and instinctively his blade shot forward intending to drive the point between the squires eyes. Just barely did Daresh remember in time that this wasn't a battle to the death, this boy not his enemy but the future of the order. Daresh's concentration was broken as his sword hung in the air, when the bash came he caught it on his shield but the strength was gone, his resolve shattered. Daresh was rocked back as the unexpected leg sweep came, a loud crashing signaled the fall of the large knight. He didn't care he was sending up silent prayers, thanking Yahal and Wysar for giving him the strength to stop himself. Silent apologies to Sylir and Tyveth for losing himself in the heat of the moment. Slowly Daresh rose grunting as he did, trying to erase his near transgression from his mind. If Catherine had seen that he had nearly skewered her she gave no notice as she berated him for going down so easily. "Figured the boy could use a win, Sera Ashe", Daresh chuckled as he rose, any sign of the darkness that just plagued him gone. "If you want to go a round let me at least get this crumpled breastplate off first. Garland give me a hand with this", Daresh said waving the boy over to him sword still in hand. Walking over to the edge of the arena, away from Catherine, Daresh placed the blade on the waist high wall as he began undoing some of the straps. Daresh waited for Garland to get close before he began speaking. "Your patron is a damned good knight on a bad day so we are going to need to strategize a bit", Daresh whispered to Garland, trying to keep his words from Catherine's ears. "I will take her head on to start and try to keep her on the defense. You circle around, strike any openings she leaves and than keep your distance", Daresh instructed quietly as the last straps of his breastplate came undone. Daresh took a deep breath of relief as he placed the armor on the wall, rolling his shoulders to get the chain mail to settle as he grabbed the sword. Now he was just wearing a padded shirt, a chainmail shirt, gauntlets and greaves. "Much better", Daresh called out loudly chuckling as he did so. Slowly he rolled his head around causing several loud pops to come from his neck. Suddenly he turned and ran full tilt at Catherine from across the pit. "Charge!" Daresh yelled, partially as instruction to Garland, partially to give Catherine fair warning that they were starting. Daresh had sparred with Catherine in years past, they weren't regular partners but their blades had crossed at the training grounds more than once. Enough times for Daresh to know he was barely a match for her on his best days, hopefully having the boy to help would tilt the odds in his favor though. As Daresh closed the distance his shield swung wide, leaving his chest open, before swinging the rim of the shield with all his force at Catherine's collar. Following up with a slash aimed across her midsection Daresh brought his shield back in, bringing his shoulder in before bashing her again. Daresh didn't stop though swinging his sword like a man possessed aiming slashes at her sword arm, lead leg, chest and even a thrust at her hip. As Daresh's flurry went on his shield began to dip off center, forgotten in his assault, opening up his defenses.

[Garland]

Garland sweated a bit more when Catherine issued a challenge. He had fought Catherine before, and she was holding back so much before, yet she still knocked him flat on his rump.

"Y-Yes Ser." In truth Garland was holding back a little bit, but if he was fighting for real he would have tried to actually break his legs before. Still even if he wanted to break Daresh's legs, he probably couldn't, his defenses were too good for him to break through and set up a kneecap.

Garland went over to help Daresh with his armor, he helped him unstrap while he started talking about a plan. Daresh seemed fairly confident about fighting Catherine, even though the two of them were fairly winded.

Garland placed the armor in the sides of the pits and looked over to Daresh. "She's gonna keep an eye on both of us, but I'll try to get her when she's busy dealing with you, Ser." He said and was getting ready to walk back to Catherine.

Unfortunately, he was one caught off guard by the Daresh's sudden charge. Even as he heard the call to charge, it took a few seconds for his mind to catch up. He followed behind Daresh as he assaulted Sera Ashe with his shield and sword.

The elder knight leaned her head back, the shield barely missing her neck, she then quickly hopped back, her guard was still up and her eyes were focused on Daresh.

He was aiming at her sword arm. She blocked his slashes and thrusts with her shield, deflecting the flurry on unrelenting sword swings. It was quite a sight to behold, Catherine flowed gracefully in the pits, dodging what attacks she could and blockings the attacks that she couldn't.

"You're telegraphing your moves, Ser Talir." She said and returned his flurry with a flurry of her own. Her attacks were full of feints, aiming for an arm or an leg, only to change course at the last second and aim at a different part all together.

She had spared with Garland when he was still untested, ill-tempered, and hotheaded, she knew how to counter something raging. Then again, she was fighting someone with no formal training at the time, now though, she was sparing with a veteran knight, even if he lost himself to battle, she could not pacify him like she did with Garland.

Daresh's defenses faltered when he fought, Catherine reached in to counter and maybe knock the male knight down. As she was about to attack, she caught sight of Garland aiming to deliver a thrust from her side.

She hopped back trying to avoid the surprise attack, Garland's blade skimmed Sera Catherine's armor, it would have been merely a scratched without the armor, but she smiled at the two of them.

"Good work, I didn't see you coming, but it won't work twice on me." She said and rushed forward to Garland, sending an onslaught of slashes and thrusts to the boy.

Garland barely had time to react, Catherine was fast, very fast, she wasn't like this before, he had little time to be surprised as he attempted to block the incoming blade.

She did aimed an attack at Garland's shoulder, he raised up his shield to block the attack.

When the hit didn't come and was replaced with another attack somewhere else, he couldn't help but stagger back, his defenses were lowered as he stumbled only to see a leg come up from the side and knock him down to the dusty ground.

His cheek burned with pain, he could feel warm wetness dripping down his nose and onto his mouth. He had been kicked before, but never with an iron boot. Catherine looked over to Daresh and stepped back, away from the boy and the knight. "Come and get me!"

[Daresh]

Daresh Talir "Well how else would you have a chance, Sera", Daresh joked breathlessly. The short match against Garland had taken more out of Daresh than he would have expected. The intense assault was wearing down on his reserves as well, Daresh didn't know how much longer he would be able to keep this up but he was gonna push himself to the limit. Despite the aggressiveness Daresh wasn't losing himself to rage he was simply focusing on the offense. His defenses slipping was something that happened to him a little too often, almost costing him his life on a few occasions. Normally Daresh was a much more defensive fighter, especially if he was engaging in a duel. When Daresh had support though he tended to get a little more reckless, relying on his allies to protect him if he got in over his head. The distinct memory of the time his Patron literally tackled him out of the way when a bandit got the best of him and he didn't have time to react to what would have been a death blow. When the Catherine began to turn the pace back in her favor it only took one good slash across the chest for Daresh to get himself back into stance. It stung something terrible, Daresh would likely have some bruising, between the chainmail and padded armor beneath no serious damage was done though. Quickly Daresh dropped back getting his shield back in position, firmly guarding his right side and the majority of his torso, not impeding his sword arm though. When Catherine pressed with a flurry of her own Daresh held up pretty well, deflecting some of the strikes with the flat of his blade, catching a few more on his shield. Daresh lacked Catherine's speed and grace though, he could hardly manage to dodge any of her attacks, something he knew from experience. Seeing them coming wasn't a problem though, it was just getting out of the way he couldn't manage, so instead Daresh would just brace himself, firming up his muscles and taking the strike full on, doing his best to just shrug off the strikes. Daresh saw Catherine's attack before her body even began to move, Daresh had taken quite a beating though. The only thing stopping the numerous bruises that were already forming from showing was the padded armor. His arms were sore and heavy, there was no way he could react in time to stop her. That is when Garland came in and saved him from looking like a fool. Daresh took a ragged breath of relief, trying to take as much from this moment of reprieve as he could. By the looks of it Garland wasn't going to hold up long. Daresh took the moment to steel himself for the return to battle and observe Catherine's moves. When she kicked Daresh was surprised he wasn't aware she could kick that high in full armor. When Catherine began to back away from Garland, Daresh rushed trying to catch her off guard. Daresh was coming in low the battered shield up guarding all but the top of his head. The notched old longsword hanging low near the ground. As Daresh closed the distance he kept his eyes on Catherine watching closely for any sign of counter-attack. The moment he got in range Daresh darted towards Catherine's sword bearing side, away from the protection of her shield. Then with an uncharacteristically bloodthirsty roar he put his strength into a powerful upward swing at Catherine's gloved hand, hoping to cause her to drop her blade. Daresh followed up by putting his shoulder behind his shield and grunting as he threw his weight behind it, hoping to knock her off balance. Daresh didn't even wait to see what effect his attacks had as he jumped back, towards Garland. "Come now boy get up", Daresh encouraged breathing heavily. A solid stance, half crouched shield up and sword at the ready, Daresh's defense was solid even if sweat was pouring down his face and his breathing was rough. "Dig deep, I know you have more fight in you. You dishonor yourself and the knighthood if you give up now", Daresh growled quietly not taking his eyes from Catherine. It wasn't his usual tactic but he needed to rally the boy if he was to have a chance of beating Catherine in this shape.

[Garland]

Catherine saw the dash and readied herself to counter with a well-placed thrust from her sword.

Just when she was about to attack, Daresh dodged to her right, and screamed, a battle cry if she'd ever heard one. She dropped her sword and pulled back her arm before his blunt blade hit, if she didn't drop it, the blade would have been sent up from Daresh's attack and she would be open for an attack. She turned her body to try and push Daresh back, though it seemed the two of them had the same idea.

Their shields clashed, but even in Daresh's weakened state, he was still stronger than her. She held her ground, but the sheer force of the bash pushed her back. After that he ran back to Garland's side, while she quickly picked up her blade.

Garland struggled to get up, his face stung like Hai, his vision was blurry and he could feel dizzy. He looked over to Daresh, his mouth was moving, but he couldn't hear the words.

He shook his head and focused his mind, the voices slowly returned and he grudgingly pushed himself up, he was spent, he was tired and fighting Sera Catherine in this state was just hopeless.

Still, if this was a real fight, he wouldn't just give up, he couldn't give up. He would have been dead otherwise. That kick rocked him, he could barely keep his balance.

He got into a fighting stance, or what could pass as a fighting stance in his state, and looked over to Sera Catherine and Daresh.

Sera Catherine looked over to Garland, seeing that he was done, he was only standing through sheer willpower.

Catherine went over to Garland, keeping an eye on Daresh, the squire was no threat right now, he didn't have the stamina Ser Daresh had, or the experience. Catherine simple kicked Garland's shield, and the boy stumbled back.

Garland gave a weak swing in a vain attempt to counter, but it was easily blocked by the senior knight. Catherine admired the boy's tenacity, but he was finished, he had no energy left to fight.

Sera Catherine was simply ignoring Garland now. The senior knight looked at Daresh, he was pretty tired too, but he could still fight.

"Are you ready to give up, Ser Daresh? You're good, but in your state..." She paused and shook her head. She took a deep breath and rushed forward, a flurry of stabs and slashes were aimed at Daresh, they were meant to soften him up so she could knock him down.

After her attack she followed up with a strong bash with her shield, trying to force him back.

[Samuel Longwell]

Grading Complete Please edit your grade request thread so that it's obvious that it's been graded. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions/problems with your grade. Name: Garland XP Award: Weapon: Bastard Sword 3 Weapon: Shield 3 Philosophy 1 Endurance 3 Unarmed combat: 1 Tactics 1 Lore: Self: Desire to beat patron Philosophy: Ideals can only get you so far. Sera Catherine: Extremely talented fighter Rewards: +3 points for training +1 point for thread with patron. Notes:Grades withheld from Daresh as SE have not been paid. I enjoyed reading this, Garland was noticeably more immature back then. It's always nice to see character progression like that. I particularly enjoyed the way he interacted with his patron. Enjoy your grades.