Solo Crafty Counters

[Alric Lysane]

13th Winter 521 AV - Proving Grounds “Right,” came the sharp voice of Itzel, “today we’re going to be going over basic counters. There are four of them to learn and you will learn them if you want to live through an actual fight. But first, warming up and going over the basics. I’ll be watching to make sure none of you have been skipping learning, no one learns these without knowing the basics first. Go on, partner up!” Alric watched Itzel for a few moments whilst the others began pairing off, she seemed more annoyed this day and her clothing was rumpled. The gangs were gearing up for conflict, everyone could taste it on the winds, and he wondered whether she had been spending some sleepless nights getting things ready…getting people ready. That didn’t bode well but he tucked his observations away for alter consideration, they might be useful if he came back regularly, a sort of monitor of stress levels perhaps. Pairing off with a lad who approached him he set about the warming up routine they had been shown, stretching muscles and rolling joints to get them mobile. The static part was short and they jumped into the active part fairly quickly, placing their feet in the proper positioning and balancing on the balls of their feet. Alric attached first, slow and easy attacks, going over the four basic strikes from each corner angle and ending with the two thrusts. There was no speed or elegance to these ones, they were for warming up and so were merely to get limber. He stepped back as his partner came back with his own attacks, aligning the edge of his practise sword and blocking the gentle attacks in response. They went back and forth like that about a dozen times, each time getting quicker and harder, the sounds of practise blades going from dull taps to heavy clacking sounds that seemed to possess their own music, their own rhythm that the entire group eventually settled into, each attack and matching block seeming to line up in time and sound. He could see Itzel prowling their ranks, ferreting out those who were not up to snuff and by the end their group was diminished by about a quarter. There was a satisfied look on her face for once, though, as if she were finally seeing some return on her investments. He wondered if that meant she was eyeing up potential recruits and hoped he did not have to have that conversations one day. “Alright! One more back and forth each and then we break, it’s time to learn something decent for once. No more simple hits, you’re going to learn the beginnings of a true fight” Itzel’s voice shouted above the rhythm. There was the obligatory once more back and forth and then everyone stopped. Alric was already warm and slightly sweaty, raking his hair back across his skull and noticing that at least he seemed to be getting slightly fitter – his breathing was still deeper than normal but not as ragged as it had been in the last lesson’s beginning. Secret : 7gm cost for lesson

[Alric Lysane]

“Alright, enough! Gather round and listen. First counter is going to be a response to an attack you already know how to block but really need to be able to counter. It’s called a Riposte and it is best used in response to a thrust, or lunge, attack. Partly because it gets you back inside your opponent’s guard but mostly because, if it works, it ends the fight quick and clean. Watch” She called someone to stand in front of her, waited for them to get into positon with their feet and then nodded the go for the attack. They lunged forwards and at first it just looked like Itzel and raised her arm and stepped forwards. He hadn’t managed to catch the detail but either way the man staggered back as the blunt tip of her practise lathe pushed him back gently. “Get that? No? Watch again” Alric frowned and focused his gaze upon her hand, he felt that it had been where the trick was and when she did it a second time, slower this time, he raised an eyebrow and wasn’t sure he had seen what he had seen. She had performed the sweep block, h thought, but had somehow managed to lock her guard to the other weapon. Then all she had done was step forward and pushed up slightly and it was all over again. “Remember the sweep guard you learned, well this is a slightly different version. Come closer, watch ho when their thrust blade is going down mine, a little twist of the wrist will...see there…lock it in. They can get out of it with a wiggle and if they break away their attack quick enough, but once locked in you just push…see? Benefit is that their blade also moves away from you as you get in and attack. Two birds one stone. Now…practise!” They broke away then and he was back with his partner. It had seemed so simple a counter but, after a good few chimes of not quite getting it right, they were both getting a little frustrated – not to mention sweaty alongside their aching arms beginning to make themselves announced. Itzel noticed them struggling after a while and came over to make them go slower, getting them to sweep the thrust, twist the wrist to lock the blade in, then push slowly – each stage taken apart and done separately until their muscles and minds started to understand it. Alric thrust and watched as the rounded tip smacked into his chest just hard enough to cause him to breathe out. Heaving breath and nodded his readiness after a few moments before he swept his own lunge to his right, slipped his guard up to touch the blade and the twisted, feeling at last that satisfying resistance that signalled the ‘lock in’. He stepped in, pushed up, angled the tip of his practise blade down…and rammed it into his partner’s chest in matching roughness to theirs had been. Itzel nodded and moved on, leaving them to keep practising, eventually leaving bruises upon each other’s chest from the repeated, if gentle, impacts. They were breathing heavily by the end and Alric rolled his shoulders, massaging the muscles of his right forearm to ease them from their use. “Enough! Break for ten chimes, get some water then next counter to learn” Itzel’s voice cut across the group’s work and the sounds of wood upon wood eased off and then gratefully stopped.

[Alric Lysane]

Alric was thankful for the break, his breathing already becoming laboured though his muscles seemed to be holding up better this time, stronger and more capable of absorbing all of the impacts. Regular training had its merits, he knew, as he watched Itzel gather with a few of the Sun’s Birth officers – or at least they wore better garb than the others – during the break. Their heads were close, and it was apparent from the way their lips moved, controlled and tight lips, that they were talking low so as not to be heard. He frowned as he took in some water, so far today nothing had boded well for the future of Sunberth’s streets. Itzel broke off with an irritated scowl before masking it as she joined her students once more. “So! We’ve learned the Riposte…or at least learned of it. Everything today you’ll have to practise over and over again before you master them but if you do master them then you’ll like as not never lose a fight so take them seriously” “Now! You’ve all likely learned that your lower guards are weaker than your upper guards,” she said, roaming about their ranks and waiting for a series of nods, “that’s because the upwards force is stronger. So…what say we learn how to use that against them eh? Now this isn’t a guard adaptation like the Riposte, this is a risky move but worth it if you know how to use it. Parry and Slash. Watch” She settled into a relaxed posture, her blade in both hands this time, the tip angled down her wrist turned so that the flat back of the lathe was slightly odd-centre. She pointed at Alric and he sighed, knowing he was about to get a few more bruises but assuming it would be worth it. Given his current situation bruises were the least of his concerns, he needed to learn how to fight and quick. Itzel indicated for him to do a low attack from his right and so he stepped forwards, blade sweeping up…just in time for her own blade to flick up at the last few moments, smacking his attack far too high and her own lathe coming down to slap into his shoulder. He grunted and stepped backwards. “See what I did there?” she asked him, he had seen though to his dislike others had not, she had used the solid flat of her blade to practically bash his attack away, more forceful than a guard to make sure he missed her completely. That had left him open for her to turn her blade and slash down diagonally, the tip could have easily cut his neck had it been a real one and he would have had no defence. “Again,” she said, and in the end he had to get a solid tap three more times before she was satisfied everyone had grasped the mechanics of the counter, “so take what you learned before about picking your moment to bat the attack away, do it from a position of strength! That means you wait until the last moment, using their momentum against them. Do it right and there is literally nothing they can do. Even if they see it coming if you’re quick they’re dead before they can jump back and away…practise” she nodded to them and let Alric walk away with growing aches and pains rippling across his shoulder. He sighed once more and settled into the guard stance Itzel had shown him and waited for the attacks to come. It took a good half-dozen tries before he got the timing right, each time getting another small bruise that would gain colouring later, but eventually managing to get the timing of the parry part correct. He went through it another half-dozen times without the counter-attack before he grunted in satisfaction. He doubted he would be effective against an actual attack but learning the mechanics and timing was half the battle he thought. He put in the attack afterwards for the next score of tries, each time trying to hit a different part of the body, finding some areas were easier than other. The neck, he thought, was the ideal end to this particular counter, and had the benefit of being a kill atop that. He spent the next fifteen chimes doing the attacking then, helping his partner through the motions, encouraging them even as his breath turned harder to get and his tiredness began to creep upon him. He could feel its tendrils now, largely in his shoulder and arm, but he pushed through it stubbornly, knowing that with enough effort he’d adapt eventually. Still by the time their next small break came he was breathing deeply, unable to talk properly and simply sat down, watching the group as he kneaded tired muscles.

[Alric Lysane]

“That’s enough now, got a couple more things to go through today yet so less breaks. Should be getting used to it by now anyway. Come one now! You…you stand opposite me like the others. You’re going to try for an attack from your to right understood?” she said, waiting for the nod. “This is called the High Roller, don’t ask me why I don’t know but it fits, this is to defend and counter a high attack, turning it into an attack whilst defending yourself, as you’ll see…now” Itzel waited for the practise blade to come in on its attack and she blocked it, this time towards the tip of her blade, holding it there for demonstration as she stepped to her right and forwards with her back foot. She then let the blade push hers down, pivoted her left foot to the side and brought her practise blade around to tap the back of the student’s neck. Resetting Alric watched her as she did it again, noting how her foot moved as her blade swept up, something he had missed at first by merely watching her blade move instead of her body. She repeated it several time, getting quicker each time, and Alric noted more things – she twisted her body slightly, her free hand ready and in front of her chest, presumably to try to offer some shield in case things went wrong. Her hips twisted as she pivoted too, lending momentum to the counter- attack. “See how when you catch their attack towards the last half of your blade you still absorb some of the attack’s power, enough to blunt it and if you step at the same time it will be difficult for them to switch their momentum to hit you…leaving you to chop their heads off and add it to the pile. Questions? Good, go on then” This one proved a lot more difficult and complicated for Alric to manage, it involved so many parts that he took the suggestions from before and had to break it down into its different stage to practise. He began by going for the block, it felt strange now trying to catch it towards the end after all of the drilling to try for towards the hilt but he managed it with some consistency after a while, feeling the give in his blade and knowing if he ever failed to step away then he’d be done for. He added in the step then, his right foot almost hopping out and to the right, balls of his feet beginning to ache from all of the balancing. He combined those two movements with the pivot of the left foot, twisting his hip as he had seen Itzel do, as best he could. Then he put it all together and went for the entire thing, including the strike. It was clumsy and it felt strange, like his wrist shouldn’t be rolling like it was, but he put it down to the growing sense of fatigue and the fact this was a new technique he was trying to drill into himself. No doubt with practise he would find it more natural and would be able to do it from both sides as he had seen Itzel demonstrate. Eventually he managed tog e this practise blade to mimic a beheading three times before he gave into his tired forearm and instead acted out the motions for his partner in the lesson to learn from. He was beginning to feel quite tired now, bone tired, and knew that his shift at Ruby’s would be all the longer for it. Still, perhaps if he was sweaty enough the girls would stop trying to get him to give in to their charms – it was getting tiresome for him and no matter how many times he explained he didn’t want to complicate his simple job they didn’t seem to listen much.

[Alric Lysane]

“Right, last one of the day boys and girls! Yes I know you’re tired and aching but fighting don’t care what you feel like. Never know when you’ll be fighting or for how long, toughen up of get out now, doesn’t get any easier. Any takers? No? Good!” Itzel had been discussing something with her fellow Sun’s Birth again and it seemed to be getting more fractious by the way some of them were waving their hands around. He could see Itzel’s jaw becoming more set, and she had seemed to hone in on a handful in the group for more personal instruction despite the group format. That was unusual and spoke to Alric of plans being made for some members. He hadn’t been chosen, for which he was thankful, though he supposed that meant he had much work to do in order to be up to scratch with a blade. She rolled his shoulders, stretched tired muscles and shrugged internally. He would be ready or not, it all depended when the fight came and he had little control of that. All he could do was be as strong as he could be, as quickly as he could be. Nothing more or less. “This last one’s the easiest, though it means taking a risk so never do it unless your damned sure you can pull it off or you’ll be dead quicker than a Brat under my boot, understand? Good. You lad, stand in front of me and try to attack from up high” Alric watched as the lad went for the attack but just as he got to the point where he was going to start bringing his arms down for the assault Itzel stepped in, blade up and edge pushing up into his wrist, stopping there for everyone to see. There were no words but she mimicked slashing across the wrist to disarm, or kicking him in the nethers for a disable, or a chop to the throat with an open palm for another disable. There were too many ways that she showed them how to counter that the point was made – control was the point of this counter. “Works better with two handed weapons as they don’t have the free hand to try to block you but you get the point. You can all do this one, it’s easy enough. Your ability t counter and win is up to your imagination, can do pretty much anything if you’re in control of your opponent. Which will be the next lessons, disarming and how to deal with being disarmed. But for now, last thirty chimes drill this and the others and then get out of my sight, got more important business than you lot” They obeyed her orders, they were simple enough and they set about learning the new technique. Alric found it was as simple as it seemed, though it took him several tries, and a few accidental clips to the head, to get the timing right. Once he had, though, it was a playground and appealed to him more than the other techniques. He was an unarmed fighter by nature, he was only learning weapons from necessity. The ability to grapple and the revelation that the blade was not the only weapon he could use in the fight made him smile slightly, it fit him better and for the first time since beginning to learn the Broadsword he felt a bit more comfortable with it. He tried it a score of times, stepping in to raise his blade and slam it under the wrists before kneeing the stomach or other things. In return he got a few knocks to his wrist himself, arms now on the verge of collapse from the feeling By the end his grip was gone, even clenching his fist hurt with his right hand. His feet burned and his chest heaved. He had to take a good five chimes or more of Itzel’s mild displeasure before he was able to push himself up and shakily wander away from the Proving Grounds. At least, this time, he had managed to get through most of a session without having to stop outside of the given breaks. That was something that seemed dangerously close to progress. As he made his way to Ruby’s for the beginnings of his shift he was in a good mood, whistling a little as he made his way through the crowds.

[Alric Lysane]

Your Grades Alric Lysane Skills Endurance – 3 Observation - 5 Weapon: Broadsword - 5 Lores Broadsword: High Roller Counter Broadsword: Parry & Slash Counter Broadsword: Riposte Counter Broadsword: Wrist Block Counter Sun’s Birth: Itzel The Swift Sun’s Birth: Recruiting New Blood Sun’s Birth: Sunberth Gang Items Lost -7gm lesson cost from Ledger