[Flashback] A Dance with Trees.

[Bob Barton]

25th day of Fall 506 AV

Its been more than a week since he was forced to hide in the mountains. Despite the horrible condition he was in, Bob was doing well living there. He choose his camp carefully. Not too near the edge of the woods where any passerby may stumble upon it but not too far either so if he ran into too much trouble he is still able to escape to find the help of any knight patrols. Not being able to go back to the city, Bob had to live off the forest. It was a hard yet fulfilling experience. Just a few days ago Bob got himself a rabbit in the forest and is now still enjoying the meal.

Rabbits may be small but don't let them fool you, they are hard to hunt. Bob had to corner this one to a stream walled off with rocks as high as his chest so the rabbit could not run. There he attracted the water from the stream to the res centered on the palms of his hands until there was a waterball in each. One, he tossed at the rabbit to disorient it with the pressure and the gloopy feeling on its fur. Then he dashed up to the rabbit while it was still twitching in its ears and legs from the shock. With his now freed hand he grabbed the rabbit, lifting it up so it could not escape. The second waterball was next as the rabbit's head was sent into it. To make sure the rabbit died quicker and to save it the pain, Bob controlled the water to enter the rabbit's mouth and nose to block off the air and allow it to suffocate. "Sorry..."

Preparing the rabbit to last for a few days was also a little bit hard for Bob but thanks to his resourcefulness and some things his Uncle Marny taught him, the rabbit would last long enough. Uncle Marny taught Bob about bodies when he tried to teach him medicine so Bob kind of knew what to take out. The brain, lungs, heart, liver, and the other innards were taken out and thrown away. Then he slowly cut up the rabbits into distinct parts of meat small enough for him to keep away by following the muscles and limbs so that he would not damage the meat. Some of them had to be thrown away in the end because a sword is far to big to do the delicate job and his damaged hand was not used to having two fingers missing. Before putting them away he again focused some res into his hand and moved the hand over each piece of meat to attract the water from it. Whatever water was left would have to be gotten rid of by the sun until Bob went to sleep.

[Bob Barton]

Bob had some of the rabbit cooked the following morning. Actually not cooked more like well burnt. Ask him about it and the only reply you'd get from Bob is "Gamblers cook nothing but the dice!" and he would leave it at that. So how did Bob "cook" this rabbit? He stabbed a stick through it and held it over the fire until it turned brown with a little black on the sides. Cooked but not burnt...bad as he would say. It took 30 minutes to do it for just one slab of rabbit meat and Bob had a few more. He could not wait that long because the innards he threw at his camp would no doubt attract some predator. He stabbed the remaining meat on the stick and bur...cooked them again.

He packed up and continued keeping in mind his distance rule of setting up camp. Not too far and not too near either from the edge. But he got a little lost because trees all look the same until he reached a pretty wide areas with trees a little distant from one another. Bob was not the first person here because in between these trees there are some stumps amd fallen logs which are evidence of logging. He went a little bit closer to look, there were marks to show that the logs were being dragged away. Not away from the forest, but deeper into it which Bob thought was odd. Accompanying those marks were footprints. Bob could only distinguish them by their types, boots and shoes coming to the conclusion that there were two people.

But the spot was nice enough and Bob just assumed that these people were loggers. No danger or threat to just another innocent camper out in the woods. Whether they do come back or not did not matter. He could use the company of others after the week in hiding or the security of solitude. So he decided to set up camp there itself.

[Bob Barton]

Gods bless the rabbit! It not only became a few good meals to Bob but while preparing, it became apparent to Bob that the new state of his hands would interfere with his sword skills. He had heard many teachings of swordmasters in stories he'd heard. They normally love to say that a sword is an extention of a swordman's body. Bob probably got the maverick of the group because his master taught him that a sword is a tool and nothing more. "Don't get tricked by the stories Bob, a sword is a tool and nothing more. Kill, maim, protect or perform its you, not the sword. If it was a part of your body, you will be protecting it from harm instead. So like every other tradesman learn how to use your tool well, just like you have with your dices.

He had to try practicing again this time. The little dance of the sword. He only knew the basics of what he was taught but for all those months with his master in the bazaar was was watching. Observing all his masters movements and committing them to memory. He drew his spot and went up to one of the trees, marking it with an 'X' before going to another tree a little further away. Yes today he will dance and his partners will be the trees.

He started to visualize a little, forming an image in his mind. Slowly the trees took on humanoid forms. The branches became their limbs, the trunk their bodies. Then Bob began his dance to reach the 'X' man.

[Bob Barton]

Bob started off one foot over the other on the messy ground. Eyes going up and down from the ground to the trees to plan his next move. Each step he had to plant his foot firmly into the dirt which was sometimes difficult because he had to squeeze it in between various rocks, stumps or fallen logs. Everytime he moved his body forward in pursuit he had to weave and dodge the branches which he visualized as weapons and attacks. One wrong step and he might trip or slip. A slow reaction upon changing his attention from the ground to the trees may see him getting the wind knocked out of him as he slammed into a branch. Despite all these difficulties, Bob got through and reached the marked tree with only a few bruises here and there. Then again and again he would repeat the process. Starting off from another spot or making a different tree as he increased his pace.

This continued for another few days until Bob was sure of his footing, sight and stance as he continued to jump over and under branches or run around the trees as he started bumping into them less and less. The only time he took a break was when he ran out of food and had to hunt. This time catching himself a wild bird. The bird was eating something off the ground when Bob was sneaking up on it tippy toed. But on the rugged terrain there, Bob slipped and accidentally stepped on some dry leaves making a crackling sound. Lucky for Bob, the bird didn't seem to be affected by the sound and he continued to sneak, drawing closer and closer. When he was right behind the bird, Bob slashed his sword at it but the bird must have felt it and jumped up flapping its wings to fly away. But before it could pick up height, Bob quickly brought his sword back and plunged it forward, stabbing the bird and skewering it on the sword.

Because the bird was a lot smaller than the bunny, Bob was unable to gut it with his large sword. However to prepare it, he set down the bird in front of him. First, he took its head off with his sword in a "CHOP!" then he started plucking out the feathers one by one grabbing them between his fingers until the ground was littered by them. Done, he aimed his sword back at the spot he stabbed the bird at and brought his sword through it again taking the sword and bird to the fireplace and cooking it until it was all black and brown with the nice barbecued smell. He ripped off a piece and after eating it and satisfied with his work, he took up his sword and started cutting it up into pieces he can keep. "Chop! Chop! Chop!" the wings, legs and body putting them into his backpack.

Back to all those previous times of his training, all Bob did was gripped the sword and hoped it won't fall from the lack of fingers as he dodged everything else. It was time to try attacking. Now each time he passed a tree, he would force himself to stab or slash at it. Bob failed miserably. He could not focus on so many things at once, the trees, ground and attack and everytime he attacked his weak grip would make the sword stuck on the tree or fly for a distance. But he wouldn't give up. He kept at it, stabbing as he danced through the trees for the next week. A dance with no melody except the sounds of the wind brushing against the leaves and the sword rubbing on the tree trunks with the occasional "BUMP!" when Bob fell or hit a tree. When he finally got a feel of his sword, the trees of the area were full of stab and slash marks and the dirt on the ground was filled with oddly placed footprints.

[Bob Barton]

Satisfied that he is on his way to fulfilling his master's last words on the day they parted "Its time for me to leave now. I have taught you a lot and now its your turn to find your own dance." Bob shouted in joy and excitement in the forest. So loud that even the birds in the horizon flew away. Bob went and put away his sword, eating the remains of his food and went to sleep in his camp. Not knowing what would happen the next day.

When he woke up he was greeted by three men with some missing teeth and ragged clothes. Bob was about to rise and greet them until he heard one of the bigger men saying something about catching a stray puppy and how the shout from the day earlier told them about new prey. Then Bob heard something scary. The bigger man told the smallest "Take care of 'im Bill. We'll take his stuff back to camp." and headed off towards the direction where Bob saw the drag marks days ago with some of Bob's things. The man which Bob could only assume as Bill started coming over to Bob's own sword and its evident what he wanted to do. Unarmed and defenceless, Bob could only run. The man followed, laughing and talking about how he is going to feed Bob to the animals and no one would know. The more Bob ran the nore excited Bill got, giving him an idea.

If the footprints and marks on the trees around proved anything, its that Bob knew the terrain well. He choose one of the trees as his destination and chose the most treacherous route. He bobbed, weaved and dodged the branches and some stray slashes from Bill while making sure he stepped on dirt more than anything else. It finally happened. Bill did not know how hard it was to run there and tripped on one of the rocks and fell, releasing his grip on the sword. Bob picked up his sword as he went to the man begging and pleading for mercy but Bob wouldn't hear it. His most precious item, the book has been stolen and he wanted it back. He lunged for the Bill's shoulder and pierced right through it making Bill wail out in pain. Staring at Bill, he pulled out the sword and demanded coldly "Where are they? Or I'll let you bleed to death here and have the animals feed on you instead!".

The threat did not work much. One Bob's small body made Bill think he was looking at a kid who doesn't have the guts to kill a man. Two, Bill was more scared of what the other two would do to him if they found out. Bob was desperate, "Tell me, or I will finish you!" Failing that, he pushed his fingers into Bill's wounds and swirled them inside making Bill wince with pain as he said "No! Stop, what are you doing?!?". Bob ignored Bill continuing to dig in the wound, sometimes scratching nerves, blood vessels and bones out of pure malice before taking it out. With blood all over his fingers, he drew a circle on his hands for a glyph focus to take things to the next level.

"Are you ready to talk now Bill?" Bob asked as he started to put some res into his palms. Bill shook his head and Bob just sighed covering Bill's wound with his palm. "I don't want to try this but..." while Bill could not see, Bob started transmuting the surface of the res into water. Controlling the movement of the water through the res, he pushed the water into the wound where it mixed together with some of the blood. Normally it would be tough for Bob to do something like this but with the help of his glyph, he was able to exert full control of the water to swirl and move trapping blood between the water layers.

Bob removed his palm from the wound and with that motion willed the water to follow. The water started flowing out from the wound along with the blood trapped between them. Bill started panicking so he did not really notice that there was not much blood and the colours were pretty light and Bob asked "Are you ready to talk now?"

[Bob Barton]

Bill started screaming hysterically at the sight of his own blood flowing because of Bob. Bob could not understand what he was saying because it was crazy talk. Talk of devils, armageddon, monsters and demons. Nonsense you can hear from the mouths of any doomsayer in the streets. It went on for nearly a minute until it started to hurt Bob's ears and Bob slapped the man "Do you want to die or not?!? Now tell me who you people are and where they went!" Bill squealed like the swine he was then, telling Bob about how they were all bandits who were setting up camp near a stream. Bob was about to ask more when another man stormed into the spot shouting "BILL! Whats wrong?"

The newcomer's eyes widened seeing the scene and rushed over to Bob, attacking by sending his axe up in a wide arc. Bob a little exhausted by his reimancy and was only feebly able to raise his sword to intercept it. It did its job to defend him but the man struck hard and Bob's sword arm was raised by the force, leaving his whole body exposed for another attack as well as opening the wound on his arm with blood dripping from it. The man saw this and did not stop his axe. He continued to allow the motion to carry and sweep at Bob's torso.

Bill continued screaming out his hysterical nonsense. It would have distracted Bob but the adrenaline from the blood coming out of his wound and him being attacked kept him focused. The axe was coming towards Bob's midsection and he just allowed the force from the previous blow to take him falling to the ground and he fell on his back. Bob saw the axe sweeping past him almost getting his nose and some blood started to fall unto his face. Bill also stopped screaming so it didn't take much for Bob to guess what had happened.

For a moment the death of his friend made his attacker forget about Bob and a moment was all it took. Bob drew back his sword and sent it forward. His aim was a bit off because of the blood which was getting into his eyes but he was lucky. The sword went right through the chest and heart making the man died on the spot. Then Bob was left alone, with two dead men for company.

[Bob Barton]

With one good arm the small Bob had to push the big man off him. If it wasn't for the good meat he had been getting lately, he would not have the strength to do it. The woods, the beautiful woods is now filled with blood. Blood which will attract predators so Bob had to get out fast. But he couldn't because the last man still had the book, its too valuable to leave without. But if Bob did go after him right now, he will definitely die in a fight. He knew where the camp was and the knights patrols were near by. Attempting to go holding on to his arm to try and stop the bleeding is useless, it would only mean one less arm for him to use. Bob ripped out a length of cloth from one of the corpses and used it to tie up the wound on the arm to try and stop the bleeding. With one hand it was very hard to do so it tied up loosely but only enough to stop the blood for a few hours. With the help of his teeth and jaw he was able to pull the knot with only one hand. Bob took his sword and dragged it out of the forest. The knights may want to know about the bandits and when they do, Bob will make sure he is there to get his book back.

[Archon]

Illumination of Development NAME +4 Sword (Dancing) +1 Reimancy +1 Field Dressing +1 Food Preservation +1 Cooking +1 Interrogation +1 Hunting Lores: Reimancy (Water Bomb), Food Preservation (Sun Dried), Using advantages of terrain Care to see more? : Sword (Dancing) experience for your practice and fighting, Reimancy experience for hunting the rabbit, Field Dressing experience for taking the meat off the rabbit, Food Preservation experience for drying the meat, Cooking experience for burning the meat, Interrogation experience for convincing Bill to talk, and Hunting experience for hunting the rabbit. Notes: An interesting story, but the flow of it all felt a bit awkward. You switched between tenses, and for a good majority of it it felt Bob was just remembering things that happened, and not going through them. Remember that XP is awarded for your character actually doing things, not thinking or talking about them. Also, I did not award you XP for your use of Reimancy on Bill's blood because I do not feel this was a viable use of Reimancy. Reimancy is minor control over a specific element. While scientifically blood might be composed of a fair percentage of water, in Mizahar Blood is a domain presided over by the God Viratas while Water is presided over by the Goddess Makutsi. It's much like the distinction between water and ice. Ice is composed of water, but a water Reimancer cannot use/manipulate it unless they also have access to the earth element. However, I did quite enjoy how you worked in the double bladed nature of Reimancy into the use. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or concerns.