A Peculiar Choice (Training/solo)

by **Casper** on April 22nd, 2012, 5:44 pm

29th of Spring, 512 AV

The gated community was a strange place to be in. While the people of Sunberth claimed it to be the safest place in the city, Casper felt helplessly uncomfortable walking these streets. They reminded him of Syliras, how he constantly felt watched by the armed men with surly looks. It was always like they smelled that he was not completely human, and so kept an extra eye on him. Still, Casper had business to attend to inside the gated community, and the fact that the Dragoons walking around made his skin crawl wasn't going to stop him.

The entrance to the Dragoon training grounds lead directly to the courtyard, which was more spacious than Casper had anticipated. One of the men spotted Casper, and walked up to him with a lumbering gait. His hand rested on the hilt of his sword like it was born there.
"Come 'ere fer trainin', outsider?"
"Yeah."
"Ye've come to the right place. I'm Old Mac. Ye got payment?"
"Naturally," Casper replied, reaching a hand into his pouch. He pulled out one gold miza, and placed it gingerly into the man's palm. "That enough?"
"Need 'elp wit that Tulwar, then?" He replied, eying the blade that hung at Casper's side. Casper nodded in reply, and Old Mac promptly gave a casual wave to a man walking down the courtyard's corridor.
"Rollan! Come here a sec." The man immediately changed his direction and walked out on the courtyard. He was a middle aged man, a little shorter than the average, equipped with a Tulwar of his own.
"Can I help you, sir?" he asked with a gruff voice.
"Have ye got any time to teach this young lad some tricks on usin' that sword o' yers?" He asked, handing him the miza Casper had given him earlier. Rollan nodded, and motioned over to Casper to follow him. "This way, kid."

He lead him to one of the rooms off the side of the courtyard, which was almost empty save for two training dummies, and a wooden crate in the corner containing training weapons.
"Well, lets have a looksee at your blade, er.."
"Casper," he said quickly, pulling the sabre from his side and handing it to him. A few moments of silence followed as Rollan inspected the blade, and though made no comment, handed it back to him with a satisfied air.
"Any previous experience in swordfighting, then?"
"Not really, no."
"Ah. A peculiar choice, for your first blade."
"I'll admit the choice wass a little impulssive."
"Ah, you are a man who trusts his gut, then? Good, I like that. Try a few swings in the air, then."

Casper did as he was told, gripped the hilt tightly with his right hand, placed his legs slightly apart, and swung the sword diagonally, relishing the sound it made through the air. He then thrust it forward, finding it much more uncomfortable as the wide pommel dug into his wrist.
"Good first swing, shoulder movement is healthy. But that kind of thrust is taboo for a man with a sabre." He pulled out his own sword, and made a few swipes of his own through the air. "With the Tulwar, you lock your wrist in place. If your wrist is moving, you're doing something wrong." He walked over to the dummy, thrusting it as Casper had done previously, and barely made a dent into the wooden statue. "Rather than using one measly muscle, you use your whole body-" he demonstrated by moving his entire torso and struck again, splintering the wood. "no hesitation." He stepped backwards, and motioned for Casper to come forward. "Now, strike."

by **Casper** on May 2nd, 2012, 1:24 pm

While Casper attacked the training dummies, he could see Rollan move to the corner of the room and grab two wooden sabres, roughly shaped like tulwars.
"I'll tell you now, this weapon is customarily used with a shield," he said as he tossed one of the wooden blades to Casper.
"I don't want to depend on more than one object to ssave my hide," Casper replied, imagining a scenario where he would be cut down because he could not reach his shield in time. Rollan shrugged.
"Right. But you must understand that your defense will be more open without it. Take your stance."
He tightened his grip on the wooden hilt, dug his feet into the ground... and with a swift strike, Rollan cut into his left side before he could parry. He grunted at the pain, and said, "You could at least tell me how to avoid that before you do it."
"I'm simply showing you where your defense is open without your shield. Now, if you're going to use your weapon properly without one, you should keep your blade close, like this." He brought the sabre close to him diagonal to the ground, the sharp edge pointing outwards. "you have a lot of control in this position for parrying many attacks," he said, his free hand holding the centre of blade to move it about quickly. And when the moment is right, you strike. Try attacking me."

He moved back into his fighting stance, and tried to cut Rollan's side as he had done before. He parried the blow, deflecting the Tulwar to the side and suddenly lashed his blade out ward as Casper was defenseless, hitting him right in the stomach. He groaned.
"See, like a snake. Viper," Rollan added, smiling subtly. If Casper was not already grimacing from the blow, he winced even more at Rollan's metaphor. He found it unpleasantly ironic.

They repeated the process many times, Casper gaining many more bruises than Rollan did in the process. Still, he was starting to get the hang of using the sword as both a shield and a weapon. The hardest part was timing the right time to strike, since a counterattack was so easy without the shield. He found that stepping in synchronization with the sword's movements were the best way to defend himself afterwards, which meant working in close range most of the time. He also noticed that the blade's curved nature made it a great weapon for deflecting an enemy's weapon with great efficiency.

Not sure how much time had passed, Casper was starting to get tired, and when Rollan knocked him to the ground with a swift swipe at his feet, he was lazy to get back up.
"You're a lot fasster than me," Casper said as he slowly got to his feet.
"It comes with the training," The man replied with a grin. "Again."

by **Casper** on May 14th, 2012, 1:11 pm

Rollan went back to the pile of training weapons, dug through it for a while, and finally found what he was looking for. It was a small, circular shield, small enough to cover only the hand and a bit of the forearm.
"You're gettin' the hang of the sword, so how about trying one of these?"

Casper would have protested at the beginning of the training, but now he was nearing exhaustion and wasn't one to argue. Besides, the shield was small, only covering his hand and a bit of his forearm and did not hinder him. Rollan pulled out his own shield that had been resting on his belt before.

"This shield provides a great advantage, but more as another weapon than a defense," He thrust the thing forward, letting Casper imagine what the blow would do to an opponent. "Though you are less vulnerable with it, you should know how to defend yourself without it, which is why I trained you with the Tulwar alone first."
"Ssoundss reassonable."
"It's good for counterattacking. Try me."

Casper moved forward again, this time with the small metal shield secured in his left hand. He slid into close range, keeping his footing steady, and swung towards Rollan side, who parried it with his sword and, before Casper could lift up his own other hand, slammed the shield in his face. He staggered backwards, letting go of his Tulwar as he grabbed his now bleeding nose in pain.
"What the hell!" He shouted as he regained his balance. A little push in the previous skirmishes was one thing, but Rollan could have broken his nose.
"Just proving a point. No pain, no gain," he replied with a smirk. Casper could feel the hatred swelling up inside him. "Now, pick up your sword and let's try this again."

This time, Casper complied with much less good intentions than before. Wiping the blood on his forearm, he picked up the sword, and, more cautiously, approached. This time he would wait for the attack. As he had hoped, Rollan lost his patience first and striked, Casper dodging it to the side and throwing the blade off course with his shield. He brought his own Tulwar over his arm and struck towards his neck, and Rollan replied by ducking into a roll and jumping up further to the side, attacking again with the sword. Casper jumped back, almost hitting the training dummy behind him, and decided to make use of the stupid thing. He jumped behind it just as Rollan attacked again, the dummy working excellently to protect him from the blow. Casper went around and aimed a downward slice across Rollan's shoulder, who quickly defended with the shield this time. He brought his sword in to counterattack, but before he could reach him, Casper had already landed a clean blow to his face with the shield, just as Rollan had done earlier.

"Heh, using my own trick against me," he said after recovering, afflicted with a nasty wound on his cheekbone.
"Well, now we're even, aren't we."
"Nice use of the dummy. You're quite the resourceful guy, aren't you?"
"My fights happen in cluttered taverns, not empty rooms."
"Right, right." Rollan straightened himself, stretched his arms. "Well, I suggest you go buy yourself a shield, but if you don't mind I'll call it a day. I don't like it when people hit my face either, you know. The ladies like scars, but not the nasty swollen stuff," He laughed a little, but it was clear that he truly was upset by the wound.
"Well, thanks," Casper said, extending an arm out to shake his hand after putting the training weapons away. Rollan shook it, wished him luck in his future battles, and Casper left.

The sun was near setting, but Casper imagined he had enough time to detour to the Knight's Armory. He made it quick and found a small wooden shield with metal studs that had a similar size and weight to the one he had trained with, purchased it, and headed home for a good night's sleep.

oocShield -15gm

by **Archelon** on May 22nd, 2012, 6:18 am

Thread Award

"..."

And the Results!!!!:

Casper :

Would you like some extra turtle sauce ? :