[Training Thread]Blocking the sun is easier.... (Ulric)

[Kreig Messer]

512AV 72nd day of Summer, 10th bell , Northern Wilds

He didn’t know why he accepted, no….. he did ‘It gave me something to do’ Something to do, something to do…… Kreig had found himself doing things simply to fill his mind, to do difficult things that would tire his body. It’s a strange thing how people deal with regret, perhaps most common enough was what Kreig was doing; Filling his time with things to do. Others tended to just do their normal routine, ever so rarely that would work. Some don’t even bother to cope, just sitting there thinking, asking ‘Why did it happen? Why didn’t it turn out differently?’ Those people would effectively be a form of undead, if not literally than mentally. If one can’t get over their regret, then best have something to take your mind off it rather than sitting their pondering why things couldn’t turn out differently.

Ulric, the dangerous man he had met in the Pig’s Foot tavern, had offered to train Kreig in the use of the shield ‘Something I knew nothing about, that’s for sure’ He had seen the use of the shield by various people, the Dragoons at their training ground trained with it and were formidable the least to say but Ulric seemed to know better.

Again Kreig had brought out his training longswords alongside his steel longsword. New additions were off course 2 wooden shields, both large in size and round. Why two shields? Because it’s nice to have a spare, wouldn’t you agree? The weather was getting cooler as season nears its end ‘Still unbearably hot’ Thought Kreig as sweat dripped his brow ‘Hope the kind gent gets here soon, else the goddess’s shine shall melt me into a puddle’

[Ulric]

Termites fled. Rotten trunk squashed under a heel, spilling its umber intestines over a blanket of needles. Ulric grunted, legs churning as he hustled up the flinty knoll. Puffing and blowing, slick with sweat as he urged himself up the gradient. Leadenly, for he’d been at this for a while. Lungs like flapping bellows, seared by the proximity of a furnace. Stripped of his metal shell, he was without the customary rattle. Sinew patched with scars, leadenly jerking as he lumbered. Every stride torquing him up the defile, pulse pounding under a drenched jerkin with the sleeves ripped away.

Boulders rose in his way, leaving him to hurdle the snags or simply cuss them and scrabble around. Grit slipped under his heels, so he relied on plowing in his toes, straining his tendons to carry him upward. Ironically, he felt light as a feather. Metal discarded, he was unusually sprightly for so large a man, though he resented the distress he’d already inflicted. If you’re running, you can’t be boozing, he huffed. If you’re running, you get better.

Not that he felt any better.

Eventually he cleared the knoll, sighing in relief as he bounded like a goat down the far slope leading into a grove. Rocks pocked up, so he had to turn and twist, knees taking a beating as he kept switching his descent. Scarcely quieting his lungs because of this peril of falling, and the additional exertion. Gulping from a balmy zephyr, which barely dried the sweaty pearls on his cheek. Stopping, he regained his equanimity as he shambled through the murmuring cedars, their gnarled trunks studded by sepia resin. Adjusted the straps of his shield, making his way to where he’d agreed to reconvene with Kreig.

And find the man he did.

“Warm kind of morning,” Ulric offered flippantly, looking at Kreig. Shields, wood, and steel, all ready for a threshing. Jerking his spine and shoulders, he tried defusing any lingering kinks. Taking stock of his pupil. “Well, if you’re standing beside me right now it’s because you’d like to slightly deviate from just beating faces to jelly. I don’t normally do this, but I’ll show you how to fight this way. I won’t explain how just yet. I don’t think it’d do you any favors.”

“Shields aren’t just for blocking, you see. They’re also an extension of your reach, implements you can use to bash or swipe at your opponent, to conceal what you’re doing. They’ll blind you if you let them, and if you take too many blows squarely instead of deflecting, your arm’ll just get numb, maybe the bone’ll shatter. Even with a shield, you’ve clearly got a vulnerable side. Every time you shift your physical position, you’ll need to dictate the angle and distance, use your sword, shield, and body in conjunction. Really, fighting boils down to an intricate waltz, where grace and precision are inevitably secondary to knowing what your partner is going to do next.”

“But you’ll find out.”

Ulric grinned, raising his metal, hide-spanned shield with his left hand until it nearly brushed against the tip of his chin, allowing his bearded axe to hang vertically, obscured behind a leg. “Now, I want you to you the steel,” he directed. “Try slashing, thrusting, cleaving, whatever you’ve got to do to see if you’ll get by my shield, and then I’ll… demonstrate. It’ll definitely mean lumps and bruises, but it’ll make you better.”

Finishing up, he waited for Kreig.

[Kreig Messer]

As he saw Ulric he gave an amused smirk "Oh yes, warm enough to cook a soup without the need of flames" He said to him 'He's raring to go, that is an obvious' Ulric had his Shield and Axe ready, looking like he was to begin a battle but not the kind that meant spilling blood, rather, it was the kind that mean spilling sweat and teaching a skill "And I rather like beating a persons face to jelly, you should tr it sometime...... but your the 'teacher' Kreig said as he picked up one of the wooden shields, examining it like it were a foreign object before strapping it to his left arm 'It sure feels strange' In a way it was a foregin object, even if seen many a time it was an oddity once strapped to his left arm, its weight was manageable but it just felt '.....off'


He turned his head to Ulric, listening to him speak. His words were understandable enough, a shield was as much as a weapon than a tool just for blocking "I swear the more you speak, the more dignified words I heard from you dear sir" He chuckled as he picked up his longsword " I understand the gist of it though, don't just stick to blocking and try to redirect or deflect" Even with a shield, to just block would be like throwing a box, only for it to possibly break or for the fragile contents within to break, perhaps both.Raising his blade with his right he gave a slight grin "If you say so Kind Sir" Quickly he brought his sword up and brought it down for Ulric's example , would try with a horizontal strik from the left and again with an upward slash 'Whats a few bruises? I've gone through worse'

[Ulric]

Ulric grinned. “I’m well versed in that kind of jelly,” he replied with a shrug. “I simply prefer carving my meat.” Hacking, more like, and then strangling it, but his penchant for carnage was immaterial.

“Maybe you’ve got the gist of it,” he inclined his chin, and gestured for Kreig to proceed.

Ulric lifted his shield, flicking his wrist at the final instant so instead of rattling off the disc of metal, Kreig’s blade merely skittered off it without doing any harm. Intruding again, the blade met a similar fate. Didn’t get close the first time, either. Ulric grunted, but he wasn’t judging. Kreig plainly wasn’t used to this kind of fighting, and it showed. Ulric put up with it, mostly to let the other man feel it out, adjust a bit further.

Finally, as the blade sliced for him, he pounced. Cuffing it to the side with his shield so they clanged loudly, he swung the axe from under behind his leg. Reaching like lightning, the curved edge hooking under Kreig’s shield. Ulric yanked on it with all his might, either ripping it away or at the very least, jerking Kreig a bit off balance. Ulric simultaneously punched out with the rim of his shield, slowing at the end so it paused just before Kreig’s nose.

“Don’t just stand there like a statue,” Ulric grunted. “Don’t think anybody’ll just whale away at you, either. Shields are equally damaging as swords, but you only fought with the sword. You’ve got to fight with your entire body, moving shield while you move sword. You’ve got to minimize my chance of attacking you, and the best way to do that is attacking defensively. Also, you’ve got to circle, trying darting in and out of my range, twisting yourself to dodge, or make me miss. It’s the missing that you’ve got to focus on.”

“I’ll put it this way. If I swing my axe, you’ve got to block it with your shield, but then you swing your sword and I’ve got to block it with my shield. It may go on indefinitely, but what if you make me miss with my axe? I don’t just mean blocking, because when you block you can’t attack. If you get it so you don’t have to block my axe, then you’ll have your shield ready to hit me with.” Ulric twirled the axe, craning his neck until he discerned a satisfying crack. “Feint, jab, go low, get inside, there are very many ways of disrupting your adversary. This isn’t just fighting. This is strategy.”

Ulric allowed his shield to sag a bit. “Now, when you come at me again, try to yank something out of your bag of tricks.” 

[Kreig Messer]

'Woah, impressive' Kreig thought as his shield was jerked forward pulling him off balance while the face of Ulric's shield was inches away from smashing his face when it suddenly stopped and Ulric began to berate him for not doing more with the shield. Explaining that he should have attacked with it, or done more with it rather then carrying it like it was apart of some statue. The part on how he should be fighting with his entire body resonated easily with the brawler part of Kreig's spirit.

He also explained again on how she shouldn't just be blocking with the shield and attack with the sword, to not let it turn into an exchange of blows with each one blocked with by the shield, rather try to redirect the blows 'perhaps even pushing back with greater force?' Kreig thought as he began to understand better.


"Very well, a game of intellectuals rather than just a game of brute force" Kreig said as he chuckled inwardly, raising his sword and bringing his shield close to him, gripping it tightly as he began to think of what to bring out of his 'bag', quickly deciding to get close but from the side of his weapon arm, attempting slide his shield to the back of his while bring the edge of his blade to his arm. If that were too fail he would jump back, preparing to either push back an expected attack with his axe with greater force, or yank it out of his hand as he may attempt to yank Kreig's shield with the 'beard' of his axe. Or Ulric may attempt to bash him with his shield again. If so Kreig may simply attempt to block with his own while attempting to block a strike from the axe with his longsword 'Then I'd have to kick him away....' Of course this is all assuming he would retaliate, if a few moments earlier was any indication, he most definitely would.