Open [Fighter's Pit] Sculpt the Body, the Skills, and the Mind

[Terag]

26th of Summer, 515AV The Fighter's Pit, a well known location where anyone could come and learn to fight. If you didn't want to pay for lessons you could still come in and practice, perhaps get someone to spar with you if you're lucky. Just the sort of thing that Terag needed. Working at the forge had a few perks that most Isur liked; such as you could still get a good workout from it. But, it was never enough. Especially not when his people often would train their bodies from a young age in the name of their god Izurdin. Terag was the same, and he missed having regular training and exercise - it was one of the ways to pay homage to his god after all. With that he planned to spend the day at the fighter pit to not only break a sweat but to improve his skills. The day started early for him, raising at what he assumed to be dawn. It was hard to tell inside his room after all since there were no windows. All the same he got up, got dressed, and left his room and locked it behind him. Once back into the early hours of the day Terag broke into a gentle jog. With destination in mind it didn't take long to get to the pit, and he was surprised to find he wasn't the first one today. There were already a few men here practicing, and a few more trickled in as he took the time to look around. Along the walls near the entrance he found the weapons that anyone could pick up and practice with, all rusted and dented from use. Looking at them almost hurt him, they were in such poor condition. Desperately he wanted to fix them, to give them just a little attention in the forge and make them new again - but not today. He dismissed them for now and walked a bit farther into the fighter's pit, many had already begun to pair up. He hummed as he looked many of them over, almost all of them stood at least a few inches taller but he doubted any of them really outweighed him. Another perk of being an isurian was that his body and bones were made of quite tougher stuff, they were parts of the mountain if you believed a few of the old tales, but his body was much more dense. His left arm was much more so than the rest of him too and it would likely give him a bit of an unfair advantage. Not his fault though, Izurdin gifted it to his people and so they deserved to keep it. In reality everything he thought was due to his over-inflated confidence in himself. He knew little about fighting, and even then it more only included fighting with a spear and not with his fists. It was something that he knew he had to work on, though he thought he only needed a little to go rather the mountains of experience he still needed. OOCI'm looking for someone who is willing to bring Terag down a notch, and I'm curious to see how people react to his physiology in a hand-to-hand fight

[Sayana]

Sayana awoke early that morning feeling anxious about her wedding. What if it didn’t go right? What if she couldn’t find any musicians to come? What if it rained in the middle of the ceremony and ruined her dress? Fortunately the bed was large enough for her to toss and turn without waking Aren but soon she gave up on the prospect of going back to sleep. Perhaps she could use a distraction of sorts. Maybe a physical kind.

As she got up from the bed, she squinted in the darkness. Not like it helped much. The coals in the hearth were barely glowing and it was practically pitch black. Still, she knew her home like the back of her hand and carefully avoided furniture as she got dressed and strapped on her daggers. All the while she was trying to be quiet as a mouse to keep from waking her lover. He might miss her, but he’d probably just assume she got to an early start for the day, which was true. Unfortunately there was no chance to make a hot breakfast without waking him but she grabbed a hunk of cheese to munch on later. Tip-toeing towards the door, she opened it just enough to slip through and let in as little light from the hallway as possible.

Once she was in the hall, she didn’t have to be quite so quiet and stealthy and she picked up her pace. She wore her usual sleeveless red top and long skirt. In her belt there were several daggers. The first, her favourite, was one about a foot long with a golden cobra hilt. She also had a Lakan at her hip. She brought two small throwing daggers and two more regular sized daggers. With six weapons in total, she was loaded to the hilt. But she’d need to be if she was going to practice using all six hands at once.

The fighter’s pit was as good as any, and far better than the streets. So she headed there. She hadn’t realized just how early it was until she stepped outside. She was in for a very long day… or a nap in the afternoon. Her stomach was starting to show with the baby but fortunately it wasn’t yet getting in the way. She’d have that to look forward to in the Fall. Still, she smiled at the thought of her son growing steadily inside her.

She finished up her make-do breakfast of cheese and arrived at the fighting pits in good time. There weren’t too many people yet and it would make it easier for her to practice that way. The Eypharian found a spot with level ground and started with a couple of stretches, partly to wake her up. She bent to one side, then the other, then forwards… It was far more awkward reaching forwards to touch her toes, well, knees more like it. Even in the early stages, her pregnancy certainly reduced her flexibility. It still felt good to stretch a little and she twisted to the right and the left and then tried out a belly roll. Hardly noticeable, but she smiled at how she could still do it.

Feeling a little more ready, Sayana drew her Lakan for a couple of practice swings in her left mid. It felt awkward, but not only because it was in her left hand and not her right, but also the shape of it and the way it moved through the air. She’d have to work at it. The Eypharian made two downwards diagonal slashes with it. She then corrected her technique with a third slash by making sure the sharp edge was pointed at her ‘opponent’.

The Eypharian soon returned it to her belt and drew all her other daggers. The two small ones went to her high hands, the ornate one to her mid right hand, and the other two daggers to her low hands. She rarely practiced with so many and it was hard to imagine what an opponent might do. So instead she thought of it more as a dance. Her mid arm thrusted hard and her highs slashed down and outwards as she lunged forwards. She backed up as her lows came up with crossed blades to block the ‘attack’ and she spun around to do another thrust with her mid hand.

She then realized how little her mid left hand was doing. Leaping forwards she did another thrust with her ornate dagger followed by a punch to an imaginary jaw by her mid left hand. With a smile she made two quick slashes at her imaginary opponent’s wrists followed by a block with a low dagger and a thrust with the other low. It was a lot to think about and her moves tended to be one after another but she tried to figure out how to use her momentum more effectively for clean swift strikes. More people were trickling in yet she was rather focused on her own technique.

[Terag]

When Terag was done checking out the people who had arrived at the pit so far he turned and made his way back to the collection of weapons along the wall. Towards the singular rack he found himself a short spear that was about as long as he was used to holding for his own weapon. The blade of the weapon was much shorter, but it would have to do. Removing the old and worn sheath from the top of the spear he also found it to be very dull and dirty. He frowned a bit, the urge to clean and repair the blade was immediate but he would have to resist it. "Well I suppose it'll do for a bit of practice at least...", he mumbled to himself before heading back out into the pit to find some room to adequately use his weapon of choice. He found a spot that was a little more than a spear length's from the wall, where the terrain was mostly flat. Here he tossed the worn sheath towards the wall so it wouldn't get in the way as he practiced. First, stretching. It was very important in general, and to Isurians it was even more so since the perfection in their body was all to honor Izurdin and Terag was no exception to this. First, while holding the spear, he leaned forward and down to touch his toes. His finger tips barely reached the top of his foot, much to his annoyance. Next stretching forward with each leg and holding it with one arm being stretched across his torso. He went through a few more, one or two he copied from some others he saw stretching around the pit who seemed to know what they were doing, before he finally felt ready to ease his body through the motions. He lunged with his right foot forward and thrusted with the spear in his right hand, extending until his arm was straight and he could feel all of his energy focus to the point of the spear. For just a moment he felt his balance give way, and quickly fixed it. At this he began to scowl as he slowly moved himself through the next movement: He took a step with his left this time and pulled the spear back as he brought his left hand out in front of him now before swiping to the left to push away an imaginary attack. Thankfully with his arm he wouldn't have to worry about a blade cutting through his skin or a mace crushing his bones. As a final step he took a step with his right foot again and tucked the shaft of the spear under his right arm. Using his body as a fulcrum point he swung the blade of the spear around while he held his imaginary attacker's sword in his left hand, hoping to cut his assailant in two. He let the swing go too far and he hadn't accounted for the length of the shaft as his attacker's body would actually still hit the wood of the weapon, rather than the metal since he was much more used to a longer blade. The swing kept going through till he felt his hand bump against his chest. "Sloppy...", he hadn't even begun fighting but he was already feeling worse about it all. Perhaps what he needed was someone to spar with, something that was a challenge that he figured he could over come. With a sigh he straightened his stance again and brought the spear up until it stood straight up against the ground. For the second time he looked over the pit, looking for something to fit his needs. He found it, in a six-armed woman who looked only a bit taller than the average Isur. Everything about her seemed foreign to him, especially the face that she had so many arms. Never before had he seen such a thing. They were almost mesmerizing in the ways they moved, and as he watched he was vaguely reminded of a story about four or six armed people that lived in Mizahar, but the name eluded him. Even her dark skin was strange, as he was used to a people with a much paler skin tone. However it was only though of as briefly as his brief stint in the world above the ground had already proved that even a race like the humans came in so many colors too, as many and varied as the arms of his people. Most of finer features were lost to him, especially the fact that she might be pregnant, due to how far away he had strated. Due to his lack of experience, her movements were a bit of a blur to him. But, he could tell at least for the most part that she had different weapons in each hand and that one was kept free. He did his best to analyze her movements as he got closer to the strange woman, he caught a couple of slashes and stabs but that was about all he could gather. Still, he confidence wavered only slightly due to her number of arms and so the possible attacks he would have to deal with. At least he had the advantage of reach, a six foot short spear would at least keep her at bay. Hopefully, at any rate. Either way he made sure to approach the last few steps slowly as to not frighten her, scaring someone with weapons in their hands never seemed like a smart idea to him. "Hello there! May Izurdin grant us all the patience and strength to reach perfection. Are you practicing alone today? I would think someone as attractive as you would have all the men coming to help. Perhaps I should be the first and take the honor of being your sparring partner?" His common still had quite a bit of an isurian accent to it but at least it would be understood. His words were accompanied by a large, and slightly flirtatious, smile. He had the confidence to at least talk to a woman easily, partially due to his currently over-inflated ego about his people, himself, and the more than a little confidence he had in his looks. After all, he had been working on his body from a young age for his god. Now at a closer look he found she was quite attractive as well, regardless of how off-putting her arms were for him.

[Sayana]

The Eypharian tried a series of slashes with her right side. The low dagger came up and across, the mid followed swiftly in a swipe and her high might have grazed her opponent’s cheek if she were close enough. This was shortly followed by a block with her low left dagger and a quick counter-strike with her high left. Again she forgot to use her left mid and she gave a half-hearted kick with one foot to try to make up for it. While she was fairly good with her daggers she had only done a little bit of fighting without blades.

She slowed her practice as a rather short man approached her. He seemed to be her own height which was very different from having to always crane her neck to look up at Aren. Yet his arm… Was there something wrong with it? And then she suddenly recalled some of the smiths at the Ironworks. One of them had an odd looking arm, grey or something. Perhaps it wasn’t something that wrong.

He approached with a spear and soon spoke. Both accented common and some other language. “Oh all the men wishing to spar with me?” She asked with a grin. “I could take them all on. First with my blades and then with my--” She stopped abruptly, not entirely sure how well he’d take her crude sort of humor. “But if you’d like to spar, I’d be happy to. Except, are you good enough not to aim for my baby?” The Eypharian placed her free hand on her stomach. She would now feel kicks every so often and despite wanting to work on her skills, she wasn’t about to put him in danger.

“And if you’re really not good… Well maybe I could teach you something.” Sayana offered even though her tone was hinting on disdainful. “I don’t know much about the spear but I know some simple unarmed tricks. And if that’s the case, it might be safer if I sheath some of these.” She gestured to one of her throwing daggers and slipped it into the appropriate sheath. She wasn’t entirely sure how good he might be but in truth, she wanted to practice her unarmed combat too and not risk getting blood everywhere.

[Terag]

Terag's broad smile turned to a frown; something much more fitting for the world's general idea of how an Isur acts. The child was throwing his plans off a bit, especially for him to use a spear. It would limit what he could do considerably especially since a spear is focused on thrusting and aiming directly for the enemy and regardless of his level of confidence he didn't want to injure the child. After all, especially so in isurian culture, children are blessings. However, if he used his hands he could be a lot safer with his movements and probably still show the multi-armed woman who the better fighter was. "Oh, you are with child? Izurdin grant the child strength. I do suppose I am not surprised a beauty like you already has a mate." He winked playfully. It was nice not having to second guess someone's intentions for once, here it was pretty obvious what you would come to do in the pit. In the woods it wasn't as obvious so it was usually a bit harder to relax around others enough to be somewhat flirty and possibly end up joking around. "I do not think that me using a spear to spar is a good idea. However, I will let you continue to use your daggers in their sheath. I will also make sure not to go for your stomach or wrestling, that would be bad. And when I win I will even teach you a bit of fighting." His smile returned in full, his overconfidence showing again. There wasn't a doubt in his mind he'd win, and even if it was a cheap win against a pregnant woman it was a win regardless. "And if you win, then you can teach me. This way, no matter what happens we will both be happy with the results, no?" He shifted his weight so that it was pressing onto the spear, and a soft creak could be heard as the wood was put under strain. He wouldn't be as experienced but he at least had an idea of how to hold himself back - it was one of the things he had to learn when the smiths taught him how to fight. Either way, his weight was going to give him a slight advantage as well as his arm, both of which were the reasons for his confidence. But, unfortunately for poor Terag, it would not be enough for him to win any sort of fight against anyone who knew what they were doing.

[Sayana]

“Haha! Wrestling is fine, especially when I’m on top.” Sayana replied with a grin. “And to be fair, I won’t aim any attacks for your stomach either.” He seemed quite confident in his skills and she nodded at his offer to teach should he win. The Eypharian then sheathed each of her daggers and unstrapped them from her belt so that she held all five once more but in their sheaths. She’d have to adjust her handhold a little to ensure that they would stay firmly sheathed but it would allow her to fight with full force without worrying about causing serious injury. Though the receiver of the attacks would still feel the force of the weapon and might get some bruises to go along with it.

She was surprised that she hadn’t thought of this sparring method earlier. Growing up she had rarely done friendly sparring and most of her fighting was done with drawn steel. Perhaps this is what spending a year in Syliras did to a person. She kept the Lakan in her belt and after second thought, she also returned the small dagger in her high right. This way she’d have two hands (high right and mid left) free for unarmed combat and the others with daggers.

“Ready?” She asked. Since he had asked her so politely to spar, she thought it was only fair to be polite in response and only catch him unaware once the fighting began. She waited for some sort of affirmation on his part before she leapt forwards and aimed a slash with her ornate dagger to his left shoulder and across his chest. Her low hands held her daggers ready to block and she watched his right arm to see if it would get close enough for her to ‘nick’ it with her small high left dagger.

Perhaps a bit daringly, she took a second step forwards and swung her high right in a curved punch aiming for his jaw. If he was better than her, it might have just exposed her to quite the beating of blows by getting too close. But if she started scoring the strikes with her daggers she’d call out each success with a “Gotcha!”.

[Terag]

He chuckled a bit at her joke about enjoying being on top while wrestling. "Ah, quite the humor you have. Feel free to strike my stomach if you want, I cannot force you to do so but I do not mind." As she prepared for their spar, Terag moved to grab the leather sheath for the top of the spear over by the wall where he left it. He put it on the short spear before leaning it against the wall. Along with the spear against the wall he took off his shirt and left it hanging on the tip of the weapon, keeping it out of the dirt and rubble on the ground below. He'd be working up enough of a sweat and it wouldn't help to just get his shirt even dirtier, being in just his brown pants and boots would be more than enough. Without his shirt in the way, his arm was now in full view. The black skin glistened like gemstone in the sunlight, and its color highlighted his silver veins that ran up its length. The only break in the pattern was at his shoulder where the gnosis of Izurdin sat, proving his lineage only more so and serving as a symbol of his beliefs. He made his way back to where the woman was now standing ready and waiting for him. He squared up and brought his fists up, his left hand an open palm with his finger tips just below eye level to cover more, and his right hand a fist that sat about chest height. "Ready. May the strongest win." The leap caught him off-guard, and he barely had time to raise his left arm high enough to take the hit from the dagger. He could feel that something had hit his arm, but he felt no pain of any sort from the attack. He had forgotten about this part of his arm, that it could take almost anything and be fine due to how incredibly dense it was and its divine origins, and the memory came as a wave of relief. The block was followed by a straight punch right his arm arm, though it was a beat too late and she was able to nick it with her weapon and his fist missed completely. Unlike his other arm, he definitely felt this one even with his dense skin protecting him. His left hand dropped a bit lower as he got ready to set up for another attack, a mistake he would feel. A fist came in from high and slammed into his jaw and the blow staggered him for a moment. He hadn't had his lip cut or anything, but immediately he knew that one was going to hurt in the morning. Again, more than a beat late he went to work again and took the offensive this time. First a right fist aimed for her chest, followed by his left aimed for the same spot on her other side. His form was sloppy, and his inexperience was starting to show already. It would appear he was nothing more than a little too cocky, but he wasn't going to give in yet.

[Sayana]

She couldn’t help but smile a bit as he took off his shirt. He seemed quite well-built and despite the blackish colour of his arm, it seemed just as strong and muscular. He might out-match her for weight, though it was hard to be sure, but at least he was the same height has her.

When her ornate cobra hilted dagger struck his black arm it was almost jarring as though hitting steel. It was either a really well-crafted fake limb or something quite unique about him and that other she saw at the blacksmith. When he punched forwards with his other hand she managed to nick him just in time and also parry the blow by sweeping up her dagger from her low left. She grinned as she hit home with the punch to his jaw.

Swiftly she backed up, not wanting to be at close range when he retaliated. He was still recovering from the punch which gave her an extra tick but soon he was throwing a punch with his right hand. With a leap backwards she blocked the punch with the dagger of her low left, knocking his arm outwards and away. By now she was far enough away to dodge his black hand by turning her torso away from the punch to show only her left side. At the same time as her twist, she reached out with her free left mid to grab at his normal looking arm. With a yank, mostly pulling her own body towards him rather than his towards her, she quickly did some sidesteps to try to get behind him or at least to his non-dominant side.

She then struck out with high left dagger, aiming for his right shoulder, followed by a thrust with her ornate dagger. Even though she aimed for his side, if he turned around quick enough she’d end up thrusting towards his stomach. For good measure she aimed a kick for his shins with her booted foot, but it was a rather wimpy one without much grace.

[Terag]

He began to grit his teeth as he was slowly realizing just how outmatched he was. First his right hand was blocked off to the side, the spent energy harmlessly loss as he hit nothing but air. She had also been smart to step to the side to dodge his left arm as its greater weight and force would have been much harder to parry off, but unfortunately her tactics meant that his other hand was hitting the same as his right: air. At this rate it would seem like he was going to loose by much more than he would have even thought possible. "Izurdin grant me strength," he growled through his teeth as he felt her grab onto his right arm. He could do little but watch as she nearly flew by him, or at least seemed to be flying by from what he could tell. At his right he could feel the attacks coming in, and there was nothing that he could do to stop them. First the blow to his shoulder hit, another bruise he was sure to have in the morning. Rather than trying to to stop the attacks and waste the energy trying to block, which he was sure he would be incapable of at his level, he decided to go for another punch. While her ornate dagger came flying in for his side he pushed off on his left leg and put the energy into twisting his body. His left hand came in by his chest and was aimed right for hers and he put a bit more energy into it than he should have. To him this was all he could do right now, with his inferior skills and the fact he was constantly concerned about the baby she was carrying he kept it only to high punches. Maybe he'd have to give her another shot in a year or so, when they were on more even ground and he finally had some actual experience. All this went through his head just before the dagger found its mark in his stomach, the point of the sheath focusing the attack and he could feel it hit deep into his body. That one was definitely going to smart.

[Sayana]

She managed to slip to his right and get another blow in with her small dagger, but instead of blocking her thrust he sent a heavy blow for her chest. “Oof,” she grunted as it hit her squarely in the chest and knocked the breath out of her as she stumbled back. That arm had some impressive force behind it and she was beginning to think it wasn’t something merely for the visual effect. Fortunately, it seemed that her dagger had struck home since he also took a moment to recover.

Even though her chest ached where he had struck her, and she was sure it would bruise, she was ready for some payback. “I’ll get you for that,” she shouted as she went in quickly for another attack. First she switched her ornate dagger to her high right and then feinted with the small throwing dagger in her high left aiming for his weaker arm. Then she sent two strong punches to his chest with her mid arms, right then left. Lastly, she adjusted her hold on the ornate dagger to send the carved pommel crashing down towards the top of his head. Her low hands kept a mildly defensive pose with her remaining two daggers but this time she going all-out offensive and wanted to finish things off. Even as she pulled the maneuver her eyes were darting around making sure she could compensate if he were to dodge or change his stance.

“Had enough?” She taunted with a grin. “Or do you want to take out that spear of yours? Do you thrust or throw with it?” She skipped quickly out of his range in case he hadn’t quite been taken down but she was clearly sounding quite confident in the outcome of this little spar. If there was a target of sorts she would be plenty happy to work on her throwing daggers, especially with her non-dominant hands.