[The Fighter's Pit] A Mage In A Hard Place(Michael Kyber)

[Garland]

Winter 43 516AV

It felt like summer, and Garland was finally getting there with everyone else, at first he absolutely hated the hot winter, but training in winter was just horrible, you get sweaty and then you freeze your balls off from the cold.

At least during this strange Summery-Winter, it was constantly hot, a good workout day to be sure. Garland was there in the pits, flexing his weapon arm, and getting warmed up.

Garland picked up a blunted axe from the weapons-rack and took a few cautionary swings with it. It seems good, blunted enough to not do too much damage if he accidentally hit someone while he was practicing, but real enough to feel like an actual axe in combat.

Garland walked over to one of the training dummies, even though the training grounds had far better facilities than the pits, he always found himself coming back here to train when all the rules and formations were getting a bit too much.

Most of the time he was just here to relieve some stress without the constant loom of the Weapon Masters on the grounds.

Garland took a stance by the dummy, and swung his axe hard at the target, he was still fairly new with the axe and was just getting the feel for the general weight of the weapon. His moves were clumsy, but that was why he was here, to train.

If he was using a sword, the dummy would be cut down to pieces with the first swing, if he was using his own blade and not the blunted weapons they use in the Pits.

[Michael Kyber]

In order to be a knight, one had to uphold certain standards. You had to be a symbol of strength and justice that people could look up to, and that meant that you had to be at least proficient in combat. To Michael this presented a problem; though he certainly talked about becoming a knight, he didn't yet have the strength to back that up. He was a sailor damn it, he'd never swung a sword in his life! His knowledge of magic at this stage was still mere parlor tricks, when it came to fighting he was no better than the average citizen.

Needless to say, that needed to change.

Which was why Michael had come to the fighting pits. Learning to fight required space, and though he'd registered to be one Michael still wasn't technically a squire until he'd found a patron to teach him, and that meant he couldn't use the knight's training ground. The only other place in this city that one could get some real training in fighting was here.

As he entered the arena, Michael had to admit that he was pretty intimidated by the crowd of rather tough looking people about the place. The pit had a feeling of controlled savagery to it, as was honestly the biggest display of violence he'd ever seen.

Better get used to it; you'll be seeing worse than this in the days to come. The pessimistic side of him whispered.

Walking further into the middle of the pit, Michael took a blunted longsword from the weapons rack and spent a few minutes just aimlessly swining it around, trying to get a feel for it. Once he was comfortable he was used o the weight Michael had a look around at the other fighters around the pit. As he reckoned the best way to learn how good he was in a fight was to throw himself right into the middle of one; after all there was no better teacher than experience.

Despite his inexperience, Michael had a feeling that he was a pretty good fighter. Perhaps it was just pride talking, but he'd never been unfit so he surely could be bad to start off with. It was to that end that out of all the people in the pit to choose from, Michael decided to spar with the one who looked the strongest; a muscular man swinging an axe at one of the training dummies.

"Excuse me there", he said as he approached the man, the flat of his sword resting on his shoulder, "I don't suppose you'd be interested in a spar would you? I'm looking for a training partner and you seem free."

[Garland]

Garland swung his axe one final time at the dummy, making a dull thump noise sound throughout the training are.

Garland looked at the man that was talking to him, he gave a small smile. It was rare for someone to ask him to spar, because Garland had trounced almost everyone in the pits, emphasis on 'Almost' "Sure! I'd love to have a spar, the name's Garland." He extended out his hand to shake in a friendly gesture.

Garland took a blunt bastard sword from the weapons rack and held it out in front of the man. "I'd like you to choose my weapon."

Garland was having a bit of fun, he was much better at with a sword than with an axe, of course he would prefer practicing with his axe skills rather than his sword.

"Alright, let's get down there." Garland walked down to the roughly cut staircase leading down to the pits. Garland hopped down and took a few cautionary swings with his weapon to get a feel for the weight.

"No shields? First to land a hit? What are the rules, friend?" Garland asked and looked off to the side where old battered shields sat on the wall.

"Whenever you're ready." When the fight would start, Garland would be on the defensive, he was fighting someone new and had no idea how much this person has. Although, judging from the way he carried himself, he wasn't all the used to weapons. Still he knows that he should never judge a warrior by their stance.

[Michael Kyber]

Mcihael shook the offered hand, wincing slightly at the man's strong grip. Good gods the man looked a lot tougher up close than he had before. Perhaps he'd been a bit too hasty in choosing his opponent, though he at least seemed friendly going by the smile. "I'm Michael. Nice to meet you."

He was surprised when Garland took another sword from the rack and handed it to him. It was a bit bigger and heavier than the one he'd picked up when he entered, though seemed like it worked in the same way. You swung it at the other guy until you hit him right? Couldn't be too hard. When Garland asked him to choose a weapon for him, Michael looked around at the weapons available to choose from. He'd already gotten the feeling that he'd bitten off more than he could chew requesting to spar with someone clearly stronger than him, so the devious part of his mind instantly thought to choose a more difficult to use weapon to balance things out.

"Alright then, how about..." one of the objects on the weapon rack caught his eye, one that looked perfect for what he had in mind. "that one." He pointed to the dulled flail hanging off the end.

He followed Garland down into the main arena of the pit, watching curiously as his opponent took a few swings with his weapon. The guy seemed totally relaxed, like this sort of thing was a daily occurrence for him, which contrasted noticeable with how tense Michael was becoming at the imminent prospect of a fight.

"Let's say first to score three solid hits wins. No shields, hitting the vital regions or aiming for permanent damage." He replied, lowering himself into what he thought was a good fighting stance. Garland seemed ready to go, so Michael figured to go with the tried and tested strategy of striking first to win and swung at Garland with a wide slash toward the midsection.

[Garland]

"I warn you... I have no idea how to use a flail."but I know how to use a she-

"No shields."

Petch!

This is the best outcome for Michael, Garland with no weapon was familiar with, with no shield to protect himself, but as always he had a trick up his sleeve that no one actually thinks of.

Garland stepped back as the blade didn't quite reach his chest, Garland saw the opening and swung his flail, he was not used to the weight of the weapon stumbled as he swung. Garland knew he was open and simply followed the momentum of the swing to roll out of the way of any impending attack.

The flail was also slow as ball to swing if one was a newbie. He had no prior training and the only exposure he had to the weapon was from watching knights use it.

Garland had nothing to him, no defense, other than his speed. He was built for endurance and the fight was meant for defensive speed. "You chose well, Michael. Try not to telegraph your moves next time, feints are useful in that regard."

Garland didn't care much for who won, they were training to better themselves in case of a real battle. Although, as far as he knew he was at a severe disadvantage, mostly because the flail and other blunt weaponry was created with smashing armor in mind.

[Michael Kyber]

Swords, Michael realized, where a lot heavier than people gave them credit for. He'd picked up and swung around a few before of course, but in actual combat the force he had to put behind each swing to make it hard to maintain a good balance, and even harder to stop the damn thing. His first charge was avoided with a simple step back from Garland, and trying to break out of his own swing caused Michael to stumble and left him wide open.

And because he was wide open there was nothing he could do to avoid the swing of Garlands flail. The ball of metal hit him in the ribs with some force; enough to bruise without breaking bones, and caused Michael to grunt in pain and drop the sword to cover the impact area. "God above!" He muttered through gritted teeth.

He stretched out his side a bit to ease the pain as Garland gave him some advice on using feints. He made a good point, blindly swinging about and hoping to get a lucky hit in didn't seem like it was going to work. But having said that it wasn't easy to hide your intentions when wielding a weapon heavy enough to take a good swing to do damage with. Perhaps he ought to try out a thinner sword, like a rapier, next time.

"Cheers for the advice, I'll give it a try." He replied, picking up his sword again and getting back into a fighting position. "Anyway that's one point to you now. Let's see if I can't catch up."

Taking the offensive again Michael went in for a lung to the chest. This time though he kept most of his weight on his back leg, ready to pull back at a moments notice. If Garland made to parry the stab he would pull back the sword as quickly as he could and make a quick swing at and part of Garland that seemed exposed.

[Garland]

Garland had actually hit, he had thought he would have missed, being not used to the weapon he was using, it was more luck than skill when he did score the point.

Garland smiled when Michael actually listened to him and took his advice to heart. "Attack lightly to test the enemy's defenses, make sure you can fall back if they seem strong enough or fast enough to counter even those light jabs."

Garland waited for the fight to start, he took a deep breath and dusted himself off. When Michael launched himself forward, Garland had momentarily forgot he wasn't using his sword, which he was fairly good with parrying.

Garland barely caught the blade with the haft of his flail, momentarily proud of himself for blocking the attack.

It was very short lived however when he felt the sting of a blunt blade hit him on his side. "Didn't see that one coming." Garland massaged his side a bit. "Try hitting harder next time though, that wouldn't have even gotten pass leather armor, by the way, if you don't mind me saying, you don't look like the physical type, next time I suggest some sort of dagger, a rapier maybe, a short sword maybe."

Garland waited for the next round again.

This time he was the one on the offensive, his speed was above average, due to his training, but without a weapon he was familiar with he was as much of a novice as Michael right now.

Well... Except that he has more battle experience, even without the skills to match, Garland was quick and swung low, aiming for Michael's legs, hoping to trip him up, and if he goes down, he would attack downwards to his chest.

[Michael Kyber]

Michael mentally congratulated himself as his feint payed of and his sword nipped Garland in the side. It seemed like forcing and unfair disadvantage on your opponent and then bluffing your way through combat actually worked decidedly well, even if it did feel a little sneaky.

"That makes it one all." He said as he moved back and returned to a ready stance.

He looked down at his weapon, giving it a twirl with his wrist after Garland gave his advice. "You know I was thinking the same thing myself. Hopefully swinging around this kind of sword isn't a requirement for becoming a knight." He nodded his head over in the direction of the weapon rack. "Tell you what, what do you say to changing to weapons we're both a bit more comfortable with?"

As the next round began Garland took the offensive and Michael, unwilling to contest that position with someone clearly stronger than him, settled into the defensive. Not trusting himself to be able to block or effectively parry Garland's swings, Michael decided to make use of the open arena space and keep a good distance between them until Garland tired out. That plan backfired though when Garland swung low at his legs, catching him by surprise and tripping him.

Michael hit the ground hard, his sword slipping out of his fingers from the impact. Before he had a chance to stand again though Garland was upon him, swinging the mace towards his chest. Basic survival instinct kicked in, and upon seeing the swing Michael rolled to the left out of the path of the mace, his lighter body coming in handy for once. The mace thumped into the ground where Michael had been, though Michael was still on the floor and pinned down to some degree by Garlands close proximity.

[Garland]

Garland saw Michael roll away from the blow, that was a good move, instinct sometimes trump tactics and planning. It was by no means a substitute, but in a pinch, it could work.

Garland didn't think attacking someone while they were down was noble, but he had done so before, but this was training, a spar, a competition, not an actual fight. He stopped put up his guard and waited for Michael to get back on his feet.

Garland went back to the defensive and waited for his opponent to attack, he didn't plan on blocking like he normally does, instead he was going to dodge and focus on his superior experience and better footwork.

Though he did flail around like a bloody idiot, leaving wide open areas for attacks when he swung, he always had the head to back up if his attacks didn't work.

Garland drew Michael in with his defensive stance, and when he would strike Garland would dodge down and attack his legs again, this time he would grab Micheal as he fell down with his free hand and would ready his flail for a backhanded swing.

He would not swing and just ready it. Hopefully Micheal would know when he's lost. Of course, if Micheal decided to not fall for Garland's plan, he was open on almost all the sides.

After the fight was done. "What about the last round? We switch to our favored weapons?" Garland said and smiled at Michael. "You want to be a knight? Good on you, there are ways you don't have to use a sword if you don't want to. You don't really need to learn how to use a sword if you're going to be a mage for example, there's also a medical wing of knights somewhere, though I don't recall if they need to learn how to use a sword."

[Michael Kyber]

Michael stood up and dusted himself of, giving Garland a silent nod of gratitude for not pressing his attack when he was all but defeated. He idly wondered if it was expected of knights to show that same mercy to all of their opponents in accordance with their honor, or if it was a nicety that could only be afforded during training. If he was in that same situation Michael would probably have taken that opening to win, but perhaps that way of thinking needed to be changed if he wanted to make it as a knight.

Seeing that Garland was set up to go on the defensive, Michael went in to attack. If he was sticking to defense then Garland must have a plan, but he was confident that his momentum and choice of how to attack would be enough of an advantage.

Michael raised the sword above his head and swung down, using the momentum from his charge to increase the power behind it. The plan was to simply overwhelm Garland with a swing he couldn't block, something he wouldn't expect considering his recent acknowledgement that Michael wasn't strong. That plan however didn't go as hoped; as he swung at him Garland dodged down and tripped him, but this time grabbed him by the shirt before he could hit the ground and readied his flail to swing. the message was clear; if he'd wanted to win, he could have.

"Alright alright, you win this round. 2 - 1 to you." He disattached himself from Garlands grip, taking a minute to get his breath back as Garland offered to change weapons. When he was done Michael shot him a thumbs up. "Sounds good to me. This things weight is more trouble than its worth."

He went over to the sword rack and put back the bastard sword, then had a little look around before selecting a smaller cutlass from the rack. "Funny you should mention that actually, I've applied to become a mage-knight already. I should begin my squiring soon. The way you talk about it... are you a knight yourself by any chance?"