Over the course of the next few minutes, a mix of kalashtar and humans of all ages filter into the training room. As the bell to mark the half hour rings, Ranari claps her hands. "Right! Welcome to my sparring class. We've got some new people, so hi new people! Today we'll be working with shorter bladed weapons. Grab a practice weapon from the rack and get more or less into a line. Then show me your forms so I can make good pairs. As a reminder, no magic or psionics will be used during this part-save it for the bouts."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Taran would wait a beat, then head to the rack to see what was available. If he could he would grab a few of the practice weapons, remembering Trailblazer Ranari's comment about misdirecting his opponents. Perhaps he could catch them off-guard with a hidden practice dagger like he had the Soldier. Or he could overwhelm them with a series of blows, two short blades were little different that a short sword and dagger, which he knew. Sleight of Hand for hiding weapons on himself 9
Taran shook his head, as he made sure to be at the end of the line, a step back from the rest of the class so that he wasn't in full view. What if... what if what he thought of as sparring really was so different from anyone else's... what if.... he shook the thoughts away. That was the point of this, to separate out the truth from the wild speculation. He would never had dared to even presume to join a class like this before, but after everything on the road...
He went through the forms, smoothly transitioning between katas meant for one blade and two. He knew the second blade wavered more than it should, acting more as a distraction from his primary, but he couldn't fix that at this point. He just focused on the flow, on moving between the blows his opponent would send and striking as accurately as he could in return.
(OOC: I can roll if you want, but you know my passive attack value is a 15, so I imagine you've got an opponent lined up for Taran already)
Ranari paces along the line. The moment she gets to you spot, she says quickly. "Step up Taran, if I can't see you in comparison with the rest of the class this is a lot less useful." Looking around, Taran notices that a wide array of ability is present here, from clear beginners to people who move as if they were born with the practice blades in their hands.
"S-Sorry, Ma'am" Taran stutters, using the next movement of his Kata to move forward a step, the move isn't graceful, stuttering between responding verbally and focusing on the movement of blades. Then he returns to the flow, less smoothly than before since he is now certain of other watching him, seeing how poor his control and precision are.
Insight: 12
Taran still expects to be placed in the lower half of the students here, but he is surprised a Trailblazer is willing to spend time training entirely new students. Perhaps there was something else she got from the training, that made up for the time spent showing novices how to hold a blade. It was a mystery for another time, Taran had his own goals in this, as terrible and ominous as those goals were.
After a few minutes, Ranari nods. "All right! I'll get you paired up now. Bouts are to five touches right now!" She begins pairing people up, and Taran ends up with a young kalashtar who smiles and holds her hand out. "Kynari, nice to meet you."
Taran fumbles with his practice weapons to take her proffered hand, "T-T-Taran, i-it is an h-honor. I-I-I hop-pe th-this g-goes w-well."
He lets go of her hand a takes a few steps back, still holding the two short practice clubs, and settles into his stance, "U-Um... d-do w-we just st-start o-or d-do we w-wait for th-the T-Trailblazer?"
He's nervous, but he already feels the motions, sees where he will strike. Five strikes, only five. The tension burns through his mind, but his body is relaxed, anticipating the flow of combat.
"We can just start," Kynari says with a smile. She herself is wielding a pair of practice shortswords, which she raises as she settles into a stance. "Ranari will stop us if she determines we need to halt, otherwise we go until five touches. Ready?"
Before she even finishes asking "ready?" he's moving. The Kalashatar's body is similar to his own, and she doesn't have the muscle and mass of the Soldier. Clubs, nearly worthless as weapons, but they open options, he drives both forward towards her gut, hoping to wind her and leave her vulnerable to the follow up blows. Taran 1 hit
Not fully committing, Kynari flashes in a quick blow, but misses the second one. Taran 1, Kynari 1
He barely sees the Kalashtar's return blow, but her second he slips underneath. Tough, should have expected as much, still a club is the perfect weapon for body shots, and as he flows to her side he'll send one shot into her ribs and hit the second on the back of her knee. If he can get her off-balance, that was the key. Taran 3, Kynari 1
Kynari recovers quickly, snaking two blows under your guard in quick thrusts. Taran 3, Kynari 3
She matches him blow for blow, and she refused to falter. He would reverse direction, trying to slide the clubs through her guard as she stepped to follow, one above to the chest, one below to the gut. Taran 4, Kynari 3
Catching her breath, Kynari misses her first blow, but follows it up with a side swing. Taran 4, Kynari 4
He grunts as the side blow catches him, but he pushes through it, both clubs moving in for the final blow, aiming to catch her torso in a vice of wood. There was no way the Kalashtar would be able to dodge both Taran 6, Kynari 4
He won. For the second time he won. But he exultation is cut short but a realization. He hit too many times.
Taran drops his practice weapons, "I-I-I'm s-s-so s-s-sorry,"he says near panicking, "Th-that w-w-was t-t-too m-many, I-I d-d-didn't mean th-that. I-I-I s-s-swear."
Kynari smiles, rubbing her ribs. "Nah, you're good. It was a strategy that paid off fully. If I might make a suggestion, you're fighting as if the practice weapons are actually clubs, which they kind of are. But we're practicing for blade combat, so thrusts will do just as much damage in real combat. Like your fourth hit. Thrusts also tend to be harder to block or deflect, and three inches of point do as much damage as twenty of edge, in the right spot."
Taran tries to think of something useful to say, as he reaches down and grabs his weapons, he couldn't tell her that he'd not thought of them as blades, because he couldn't cripple her with blunt edges, "Y-you did v-v-very well, b-but... y-your f-first blow was... if y-you'd c-committed instead of t-t-tested... you'd h-have won... you l-let me g-g-get ahead."
He looks from the weapons to her. "D-Do we... d-do it a-again?"
Kynari moves in lightning fast, swinging one sword into your arm and thrusting the other into your abdomen. Kynari 2
He grunts, too slow to move out of the way or knock aside the Kalashtar's attack. Instead he stumbles back a step, then darts forward trying to overwhelm her guard with a series of thrusts and feints. Kynari 2, Taran 2
Kynari moves quickly and hits the first blow through sheer speed, but sacrifices accuracy on the second blow Kynari 3, Taran 2
The Kalashtar's second blow is slow, slow enough that he swings his weapon for her wrist, perhaps disarming her. Stepping into her rush, he drives the second weapon hard towards her torso Kynari 3, Taran 3
Spinning underneath your blades, Kynari makes two lightning fast thrusts at Taran's legs, connecting. Kynari 5, Taran 3
He stumbles and surges back to his feet before realizing the count. Taran stops and lowers his weapons, it had only been his catching her off guard that had netted him a victory.
With a clearer head, not clouded by everything else, he scans the room. Noting the various people. Using wooden, blunt weapons. Stopping after only five blows. The abyss whispers up from beneath him, perhaps this was only because of the enforcement of the Trailblazer. But...
"I-Is th-this,"Taran would ask gesturing to the room, struggling to find the right words, "N-normal? I-is a-all sp-sparring like th-this, o-or is th-this just h-how the Trailblazer p-prefers it?"
Kynari shrugs. "Is what normal? We don't always spar with short weapons, and sometimes exercises change. You're going to have to be a little more specific."
"I've..."he struggles to explain it, to put every question he doesn't want to ask into words. Looking down he stares at the weapon in his hand. "I've never h-held a practice w-weapon before..." Taran will say quietly, "I-I knew o-other people used them, b-but... m-maybe after th-they learned the basics, they just stopped..."
He looks up, eyes full of fear unlike the coldness they would adopt once the match started, "A-and... st-stopping l-like this... if the Tr-Trailblazer h-hadn't ordered it... b-but everyone seemed to expect it..."
Kynari shrugs. "Using practice weapons is pretty usual, yeah. We don't want to hurt each other badly, after all, and sparring with real blades carries a much higher risk of serious injury or death. Only people who are skilled enough to pull blows on a routine basis typically use real weapons in practice matches. We're all on the same side, after all, and Adar can't afford to lose fighters in practice bouts. And yeah, we stop after five touches for these bouts. The point is to practice and learn from each other, after all, not just batter each other into submission. Ranari likes to say that every bout should be both a learning and a teaching experience, no matter who you're fighting."
"I-I see..." Taran says quietly, staring off into the distance... "I... I n-never heard..." he shakes his head, suppressing the trembles forming in his knees, "I-I h-hope I'm n-not d-disappointing you then, Esteemed Kynari... I-I kn-know... th-that is..." he breaks off again taking a step back, and settling into a stance. He was thinking too much, letting doubts pile higher and higher. It was normal for skilled people to use real weapons. Each fight should be a lesson for both. So... so he'd needed to learn and Father had been learning something too. That... that was all there was to it. He... he needed to stop, to focus, and help Esteemed Kynari with her training. That was more important than these silly doubts.
"W-W-we sh-should st-st-start, I-I d-don't w-want to hold-d-d you b-back..." His weapon was wavering, but he'd compensate. Wood was lighter than steel, and he'd learned plenty about wielding steel while his body was trembling and unsteady.
Kynari grins. "You're not disappointing me! You're good at this!"
She starts to settle into a practice positions when Ranari calls out "All halt! Okay, now we're going to do a rotation. I'll demonstrate a move, and then each of you will get a turn to run it with me. Shaayla, you're up first." A human with short black hair goes up, smiling. Ranari gives the girl a nod, and they both assume a fighting position as Ranari speaks. "This particular move is about defending against two blades when you only have one. Some water soldiers poison their weapons with nonlethal poisons, so that they can take prisoners. And you all know the first rule of Riedran combat. Don't get taken alive. So the object is to keep the blades from even touching you. Shaayla, attack." Shaayla flashes onto the offensive, both of her practice blades cutting forward. In a swift movement, Ranari steps back from her low swing, and as Shaayla moves after her with her second attack, spins so that the student's thrust moves past her head. "Halt. Mobility is vital for this style of fighting. Only let your blade get locked up in a parry or block if you absolutely have to. The rest of the time, dodge." She picks up a second practice blade. "Now you all will give it a go. I'll make one attack with each of my swords. You'll only have one. Your job is to keep me from touching you. If you can do it without having to parry or block, even better. Start rotation." Students start moving up and practicing the sequence. Whenever a student gets hit, Ranari pauses and works through the problem with them, runs the sequence in slow motion, and then goes again at full speed.
Taran is almost glad for the call to halt, Kynari's words rocking him out of his focus. She likely would have had him on his back in moments if she had engaged from that moment.
His stomach dropped though as the Trailblazer spoke. Between Mister Lanan, sparring with Kynari and watching the Trailblazer work with the students, he had realized something wasn't right, that his body had ingrained in it a set of instincts that he could barely control. What if he... what if he struck the Trailblazer, when he wasn't supposed to?
He followed the line up, he couldn't say no, he couldn't stop a training session, that wasn't allowed either. Father never allowed him to quit, pushing him forward no matter what. Tremors ran down his body and his mouth felt dry. A small piece of him looked up at the Trailblazer.
"I-I don't know... if I-I can do this... T-Trailblazer..." he whispered as she loomed before him like a Titan.
'She doesn't understand' some small part of him whispers, but he settles into his stance, settles into the flow. The single weapon is in a tight grip, his wrist loose. He looks over the Trailblazer, eyes going cold and distant. He's seen here run through this, he knows what to look for, the subtle shifts in weight and twitches of muscles. She's so fast, he'll have to focus, her and nothing else, his body ready to sway and spring the instant she moves. Focus on the flow, and not the voice.
(Dodge action, and he likely will counter attack)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
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Over the course of the next few minutes, a mix of kalashtar and humans of all ages filter into the training room. As the bell to mark the half hour rings, Ranari claps her hands. "Right! Welcome to my sparring class. We've got some new people, so hi new people! Today we'll be working with shorter bladed weapons. Grab a practice weapon from the rack and get more or less into a line. Then show me your forms so I can make good pairs. As a reminder, no magic or psionics will be used during this part-save it for the bouts."
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
Taran would wait a beat, then head to the rack to see what was available. If he could he would grab a few of the practice weapons, remembering Trailblazer Ranari's comment about misdirecting his opponents. Perhaps he could catch them off-guard with a hidden practice dagger like he had the Soldier. Or he could overwhelm them with a series of blows, two short blades were little different that a short sword and dagger, which he knew. Sleight of Hand for hiding weapons on himself 9
Taran shook his head, as he made sure to be at the end of the line, a step back from the rest of the class so that he wasn't in full view. What if... what if what he thought of as sparring really was so different from anyone else's... what if.... he shook the thoughts away. That was the point of this, to separate out the truth from the wild speculation. He would never had dared to even presume to join a class like this before, but after everything on the road...
He went through the forms, smoothly transitioning between katas meant for one blade and two. He knew the second blade wavered more than it should, acting more as a distraction from his primary, but he couldn't fix that at this point. He just focused on the flow, on moving between the blows his opponent would send and striking as accurately as he could in return.
(OOC: I can roll if you want, but you know my passive attack value is a 15, so I imagine you've got an opponent lined up for Taran already)
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
Ranari paces along the line. The moment she gets to you spot, she says quickly. "Step up Taran, if I can't see you in comparison with the rest of the class this is a lot less useful." Looking around, Taran notices that a wide array of ability is present here, from clear beginners to people who move as if they were born with the practice blades in their hands.
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
"S-Sorry, Ma'am" Taran stutters, using the next movement of his Kata to move forward a step, the move isn't graceful, stuttering between responding verbally and focusing on the movement of blades. Then he returns to the flow, less smoothly than before since he is now certain of other watching him, seeing how poor his control and precision are.
Insight: 12
Taran still expects to be placed in the lower half of the students here, but he is surprised a Trailblazer is willing to spend time training entirely new students. Perhaps there was something else she got from the training, that made up for the time spent showing novices how to hold a blade. It was a mystery for another time, Taran had his own goals in this, as terrible and ominous as those goals were.
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
After a few minutes, Ranari nods. "All right! I'll get you paired up now. Bouts are to five touches right now!" She begins pairing people up, and Taran ends up with a young kalashtar who smiles and holds her hand out. "Kynari, nice to meet you."
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
Taran fumbles with his practice weapons to take her proffered hand, "T-T-Taran, i-it is an h-honor. I-I-I hop-pe th-this g-goes w-well."
He lets go of her hand a takes a few steps back, still holding the two short practice clubs, and settles into his stance, "U-Um... d-do w-we just st-start o-or d-do we w-wait for th-the T-Trailblazer?"
He's nervous, but he already feels the motions, sees where he will strike. Five strikes, only five. The tension burns through his mind, but his body is relaxed, anticipating the flow of combat.
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
"We can just start," Kynari says with a smile. She herself is wielding a pair of practice shortswords, which she raises as she settles into a stance. "Ranari will stop us if she determines we need to halt, otherwise we go until five touches. Ready?"
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
Before she even finishes asking "ready?" he's moving. The Kalashatar's body is similar to his own, and she doesn't have the muscle and mass of the Soldier. Clubs, nearly worthless as weapons, but they open options, he drives both forward towards her gut, hoping to wind her and leave her vulnerable to the follow up blows.
Taran 1 hit
Not fully committing, Kynari flashes in a quick blow, but misses the second one.
Taran 1, Kynari 1
He barely sees the Kalashtar's return blow, but her second he slips underneath. Tough, should have expected as much, still a club is the perfect weapon for body shots, and as he flows to her side he'll send one shot into her ribs and hit the second on the back of her knee. If he can get her off-balance, that was the key.
Taran 3, Kynari 1
Kynari recovers quickly, snaking two blows under your guard in quick thrusts.
Taran 3, Kynari 3
She matches him blow for blow, and she refused to falter. He would reverse direction, trying to slide the clubs through her guard as she stepped to follow, one above to the chest, one below to the gut.
Taran 4, Kynari 3
Catching her breath, Kynari misses her first blow, but follows it up with a side swing.
Taran 4, Kynari 4
He grunts as the side blow catches him, but he pushes through it, both clubs moving in for the final blow, aiming to catch her torso in a vice of wood. There was no way the Kalashtar would be able to dodge both
Taran 6, Kynari 4
He won. For the second time he won. But he exultation is cut short but a realization. He hit too many times.
Taran drops his practice weapons, "I-I-I'm s-s-so s-s-sorry," he says near panicking, "Th-that w-w-was t-t-too m-many, I-I d-d-didn't mean th-that. I-I-I s-s-swear."
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
Kynari smiles, rubbing her ribs. "Nah, you're good. It was a strategy that paid off fully. If I might make a suggestion, you're fighting as if the practice weapons are actually clubs, which they kind of are. But we're practicing for blade combat, so thrusts will do just as much damage in real combat. Like your fourth hit. Thrusts also tend to be harder to block or deflect, and three inches of point do as much damage as twenty of edge, in the right spot."
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
"O-o-oh..." Taran says stopping, "R-right...th-that... y-you're r-right..."
Taran tries to think of something useful to say, as he reaches down and grabs his weapons, he couldn't tell her that he'd not thought of them as blades, because he couldn't cripple her with blunt edges, "Y-you did v-v-very well, b-but... y-your f-first blow was... if y-you'd c-committed instead of t-t-tested... you'd h-have won... you l-let me g-g-get ahead."
He looks from the weapons to her. "D-Do we... d-do it a-again?"
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
Kynari nods. "Absolutely. We go until she switches us."
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
Kynari moves in lightning fast, swinging one sword into your arm and thrusting the other into your abdomen.
Kynari 2
He grunts, too slow to move out of the way or knock aside the Kalashtar's attack. Instead he stumbles back a step, then darts forward trying to overwhelm her guard with a series of thrusts and feints.
Kynari 2, Taran 2
Kynari moves quickly and hits the first blow through sheer speed, but sacrifices accuracy on the second blow
Kynari 3, Taran 2
The Kalashtar's second blow is slow, slow enough that he swings his weapon for her wrist, perhaps disarming her. Stepping into her rush, he drives the second weapon hard towards her torso
Kynari 3, Taran 3
Spinning underneath your blades, Kynari makes two lightning fast thrusts at Taran's legs, connecting.
Kynari 5, Taran 3
He stumbles and surges back to his feet before realizing the count. Taran stops and lowers his weapons, it had only been his catching her off guard that had netted him a victory.
With a clearer head, not clouded by everything else, he scans the room. Noting the various people. Using wooden, blunt weapons. Stopping after only five blows. The abyss whispers up from beneath him, perhaps this was only because of the enforcement of the Trailblazer. But...
"I-Is th-this," Taran would ask gesturing to the room, struggling to find the right words, "N-normal? I-is a-all sp-sparring like th-this, o-or is th-this just h-how the Trailblazer p-prefers it?"
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
Kynari shrugs. "Is what normal? We don't always spar with short weapons, and sometimes exercises change. You're going to have to be a little more specific."
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
"I've..." he struggles to explain it, to put every question he doesn't want to ask into words. Looking down he stares at the weapon in his hand. "I've never h-held a practice w-weapon before..." Taran will say quietly, "I-I knew o-other people used them, b-but... m-maybe after th-they learned the basics, they just stopped..."
He looks up, eyes full of fear unlike the coldness they would adopt once the match started, "A-and... st-stopping l-like this... if the Tr-Trailblazer h-hadn't ordered it... b-but everyone seemed to expect it..."
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
Kynari shrugs. "Using practice weapons is pretty usual, yeah. We don't want to hurt each other badly, after all, and sparring with real blades carries a much higher risk of serious injury or death. Only people who are skilled enough to pull blows on a routine basis typically use real weapons in practice matches. We're all on the same side, after all, and Adar can't afford to lose fighters in practice bouts. And yeah, we stop after five touches for these bouts. The point is to practice and learn from each other, after all, not just batter each other into submission. Ranari likes to say that every bout should be both a learning and a teaching experience, no matter who you're fighting."
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
"I-I see..." Taran says quietly, staring off into the distance... "I... I n-never heard..." he shakes his head, suppressing the trembles forming in his knees, "I-I h-hope I'm n-not d-disappointing you then, Esteemed Kynari... I-I kn-know... th-that is..." he breaks off again taking a step back, and settling into a stance. He was thinking too much, letting doubts pile higher and higher. It was normal for skilled people to use real weapons. Each fight should be a lesson for both. So... so he'd needed to learn and Father had been learning something too. That... that was all there was to it. He... he needed to stop, to focus, and help Esteemed Kynari with her training. That was more important than these silly doubts.
"W-W-we sh-should st-st-start, I-I d-don't w-want to hold-d-d you b-back..." His weapon was wavering, but he'd compensate. Wood was lighter than steel, and he'd learned plenty about wielding steel while his body was trembling and unsteady.
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
Kynari grins. "You're not disappointing me! You're good at this!"
She starts to settle into a practice positions when Ranari calls out "All halt! Okay, now we're going to do a rotation. I'll demonstrate a move, and then each of you will get a turn to run it with me. Shaayla, you're up first." A human with short black hair goes up, smiling. Ranari gives the girl a nod, and they both assume a fighting position as Ranari speaks. "This particular move is about defending against two blades when you only have one. Some water soldiers poison their weapons with nonlethal poisons, so that they can take prisoners. And you all know the first rule of Riedran combat. Don't get taken alive. So the object is to keep the blades from even touching you. Shaayla, attack." Shaayla flashes onto the offensive, both of her practice blades cutting forward. In a swift movement, Ranari steps back from her low swing, and as Shaayla moves after her with her second attack, spins so that the student's thrust moves past her head. "Halt. Mobility is vital for this style of fighting. Only let your blade get locked up in a parry or block if you absolutely have to. The rest of the time, dodge." She picks up a second practice blade. "Now you all will give it a go. I'll make one attack with each of my swords. You'll only have one. Your job is to keep me from touching you. If you can do it without having to parry or block, even better. Start rotation." Students start moving up and practicing the sequence. Whenever a student gets hit, Ranari pauses and works through the problem with them, runs the sequence in slow motion, and then goes again at full speed.
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
Taran is almost glad for the call to halt, Kynari's words rocking him out of his focus. She likely would have had him on his back in moments if she had engaged from that moment.
His stomach dropped though as the Trailblazer spoke. Between Mister Lanan, sparring with Kynari and watching the Trailblazer work with the students, he had realized something wasn't right, that his body had ingrained in it a set of instincts that he could barely control. What if he... what if he struck the Trailblazer, when he wasn't supposed to?
He followed the line up, he couldn't say no, he couldn't stop a training session, that wasn't allowed either. Father never allowed him to quit, pushing him forward no matter what. Tremors ran down his body and his mouth felt dry. A small piece of him looked up at the Trailblazer.
"I-I don't know... if I-I can do this... T-Trailblazer..." he whispered as she loomed before him like a Titan.
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
Ranari smiles reassuringly. "It's okay if you aren't able to dodge. This is a learning experience, after all, you aren't expected to get it perfect."
Stella Diamant, Human Rogue 17 (Swashbuckler), The Exploits of Misfit Company
Kat, Medtech, Cyberpunk: Red
Shi, Changeling Bard 4 (College of Spirits), Tyrant's Grasp
Dani, Human Artificer 9 (Armorer), Skulls and Starships
DM, Project Point (Teams Scimitar and Longsword)
Everything Else!
'She doesn't understand' some small part of him whispers, but he settles into his stance, settles into the flow. The single weapon is in a tight grip, his wrist loose. He looks over the Trailblazer, eyes going cold and distant. He's seen here run through this, he knows what to look for, the subtle shifts in weight and twitches of muscles. She's so fast, he'll have to focus, her and nothing else, his body ready to sway and spring the instant she moves. Focus on the flow, and not the voice.
(Dodge action, and he likely will counter attack)
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)