Basic Sword Skills [Thursday, Period Three]

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

The large collection of swords was back this week, but something was different. It wasn't one of those subtle somethings, the sort that gave you an odd feeling of some minor thing being out of place. No, it was a big and obvious something. Instead of a classroom the Danger Shop was reconfigured into something sort of like an obstacle course. Except that there was no "course" part. Just a whole lot of obstacles.

Random staircases, walls made of various materials, mud pits, sand pits, even a ball pit. There were also areas with all sorts of different flooring. Carpets and hardwood and marble. There were also many, many other moddable things.

"We've barely scratched the surface of what there is to learn about the blade. But this is just an introductory course, so that's okay. Besides, while your skill with a blade matters in any fight, it's not the only thing that matters. That's why we covered footwork earlier. Today's lesson will build on that, and do something more."

He looked around at the crazy mix of stuff that was today's lesson. "Terrain. You're all bright enough to figure out how sand or mud can mess with your footwork, but terrain is about a lot more than that. Often you'll find that you can let the terrain do most of the work of defeating your opponent. For instance," Max walked over to where two walls faced each other forming a sort of narrow hallway without a ceiling. "If you can maneuver someone with a long blade into a position like this one they'll be severely hamperred, no matter how good they are."

"Getting your opponent into terrain that favors your weapon or your style, and learning how to see opportunities to do so, is at least as important as anything else I've taught you."

He grinned. "So you have one day to master the skill. Because it'll be part of the exam."

"The assignment for today is simple. You will divide yourselves into two groups. One group is attempting to get from this side of the room," he pointed to one side, "To that one," he pointed at the opposite side. The other group is trying to prevent that. Use the terrain to your advantage. Remember that if you can trap someone in the right sort of terrain they won't be able to get out. Let your terrain do as much of the work as possible."

"So go ahead and divide up and," he waved at the weapons rack, "select a weapon or two. Whatever you're comfortable with." He waited precisely half a second. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get to it!"

Comments

Sign in

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Showing how sad you are that the session is almost over

Re: Sign in

[glacial_queen]

Karla

Who really is

Re: Sign in

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle

It's a dance of woe. Honestly. No, really.

Re: Sign in

[notasuiciderisk.livejournal.com]

Eric van der Woodsen

Who's pretty much shocked at how the time has flown.

The lecture

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

At least it's short. Feel free to dwell on the announcement of that whole exam thing.

Re: The lecture

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle listened intently to this part, but at least here, even if the rest of the class made her nervous, she felt pretty confident; Xena had taught her a lot about terrain and using it to her advantage.

Arm yourself

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Pick your weapon. You know the drill by now. Feel free to discuss the merits of one weapon over another.

Re: Arm yourself

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle opted for the bokken again; it was what she was most comfortable with. Mostly because it didn't have an actual blade.

Re: Arm yourself

[notasuiciderisk.livejournal.com]

Eric picked out a short sword and a main gauche, having been handwavily working with the combination outside of class.

Re: Arm yourself

[nevertobequeen.livejournal.com]

Morgana picked a simple sword, choosing to leave her other hand free.

Re: Arm yourself

[glacial_queen]

Karla reached for her trusty Cinquedea. She still wasn't perfectly comfortable with it, but it was better than anything else she'd used in class.

Re: Arm yourself

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

Zayne went for a short sword and was glad to only be dealing with class exercises instead of the Jedi exercises he was dealing with last week.

The crossing

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Ping in with which role you're taking, trying to cross or trying to defend, and hopefully someone will start a thread with you. That's the plan, anyway. And remember the terrain is moddable and crazy. Have fun with it!

Re: The crossing

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle, clutching her bokken in both hands, took up a position in the narrow space between a pair of large rock outcroppings -- easier to defend against multiple opponents that way, if she could restrict their options for getting around her, after all.

Shame about her lack of a chakram; an induced rockslide would be nice and effective, too, and you could argue that it was using a blade, given how sharp that thing was.

But then, who wanted Gabrielle throwing that around anyway?

Re: The crossing

[notasuiciderisk.livejournal.com]

Eric was already a bit muddy by the time he got to Gabrielle, but he smiled as he saw her.

It wasn't quite a 'happy to see you' smile, no.

"This'll go easier for you if you just let me pass," he assayed.

[Woo, sp? I'm off for a bit but wanted to ping in, then I should be around tonight.]

Re: The crossing

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle brought her bokken up, reminding herself not to hold it across her body like she would her staff. "Your persuasive skills could use some work, you know," she told him. "I'm going to need a more concrete example of why it'll be easier if you think you're going to convince me. What's in it for me?"

Oh, words. Words were her real weapon here. Maybe she could babble at him for the duration of class?

[OOC: OMG, totally. I've got more threads than I bargained for here!]

Re: The crossing

[glacial_queen]

Karla decided that running the course would be more fun than defending it. She glanced around to see if there was anyone who looked like they were willing to try to stop her.

Without Craft, that's probably going to be easier than it sounded.

Talk to Max

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

You're running out of chances to tell him how big, strong, and handsome he is. And you don't want to spend the rest of your life regretting that failure now do you?

Re: Talk to Max

[glacial_queen]

Karla decided to keep it simple. "Craft?" she asked.

Re: Talk to Max

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"For the exercise?" Max considered that. "Simple stuff only." His voice grew soft. "You need to know how to do this without, after all." She wouldn't always have the Craft.

Re: Talk to Max

[glacial_queen]

Karla nodded. "I'm going to try not to use any at all. But I wanted to check anyway."

Re: Talk to Max

[notasuiciderisk.livejournal.com]

Eric hadn't quite said how big, strong and handsome he found Max, but his occasional staring-to-the-point-of-distraction probably had made the point for him.

"I can't believe the workshop is almost over," he said, barely resisting a pout. "I wanted to thank you for teaching it."

Re: Talk to Max

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max, who would never overlook something so obvious coming from a female, somehow completely missed it coming from Eric. "It's been interesting," he rumbled in amusement. "Though I sort of feel like I've failed if you enjoyed it." He smirked. "I must be getting soft."

Re: Talk to Max

[notasuiciderisk.livejournal.com]

"Or I'm a masochist," Eric retorted, grinning.

OOC

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Man... I'm going to miss this class. You guys have been fun. (Yes, I know it's not over yet. I'm getting my maudlin out of the way early, okay?)