[Flashback:Solo]A Dagger's Use I

[Antar]

13th day of spring, 511 av

Another day, another bloody sunrise in the city of Sunberth. Another day tending to the menial chores of camp, fetching the buckets of water for the daily boiling to ensure it was drinkable, banking the fires and dousing them to ensure there was no danger of flames from errant sparks. Every night, and day he stretched to quell the aching of sore muscles from the tough physical labor in preparation for the day ahead. Then the eventual saddling and ride back out to the Carver Brothers for the day. It was the start of a routine to Noth, and in any routine the first fifteen days would be hardest on his muscles.

The morning regimen of lifting and sorting in the yard was no different then the prior days had been save he was being paired up with other workers to begin lifting slightly heavier logs and take them to different storage areas of the woodshed, or into the lines of those with the double man saws cutting them into boards for the large job ahead.

Day in , day out. This was going to be a section of his life for the next few seasons. He wouldn't stop until he had gained enough to start making a difference in his situation. Wouldn't stop training until he thought he was ready to strike back at those who had held dominion over his life for almost eight of his twenty two years. That alone was a smoldering impetus that drove him forwards. Hard labor like this, was just another stone on the path he had to trod.

Finally when lunch came the boys of the yard retired to the nearby meadow where they had set up the targets two days before. It was time for Noth to get a little bit serious about learning how to wield his kukri right, and he wandered through the area looking to see if one of the other woodsman was working on something similar to his aims and might be willing to help him out. His eyes settled on one of the other laborers, a kind of silent guy named Renaldo who if he remembered right, was of a pair of workers that seemed to have almost run him over the first day on the yard.

The man was working against the training post they had set up, and was wielding a small light dagger. However, today, it seemed Renaldo had fastened an old worn out set of leather armor over the top to masquerade it more as an armored opponent. Ever curious, Noth stood there watching a little and noted a bit of the technique Renaldo was using, as the man was sometimes moving faster then he could follow, in a series of flurried strikes that chipped away at the leatherwork, sandbags, wood, and rope.

Finally the quiet man just stopped and looked at him with a harsh gaze, "What'chu want?"

Noth let himself have a simple smile and drew his kukri, and pointed towards the man's dagger and back to his own blade. "Well, we're all going to be taking the shipment into town later on after everything's ready right, Renaldo?"

A gutteral reply came in a quite elequent, "Ya'. We are. What's it to ya?"

Noth tapped the sheathed kukri in a unspoken manner, signifying thought."I'll cut straight to the point. I want to know just how good I can be with this thing, and I'd like you to show me a few pointers. That way, if my archery fails me, I can still help protect everyone's backs from getting stabbed if there's any trouble on the roads. You willing to show me something of how to use this?"

Renaldo blinked and looked at Noth appraisingly, "I guess a fella' like me would want anyone else going along for the ride to be ready for anything. Alright, I'll help you out a bit. Just stand away and let me show you a bit first."

Noth smiled a bit and nodded his thanks as he focused his attention on the man's actions...

[Antar]

"Hold up a moment." Renaldo said as he turned to another person waiting to use the dummy during the lunch hour. "Hey Max, you go ahead and practice a little. I got to show this new guy how to hold a dagger."

The man called Max snorted a little before giving Renaldo a wink and a flipping remark as thanks. Noth was realizing by now, working in the yard at the cutters and carvers was going to do wonders for his insulting vocabulary, "Ya sure you want to do that, Renaldo. I mean... I always took you for the type who liked the ladies more... but hey, don't ask don't tell right?"

"Ah Shuddup, Max and just take yer turn."
"That's what she said!"
"Maxieee. Shuddupa Yar'Face I said!" Noth heard Renaldo warn the man a final time before coming over to where he stood.

With a smile he asked a question, "So... what the agenda, are we going to be practicing on the dummy too?" Renaldo looked at him and sighed a little, as if asking such a dumb question wounded him somehow.
"No you petching git! Yar' not even close to being ready for the training dummy unless you get a few basics under yar' belt.'

Holding up his hands in mock supplication Antar smiled a little, "Alright there big fellow. I understand. You're the teacher, I'm the student. I got it. Really, I do. So what's the first lesson?"

Renaldo smiled, "Hmphh, you ain't as dumb as you look kid. Alright, as I said we need to get the basics down and the first way to do that is understand something real key. If you're in a middle of a scrap- keeping it simple is better then doing anything fancy with the blade itself. There's no need to try to get intricate when all you want to do is make the other guy dead as fast as you can."

Noth nodded a moment, internalizing this rule of knife fighting before he spoke again. "Alright then, where do we start?"

'The same way you start with any tool. How you bloody hold the damn thing!" Renaldo scoffed at Noth's ignorance before going into the nitty gritty details of how to hold a knife. Surprisingly there wasn't a single way to hold a knife but rather four basic grips...

The first was a reverse grip, easy enough to understand, a grip holding the dagger along the ways of the wrist. And Renaldo explained it really was only usefull for slashing, though could if practiced enough be useful for parrying. But he cautioned that it wasn't much of a benefit in a long fight, where simple was better, unless you were capable of wielding it with one hand. And the other woodsman went further to say with a kukri, Noth would have to be doubly careful because of the curve of the blade as a kukri was mainly designed for thrusts, or slashes.

Antar didn't mind the little extra facts, after all, it was part of the learning process and he'd file such tidbits away for later if he ever had need to wield a weapon in each hand.

The next grip was a fencer's grip, with Renaldo noting it was like the grip around a rapier, but not useful in anything larger then a stilletto or throwing knife. In the fencer's grip he manuevered Noth's fingers, placing the hilt to be held between his thumb and index finger with the other fingers tucked behind. It was a usefull grip to learn for specifics, but Noth wondered what would be the best practical grips for him to use. It's only downside was that with any force, a blade could be knocked free from your hands, disarming you in the precious seconds your opponent needed to finish you off.

Renaldo showed them to him next, the 'ice-pick' grip, and the hammer grip. Their names were pretty self explanatory as they allowed one to visualize just what one was doing.

For the ice pick grip it was a simple matter of putting the knife hilt in a fist with the blade pointing down. This allowed a great ammount of penetration in one's strike down towards an opponent, but Renaldo warned it was easy to see coming, and many who were any good in a scrap would see an opening to attack you if you raised the knife upwards for a downwards stab. He went further to say that any person with a degree of skill would find it easier to block one's blade as you made your strike using this grip. Even worse, it didn't allow one much of an ability to parry, or throw a blade with any form of precision.

The last grip, was a hammer grip in which Renaldo showed how to hold the blade around the hilt like he would a hammer and the man stressed that this was the most useful of all knife grips and one he'd see used most often by an opponent. It was a simple grip to master, one simply had to wrap their fist around the handle of the dagger and voilia, you were done. So long as you remembered to hold the grip light enough to ensure you were able to flex your wrist and if you needed to get a firmer hold on the dagger's hilt all you had to do was squeeze your hand.

Noth took in every word Renaldo was saying, as he realized this grip provided the most penetrating power in a thrust, and was doubly useful in a chop , or a slash. Once he had the basic grips down, Renaldo stepped away to give him room and asked him to change the grip he had on the knife at random for a few chimes. Finally, after nodding and making several corrections to Noth's hand placement , Antar got up the gumption to ask what was next.

The answer was a simple, if not unexpected. Like any weapon, the next important step, was learning one's stance with it as they moved.

[Antar]

When Renaldo showed him a stance, he showed him one stance. Saying it was the basic of all things. A fencer's stance with one leg a bit forwards of the other with the knife held in the hand closest to the person he'd be trying to stab. This was for a very practical reason, well several of them in fact. The stance allowed the wielder of the weapon to move in any direction necessary by pushing off with the toes of their feet. And keeping the knife between you and the target was a bonus no man in their right mind who wound up fighting for their life could ignore.

By keeping the weapon at the opponent it was doubly good in allowing the wielder to attack, or respond to any thrust the enemy made with a block, or parry. If need be, Renaldo showed Noth to pull the weapon closer to your body, and let his free hand protect against an opponent's grabbing technique. The stance itself while a bit peculiar to his senses was one Noth was quickly becoming appreciative of, but he had to ask what to do with the hand not holding the knife if he wasn't trying to stop an opponent grabbing him with it.

"That's simple, Nothie, it's your shield hand. And just like you'd use a shield in real life, you'd rather sacrifice it then take a knife in the heart or gut. So , you want to be able to shift it whenever you need to, keeping your arm out, with your palm up near the solar plexus or the throat."

Renaldo went on a bit, noting how the shield hand, could be used to parry, punch, make a fake, throw things, distract an opponent, or assist a fighter's balance in bad surroundings. He also cautioned if need be the hand could grab an opponent's blade as well, if necessary but noted that your hand couldn't be cut deeply unless the target was able to rip and draw the blade out of your reach. If Noth grabbed or attacked someone mid strike, he could, by arm locking or other means, he had a chance of controlling the weapon arm to prevent major injury from occurring to himself.

For the next few chimes Renaldo's made him practice moving in the fencer's stance slowly, shifting which leg was forwards, and then practice changings grips while moving. When the final grunt of approval came, he was rewarded my Renaldo's telling him to sheathe his knife and pick up a stick. He did so with care, making sure the notch at the end of the knife slatted firmly inside the lip of the sheathe.

Picking up a stick, he winced a little from the sound as Renaldo's cracked it over his knee to get it the right length of kukri. He watched the other woodsman pick up a similar stick and broke it as well. "Now you see here, Noth. Listen up. There's three basic attacks with a knife, and it's best you learn up properly. The first is a thrust, or a stab to let you stick someone!"

Noth winced a little as the man poked the stick into Noth's ribs to make his 'point'. "The good thing about a kukri is, you don't have to twis the wrist in a straight thrust, as the blade itself is curved. That means you get excellent stabbing power." With a smile the man slowly poked him again and then again, until Noth started using his shield hand to hit inside Renaldo's wrist to move it away, or sometimes blocking with the blade of his own 'stick'. [color=red]"Good , now let me see a proper thrust!" Antar complied, forcing his right hand forwards at a craw with the stick held parallel to the ground. He did this a few more times, with Renaldo's going along with the tepid pace, blocking in a variety of counters, and slaps, and blade grabs as the other man was slowly pushed backwards in the mock fight.

Holding up a hand Renaldo's made for Noth to stop. "The next type of attack you need to learn is a slash. A slash is any diagonal or any horizontal strike in any direction. Same wit' a sword." Demonstrating against Noth, Renaldos moved the stick in a series of diagonal slashes, sometimes changing from the hammer grip, to the reverse, as he drew an the stick slowly across Noth's wrists, and eventually grabbing his weapon hand to gain a draw across his throat. "Now, start trying to move a little and block."

Antar did as he was told, attempting to parry the incoming stick with his own in order to get close. He even threw in a proper slash and thrust of his own after each successful block. Even if to all appearances it looked like the two were engaging in a tempo more akin to some gradual theater display. Except there was one difference: it was a quick and dirty way of fighting, without the need for finesse that some others would have taught. Almost as if it was solely for the purpose of killing an enemy as quickly as possible.

"All right Nothie boy, that's what Big Herb called you; right? The last basic attack is a chop. and it's usually any perpendicular attack with that brings the blade down to cut into the skin with as much force as possible. Like you would using a hatchet." With these words, Renaldo's demonstrated a variety of chops, using the stick to come down upon Noth's shoulder blade, the top of his hands, and even the crown of his head. As the instruction continued, he began to dodge. When he could counter these chops with wrist grabs with his shield hand and switching his hold from ice pick downwards thrusts of his stick, sometimes alternating with sideways penetrations towards Renaldo's stomach, and a hammer grip to the heart or ribs.

"Good Noth, Keep it up. We're about to get a little faster." And faster they did go, with the mock sparring session ending almost at full speed after a few chimes. Blinking the sweat out of his eyes, It was clear he was outmatched with Renaldo's tapping his stick to Noth's head, interior of the arms, legs, and even a few gut stabs as his ability to fight was grappled into none existence. More than once while changing grips, he'd been disarmed by stout opportunistic slashes that sent the stick flying from his hands.Renaldos always made a point to follow through and tap the area where the final blow would have been. And the workout taught him a much needed lesson. Using a dagger,

Finally the man stabbed back and told Noth to practice each of the attacks on his own for a bit after getting a drink. The much needed rest was a succor to his weary senses, and the cool water acted as a balm to his parched throat.

Still having a bit of time he did as Renaldo suggested, practing each type of attack on his own with the stick. Getting at least a hundred repetititons of each. Finally, when they were almost ready to go back to work he thought upon where Renaldo had targeted. Noticing that many were the same vital points that he had recognized the day before, save that the other man also took any target of opportunity where the blade might cut. Rationalizing things, Noth supposed one reason was that was because one could wear an opponent down with several smaller cuts, making them bleed out, and he figured out another might just be that drawing first blood might have a staggering psychological impact to give a person an advantage in a fight.

And both benefits would prove useful against an unarmored opponent. Taking a look at the armored training dummy, Noth pondered how one would wield a blade against an armored opponent. He guessed that was what Renaldo meant by working on the dummy tomorrow... And after he got a bit of skill, he could strike for a person's weapon hand if he had to in the same manner the other woodsman had done, to disarm him.

Satisfied with his progress of the day, Noth stretched a bit to keep himself limber before the others were told to return to the yard. Once again, he was assigned the duty of sweeping up the woodchips and the sawdust gained from the guys practicing against the targets before returning to shuffle logs around again.

In the last five chimes, of the day, Wiley allowed him a chance to swing an axe to split a few logs, and remarked on how he was coming along nicely in the yard to Big Herb. Both figured the bosses would notice sooner or later. But noth didn't care, Noth just let a small smile of contentment spread across his face as at the end of things his muscles settled into the smooth almost familiar ache that signified the end of another hard days worth of work.

The ride home on Dawnstride was uneventful, and was spent in pure bliss until Noth's eyes settled on the now familiar scenery of the Dust Pit, and the grabes which littered the hillside. It reminded him that in sunberth, thinking you were at peace was a good way of getting yourself hurt or killed and a bit of healthy paranoia would see one through the day. Besides, the rogue mused, eventually things would catch up with him, and he'd have to prepare as much as he could.

~Fin
Hope you enjoyed the read

Skills/Lore Requests :

Skills:
Weapon (kukri)
Unarmed Combat ** for shield hand grips, blocks, parries and kicks
Any others you see , but I don't think there will be much.

Lores Requested :
Knife and Dagger: Stances and Grips(basic)
Knife and Dagger: Stabs,Slashes, Thrusts, and Chops(basic)
Knife and Dagger: Targeting Vital Points (basic)
Knife and Dagger: Shield Hand grips, blocks, parries, and disarms(basic)

[Cachet]

Gossamer Said I could Antar : Antar SKILLS Weapon (Kukri): 4 Unarmed Comabat:3 LORE Knife and Dagger: Stances and Grips(basic) Knife and Dagger: Stabs,Slashes, Thrusts, and Chops(basic) Knife and Dagger: Targeting Vital Points (basic) Knife and Dagger: Shield Hand grips, blocks, parries, and disarms(basic) Straight Forward Learning Misc Notes: I liked that I could hear them talk in my head. Makes them seem more human to me when I read the thread. Conclusion: Again another well written training thread. I liked the read. Anything seem out of place? Any questions please feel free to contact me ASAP.