Stamina and Swordplay

Samuel strengthens some skills

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This shining population center is considered the jewel of The Sylira Region. Home of the vast majority of Mizahar's population, Syliras is nestled in a quiet, sprawling valley on the shores of the Suvan Sea. [Lore]

Stamina and Swordplay

Postby Samuel Longwell on February 13th, 2017, 9:55 pm

Stamina and Swordplay


Date: 43rd Winter 516AV
Location: Training Grounds

Samuel Thoughts Others


It was a clear morning, the bright blue sky was devoid of clouds. Syna bathed the training grounds in her light, touching a range of knights and squires as they honed their craft. One of these in training was Ser Longwell. He was dressed not in his typical bulky metal armour but rather in the close fitting leather he had purchased in the Fall. He had a very clear goal for the training session ahead. He wished to work on his stamina, simultaneously improving his ability to fight while fatigued. Similar routines to the one he had planned had been pressed upon him as a squire, doubtless if he ever became a patron he would encourage his squire to undertake them too. Such was often the way in certain professions. Teachers would teach in the way they had been instructed, forming a genealogy of methods which persisted through many generations. Samuel, however, had no idea that he could be propagating a training method that could endure through the ages. He simply wished to improve, allowing him to protect his beloved city to a greater degree.

To begin, the knight started to jog around the edge of the training grounds. A true staple of endurance training, allowing him to warm up his muscles and raise his heart rate at the same time. Running in his leather armour was noticeably easier than in the plate he was usually clad in. Nonetheless, between the heat of the strange winter and the weight of his armour, the knight was soon sweating. The tall knight had to pause for a moment to wipe the sweat from his eyes, then he continued to trudge onward. While running, he focused on taking deep, even breaths. His efforts were at best ineffective, in fact Samuel wondered if they might even be detrimental as very soon the knight's breathing would only come in short, laboured gasps. Taking a quick break, mostly to stop his lungs from burning, the knight bent over and sucked in precious air through both mouth and nose. Soon the pain had retreated and Samuel set off once more. The dust rose in swirls at his passing, heavy feet disturbing the dust particles from their rest. A small cloud trailed him as the rapidly tiring man stumbled on. Unpleasant though this experience was, with every step Samuel reminded himself of the advantages of training in this way.
Last edited by Samuel Longwell on May 25th, 2017, 8:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Samuel Longwell
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Stamina and Swordplay

Postby Samuel Longwell on February 18th, 2017, 9:37 pm

Samuel Thoughts Others


Samuel ground to a halt near to his starting position. His legs felt heavy, his heart thudded in his chest, and once again his breaths were quick and painful. Grimacing , the knight rubbed his legs. Samuel let himself rest just long enough to get his breathing under control, then moved onto his next exercise. He stepped over to the weapon racks to find what he needed. Grabbing a pair of longswords, the knight lifted each out sideways until they were parallel to the ground. The large man was used to the weight, so to begin with he found it easy and rather boring. He glanced around the training grounds, watching others of the order training. But tick by tick, it felt like the swords got heavier and heavier. The handles started to dig into his hands and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. His left arm began to shake first, less used to holding a sword. Tightening his grip, the knight continued to bear the pain. It didn't take long for his other arm to begin shaking, which was when his left arm really started to hurt. To anyone passing by, the sight would have been quite amusing. The huge knight stood with red face and both arms wobbling around like the limbs of some strange sea-beast. Eventually his left arm gave out completely and so Samuel dropped the left hand blade and jogged over to the training dummy.

Wielding the sword with both hands, Samuel struck at the dummy in a horizontal slash. A simple technique, it was something that the knight had practised many times. However, his arms were extremely fatigued so even the simplest strikes became extremely strenuous. He swung again, putting as much force behind it as possible. Even with both arms swinging the blade, it seemed to move in slow motion. His blows struck with little power as he pounded the wood again and again. Samuel's strikes gradually decreased in speed and strength, his body had not had much time to recover from the other exercises and soon the knight was huffing and puffing. He was now drenched in sweat, the knight was sweltering under his tight-fitting armour. The last few fatigued swings of his blade really took it out of Samuel until, finally, he could barely lift the blade to strike the dummy. Staggering away from the dummy in case someone else wanted to use it, the knight collapsed in a heap.
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Samuel Longwell
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Stamina and Swordplay

Postby Samuel Longwell on February 19th, 2017, 7:50 pm

Samuel Thoughts Others


The knight groaned from his position on the ground, he was regretting the training session already. Samuel pushed himself into a sitting position, wincing with pain as his arms protested at being used so soon after all the exertion. The sweat made his clothing stick to his body, adding to his overall discomfort. Morwen's absence was making the training session much harder than Samuel had anticipated. Once the knight had rested for a bit, he decided that he could bear the heat no longer. Scrambling to his feet, the bald knight slowly stripped out of his armour. It was a complicated process, mostly due to Samuel's arms having very little strength left in them. When he'd finally shed his outer layer, Samuel sighed in relief. A cool breeze brushed over him, a simple pleasure but one that he was very grateful for. He decided that he would rest for a little longer before getting back to his training session, so he moved his belongings over to a weapon rack and sat down by it. Once he was comfortable, the knight began to plan out the rest of his training session. He decided he would do a little bit more work with a longsword, but he didn't want to do that first as he wanted his arms to have some time to recover. But there were other blade skills he could work on which didn't require so much strength.

“Dagger, then longsword, then I'll work on my stamina some more.” the knight murmured to himself as he pulled himself to his feet. Drawing his dagger, the knight approached a straw dummy. He had never been taught how to fight with a dagger, but Samuel suspected there couldn't be too much difference in terms of grip compared to a sword. The knight examined the small blade carefully, it was built more for precision than a longsword so he decided he would try to focus on that. Stepping towards the dummy, Samuel slashed with the dagger towards where the throat would be. He could have kicked himself, the blade missed by several inches. He had not correctly judged the distance, so his blow had fallen short. The knight drew closer and tried again. This time the blade sliced into the dummy, spilling straw across the ground. Stepping even closer the knight grabbed the dummy and plunged the dagger into its chest. As he withdrew the blade his grip slipped and he managed to slice his arm. Cursing, Samuel dropped the dagger and clasped the cut with his hand.
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Samuel Longwell
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Stamina and Swordplay

Postby Samuel Longwell on February 27th, 2017, 11:37 pm

Samuel Thoughts Others


“Clumsy oaf,” Samuel snarled, more upset at his own stupidity than actually in pain. The knight slowly withdrew his hand, inspecting the long line of red that crossed his forearm. As far as he could see, the knife hadn't done too much damage. The wound wasn't bleeding too much, so Samuel wasn't too worried. If it didn't stop in a bit he would need to do something about it though.

Picking up a practice longsword, the knight walked back over to the training dummy he had been using his dagger on. His breathing had slowed, so it was closer to its regular rhythm, but Samuel could still feel his heart beating quite quickly. Hefting the blade up into a guard position, the knight stood ready to strike.

Samuel held his pose for a few ticks, then flew into motion. Swinging the blade in a wild slash, the knight stepped into range of the dummy. Unlike with the similar situation with the dagger, he was well accustomed to the length of the longsword. The blade sunk into the neck of the stationary target, and the knight withdrew it to strike again. Spinning clockwise, Samuel thrust the sword into the dummy's torso.

As the knight continued to hack away at the dummy, his arm started to bleed more profusely. However, he didn't realise this so he continued to dance around the dummy. The wooden edge of his practice blade pierced and pummelled the sack-flesh of his opponent, straw seeping out onto the ground of the training grounds. It wasn't until a particularly energetic spin sent blood flying onto the practice dummy that the knight took notice of his arm.

Rivulets of blood crossed his arm, like the tributaries of a great red river. Samuel grimaced, it looked like he shouldn't have jumped pack into training quite so quickly. He would remember that for next time. Walking over to a weapons-master, he was pointed towards someone who would have some medical supplies. The medic quickly checked the injury, then bound it up tightly with a bandage.

“You should stop there for today,” the medic advised, “if you keep training the cut could just keep bleeding.” Samuel cursed, he had hoped to spend a while longer up at the training grounds but it looked like he would have to finish with his conditioning training. The knight started to wander round, thinking about what he could do for a little while before he went back to his room.
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Samuel Longwell
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Stamina and Swordplay

Postby Samuel Longwell on February 28th, 2017, 11:34 pm

Samuel Thoughts Others


As he was the crossing the training grounds, the knight spotted a young boy of around thirteen sitting dejectedly next to a training dummy. Samuel paused, then made up his mind and sat down next to the boy. The squire looked up, eyes red from crying. The leather clad man smiled reassuringly, knowing that he could be a little intimidating with his scars and size.

“You okay lad?” Samuel asked quietly, “Are you new to the order?” The knight was well aware that some squires found it difficult to adapt to the tough training regimes expected of them. It could also be lonely, especially if the squire in question found it difficult to make friends. It had taken Samuel a while to make even one close friendship among his peers. This thought was tinged with sadness, the wound left by the loss of his best friend would never truly heal.

“Yeah, I started training a few days ago.” the boy replied, wiping his nose on his sleeve. “But I don't seem to be getting any better at anything. The other squires always beat me in sparring, with swords or with fists. I can't do this.” The squire's eyes welled up, it seemed that he was struggling to keep himself from bursting into tears.

“Hey now, that's nothing to be getting upset about.” Samuel said, “I didn't win a single fight for quite a while when I was a squire. I was pretty bad at sparring, but now I'm a knight and I can hold my own pretty well. If you keep practising you'll make a great knight I'm sure. Improvement comes slowly though, so you've got to keep at it. It's hard work for sure, but it's worth it.”

The squire seemed to perk up a little at the knight's words. He gasped in disbelief when Samuel said that he had lost fights as a squire too. Looking up at the well-built knight, the boy couldn't comprehend that such a powerful-looking fighter would have struggled in the same way he had. Seeing a small smile on the squire's face, Samuel realised that his intervention had helped and so he pulled himself to his feet.

“Stay strong lad,” he said, clapping the boy on the shoulder. “I look forward to seeing your progress.” With these words, the knight set off back to his apartment. He felt like he had made a positive difference in the squire's life, and that was something he could be proud of.
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Samuel Longwell
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Posts: 408
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Stamina and Swordplay

Postby Samuel Longwell on May 26th, 2017, 4:36 pm

Grading Complete


Please edit your grade request thread so that it's obvious that it's been graded. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions/problems with your grade.


Name: Samuel

XP Award:
  • Running 1
  • Endurance 3
  • Bodybuilding 1
  • Weapon: Longsword 2
  • Planning 1
  • Weapon: Dagger 1
  • Medicine 1
  • Observation 2
  • Rhetoric 1
  • Leadership 1
Lore:
  • Unpleasant training builds character
  • Fighting while fatigued
  • Medicine: Exercise makes wounds bleed more
  • Helping others is a rewarding experience
Rewards: +2 Shield Points for training
User avatar
Samuel Longwell
Warrior
 
Posts: 408
Words: 219143
Joined roleplay: May 19th, 2016, 2:40 pm
Location: Syliras
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
Plotnotes
Medals: 2
Overlored (1) Donor (1)


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