Completed [Anthonius Fighters Pit] Learning the Sword

Elin learns the basics of how to use a sword

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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]

[Anthonius Fighters Pit] Learning the Sword

Postby Elin on March 24th, 2017, 10:33 am

3rd Spring, 517
"Common" | "Kontinese" | "Tukant"

The season had barely started, and already Elin had left her daughter with a friend while she headed into the rest of Syliras for a brief respite from the incessant questions asked by the four year old girl.
She loved the little girl, but found that often her questions got too much to bear, so times like these where she could spend some time with just herself were greatly appreciated!

After roaming the streets of Syliras, she found herself at the 'Anthonius Fighters Pit' and a smile spread across her face. It wasn't anywhere she had ever really been, but she had overheard that weapons were kept their so you could train, and that if the owner were there he could offer lessons for a small sum of money.

Smiling, she made her way inside to see it looking fairly empty. She couldn't see signs of life, but she did notice two racks of weapons, all metal though some looking fairly dull, and she couldn't help but delicately touch them.
There were a few axes and swords, along with a couple of shields. All were fairly old looking, and well used, and she wondered how many people came here on a regular basis.

She glanced around again to see another weapons rack and she walked over that to see a few more swords, some long, some wide, and some smaller, looking more manageable to her.
Still smiling slightly, she picked one of the smaller ones up. They weren't as light as she had expected, but they weren't overly heavy. They were just manageable.

"Hey you! You're holding that wrong!" a voice came and Elin jumped almost out of her skin, but kept a tight hold of the sword, before turning to see the source of the voice.
It was a man, and judging by the lack of other people, she imagined he might be the owner of the Pit, and she looked at him a few moments in silence.

"Gerard Anthonius, in case you were wondering. I own this place." he said and Elin nodded, glad that she had guessed correctly, before opening her mouth to speak.

"Elin Oarheart." she introduced herself, holding her hand out to him in a friendly manner, to which he responded by firmly taking it and shaking her hand. "I heard that you teach?" she inquired, tilting her head as she lowered her hand.

"Yeah, I teach, but it'll cost you miza. Five gold ones!" the man said and Elin reached into her pocket, grabbing five gold Miza and handing them to him.

"I want to learn! I may be a complete novice, but I will listen and do as instructed to the best of my ability!" she said calmly with a grin on her face.

"A complete novice? Well, do you at least know what type of sword you're holding?" he asked and Elin instantly looked down at the sword, knowing that she knew very little about swords. Swords weren't anything she'd ever learnt about, and her parents had frowned upon such things!

"No, I don't, but I know that it's one that I can at least lift." she said in response, looking back up at the man through her dark, almond shaped eyes.

"Well, we'll start from the very beginning. That sword you're holding is a short sword, named because it's, well, short." he said smiling. "A lot of newbies use a short sword, because it's lighter, and it's cheaper than most swords!" he explained and Elin nodded.

"So it's the sort of sword that I'd be best using?" she asked, watching the man.

"Since you're a newbie, yes. You don't want to spend more money on a better sword and waste it!" he said, almost as though he expected her to give up and never touch a sword again, but that wasn't her plan!

"Who says I'd waste it!" she exclaimed, before quieting herself, watching as Gerard picked his own sword, one that was almost identical to the short sword she was holding, another short sword, before he looked at her with an almost sarcastic look.

"Anyway, lets see if you can avoid getting hit first, and maybe try blocking! No use learning to use a sword to attack if you can't use it to defend!" the man said, before changing his pose. "Right, so to block, you want to hold your sword sideways, then a sword coming at you will hit that. Just don't get your fingers in the way." he explain, taking a hold of her hand and moving it so the sword she held was horizontal just above her head, demonstrating how she was to hold it.

"Now, I'm going to strike, to prove that it works! Don't move!" he said, before stepping back and using his own sword to strike down from above, the sound of metal clashing with metal ringing in Elin's ears as the two swords connected.

"Okay, but that only works for attack like that? What if you attack a different way?" she asked, looking at him and she lowered her arm and sword.

"You'll figure it out." Gerard smirked, and moved back a few steps. "Now a little exercise! You avoid getting hit." he said and Elin nodded before focusing her attention on him.

Word Count880
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Last edited by Elin on April 21st, 2017, 10:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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[Anthonius Fighters Pit] Learning the Sword

Postby Elin on April 17th, 2017, 7:27 pm

Elin was watching the man, her eyes focused on him waiting to see what he would do, but she was still woefully unprepared.
As soon as she saw him move towards her, his sword held high, she lifted her own sword to try and protect herself, but instead found herself losing balance and falling backwards, dropping the sword to her side as she put her hands out to try and steady herself, before using them to break her fall.
She landed with a thud and felt a dull ache through her entire body as she inhaled sharply through her teeth.

It was so obvious that she was a definite novice, and it was obvious that she hadn't much experience in anything physical. But she didn't particularly care.
She got to her feet again and grabbed her sword, glancing up to see that Gerard was stood with his sword pointing to the ground smirking slightly. It was obvious that he knew she wouldn't be going places anytime soon.

"Again?" she asked calmly, wanting to try at least once more.
"You sure you can handle it?" the man asked and Elin simply stared at him, determined.

No more words were spoken as Gerard took a few steps back and Elin tightly clutched the sword, her knuckles almost turning white from the force she was holding with.
"You're holding that too tightly. Won't be able to move it as easily like that!" he said, pointing at her hand and Elin immediately looked down to see quite how white her knuckles were going, before loosening her grip and looking up.
The first thing she saw was Gerard charging at her and she followed her gut reaction to clumsily step to the side so he missed, only by a small amount though, in order to try and gain composure and focus on what was going on again as she turned to look at Gerard again
"That wasn't quite a block!" he said and Elin frowned slightly. "But better than falling over." he smiled slightly and Elin readied herself.
It would take all of her focus to actually block his sword instead of clumsily stepping out of the way, and if she ever wanted to be able to wield a sword, she had to learn how to use one properly!

This time the man stepped forwards to swing his sword down on her. She lifted her arm and sword and held it horizontally to block it.
She mustn't have been holding her arm as strongly as she'd thought, and as Gerard's sword hit hers, her arm found itself lowering under the force. If this had been an actual fight, she knew that she would have lost, although at least she'd attempted to block this time.

"You've got to hold it with more strength, but good effort." he said and Elin found herself smiling, glad that she was improving.
That was short lived though.
As she was thinking to herself about how to improve more, she felt a sword lightly touching her head, before being lifted and Elin frowned again
"Always pay attention to your opponent and keep your guard up, otherwise you risk severe injury or worse, understand?" he said and Elin nodded, before taking a step back and steadying herself, ready to continue the lesson, to attempt to defend again.
She watched Gerard step back, readying himself, and then he opened his mouth to speak.

"Try your hardest to hit me." he said, and Elin was slightly taken aback. Sure he'd probably dodge everything she threw his way, but there was a worry at the back of her mind that she'd accidentally injure him. That she'd swing a sword the wrong way and it would break his fingers, or that she'd drop her sword on his foot and cripple him somehow.
She forced those thoughts out of her head and stepped forward swinging her sword down at him, only to have him block with such force the the sword almost slipped out of her hand.
Next she swung from the side, clumsily and slowly, and he simply stepped back, out of the way of her messy strike. He made it look so easy and graceful, completely different to how clumsy and heavy she moved.
To her it looked almost like a dance, but a dangerous one. One were one or both would leave injured, or worse, dead. But still so methodical and thought out yet so beautiful. It was an art form she was nowhere near even beginning to pick up.

Again she tried to strike, from the other side this time. Gerard held his sword vertically, steadying the blade with his free hand as her clumsily strike clanked against the iron of the other blade.
She was frustrated that she hadn't managed to strike at all, but she realised that her lack of skill would have been the cause of that. To her it was unfortunate, but she'd have to keep practicing to get anywhere near where she hoped to be.

Once more she lunged forwards attempting to strike down at Gerard. This time she had been overly enthusiastic in the attempt and the force she swung down with knocked her off balance for the second time in less than a bell, and she fell forwards landing on her face in the dirt.
She felt things jabbing into her face and as she got up she wiped her face to find a small amount of blood coming from her chin.
There must have been a slightly sharper stone where her chin had fallen and she silently cursed her frustration for how it had made her behave, how it had caused her overly enthusiastic attempted strike.
Word CountThis Post: 951
Total: 1831

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[Anthonius Fighters Pit] Learning the Sword

Postby Elin on April 21st, 2017, 10:05 pm

”Shyke…” she mumbled to herself as she wiped a few spots blood away before picking up the sword.

“You okay to continue?” Gerard asked and Elin nodded. She wasn't going to give up just yet, so she readied herself, preparing to charge forwards and attack.

She saw Gerard ready himself and immediately stepped forward, messily swinging from her left to right, only for her sword to hit his vertically held sword in an effective blocking manoeuvre. At least this way she got to see how it was supposed to be done, rather than just taking a guess and hoping she was right.

Seeing his block, she stepped back, ready to try again.
This time she stood for a while, making as though to step forward in an attempt to fool the man, although it seemed he was expecting something like that and he didn't move at all.
Elin was disappointed for a split second, but she let that pass and kept her eyes on Gerard.
She darted forwards as fast as she could and he stepped the side, her sword briefly grazing his side, but even with a short sword it wouldn't have been enough to effect him.

“You're getting closer!” he said as she took a step away from him, a smile on her face, glad for a compliment. “It is getting quite late though, do you want to continue more or would you prefer to cone back another day?” he asked and Elin instantly looked at the sun to see that it has moved more than she'd expected.

”I’d best head off if I were honest! But thank you for the training.” she said smiling at the man. ”Thank you for your time also!” she exclaimed, before carrying her short sword to the weapons rack she'd originally taken it from, before making her way to the way in and out of the pit.
Briefly she stopped to wave goodbye to the owner, only to see him ignoring her and practicing his sword skills, almost as though he was showing off.

Smiling as she left she thought to herself and contemplated things she'd learnt.
Short swords are lighter and cheaper than other swords and are short, keep fingers out of the way when blocking, and metal makes a horrible noise when it hits metal. she thought to herself, before continuing on her way to Travelers Row. Keep balance and don't fall over, because that hurts. Be confident, he seemed to be, although maybe he was too confident. He had too much of an ego! she thought before she finally arrived back to her room.

She unlocked the door and stepped in, before heading a knock at the door. Opening it she saw her daughter stood outside with a smile on her face.
“I saw you get home mummy! So I ran to see you but I was after you!” she said and Elin smiled before pulling the little girl inside and looking the door behind her.
“What did you do today mummy, and what happened to your chin?” Ilia asked and Elin smiled even more.
”Well Ilia, mummy learnt how to use a sword today, but she wasn't very good so she fell over a bit.” she explained as simply as she could before feeling Ilia hug her.
“It looks painful, so I'll hug you better!” the little girl said, and Elin smiled even more, stroking Ilia’s dark hair, bending down to kiss her forehead.
”Well it doesn't hurt now so that worked! Now, what do you want to eat tonight?” she asked the little girl.
Word CountThis Post: 597
Total: 2428

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[Anthonius Fighters Pit] Learning the Sword

Postby Samuel Longwell on June 6th, 2017, 12:57 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: Elin

XP Award:
  • Observation 2
  • Weapon: Shortsword 3
  • Endurance 2
  • Tactics 1
  • Socialisation 1
Lore:
  • Location: Anthonius Fighters Pit
  • Gerard Anthonius: Owner of the Pit
  • Shortsword: Light, good for newbies
  • Shortsword: How to block
  • Shortsword: Don't grip too tight
  • Shortsword: Simple strikes
Notes: I think this was a good combat thread, I disagree with what you said about sucking at them! A pleasant read all round. Enjoy your grades.
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Samuel Longwell
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