Solo [The Midnight Gem] Basements And Blades

Kelski sets up a secret training area in her new home.

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[The Midnight Gem] Basements And Blades

Postby Kelski on June 10th, 2018, 11:42 pm

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Timestamp: 5th of Summer, 518 AV

The Jeweler been so busy setting up her inventory and basically turning raw gemstones into something she could actually use, that Kelski had no time to think of anything else. And that sort of lack of thought process was stupid at best and life threatening at worse. Darvin had told her he was going to find her, and most likely what he implied was kill her when he had the chance. Kelski knew what she’d been to him and that was a convenient distraction and a bit of entertainment. But now that she was no longer that to him, she represented a threat. Someone was walking around with his teachings and his knowledge, intimate knowledge of his business practices, and that could seriously damage him.

Darvin had stupidly dragged her everywhere with him, parading her around like some ornament on his arm. When he’d been forced to let her go by the Warmarshal, it had been infuriating to him because now she was a liability. Kelski could go to the Daggerhands, the Night Eyes, or almost anyone had ruin his business.

She knew he knew it too. The only way to remotely keep that from happening was to be diligent, train, and eliminate him before he could eliminate her. Besides, she owed him a death or ten, the Sea Eagle figured. And the sooner she eliminated him from the breathing living humans of Sunberth, the sooner the city was a better place. To that end, she’d have to find somewhere to train that wasn’t out in the open and wasn’t vulnerable.

The basement was the best source. For one it was full of comforting Shadows, all of whom seemed more than glad a Nightstalker had moved into the building. Even though Kelski lived alone, she was never really alone. Her home was full of Shadows that brought her comfort, especially after the sun went down. Some of them had even granted her their names. Zavath, one of the more forward and seemingly more powerful ones had whispered of her to come to the basement. It wasn’t a large area, being only four hundreds square feet, but it had a high ceiling and could be easily expanded.

The floor was stone and the walls were the same brick and beam as the walls of The Midnight Gem itself. Kelski crept down the stairs, gave the whole place a look around, and nodded. “You’re right, Zavath. This is an excellent choice. No one will see me working out down here, throwing daggers, or even training dummies to stab. I can get candle holders and light the whole place…” Kelski said, wandering the basement, her sharp gaze not lacking much in the dim light. “It just needs a thorough cleaning and some lighting, and we should be good to go.” She told Zavath, who hissed his approval and made additional suggestions… a weapons rack, a few targets to throw daggers and other weapons at….

Kelski noted the whole thing and knew she’d also need to buy a few more daggers now that she was on her own. A brace of them, like Darvin had hung on her, would be about perfect. That meant a trip to the market perhaps in the early morning when most of the night owls of Sunberth were sleeping, and some dagger throwing practice tonight punctuated by cleaning and a decent bedtime.

Practice first, Kelski decided, using the basement even though it really wasn’t set up correctly yet. The beams that punctuated the brickwork in the wall would hold a dagger very very well if one was thrown at it. So Kelski decided those were her targets. She gave herself ten feet and marked off the increments on the floor by counting the steps and making a chalk mark on the stone. She had to fetch the chalk from her workshop.

Fifteen feet out she made another mark, and all the way to forty (which was the opposite wall) in five foot increments. She wanted to know her range and how accurate she could get the further away she got. Noting these things would give her a very good idea in a fight if she could hit someone and thus if loosing her dagger was worth it.

When she was done, she turned, studied the big X’s she’d made on the beams and started at the ten foot mark. Her goal was to throw over and over and over again until her body knew the motion by heart and she didn’t have to think about what she was doing to get the job done. Kelski discovered, as soon as the first dagger flew and she missed, that her accuracy was poor at best. Snapping out her wrist, she got force into the throw, but she lacked something in the follow through. She actually wasn’t sure what that was. Kelski brought down her technique, paid attention to her steps, and couldn’t find where she was lacking.

The shadows laughed. Zavath had obviously spotted something she hadn’t.
Last edited by Kelski on June 11th, 2018, 3:39 am, edited 2 times in total.
Image
They laugh at me because I am different.
I laugh at them because they are all the same.


Painted Sky Jewelry (The Wildlands) | Crossroads Jewelry (The Outpost)
User avatar
Kelski
Freedom is earned. Fight for it.
 
Posts: 1598
Words: 2015452
Joined roleplay: July 3rd, 2014, 11:08 pm
Location: The Wildlands of Sylira & The Empyreal Demesne
Race: Kelvic
Character sheet
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Medals: 11
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[The Midnight Gem] Basements And Blades

Postby Kelski on June 11th, 2018, 12:02 am

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“Who trained you in throwing daggers?” The Shadow demanded, his rich voice amused. “They did a poor job of it. Your foot placement is all wrong, your knees are too rigid, and you hold the knife at the wrong level to even start with a good throw. Let me help you.” The Shadow said as Kelski went to fetch her dagger and returned to the ten foot mark where she started. Zavath was insistent too, speaking to her almost before she got in place.

“Your left foot should be right at the ten foot mark since you are right handed… it’s always the lead stride. The right foot is on your throwing side so its always a comfortable distance behind your left foot.. usually two to three feet. You want a wide stance with your feet nearly placed in a singular line with one foot in front of the other. Its more than fine if your right foot is slightly to the right of the left foot. Flex your knees so you can more easily shift your body weight forward during a throw. Then hold the knife in your right hand about chest level. Steady your throwing hand with your left hand. Elbows should not be touching your sides but out in front of your body and in tighter than a shoulders width. Now… try it.” He said obviously eager to help the young Nightstalker succeed.

Kelski moved into the position The Shadow had described and found it a lot more comfortable than her half crouch and abrupt explosion which was the technique she had been using. The Kelvic shifted in and out of the position, learning how to move into it and be in it by feel. She deliberately made sure her knees loose and relaxed. Standing in such a straight line was an unusual feeling for her pelvis, but she found she could do it if she was conscious of that being the right way.

Once she had moved in and out of the position a few times, she glanced around until she found a deeper patch of inky darkness in the basement and addressed Zavath. “Now what… I think I know what this feels like …” She said, moving in and out of the position again for the Shadow’s benefit.

“Now you windup, Nightstalker. You bring your right throwing hand backwards and alongside your head. Then rock your body backwards slightly, extend your left arm out as if you are aiming it at the target. Keep bringing your throwing arm backwards until its clenched and ready to fire the dagger off.” The Shadow said, instructing her carefully. Kelski wasn’t sure she understood, but she assumed the stance he’d just taught her and tried to follow his directions. The shadow corrected her once or twice until Kelski got the gist of what he was saying. He wanted her to basically extend her arm towards the target… the left arm… the one that wasn’t armed… and bring the right hand up over her head so she could get extra momentum before she flung the blade.

It made a lot of sense to Kelski because what she’d been doing was throwing the dagger basically at a standstill, flat footed, secretly from the vague location of the center of her chest. She wasn’t getting any true forward motion or thrust with it. That’s what had been lacking in her technique. The Kelvic grinned as realization came to her. The Shadow murmured its approval, seeing his student suddenly understand what he was trying to teach.
Last edited by Kelski on June 11th, 2018, 3:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
Image
They laugh at me because I am different.
I laugh at them because they are all the same.


Painted Sky Jewelry (The Wildlands) | Crossroads Jewelry (The Outpost)
User avatar
Kelski
Freedom is earned. Fight for it.
 
Posts: 1598
Words: 2015452
Joined roleplay: July 3rd, 2014, 11:08 pm
Location: The Wildlands of Sylira & The Empyreal Demesne
Race: Kelvic
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes
Medals: 11
Featured Character (1) Featured Thread (2)
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Overlored (1) Donor (1)
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[The Midnight Gem] Basements And Blades

Postby Kelski on June 11th, 2018, 12:25 am

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Zavath cleared his non-existent throat as the shadow interrupted Kelski’s excitement. “I’m not done yet. There is an art to the actual throw itself. You want to lunge forward, Kelski. That’s why I have your feet lined up like I do. Swordsman are taught to lunge early on in their bladework. Dagger folks are often neglected in such things, especially if they are trained by nothing better than street thugs instead of true Masters.” The Shadow said, circling around Kelski like a living thing, as if examining her body form carefully.

Kelski nodded, following his instructions. Darvin had never given her clear concise pointers on throwing daggers. He just told her to keep her weapon a secret and kill with it when it wasn’t expected she’d attack. He hadn’t wanted her throwing her weapon away and potentially loosing an advantage. Or, at least that’s how he justified her training.

“You lunge forward by starting the motion with your right throwing arm. As you bring it forward, bring your left arm down and backwards towards the body so your entire form shifts forward. It is almost as if you are pinwheeling your arms. The added momentum will give your body a snap forward and give that dagger deadly accuracy. Always look where you are throwing… and then only release as the right throwing arm reaches its apex of its motion. Your body weight should be shifted to the left foot, the right food has left the ground, and your left arm has swung behind your body.” He instructed carefully, running through the motion multiple times as Kelski tried to demonstrate it.

The Kelvic found the Shadow’s words complicated, but as she went through the motion, she understood how it was a hard thing to describe. He corrected her when she didn’t shift her weight correctly or there was some other misstep like forgetting to bring her left arm back and behind her. It was a complex process and truthfully Kelski understood after this in-depth instruction how it was that Darvin had never gotten around to teaching her this.

She doubted he really knew it.

“Nightstalker. This is not all of it. There is more. Even after the blade has left your hand there is more. The follow-through is just as important as the throw. If it is awkward it will impact the way your blade grows wings and flies. You want your motion to be continued through smoothly. You want the right throwing hand to come to a stop as if you are reaching for the ground with your whole body pitched forward. Your left arm should continue reward to counter balance your forward lean. Your right foot should come to rest near the left forward foot to regain your balance. Then you step once, forward, while drawing another dagger and you are set up for yet another throw.” Zavath said, his words echoing into the dark basement as the Kelvic struggled to follow his instructions.

The Shadow had broken it down into basically nine steps that she had link all together into a closely choregraphed dance. She knew this was how dancing was learned. In Lhavit she’d taken a class that had ended in a brawl. But they were initially going to learn a dance which the instructor stated she’d teach them all in smaller steps and put it together in the end.

So Kelski practiced the method Zavath had taught her in steps, getting each one locked in her brain until she could slide them all together. Once she was ready, she let fly her dagger, thinking more of the target and less what her body was doing…. and watched the blade bury itself fairly close to the X in the wall. Kelski let out a piercing scream of joy and raced to retrieve the dagger.

She tried a dozen times more, over and over and over, until her arm started to ache and even Zavath had grown bored. Then, quietly, she’d called it a night, determined to hit the market early in the morning and get the things she needed to fix up the basement into a better training area.
Last edited by Kelski on June 11th, 2018, 3:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
Image
They laugh at me because I am different.
I laugh at them because they are all the same.


Painted Sky Jewelry (The Wildlands) | Crossroads Jewelry (The Outpost)
User avatar
Kelski
Freedom is earned. Fight for it.
 
Posts: 1598
Words: 2015452
Joined roleplay: July 3rd, 2014, 11:08 pm
Location: The Wildlands of Sylira & The Empyreal Demesne
Race: Kelvic
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes
Medals: 11
Featured Character (1) Featured Thread (2)
Mizahar Grader (1) Trailblazer (1)
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[The Midnight Gem] Basements And Blades

Postby Kelski on June 11th, 2018, 1:10 am

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Kelski was surprising at how much luck she’d had shopping. She’d started at the market where she’d found a supplier for candle holders that she could mount to the wall, a couple of cases of candles, and a leatherworker who would sew her a punching bag and the chain needed to affix it up and around a beam in her basement. Next she’d visited the lumber supplier and had taken them quickly sketched out plans for a type of target that looked almost like an overly large artists easel that was made of 2x4’s and propped up large disks cut from the body of a log.

The cross cut disk of timber made excellent targets.

The lumber supplier was glad to make up three of these – all different heights and include extra disks for her all for a very reasonable price. She got one at the height of an average man’s groin, the height of an average man’s head, and one right in the middle… a heart shot she’d called it. At the same time she’d ordered a pair of fairly large perches for herself… one for the balcony and one for the deck. They would allow her to land and perch more easily than just using the railing or the backs of one of the chairs or trying to shift in mid-flight.

Kelski also found and purchased ten new daggers, nicely balanced, and well-constructed. She secreted them on herself immediately, impressed by the lightweight strength of the blades.

All her purchases were going to be delivered later in the afternoon, so she could set up during the evening after she’d got some work done in her workshop. While she was in town she’d also shopped at the market and had picked up groceries, so she had food in the house… namely fruits and vegetables. The meat she hunted for on her own. Moving to a building on the sea itself had been a blessing in bountiful food.

She hunted for fish regularly and all she needed was variety in her diet to get her body back into the shape she wanted it to be in. Someone had told her training, one of the Dragoons at The Proving Grounds, that she had to eat to train. Training weak and starving bodies usually resulted in no forward progress on strength and stamina and backwards progress on health.

Kelski let that train of thought run its course before she hit the workshop, spending long hours in her at her jewelers bench. She’d ordered most of her stock in rough cut gems so she could say that everything in the shop was cut by her own hand. That was a bold statement and one that guaranteed quality, but it also meant that she had to do a lot of gemcutting and a lot of heavy math which bogged down her mind when she didn’t get out to move her body. Long flights after sessions in the workshop helped. It also motivated her to know that her labor was for herself and herself only… not for Jaren or the Sun Births or anyone she didn’t choose to benefit.

After her flight she returned to the basement, met up with Zavath, and they continued their lessons. Kelski had no idea what else he wanted to teach her about actually throwing a dagger, but she knew he had more to say.

She slipped down into the basement, her new brace of daggers and the across-the-body harness weighted against her skin. Zavath said nothing about the increase in daggers, but he did watch as she demonstrated to him the techniques he’d shown her the day before. She did well at the ten foot mark but in moving back, she started to have problems. Her technique was good, but she found that the rotation of the dagger – since they just didn’t fly straight from her hand to her target – often meant it was striking the target hilt first or anything but on point. Kelski was puzzled by this until Zavanth explained it.
Last edited by Kelski on June 11th, 2018, 3:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
Image
They laugh at me because I am different.
I laugh at them because they are all the same.


Painted Sky Jewelry (The Wildlands) | Crossroads Jewelry (The Outpost)
User avatar
Kelski
Freedom is earned. Fight for it.
 
Posts: 1598
Words: 2015452
Joined roleplay: July 3rd, 2014, 11:08 pm
Location: The Wildlands of Sylira & The Empyreal Demesne
Race: Kelvic
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes
Medals: 11
Featured Character (1) Featured Thread (2)
Mizahar Grader (1) Trailblazer (1)
Overlored (1) Donor (1)
One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Sunberth Seasonal Challenge (1) Power Fork (1)

[The Midnight Gem] Basements And Blades

Postby Kelski on June 11th, 2018, 1:45 am

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Having no hands, feet, or even a form had a disadvantage for a Shadow to teach a Nightstalker anything. Zavanth couldn’t take a blade and demonstrate what he meant for Kelski to learn. He could only describe it for her and hope she understood. The Shadow gave it his best attempt.

“Throwing blades is not exactly something that just works out every time, Kelski. You must understand that a blade will rotate as it is thrown forward and it is up to you to mentally calculate the distance you need to be from the target to make a blade rotate enough so that its point is going to hit the flesh first when you are aiming at someone and not have the hilt smack them instead. Sometimes in split chime decisions, you need to make a judgement call and ‘close’ can count if you can slam a blade into someone at distance, so the sharp edge is going to cut them. It can be a distraction or even completely kill them if you manage to nail them someplace vulnerable like the throat or maybe take out an eye. But every time… Kelski… every time its best to hit them with the point. You want to drive it deep and drive it home…” The shadow pointed out, swirling around the room like a dervish, excited about this talk.

They’d spoke of so many things since Kelski had moved into The Midnight Gem. He was well versed in the buildings history and origin and knew the secret happenings that had occurred within its walls. Some of which he shared with her, usually trading secrets for secrets, but this was knowledge freely given, as if he wanted it out in the world and not hidden with him.

“You as a jeweler do complex math. Every time you faucet one of those stones you sit at your bench by the bell and cut, you are making a calculation based on the clarity and inclusions in the stone verses the aesthetic design you want it to turn out to be. Throwing daggers is the same way. Before you even take your stance, do the setup, throw back your arm, release, and follow through you need to know how fast you make that dagger spin and how much distance you need between you and your target to get that spin going correctly so the point pierces the target and doesn’t end up just clobbering them on the head.” He murmured, hoping she understood.

Kelski did. In a way, Zavath was speaking her language. “So .. .we need to figure out the exact position your dagger is in when it leaves your hand and how much distance it takes it to go through one rotation.” Kelski nodded, knowing her sharp vision could pick this up, even though it happened fast. She just needed to know what to look for.

She stood back ten feet, used the X on the beam in the wall as a target, and took up the position The Shadow had taught her. Kelski watched carefully as she released, throwing multiple times over and over until she was certain. “It leaves my hand in a vertical position with the point straight up…. and generally about two feet in front of my toe mark… so that means….” The clever eagle did some quick calculations in her head…. “…that the dagger will travel the toe mark distance minus two feet and make about two and a quarter turns before it hits the target at a horizontal position point first.” She said with a grin… knowing that’s all she needed to know to calculate what distances she could safely throw a dagger from to get it into something point first.

Kelski thought a moment, took up her chalk, did a quick calculation, and then expanded out the numbers until she had a rough idea of what those ‘sucessful’ distances were.

# of Turns Distance Away
1 11
218
325
432
540
646.5
753.5
861
970
1075


She stopped at seventy five feet because Kelski felt that after ten turns the blade would have no force left. Once she did that, the Kelvic started experimenting with the distances, throwing from first ten then eighteen, then twenty-five feet…. getting a feel for how far away that was… and realizing quickly that indeed some of her target practice would have to happen outside as she ran out of length of room in her basement.

Barring trouble with her form though, if she threw with the same force and same style, almost every time the blade would arch the same way and land point first in the beam target whenever she picked the right distance to allow the complete rotations to have room. Over time, she’d learn to be able to eyeball the distances… and know them at a glance. But this.. this knowledge was power and Kelski was certain Darvin didn’t know it.

Kelski continued to throw late into the day until one of the Shadows from upstairs let her know that her deliveries were starting to come in. Then and only then she broke off to meet people upstairs and accept the deliveries, so she could continue to set up her training area in the basement.

recipt :
training post - elaborate 15 GM
Practice Dummy - advanced 50 GM
Punching Bag - 5 GM
candle holder (20x5 cm) = 1 GM
candles (100x1 CM) = 1 GM
10 daggers - 2 GM = 20 GM
Target - 1 GM
shovel - 2 GM
Perch - 5 GM

Total= 100 GM


Image
They laugh at me because I am different.
I laugh at them because they are all the same.


Painted Sky Jewelry (The Wildlands) | Crossroads Jewelry (The Outpost)
User avatar
Kelski
Freedom is earned. Fight for it.
 
Posts: 1598
Words: 2015452
Joined roleplay: July 3rd, 2014, 11:08 pm
Location: The Wildlands of Sylira & The Empyreal Demesne
Race: Kelvic
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes
Medals: 11
Featured Character (1) Featured Thread (2)
Mizahar Grader (1) Trailblazer (1)
Overlored (1) Donor (1)
One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Sunberth Seasonal Challenge (1) Power Fork (1)

[The Midnight Gem] Basements And Blades

Postby Kelski on June 11th, 2018, 8:33 pm

Grading

Kelski

Experience: Planning +2, Organization +1, Dagger +5

Lores: Darvin: The Logistics Of His Business, Daggers: Proper Throwing Techniques, Dagger: Steps Of Throwing A Dagger, Dagger: Math Involved In Thrown Dagger Rotations, Daggers: Throwing Daggers Is A Science, Daggers: Calculating The Exact Distance Away From A Target One Must Be To Get Full Rotations When Throwing Daggers
Image
They laugh at me because I am different.
I laugh at them because they are all the same.


Painted Sky Jewelry (The Wildlands) | Crossroads Jewelry (The Outpost)
User avatar
Kelski
Freedom is earned. Fight for it.
 
Posts: 1598
Words: 2015452
Joined roleplay: July 3rd, 2014, 11:08 pm
Location: The Wildlands of Sylira & The Empyreal Demesne
Race: Kelvic
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes
Medals: 11
Featured Character (1) Featured Thread (2)
Mizahar Grader (1) Trailblazer (1)
Overlored (1) Donor (1)
One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Sunberth Seasonal Challenge (1) Power Fork (1)


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