[Flashback:Solo]A Dagger's Use II

by **Antar** on September 2nd, 2011, 12:16 am

14th day of spring, 511 av

The morning came just like the others before it, hauling water for camp chores from the well, tending the fire to boil it before dousing and mothering it out while he let his horse, Dawnstride graze out in a field. All of it was becoming a routine, and it was a good one as he prepared for the morning's journey to work.

The yard time today was actually a little better, with Noth switching off moving stumps for firewood cutting, to actually splitting the wood with an axe. One each downwards swing his top hand moved to bring his full momentum upon the blocks, while he kept the bottom hand anchored on the axe's hilt.

It was tough work, repetitous and he had to ensure his perceptions didn't stray. The last thing he wanted was an injury on the job, or to injure anyone else. But soon enough the routine of switching back and forth with Wiley to lift heavier and heavier stumps as they wore through what was brought in was over, and the woodsmen retired to their lunch hour to partake of a bit of sustenance. He ran out of his preciously rationed possum jerky and foraged apples from the woods, but that did not deter him from approaching Renaldo for a bit of tips on the practice dummy. Instead he found Max, one of the other temporary haulers working out the kinks with his own blade.

Where Renaldo had been fast and furious, Max was downright pitiful in his movements, barely on target yet still working to stab at the leather armor's weak spots. He winced as he saw Max inch the knife up under where the armpit would be and follow with a strike to the ligaments, the neck, and stick lower betweeb the leatherwork on the sternum where the codpiece protected the pelvis and groin.

Antar went on to notice the man thrusting the dagger into the crook of where the elbow would be and drawing the blade quickly in a sideways slash. The technique in a kitchen or on the trail would be used in butchery, and other skinning and fileting practices as he noted what the strike was for. To get past a bracer, or protective gauntle and cut the tendons and connections in someone's arm. The same idea could be used to strike and immobilize at the legs, literally 'hamstringing' them at the leg. The exact details of what such a strike would do on a fleshed individual was only up for guessing. On the training dummy only a slight puff of sand, chips, and sawdust spreading into the air was a sign of any damage.

But that was the reason they set up this training dummy and the other wooden targets. They were for practice, and Noth knew he sorely needed the practice.

When Renaldo approached him he began with a slight jibe in Max's direction for the man's inadequacies in form. "So, you still can't petching wield a blade bigger then three inches without being a shumbling ox, ey Max?"
The man sighed and stopped what he was doing to look at Renaldo, "No I guess not, there Renaldo. I'm much better at throwing them, but at least I hit what I aim at with the ladies with the southern sword. But I don't need to tell you the steps in how to do that. After all, the ladies aren't your type right? You were just dancing with this fellow over here yesterday as I recall."

Renaldo let out a good chuckle or two at the man's comeback before responding with his own rejoinder, "Careful Maxy, anyone with a knife might just make it so you know just what it's like to not be a man."

"Alright there Renaldo, whatever you say. After all, the last thing the honeys want is me singing falsetto. So you two going to take a beating to this dummy yet?"

Nope, he'll be practicing alone for a little while, and tomorrow he might be over with you learning how to throw there Maxy."

"Throw, who ever said I'd teach him how to throw a knife?"
"Man's got a kukri, be a shame if he didn't learn to throw it now wouldn't it? Besides, you can have him work tossing hatchets too. If that's fair enough, I might even show you a thing or two about handling a blade longer then three inches."

"Now now, there's no reason to insult how long a man's -Erh never mind, I'll just take you up on the offer. Today, he's on his own. Tomorrow he gets shown how to throw. His kukri, a hatchet, and I'll even bring my set of throwing daggers to round out the deal for him to practice with? That good enough, Maxy?"

"Yeah that's good enough, now petch off back to your target practice so Nothie boy can get some practice, you've hogged the dummy all day yesterday."

'Maxy smiled in their direction, took a short bow and walked off to do his thing as Noth took position, in a fencer's stance in front of the target. Carefully unsheathing his blade Antar began to get a feeling of resistance jolting down his arm as the rogue began his strikes.

by **Antar** on September 2nd, 2011, 5:53 am

Working against a target with his real blade was a lot different then like the previous day of working with two sticks. For starters his actual knife was a bit heavier, and he began to see the strength's of his weapon choice.

The heavy twelve inch blade was equally adept at chopping at leather armor as it was shearing through limbs of trees. Further more, he got much needed practice with thrusts and slashes as well as he began to work into the exercise a little as falling woodchips, and sawdust began to become noticeable through the rope, sandbags and wood.

As he began to concentrate with his footwork, in the fencer's stance with a hammergrip, he began to try and strike quickly at the places he'd see Max stabbing. And soon, he was going almost at full strength as a rhythm began to set in.

Stance, Aim ,Step, Strike, Follow through became his new mantra as he worked the blade of the kukri into the gaps of the leather armor , at the armpits, the groin, and also to the vital areas. Twice he followed right handed stabbings with a left handed jab to the face, before lofting the knife's hilt to his left for a reverse gripped slash across the gut of the opponent.

Stance, Grip, Aim ,Step, Strike, Follow through

Afterwards he shifted the hilt back to his right hand in a icepick grip to stab deep into the shoulder. To his surprising the punching force penetrated the leather armored pauldran and soon another trickle of sand was added to the grains falling to the ground.

Stance, Aim ,Step, Strike, Follow through

Truth be told the rogue enjoyed himself, and remained in a easy practice until the gruff clearing of Renaldo's throat somewhere behind reminded him to stop... With a bit of hesitation he sheathed the blade to turn towards the other man.

"So what would you against someone in full plate, hmm?"

Noth paused a little to ponder a solution before giving a reply, "I'd probably try to outrun them for long distances, but if really came to fighting I'd try to make stabs at the unarmored areas. Normally the face and chin if they aren't wearing a full helmet. Or in between the arm plates at the joints, and the knees."

The normally solemn man smiled and nodded once, "Alright, but tell me what if he has a slatted visor?"

Noth shrugged, "Either stab through, or run. If necessar go for a disarm instead."

Renaldo's grin got a little wider as he spoke, "Alright, so that's the basics of working against people in armor. Tell me, what is the name of the stance I taught you?"
"Fencer's stance."
"The four grips you use?"
"Hammergrip, Ice pick grip, fencer's grip, and reverse grip."
"What are the three basic attacks?"
"Thrusts, also called stabs, Slashes and Chops."
"What's a shield hand?"
"the hand not holding the knife.
"What are its uses?"
Renaldo's questioning continued until each and every facet of what he had learned previously had gone over in every detail. More than once Renaldo worked it up by asking knife to turn back towards the target. When he called out a point to strike, Noth did so. Translating his grip and his attack to the one best suited for the strike.

It became almost zen like as Noth practiced, to the point of where sweat was pooling on the back of his shirt. Finally, the large man told him there was nothing left for him to teach, it was just a matter of practicing the basics and everything else would fall in later.

Thanking him for his assistance, Antar sheathed his kukri and gave the target post one last round house to it's head. The shock of the impact reverberated through his leg and up his hip into his body, but he felt good.

That's when big Herb stepped in and started shouting out combinations from the first day in the meadows with the targets, and Renaldo chimed in with various slashes and targeting instructions. Cuts to the wrist of the dummy were followed by pommel blows to the neck, as he began to see how each and every thing he learned the past two days prior began to weave itself into a rather deadly combination. More then once he found himself punching with the dagger in a reverse grip, putting his knuckled fist around the hilt into the sandbag of the dummy's head before drawing the blade sideways to cut across the forehead. Such smaller wounds he knew wouldn't be very effective at downing an opponent, but Herb shouted head wounds bled like crazy and could if one was lucky trickle into the eyes of an enemy to make them burn.

Stance, Aim ,Step, Strike, Combo, Follow through

There were other strikes, at different times, blows to the dummy's bagged 'hands' and arm posts to simulate disarming him, and by the time Noth was done he staggered back to get a drink of water from his flask and rest for the last twenty chimes of the work break.

Like the days before he was put in charge of sweeping the sawdust into the barrels, and storing them away in the woodshed. He noticed that by now, the sheer amount of sawdust was staggering to him, almost twenty full barrels of it lay within the shed's interior, and he surmised that meant most of the materials needed for papermaking were already broken apart and ground down in their bit of fun. It wouldn't be more then a day before they had enough to produce the amounts of paper the carver brothers needed.

Sighing to himself, Antar realized that the next day would be the last day of a bit of fun for a while before their work breaks became simply breaks again. And if he was honest with himself that would sadden him a little. Maybe they might keep the dummy at least for a bit of fun later on down the road?

He personally doubted it. The salted harwood it was made from was supposed to produce stark white amounts of paper, and that would be valuable for the brother's to chop down and sell. Another round of lifting stumps with the legs, and crouching at the hips was his just rewards as everyone got back to work.

And in the last five minutes, before he left to saddle his horse Noth ventured back to where his borrowed tool bag was to check upon the sharp implements to see if they had been used by someone else. They hadn't, and that made Antar a little happier as he set on his way back to Sunberth. Just riding along on his horse before collapsing hungrily into bed.

~Fin
Thanks for the read

Just one more in this series of flashbacks for knife throwing (I'm splitting them up on purpose).

Skill/Lore Request :

by **Cachet** on September 27th, 2011, 12:02 pm

Gossamer Said I could

Antar :

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.