Solo Training, Training and probably some more Training

[Revy Hiroe]

70th day Winter A woman left through the gates of Syliras, heading toward the woods. She carried with her a greatsword on her back, a bundle of Javelins, a longsword on her hip and a glaive cross over her back on top of the greatsword. It was a sight to behold. Why would one go out alone, that heavily armed and without any camping gear? Revy didn't expect to stay out today. She was just going a little bit into the forest, so that she had some peace and quiet for a few bells, so she could practice her arms. The reason why she carried almost all of her gear with her, was that she didn't know what to practice just yet. She wanted to get better with her longsword, she needed to train with her glaive, javelins and greatsword. ”Which of the weapons should I train with? The glaive offers good maneuverability while still offering good range. It doesn't seem like it's a weapon that's made to smash through a defense though, which the greatsword should be able to do. The greatsword limits my speed on the other hand. The javelins offer me a lot of speed and range, but they aren't particular durable. I don't think that I can hit the opponent often with them before they break.... I'll start with the greatsword. I wonder if the practice swings, I did back with Isa in Riverfall, are applicable on this weapon. Well, can't hurt to do them. It at least gives me a feel of the weight of the weapon, along with how it handles.”, she thought to herself as she dissapeared between the trees. The mercenary didn't go too far into the woods. Why should she? She was just aiming to practice swings and stances, or practice with the javelins on one of the many targets now surrounding her. She dropped her gear against a nearby tree. Man it felt better not having many people around. Syliras was safe and everything, though the sense of justice of those petching knights was crooked, but it was far too crowded. It happened too often that she saw, what she believed to be at least, Ruth's face. Each time again she wanted to either strike out, or just run away. The worst part was that it started to happen more often lately. She should get a good night's rest for a change, but she just didn't feel like drinking those thoughts away. It just resulted in those thoughts becoming worse. The only weapon she kept on her, was her greatsword. The rest was dropped against a nearby tree. She took a couple breaths, before grabbing the hilt of her sword and slowly drawing it free from the sheeth. Once drawn, she shifted her grip a little, mimicking the grip she had on the wooden sword when she trained with Isa. Her dominant hand up against the guard, her left hand near the pommel. Slowly bringing the sword up, she started to perform swings. Repetitive movement was the best way to get a good feel for the weapon, or that's how the woman reasoned at least. Sets of fifty was what she was doing right now. Fifty because she had to learn how to utilize her strength and when to use it. The first fifty just went totally horrid. She wasn't able to keep form at all, not to mention that it almost took her a full bell, just to finish them. Time after time she had to lower the weapon to regain her balance. ”Petching hell, this thing swings with so much more weight then my longsword. It seems as if I can't make sudden moves with this and I should just sweep with it.”, she said out loud. Taking a rest for ten chimes, where she tried to mentally straighten herself through a little meditation, she had to calm down again. She got pissed at herself for not being able to keep her form at all. Legs crossed, her hands lightly placed on the knees, she breathed in calmly. She remembered clearly how Isa had hammered on this. Inner balance led to balance in combat, or something like it. After her short rest, Revy picked up her weapon again. Another set of fifty was in order. Small step forward as she swung the weapon overhead.... and of course, she again lost her balance as she swung the weapon. What was she doing wrong? Wasn't she straining her muscles right? Was it just so that she was not using the weapon correctly? But she just ignored those thoughts for now and continued her swings. She was happy to see that slowly, verly slowly, she was adapting to the weapon. She was figuring which muscles to strain, and when, to stop a full force swing. This was something she had to learn if she wanted to use this weapon properly. Being able to react fast to a situation was critical in combat. Those, who couldn't adapt, died. She had seen it far too often. A change in the situation just suprised companions and enemies of her alike. Most of the time it had led to their deaths. Right, she HAD to learn this and she had to learn it today. The mercenary continued for bells. Set of fifty swings, then ten chimes of rest, followed up by fifty swings again and rinse repeat. These bells of training did give some results. Revy was able to stop her own swing at any given moment. Still, the weapon felt unruly in her hand. She still had a long way to go before she'd be at the same level as Siiri, the myrian she met back in Falyndar. ”If I were still in Taloba, I would've gotten Siiri to teach me. Maybe then I would've made more progress then I have today. Oh crap, sun is starting to set. Better get back before dark, don't wanna have to camp outside without my gear.”, she told herself as she picked up her stuff again. ”Maybe I'll come back tomorrow and work some more with that sword. Probably gonna have to start working with that glaive as well, oh meh...... Let's get some sleep... if I can sleep....”

[Revy Hiroe]

71th day Winter The same sight as yesterday was visible again. A woman, carrying an arsenal of weapons, headed out of the Syliras gates, straight for the forest. Today she wanted to get some more done. She planned to at least get started with her glaive and proceed a little more with her greatsword. Yesterday's training still left her muscles sore, but she just had to get this done. Perhaps this could drive out those dark thoughts about the widows and orphans. Once she reached the spot, the same one she was at yesterday, she put her gear down again and grabbed the greatsword. A set of fifty swings was a good warming up. Right foot forward by a small step to give force to the swing, bring the sword down from above the head and stop it before it went below the hips and move in with the left foot. The next swing, in reverse, first take a small step back with the left foot and bring the weapon back up until it is overhead, then move back with the right foot and start over again. After having warmed up, the mercenary was happy to notice that the swings had went well and that she hadn't forgotten how to properly use her muscles for this weapon. Perhaps it wouldn't be as hard to learn this weapon as she thought. It actually felt quite similar to her longsword, except for the fact that this weapon was much heavier then the other, but that was only a minor detail. Maybe she should try some strikes she also usually did when wielding her longsword with two hands. Broad attacks, feints, stabs, stuff like that. So, she set up for a broad attack. Shifting her weight to her rear leg and bringing up her hands so that the blade of the weapon was horizontal, she started to focus. Then in a quick swift motion, she swung the blade and.... forgot there was a tree in front of her. The blade of the weapon embedded itself into the trunk and seemed to get stuck there. Oh how the woman wished she had swung with less strength. Now she had to force it out again, which appeared to be quite the task. Though slowly, she surely got it back out again. Of course she immediately checked the blade if it was still intact, because forcing it out like that could easily damage any weapon, yet luckily it was undamaged. That incident actually was a gift to her, because now she changed her weapon to the glaive. Now this was a weapon for which she had no, but then absolutely no knowledge of. Ok, first up was the stance. It had to feel comfortable, but it should be so that she could easily strike out... easier said then done. Holding it like the greatsword or longsword didn't feel right. Her hands should be much further apart. She grabbed the bottom end and about half way, that felt more correct. Now for the stance. Feet wide where the right was far in front of the left, weapon besides her body... while it felt right, it left her far too open to an attack from her right. The weapon should be more in front of her, so she moved her leading foot back a bit, automatically making it easier to keep the weapon cross in front of her. Now that was a more desirable stance. ”Ok, swingtime.... fifty swings.... no clue how to start.”, she said out loud to herself. How the heck was she supposed to swing that thing properly? A normal strike didn't feel right. Revy was making the mistake of not moving her right hand. She didn't allow it to slide up and down the shaft and for this she had been trying and failing horribly for three whole bells, before she finally got it. If she allowed her right hand to slide up and down the shaft, she could easily steer the blade AND strike out at the target. Oh how she cussed at herself for not thinking of that sooner. So now she could get started at some swings. Vertical swings in front of her. Time to get a feel for the blade. Lifting up her right foot and stepping out violently, somehow that just felt right, and bringing down the weapon from overhead, was her tactic. She performed that well..... if the weapon didn't dig into the soil. She had used way too much force, just like with her greatsword at the start. Yet she didn't give up and continued her routine. Fifty swings followed by ten chimes of meditation and rinse repeat. It went horrible, just absolutely horrible. If she didn't dig the weapon into the ground, she lodged it into a treetrunk. This weapon was... hard to learn. Very hard in fact. The mercenary was absolutely not happy with the fact that she hadn't gotten any further with that weapon. She showed no way of improving at all. At least she could reference her knowledge of the longsword to the greatsword, but this glaive was just completely new to her. She should search for a teacher for this weapon. On her own she was never going to really do it well. She might in fact learn herself some wrong habits. And unlearning a habit is much harder then learning one.

[Emblem]

Congratulations! You Get Glorious Experience! PC Name Skill Points Earned Bodybuilding 3 XP Weapon: Greatsword 2 XP Weapon: Glaive 2 XP Lore Earned New Weapons Present New Challenges The Weight of a Greatsword Armed and Dangerous Other Shenanigans:Nope Comments : Hopefully skills and lores look good to you and if not, shoot me a PM!