Weapon Training

Chrysantha looked about the training yard; instructors and trainees were scattered around in groups of two to thirty sparing, training, and learning. She looked up at the sky. The weather was nice; only a few clouds in the air and a slight wind. A good day to be outdoors.
"This must be the place." she said to Azalea as she made her way to a table covered in all sorts of weapons from bows to maces to staves.

Seeing the surrounding people all sparing or training, Azalea starts to get a little excited. This was so new and different from anything they'd done before... sure Chrys liked to fight back home, but she'd never been trained, and Aza had tried to stay out of fights as much as possible... broken bones meant doctors or healers which meant medical fees that they could never afford.

She nods at Chrys's remark about this being the place, there didn't seem a better place to train in weapons. Azalea starts looking around a little bit, trying to find someone who looked like they were in charge.

A gruff, short human male is waiting for you next to a table full of weapons. “My name is Mr. Sig, I am the Weapon’s Training Master here and I will be training you on the basics of your weapons. I was told to expect a pair of women arriving together, a Paladin and a Mercenary, correct? I should be able to work it out that you train together through out your weapons training... but there are no two Classes that have the exact same weapon's training. I shall start you off in the one skill that is different. You can use each other as the sparing partner... just with different weapons... Paladin's get more training in the Sword, Mercenaries get more in the Polearm. Is all of this correct so far? Are you the two women with those Classes? If so, Paladin, grab a wooden sword from the table, Mercenary, grab that spear with the blunted tip... we don't want any accidents in training so we use blunted or wooden weapons until you have at least 1 point in that weapon.”

Chrysantha picked up a wooden sword like she was instructed to do so. She stared at it blankly, noticing the dents and chips on it made by previous users. She held onto the hilt with both hands being careful no to drop it. She then stepped away from the table in order to give Azalea room to choose her weapon. "So, whats next?" she asked while picking a stance to hold her weapon most effectively.

After he was done giving the basics on how this would work... kinda, she replied back to him, "Yes Sir, we are a Paladin and a Mercenary." *Word travels fast if he knew to expect us, we only just left the tent to come straight here, there may have been some kind of magic involved... either that or very fast runners.*

She walks over to the table and picks up one of the spears with a blunted tip. She was thankful for that bluntedness, she did not want to accidently hurt her sister. The shaft was chipped in a few places, but seemed sturdy enough. At first she held it like she might a Staff that she played with as a kid when she had to herd the sheep... but it didn't seem right with the tip, so she switched it around with her hands going lower on the shaft so the tip would be aimed for attack, vs the staff way of holding it in the center area to help with blocking. She wasn't sure if this was correct or not, but at least it felt better in her hands.

Azalea stood facing both Mr. Sig and her sister, eager to start training.

"Now I drill weapons common sense into you so hard we can only pray it sticks. Now pay attention, we don’t got all day. Repeat after me: A weapon is not a toy!” One day he secretly hopes to see one of his trainees would poke an eye out or something, just to know not to play with these weapons, like they all end up doing. “From here on, you’re mine, do as I say when I say and you may live past your first battle.

Feel the weight of it in your hand, and get a comfortable grip. Your weapon is your friend, your family, but can also be your enemy… even your own weapon can become your enemy if taken from you. Keep a good grip and you wont lose it as easily”

He walks up to each of you quickly tapping on areas of your weapons with his hand, trying to knock it out of your hands. He hits in all different directions so you know that a tight grip on one end may leave weakness elsewhere.

Chrysantha took Sig's advice to heart. After all, all he was looking out for was our own security in the face of battle. She "Weapon, not a toy, got it!" Chrysantha repeated after the trainer. As long as she followed instructions, everything should work out, right?
She did as she was told; she estimated her weapon weighed only a few pounds and compared it to when she would carry water from the well to her home. Chrysantha held the weapon firmly, steadily, just like she would those water buckets, being careful not to spill them. She only hoped she was holding her weapon in all the right places so that it would not fall and that she wouldn't mess up out of nervousness.

(that knocking-weapon-out-of-hands thing reminds me of when i was in the armed drill team XD they would do that to us with our rifles LOL)

Listening to him, she realized that he was a very controlled man. He was trying to make it so they could keep themselves alive. It was a different personality type than Father, who tried to preach at Azalea and her sister but would fail to lead by example. He'd been lazy and then demanded they give more of themselves, it made for resentment inside her. but this man was different, he seemed to live for this kind of work, it flowed through him like his own blood...

As she was thinking other things, he almost knocked her spear away from her, she lost her grip on the upper part, but managed to keep hold of the lower part. the balance was odd with so much weight up top, she readjusted her grip, slightly less toward the bottom, and that felt better. she managed to keep hold of it from then on.

((Lol, funny, I didn't know that))

"Ok, good enough. The most important thing you can learn is how to deflect and defend from an attack. It’ll do you no good if you can’t deflect and you get stuck with the enemies first attack. But since there are two of you I'll have to teach both defense and offense at the same time, The Paladin will Attack while the Mercenary will Defend, then we'll switch.”

He explains a bit about the directionality of the swing requiring a different block and shows them a few for a Sword Attack and Polearm Defense since they work differently, a sideways swing and a side block, an overhead attack and block, a thrust and deflection, etc. "So don't be too stiff about it and remember to switch it up a little with where you're attacking and how. Weapons up, here we go, face each other and remember what I taught you.”

He forces Chrysantha to swing her weapon at Azalea from all different angles. The Training Master gives Azalea small tips on how to angle her weapon to let it slide off after an attack has been stopped. "This will help if your enemy is stronger than you and starts to force his weight down, bringing you to your knees. Careful of your finger though, they could get chopped off if you're not paying attention."

As Chrysantha swung her sword at Azalea, she realized that her sister would probably be her best motivator in battle, but her biggest weakness as well. In the back of her mind, she was certain that her sister could handle her own in the face of obstacles and wasn't too worried about hurting her for the time being.
She shot her sister a lets-show-him-what-were-made-of look as they practiced their defensive and offensive moves on each other and began swinging her sword more aggressively.

The Spear was growing on Azalea. the more she used it the more comfortable she felt. It was a good defensive weapon like the Staff, but unlike the Staff, could be more deadly depending on what was on the tip. It was interesting blocking a Sword with it, and she wondered how her sister was going to block with her Sword, but her training with the Sword could wait, for now she had to pay attention.

When Chrys shot her that look, she knew instantly that her sister was having fun. Smiling, she kept up with her sister's attacks, blocking or deflecting all the attacks she threw her way. This was pretty fun, and it was obvious they were getting more comfortable with it as their pace increased.

"Remember who's on Defense next..." Azalea warned Chrys when one particularly hard blow almost hit Azalea in the face. She was smiling as she threatened her sister, Chrysantha would know she wouldn't really try to hurt her... but an eye for an eye as they say.

“Good good. That’ll do for now, make sure you keep practicing and get your speed up, my ten your old daughter can swing faster than that,” he laughs, because it’s true, but the daughter of the Weapon’s Training Master would be her daddy’s little girl.

“Your turn to Attack, Miss Mercenary. Paladin's in Defense." The Training Master tells Azalea you what to do: Left and Right swings, downward swing, even an upward swing, and the basic thrust. He lets you test each of these, while he teaches Chrysantha how to blocks the attacks. "Don't try to use one hand when blocking a 2 handed weapon if you don't have a shield. You better grab that sword with both hands and stop it just enough to get the attack to deflect or slide it in another direction. A 2 handed weapon will have more force in it, it's like stopping a charging horse with a goat... you need to push the horse over or trip it up and get it going in a different direction, not just sit there and take the brunt of the attack. Not that one handed weapons are not beneficial, there are many things that only one handed users can do, use a shield... duel wield at lower levels... stuff like that."

She rolled her eyes at Sig and brushed off his comment. After all, bettering her skills was what she was at the training yard for.
Chrysantha nooded at the instructor in understanding of his explanation. She then took a new, defensive stance. She also began getting mentally prepared; Chrysantha knew her sister would 't go easy on her, and thats just the way she liked things, sincere. She was confident in her on abilities to perform excellently.
"I'm ready, come at me, Azalea." she said, a bit of smug in her voice.

The thought of this Training Master's daughter was an interesting one: *that little girl would be formidable indeed if she kept up her training with her father.*

She listened to his instructions and began swinging her spear at her sister. Her first few swings she made of an average speed on purpose, gauging her sister's defensive abilities while also making her expect the slower pace. After a few attacks at this slower pace, she began her attacks at max speed with a thrust to Chrys's neck, she could alter it to either side if her sister couldn't dodge or deflect it in time. Now she kept up this speed, she knew what her sister wanted, she'd always had a tendency to fight when she didn't have to.

"You were ready right?" she smiles at her sister, Chrys was quicker to her temper than Azalea was, she hoped this playing wouldn't stir it up too much. Chrysantha could be a handful when she was angry.

“Good enough to not get you killed, but we need to work on your speed! Never have I seen such slow attacks or defense. If you don’t speed it up, your opponents have more time to dodge and attack. Let’s do some free sparring, attacks and blocks together... and speed it up a bit! This will help you learn how to transition easier from block to attack and vice versus.” You are to exchange blows to increase your effectiveness and speed until the Weapon Training Master tells you to stop (which he will in his next post).

Chrysantha nods once more at their trainer. She does as she is told and swings her sword with the goal of achieving maximum speed with her attacks and blocks untill her arms begin to get a bit tired.
*no pain, no gain*
She struggles a bit to keep up with her sibling and wonders if Azalea is struggling too.

Azalea blocks her sister's attacks while throwing some out there of her own. She was trying to keep up with her sister's speed while using the least amount of energy possible. It was difficult as Chrys was really going at it. She remembered the trainer saying something about starting with this weapon but that there would be more; she didn't want to be too worn out.

"You're getting better with that sword Chrys," she manages to say while throwing a downward swing at her sister's head.

“Alright, that's good enough for now with those weapons. You both now have 2 points in that weapon's skill level. But... we aint done yet, you have to learn more and more to be an asset to your Class. Now we start training the Pally in Polearms and the Merc in Swords, switch weapons.
I am going to drill it into your head so many times you’ll never forget it, a weapon is your friend and family but if can be your enemy if taken away. Keep a firm grip and prepare for more training.
Again, we usually start with Defense, but since there are both of you, we will have one of you in Defense and the other Offense. Paladin, you attack first, Mercenary, you block, I hope you were paying attention to your partner's moves in the last round. Begin!” As you either block or attack, the Training Master keeps telling you how to do it better, change your grip, relax your joints, etc. etc.

A frown appears upon Chrysantha's face when the polearm is handed to her. "Gross, you left it covered in sweat!" she directs towards Azalea.

Regardless of the sweat, Chrysantha got comfortable with the new weapon in a few seconds and we t straight for her sister's head.

"You're one to talk, this thing is barely grip-able!" says Azalea as she wipes the moisture from the handle onto her pants. When she finally got a good enough grip, she readied for her sister's attack. She tried to remember how Chrys had been blocking her attacks, and felt confident she could do it. Attacking would be different though, she'd have to get more comfortable first during this first defense training.

Chrys went straight for her head first thing, *Shoulda known*. Chrysantha always went for the more painful places first thing, trying to startle a wrong move from her. She blocked it over her head. As her sister attacked over and over again, she continued to block, trying not to let Chrys use her two-handed weapon to her advantage.

“Decent. Now switch who's attacking and defending. Let’s get going, still more to learn here.” He instructs Azalea on some of the attacks of the Sword, watching her try them as he explains. He helps Chrysantha with the subtle blocks of the spear, it was pretty different from the sword, but she so far hadn't seemed to have much difficulty learning quickly. The Training Master keeps telling Azalea different ways of attack, from diagonal, thrust, even some theory for disarming, but that is above her level at the moment. They were dong alright for beginners. For a while, he just sat back and watched as these two trade blows for blocks.

So far, Chrysantha was fond of using a sword more than the polearm. However, she loved the range the polearm gave her. She also seemed more confotable dueling defensively than offensively. She listened to the advice the trainer had for both of them.
She readied to block the attacks from her sister.
"I'm getting the hang of this."

Aza listened to the trainer, and tried all the attacks as he told them. It was fun and challenging at the same time. She tried to find the weak spots in usage of a polearm, if she could find them in her sister, she could fix them in herself and better her own skills.

She swung her sword faster and faster, trying to get inside Chrys's guard, but she was having a hard time getting close enough with the Sword's shorter range. if she was ever going to use a sword, it'd probably be a longer one than this practice one, which seemed kinda short.

"Ok, Stop! More weapons to learn here. Now we start training in Staff, go grab one, both of you. I am going to drill it into your head so many times you’ll never forget it, a weapon is your friend and family but if can be your enemy if taken away. Keep a firm grip and prepare for more training
Again, we start with Paladin on Attack and Mercenary on Defense, GO.” The Training Master keeps telling you both how to do it better, change your grip, relax your joints, etc. etc. "The Staff is much like the Polearm, and shouldn't be hard for either of you, but there is less work with slashing or even the Jab, not that a jab can't do damage with a staff, but a staff is a less-deadly weapon, more to wound or knock out than kill with, but don't underestimate a hard blow to the head."

((Training points so far, to be given once training is complete, no you can't leave now and skip the rest, you only get these points if you finish))
Chrysantha: 2 points in Sword, 1 point in Polearm
Azalea: 2 points in Polearm, 1 point in Sword

Chrysantha used the small moment of rest to catch her breath while she switched out the polearm for a staff. She examines the weapon for a few seconds. It seemed to have as much use as the training sword and polearm with visible dents and chips.
"Not my favorite choice, but I'll try it."she said mostly to herself.
She gave her sister a few moments to prepare herself for combat. With a quick motion she went for her legs in an attempt to knock her off her feet..