Weapon Training

The member 'Chrysantha' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Dodge' : 88

Chrysantha's stance allowed her to evade her sister's dagger effectively by jabbing at her sister's hand, just hard enough to keep her from getting grabbed, and simultaneously taking an angled step away from Azalea's dagger hand, thus allowing her less range with the weapon.

A sigh of relief escaped Chrysantha's lips once the Sid said their dagger training was over. She didn't exactly enjoy hurting her sister. Walking over to the weapon table once more, she placed it down where it belonged and did a few stretches to relax her arms and legs. She could almost feel the lactic acid accumulating in her muscles once soreness started to kick in.

Chrysantha kept on her toes, keeping the same stance she had while handling the dagger with her right foot in front of her, her body slightly turned. She stood elbows in, hands up, chin down, and kept moving with the intention of not becoming a stationary target. Once she got within Azalea's range, Chrysantha used her dominant hand to land an uppercut on her sister's jaw with an upward's blow.

Dodge roll

The member 'Azalea' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Dodge' : 97

Having put her dagger away, she got into a semi guarded stance like the trainer had shown them while he was talking. she knew her sister liked to try to get the hit in with fast moves that came out of almost no where, like she'd been pretending that she was still getting used to the weight of a weapon or some such when 'Bam' she's already swung her weapon. So Azalea was ready and waiting for her sister's attack. Seeing the slightly noticeable muscle clench in her shoulder, she knew which arm was attacking, and dodged left with a side step before the hit could land.

Her sidestep took her barely out of arm's length, so she kicked at her sister. She brought her knee up first, then lashed out with her lower leg to strike with the ball of her foot at her sister's stomach area.

"Ok, we're done with sparring.  Now for Throwing Weapons, and no, not at each other.  Follow me to the ranged weapons area."  Sig leads you past other people sparring and training to the outer edge of the training yard where no one will accidently shoot an arrow or throw a knife into someone.  There are targets set up at varying distances.

At the ranged alley there is a table with Bows, Arrows, Crossbows, Bolts, and Throwing Knives.  "Grab a Throwing Knife and follow me."  He leads you in front of a target shaped like an average sized man that was standing the closest distance away compared to the others.  “Lets get started.  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 usually end up doing.  “When you aim, you aim to kill, not to lose your weapon and give it to someone else to use against you!

There are a few different ways to hold it and throw it, holding from the handle or the blade, throwing from overhand or underhand or sideways.  You must also get familiar with throwing while moving at a moving target on your own time, but for now, until you get better, stand still and aim at a still target.

First off, you will learn an overhand throw from the handle.  If you want to throw by the blade, take three paces back or forward and do the same as with the handle, 3 paces is the needed extra space to get the blade to hit properly.  

Watch me and do as I say, do not throw until I tell you to!  Practice the motion a few times before you throw. Opposite foot forward to what hand you will throw with, Left foot for Righties, Right foot for Lefties.  Point your non-throwing hand straight at the target.  Raise your other hand above your head until your elbow is almost directly above your shoulder and your hand is at a comfortable angle behind but above your head, keep it at the center of your body.  Looking at your target, bring your hand forward and release by letting your knife slide out of your fingers until it is completely gone by the time your hands are level together.  Try not to cut your other hand.”  He shows you each step slowly as he speaks.  By the time he is done explaining her merely says “Like this” and throws his knife at the target, hitting it in the center of the head.  

"For throwing with the blade, be careful on how you hold the blade to not cut yourself.  With the blade between your thumb and the second knuckle of your pointer finger, you can throw so that when you end your swing your thumb is on top, or sideways so that the back of your hand is up, your pick, whatever feels best.  Your turn first Paladin, throw your blade, then retrieve and return it to the table.”

Dodge roll

The member 'Chrysantha' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Dodge' : 42

Chrysantha seemed to be too concentrated on landing a hit kn her sister to notice the kick comming at her. She tried avoiding impact completely but it was too late. She winced in pain as Azalea's foot hit her abdomin, causing only a bruise.

"Ok, we're done with sparring.

The words put a grin upon Chrysantha's face. As much as she enjoyed their small boxing course, she would like to learn to handle a new weapon even more. She followed Sig to the shooting range, feeling the pain, slight as it was, dissapear a bit more every step she took thanks to their trainer.

She grabs 5 throwing knives, approaches the range, and sets 3 down on the floor near her. "Weapons are not toys." She repeated robotically. Her fingers twiched slightly with temptation to twirl the two knives she held with didgits. She smiled to herself, *Anything is a toy if you play with it.*
She takes the stance she was just taught, and aims the throwing knife at the center of the dummy's torso. However, her overhand throw attempt lands the knife at the dummy's shoulder.

"... Not a toy," she said quietly, she was getting more and more tired as the training went on and hoped it would be over soon or that they would get a rest at least sooner or later.  She was glad to be done with the sparring and though it didn't feel as comfortable in her hands as the Polearm or Staff did, it would be a good skill to have.

Grabbing a Throwing Knife from the table, Azalea walked with her sister to the target throwing range.  Following the motion shown to her by Sig, she practiced the motion a few times, getting a feel for it.  When she felt ready, she released the weapon, aiming for the heart area of the target.  Unfortunately, she put too much force into the swing and released a little late, landing the knife into the crotch of the target.  *Well... that'll work too sometimes...* she thought with an internal wince of pity for anyone that got a dagger there.  

Laughing slightly, she turns to her sister, "Hey Chrys... I think mine would've hurt more."  Her sister liked to compete, she'd want to do better, and that would make Azalea want to do better also.  Her muscles were tired and she needed her sister to pump up her drive with a little bit of competition.  Azalea wasn't a competitive person by nature like Chrysantha, but there was something about teasing her twin whenever she won that was just too funny.  She didn't always win though so she didn't do it often... if she bragged and gloated every time she did something better than Chrys, then Chrys would do the same thing.  Azalea didn't want the only thing they did together to be competing.

"Now, last but not least, for Bow and Arrow, and no, not aimed at other people.  Put that Throwing Knife back on the table.  Grab a Crossbow and a bolt, we will load them here, you will not fire them, this is just to teach you to load them.  Actual Archery will be in a moment.

To load a Crossbow, repeat after me, we wont fire these, but you need to know how to load a bolt.  First you aim it down, placing the tip lightly on the ground.  You will take a bolt and put the butt of it against the string; the tip will not be able to fit yet, just put the butt to the string.  Now brace the Crossbow with your foot and pull back on the string with both hands.  When the head of the bolt can fit in tip, place it inside, it will not release until you pull the trigger.  With a Crossbow, you don't need to stand sideways to fire, but you'll learn more on that on your own time, just don't get your fingers caught in the cord or you may lose them.  Put it down when you are done and make sure you pay attention.

There are many types of Bows but we will be using the standard size to shoot.  But here are some pointers on the Short and Long bows...  a Long Bow must be pulled back farther, and the Short Bow doesn't have quite as long a range.
 
Now grab a Bow and an Arrow and follow me."  He leads you in front of a target shaped like an average sized man that was standing the closest distance away compared to the others in the archery area, but farther than the throwing knives area.

“Ok, Left foot forward, unless you’re a Leftie, stand sideways from the target. Hold the bow in your left hand, thumb aimed toward the target. For now we will pull the string without an arrow…” Too often, he had seen an arrow go wild from beginners. “With three fingers, pull back the center of the string back along your cheekbone, near your temple. Ok, now with an arrow, rest your arrow on top of your thumb and put the end to the string. With one finger above the arrow and two below, pull it back. Do not release yet! Just aim for now… One last thing… the most important thing I can say that most beginners forget is… make sure you have a bend in your left arm… if you keep it too straight the arrow will skin your forearm so bad you may never want to pick up a bow again. Release when you are ready.” He instructs you as you fire, how to stand better, how to hold your body better, posture was very important, and above all else, keep that elbow bend slightly…

Chrysantha laughed through her nose when she saw where her sister's knife had landed. She would feel sorry for whatever poor bastard would ever encounter her sister while handling throwing knives. "It sure would." she replied, snickering, until interrupted by Sig.
"Just loading, not firing, got it." Chrysantha repeated after their trainer, listening to his words carefully. She was always more of an auditory learner than a visual one. She did as she was told and grabbed a bow and arrow then followed Sig to their new training area.
She began practicing the new learned stance and pretended to shoot without an arrow untill she felt she was ready.
She began loading the arrow onto her bow, just like Sig taught them. "Nope, wouldn't want a skinned arm." She once again got into her stance. She drew her bow and released, aiming for the center of the dummy's chest but instead landed the arrow right on the dummy's left cheek.

Azalea retrieved her Throwing Knife from the target's crotch and headed back to the table, willing this to be over quickly or at least give them a slight break.  It wasn't just her body that was getting tired, learning new tricks on so many weapons had her brain feeling tired also.  But she made herself pay close attention, bad things could happen when a tired beginner touched a weapon.

She put her Throwing Knife away and grabbed the Crossbow and a Bolt.  Following directions, she aimed it at the ground and pulled the string back with the bolt in place, being careful of her fingers.  It wasn't easy and resisted quite a bit, but she loaded it finally and put it down.

Grabbing a Bow and Arrow from the table next, she headed back to the long ranged target area, and practiced the stance and pulling back the string a few times.  Her tired muscles didn't like this usage and her arms shook, but she got the hang of it until it felt more natural.  Putting an arrow to the bow, she pulled back, bent her forward elbow to keep from skinning it, and fired at the target.  

Aiming at the torso, she felt an odd irony as the arrow landed in the target's crotch... again...  Maybe she had something wrong with her with ranged weapons... or maybe it was something right.  "Umm... Ok..." she laughed, hoping her sister wouldn't mention anything but knowing she probably would.

“With these, you have a basic understanding of your weapons.  Try not to die in your first battle.  You’re done here, off you go to your next training area.  Both of you need to head on over to the Classroom.  You will receive different lessons from here on out for the most part...  Your next teacher will tell you what they are, but they are assigned per Class type.”  

Sig was trying very hard not to laugh out loud at the location of the Mercenaries Arrow, it seemed she would do well with male attackers even without training.  The Paladin was about where he'd expect a beginner to hit... both missing the target area but hitting the target, but it looked like they both took his advice and would hopefully keep up with their training.

((Make sure you post an Exit here and either go to the Classroom... or wherever you want... but you wont graduate and be able to grab quests if you don't go to school =)

Your skills are as follows:
                      Chrysantha:,       Azalea:
Staff                     1,                     1
Axe                      1,                      1
Mace                    1,                      1
Dagger                 1,                      1
Hand to Hand       1,                       1
Throwing Weapons 1,                     1
Bow & Arrow         1,                      1
Sword                   2,                      1
Polearm                1,                      2

I am giving them the 2 points in the weapons they trained in for 4 posts in the beginning due to the fact that when they were doing it, it was worth 2 points but with the new way it'd be 1 and 3/5... so I just gave them the 2 points for being good sports as testers and helping figure out the glitches in the weapon training.))

Chrysantha let out a sigh of relief; she was happy the first portion of their training was over with. Her mind went through all the information Sig had taught them briefly as she walked over to return the bow and knives where they belonged. With that done, she only hoped her next class would be as interesting as this one.

(Exit)

Putting her Bow and Arrow away, she thanks Sig and follows her sister out of the Weapon Training Yard. She was sore in places she didn't know could get sore. Her body was in good shape helping around the farm, but weapons used different muscles and so many kinds of weapons used even more different muscles... all that she hadn't been working out yet. She promised herself that she would make sure to keep up with at least a couple of those weapons to stay in shape... but probably not all. Now that she was off to more lessons, she at least hoped she could give her body a rest for a while.

((EXIT))