[Demda]

”How much force do I use to cause all dese breaks?” Demda asked, curiously.

Red laughed, and pat Demda atop her head. ”If you’re aiming to destroy your opponent, use as much force as you can manage. There’s no middle ground that you have to seek just to perform a break. The harder you hit, the more likely that your hit will result in a break, or worse.”

Demda nodded. Red Rose moved around the wretch, until she was at her back. Demda felt her touch the back of her neck, just beneath the cranium. She traced the tip of the spine near the cranium to a few inches below that, and then spoke, ”Severing or pinching this area would cause you to cease certain vital functions, and thus would result in death.” Her hand traced down lower, to a few inches below the area she’d previously indicated, ”Pinching or severing this area would cause varying degrees of paralysis. After that, it would be a simple matter to kill you, or any opponent of which you attack this specific area.”

Next, Red Rose’s hand drifted down even further, to the vertebrae that were opposite to the ribs. ”This area is called the backbone. The first five ridges seem to play a major part in the function of the heart, as a blow to this area can upset your opponent’s heart rhythm, to the point that it might cause death. Now, the ribs and sternum help support the backbone, so it’ll be more difficult to upset it. You’ll have to use more power to do so. In short, it’ll take more training before this becomes a viable target.”

Red Rose stepped around Demda, until she was right in front of her. ”There are twenty-four ribs in the humanoid body, or twelve pairs joined by the backbone. Now, the ribs of most concern to us are the eleventh and twelfth pair of ribs, as they do not join with the sternum, nor with any sort of cartilage. They’re kind of floating. We like to call them the loose ribs.” The halfling came up close to Demda, and wrapped her hand around Demda’s lower torso, presumably searching the girl’s back for the loose ribs. Once she found them, she pressed hard into them, so that Demda would know where they were. ”Here they are.” She took a step backward, “If you break these, they’ll float freely inside the body and could quite possibly puncture a vital organ or tract. Breaks of the eleventh and twelfth ribs are the most dangerous, but the ninth and tenth can also prove fatal, although they’re quite a bit harder to break. Your angle of attack should either by forty-five degrees upward or downward, or directly on a horizontal plane.”

”Now,” Red began, circling Demda until she was at her side, ”The shoulder joint. It’s a ball and socket joint that permits free movement of the radius and humerus bones. It can be positioned for dislocation with a strike, or the radius and humerus can be locked and used as a leverage point to dislocate the shoulder. You can cause a sprain with the same technique, while applying less force. To perform the lock on the arm, push up beneath the shoulder and near the humerus (or the bone of the upper arm). Also, a break to the shoulder joint could be accomplished by striking it horizontally.”

The halfling approached Demda from where she stood at her side, and reached out her hand, ”Give me your hand and I’ll show you a thing or two about elbow joints.” The half-elf complied like the inert sponge that she was quickly becoming, allowing Red to do whatever it was she wanted to demonstrate. ”The elbow joint binds two bones into one. Depending on where it’s made, a break of the elbow joint could result in the permanent loss of a forearm. It’s also extremely painful, even if a break doesn’t occur.” Red took hold of Demda’s wrist then, and then applied pressure to her elbow. With the resultant lock, Demda was obliged to move however Red wished, which was surprising, considering that halflings weren’t all that strong. It was amazing how little force was needed to dominate one’s opponent. Heartening too, considering that Demda was no heavyweight herself.

Red Rose released her after a moment, and allowed Demda to recover herself. ”Take a seat again. I have a few more things to show you before you get to stand up.” The halfling approached her, and traced a finger along the middle of her chest. ”This is the sternum. Many people will tell you that this isn’t a worthwhile target. But…” And here the halfling formed a knuckle fist and lightly rammed it against Demda’s sternum. Demda cried out, and pushed the halfling’s hand away, rubbing her sternum with her free hand. There would be another bruise come the morning. ”I get it.” She said.

”I don’t think you do, because I haven’t explained yet.” Red Rose smiled, ”The sternum provides an excellent heart or respiratory response to a direct thrust. With a sufficiently powerful attack, the sternum could easily break, and wreak all sorts of havoc with the body.”