Basic Short Sword - Bahama Turner

[Ladon]

Room 203

She pumped her arms as she moved her body off the floor, and then towards it again, trying to keep her body stiff and ridgid and usin gher arms to propel her body weight upwards, in a pressup motion.

She continued the motions, up and down, for another fifty pressups, and then began sit-ups, cruching her abdominals until she could feelt the muscles begining to warm up nicely.

She had a new student that was going to start this brightening in the use of the short swaord and she would be ready when he arrived. Her warm up routine was nearly complted but she would continue until she had finished.

[Bahama Turner]

Timestamp: Winter era XI Kalendryas brightening 7 Srennia.

Winter was most defiantly in the air as the young dracon made his way to the Co7BI, but the anticipation of new training and the prospect of learning new skills were assisting in keeping him warm as his cloak was.

Making his way into the facility for the second time in as many brightenings he made his way into the training area and evidently onto the second level of the facility to room 203. Walking into the room he noted the woman going through her warm-up paces, not wanting to bother such a retinue, he made his way to the closest bench unceremoniously removing his cloak, fir vest, girdle and shoes leaving himself in cotton pants and shirt.

In these cold conditions cramp was Bahama’s main concern, so stretches rather than strengthening exercises were his order of the day, his legs, abdomen and arms receiving the majority of the attention, if his instructor was still preforming her own warm-up exercises stretching exercises would be replaced with warming up exercises like jogging round the room as there was little point of stretching then sitting and cooling off again.

When it was evident she had finished he would wrap up his own warm-up approaching with his hand extended in greeting “Serale, as you have most likely assumed I’m Bahama and I’m here that I’m here to develop my skills in the short sword.” He had done nervous introductions before, not knowing what to expect or how to approach the situation and he had learned from those experiences, he was now comfortable in the training circuit, and now he had dealt with the obvious introductions, he held the ticket required as proof of purchase for this lesson in his hand, he had removed it while he had extended his other hand in greeting and now freely offered it to the instructor, clearly wanting to get the formalities out of the way so he could focus on what he had come here for and that was to learn and enjoy the time he was here.

[Ladon]

Her warmup completed the teacher of basic swords stood up and moved to the bench, picking up her towel and wiping the sweat off her body and face. Her new student introduced himself and she likewise returned the pleasentries of the introductions.

Serale Bahama, my name is Hana. I'm a new trainer here at the institute and still working to claim my masters level of swordsmanship, but I'm happy to be of service in your training. From yur warmup master turner, you seem to have been trained before, because you have the stance of a person who knows how to gain the best and strongest standing postion. This is good because this will aid in the basics of any other weapons that you may leran in your life time.

So Master Turner, I want you to go get yourself a short sword from the rack over there and we will begin to learn the basics of the weapon.

Hana waited for Bahama to get a practise short sword from the rack of swords that were on the wall of the training room, and then when he returned to in front of her she continued.

For starters, The sword will be attached to your belt and hung on your weak side, this will be the oposite of the hand you use to write with. Now I want you to untie the fastening of the scabbard, or sheaf of the sword and withdraw your weapon.

Good, now your sword has a number of parts that I will explain to you. The handle is nomally a wooden grip covered in come leather or hyde. Sometimes this may have some patterns embosed into it, or it may have some wire decorations around it. the cross piece, on a short sword is usually not very long, if there at all, but if it is there then this can be used to aid in the defense of the hand holding the weapon. There may be a pomel, or a weight at the top of the handle. This is used to balance the sword.

The blade is made of a stell that is very durable and strong. If you have your own then you will be able to specify what metals are used to make the blade, but the one you have in your hand is made from a stell called damascus steel, it is very hardwaring, and Ideal for a practise weapon.

Now I have told you the basic parts of the weapon I want to see how you hold it in a basic stance. grip the sword so that your knckles of your fingers follow one edge of the sword and point to the floor, the other edge of the sword will line up in the grove made by the joining area of your thumb and your index finger.

Take up your basic stance Master Turner, and we will see what changes may need to be made.

[Bahama Turner]

Looking over towards the weapons rack he was greeted by an assortment of practice blades, looking over some of the weapons he searched for one with a decent looking grip, a short crosspiece and simplistic sheath bindings, listening as Hana spoke he made his way back over to his pile of clothes retrieving the girdle and putting it back on, before walking back over to his waiting instructor as he tied the scabbard to an appropriate buckle on his left side.

Unbinding the scabbard and removing the sword with his right hand as instructed, he toyed with the grip in his hand and getting a feel for the weapon as he looked at each part of the handle area as it was mentioned, then at the blade itself, as a practice sword it appeared to have received its fair share of usage, but the hard wearing Damascus steel had appeared to easily stand the test of time.

Gripping the sword as instructed, he got into a defensive stance that he had assumed so many times; legs shoulder width apart and bent at the knees the majority of his weight on his back foot and up on his toes, his upper left arm running parallel with his side and coming back up at the elbow across his chest, his right however with a sword in hand, it would need to assume a new position. With his elbow bent at his side, his lower arm would come back with his fist near the right hand side of his stomach, the thumb and index merge was the side of the blade pointing down, meaning the tip of the blade was running parallel with the floor.

Like the sword was a new training attachment so was his draconic form, using his tail as an extra opposable weight it was trailing away from his opponent’s direction, lending slightly more weight on his backward foot. Finally happy with his stance he held it to receive his instructor’s verdict.

[Ladon]

Hana watched as Bahama as he tried to attain a basic defensive stance. It was good for a first attempt, and that was what mattered for now, Hana knew that as Master Turner learnt his moves that he would attain a more subtle defensive stance later in the training, but again, it was early in the training, and she was happy with the stance that Bahama had made

Good Bahama, you have a good stance for defence here, so let’s begin by learning the first defensive moves that you will need. The first position is called the Prime Guard position. Now if you were to sheave your sword and then as you remove it you bring your sword arm up to be horizontal with your shoulder, bend your elbow, but keep the arm horizontal to your shoulder. The sword will be pointing at your opponents face. Your other hand and arm will be brought up and aimed towards your opponent, as a sort of easy barrier that you can use to push them away.

Anyway Lets see if you understand my instructions shall we. Follow my lead master turner as I show you what I mean.

Hana stepped into here defensive stance, and with drew her blade. In one swift , and fluid, motion she had moved her sword arm bent at ninety degrees, to her shoulder level and her sword was pointing to an imaginary opponent.

So master Turner attain the Prime Guard position.

[Bahama Turner]

It had seemed utilising his previous experience with unarmed combat paid off for Bahama the stance was consistent with success; well enough to move to the next step of training which was learning the defensive guards, specifically the Prime guard.

Watching and listing to the instructor’s commands, learning the stance was a matter of repeating what he saw and then finding the best way to copy the tutelage. To what he could attain the Prime guard was utilised when initiating combat, his conclusion drawn from the fact the move was fluid and consistent with withdrawing the sword from its sheath, but he could also appreciate that it was a centre point for further moves, to an extent this was more likely to replace his basic stance when in armed combat. But like all good combat footwork would determine weather or not the guard would lead to offensive strikes or defensive blocks.

Deciding to alternate to an offensive stance, as he had already demonstrated a defensive one. By altering the way his bulk was sitting over his legs, the majority of his weight now sat on his right foot, but as his previous training taught him, he kept his knees bent and sat on the balls of his toes, ready to redistribute weight or alter his footing.

Re-sheathing his sword, having to focus his attention of the subject, while he had a firm grasp of footwork, his sword work was still far from second nature, but sure enough the sound of steel on hardened hide was heard and he was ready to attempt his first guard.

Gripping the handle of the blade so his knuckles were running one edge of the blade and the finger/thumb join the other, he withdrew the blade across his body and into the desired position, hovering horizontal and slightly lower than head height, like his legs his arm was bent at the join to allow flexibility and because he had been instructed to. His other hand was protecting his exposed stomach and chest area, and in a position to be able to react either offensive or defensively.

While he would be receiving criticism on the subject he would toy with making the Prime guard while in a more defensive stance, involving the weight being on his back leg and alternating between the two by using his position on the balls of his toes to alter weight, also still getting use to the concept of using his tail and wings to alter where his weight was sitting.

[Ladon]

Hana watched Bahama as he went through the process of attaining the Prime guard position. It was the most basic of guards as this position was attained quite naturally from withdrawing the sword; at least it was for one who had spent many hours in the training room, learning and practising. She couldn't really find anything wrong with the stance that Bahama had attained and so it came to the next guard position.

Very good Bahama, now the second guard position is called Seconde. This is attained by moving from the Prime guard position, the hand comes down to shoulder level, the arm being extended and straight at the opponent, your sword pointing at the opponents face. When we have learnt the guards I will teach you an attack that can be brought from each guard position, but for now, we will concentrate on defence, and so Attain Prime guard for me Bahama, and then move to the Seconde guard.

[Bahama Turner]

All the young Dracon could assume was the Zinn’ka Training was paying dividends with his current instruction, not only did it came easy to attaining what he assumed were correct stances, but also to how easily he converted the movements that Hana was demonstrating to his own practical usage with apparent ease. All that meant was he felt was adapting to the extra steel appendage and Hana was satisfied that the lesson could quickly continue.

At First Bahama only noticed subtle difference between Prime and seconde, but they were there, while the movement in the arm was not the most complicated he noted the difference came with the repositioning of the wrist, the slightly lower arm angle didn’t require the wrist as extended as the original move did.

Re-sheathing the sword he began from the beginning as instructed, position his footwork so he was almost side-on to his instructor the majority of his weight fixed on his trailing back leg, his stance was defensive he withdrew his sword into the Prime Guard aimed at his assessing instructor, to change the move into seconde, his arm lost the subtle bend at his elbow as his arm straightened out, his hand no longer at head but shoulder level, his wrist no longer in the slightly bent position it required to hold a straight sword at an opponents head, but the new position had the edges of the blade running no longer vertically but naturally closer to horizontal angle.

Getting use to the new positions alternating a couple of time between Prime and Second to establish a more fluid natural rhythm the would come with more and more practice he finally ceased his alternating and held the Seconde position ready to receive feedback from his instructor. Like before he felt his mind wandering about the pros and cons of holding the different positions, but he let the thoughts drift away when Hana came to assess how his current attempts to act like a swordsman were coming along.

[Bahama Turner]

OoC: Going to Self mod to finish the thread.

IC: Like all things that had to be taught repetition always worked well for the young Dracon, from Prime to Seconde was defiantly one of the easiest moves in swordplay, but as he repeated the move small things would always make itself evident, an easier way to move from scabbard to Prime, even from Prime to Seconde, repeating made the moves more fluent. After a period of time which Bahama only considered random Hana pulled him up and Proceeded with the lesson.

The next position is Tierce, like Seconde it is generally used to parry, instead of the sword point aiming in a downward fashion, it is directed upwards, the elbow more bent and lower as the forearm position back up allowing the sword point to be comfortably raised. Demonstration was always better than words, as Hana positioned herself Bahama did likewise, assuming the move over time was one thing, as before he attempted the move, from Prime to Tierce, Seconde to Tierce, again and again drilling the moves into skull.

There were two other basic stances that would be taught for the day: Quarte and Quinte, Quarte was similar to Tierce, but the elbow jutted further out to the side, away from his body which in turn brought his sword across his body, Hana explained how from this position made defending the midsection easier unlike Seconde and Tierce which were more based on protecting the sword arm and its side. Finally Quint, the elbow came out horizontally to the shoulder and protruded outside the body, the forearm tracing a line almost vertical, but moved slightly forward, in turn this caused the blade to run in front of the head and beyond, this move dedicated to protecting the head from harm.

With the basic five moves taught, the next task was designed to work the moves into something workable, know how each moved worked was one thing how to work them together was another. “Now begin your sword in Prime, when I call out a position you are to assume it, this will allow you to work your moves into each other, increase co-ordination and hopefully dexterity, you can take this home with you to practice, just work the commands yourself.” Bahama had no idea about the time frame that passed during the exercise, just the constant commands. “Seconde, Quinte, Prime, Tierce, Seconde, Quarte, Prime, Tierce, Seconde, Quinte.” it would keep coming, his arm was aching by the end of it, the heavy sword taking its toll on his arm, Hana would provide advice, initially it was constant, but as the routine went on, disruptions came less and the system flowed quite well.

Eventually she called a halt allowing the Dracon respite giving him a gesture to sheath the sword. “That is the lesson for the day, I would recommend some light exercise on the arm otherwise it will go tight and you will be useless for tomorrow.” Thanking her for the advice he removed the practice weapon, gathered his own belongings before exiting the facility, the rest of his day spent outside the city walls, first a dunk in the stream followed by more practice work, this time using a stick as far lighter alternative to work with.

[Bahama Turner]

Another brightening, with another lesson of training on the books, fortunately his lifestyle didn’t physically dread such encounters anymore, usually it would be a case of sore and sorry the next morning but at this level of training compared to the physical comparison of Zinn’ka, and the exercises that he preformed to keep himself in shape, such tuition as this was building skills not performance.

Again arriving at the correct destination, the training room was available to him, taking the time to preform another set of stretching exercises and taking the blade he had used yesterday to practice what was covered yesterday, stance and positioning. The instructor discovering Bahama already engrossed in basic drill didn’t bother with the “warm-up and what we covered yesterday” questions as both we being answered, noticing the teacher present he finished his last repletion of moves before re-sheathing his sword and offering a “Serale” to Hana.

“Good to see you in early Bahama, with our basic positioning covered as well as stance, today we will start by looking at one extra concept in our positioning. What was covered yesterday was fundamental for most light swords that are able to be wielded by one hand, as mentioned yesterday each one of those moves can be utilised to protect from attacks from different angles, Prime; to protect the midsection when first drawing your sword” A demonstration on how this happened was forthcoming instead of just the position, from the scabbard the sword reached the position of Prime however it simply kept going, until he hand was about head height the sword had moved so the tip was pointing well away from the body, it was assumable if someone had attempted a thrust on Hana it would have been deflected away to the side of the body.

Instead of asking for Bahama to attempt the move she continued with here speech. “Seconde and Tierce; can be used to protect your sword arm and the flank from cutting and slashing attacks” Like the original concept she assumed Seconde and to demon straight she flicked her wrist and forearm to the right, again the potential to ward of a cut from the side could be effectively blocked, this Process went on for all five position until she finally finished with her demonstration. “Of course I could have you just do what I did but, there is little to be gained from that, I will tell you a position to assume and I will attack you, initially the attacks will be slow and obvious, attempt to deflect them in a way you think appropriate and I will give you feedback, now I understand that footwork could solve a lot of these attacks but we will work on that soon., for now use the guards to protect yourself” All that Bahama had to do was nod in approval and Hana gave the command of “Prime”

The Position was taken and a steady cut came from his left, flicking his wrist and forearm to the right the attack was deflected onto the sword and towards the ground and not his person. A nod of approval from Hana and the command for “Quarte” was given, the attack came from the same low angle, to deflect it again the young Dracon had to spin his wrist and forearm around so it went across his body in a circle before coming back out to again deflect the shot to his side. The moves went like this for a while, deflection was the stressed concept. Physically the wrist and sword could only take so much damage, because of that, clashing swords directly was a dangerous because of the stress of smacking them together could break a wrist and potentially the sword, Bahama had been taught that concept in hand to hand combat, avoidance or deflecting compared to direct blocking was always optional and for his benefit it had rubbed of in this lesson.

Naturally Hana was pleased that Bahama had the experience to easily grasp the concepts, it had come up on his previous records with the institute that he had completed basic Zinn’ka and had been instructed in a level equivalent to intermediate Shaasskah by Master Jin while the place had been closed, a fact that would make the next section of the lesson easier as it was all about footwork. “Bahama I understand that your previous training has covered most of this but there are some differences and it never hurts to get taught twice, now the keeping balance and to be able to move during a fight is crucial, obviously falling after a trip is not a positive position to be in halfway through a fight, or be outflanked because you couldn’t manoeuvre.” Giving a nod in response that the concept was far from lost she continued, “Taking into consideration the stances that is used by an opponent, casually walking to the next destination would leave you exposing your side, sidestepping however can allow you to maintain stance while still being able to travel, please show me you are able to preform this, while holding the position of Tierce move from this side of the room to the other as if your opponent was opposite you.” as Hana had suspected this was very basic for the young Dracon, able to hold a steady pace too and fro with little serious concentration required, in his Zinn’ Ka training his final assessment had involved a variety of obstacles that required a vast amount of balance compared to this, additionally while he now decided to use his natural form the additional balance of his tail was becoming apparent, while in an exercise such as this it was probably more of a potential tripping hazard than help, but when it came to overall balance it was a useful appendage.

Another basic exercise proven the next involved a slight adjustment to the routine. “Now usually running like that in a straight line is not common, but circling is, now I want you to circle me and remain at least three paces from me, ok?” Bahama always preferred having an active opponent with him, it was obviously that much more realistic, and anything was possible. Again assuming the tierce stance, it was a matter of circling Hana while she remained central, but after a few rotations, she took a step back, forcing Bahama to compensate his own circle, maintaining his footing, stance and course correction, but simple forwards, lefts rights didn’t last long , now resorting to leaps and sidesteps of her own in directions, it was becoming more challenging as she was slowly attempting to circle Bahama, but still preforming her own extra manoeuvres constantly keeping Bahama on his toes, and of course Hana’s own skill would always find chance to change her course and give a wack with the flat of her sword on his exposed side, ultimately it was a matter of being able to move around and not fall down, if you managed to not get slapped by a practice sword it was a bonus, Hana was fast, but she was also extremely calculating, clearly what they were preforming here was exceeding basic footwork, he had already been taught that, this was about demonstrating that he could do that and still be able to preform.

While yesterday he hadn’t been drained by the class, that exercise had been quite physical and both had quite a fair amount of perspiration building on their persons, however the last exercise had indeed carried on, while Bahama hadn’t particularly gained any skill in the last exercise, it had been good to get an opportunity to put learning into practice, mixed with the addition sword work he went over it had been another successful lesson on his part, that he could take home and practice in his own time before the next lesson.

[Bahama Turner]

Two lessons had preceded this one, the first coving an array of stances, the second the footwork to match, he had been taught those and proven that he had the physical ability that should go with it, he believed that footwork was the keystones in all physical combat, to him it meant nothing if you had the best punch in the empire if you couldn’t position yourself to preform it, his instructors were the ones who had pounded that principle into him and he was happy that was lodged in his skull. Bahama had arrived right on time it seemed, his instructor approaching from the other side of the corridor and entering the room giving a polite “Serale” to her student before entering, himself following and proceeding to grab one of the practice swords, Hana’s already drawn in the centre of the room. “Today Bahama we will focus back on your sword word and the more aggressive form of swordplay.” she indicated that he should do the same with his weapon, withdrawing it out its scabbard and held it by his side, with his body already assuming a natural stance with his bodyweight evenly displaced over his feet, ready to follow her instruction.

“Slashing and thrusting are the most basic forms of offensive, realistically every offensive sword move is either one of these, a cut is a move where the sword is swung in an arc, that could be left to right, top to bottom and any middle combination.” To demonstrate she gave a simple left to right swing with her sword, an arc up to down and finally a slush from down around her navel up to her right had shoulder. “Thrusting is a motion that is focused in a straight light, generally an attempt to stick the tip into whatever you are aiming for.” Again an example was given, simply thrusting the sword in a straight line about the height of where some poor imaginary stomach would be.

“As you can see the moves themselves are quite fundamental, there is no precise way to thrust and slash with a sword, you would come across many if you took the time to watch, but their are certain things we teach to help you develop a technique and hopefully prevent sloppy swordsmanship." Going over to the nearest support for the roof she undid a rope and as it was free a slump of straw and wire represented what appeared to be a torso and head of a person.

“We will begin with Slashing attacks. Slashing attacks while generally slower than thrusting generally allow the wielder to continue with fluent fighting as your sword generally wont get stuck in anything.” to articulate she gave a slash across from the dummy left shoulder to what would be its lower torso then by twisting her wrist and moving her lower arm around so it came back across the dummy’s middle right to left, another wrist movement and adjustment in her arm the sword traced another small semicircle quickly down then up across the lower left side of the dummy’s left torso and up across to its right shoulder, the young dracon imaging the poor state of a person after such a barrage. “things to remember with a slash is to start with your wrist and sword back and as you approach your target to move them also in the direction of the slash, why would you think that appropriate?.” Hana waited for the response which Bahama replied back imaging the movement in his mind before answering. “So the sword will gather speed as you also move your wrist out?” Hana quickly replied. “Yes, but it also when you do hit something the wrist will be able to have somewhere to naturally move back to, otherwise the risk of spraining your wrist is possible.”

Now it was time to give the theory some practical sense as he gave a swing at the dummy, simply one slash at a time, not like the multiple Hana had preformed earlier, initially most of the criticism revolved around the workings of his wrist making sure it had space for that kickback and was still keeping the blade itself at the correct angle.

After a period of time that Hana felt sufficient the next topic was to be discussed: Thrusting. “Now thrusting while initially faster than slashing is overall a more non-fluent move, as, - well if successful the sword will be lodged in something.” Hana had said the last part as quite a matter of fact, obviously not bothering with toning it down a bit before continuing “Sometimes slashing just isn’t possible in some situations.” Again she went to demonstrate the move, the arm shooting out in a straight line and effortlessly through the straw, she preformed it again several times, slowly noticing how the arm didn’t really go in a straight line, instead how it slowly arched up until the tip of the sword made contact with the dummy before the wrist flicked the hand and sword slightly down as it went into the straw that was lower left lung of the dummy. As she finished Bahama made his observation “Moving your wrist like that at the end is that to ease the strain the wrist as you make contact?” Hana, surprised but pleased that the dracon could indeed make his own observations gave a nod in the affirmative and added on “Yes, if you thrust directly and you hit any armour or something like bone, the chance of injury is possible, but changing the small amount of direction also lends more force behind the thrust itself.”

Again theory was put to practice, initially exaggerating the movements, they soon evened themselves out, slowly resembling the thrust Hana had earlier preformed satisfaction on the young dracon’s face, pleased with his progress on the subject.

A short break followed this segment of the lesson, with both student and teacher being local to the city, the idle chatter was focused on bits and pieces of random happenings in the city before they got back into the lesson, the day finishing off with more practice on footwork and the previously learnt guards to cap off the day before both of them called it a brightening.

[Bahama Turner]

The pace of the next Brightenings lessons were similar in ways, as far as basic skills for the sword went the young Dracon was complete, quite simply his previous training in footwork had taken a lot out of the subject, this let to however a fair amount of time to work on his sword work, engaging in simple set-up drills, Hana would start with a few moves, and for the lesson they would expand on its duration, the idea was to focus on several things, ideals like being able to follow a drill, secondly to recognise things about that particular drill, when was he open? When would his opponent be open? Constantly keeping footwork active, to his credit he never fell, those days were past when he learned footwork by falling over, his Zinn’Ka teachers taught that out of him and his constant exercising had never allowed those lessons to lapse.

These later lessons were physically more testing, no longer did they stop every few minutes to assess a new move, teaching was instead taught on the fly, if Bahama lapsed he likely coped a blunt sword somewhere on his body and he had to admit physical reminders reminded him more than a verbal thrashing.

Apart from choreographing swordplay, the lessons consisted more time with inanimate objects to hit, learning that indeed the wrist copped a beating and learning that half a fight would consist of hot hurting yourself in combat let alone having to worry about an opponent trying to stick you.

Before he knew the Cycle’s worth of lessons had passed, he had walked away with a lot why he had been adamant that he was capable with his footwork it was only because of the simplicity of basic training, getting back into the swing a tutored training was making him want to go back to the challenge in the form of advanced Zinn’Ka, he had wanted to experience some other forms of training and have a chace to get out and try some new and unexpected things, he had begun to understand the concept that the body was only tool for the mind, he could always go into a situation guns blazing, but while he generally was a bit forward and got himself into the middle of bad situations, when he was there he would always apply his mind and he was firmly beginning to believe brawn wasn’t always the reason he came out ticking.

The reason however he had been plotting this line of thought could probably be traced back to the last lesson he just stepped out of as he made his way past the statues and back out into the open air. “Well Done Bahama, you have proven that you are proficient enough to be granted Basic Swordsmanship. I have to add even though it isn’t assessed at this level, when you get over your own arrogance and it boils down to it, you keep your head screwed on.” He had taken it as a compliment, unfortunately a sign of the fact being true, at times he could indeed be short sighted, it was a discipline he had to work on fortunately after this lesson he had taken it on board, some things only evolve with age and experience, but at least acknowledging them was a start.

[BlueberryKitty]

*pawprint of approval.*

Looks good to me! Congratulations. Basic sword complete.

BBK