Let them have their formations, we shall be as ballistae bolts![Private]

[Teig O'Maolain]

TIMESTAMP:
Before they marched off, Teig ordered everyone to take a practice sword.
Then they were lined up two abreast and told to march.
Keep Pace Maggots!

Jarden Burkid took off at a light run, unsheathing his Longsword.
He began to march in double time, slicing his sword in a figure Eight.
All of the recruits were ordered at this point to being to do the same with their training swords.

Several recruits wound up hitting each other as they ran, others were more agile.

As they marched off into the open plains, Teig veered them off from the training map. Eyvind had no idea what he had set up.

A small bunker rested in the center of a valley. That was their destination.

As they jogged, Teig began to sing a cadence

Oh mama mama can't you see?

The recruits responded in time

What Teig and Jard'en did for me?
I used to moan I used to fuss
I'll be a fighter you can trust
All of them will run and hide
We'll have an orcish genocide

It took them roughly a half of a candlemark to reach the bunker that Teig and Jard'en had set up for his training and ordered first batch of men inside.

Twenty souls entered the building, and Teig and Jard'en walked in from the rear.

In the darkness the men splintered. as the cohesion of the twenty men broke, The two trainers descended upon the unit and swiftly dispatched them. Each of them was "killed" quickly as Teig and Jard'en moved through the maze set up inside. They knew all of the secret passages and little nooks.
The 20 man unit lasted a total of 10 minutes as each man was taken down.

when the first group was defeated the lights were turned on.

You are to leave this room, and remain silent. Do not tell any of the men outside what happens in this room.

The group did as it was told.
As they left the room, they remained silent, and the bruises were visible.
The process of scaling the maze was repeated 4 times

Each time most of the men fell to Teig and Jard'en's brutal assault. However, five men made it to the final room of the maze, where a single piece of parchment would be waiting for them

Stay in this room until you are retrieved. and congratulations, you survived your first test.

To the 95 men waiting outside,
Jard'en ordered them to do push-ups.

Teig spoke resoundingly.
You were beaten because you lost your unit cohesion, but now you understand what you will become. you are to be a strike force that will confuse disorient and destroy the enemy. for their tightly packed formation, we shall be as BALLISTAE BOLTS.

Teig walked inside to the room where the 5 men waited....

[Teig O'Maolain]

The five men waited in the room at rapt attention.

Teig entered the room alone and tossed each of them a small silver pin.
He handed them each a longsword.

You five survived the gauntlet. You are now my squad leaders. you are to wear these pins on your left breast. You will each be assigned nineteen recruits underneath you. Their failures will be your failures, and you will all be rewarded on your successes.

He led them out to where the other men were still doing push-ups.
Jard'en walked in between the working troopers.

Teig ordered a halt.

On your feet maggots salute your commanding officer!

The men slowly got to their feet and looked at Teig and the five men standing behind him.

The men behind you are the men who were lucky, smart, or fast enough to survive the Ambush that Shield Daekin Burkid planned for you.

The daekin looked a bit shiftily at him but caught on quickly and nodded.

These five men are now your unit leaders. You will be a family... my family until I release you. Now, set up camp!

[Teig O'Maolain]

As the recruits set up camp around them, with the newly appointed squad leaders hoisting tents, and helping their men do the same, Jard'en and Teig built their own hooch. The command tent was sparse, a table with a map. a dagger thrust into the spot where Ire and Narim stood on the map, and 8 chairs around it. two bed rolls on the far side of the chamber, and a weapons rack which at the moment, held two rapiers, 6 pillai, two shields, and two spears, crossed at an X.


Jard'en I hope you understand why I told them the ambush was your idea

Of course I do my friend, a unit must respect and love its commander, and fear and loathe its trainer. You are their father, and I'm the older brother beating the snot out of them.

Teig laughed, and then stepped out of his tent, slinging the rapier onto his belt, and taking a shield on his arm.

Jard'en grabbed his arm, quickly pulling him back, only to say
your father would be proud my friend.


Teig walked back out into the daylight.

Jard'en followed, screaming.

FALL IN MAGGOTS! COLUMN OF TEN! SWORD AND BOARD AND FRONT AND CENTER!!!!

The men filed in, the squad leaders stood before the columns, lined up in front.

Each of you is here because you have some experience with a sword. Now I am going to hone that skill, make it shine, and teach you how to use it to strike fear into the hearts of orcs. You are to be our shock troops, the most mobile, agile, and LETHILE force that the green skinned fools have EVER SEEN!

The men cheered wildly at this.

Jard'en quickly ordered them silenced.

Now next to you is a man that most of you probably don't know. he may be from the other side of the cosmopolis, he may be your next door neighbor. but from this moment on this is your Shieldmate. You will train with them, you will eat with them, you will die with them if the need calls. I will begin your training by having you show me what you know. Pair off with your shield mates and Jard'en and I will survey what we have to teach.

Squad leaders, You will pair up with a member of your squad, and show them what you know!

The men quickly did as they were told, and Teig and Jard'en began to survey the unit.
It took several candlemarks for them to complete the survey, but the Sherian men continued their sparring. Teig made mental notes to further the training on many of them. He wrote down names of those with serious skill, and wrote down those who could barely hold the pointy end away from them.

He smiled, and then ordered the men to take a 2 mile run while he and Jard'en compared notes.

The squad leaders were given specific instructions to take the pace lightly so that their men would be so exhausted that they'd collapse at the end of their first night into their beds, but not die.

Teig And Jard'en were waiting when the men re-entered the camp, and then dismissed them to bed.

Not bad for a first Day, eh Spear Daekin O'Maolain?

No, Shield Daekin Burkid, Not a bad day at all.

They returned to their tents. It was going to be a long brightening. and they had a LOT of work to do.

[Teig O'Maolain]

Blade struck blade. In an elegant dance, Teig and Jard'en parried, thrusted, dodged, struck, shield bashed, and proceeded to demonstrate every major basic action that could be used with a sword.

This morning started early, with Teig and Jard'en rising a few candlemarks before dawn, and forcing the men out of their tents. The day began with a 2 mile run, the men singing the cadence that Jard'en and Teig had taught them. Teig's melodic voice led the men as they ran and marched, once again they reached the training bunker, but this time, the men would find it brightly lit. they were to go through, squad against squad, until all were "dead" or one squad reached the final room together. All of the squads took minor casualties this time, being able to see, and Teig and Jard'en recieved a few good bruises from the larger more powerful men in the unit.

Having decided that these men had serious potential, Teig and Jard'en took them out onto the field again, and began to demonstrate the use of the longsword. After explaining the basic parts of the sword to the men, they demonstrated a set of thrusts, slashes, parries, and lunges.
Then they dueled.
Teig and Jard'en fought in slow motion as they showed how to put each into use.
The men were then paired up and Teig Jard'en and the rest of the trainers moved among them, correcting mistakes, and teaching them the correct responses to certain attacks.
They encouraged thinking outside the box.

after the morning was done they broke for a brief lunch of jerky and water and fruit, and then they spent the rest of the afternoon with their swords and shields.

The shields were painted, black, and Teig told them it was so they could identify with the men who trained them. these men may not have been a part of the black shields, but he was proud of the progress they were making. at this point, the men were ordered to paint a spear, white, on the shield, broken in half.
One of them asked what it was to represent.

A spear, when whole is a single weapon. and that is how most men see it. You, are broken spears. a broken spear to the average person is seen as weak, broken, and useless. but to a soldier, a broken spear becomes not a broken weapon, but now two weapons, wielded equally on a battlefield. you are broken spears. Orcs will see you as rag tag, a bunch of farmers and workers. but you are soldiers! you will be a formidable weapon on this field. I hereby christen this unit, The Broken Spear!

The men gave a great cheer, and Jard'en finally allowed a softer side to show, laughing and cheering with them.
For about two seconds.

Then, he ordered them to move out. it was a 5 mile hike back to the camp and night would fall.

Their day being done, they went off to sleep.