[Siona, Arcis Firmitas Pietas] Basic Dagger (Carly; Peer-Mod)

[Kurth Tathasir]

OOC: Peer-moderation by Carly approved by GM Adder.

Brightening II of the Fifth Cycle of Kalendryas
Winter of the Second Era of the Pax Imperialis,
First Era of the Celestine Mandate,
Regency of Milo L’Evienne,
Thirteenth Era Post Fractum.

It was the day after Kurth returned to Centripax from his era-long quest in search of his father. The plans for his future were honed to perfect detail during that time, brooding and agonizing over his father's return and possible implications. The suns of Telath were just rising above the horizon, and he was heading out to the practice green outside the citadel, arranging new training under one of the knights, Nydilaba, the elf he had met at the gates when he entered the city of Siona.

At first, Kurth wanted to be a powerful warrior, a huge broadsword that he had trained in, was to back up that image. But the human soon discovered his talents were not associated with hacking and slashing with a great heavy sword, but lie in the speed and agility associated with his thinner frame. It was after successfully wounding someone with his dagger after losing his broadsword to a disarm, that he realized he preferred it much better. It wasn't big and clunky, it wasn't heavy, and he could wield it much quicker and efficiently. Of course, it couldn't deal such cleaving damage as a larger sword, but the dagger could still prove lethal if he learned how to use it right. Maybe he could be skilled enough that Raliric would consider him for a special corps of elite troops.

It was upon this hope that Kurth strode out onto the green that day, his longsword and broadsword not equipped, lying on the cot in his room. The only thing he was wearing besides his nimble cloth and leather knight's uniform was the black dagger strapped to his waist, about 6 inches in length. Raliric told him that he would be met on the green that brightening by one of his knights skilled in the dagger, Nydilaba, to mentor and train him. The human wove through groups of knights already training and sparring on the field this early in the brightening, finding a clear patch of grass, and began stretching his legs and arms, waiting for his mentor. He learned the hard way that it was best to stretch before training to prevent cramps and soreness.

[Carly Jr'ana]

The man who had agreed to train Kurth was less of a man and more of an elf, ages well into middle age he wore his training clothing as he had worn them the first day he had ever picked up a knife. Today, he would teach another. Strolling across the field, weaving between other knights sparring, running through drills, or warming up Nydilaba caught sight of the skinny human he had agreed to teach. He circled around him in a large twisting pattern, getting closer and closer, attempting to avoid being seen. And finally, when he was close enough, he crossed the two paces in the blink of an eye and tapped Kurth on the back of the head. "First lesson of the dagger young Tathasir, when you can, stab your enemy in the back."

Circling around to face his charge, he slipped a blade out from his belt, holding it between two fingers, the hilt and the point. "The dagger is a small weapon, so you must either enter within the enemies grasp, at which point you will have the advantage if you are unharmed, or you must never let them draw their weapon. A dagger is shorter then a sword, you can draw it faster, move it quicker, and stab far more times. I once saw a man stab another 33 times within the time it would take you to nock an arrow."

Letting the blade slip, he caught the hilt in his hand and took up a standard brawlers stance, legs braced for ease of movement, body turned to the side to provide a smaller target, dagger held in his arm furthest away. "When you hold a dagger, you want to hold it firmly. It can be a slashing weapon, but it works best to pierce. Thrust. Stab! So you want to hold it so you have the most power. Use your whole arm to move. Now, you take up the stance and we'll see how you do. Practise dagger though, nothing real."

[Kurth Tathasir]

Kurth was in mid-stretch when he felt a tap on his head. He started, but didn't move, lest that something that poked his head entered it, which was never a good thing. He relaxed and turned his head to see the elf from yesterbrightening standing with a dagger in the air, circling around to the front to face him. The human listened intently to the elf, something he had learned during his first training session with the broadsword, and nodded his head at appropriate intervals, letting his mentor know he was paying attention.

"Yes, sir," he answered, when the elf concluded his practice demo.

Kurth unlatched the dagger sheath from his belt and tossed it to the ground a few meters away, as to not get in the way, and took the practice dagger the knight offered him. At first he backed away, practiced the stance once, standing sideways facing the elf - his right leg forward and his left leg back - with the wooden dagger held in front of him at arm's length. Then he approached Nydilaba slowly, getting to within his arm's reach and performed the stance again, this time with his arm close to his body. He stood sideways with his right arm pointing to the elf and took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Knowing the elf was going to block the blow anyway, being much more skilled than he was, Kurth felt confident in his battle prowess being in several before, although none with a dagger. He knew that the elf would expect him to attack the midsection - it was the most vulnerable with most the internal organs to be damaged. The head was too small a target and hard to puncture if hit in the wrong place, and the the legs were too easy to miss; the opponent could easily jump out of the way. And with that, Kurth went with the option that might take the elf off-guard the most - the arms.

The arms were just as hard to hit as the legs, but they were potentially more immobilizing; if hit in the right spot, the enemy would not be able to fight back. Kurth tensed the muscles in his right arm and coiled it back slightly, then stepped forward and let loose the energy in his arm like a spring, stabbing at the elf's arm with his practice dagger.

[Carly Jr'ana]

Kurth, it seemed, was a bright fellow. But his teacher was brighter still, those same arms he had targetted twisted around, slipping fowards and grabbing the dagger at the hilt and pulling roughly. The elf's own practise dagger coming to strike you in the ribs several times, delivering heavy and painful blows. Then, he pushed you back and scowled.

"Are you thick? I said hold the blade in the back hand, not the forwards hand. Power comes from the shoulder, through the whole arm. You will have no thrust with the forearm. Using a small blade is like Zinn-ka. It is as much about the arms as the blade itself. More so, you must strike for the body. Striking at the arms is tricky, they are small targets, but more so. You will be facing opponents with a longer reach, you must get within the space of those arms to attack or the opponents weapon will find you quickly. If you are close, they are unable to fight with their blade."

He indicated for you to take up the stance again, demonstrated how his dominant hand was held back, and with a step foward he stepped well within your reach, his shoulder swung round and his whole arm extended like the cork shooting from a champaign bottle. "A dagger is only good to slash if you have something to brace against, like an opponent. And there is no use in stabbing an arm unless you can cut every tendon. That is not for a beginner. Now you try me."

This time he took up a defensive pose again, but did not move in to strike.

[Kurth Tathasir]

Kurth winced and took in a deep breath as he was hit multiple times in the chest with the wooden practice dagger. The elf pushed him back and the human blushed heavily as he was insulted. He must have misunderstood the example; he had thought that the elf meant to h old the dagger in the arm facing the opponent. The human furrowed his brow and shook his head - no, of course that wouldn't be the most effective way of attacking an opponent. There wasn't enough weight behind the attack, not enough distance to get enough momentum and energy behind the dagger to do enough damage. He stood opposite the elf, taking in his advice and catching his breath, his hands resting on his knees, gasping slowly for air.

When the elf stepped back, waiting for Kurth to attack again, the human readied himself again, but this time, switching his stance so that his left foot was in front of his back one. He attempted to rest his racing heartbeat with a slow intake and exhalation of air, then tensed the muscles in his leg and arm, simultaneously stepping forward, swinging his right leg around to reach the elf's midsection. As he was coming around, he realized that the elf's left arm was in the way of the torso, blocking his attack, and trying to force him to go around. In a split-second decision to try and throw the elf off guard, he attempted to hit the elf's arm with his left arm up above the elf's head, so that when his attack came around, he had a clear shot at the torso.

He coiled the energy in his arm, bring his elbow in, and as soon as he swung around, releasing the entire momentum of his step and his swing into the most powerful stab he could muster. If the elf's arm was successfully moved out of the way, Kurth would go straight in for the midsection with a stab to the ribs as the elf had so eloquently done just moments before. If his arm was still in the way, he would attempt to maneuver around it in a way so that he would not hit the arm as he came around, but stab around it, to the outside of the left side of the elf's ribs.

As the attack came around, Kurth prayed to Jalat, prayed that he wouldn't be embarrassed like he was before, that he would - even if he did not land an attack - try to impress his teacher.

[Carly Jr'ana]

Fast thinking and fast moves often had their rewards, but experience often rewarded in multiples of ten. Nydilaba blocked the offending arm with his foward, his face impassive, but as the dagger came for his torso he sidestepped and curved his abdomen away from the blow letting it pass right by him. Then puling your fowards he lightly punched his fist dagger fist into your chest and released your arm.

"Much better!" He said with a chuckle, twirling his wooden stick about between his fingers. "However, you over extended yourself. You should never use all your power in one stab, enough to pierce the skin, the organs. And then pull back. Your opponent might move, like I did, and you'll need to stab again. Or you may be in a prolonged battle and such feints will wear you down quickly. Now, try again. This time, don't try so hard."

Nydilaba readied himself again, twitching his fingers in a challenging gesture. Enjoying the humiliation of the new student, he had seen other teachers disregard the use of words and the students had to learn on the run. This way was much more fun.

[Kurth Tathasir]

Kurth felt his arm being grabbed and his attack missing. Cursing silently, he winced again as the elf hit him in the chest again. That was really starting to smart. He let out a sigh of relief, though, when he heard Nydilaba's words of appraise. At least he was getting better. The human listened intently to what the elf said next and nodded in agreement.

"Alright, I'll do my best," he said, the words instinctive by now.

So, at least he had the right idea then. His form was alright, and the technique was satisfactory. His mistake was that he used too much energy. He attacked with too much force, and he understood why that was a bad thing. He had simply forgotten about the difference between daggers and swords. With the broadsword, if you swung too hard, it was never a bad thing, you could always use that momentum to twist around and come in again with an even stronger attack. This was often referred at the whirlwind method of attack, and was oft effective.

Unfortunately, with the dagger, if you miss, you are completely prone to attack, and you have to be able to recover quickly so as to not present yourself as that much of a target. Not to mention you have to attack again in quick succession. The methodology was different, and he would simply have to get used to it.

Kurth readied himself again as before, left foot in front of right, his right arm back and left in front. He sprang off with his right leg, tensing his right arm as before, but with not so much energy as before. He toned down the attack a little bit this time, but still tried to keep a strong stabbing motion towards the elf's chest as he swung around with the practice dagger in his hand. This time, though, instead of trying to hit the elf's arm out of the way, he attempted to grab it, jerking the elf forward and down onto his weapon so that he could not simply roll out of the way like before. Kurth tried to put a large amount of energy into this attack, but not as much as before, he wanted to be careful not to extend himself so that he would be ready for another stab to the elf's torso if this attack missed.

[Carly Jr'ana]

The elf was nimble, oddly so, and he'd been in many scuffles before. The attack seemed like it might work, he was coming foward as his arm was pulled. Except, he wasn't really. His feet were set, his arm jerked fowards and his whole torso shifted. But then his feet twirled around like the hands of a hyperactive clock, his body twisting instantly so that Kurth's attack flew right past his back. Then the elf moved his dagger hand into Kurth's spine, finishing his movement.

He burst into laughter this time, his grin cracking his face in two. He shook off your arm and stepped away, dagger ever twirling. "Better, much better. But you are no brawler, you are no Zinn'ka Master. You can not simply grab an enemy, they may choose to fall on you. You must learn to move your whole body, in and out of harm. Do not move me, move yourself. If you do not strike the first time, leap back. Strike again, be like the adder. Again!"

The elf took up position, his expressionless face ruined by the turned up lip, the hint of a smirk.

[Kurth Tathasir]

Kurth winced once more as he was hit yet again by the elf. He was tiring of this charade of masked cynicism and camaraderie. The human was starting to get angry, and he was channeling that energy into his muscles, already in position again before the elf had even returned to his position. He was listening Nydilaba, but the words felt more like a buzz than they did a language. He wasn't going to allow himself to slip into a blind rage, but at the same time he was not about to fail again. He would show this elf what it meant to mess with him.

He blinked away the sweat pooling around his eyes and breathed heavily. No. What was he thinking? This was the knight teaching him. He knew what he was doing, and he knew how to teach Kurth to fight. This wasn't personal, although a quick glance at the elf's upturned lips seemed to fight against this, and he had to learn how to do this.

He calmed himself and took another step forward, pushing off with his right leg, his right arm coming around with coiled muscles for another stab at the elf's torso. This time, he kept his right leg tensed slightly, so if his attack missed, he could leap back to safety out of the elf's reach, and come in for another attack in much the same way as before.

[Carly Jr'ana]

The elf, as always, was ready. Impressed by the young man's readiness so soon after taking a nasty hit to the spine. The attack failed as his own blade came out to block the attacker, pressing backwards then swivelling his arm around Kurths and straightening up to attack. But where there was previously an open target there was only open air and the knight's attack missed. He didn't stop now however, his feet shifted foward, quickly, nimbly, his arm coiled and moved to strike again and he ducked under your attack and came up on the other side of the blade to rap his practice blade across your throat in a slicing motion.

"You'd be dead now." He said, slipping to the right and away from your arm. "But you're getting the idea, you should have retreated then or moved. You will learn to read your opponents next move by the way he shifts his weight. He advances and you must either fall back, or skip around the blade. Let's try this once more, then I'll swap to a longer weapon and you can learn the true value of the blade."

[Kurth Tathasir]

Kurth closed his eyes as the elf's fist came in at his face. Expecting a hit to the head, he felt the wooden dagger on his throat, and was oddly relieved that he wasn't hit again. He would be sore the next brightening. Both his attacks missed, and he sighed in disappointment. He didn't know if he was ever going to get the hang of this. Alright, so just get out of the way if an attack misses, don't go in for another one until you're out of harm's way.

Kurth assumed the position again, then brought his right foot forward and his right arm for a stab at the elf's torso. This time, instead of preparing for another attack if he missed, he focused on avoiding the opponent's dagger. He tried to aim for the midsection, but if the elf blocked or avoided the attack, he would look for the elf's arms, try to dodge them, and leap back to safety to avoid being hit. He would not come back in for another attack unless instructed to do so, in which case he would repeat the previous actions, all the while trying to hit his target, but trying to avoid being hit as well.

[Carly Jr'ana]

The elf didn't look tired at all, he probably wasn't. Stamina of strength and stamina of speed were two very differant things. The trick was the pace of it all, and the positioning! Again the attack was thwarted as the knight batted aside the arm, coming in for the attack. But as Kurth moved backwards the elf kept coming, his practise blade whirring like some half deadly point on the end of his arm. He stepped right up close, coming on to fast and batting your chest several times before hooking his foot under Kurth's and dropping him to the dirt.

He took the fake dagger and replaced it for a bundle of sticks, a practise sword, as he highlighted his charges faults. "You retreated, which is good. But you must attack at some point. You must look for openings. We'll spar more in the coming cycle to hone it all in, but right now. Long blades. You'll need to get past the sword itself somehow, at which point I will be at a severe disadvantage. Luckily I know how to use this." He swished the sword around before taking up a stance and beckoning Kurth onwards.

[Kurth Tathasir]

Kurth hoped he was getting the hang of things. The elf's comments made him feel a little bit better, but they left things rather open, and he didn't know exactly how to improve from there. But as the knight had said, they had all of the coming cycle to improve upon this. The human shook his head and stood back as the elf swung the sword around and stood before Kurth. This was going to be great... just great. He could just see the elf smacking him with the practice sword after failing once again to attack correctly. But he guessed everyone started at some point.

Kurth stood opposite his training instructor, his eyes flickering about, trying to find an opening. The elf had reach, but couldn't do anything close range. He had to find a way to get in and still avoid the sword. He couldn't move the sword out of the way with his hand, if it were real that would be suicide. The dagger was much too short to block it if swung. He had to avoid it altogether. Knowing the elf probably knew what he was going to do anyway, he risked it nonetheless.

Kurth coiled his muscles and sprang towards the elf's left side, the human's right. Assuming the sword was similar to the broadsword he was trained in, which it was not, the elf would swing from his right to left to slice at Kurth. Or stab him, that worked too, he just needed the sword over here. If this swing or stab took place, he would put his weight into his right leg and jump to the left, ducking to avoid the blade. With the sword now on the elf's left side and the human on the right, the opposite side of him, he would strike with the practice dagger at the elf's now exposed torso.

Of course, if the elf did not try to attack him with the sword, he would be wary of the practice sword and stab for the elf's torso on the left side. In either scenario, he would jump back if he felt he was in imminent danger of the sword hitting him and try again. And he would absolutely try to avoid the sword at all costs. He just wanted to land a single hit on this elf, that's all he wanted. One hit.

[Carly Jr'ana]

Nydilaba moved to swing his sword towards Kurth, like any swordsmen would do. The duck worked and suddenly Kurth was on the other side of the sword, the elf unable to pull his blade back in time. His elbow swung out instead, holding onto the sword one handed. The elbow struck Kurth in the face as the human landed a blow on the elf's ribs. Nydilaba let out a chuckle, taking hold of the sword in two hands he leapt back.

"Excellent, you see the value of the dagger then. Let's see how you go on the defensive then." Said with a smirk, Nydilaba raised the blade into the air and ran fowards the blade moving to slice across the chest. There would be a split second to get under the attack or retreat.

[Kurth Tathasir]

Kurth felt bittersweet as he landed the blow to the elf's ribs. He had landed a hit. Finally. And then he got hit in the face with an elbow and he fell back in pain. He gasped for air as he struggled for his footing. That was going to leave a large, nasty bruise. The elf jumped back and praised him, and the human forced a small grin through the pain in his cheek. At least he was getting the fighting style now. He was relaxing a bit when the elf said to go on the defensive, and he came rushing at him with the sword.

This should have caught the human off guard, but he was starting to get used to Nydilaba's erratic training style. Using the same logic as before, knowing the dagger was too small to block a larger sword, his tactics were two options - dodge, or retreat. From training with the broadsword, he knew the reach of the weapon, combined with the elf's running start, would result in a large attack radius. In order to retreat, the human would have to be lightening quick, which he was not. His last option was to avoid the sword attack altogether.

Without the distraction of attacking, Kurth focused all of the energy into his legs, they are what would save him. He crouched low and used his arms for balance. As the practice sword came at him, he ducked under it. He would veer to his left if the sword was being swung towards his right, and vice versa by veering to the right if the sword was being swung towards his left. Either way, he would crouch as low as he could to get under the sword and still move out of the way so the elf didn't trample over him.

If he pulled this off successfully, resulting in being behind the elf, he would swing around as fast as he could and attempt to stab the elf in the back with the practice dagger. It was the knight himself who said that morning to always stab in the back if given the chance.