Basic Shortsword - Morp [Private]

Aesha · May 18, 2004, 01:12 PM

Timestamp: Morning, the Second Brightening of Optia, Era I in the Celestine Mandate, Era X Post Fractum.

Melee Hall One was a large, single-roomed building situated within the rough campus of the Combat faculity that had developed in the Synesi Plateia. The building was made from stone, as most of the city's richer buildings were, and had a pair of huge wooden door at the front, both of which stood open in order for the gentle breeze that sometimes wafting past the classroom to seek its way inside, and cool the bodies of the students hard as work on their close combat skills.

As Morp entered the hall, it was noticable that the large classroom was capable of taking on more than one lesson at a time, and several pairs of students and teachers were already engrossed in the lesson of the days, some using swords, some using axes, and occasionally a more exotic weapon could be spotted too.

The hall of the training room was wooden, but had not been polished to a great shine, in order to give students more grip on their feet as they practiced. The bare stone walls were lacking any decoration. Around the room, various pieces of equipment had been left. Several weapons racks had been stood up against the walls, some holding proper steel weapons, but others holding practice replicas made of wood. Stuffed straw dummies in their frames had been lined up against one wall in particular, apart from the couple that were being used for demonstration purposes in lessons. Other than that, a few chairs were dotted here and there, handy for short breaks, or discussing the theoretical aspect of combat.

Amidst all the pairs in the room stood one man without a sparring partner. He seemed to be having a go, anyway, however, and practiced a few moves whilst he waited for his new student to turn up. Presumably, the man was Gart Colulieth, Morp's shortsword teacher. The human was a little over 6 feet tall in height, his mousy brown hair tied back into a ponytail that draped down his neck. He spotted Morp in the entrance, and waved him over with a friendly look in his green eyes, eager to meet his new student.

Morp · May 18, 2004, 10:04 PM

Morp left his home early to try to reach his first class on time, but, as so often seemed the case, plans are only made so that they can be later changed. Some things in the streets of the city had taken his attention for several minutes, and so, to his dissapointment, when he arrived, the building was already full of students.

When Morp first walked into the building he was unsure of who to go to because there were so many people there, but then, to his relief, he saw a human in the midst of everyone without a student who gave him a friendly look and a wave. He walked over, meeting the look with a smile, and greeted him. "Serale. I'm Morp. I suppose you would Gart. Nice to meet you." He really had no idea what he was doing, but he tried to keep his nervousness from showing.

Malak · May 19, 2004, 05:28 PM

Gart turned at the mention of his name "Serale and you are correct, I am Gart. I hope our time together here will enlighten you." he said with a smile and wiped the sweat from his brow, he had beenpracticing for a while.

He walked over to a rack and grabbed a wooden shortsword from a rack, he came back over and handed it to Morp. "This is what we will be training with for the time being. Now, have you ever used a sword before?"

Morp · May 19, 2004, 07:30 PM

Morp took the wooden sword as Gart handed it to him. "have you ever used a sword before?" The other man asked. "Not really... I've waved my sword around a bit on occasion when I have nothing to do, but not really enough to know anything other than to get slightly comfortable with it." He was pretty much new to the world of weapons and, while he did not think it would matter how little he knew, the more base knowledge he had, the better his time with Gart could be used.

Malak · May 20, 2004, 10:04 PM

"Ok then, let me explain a few things." said Gart. "The shortsword is sort of like a cutlass, small yet deadly. It's used by most people who prefer to get in close to an enemy when they fight. It can be used for house to house combat and clearing out cramped areas where a longer sword would get in the way. I personally use it for getting in close to my opponents."

Gart then took the sword "The blade, the end of the sword, the lethalist part. The handguard, keeps an enemy's blade from sliding all the way down, cutting your hand off. The handgrip, to hold and manuever your sword." stated Gart as he pointed to each part.

Morp · May 21, 2004, 10:16 AM

Morp took in everything that Gart said, trying to remember everything. He smiled a little bit when Gart said that the blade was the deadliest part of the sword. As Gart went through he part of the sword, he found each part on his own sword, then, once all the different parts had been listed, looked back up at Gart. It almost seemed as if he was waiting for a question, but Morp had none, so he simply waited for the instruction to continue.

Malak · May 23, 2004, 03:39 PM

"Alright, the basic moves for a sword are almost all the same Now we'll start, follow closely." said Gart as he brought up his sword. He got in his comfortable stance, "Now find a stance that you find ok with your body." said Gart. He then took his sword and did a fast vertical slash from left to right. "Now follow my lead with this slash." he said as he slowed it down for Morp to follow.

Morp · May 23, 2004, 07:18 PM

Morp brought his sword up, as Gart had done, then adjusted his stance to be similar to Gart's. After that, he made slight adjustments to his stance in an effort to make it more comfortable and to feel more balanced. By nature, Morp was fairly coordinated and balanced, so it did not take long to fall into a comfortable stance. Then, he tried doing the same slash that Gart had done, first slowly, then he tried again a bit quicker. The slash was decent, but a bit controlled. Rather than being quick and relaxed, it was forced every bit of the way. After trying the slash a couple more times, he slowly loosened up and said, "Alright, I feel comfortable in this stance. And the slash feels rough, but I get the general gist of it."

Malak · May 26, 2004, 10:43 PM

"Good, if the slash feels rough, don't put so much force behind it." said Gart. "The slash employed left to right, right to left and up and down." he then raised the sword up quickly slashing up and back down. "That is also a double move. Go ahead and repeat it."

Morp · May 27, 2004, 05:18 PM

"Alright," Morp said before turning his attention back to his sword. He tried the single slash a couple more times, trying to not use as much force and make it feel as comfortable as possible. It was getting better. Some more practice and it would feel perfectly natural. Once he was satisfied with the single slash, in all the different directions, Morp went on to the double slash. This was pretty smooth, all except for the transition from one direction to another. Trying it a couple more times, he adjusted a bit, and the switch became a lot smoother, until it was snapping back from the direction it had been going to the direction it had just come. "That feel's pretty comfortable. I fiddled a bit with it to try to loosen up and make the switch quicker and snappier. It feels like it helped."

Malak · May 28, 2004, 05:56 PM

"Good, learning your mistakes and correcting them, very good. Now a parry, this is used as a block move, fast but not much is put behind it because its to make an enemy bring back after the quick defense." he said. Gart took and parried left, like someone was slashing after him. "Its a quick move to use. Follow me." He slowly began a parry, step by step as Morp followed.

Morp · May 29, 2004, 02:02 AM

Morp followed Gart's motions as he did a parry. Morp made sure to use what he had found from the slashes to make the parry as smooth as possible. Not too much power... stay relaxed... do not focus on each individual motion so much as the overall motion.... All of these were running through Morp's mind as he tried to copy Gart's parry as closely as possible. Trying the parry several more times, he felt comfortable with it, but he was not sure of how well he would actually be able to use it. "It feels pretty smooth, but I don't know how well the parry would work when actually used... I'm not sure how powerful to make it...

Malak · May 31, 2004, 03:05 PM

"Well, you mostly put some force behind it, but not alot. Just enough to make the person thing you're gonna put more force following it, but if instead of drawing back, the opponent keeps going, you need to put even more behind it. BAsically, you're just fooling the person into thinking that theres alot of power behind it. Thats why you stay focsued on you opposition, the primary rule when fighitng someone." said Gart. This was good, his student asked questions, he didn't fear to ask them unlike a few students he had before.

"The parry can be employed to block almost every move direction." he then demonstrated how to parry left and right moves.

Morp · May 31, 2004, 05:52 PM

Morp nodded as Gart further explained the parry. Then he practiced the parry some more, but this time from different angles. He would imagine a sword slashing at him from every possible angle, and then parry in order to block it. Some angles were more difficult than others, but he slowly got the hang of it.

"This might be jumping ahead a bit, but supose I were to do slash, and my opponant parried, then what? Do I back off and try the slash again? Or will my opponant turn the parry into a slash that I need to parry?"

Malak · June 3, 2004, 11:28 PM

"Well Morp, I really cannot tell you what you're opponent would do, thats why you pay attention to them at all time, you'll know if they try a slash by the way they move. You just feel what you think would be good for the situation. A jab is something else you must watch for and we'll be covering it." said Gart.

He moved his sword at waist level and brought it straight forward. "A jab, this can be used against the upper body, middle and lower parts of the body. If succesful it can be lethal to the one receiving it. GO ahead and see if you can repeat what I just did, the I'll follow along."