Basic Longsword - Gavyn [Private]

[GM Mathieu]

8th Brightening of Optia , Orodisia.
Era X PF in the Age of the Darkening.

The afternoon was warm – a small cooling breeze touching Gavyn’s face as he headed into the Melee hall.

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.

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.

Standing off at the far end of the room was a man wearing loose fitting clothing; a tall, lanky fellow – towering over the heights of all other humans and variously similar races that practiced in this hall. He had bland blond hair, smiling blue eyes – a tanned face, and a friendly composure; nor did he carry a sword, but instead he held two bundles of heavy sticks that were lashed together to form a training weapon to practice with. Easy, simple, and non-deadly. That was the best way to train, until they learned to use a weapon without cutting their own foot or hand off first.

[Gavyn Lonehart]

As Gavyn entered he felt the breeze touch his face, and he took a deep breath to welcome it. He saw the Melee Hall noticed it as a very large stone building pair of large wooden doors. Pausing a minute before entering, he swallowed.

The hall was indeed wooden, and he welcomed the familiar texture. The bare stone walls made his boots thud as he walked, and this was familiar to him as well. He glanced at the many weapons and racks laying around as he passed them, and the straw dummies drew his attention rather quickly.

He then noticed the man standing end of the room, a tall tanned person that even surpassed Gavyn's height. Despite his height he seemed the friendly type, and because of this Gavyn felt reassured by this man's presence and the very energy he gave off...

As he reached the man he bowed his head and rose again, his posture erect and his hands at his side. "Serale, sir. I'm Gavyn Lonehart, your new student, as you probable know. I wasn't sure if you wanted me to bring my longsword or not, so I took it with me, if it is no problem. It seems as if I won't be using it, so where shall you like me to put it?" With this said he was respectfully silent.

[GM Mathieu]

Tai turned to the new student; the smile creasing his tanned face around the eyes that glanced him over, before he indicated to the wall with his right hand. “Serale, Gavyn. Just set it over there, you will be using it in your practices on your off-days.” Once that was finished, he took up one of the wooden bundles, and handed it to Gavyn – the bundle was balanced, even if it was twice as heavy as the long-sword was. Taking up the other bundle of sticks lashed together, he indicated to the clear area nearby, and moved there. Getting right to it, he started to talk.

“I assume that you know little to nothing about sword-fighting, so I will instruct you based on that. The first thing you will need to learn is how to hold a sword of this length. The best method is with both hands; however, you can use one hand for some moves, but for the most part you will be using both hands. We will start with basic parries – the most common ones you will be using to defend yourself with.”

He turned around, and faced Gavyn. “You will want to set your feet shoulder-width distance’s apart, if not a little bit more. At this distance, you will have excellent balance and will be able to respond faster than someone who is not as balanced as you are – you will also be able to strike faster and harder if you are in the proper position.” His own feet were set apart the width of his shoulders, neither foot ahead of the other, but near perfectly aligned. The sword came up at a 45-degree angle, the wooden blade being held at groin level in both hands. His right hand was on top of his left hand. “Hold your dominant hand on top of your non-dominant hand in a two-hand style of fighting. Where I have placed the weapon now gives you the most advantage in defense and offensive options. You can defend any strike from this position, and strike at any place on the body.”

He waited.

[Gavyn Lonehart]

Gavyn did as he was told and set the sword where the man had indicated, and returned to see the other handing him a bundle, which was obviously what they would be training with. He took the bundle, not suspecting such weight but keeping still. He examined it a bit as his new tutor motioned the area, and then was sure to go where he should, placing the hilt of the sword in his hand and holding it with both. He then looked up as his teacher began to speak.

When the man told him the best way to hold the thing was with both hands, he nodded, knowing that this was a two-handed weapon. He tried not to look so tense and continued to listen to what the other was trying to tell him, his confidence strong.

He then imitated the man's foot position, placing his legs almost just below his shoulders, but perhaps half an inch more than that. He let his body move sideway so that he could hold the weapon more easily and with more balance. He made sure to align his feet and hold his sword at the same height that the other was holding his, and noticed that his left hand was atop his right. He hesitated, was about to ask about this, but then realized that he had just answered this. Relieved, he nodded and continued to listen to what else the man had said. When he thought that he finally had the right position, he looked up to the other in question.

[GM Mathieu]

Tai watched Gavyn take the bundle of weighted sticks, and assume the mirror position of which he was in himself. His eyes flickered over the hilt – noting the left hand dominating the handle, instead of the right hand. His expression did not change, it was just an acknowledgement of which hand the elf used. “We shall go through the basic parries. A constant in fighting, is you should always be moving, because when you stop, you’d best have a good reason, or you’re dead. Watch closely.”

His right and left hand brought the blade down towards his right side – as his left foot came half a pace forward – the blade covering his lower right side, and he stopped, waiting for Gavyn to follow through.

[Gavyn Lonehart]

Parries...He thought, trying to memorize everything that this man was telling him. Watching the other man make the movement that he did, he wasn't sure if he was just to watch, or to react...or to mimic. So, he hesitated, and after a few minutes, gingerly let his right foot come forward, letting his blade do the same thing on the opposite side of him. Not sure if this was another situation for one's dominant side, he just did everything his instructor did - on the opposite sides. He somehow felt stupid at the moment.

[Aesha]

Tai's eyes rested on his student as Gavyn mimicked the moves, the teacher's gaze obviously watching carefully to see exactly how the process was executed, in order to praise or point out any need for improvement. When the move was complete, he nodded.

"Not bad, not bad for a first try. However, we're going to swap to a bit of theory now. To use a sword, you also have to understand the compenants that it is made from."

Taking the bundle of sticks away from Gavyn, he gestured towards the floor, indicating that the elf could sit down for the next portion of the lesson, though unfortunately the classroom was rather devoid of practical furniture. Picking up his own longsword, Tai sat on the floor opposite his student, once he was seated, and placed the sword between them.

"A sword, any sword, on thw whole, is made up of two main parts. The blade, naturally, and the hilt, which is basically, everything below the blade. Now, the blade of a longsword, is, as you would expect, longer than that of a shortsword. The average length is somewhere around three and a half feet. This one imparticular is three feet and five inches. They can weight anywhere between two and a half and four pounds. Both this things really differ on the users preference and what they feel most comfortable with handling. Now we move on to the hilt."

Tai paused momentarily to gesture to the hilt of his blade with two fingers, then nodded at Gavyn and continued.

"The hilt consists of three parts, the Guard, the Grip, and the Pommel. The Guard is meant to shield your own hands from that of your enemy's sword." Tai pointed out a bar of metal that was perpendicular to the blade of the sword. "The next part is the grip. This is where you actually hold the sword, and it's usually wrapped with leather or some other material to prevent you from losing your grip on the weapon. Lastly, is the pommel. That's the large ball of metal on the end of the hilt. It's a counterweight, used to balance out the weight of the blade so the sword can be used more easily and effectively."

Tai nodded, and gestured towards the longsword placed on the floor to indicate that Gavyn could inspect it if he so wished.

"Do you have any questions about that? If not, we can go back to practical works. I can answer any queries you might have about what I've just told you, or anything in general, if you like, though."

OOC: Sorry if the thread unexpectedly turned around a little. I wasn't too sure what the AGM was trying to do in his last post, so I just tried to be brief on that bit.

[Gavyn Lonehart]

Gavyn nodded and sat down when Tai told him to, looking at his own sword as his tutor spoke. He looked at each part of it in turn, and spoke to himself so that he would remember, though he already knew what he spoke of. Hilt, pommel, guard, blade.... Simple enough. The training wont be so, however. he thought, picking up the sword that Tai gestured toward and placing it on his lap, touching each piece in turn as he said their name in mind.

He then looked up when he was asked if he had any questions, and he shook his head. "No, I have no questions. Please continue on to whatever is next." he replied, grinning to brighten the mood.

[Aesha]

Tai nodded at Gayn's affirmation that he had no questions on the subject that the teacher had just discussed. Standing up once more, he gestured once again, this time for Gavyn to stand, and picked up his sword off the floor. Walking back over to where he had stored the practice weapons, he replaced his own, steel sword, and picked up the wooden substitutes once more. Handing one to his student, Tai readied himself into a suitable stance before enlightening the elf on what he was expected to do next.

"We'll go back to parrying now. Assume the position I taught you before, then we'll start. At the most basic level, a parry is deflecting or blocking an opponants sword or weapon in order to prevent it hitting you. At later stages of profieciency you'll learn to block and counter-attack, and various other, more advanced things, but for basic training it is just required to know how to do it."

Tai adjusted his stance a little, and shifted the grip of the wooden training sword in his hand, until he was in a comfortable fighting position.

"Now, tell me once you're ready and comfortable with your stance. I'm going to make an attempted attack on you, a fairly slow one, so you should be able to parry it. At this stage, parrying is all about instinct and reaction, and the more you practice, the faster your reflexes will become." Tai nodded, looking Gavyn in the eye, and springing up and down on his feet a little. "Just tell me when you're ready to start."

[Gavyn Lonehart]

Gavyn grabbed the wooden sword and stood, his posture erect. He then assumed the previous position that he had made, his feet a little more than a shoulder-width apart. After he assumed this position, he listened to what his teacher had to say. He then nodded after their speech about what a parry was, knowlegable about this.

He watched as Tai shifted his postion and then looked at his own, correcting what problems he saw. He shiftet the position of his feet, changed his shoulders' postions, and changed his body form as well. He then said: "I'm ready." after he was sure that he had it right. He braced himself for a fairly slow attack, and when Tai came at him, he would try to hold his sword horizontally or vertically in attempt to parry, depending on how his tutor attacked.

[Aesha]

Tai nodded once more as confirmation that Gayn's declaration of readiness had been heeded. He gave the elf a look, too, to make sure he was standing correctly, as he had been taught previously, and then launched a mild attack against his student with the wooden practice sword he had in his hands.

Since it was Gavyn's first try, Tai kept his movement fairly slow, though fluid. He didn't want to alarm Gavyn, and being a first time student, suspected that his reflexes had not been sharpened enough to block a fast attack - yet. Tai was starting off simply. He had put his left foot forward, and had made a simple lunge as the elven man over the distance between them, his training sword aiming a thrust at roughly waist height, which he expected Gavyn to at least try and parry or block.

[Gavyn Lonehart]

Gavyn noticed that Tai had already launched an attack, and though his reflexes weren't so quick, he tried as best as he could. As a reflex that he already had, he took a step back with his right foot and automatically his sword went of to protect him, though Tai was lunging differently. Had his teacher not been going slow, he most likely would have tumbled and fell, because he had stumbled for a correct movement to block or parry with. Finally he fumbled with the right motion as quickly as he could, and finally found a movement that would block the opposing attack, if he was quick enough.

[Aesha]

The practice sword of Tai headed towards Gavyn's waist at a fairly slow speed suitable for a beginner's practice in the art of wielding a sword. The step backward that Gavyn took meant that Tai had to extend his reach further to attempt to hit his student, and as such, gave the elven beginner a fraction of a second more time to react in.

The attempted block that Gavyn made after a momentary fumble actually work, and while it did not knock the teacher's sword away from it's trajectory it just about managed to stop the sword in it tracks, though the wood of Gayvn's own sword bumped against his waist a little. For a first attempt however, it certainly wasn't bad.

Once the very short spar was over, Tai straightened up and removed his sword, holding it it lightly in his hands as he nodded and said, "Not bad for a first attempt Gavyn. Perhaps you could point out to me anything you think you did wrong? And for that matter, what you felt you did right, too."

[Gavyn Lonehart]

Ooc: Oh gosh, I'm sorry! Something happened, and I couldn't get on...but I totally forgot about this. Is it still up and open?

EDIT:
Gavyn paused a minute and took a few moments to stand up straight and collect himself again, before he answered the question. He looked up and smiled before saying, "Well, I guess I'll state what I think I did right, first. I think the quick parry was what could have saved my life, had I been in a real fight." Obviously not seeing anything else that he had liked about that moment, her continued, "But my footing was wrong, I believe, and had you been using force or going quickly, I would have fell. I also didn't pay much attention to where I placed the sword, and when it came backwards it could have hit me worse than it did, and distract me too." He patted his side, where his own sword hit him and looked intently at his teacher, hopeful that he could improve this.