The Ruins of Serathlia [Intermediate/Beginner Fantasy]

[Virgil Lifeson]

Or maybe I'm the only one with the problem with pick-pocketing because I'm the only one who looks good enough to try and steal something from. Eikre thought to himself as the girls had varied reactions to his idea. He shrugged and muttered, "Or, you don't really have to. Maybe I'm just being overly cautious looking out for the lot of you. Still, if no one objects, I'm heading to the sparring room for a bit. My sword arms feel a bit rusty."

[OOC]More diologue. Yuck. Trying to lead to action though, without having to ramble. >.>[/OOc]  

[Otulissa]

"Oh, okay..." Fayette said. "Um..." she paused, debating with herself on a simply matter. Within seconds, she continued, "May I come along with you to the sparring room? I want to get some practice with other weapons before we move on. Do you think the guards will let me borrow a bow and some arrows? Or maybe some daggers, or different sized swords and spears? I wonder if they have a flail or a halberd..." Fayette cut herself off before she continued rambling. She knew how she could be at times; sometimes, she would ramble about different sorts of weapons once she got into it.  

[Blood_Covered_Pheonix]

Rinor sighed as she headed down the stairs and out of the front doors. She wound her way around the town, using the sounds of town life to guide her to the marketplace.


As she browsed the shops she found that the only emergancy kit held only a few rolls of bangades, a cleaning soldution that smelled like liquor, a special spool of thread , a special needle, and a lot of thick guaze pads. Deciding that it would do she quickly payed for it and decided that she could afford to spend a few minutes browsing the shops.


After somne random wandering she found a tiny bookstore and quickly looked over what the man had to sell, a few picture books and a rather thick book, the tittle of which was "Moon Set". She questioned the man about the book and found that it was from a local author, that was good at storytelling. After a minute of haggling Rinor bought the book and headed back to the guard house.

She walked back to her room and streached out on her bed, opening the book and starting to read.  

[Virgil Lifeson]

"Sounds like you're interested," Eikre smiled to Fayette, "To be honest, I've yet to see you fight anything. We've seen Rinor's actions and profession, and I've seen Lan in a few bars when some guy or other tried making a move on her. I'll meet you there if you have anything to wrap up before hand." He rose up, satisfied with what was going to happen, and waved good bye to everyone. Maybe I should've asked them to see me in an hour. Ah well, they may have seen me anywho. he thought to himself as he walked into the sparring room.

"Lemme guess," one of the current inhabitants of the sparring room, "The bard thinks he can do everything. Including fight." Speaking of sparring room, it was spartan in design. The floor was wooden, and there were rather large mats to contain the fights and spars. Along the wall line practice versions of many, many different types of weapons. Most were traditional, but a few were exotic in nature, ranging from simple whips to the odd Eastern weapon.

"Shall I prove it?" Eikre asked nonchalantly, as if the jibe was nothing more than just words with no meaning. Which they kind of were. "I have a friend who should be coming up quite shortly, and I was wondering if we could spar?"

"If a mat's free. Then yes."  

[Otulissa]

Fayette shut the door to her room, and then untied the ribbon in her hair, before gathering up her long, black tresses and securing them in a high ponytail. Her ribbon was tied neatly into a tight bow, and then, she was ready to go.

Faye headed right to the sparring room. She pushed open the door, and walked in. Spotting Eikre, she waved enthusiastically. Her mood always lifted when in a sparring room, especially with the diverse choice of weapons! Faye's eyes darted from the long, deadly whips set up, hanging on a wall, to some beautiful spears that one man was putting back in place. Then, her eyes wandered to an intricately built bow, and beautifully feathered arrows, that one person was using, shooting the arrows at a line of targets that dagger-throwers were also using.  

[Virgil Lifeson]

When he saw Fayette waving at him enthusiastically, he had a feeling he chose the right place to go. With little less than an hour to waste, he asked, "Melee first? I'll challenge you to...hmm...best two out of three? We'll take range afterwards if you're not already tired out." He walked over to the weapon racks, and found where they kept the rapiers. He picked one up experimentally, and drew his own.

Being ambidextrous, it didn't really matter which hand he used, and he weaved both needle-thin swords through the air in a symmetrical fashion. Creating a dazzling display of steel and flurry, he ended with a quick toss in the air. He looked at the one he picked up, and verbally admired it's balance. Still, he put it back, keeping his own.

He stepped up to a mat, and pointed his rapier at Fayette, and in an over-dramatic voice announced, "Fayette Arlaen, pick your weapon. I challenge thee to a duel."  

[Otulissa]

Fayette smiled and said, "All right. Melee's fine by me!" She waltzed over to the weapon racks with a bouncy, buoyant attitude. She felt the adrenaline rush like a river cascading down flowing rapids. She had lots of energy to burn. Fayette scanned the racks for a moment, not sure which weapon to choose since there were so many. She didn't want to choose a rapier, since Eikre chose one. She wanted as much variety as possible. Her fighting style could be a bit 'odd' to some, especially when she was in a diverse mood. She could use a variety of weapons, and so, she debated quickly, silently, among herself and herself. A scimitar perhaps? Or maybe that nice looking falchion sword? Nah... A halberd? Hm... what about that, no, spears are a bit too primitive for this sort of fight. I'll settle for the scimitar! I need to get some practice with the heavier weapon-types anyways.

Fayette grinned, and then took hold of the large scimitar's hilt, and lifted it from the rack effortlessly. Some people watched in amazement, since the scimitar was over-sized, and definitely heavy. Faye was glad that she was still strong enough to wield heavy weapons with no problem. She tested it a bit, brandishing it high and low, and then making sure that she could hold it with a steady hand, and she wouldn't tire with its weight. It was fine! So, Fayette stepped up to the mat, made an elegant curtsy, and announced with an equally over-dramatic voice, "I accept your challenge with pride in my heart!" Fayette had the giddy feeling that they were making a bit of a...scene.  

[Virgil Lifeson]

[OOC]Possibly my last post. Possibly.[/OOC]

A Scimitar? I don't think my flimsy rapier can handle too many hits against that... Eikre thought to himself as Fayette chose her weapon. Trust a human to go off and do something completely unexpected.

"I accept your challenge with pride in my heart!" she announce in kind. Which means she continued with the drama. Awesome.

"Pride will get you no where," Eikre bantered back as he tensed just a little bit to spring, "You vacant." And with the remark, he sprang into action in a feinted jab to the lower legs. His other hand drew his parrying-dagger, and it swept around to go for her left arm.  

[Blood_Covered_Pheonix]

After a few pages the book sucked Rinor into it's story, the words were simple and easy to read, which was perfect because she could barley read, she'd only been taught to read maps and the alphabet, though she'd almost forgotten it by now.


The book was about a wanderer named Moon who was searching for the rougue theives that had murdered his mother, father, and wife a year before when attempting to rob them, the only clue that he had was that they all wore black cloaks with a red sword embrodered on the back, and that the leader had red eyes and long brown hair. In the book Moon did not say why he searched for the thieves, but Rinor had a feeling she knew what he planned to do.


After she had read for about twenty minutes and gotten past the first chapter of the book she marked her spot and set the book aside, and started doing vertical push-ups on the floor, not stopping until her arms gave out on her, then she started doing one armed push-ups, switching arms every hundred.  

[Otulissa]

((Bye. sad Hope to see you back later.))

Fayette jumped back, gripped her scimitar harder. Eikre was fast, and jabbed her in the lower legs. She dodged out of the way, not letting the hidden parrying-dagger go near her. She held her weapon out in front of her, the heavy and massive blade acting as a sort of shield. It was as if it had two uses - one, to fight, and two, to protect. Fayette smiled and said, "I believe that pride is part of a warrior, and therefore, it can help one get somewhere."  

[Irishroseh]

Lan watched everyone go, and then made her way into town. She was just going to scope, she was not going to try anything. Not here, not when she was staying in a guard barrack. After barely five minutes out and about, she grew bored, and started straying towards the nearest tavern. She knew she really oughten't have a drink, but old (and not so old) habits die hard. She made a concious effort not to drink a lot, only half a mug. Really she was listening to the gossip. Housewives and maids were really the best for it, but occasionally drunks knew something they shouldn't. And they usually always spilled to the first person who bought them a drink. Unfourtunately, after only a few minutes, she could tell no one had any big news. She left her almost untouched ale, and meandered back to the barracks, taking the scenic route.

When she got back, barely twenty minutes had passed. She had heard that Eikre and Fay were going to sparr, and she had to admit, it was high on the list of things she was interested in seeing. She stopped just long enough to snag something from the kitchens, which she had immediately located on the way in. Lan never ate tavern food if she could help it. Inn food, maybe. She finished the roll on the way to the practice courts, and got there in time to see the middle of the fight. Inconspicously, for that's what she was best at, she made her way to the group of guards watching, and settled down.
 

[Virgil Lifeson]

After both swipes missed, Eikre backed up a little bit, to buy time for when that scimitar was swung. Seeing Fayette on the defensive, saying that, "I believe that pride is part of a warrior, and therefore, it can help one get somewhere." he pushed his offense again.

Using speed to his advantage, he side stepped to the left. His rapier came in leading again, with his dagger out to the side to deflect a scimitar swing. While he swung out for Fayette's arm again, he noticed Lan was sitting down amongst the guards. Keeping the witty banter going, he added, "Yes, but pride is going to make you cocky. And when you're cocky, you don't pay attention. You don't pay attention, you don't hit anything while being hit yourself."

(Small posts, I hate sad )  

[Otulissa]

Fayette couldn't help but smile. It was quite fun sparring! She hadn't done so in so long, and so, she happily decided to enjoy the fight. She blocked Eikre's rapier swipes, and then Fayette swung the hefty scimitar a few times at Eikre, and said in reply to his witty statement, "Pride may make one cocky if he lets it go to his head. But, pride may also allow one to maintain his honor at all times." Fayette smirked, and then wondered if she should go easily on Eikre, or harder. Right now, Fayette was not exactly giving it her all... but she wasn't slacking off either. She was using medium effort and medium force, like she would do if she met up with some random person and had to protect herself or fight an enemy. She also didn't want to accidentally hurt Eikre...but, she decided that he was talented and skilled, and that they both should just try to enjoy the friendly sparring. Especially since in a real battle, it would not be so enjoyable...

((Wait -- I forgot, but are the weapons blunted? XD; wink )  

[Virgil Lifeson]

Enjoying the spar himself, along with the witty banter, Eikre dodged the first strikes of the scimitar, and parried the last one with the dagger, in an attempt to put the scimitar down into the mat. Whether or not the ploy worked, Eikre's left hand brought the rapier lengthwise across Fayette's throat, with the pointed blade centimeters away from it. Breathing heavily, he hadn't realized how much he was sweating until a few sweatdrops fell from his hair onto his nose, and rolled into his mouth.

"I think this round is over." Eikre smiled, and said without any tone whatsoever, to give no implied message. "Considering I think this is first time you picked up a scimitar, I think you did pretty well." He congratulated while walking off the mat. He looked at the time, saw it wasn't time to preform yet, and chose a new set of weaponry. sheathing his previously drawn weaponry, he strapped a small shield to his arm, and found a small, unadorned mace. Satisfied with his new choice, he asked Fayette, "Round two?"  

[Otulissa]

Fayette smiled good-naturedly, as Eikre won the first round of sparring. If this was a real fight, Fayette would have died right then and there. Of course, it wasn't. But, Fayette made a mental note that she was losing 'her touch' and that she needed to practice a lot more in order to keep in shape.

"Why, thank you!" Fayette said to Eikre in reply to his compliment. "You are a talented warrior, and a great opponent to face!" Fayette complimented genuinely. "And yes, Round Two!" Fayette walked off the mat and placed the scimitar carefully back in its place. This time, she chose a shield similar to Eikre's, and strapped it to her arm. While pondering a weapon, Fayette settled upon a halberd with a semi-short handle.