"I would think..." says Vem dropping out of a nearby tree in the garden.
"That were I capable of magic, I might ensure I was not so easily snuck up upon. All sorts of terribly nasty things happen to those caught unaware, and what good is all your spells then?"
Vem turns to Jezelyn.
"Curious is Vem, little songbird. Did your wound scar? It would amuse her to know that her lesson lingers in your thoughts."
Vem turns again, this time to face Mhar.
"Ah broken thing, elusive is he who moves so slowly. Do you avoid Vem? After she shared so many kind truths to you?"
Just to clarify on a few things, both in game and out of game.
You only select one of the training bonuses. The Initiative bonus can only be selected if you were damaged during training. So no, you do not get to select all three I'm afraid.
There will be six training sessions, so you will have 6 bonuses out of a possible 18 choices.
As I mentioned before, and I am sorry this is affecting my capacity to adequately manage and post, I am in Switzerland attending my father's marriage which was the 14th. However, I am still in Europe until the 19th and therefore will be attending a variety of activities and visits around and about.
I wish to apologize for my delays on this campaign, especially yesterday, internet having been cut off for well over 24 hours.
Therefore, until the 19th comes around, expect reduced activity on my part but as soon as I return to my homeland of white, snowy and perpetually polar bear covered Canada, I promise to get back up to speed.
The next training post will unfortunately have to be later tonight since we are just about to leave for Colmar.
Again, I apologize and hope you all find it in your hearts to forgive me.
P.S. I will also answer any and all questions asked when I return.
Just to clarify on a few things, both in game and out of game.
You only select one of the training bonuses. The Initiative bonus can only be selected if you were damaged during training. So no, you do not get to select all three I'm afraid.
Jian sticks with the Acrobatics bonus.
Rai will take the +1 to Init.
Well I am not trained in Knowledge Local and I was not damaged so hat leaves acrobatics. Yay?
Sorry you two have lost me already. I was never one for magic.
Braeth
What did you damage Rai with? A Chakram? I want to role play it out.
Yeah it was a chakram, sorry for not being super available I've been pretty busy as well. Are you still interested in RPing it?
@Spirit: Seeing as I have neither of these skills can I still choose a bonus to Acrobatics?
Seeing Zayne leave the group of spellcasters, Braeth sees a chance to approach the man. [i]Always good to have powerful friends in a pinch[i]
"That was some nice manoeuvoring on the battlefield earlier friend, you seem to be quite handy with that spear of yours. Tell me, where did you come by learning to use such a weapon?"
Didn't really do much. he says with a shrug. Learned all I know from a school back home called the Academy of the Five.
He stops. Wonder if they still teach there. Shrugs again.
Good thing the monks found it. Don't really like their weapons.
Braeth quickly picks up the pace as Zayne starts to walk away, not wanting to miss this opportunity to socialize a little
"The Academy of the Five you say? I've never really been a well traveled kind of man myself despite my love for wandering my neck of the world so I can't really say I know the place.
Anyway, you shouldn't be so modest, that was some quick thinking back there trying to rock the raft to dislodge the defenders. Seems this academy wasn't lax in their training. Mayhap you would consider sparring with me one day, teach me some of your tricks?
So, let's see...
We've got the two alchemists Albert and Cookie putting their heads together,
the casters Thorrpe, Jez, Ysanne, and Mhar,
potential caster Tatsuo,
and stalker Vem gathering in the garden,
martial warriors Rai, Zayne, and Braeth planning to spar in the dojo...
that just leaves Jian Min, Kite, and Long Tom unaccounted for at present.
How do you guys tend to spend your non-structured training time? :)
EDIT:
Annoyed at having let Vem get the drop on her again, Jezelyn simply tilts her head to the side slightly and responds,
"Your point is a good one. Though the wound has healed, the lesson will not be forgotten."
Well, if we're ever lost a dry, rocky desert with our clothing ripped to shreds and our only contact with civilization being a potentially-hostile foreign tribe of travelers, your magic would prove invaluable and, in fact, life-saving.
"True... I suppose. Given our present situation, I'm uncertain how likely all but the last is. Regardless - my point was not to complain (though I do enough of that, I should think), but to explain that my abilities are... situational. Still, Tatsuo, I'd be glad to show you how I do it. Perhaps it will spark something within you, and we can both be plagued by haunted teacups and make watery messes together." he smiles ruefully, but, humorously and, for once, no longer bitterly. At least not much.
"I would think..." says Vem dropping out of a nearby tree in the garden.
"That were I capable of magic, I might ensure I was not so easily snuck up upon. All sorts of terribly nasty things happen to those caught unaware, and what good is all your spells then?"
"Ah broken thing, elusive is he who moves so slowly. Do you avoid Vem? After she shared so many kind truths to you?"
"Ah! So the serpent thinks? That must be a refreshingly new experience! You've certainly the look for it! Tell you what; we'll trade: you keep your appearance, and get my crippled elements with it and magic, and I'll take your strength and physical grace! That way we can both be happy: you get to feel magic (and not be easy to sneak up on), and I can move easily. Sounds fun." he smiles at her, amused.
"As for avoiding you, how, pray-tell, should I accomplish this? You who can slink through the shadows and be unseen by me: 'twould be impossible to avoid you, should you wish to make it otherwise. I am not your keeper or commander to tell you where you should go, or who to be with. In fact, I am not very mobile or - by your own admission - observant! It seems to me, then, that I am entirely unable to avoid anything, leaving yourself as the culprit in our lacking interactions."
He looks amused, and sad.
"Besides. Your 'kind truths' amount to the fact that you and I both 'know the price' of death - though I would call it the price of hubris - while encouraging me to rejoice in my 'beautiful dreams' - which I barely recall and were less 'beautiful' and more 'odd' or 'sad' or 'weird' or 'frightening ', depending on what I can recall - while promising that your home and mine lies beneath the ocean - which, while possibly true, is a bit of a downer and goes against your suggested course of action to 'rejoice'; in the end, it was less kind truth, and more creepy poetry." he shrugs.
"If you wish to stay and exclaim creepy poetry, be my guest. You are more free than I. Besides. I am currently on an upswing, emotionally. If you stick around, I may have one of my downswings soon enough."
He grows stern. "And you like that sort of thing, don't you? So welcome, sit back and bathe in the sun as snakes are wont - you could use the tan - and strike at a more opportune moment of weakness, when you can do the most harm. That seems to be your skill-set. That and freezing tea." he shrugs, and then offers a place to watch or participate with eyebrows raised and a smile: welcoming and honest, but also cold... and pitying.
and it I were sneaky I would make sure tree was not something sneaking up on me. thorrpe says as Shadow drops out of the tree behind Vem
Cookie will pick:
A +1 bonus to Knowledge (local). You learned something quite valuable about Kotan traditions and life today.
Now I'll just need to put a skill point in it so I can use it. :)
BOO!
"Your abomination entertains me. I wonder, if misfortune were to fall upon him, how easily is he replaced?"
Vem returns to looking at Mhar,
"The broken thing has vitriol in his blood today, such confident words. Vem wonders how long you'll need to pretend before you actually believe it."
"But broken thing seems not to understand poor Vem, though he flatters her. She is not a harbinger of despair, Vem is the watcher in the dark, she is who must be, to do what must be done."
"You see, one day Vem's two little birds shall perform great services for her, and she intends to insure they are rendered"
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Hmm, a wise choice that. It would not do to anger these monks who seem to have managed to grasp some measure of control over death itself. When I chose to live once more, it was not to lose said life again so quickly. Braeth thought in reflection to Zayne's comment about Rai
"So it would seem I will be facing off against two powerful foes. This will make for a most interesting exercise indeed..." Braeth says, his blood already starting to boil at the memory of his previous encounter
Ysanne sips from her cup, her cheeks blush with whatever she is drinking, and she smiles. "Don't look at me. Vem speaks true words, however offensive they may be. Not only will she be counting on us for a favor, we will be needing her just as much one day."
@Thorrpe, it's not real PvP because you usually stay dead or rewarded negatively which wasn't the case at all. We all know dice rolling luck is the most deciding factor in role-playing PvP matches and it does not reflect on your real physical prowess.
I am totally fine with PCs doing some PvP training if you really want to outside of the training sessions. Healing is available afterwards as long as no one is really killed. Please just do so in spoiler tags.
As for a question I'd missed earlier, getting the +1 skill point in Knowledge (local) will allow you to use it untrained. It won't be a class skill however so you will not get the +3 bonus even if you later put a rank in it.
Even Zayne can see that things are beginning to get out of hand over by the magic casters and all of them seem to be looking at Vem with varying degrees of annoyance. He sighs inwardly. And we are supposed to work together eventually. He walks over while Vem is distracted and hoists her in the air with his Fauchard, keeping her at a safe distance.
Come miss snake. I think you've poked the hornets' nest enough. Time to play with the wolf, the bear, and the scorpion.
He then walks away with Vem hanging a few inches off the ground behind him.
I understand now.
Yes and yes
So, who wants to go first?
"So it is to be combat you have brought Vem here for? Very well, she shall test the odd one."
She goes and retrieves 5 daggers from the racks, and winds two of them into her wrist sheaths.
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Braeth is overjoyed to see small wooden discs, resembling his chakrams, lying among the large variety of practice gear but no nine-section whip.
"Oh well, might as well practice with a backup weapon while I'm here then.
He moves down the weapon line and picks up a bamboo shortsword and a pair of daggers that he hides in his wrist sheathes. He also unstraps the tube arrow shooters from his arms and legs to avoid accidently hurting anyone by instinct.
"I noticed you too favour the speed and surprise of spring loaded wrist sheates. They are indeed a useful piece of equipment to have in a pinch. I've always said the best weapon is one the enemy never expects" he says nodding towards his tube arrow shooters
He then turns towards the others and says
"I don't think I'm the odd one... Am I?
Jezelyn watches Zayne remove Vem from the group of casters, suspecting that Vem is actually letting him do so for her own amusement.
However, Jezelyn does breathe something of a sigh of relief when she's gone.
"Ysanne, did you learn your magic from a mentor? And is it something you could teach Simeon?"
Zayne picks up a something that resembles his favored weapon, an 8-foot pole that ends with a bladed hook. He then takes a position opposite Vem and bows. When she is ready he moves with surprising grace and speed.
He whips the weapon around with astounding speed but Vem is ready and she easily jumps over it. He hops back a step and prepares for Vem's retaliation.
"The odd one is not you, she does not know you yet. One must first know their nature before they are to receive a name. The odd one uses his impractical weapon yet forgets of its care, and of his manners." Vem finishes smiling.
She assumes her fighting pose, feet bouncing up and down off the hardwood floor of the dojo, two daggers drawn.
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Vem smiles at Zayne before she does a prolonged back layout putting herself a total of 75 feet away from him.
-Posted with Wayfinder
"In some respects, yes. My arcana comes from a mentor of sorts." Ysanne cracks a sideways smile, "I could try to show him a thing or two, if he would be willing to do whatever it is I asked for him to do."
Braeth watches the skirmish with interest, analyzing both of his enemies fighting styles as he tries to guess their strengths and weaknesses and ways in which he could gain the upper hand in a later duel
Better to learn now and react afterwards than to have to adapt on the job he thinks to himself
He sidles up to Rai's side and speaks in a low voice
"I dont have much experience with facing foes with pole weapons. How would you suggest approaching such an enemy in melee?
While answering Braeth's question, Rai chooses a Merciful Katana, however he disables the extra damage but keeps it non-lethal. He prefers some closer in weight or heavier than a real katana.
"Braeth, the best two methods, is to either get in closely and strike them down quickly. Or, stay out of their 10' reach and hit them with range weapons. If they get within reach, they will most likely trip you and start stabbing you with their pole arm as you lie flat on your back."
Braeth nods to himself after hearing the advice
[i]Seeing as I've got my chakrams range would probably be my best bet until I'm cornered. From there I'll have to rush in for closer strikes[i]
"Thanks for your advice Rai, never know when I might need it"
And what do you intend to do from there?
He takes a somewhat relaxed stance but it belies his true intentions. All I saw her take was daggers. Effective range is very close or 10ft. thrown. Beyond that you need luck. Baiting most likely.
You could just charge her now lol.