1629, Sea Season, Illusion Week, Wildday
Context
The group are travelling from Nochet to Boldhome, overland. Just before S5-S-1.
Event
Late in the afternoon, having made a short day and settled into an inn, Berra calls together those who wish to spar. Others are welcome to watch, or in the case of those who have been up all night, settle down in the sunlight to relax after a day of riding. Jessidan looks for permission to Kesten before joining in. The Hulta lord stays on the sidelines, exercising, but not sparring. Perhaps he feels he should not be engaged in such a thing this close to Nochet.
Varanis looks delighted. Still in armour and with her single saddle bag stowed in a private room, she is ready to practice. More than that, she seems to be itching for it. Fidgety and impatient.
Harmakt and Nayale are picking up the Vingan’s mood. If they don’t get moving soon, it won’t be long before they are equally fidgety. Despite a day of riding on bison back and quarrelling with each other (or maybe because of it), the pair look ready to take on anything.
Berra takes them all through some broadsword drills, getting them loosened up, and then says, “Jessidan and Varanis, would you two face the others? Work in concert as you wish. Jessidan, s’ courtyard rules. Everyone else, you know how we do it in Sartar.” She steps back, and lets the pairs get ready, indicating a line so that both she and Kesten can watch.
Varanis sizes up the Hulta warrior while Harmakt and Nayale just grin at each other. They know how to play a game like this one.
Jessidan has a rapier and a small shield. Where others were using their broadsword, he stayed with the longer weapon. He is a highly competent, trained warrior, not pretending to be anything else.
Having flown to Nochet without a shield and with only Dezar as her blade, Varanis steps into position next to Jessidan with just the rapier. She has taken his sword side, so that his shield is free to protect him and he may help protect her.
Jessidan makes sure his opponents are ready, and says quietly, “Tell me how you want to do this.”
Nayale and Harmakt each have their broadswords and shields at the ready. They square off with Nayale facing the other Humakti, while Harmakt grins at Varanis.
The Vingan grins back, and quietly says to Jessidan, “Berra says they’re good as a pair. Shall we split them?”
“Part and make them face us?” he suggests.
She nods and glances at Berra for the signal.
Berra nods, and Jessidan smoothly circles left.
Varanis goes right.1The twins can probably augment each other if they both pass Love (Family). They are highly trained to work together. 2V: Both pass love family. Both pass broadsword. Nayale specials shield. Harmakt passes it. Varanis does not have a shield, so I opted for parry. Normal pass on rapier. Special on parry. How do we interpret that pile?
B: They’re covering each other welll, but I don’t think they’re really working with each other – they are just protecting each other’s backs. The twins are obviously pretty good, and enthusiastic, but more sensible in the fight than they are the rest of the time.
The twins, used to working together, have that taken away. This does not make them bad at what they do, and they have a lot of extra energy. Nayale manages to take Jessidan’s sword offline with a shield-edge parry, forcing the man to step away. He does so in an arc that keeps his back to Kesten, a thing that Nayale does not use to her advantage. Harmakt commits a bit too hard, does not get through, and ends up with his sword-arm pushed away. He keeps his balance well, however.3Notably, even while practicing, Jessidan keeps his Lord safe. From kiddies. Varanis and Nayale do not notice. Berra does.
Varanis gives the young man a toothy sort of grin. It’s the kind of expression that is meant to make an opponent believe the fight is already lost.4Passed Intimidate. There’s a breath where Harmakt might have believed it, but then he grins back knowingly.5Pass CHAx3 to stand up to it.
Nayale keeps her back to her brother’s. “We can’t get one without exposing ourselves to the other. Which one’s faster?” she whispers.
Jessidan does not give them time to answer, but presses forward.
Seeing Jessidan’s attack, Varanis matches it from the other side, hoping to tangle the siblings in each other. Harmakt blocks her strike, getting his shield into place easily. His counter blow is met by the edge of her waster. Behind him, he hears his sister grunt. Jessidan has landed a shot.
Jessidan got inside Nayale’s guard after a quick clash, going low with his borrowed waster and running it up her thigh as he pulls back. A sharp sword would have made a nice mess there, but he says, “Not a crippling shot,” as he looks for a better opportunity.
Nayale whispers to Harmakt, “Left.” His reply is a barely perceptible nod.
Jessidan comes in for Nayale once more, of course.
Nayale ignores his attack, sliding to her brother’s side and whirling as they both launch themselves out of line and towards Varanis’ unshielded left. The Vingan attempts to parry, getting her sword in the way of Harmakt’s but he powers through so that his blade touches her helmet. At the same time, Nayale delivers an off-side cut to the helmet, causing it to ring.
Jessidan gets there too late, although he was already in motion. He just could not move fast enough. His sword slices along Nayale’s shield arm, but most of what he does is bring his shield up and get his shoulder behind it, driving his full weight into Harmakt. He is a lot bigger than the youth, and while he gets into motion slowly, he keeps going.
Varanis keeps her guard up, but steps to the side, shaking her head to clear the ringing. She knows she’s out.
Harmakt stumbles at the attack from behind, as Nayale wheels again.
Berra and Kesten watch, both standing in a relaxed way. They seem to be looking at different things. Someone watching with the right eyes – probably only each other – would see how they stand, in a way that means they could in theory move off at different angles. Relaxed. Completely. Both of them.
Jessidan brings in a solid thump to Harmakt’s sword arm, and his shield is stretched out so that Nayale will have to go around. He pulls it back and faces her with the cold look of a killer.
Nayale flinches, but stands her ground. Her swagger is gone and her determination is shaken. She brings her sword up, reading herself to attack.
In the meantime, Harmakt has dropped his shield with a loud thunk and swapped his sword to the other hand.
The Esrolian now stands between the pair.
Jessidan goes straight for Nayale, hard. A fast set of blows and binds that ends with his sword heading for her own sword-arm.
Berra crosses her arms to watch. There is a special Humakti way of doing it which is not really crossing them, but holding the right arm with the left hand, so that the sword-hand is both free, and close to where it would be needed for a draw.
Seeing his sister fall back while frantically attempting to defend herself, Harmakt bellows and charges, forgetting the sword in his hand and going in for a tackle from behind.6Pass love family, fumble honour, pass grapple.
Jessidan does not seem to move fast.7Pass Battle, critical Rapier. Pass Dodge, in case that makes a difference. He just turns, rotates his wrist, and his waster finds the perfect line towards the young man’s ear and jaw. He moves like he has seen this before, and will see it again, and this is just another Wildday killing young fools.
“Harmakt, stop,” Nayale calls out. “It’s done!”
He shakes his head, a bit like Varanis had when Nayale hit her, then holds his hands up in surrender. He recognizes his death in the blow.
Stepping back, he looks around at everyone. He’s breathing quickly, but grinning, when he says, “Well that was quick. Again?”
Varanis, who had been watching from the sidelines with her helmet still on, glances at Berra.
Jessidan steps back. “No, not me.” He walks carefully off the field to stand by his lord.
Berra shrugs, and looks at the wasters she has brought. “Hmmmm… Sword or spear?” she asks Varanis. “Which am I?”
“I need to work on spear more, but… they need a chance and you with a sword doesn’t give them much of one. You take spear and I’ll keep working with broadsword?”
“Nah. If I’m with a second weapon, you use a first.” Berra wriggles her shoulders, and picks up a wood and leather spear. “Later we can be really really bad with greatswords.” Despite it being a second weapon, Berra twirls the spear expertly into a good grip. “So, I’m gonna be fyrd, you’re gonna be a warrior?”
Varanis laughs as she steps up beside her friend. “Do I look like I’ve ever been fyrd?”
“You look like you’ve been flying too much lately and need to get grounded. You wanna give the orders?”
“We can’t just crush them instead?”
“Maybe they’ll crush us,” Berra says with a grin. “Slicing’s more Humakti, though.”
Varanis laughs.
Berra eyeballs the pair, calmly picking her kill spots.8Berra’s passed Intimidate, and Battle.
They glance at each other and then lock into place, side by side and ready to face threat. Harmakt returns Varanis grin, even though he’s squared off against Berra. Nayale looks nervous.
“Call us in, Lord?” Berra suggests to Kesten. He nods to her, and then moves his hand through the air. Go-time.
Varanis says, “You go up and I’ll go down.”
Berra’s immediate reaction is a vicious-fast lunge towards Harmakt.9Pass both attack and parry. Not derating them with a spear, alas.
Berra’s midline thrust is taken smoothly on Harmakt’s shield, but her body position lets her bring her spear-tip around for a neat clash of wood on waster. She has to take a step back, but she takes one away from Varanis as well, so that if Harmakt goes for her friend, he’ll be exposing his side to her for a moment.
Meanwhile, Nayale has pulled her nervousness together, and used it to drive a swift attack towards Varanis’ heart. Even with the Vingan’s parry it drags across the left side of the chest, scoring a line that will be one wide bruise later.
Varanis yelps, but then smiles at Nayale. “I deserved that! Berra, you’re on your own.”
As Varanis yields the field, the siblings turn as one to take on Berra.
Berra is already circling to get past Harmakt, and takes the chance to extend in a high line. She is going for the inside of his shield arm, and gets stopped by the wooden wall, but it was just a jab and she manages to bring the spear back in time to keep his waster away from her abdomen.
… It takes a few more moments. Berra manages to tangle up Harmakt and keep him in his sister’s way for vital seconds, and puts a good hit on his sword-arm, but then Nayale takes out Berra’s forward leg with a sweep that would have cut tendons, and Berra goes down, rolls to her feet, and nods. “Yeah, I’m feeding blood to the mud there.”10Nayale brings in a special and a critical.
Nayale smiles proudly at Berra, but turns on her brother. “I’d have had her faster if you hadn’t blocked me like that.”
He shrugs. “She was using me to keep you off her. Next time, go around.”
Berra nods. “I was going around too,” she points out. “Anyhow, I’m…” She glances at Kesten, and then back to the youths. “…thinking of some spear drills now.” Insight: She decided not to invite him to show them how things should be done.
Nayale follows Berra’s glance. She looks at Kesten, then back at her mentor. Her eyes widen and she mouths an “oh!” but says nothing.
“Spear? Inn’t that for the fyrd? Or do you practice it so you c’ud teach the fyrd if needed?” Harmakt asks. “I never thought of you as the spear type.”
Nayale chokes.
“No, I practiced it because it was one thing I could afford.” Berra gives Nayale a glance. “Any weapon’s good for carrying Death, if it’s sharp. You two don’t have to, but I’m out’ve practice.” Despite having used the spear to tangle and wound Harmakt, this is apparently not good enough.
“If you think it’s a good idea, that’s good ‘nuff fer me,” Harmakt says. “An’ you looked like you knew how ta handle it just fine.”
Nayale chokes again and her brother stares at her. Taking in her flushed face, he grumbles, “Yer such a brat and you need practice too.”
“I’m no good with a spear,” she protests.
“Tha’ss why.”
Varanis, meanwhile, has gone to collect some spear-length practice weapons. With a smirk at Nayale, she tosses one to her. “You don’t have to like it, but it’s useful to know what to do with it.”
Nayale manages the catch as the Vingan passes one over to Harmakt.
“Which drills do you want to work through, Berra?” Varanis asks.
“We’ll stay pretty simple. Footwork and length. Enough to – like Harmakt says – get something to practice against.” Berra faces off against Varanis, showing how to find a good distance with her leather-tipped spear. “Getting past the tip of one of these can be the last thing you try, remember?”11Special on Spear. I’m looking impressive!
Varanis has not been practicing enough. She’s taken up her sword stance instead of the Vingan spear stance. Wrong footwork and it will lead to her losing all the advantage of distance the weapon ought to be giving her.
Harmakt and Nayale are copying Berra well enough, but they’re holding their spears too short and too tightly. Nayale’s knuckles have gone white on the haft.
Berra takes the time to tell them to relax, to look Varanis up and down and raise a brow, to tap them into place. “S’still about knowledge and quick reactions and wanting to kill someone,” she says, walking through a simple drill. She performs each part fast, and then goes back to do it again, slower, until everyone has had the chance to copy. She does not seem to be worried about the watching Esrolians, just about her pupils.
The siblings respond well to the instruction and manage to follow along. It’s slow, but they are picking it up.
Varanis shakes off her momentary frustration and falls into the patterns of movement with competence.
That takes about half an hour. Berra stops when she is starting to sweat and make small mistakes, which means she has been working everyone else hard. The Esrolians have taken their leave and gone for refreshments, and Yelm is low in the sky. “Right. Tomorrow you get to see me be really bad with a greatsword, but today you’ve done well and you get to go see food.”
“What was with you?” Harmakt demands as he and Nayale go to secure the practice gear.
His sister’s reply is whispered.
“What?” Harmakt barks. “Don’t be daft! She’s wouldn’ and besides she’s too …”12Berra, and indeed everyone but the bodyguard, fail Listen. Their voices are muffled as they vanish into the stable.
Varanis laughs, shaking her head ruefully. “They are closer in age to us when we met than we are now, you know. But… were we ever that young?”
Berra stretches as she goes in, and looks between the stairs where there will be clean water in her room, and the table where food is right now. “Uh, at eighteen I was in command of my clade at Pennel Ford because everyone had died in front’ve me, so I’m gonna say no. You?”
Varanis’ smile turns sad. “Maybe I was. I was at the temple in Nochet and I thought I was madly in love. Jareen… she died at Pennel Ford, you know.”
“I din’t.” Berra makes for the stairs. “Them kids don’t know battle yet, but they lived through the Great Winter. I was here for the Civil War, though – out East, and it was mostly quiet, but… not all the time.”
- 1The twins can probably augment each other if they both pass Love (Family). They are highly trained to work together.
- 2V: Both pass love family. Both pass broadsword. Nayale specials shield. Harmakt passes it. Varanis does not have a shield, so I opted for parry. Normal pass on rapier. Special on parry. How do we interpret that pile?
B: They’re covering each other welll, but I don’t think they’re really working with each other – they are just protecting each other’s backs. The twins are obviously pretty good, and enthusiastic, but more sensible in the fight than they are the rest of the time. - 3Notably, even while practicing, Jessidan keeps his Lord safe. From kiddies. Varanis and Nayale do not notice. Berra does.
- 4Passed Intimidate.
- 5Pass CHAx3 to stand up to it.
- 6Pass love family, fumble honour, pass grapple.
- 7Pass Battle, critical Rapier. Pass Dodge, in case that makes a difference.
- 8Berra’s passed Intimidate, and Battle.
- 9Pass both attack and parry. Not derating them with a spear, alas.
- 10Nayale brings in a special and a critical.
- 11Special on Spear. I’m looking impressive!
- 12Berra, and indeed everyone but the bodyguard, fail Listen.
