never saw anyone continue any posts so I'm not sure where this is at...lemme go look some stuff up again, maybe people posted during my long disappearance.

umm...yeah, sure thing. Sorry, been a little while. Kinda lost track of this place since it was dying down.

Rurak quirked an eyebrow at Burgandy. "You call that shooting? Light, I can train just about any recruit to shoot better than that, but I think you already know that. Alright, saira, get back up to the line and take a few more shots. Burgundy, I want you to watch more closely every part of her movements and tell me what you see. Whatever you miss she can explain in more detail, then if she misses anything I'll cover the last."

Saira nodded and headed up to the line, nervously Rurak thought. Well, it was a bit of pressure but he was confident, after all, he had taught Saira himself and if he did say so himself he was one of the best shots in the band. Rurak could tell from the first draw that she still remembered everything, bow held low and drawn up as the back hand drew the string so that you didn't waste any of the strength. Fist held right behind the jaw, nose to the string. Breathing pattern good, hold right before the loose. Feet in the right position. Hmm...bow raised a bit over an inch and a half. Must have misjudged the distance on that one. Pause to make sure everything is steady and...loose. The arrow landed high but that was to be expected. She'd had trouble with that one for a while. Only way to fix that was to have pre-measured distances set up so that you could know exactly how far away things were to be able to judge better. He'd spent a while having her gauge distances. He still every now and then asked her how far away things were to make sure she could judge things right. She seemed embarassed, probably because she had misjudged, and this time her bow was at the proper 1 inch for a target at 100 yards and the next three arrows landed in a tight grouping about an 1/8 inch across. Good.

"Well, what did you see from that Burgundy?"

OOC: Okay, go ahead and have Burgundy post a few things that he sees, then saira can cover whatever else he doesn't see. Feel free to roleplay my character for anything if you have to.

Rurak was too stunned at what Burgandy was proposing. Him? Hit a girl? Not on your life. He was saved from responding at first, while his mind took the time to absorb just what the man was proposing, by Saira's reaction. It was quite humorous actually taken from an objective point of view. She started talking frantically until she ran out of words and started waving her hands around. Well, he couldn't really let this continue. He may be with an army and have traveled a lot of places but he really was still just a farmboy with a bow, just a little grown up from those days, and you DEFINITELY never hit a girl around home. Not unless you wanted to have a good long chat with the creator waiting for your next rebirth.

"Alright, we'll have none of that here."

Rurak said, cutting off the whispered suggestion from Burgundy about sneak attacking her. Bad enough to hit her while she was looking, but to sneak attack her?! Honestly, things really must be different in whatever land he hailed from.

"Truth be told, the purpose of a fight is NOT to get hit if you can, so it's not necessarily a bad thing." Turning back to saira he also turned back into teaching mode. "Your problem isn't not wanting to get hit, but you're movements on defense aren't fluid enough. Remember what I said about using just enough energy to push things aside? Well you want to use just enough defense to get the job done because if you block one punch with two hands that's leaving an opening for the other one right or even if you over commit yourself to stopping the blow you'll leave yourself open if it's a feint. For example, on one of those attack sequences you blocked one of my knees with both arms and a leg. That's all of your defensive options tied up in blocking one of my legs. you left yourself open to both of my fists or elbows had I chosen to use them. It seems like your natural instinct is to block what's attacking you, but better to move away from it whenever you can, or move it away from you. At any rate, I think you'll be far better on defense than our friend burgundy thinks as you get used to this, but let's move on to what we can use for offense here."

"I'll stay away from fists for now since you can learn those kinds of attacks from just about anyone else. What we're going to work on is kicks knees and elbows, more so on the last two. First we'll start with the elbows since I think the knees will be a little more tricky. Elbows can hurt even worse than fists so I don't want you practicing on each other so I want you to work on this padded pole I was using."

Rurak waved them forward so that he could demonstrate more easily. "Now, from what I've worked out there seems to be about 3 or 4 basic ways to strike with the elbows. there's an upward motion similar to an uppercut punch, there's a sideways motion similar to a hook punch, and then there's also a down swing attacking from the top. Also you can use the elbows in a spin to increase the damage. Now, when using the elbows for this practice session, swing upward in the smallest angles possible, that way it'll get you used to using them. Also, I don't want you just slamming your elbow into the punching bag, try to brush the bag lightly with your elbow. This will help you to use them better in an actual fight. Make sure to put your shoulders into it too. Your elbows will have more power if you rotate your shoulders with the strike and not just swing your arm. Lastly, when using the elbow in the spin, lean back into the target otherwise all you're going to do is end up slapping the target with the back of your hand. Here, let me demonstrate this."

He'd really only gotten some basic forms worked up but they seemed to be doing nicely. Moving into the punching bag Rurak kept himself light on his toes and whipped his elbow around sideways from the shoulder, lightly grazing the padded pole, then quickly swept the right elbow upwards with the arms tucked as tight as he could for a small angle. Stepping back he again brought the right up and over top for a downward strike, then quickly followed it through by launching himself off his back foot into a spin. Leaning back towards the target he delivered a heavy blow again with the right elbow that set the pole rocking on its foundation.

"One last thing, the elbows can also be used in jumps, as in jumping at the opponent and using the weight of your body to add force to a downward striking elbow to do more damage, now you work through these and I'll fix what I can and then we can move on to knees.

OOC: Alright, sorry guys for taking so long, go ahead and post working through these forms. Sorry for the seeming lack of interaction. I'm basing these instructions off of muay thai so if you want to see how the moves look you can look that up.

you'll notice I conveniently DIDN'T open your barrels there rodelle...I know you and your tricksome ways...but just wondering, you gonna wander on over here and RP on this side?

my bad, gimme a couple more days, I know it's been a while but work lightens up next week a ton.  :-[

lol, hello rodelle, fancy catching you wandering around these parts.  ;D I'll be in on this and catching up on my activity next week. only got 3 days of work next week for some reason so things'll be light giving me time. First break in a little while (not counting traffic school later today)

yeah I'm good, college just got out for me too so I've got more time to devote to it

Rurak smiled as the man's temper got the better of him.

"Peace man no need to be testy about it all, just curious. These are certainly troubled times. Come, let's get out of the rain, I can lead you to the band." Rurak said turning to allow the man to follow him. Another recruit it would seem. They walked in silence for a time, Rurak allowing the man time to cool his head a bit and also trying to think of how to talk to the man without putting his guard back up. As they walked Rurak spotted some motion off to his left. Using the hand not holding the cloak Rurak flashed some quick hand signs letting the scouts know he'd handle it. It came in handy to have learned the scouts' quick signs.

Having really nothing else to talk about, Rurak began anew. "Well Mr..." he said. Pausing long enough for the man to give him his name

"Aemond"

"Ah, Aemond, Good name that. Well I'm Lieutenant Rurak Gistere of the archers." He glanced quickly to see if the fact that he'd been short with an officer affected the man at all. If it did he hid it well, he had to give him that much.

"Anyhow, what brings you to the band of the red hand Aemond and what makes you qualified to join up with us? Not that I doubt your abilities, but the band is very good at what it does, and I'm sure there are other mercenary groups out there who could have taken you in as well if you were looking for a soldiers pay." Rurak said, giving the man time to respond

Rurak stalked out of the forest grumbling at the rain. It had ruined a perfectly good campout. He had been intending to go off on his own for a while. He'd only recently gotten the medics to stop fussing over him and let him off on his own more. It had been a while but he was starting to get mobility back in his fingers. It was a good sign. Enough for him to start possibly handling a crossbow. He'd been hoping to be able to use the outing to hunt with a borrowed crossbow, but the rain had put an end to that. He had it under his coat now hanging from the belt to protect it from the rain.

He could feel a bit of wetness on his back too. Looks like it was about time to put a bit more coating on the coat for next time. He sighed at the thought. He was brought out of his inner musings by a stranger on the road. He was traveling alone, which wasn't enough to make him suspicious but he clearly wasn't a scout. Scouts always prided themselves on being sneaky, and it was almost always a given that once outside of the band's encampments they disappeared into the brush. From the way the cloak billowed in the wind he could see a longsword underneath the raincoat and wouldn't put it past the man to have a knife. It was wise to keep a weapon around during these times.

Realizing his own condition Rurak decided to keep some distance and follow the man, not because the man would be a threat, but more because he was curious than anything else. Life was currently boring and following him would make things interesting. The man shortly stopped abruptly and looked around Then turned abruptly. Curses, he'd been heard? Well...looks like he'd have to go have a chat with the scouts again about stealthcraft. He'd never gotten around to that with them.

"Are you a member of the band of the red hand?" He asked.

"Well that could all depend on what you want with the band, but supposing I say yes?" Rurak responded.

He wasn't worried, while one hand clutched the cloak tight around him, The other hand was resting lightly on the top of the crossbow. There was enough distance that he be able to get one shot off in time, but he couldn't guarantee anything with his damaged hands. Curses, the man would be able to see the bandaged hands from holding the cloak shut! Oh well, things would play out as they would, and he doubted the man was trouble anyways.

man, we've got a surprising number of people still here with the band, we should put something together

OOC: If nobody else gets to this by the end of the day I'll do it for you

ooh...seems I left a few threads in the middle...sorry people, thought it was other people I was waiting for the whole time  :-\ , I'll get to em tomorrow

I'm around if needed...just a bit tired of trying and seeing nothing happen...but I guess it's kinda hard starting from scratch

you could think about this too, gawyn and co had a more level playing field in dueling hammar since they had trained against him practically every day growing up so they knew his fighting style and moves, while I doubt that galad knew much if anything about fighting valda as evidenced by the advice given to him at the start of the fight.

Rurak's eyes narrowed a bit at the man calling saira child, but after a moment's reflection realized that to him they probably looked like children. He was a bit old to be still in the army, and it seemed ironic to be trained by younger men, but he seemed to understand well the idea that there was always something to learn from everything. He noticed someone else watching frm the sidelines and nodded to him and gave a jerk of the head to let him know he could join in if he wanted to, then turned back to the task at hand and squared off against the one

"They sparred for a bit stopping right before Rurak landed a blow. "That was good Burgundy, good stance, you didn't reveal anything, but you overcommitted yourself on that last attack. Notice how my movements on defense were all re-directing. That's the most important thing. Don't waste your energy on blocking when you don't have to, try and move the attack aside and you'll save energy and create openings. Worst comes to worst, move away from the attacks when you have to, all in all a good round." By the way, I didn't catch your name..."

"Burgundy sir"

"Burgundy, well I'm Lieutenant Rurak, but just go by Rurak for now and keep up the good work"

"Now saira, time for your round, we're going to reverse it, I'm going to keep it light and come at you. I want you to defend using the principles I just taught you. I'll be pushing you to think fast so be ready."

rurak strode back onto the old archery range. He'd been avoiding this place, but for some strange reason burgundy had wanted to take more training from him even though he couldn't shoot. Well at least the man had said he'd already had some experience with the bow. Hopefully all he'd have to do is correct stances and give some tips, then train him some in group archery.

As he came up to the grounds, he found saira and burgundy standing there talking. Good, she'd gotten the message to meet here. He figured it was time to build some confidence for saira, and what better way to do that than to teach someone else something? They seemed to be chatting amiably, but then Rurak noticed that Saira was acting a bit odd around burgundy. A little jumpy it seemed, more so than normal since saira hadn't seemed to have much confidence to begin with. Come to think of it she'd been pretty strange around them when they were doing hand to hand sparring practice the other day. Maybe burgundy was moving a little too fast for someone so new to the band, making unwanted advances towards her. He'd have to watch for that.

"Private Burgundy, glad to see you made it"

Rurak said with a little extra bark to it. Well...maybe he should have dialed his tone back, looks like he'd gotten a little protective of saira. Maybe that's what had made him dive in front of that fireball.

"You seem to be eying those arrows like you know how to use those, so let's see you put that bow of yours to use. Let's just start you out firing a few rounds down the range and see how you do it."

Saira still seemed a little jittery so he softened his tone a bit for her.

"Alright saira, basically I'm just going to observe here. You remember everything I taught you last time? You been practicing?" He got a silent nod out of that. Did he intimidate her that much? "Well, I want you to look over burgundy's form and correct any mistakes that you see, if you miss anything I'll be here to correct things as needed. You'll also be my 'demonstrator' since I still can't handle a bow as of yet, now go on, grab your bow and show him up."

Rurak, reading things the wrong way  :)

is this RP going down any time soon?

thanks for that quibby and I'll keep track of that from now on

well half my stuff was finished a while back so I don't know what my previous rank/ws is, that's the main reason I was asking because all my stuff was back on the old site.

Okay, I know I'm probably overdue for a promotion/weapon score upgrade. Heck, I don't even know what my rank and weapon score are right now, but I know I've done a lot of RP threads and weapons training lately and I was wondering where I'm sitting at right now for my WS and rank? If someone could calculate that for me...

Rurak was drenched with sweat after a little while, most of it from the workout, though some of it from just putting up with the stress on his body. Even slight movements hurt his arms. Well, he'd learn to work through that and thankfully enough his wounds hadn't broken open and started bleeding through.

“That is a unique combat method you have there, how would you feel about showing me a few of your moves?” Rurak raised his head to find a face he didn't recognize. Maybe the man was new, or just one of a number of the people he hadn't gotten the chance to meet yet. There were a lot of people with the band now. Rurak was banking on the side of new though since most of the soldiers new the higher ranked officers rather than the other way around and he hadn't inserted any sirs into the conversation. That was just as well, since the man would give him better training by not holding back, though anyone would probably hold back against a cripple like himself.

Rurak smiled, well at least he'd have someone to practice these new moves on and see if they worked. The theory seemed sound, but it was always best to try it in a mock up at least. Before he could respond though another voice piped up timidly "Umm... Rurak, sir? Can i practise a bit as well?" The agressive look in his eyes softened. He'd noticed Saira for quite some time now, she seemed to be shadowing him all the time. Maybe she thought he needed someone to take care of him while he recovered. Right now he wanted anything but that, but it would hardly do to say something like that right now. Well that meant that she would get her wish. He could hardly hurt himself sparring with saira.

Supressing a sigh, Rurak finally nodded his consent. "Alright saira, you can practice with me. I'm not sure how much help this is going to be though, I'm making this up as I go in case...in case I never get my hands back" Rurak said with a bit of hesitation. He hadn't wanted to say it, but there was the possibility that he might not regain the use of his hands. Looking across at the other man, Rurak's gaze toughened a bit "Well, you can train with me too if you want, but I can't say my style is unique from experience, I'm trying to figure out a way to fight so that I don't damage the hands, but I figure I need someone to test these moves out on so why not?" he said with a shrug and a grin that wasn't quite real.

A little embarassed, Rurak motioned them over together. "Well the basic idea I'm getting is that with this style, there's going to be a difference in blocking. First, as you can see it's not a good idea to catch any of the attacks against my fists" rurak said with that wry grin again while shaking his bandaged hands. "That means for the most part I'm going to want to re-direct most of the attacks rather than block them. that means pushing the punches outside which leaves the attacker open for a counter attack. Use only the amount of energy required to re-direct and then bring yourself back to guard"

"For the lower body shots you're going to want to block with your shin. This might hurt at first, but it's more important to block with that because if you block with the in-step of the foot or any other part of the foot you're going to hurt yourself in a much more permanent way than the shin. Besides, the shin is probably one of the strongest bones in the body so it'll be fine, though for the first little while it's going to hurt during training."

"The last thing that you're going to need to work with is a way to keep the person off balance and have them keep their distance. Normally most people would use the jab to do that to keep them at bay, but again, we don't have that option, so what we're going to use here is sort of a push-kick. Basically as they rush in you kick out to push them back and off balance. You want to make this move fast, snapping the leg back else they can trap the leg or might be able to catch you off balance. Also you can during kicks you can attack the supporting leg or even the attacking leg to throw them off balance."

After having talked for a little while Rurak realized that all these ideas were pretty new and they probably wouldn't be able to understand all of it without a little demonstration. "here, you there" Rurak said to the man who had first asked to join in " I didn't bother to catch your name what was it?"

"Barmacal"

"Ah yes, well, you look like you've had a bit of experience in a fight, how about you come at me and we'll see how well this works or not." The man seemed to hesitate looking at his bandages but Rurak egged him on. "Oh come now, I'm sure you can manage to fight a cripple like me without managing to hurt him!"

Rurak readied himself for the attack. This was going to be the first real test of his style. He wasn't too worried, he'd already had a good hand to hand trainer back in the day and had plenty of time over the years to expand on it in brawls and fights along the way. Still, there was the potential for embarassment. The other man dropped into a traditional stance and circled, looking for an opening. Rurak held his arms up next to his head, forearms facing forward and circled in his spot with the man. A testing jab was parried easily, then another, and suddenly it was a real fight. A light jab was dodged easily with a slight tilt to the head and the follow up from the right hand was deflected with the back of Rurak's arm. The man tried to rush in for a closer attack but a light push kick to the stomach kept him back. A low kick aimed for the legs was blocked with the shins, and then another rush, this time he wasn't able to get a push kick up in time and a heavy right was headed for his head. Rurak deflected it outside past him with his left and then spun at the hips bringing his right elbow around halting just before it made contact with the other man's face. He'd done it, it worked!

Sweating, but with a self satisfied grin, Rurak spoke again. "There, that's how a proper defense in this style would work, now I'd like you two to work on defense as I come at you and use the basic principles I taught to you. Remember, this style is working without the hands so don't use your hands."

OOC: Alright, just post a very short little mock fight with Rurak working on the defensive principles and you can have it turn out however you want.

hey, I'm game. I'm working on the other hand to hand post right now as well... but whoever wants to get the archery stuff going feel free

actually I think my hand to hand thing is different than whatever they're planning. Also, if your char needs archery my guy can do it for you by suggestion but not demonstration (whole burnt hands thing going against him)

Liitha, if you want to jump in it looks like it's going to be moving a lot slower than I thought so feel free