58th of Zi'da, Arc 716
"Praetorum." Prae looked up from his cards as Marco popped his head into his tent. "I could use your help training some of the greener recruits. Could you spare a break or two?" He opened his mouth to agree, but found himself beaten to the punch.
"Course he can." Cassandra said immediately, dropping a pile of nels into the helmet they were using as a makeshift pot. "I'm sure he'll jump at the chance to do anything other than lose money to me." Praetorum rolled his eyes, folding his hand and getting to his feet.
"Sure, I'll help. What do you need?" He asked, stepping out of the tent.
"Greenhorns need to learn to fight in groups out of formation, and if I ask Cassandra she'll just knock them all out." Marco said. "Meet us in full kit at the northern training arena."
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Praetorum was fairly certain he had never looked so nervous, even as a trainee. The half a dozen recruits, all but two ithecal, fidgeted anxiously as Prae strode up to them. Behind them, Marco gestured for Prae to take up position in the centre of the arena.
"Alright," Marco barked as Prae settled into a defensive stance, "pair up." The shuffling and muffled arguing that followed was so reminiscent of Prae's school days, he couldn't help but snicker. In the end, they managed to settle into pairs, although Prae couldn't help but notice the two humans, who seemed to have been paired up by elimination, were glaring daggers at each other. Not a good sign.
Marco seemed to feel the same, by the annoyed set of his brow. But he said nothing, and Prae doubted any of the greenhorns could read Marco's permanently irritated face. "Right. You're going to be attacking Praetorum here in these pairs. I'll be keeping score, and you'll get a point every time one of you hits Praetorum. Whichever group gets the most points at the end gets removed from the duty roster for tomorrow. That's hits from your weapon to his armor, mind you." He pulled out two buckets of training paint, one yellow and one blue. "You'll be dipping your training weapons in this so we can see when you hit him. Whichever team loses, by the way, gets to scrub all the paint off at the end. Oh, and Prae—" Marco tossed his a scythe, the blade coated in red training paint. The recruits eyed it nervously.
"What if he hits us?" One of the humans pipped up.
"Glad you asked. When Prae hits you, that'll remove half a point. You two, you're up. You have ten bits." Marco gestured at the first pair, a Thiussum with a mace, and a Wyvarnth with a gladius Both used short ranged weapons, compared to his scythe, Prae noted. If they split and surrounded him... But no, it appeared these fresh recruits hadn't quite gotten the hang of thinking like that yet. Or, for that matter, thinking at all.
Rather than come in with any real plan, it seemed the pair had elected to just try and overwhelm Prae in the first few moments of the battle, rushing towards him side by side. There were worse 'strategies' out there, he supposed, but fates knew he couldn't think of any right now.
Gripping his scythe tight, Prae waiting until the pair was almost in range, then attacked, lunging forwards and sweeping his scythe in from the right. As he'd hoped, the Thiussum, realizing his mace arm was about to get hit, elected to dodge instead of block, and as Prae had predicted, leaped to the side, and promptly collided with his partner.
Both ithecal stumbled, and Prae wasted no time, continuing the arc of his sweep to clip the Thiussum's leg, leaving a streak of red behind, and then stabbing at the Wyvarnth's side, leaving an angry blotch that looked worrisomely like blood. When he tried for a third hit, the Thiussum had managed to regain enough balance to block it with his shield, and Prae danced back a few steps, leaving them just out of his range. It seemed counter-intuitive to some, but with a polearm, keeping an enemy just out of reach of your weapon meant that if they moved, by the time you struck them, they had already stepped into range. It wouldn't do to let an enemy get too close.
After a brief moment of heated discussion, the two ithecal approached again, this time keeping a comfortable distance between them; they'd switched sides too, Prae noted. Probably so if Prae pulled the same trick, the smaller Ithecal would be less likely to unbalance the larger crashing into him. In response, Prae stepped to the side, circling around the pair to put the Thiussum between himself and the Wyvarnth, then leapt forwards, stabbing out with his scythe.
Alarmed, the Thiussum stepped back, raising his shield in front of him, but he needn't have bothered; Prae hadn't been been lunging at or aiming for him.
He was just there to make a blind spot.
The Wyvarnth's quick instincts saved him when Prae suddenly appeared before him, stabbing at his chest. She'd managed to parry the blow with his gladius, deflecting Prae's scythe over his shoulder. So Prae changed tactics, rushing forwards while the greenhorn's gladius was occupied. He slammed his shield bodily into the woman, knocking her back on her tail, then whirled around, sweeping his scythe and clipping the Thiussum in the shoulder as he turned to see what was happening. The larger Ithecal stumbled, and Prae darted past him, returning to a comfortable distance.
"Hey Marco, how are we doing on time?" Prae called out.
"Six bits left, and they're still at zero points." Marco responded. One of the other recruits, another Wyvarnth, siddled up to him, and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Maria here is informing me that actually, they're at 'negative one and a half' points."
"That's one and a half points less than zero." Maria piped up helpfully.
Prae blinked. "Do numbers not stop at zero? How could you have less than none of something?" He demanded.
"Well, tangibly, you're right," the Wyvarnth shouted, "but in mathematics it's actually more useful to—"
Prae missed everything the Wyvarnth said after that point, raising his shield in time to block the mace crashing down towards his head. His other opponent appeared, hot on her partners heels— really, they'd have gotten him if they'd come in together instead of one at a time— and Prae stabbed out at her. The blow didn't connect, but it bought Prae enough time to twist his body, and get his tail behind the Thiussum's leg. Shoving with his shield, and sweeping with his tail, Praetorum managed to unbalance the Thiussum enough to send him crashing to the ground. Prae leaped back, but not before sliding his scythe over his chest.
Two points less than zero, now.
The Wyvarnth wasn't planning on letting Prae get away to recollect himself, it seemed. She chased after him, and closed the distance between them too fast for Prae to attack with his scythe. So instead, as she began to bring her gladius down on his shoulder, he stepped in even closer, and brought his shield up sharply, clipping her under the chin.
Prae knew from experience just how jarring an attack that was, and followed up with a shove of his shield, sending her again crashing to the ground. He managed a blow to her leg and her side before she scrambled to her feet, slashing wildly with her gladius as she lunged at him.
Definitely more anger than sense in her right now, judging by the sloppiness of her swings. Prae stabbed out— his scythe slamming into the joint between armor plates at her hip— and darted out of the way easily, frowning at her as she dropped to her knees with a gasp. That was clumsy, she was never going to get a blow in like—
There was a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, and Prae flung himself backwards on instinct, smashing into the Thiussum behind him, and sending the both of them stumbling. It seemed the man had finally developed the sense to circle around out of Praetorum's field of view while he'd been fighting the Wyvarnth. Slamming the butt of his scythe behind his back, Prae was rewarded with a grunt of pain, and more importantly, the location of his oppponents head.
He might only have moments to react, and didn't want to risk turning around to attack. So instead, he swung his scythe upwards, and over his shoulder, aiming at where he'd heard that grunt. There was the clang of metal against metal, and Prae scrambled out of reach, raising up his shield and assessing the battlefield.
Both of his opponents were still recovering, it seemed; the Wyvarnth was limping furiously towards him, while the Thiussum was shaking his head, probably trying to clear the ringing from his helmet.
"And, that's time!" Marco barked out. Prae let his weapon lower, and watched as the pair stumbled back out of the arena. He did feel sort of bad about how hard his final blows had been, but that was just how training went. Marco clapped his hands. "Zero points for you two. No, Maria, I'm not going to use your negative numbers. Count your own points if you want, because you're up next."
"Course he can." Cassandra said immediately, dropping a pile of nels into the helmet they were using as a makeshift pot. "I'm sure he'll jump at the chance to do anything other than lose money to me." Praetorum rolled his eyes, folding his hand and getting to his feet.
"Sure, I'll help. What do you need?" He asked, stepping out of the tent.
"Greenhorns need to learn to fight in groups out of formation, and if I ask Cassandra she'll just knock them all out." Marco said. "Meet us in full kit at the northern training arena."
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Praetorum was fairly certain he had never looked so nervous, even as a trainee. The half a dozen recruits, all but two ithecal, fidgeted anxiously as Prae strode up to them. Behind them, Marco gestured for Prae to take up position in the centre of the arena.
"Alright," Marco barked as Prae settled into a defensive stance, "pair up." The shuffling and muffled arguing that followed was so reminiscent of Prae's school days, he couldn't help but snicker. In the end, they managed to settle into pairs, although Prae couldn't help but notice the two humans, who seemed to have been paired up by elimination, were glaring daggers at each other. Not a good sign.
Marco seemed to feel the same, by the annoyed set of his brow. But he said nothing, and Prae doubted any of the greenhorns could read Marco's permanently irritated face. "Right. You're going to be attacking Praetorum here in these pairs. I'll be keeping score, and you'll get a point every time one of you hits Praetorum. Whichever group gets the most points at the end gets removed from the duty roster for tomorrow. That's hits from your weapon to his armor, mind you." He pulled out two buckets of training paint, one yellow and one blue. "You'll be dipping your training weapons in this so we can see when you hit him. Whichever team loses, by the way, gets to scrub all the paint off at the end. Oh, and Prae—" Marco tossed his a scythe, the blade coated in red training paint. The recruits eyed it nervously.
"What if he hits us?" One of the humans pipped up.
"Glad you asked. When Prae hits you, that'll remove half a point. You two, you're up. You have ten bits." Marco gestured at the first pair, a Thiussum with a mace, and a Wyvarnth with a gladius Both used short ranged weapons, compared to his scythe, Prae noted. If they split and surrounded him... But no, it appeared these fresh recruits hadn't quite gotten the hang of thinking like that yet. Or, for that matter, thinking at all.
Rather than come in with any real plan, it seemed the pair had elected to just try and overwhelm Prae in the first few moments of the battle, rushing towards him side by side. There were worse 'strategies' out there, he supposed, but fates knew he couldn't think of any right now.
Gripping his scythe tight, Prae waiting until the pair was almost in range, then attacked, lunging forwards and sweeping his scythe in from the right. As he'd hoped, the Thiussum, realizing his mace arm was about to get hit, elected to dodge instead of block, and as Prae had predicted, leaped to the side, and promptly collided with his partner.
Both ithecal stumbled, and Prae wasted no time, continuing the arc of his sweep to clip the Thiussum's leg, leaving a streak of red behind, and then stabbing at the Wyvarnth's side, leaving an angry blotch that looked worrisomely like blood. When he tried for a third hit, the Thiussum had managed to regain enough balance to block it with his shield, and Prae danced back a few steps, leaving them just out of his range. It seemed counter-intuitive to some, but with a polearm, keeping an enemy just out of reach of your weapon meant that if they moved, by the time you struck them, they had already stepped into range. It wouldn't do to let an enemy get too close.
After a brief moment of heated discussion, the two ithecal approached again, this time keeping a comfortable distance between them; they'd switched sides too, Prae noted. Probably so if Prae pulled the same trick, the smaller Ithecal would be less likely to unbalance the larger crashing into him. In response, Prae stepped to the side, circling around the pair to put the Thiussum between himself and the Wyvarnth, then leapt forwards, stabbing out with his scythe.
Alarmed, the Thiussum stepped back, raising his shield in front of him, but he needn't have bothered; Prae hadn't been been lunging at or aiming for him.
He was just there to make a blind spot.
The Wyvarnth's quick instincts saved him when Prae suddenly appeared before him, stabbing at his chest. She'd managed to parry the blow with his gladius, deflecting Prae's scythe over his shoulder. So Prae changed tactics, rushing forwards while the greenhorn's gladius was occupied. He slammed his shield bodily into the woman, knocking her back on her tail, then whirled around, sweeping his scythe and clipping the Thiussum in the shoulder as he turned to see what was happening. The larger Ithecal stumbled, and Prae darted past him, returning to a comfortable distance.
"Hey Marco, how are we doing on time?" Prae called out.
"Six bits left, and they're still at zero points." Marco responded. One of the other recruits, another Wyvarnth, siddled up to him, and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Maria here is informing me that actually, they're at 'negative one and a half' points."
"That's one and a half points less than zero." Maria piped up helpfully.
Prae blinked. "Do numbers not stop at zero? How could you have less than none of something?" He demanded.
"Well, tangibly, you're right," the Wyvarnth shouted, "but in mathematics it's actually more useful to—"
Prae missed everything the Wyvarnth said after that point, raising his shield in time to block the mace crashing down towards his head. His other opponent appeared, hot on her partners heels— really, they'd have gotten him if they'd come in together instead of one at a time— and Prae stabbed out at her. The blow didn't connect, but it bought Prae enough time to twist his body, and get his tail behind the Thiussum's leg. Shoving with his shield, and sweeping with his tail, Praetorum managed to unbalance the Thiussum enough to send him crashing to the ground. Prae leaped back, but not before sliding his scythe over his chest.
Two points less than zero, now.
The Wyvarnth wasn't planning on letting Prae get away to recollect himself, it seemed. She chased after him, and closed the distance between them too fast for Prae to attack with his scythe. So instead, as she began to bring her gladius down on his shoulder, he stepped in even closer, and brought his shield up sharply, clipping her under the chin.
Prae knew from experience just how jarring an attack that was, and followed up with a shove of his shield, sending her again crashing to the ground. He managed a blow to her leg and her side before she scrambled to her feet, slashing wildly with her gladius as she lunged at him.
Definitely more anger than sense in her right now, judging by the sloppiness of her swings. Prae stabbed out— his scythe slamming into the joint between armor plates at her hip— and darted out of the way easily, frowning at her as she dropped to her knees with a gasp. That was clumsy, she was never going to get a blow in like—
There was a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, and Prae flung himself backwards on instinct, smashing into the Thiussum behind him, and sending the both of them stumbling. It seemed the man had finally developed the sense to circle around out of Praetorum's field of view while he'd been fighting the Wyvarnth. Slamming the butt of his scythe behind his back, Prae was rewarded with a grunt of pain, and more importantly, the location of his oppponents head.
He might only have moments to react, and didn't want to risk turning around to attack. So instead, he swung his scythe upwards, and over his shoulder, aiming at where he'd heard that grunt. There was the clang of metal against metal, and Prae scrambled out of reach, raising up his shield and assessing the battlefield.
Both of his opponents were still recovering, it seemed; the Wyvarnth was limping furiously towards him, while the Thiussum was shaking his head, probably trying to clear the ringing from his helmet.
"And, that's time!" Marco barked out. Prae let his weapon lower, and watched as the pair stumbled back out of the arena. He did feel sort of bad about how hard his final blows had been, but that was just how training went. Marco clapped his hands. "Zero points for you two. No, Maria, I'm not going to use your negative numbers. Count your own points if you want, because you're up next."
