Balthazar's School of The Elements

[Balthazar Black]

72 Ashan 719 | Balthazar Black | Outside Yaralon

Balthazar stood in the middle of a large field of grass making the final preparations for his planned lesson. He'd spent many trials leading up the the present trying to figure out what he would teach those who came to learn from him and he decided in the end that it would be best if he left the instruction slightly communal. He knew much about his own relationship with the elements, but he did not know anything about how other's interacted with them. That didn't mean he hadn't prepared some of the more basic techniques he'd developed for those who did not already know them it simply meant he was going to try to absorb what information he could from the others.

His final preparations mostly included straightening out the targets he had set up as a sort of firing range. He had planted targets into the ground every thirty steps forward and three steps to the right so that there wouldn't be crossfire onto a target if more than one mage was practicing at a time. Aside from the firing range Balthazar had set up four targets in a diamond shape. It was something he'd been thinking of trying but he wasn't sure how it would turn out so he would test it on strangers he didn't know. If it worked, it worked- if not then he'd try something new next time. The sun was rising to it's peak in the sky and that meant it was almost time for the lessons to begin, and Balthazar sat down to await arrivals.

[Praetorum]

72nd of Ashan, Arc 719

Prae had spotted the flier outside the same shop window as before. Funny, how these things turned out. But that was Balthazar's handwriting all right, with the same style of directions.


Well, their last encounter had gone well, he thought, and his defiance had only improved since then. What could it hurt, to go train with the man again? He seemed to be looking for students, and while Prae had grown into his spark at an alarming pace, Balthazar's style of defiance was very different than Prae's own. It couldn't hurt to learn to be more versatile, and last time, the martial artist had spoken vaguely of plans to 'turn the elements into extensions of himself'. Prae had to admit, he was curious to see how that had gone. 



So, imprinting the instructions into his memory, Praetorum set off, dressed in much the same outfit and equipment as when he'd last sparred with Balthazar: leather armor, his scythe, and his tower shield. This time though, he had his trident with him as well, just in case. This was Yaralon, after all, and when it came to weapons, the more the merrier. 



It only took a few bits for him to stroll over to where the man had set up a makeshift training area. It was nicely made, Prae noted, a long time veteran of training courses. The targets seemed a little closely spaced, but then again, humans were smaller than Ithecal. But the four targets all placed to form the corners of a square or something, he didn't quite see the point of. Still, he was sure the human had a reason for it. 



"Ho there, Balthazar." Prae called out when he was within earshot. "It's been some time; how have you been? I see you've been busy." He grinned, gesturing at the targets.

[Kisaik]

Alaiwa and Kisaik rode their steeds into the midst of the training field, where there was supposed to be a sort of training ground of elemental mages. Kisaik had tried to read the fliers, and managed well enough at that. He gathered that there would be some magical and martial training there, and was suitably intrigued. While he had no interest in the arcane himself, he was curious, and so thought to attend the showing as a spectator, if nothing else.

"Master, what if we get hit by rocks or fire?" Alaiwa bleated, bobbing up and down in the saddle of his fox terrier. "Will we be safe?"

Kisaik guffawed, "Worry not, my squire. We tunawa are blessed with latent protection against such sorcery. Although, you'll certainly want to keep a safe distance in case any shrapnel should find itself thrown our way. This will be a good learning opportunity. Out in the world there are evil sorcerers using similar magics. We'll need to know their tactics in order to counter them in honorable combat!"

So saying, they sallied forth into the training grounds, climbing a hill to get a good vantage point on the action.

Kisaik wasn't dressed in his armor today, for it was in dire need of repair from his recent adventures. It was scratched and scuffed and even dented in parts from all the use he'd gotten out of it. So he thought to give it a good rest before he'd be able to repair it.

The tunawa knight lifted a hand to his brow, shielding it from the sun as he gazed over the crowd that was gathering on the training field. There, he spotted a white-haired man who waited, apparently the instructor for this exercise. Then, Kisaik spotted a large Ithecal. It took a few moments before he recognized him at his friend, Praetorum.

"Aye! Praetorum! Luck friend! Train well!" He shouted out in common tongue, then went silent, waiting for their training to commence.

He would sit quietly most of the time, resolved to merely observe.

OOC: Just posting a cameo here, I'll try and post twice more before the thread is concluded, but feel free to skip me as I won't be a part of your turns during training and don't want to slow you guys down.

[Tio Silver]

Tio was having relationship difficulties.

His situation sounded a little bit like the plot of a cheesy fairytale; a man and his soul mate long to be together, but her wicked, jealous boss orders her to stay away from him. Of course the situation was made slightly more complicated in this scenario by the fact that that the soulmate was actually the literal personification of the wind, and her boss just happened to be the god who ruled over said element. It made for a rather complicated love triangle.

The problem was that this wasn't the sort of issue Tio could sort out with a few honeyed words and trickery. The only way to surpass Delroth's curse was to deepen his bond with the wind to such an extent that it liked him better than it did that greedy bastard. That was not so easily done. It would take a master of defiance magic to reach that level, and the road to master was a hard one indeed.

Which was why Tio had decided to come along to this defiance training lesson he'd read about on a poster hung up in a shop window. Anything that could help him reach that level was worth a shot in his opinion, and it wasn't like he had anything else to do today besides going around causing pointless mischief. He kept his eye trained lazily on the horizon as he exited the city gates and headed over to the meeting place, keeping a lookout for any dangerous beasts. A bit of sparring was fine, but he was feeling far too lazy to deal with something trying to eat him today.

"Good morning folks." He called as he approached the training grounds, giving the people assembled there a cheerful wave as he walked up to them. "This is the place for some elemental training right? I'm afraid I'm still just a beginner when it comes to this sort of dangerous stuff, so please take it easy on me alright?"

[Faerro]

Faerro had noticed the flier when he was out shopping for materials to keep his secret smithy well-stocked. Training for Defiance mages? The mer had to admit he was interested, as ever since he left the Kizora he training in the magic had taken a sharp dive. The only teachers he knew were miles away in a completely different part of the ocean, and Faerroe found that mages on the surface were far too inquisitive of potential students.

An open invitation was almost too good to pass up. When the ground rumbled in agreement, well, Faerro didn't have it in him to quell the excited earth's enthusiasm. Noting down the directions, he hurriedly took off towards the gates of the city. He was dressed in the only clothes the mer owned; a simple loincloth, a tool-belt with his Embersteel hammer hanging off the side, and a leather collar threaded with seashells. While Faerro was still figuring his way around Yaralon, the gates proved to be one of the few places that was easy enough to locate.

The earth trembled to signal his arrival, and Faerro looked out at the collection of strangers gathered out in the field. A man with white hair, the largest lizard Faerro had ever seen, a masked man, and a pair of tunawa were all introducing themselves to each other. He narrowed his eyes at the pair as he arrived, as even a mer in hiding like himself had heard about the Reisah against the tree-folk. He owed the tribes that declared the total-war no loyalty, but in order to have the drive to do that Faerro did not doubt the tunawa must have committed some injustice against them. His race may have been violent, but they did not act without reason. Still, despite his reservations, Faerro approached the group all the same.

"Hail friends!" he greeted in Common, pointedly ignoring the tunawa that sidelined themselves as spectators. With a wide, jagged smile, he moved to join the rest of them at the targets. "I am excited to test my might with you all! Are we sparring, or are we simply hitting these straw men?"

Faerro turned to the masked man with a fierce glint in his eyes. "Ah, are you newly initiated as well? Then I suppose we shall be in competition against each other! My name is Faerro, and may the elements favor the best man." Wide grin still on his face, he stuck his hand out for the other man to shake.

"Well, mer in this case," he laughed, excited for the chance to compete with another. After all, the best swords were forged with force. Faerro found the same to be true of all people.

[Balthazar Black]

72 Ashan 719 | Balthazar Black | Outside Yaralon

A familiar Ithecal was the first to arrive to the lessons Balthazar sought to teach. Balthazar was dressed very similarly to how he'd been the last time they met. A simple white shirt and pants. He was entirely barefoot and his boots were sitting over by a tree. Balthazar welcomed Prae with a wave and a wide smile. He was always glad to see a familiar face and the last time they'd sparred it had been very educational so Balthazar was glad to see Prae had come to his open invitation. "Indeed I have been, but the work has kept me entertained. How have you been?"

Before the exchange could be complete a tunawa called out to Prae, drawing Balthazar's attention. He hadn't expected a tunawa to come see the training but Balthazar didn't mind spectators. Balthazar thought that it might even give the others a little motivational boost to have someone spectating. Kiaski and the mount found a position that they seemed to think was safe and Balthazar turned to find a few others arriving to the meeting. With every person that arrived Balthazar became a little more confident and a little more nervous. What right did he have to teach them anything? He shook the doubts from his head but not his heart.

The man in the mask and the mer spoke while Bathazar tried to just figure out who everyone was. He cleared his throat and waved at the others. "Hello, I'm Balthazar Black and I posted the flier." Balthazar began as he walked over to the side of the firing range he'd set up. He gestured towards the mer "We will be starting with some basic techniques and we can probably do some sparring towards the end. The planks over here," Balthazar gestured towards the makeshift firing range "are going to be used for various ranged techniques I've been working on and the square," Balthazar somewhat shrugged his arm towards the square "will be used to practice control. We can wait a little bit longer for anyone who couldn't follow my poorly written instructions but if anyone wants to start practicing just let me know and I'll help if I can."

[Praetorum]

72nd of Ashan, Arc 719

"I've been well, for the most part. Keeping myself busy; I finally found my kin, by the way." Prae grinned, hand sweeping through the air to send a playful gust of wind towards Balthazar. 



Before he could say much more though, a familiar voice hailed him. "Kisaik." Prae grinned, inclining his head towards the Tunawa. "Good to see you well, and with an apprentice now, I see." 



The other two who arrived soon after, Prae didn't recognize, and he was very certain he would have remembered them. One bore a silver mask with no eye holes, yet he acted as if he could see clearly. And despite the waving of the grass in the wind, Prae was fairly certain that his shadow wasn't... quite right. 



The other one was a little less strange, but still not very commonly seen; a mer, scaled in blue and silver, and bearing a hammer on his belt. Prae, a veteran of the legion, couldn't help but be wary of him, but the mer, Faerro seemed peaceful enough that Prae was willing to give him a chance. 



After everyone finished up greeting each other, Prae sat back, and listened thoughtfully as Balthazar explained his set up. Range and control, hmm? It made sense; the man had been very versatile with his ranged attacks last they'd fought. Prae was particularly interested in the stone projectiles he'd thrown Prae's way; using the scythe was all well and good, but sometimes it just wasn't convenient to go through the full motion of swinging his weapon to sling a projectile. 



"Balthazar, last time we sparred you did this—" Prae tapped his foot and a pebble leaped into the air. When Prae flicked his fingers at it thought, sending it speeding towards Balthazar, his aim was atrocious, the pebble missing the man by an arms length. "I've given it a few tries, but I can't quite get the aiming down. Any tips?"

[Tio Silver]

"Nice to meet you Bazaar. My name's Tio." Tio replied after Balthazar introduced himself to the group, acting oblivious to the fact that he'd called the man's name incorrectly. "Mages are such a rare sight these days, defiers moreso. It should be fun to get to know some more people who appreciate the elements."

He looked between the other two trainees: an ithecal in heavy armour and a mer in a loincloth. Quite the usual pair, though he supposed he wasn't exactly an ordinary sight himself these days. When the ithecal stepped forward to talk to Balthazar about something to do with a pebble, Tio turned to the mer and listened as he introduced himself as Faerro and found himself immediately warming up to their wide grin and open attitude. He shook the mer's offered hand. "Nice to meet you Aerro. Say, while these two are practicing their pebble trick how about we have ourselves a warm-up spar? No weapons or other items, just our fists and the elements? What do you say?"

The wind swirled around him a little faster in response to those words, eager for the chance to go wild alongside him. It had been a while since they'd fought together; before the incident with Delroth if memory served. What elements were these other people kin with? He wanted to say water for Faerro, but he was basing that guess entirely on his race which probably wasn't the best idea. The ithecal struck him as an earth-kin, due to the sheer size of him and the heavy armour he wore, whereas Balthazar had the look of a fire-kin about him. It would be interesting to see who called up which element during this session.

[Faerro]

He raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Tio’s misnaming of Balthazar, but shrugged and decided to go along with it.

“Faerro, and thanks for putting this together Bazaar! Excited for the opportunity.” He stuck his hand out for the other man to shake. If he took it, Balthazar would find his hand both being squeezed a bit too tightly and shaken a bit too vigorously.

The mer looked over to the large Ithecal who had yet to introduce himself to any of them. “What about you, Scales? What do you go by?”

With introductions out of the way, Faerro eagerly awaited for their teacher to discuss the course of today’s events. The mer’s face fell with apparent disappoint when the mage revealed that they would be waiting and saving sparring for the last session of the day. What was the point in hitting objects that didn’t hit back? Among the Kizora, warriors learned to fight by fighting, not by playing pretend with stuffed figures. The surface had a strange way about it, that was for sure.

At least Tio seemed a fine sort. Despite his apparent strangeness, he had this assured manner of speaking that Farreo enjoyed engaging with. Whoever he was, he had the sort of confidence that the mer strive to have in his work and in his life.

“That sounds like a fine idea, Leo! I love where your mind is at!” Faerro laughed in response, mirroring his misnaming with a nickname of his own. The earth quietly rumbled it’s agreement, and without hesitation he let his Embersteel hammer fall from its loop on his belt. It landed with a surprisingly heavy thud, much louder than the tool-belt that followed it. Bounding over roughly thirty feet away from the others, Faerro motioned for Tio to follow him.

“So how are we doing this? To first blood? The first to yield? Or should we draw a ring in the earth and have it so the first one that is pushed out forfeits?”

He could feel the earth tremble and wriggle below him with unbridled excitement. Theirs was a new relationship, and despite his aquatic background Faerro found the earth the element most willing to help him. One might think that stone is a stubborn and patient force of nature, and while it was stubborn, the type of earth that the mer engages with was dynamic. Always shifting, always roiling underneath his feet, the element seemed to always be looking for an excuse to quake. Faerro could tell how badly the earth wanted to move, and he just hoped this Tio would be an adequate challenge.

“Well, I believe the challenger takes the first move.” A shark’s smile was plain on his face as he raised a hand towards Tio. “Whenever you’re ready, Leo.”

[Balthazar Black]

72 Ashan 719 | Balthazar Black | Outside Yaralon

When Tio greeted Balthazar by the wrong name Balthazar's mouth curved into a sideways smile was if he was thinking about correcting Tio and had ultimately decided it didn't matter. His decision was admittedly prompted slightly by Tio's less than normal appearance. The faceless bone mask and ostentatious jacket were certainly the stars of the show when it came to things Balthazar noticed about Tio but before he could really think or comment about them he had been called over by Prae with a question he could actually answer.

The mer greeted Balthazar with an overzealous handshake. Because he squeezed so tightly he would feel how warm Balthazar was to the touch, his skin being comparable to a cup full of a hot liquid. Faerro seemed to quickly occupy himself with Tio and Balthazar was glad to see that they were taking some initiative because he knew he was under-qualified to manage the number of people who had arrived. It was easier to teach one on one when you were no master. "If you want some added difficulty, you can go spar on the far end of the firing range and dodge or send back our projectiles once I've talked with Prae." Balthazar suggested to the duo "However I'd otherwise ask you stay closer to the target square so as to avoid accidental crossfire." With that, Balthazar returned his attention to Prae.

Balthazar watched Prae demonstrate and remembered what he'd (Balthazar) done during their sparring. Prae had knocked him off center then and it had been dumb luck that his rock succeeded as well as it had. "Root yourself in the earth and aim with your whole arm." Balthazar said as he tapped the floor with his foot lightly. He thought for a moment and then stomped, causing a small chunk of dirt to pop up into the air. Then he jabbed towards one of the far targets before the dirt could fall and the chunk of dirt flew towards it. It missed, but it had been closer than the pebble had been to Balthazar.

"The stomp is the first part, it loosens the earth and sends your projectile up. Then you should punch towards whatever you are aiming at. Imagine the rock as an extension of your punch rather than it's own projectile. That generally helps me stay a little more on target." Balthazar explained. "A lot of what I practice seeks to use the elements as an extension of your own body rather than an independent force we try to persuade. However the techniques used seem to vary depending on the element you want to use. Earth and fire do not behave the same way and so neither can you when using them as an extension of yourself." Balthazar spouted his theory like it was fact because it had worked well for him in the past.

Then Balthazar considered what Prae had told him about his chosen kin and his face twisted in thought. "In your case, it may be easier to guide it with the wind once you've lifted the rock with the stomp. Earth is not my kin but I learned the technique using earth alone so I have learned to guide it with earth alone. You don't necessarily have to." He suggested.