Once an isolated and dying township, an influx of academics, adventurers and thrill seekers have made Scalvoris Town their home. From scholars' tea shops to a new satellite campus for Viden Academy, this is an exciting place to visit or make your home!
A small bundle of straw lay to the side of the practice area that Woe was setting up for his lessons. He'd invited any and all Element troops that wished to learn to use a whip. The flier he'd sent out was simple, but he thought it was rather persuasive. Of course, many potential students came with built-in prejudices and opinions that would turn them away from such an exotic and rather ineffecient weapon. he addressed those concerns, or thought he did, in his flier:
To whom it should concern,
Trooper Morandi will be staging training sessions with the whip as a weapon on the 19th of Saun, during the late afternoon hours.
The whip, while not as deadly as a blade, or possessing the concussive force of a mace, has other qualities that recommend it to a potential learner. Pain compliance and the threat of pain can end a fight before it begins. But even in cases where compliance is not enforced, the whip can be an unpredictable and useful weapon.
To those less strong or durable of arm, the whip doesn't have the same threat of hand-shock in the strike. A tireless weapon that you can use throughout a battle without fear of losing the strength of one's grip. Ideal for lone cavalry or loose tactical formations, depending on the length, the whip has greater range than most side-arms, yet is as nearly as easy to carry and conceal on one's person as a dagger.
If you've any interest in learning about this weapon, and finding out if it might be to your benefit, meet Trooper Morandi at dusk on the 19th of Saun, in the Proving Grounds. He will set up a special training regime for any and all comers.
Thus the flier read, and Woe anticipated plenty of interest. He was fairly looking forward to the prospect of finally teaching what he knew of the whip. Having trained long ago in Rynmere, his first lesson he'd been harangued for his choice of weapon. But in that time, he'd overcome the whip's short-comings, and made it his own, working within his own system of fighting.
Yet even so, he couldn't expect his students to aspire to such an unrealistic standard as his own level of skill. He had to show them to use the whip in ways that worked for even those lesser skilled. Thus he planned on hedging their expectations, without entirely upsetting their aspirations.
So as he stood on the edge of his training circle, he began placing up small strands of straw on the arms o fthe dummies. The first lesson, and most important one, was precision. Knowing where to hit was all well and good, but being able to actually find one's target with a whip was at times difficult for those who were only beginners.
Iago was with him of course, as well as Fleaface. Woe had made sure to arrange for the old peasant to meet him in the Proving Grounds. As Woe set up the training implements he thought he'd need, his son and the old Etzori peasant shot the breeze.
Iago looked up at him, and gave him a cock-eyed grin, "Hello again, Mister Cutler!"
Fleaface looked down at the boy, although he was only half a foot taller, and shrugged, "Cutler was my Uncle's name. I stabbed him in the nads." Fleaface turned his head and spat into the sand at his abusive relative's memory, Call me Fargis if yer want."
Iago snickered, and nodded, turning to look at what Woe was doing once more. It wouldn't be long before his first student arrived... or so Woe hoped.
The students did trickle into his midst, after a quarter break of waiting. One by one... well there was one at least. It was a start. Woe introduced himself to the prospective learner, waving him over. "Welcome. You an element recruit? Looking to learn to use a whip?" Woe looked over the shoulder of his student, hopefully. He wondered if anyone else would come although in truth he'd be satisfied with one learner at the moment. It just meant more of his instruction would sink in. He hoped.
The student nodded, and gestured toward a cat of nine tails that hung from a hook in his belt. It wasn't what Woe would be teaching primarily today, but it was good that the man was not just dabbling but had commitment to their weapon of choice. "Yah, joined up last week, hoping to end up in the Water Elements."
Woe nodded to him, "That's a good position to learn whips. This kind of weapon isn't something you'd want to be swinging in a tight formation anyway. It's well suited to ship and mounted combat. That said, I'd like to start with something a little different from that particular kind of whip. I'm going to teach you accuracy with a bullwhip for now. We'll see how you like it?"
The recruit quirked an eyebrow, "Why cannae use me own nine-tails? Do y'not know how to use it?"
Woe shook his head. "No, I've used a cat many times, actually..."
"Bet you 'ave..." Fleaface said snidely, snickering as he ribbed Iago with his elbow. The boy laughed as well. Woe didn't particularly care about getting mocked, but he didn't enjoy the influence Fleaface was beginning to exert over his son. He'd have to have words with them after. But for now, he had a single student.
"As I said, many times used a cat. It's a decent pain compliance weapon. But limited in range and somewhat in utility. We'll be teaching you to accurately strike with a long whip for now." So saying, Woe pulled the rawhide bullwhip he'd found long ago from left side of his belt. This he handed to his student. Then, once it was in the student's hands, he signaled for him to take a few paces backward. "My name is Trooper Morandi by the way."
"Alvin." The recruit said in return.
"Alright, Alvin. You see these singular straws sticking out from the top of this dummy's arms?" Woe pushed his hands out, to signal that he should take another pace backward. Then he used his hands to indicate an area just above the straws. "Once I say ready, I want you to try and snap the whip above the straw. For ease of detecting the tip of the whip, I've tied a red cloth to the end of the fall. That should make it easier to see where the end of the whip is at all times."
Woe took steps away from the dummy then, and watched his student's form. He went over toward him, and corrected his stance. He kicked his feet into the right places, and guided his posture so that he wouldn't put himself at risk, leaning forward. "Right, like that. Try and hit just above the arm. Don't worry about accuracy yet, just get a feel for how the end of the whip moves and where it lands."
Backing to the side of his student, he waited for him to give it a shot. Soon enough, the air was filling with the sounds of a whip cracking. Cracking it, however, any which way was the easy part that anyone with mechanical control over their own limbs could do. The whip was designed to do it. What Woe was looking for, was the proper muscle and arm movements, to ensure that he got the right lessons down. Lessons that Woe had to teach himself over long arcs.
So it went, the recruit used the rawhide whip and flashed red with every crack.
The whip flashed with red every other second. Alvin was succumbing to a form of hypnotic fascination with the cracking and the colorful fall of the whip, the way it struck through the air. It was a common enough phenomenon, but they weren't there to waste time or just crack the whip. Woe was there to teach him how to use it, and how to use it accurately. So he called a stop to the practice, as Alvin hadn't harmed a single fiber on any of the straws, but either hit too high, low, or wide. His control over the whip was abyssmal, and Woe couldn't have such shoddy skill on his conscience as a teacher. He considered for a moment using pain as an object lesson for failure, but suppressed the impulse, knowing it might get him into hot water with the commanders.
Instead, he took the lad's place, and slowly demonstrated one of the easier strikes to perform. "Start with the whip lying prone in front of you, should be easy enough to put it in that position, just move your wrist slightly and let the lash uncurl. Not with too much force. You don't want to crack the whip everytime you move your arm..."
Woe watched him throw the lash of the whip softly onto the ground. He managed to do so without breaking the air. Woe nodded at him. "Good, now lift the whip from a low guard position, to about shoulder level, and then back down again... There. Like this."
Woe demonstrated with his blooded leather whip. With a swift flash, the whip severed a singular straw from the left arm of the dummy.
His student looked on in somewhat blithe interest. Yet he could sense that the lad wanted to see more. So Woe showed him more. In the end, he only had this one student who was marginally interested in learning to use a whip. So he would teach him. But to do so, meant enticing him in some sense, with all of the interesting ways Woe himself could use the whip.
So he signalled for Alvin to step back, so that he would have room to move. He didn't need him to, but it was best to press such safety precautions into learners of a bullwhip, at least. So from his basic stance, he repeated the motion that he'd taught Alvin. From a prone position, the whip came up and forward, severing another straw. Woe tried other angles of attack as well, but without even fully recoiling his whip he sent it forward and back again. The whip sliced through the air like a blade of red, in ten seconds, he severed each of the straws. One by one, inch by inch down from the tip. In about a few dozen strikes.
Alvin stood dumbstruck by Woe's mastery of the whip. "I really would like to learn to do that..."
Woe nodded, "It comes from years of practice. But for now, you'll need to learn accuracy. So again, this time keep track of where the red fall is hitting the air. And then, try to correct the motion and get a feel for how it falls."
Having instructed him again, he carried on with the lessons into the following break. In the end, he knew he'd found a prospective student. And despite Iago's laughing along with Fleaface, he could see he'd made an impression on his son as well. It'd be good to teach him how to use the weapon, when Woe decided he was ready.
Whip: Tying a red fall to the whip, to make it easier for the student to see where it's landing.
Whip: Whipping from the ground, up.
Leadership: Inspiring someone to do better.
Leadership: Impressing a lower rank with your skill.
Leadership: Providing an example of great skill, to show what is possible.
Teaching: Giving a good impression of what you're teaching, in order to engender an interest in learning.
Skillplay: Appropriate to level
Loot: Information.
Injury/Overstepping: None.
Renown: +5. Even though he only got one taker, Woe is starting to gain a reputation as “that whip guy”.
Wealth Points: None.
Collaboration: No
Magic Experience?: No.
Comments:
It’s too bad only Alvin showed up, but it gave Woe a chance to focus on particular teaching points. Maybe next time he’ll bring the rest of the chipmunks.
I liked the interactions between Iago and Fleaface; I loved Woe’s ambivalence about the youth spending so much time around the rather rough-necked guy.
I learned a thing or two about whips, too. I didn’t know what a fall was! And the use of training aids was clever.
Enjoy your rewards! And leave the poor cats alone!
