Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

She had arrived, as was usual, a few bits early and she had with her the homework that he had set her the time before and her books. Always different books, but she seemed to know them, like she spent time reading them avidly. Faith was here for the third lesson with Padraig and, in that time, he had demonstrated that he was a patient teacher and a thorough one. He still insisted on making the tea despite her telling him with a very serious expression that she would grow accustomed to such behaviour, then she would become lazy and eventually her owner would have no choice than to have her killed. Which somehow she made sound like it would be the fault of his cups of tea. But that all notwithstanding, she did her homework dilligently, often doing more than she neded to if an opportunity had presented itself and last time and this one, she had arrived with some home made cake. Last time it had been a sweet lemon and honey cake, just a few slices of it, but this time as she arrived and dropped, of course, a curtsy, she handed him a carefully wrapped chocolate orange cake. She was a good baker and the slices of cake were handed over with thanks for the tea, and with a genuine smile of gratitude.

As was becoming habit, Faith put her books down on the table and turned to smile at him. "My homework" she said, motioning to the two pieces of parchment covered with her small, neat handwriting. She waited for him to put the cake away and yet, there was no doubting that she was excited. "Chemistry. I have been doing a little reading and I am excited and pleased at the prospect of learning it. I was reading about solids and liquids and gases and acids and alka... alkalines?" she tripped over the last word, not quite pronouncing it properly "I think it is like. Well, I do not really understand it. I understand that it is the opposite of an acid, but what the properties of that mean I do not know. But hello. How are you this trial?" she asked, aware that her enthusiasm was running ahead of her.

Sitting, but only when he bade her to, Faith looked at Padraig and handed him the book on chemistry that she had picked up from the library. "It seems, on reflection, a little advanced" she said and indeed she was right. It was not an advanced chemistry tome, but equally it was not a beginning one either and, without any previous knowledge she would likely struggle to make sense of it.

As was her habit, she sat with the parchment in front of her, ready to make notes and to consider what he was telling her. "So, if mathematics is an abstract theory which gives structure to other sciences, what is chemistry?" she asked. Other than confusing, she considered, if that book was anything to go by.

If she kept bringing him sweets, he was going to grow thick around the middle. But nonetheless Padraig thanked her and ate what she brought him. It would have been rude, otherwise. In return, he'd been experimenting a little with the tea that he served her. What was tea brewing after all but every trial, practical alchemy? Or chemistry for that matter. He knew what plants and herbs were poisonous, and so by process of elimination, he knew which of them was not. So there was little risk of inadvertently killing her in the name of experimentation. The result was not unpleasant, he'd checked to make sure.

He smiled just a little when he looked at the completed work that she'd brought him. "You've done more than I gave you," Padraig remarked. It must have taken some time, and he wondered what her master thought of her spending so much time on her studies. He didn't ask aloud though, and while he looked over what she'd done, he considered her question. And he thumbed through the book as well. "It's not exactly light reading," he agreed. "But there's plenty of useful information there. There are charts, identifying symbols that it will do you some good to memorize." Alkalines then? "Alkali. Alkalinity refers to the quantitative capacity of a solution to neutralize an acid. In other words, alkali act as a counter to acids. The trick is knowing the proper measure," he explained.

He sat, after her, and considered her next question while still looking over the sheet she'd handed him. "Hello. I'm doing well," he added, a little after the fact. "And so did you." Padraig had finally handed her back the paper, having failed to find any mistakes. "Chemistry deals with the identification of substances, those which matter is made of. Matter being the stuff that everything that occupies a physical space is comprised of; unlike mind and spirit and space itself; from you and me, to the blades of grass outdoors. And so," he added, "A chemist investigates the properties of these substances and the ways in which they interact. How they combine and how they might change during the course. He can then manipulate that process in order to form completely new substances."

ad he ever asked her about the time she spent, and how she made it, he might have been a little surprised at her answer. But he didn't, she didn't offer the information and that seemed to work fine. He had been experimenting with the tea again, she judged as he put the cup down and she breathed in. "Is that mint? It smells like mint. Very good for your digestive system" she said, with a nod then she looked a little shamefaced whilst still grinning "My apologies. I associate you with learning and so need to let you know what I have learnt. But it is not necessary with tea, I understand. Medicine" she waved a hand dismissively and took a sip. "It's good. It would make a nice smoke to cook lamb in, or put into a crust for lamb with maybe some nuts for texture. Hmmm." She was a chef, after all, and that meant that herbs were as much part of her trial by trial life as if she'd been a doctor. Strange, but true, she considered.

He smiled, though, at her homework. Just a brief and fleeting thing but it was rare enough that she noticed it. It was her nature to want to please and so she was glad that he was pleased with her work ~ but it was not just her training which was kicking in there. She had touched on it earlier, he was the holder of knowledge and, as such, she wanted him to be pleased with her work for and of itself. It was a strange thing, this desire for something in her own right and Faith was still coming to terms with it in many ways. But mostly, she was just riding the wave of it and enjoying the new sensations. She wasn't hurting anyone, she was not failing in her duties and so, she was just doing the best that she could.

Memorising the charts would do her good? She nodded and made a note to copy them this evening before she took the book back on the next trial. But then he told her what alkalinity was and she frowned slightly "So it is defined by it's opposite nature to acidity? That is interesting" she wondered how she could explain the question she was asking "So, do we measure alkaline.. alkalininity by it's reaction to acid or does it have a measure of alkalininity of it's own? I know I'm saying it wrong. Alkaline. Alka..." sighing she gave a good natured smile as she lowered her head to make notes on what chemistry was, frowning deeply in thought. At this rate, these sessions were going to give her wrinkles. "So, chemistry must cross over with physics, then? Because it's about the states of physical matter and physics is about the laws that govern physical matter" she said, referring back to their previous lesson on physics and rummaging in the notes she'd made that trial.

Faith was really looking forward to the session on chemistry, to her mind it would cement the maths and physics that had gone before. But as she glanced at him, there was the sound of screaming suddenly from the outside. Faith looked up and dropped her pencil, standing as she did. Since before the season change, there had been shadowy creatures attacking apparently randomly throughout Andaris. That, of course, was not to mention the civil war of last season which had seen an enormous force of Qe'dreki soldiers and, by all accounts, a large demonic creature attacking. It had all been due to a challenger to the crown, by all accounts, who had led the Qe'dreki rebel army but, when he had died the army had attacked and tens or hundreds of thousands had died. Rynmere had seen more than it's share lately and, as the screams from outside intensified, Faith turned very calmly (far too calmly, in fairness) to Padraig and said "I'll just borrow a knife from your kitchen, with your permission" but it seemed that she was borrowing it with or without permission as she moved to quickly grab it. "Can you fight?" she asked, listening carefully "They're coming closer. Stay behind me if you need to."

"It's mint," he confirmed, and a little bit of lemongrass. He hadn't known exactly how the stuff would taste once he'd brewed it. But Padraig had tested it on himself before she'd arrived, just to make sure it would do no harm. And since the tea hadn't left him curled up in a corner, clutching at his belly and yearning for the deliverance of an early death, he'd decided no harm, no foul and had served it to her. "I'm not much of a cook," the young man admitted. "I feed myself well enough, but that's the extent of it." But if he was more familiar with poisonous potions than medicinal ones, it was because, in retrospect, old Adhamh who had taught him had seemed to have a fixation for things that did more harm than good. He'd been just a boy, and hadn't really questioned it at the time. But he really ought to try and remedy his lack of experience in that regard. A little knowledge in that facet and not its counterpart, after all, could be a dangerous thing.

"In order to measure the alkaline in any give substance, like water for instance, you must measure the amount of acid required to bring the alkaline in balance to a proper ph. Potential of hydrogen," Padraig explained. "But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Better to ease into it. But yes, like other sciences, chemistry and physics..." He hardly had time to finish the explanation, when a scream outdoors startled him out of his thought process. He jerked his head, his eyes to the window and tensed from head to toe. He'd heard about the battles and the shadow beasts. You couldn't live in the city very long without knowing more about it than anyone cared to. But he'd yet to witness any of it personally.

Had it been only a matter of time? It seemed so. He'd done pretty well avoiding. But now it appeared the problem had drifted near his own doorstep. "I do well enough with my fists and feet," he told her, even while she grabbed a knife from his counter. "I have a sword though, and am a quick study." He'd have to be, Padraig guessed, should whatever it was out there find its way to his doorstep. He would not however shield himself behind her. Call him old fashioned, but the thought of it rubbed him every which way but the right one. So he grabbed his sword, from where it was stored beneath the bed, and after barring the door, he took a glance out the window without putting himself in plain view of the outdoors.

aith was, there was no doubting it, a strange young woman and when Padraig stood up, grabbed his sword and then refused to stand behind her, Faith looked (because she felt) rather confused. "What are you doing!?" she hissed as he moved to the window and she moved forward to stand next to him, her hand on his arm and her eyes looking at him with an imploring gaze "I've fought these things twice already. Get out of the window, they'll sense movement" And then, of course, there was the actual truth of it. Hand on his arm, she would tug him if he allowed her to, till he was out of the way. "You are worth a damn sight more than me. I'm a slave. You, however, are a free man. Will you please, please get out of the way?" she whispered. As she did that, she stood next to him, shorter than him so looking up and her gaze was insistent "We can discuss whether it's right or wrong later, but you know if you die, I'm going to get blamed and if I die, no one will care. So lets neither of us die?" she pleaded.

The screams from outside grew louder and Faith looked at him with a calm and yet highly judgemental gaze. "Ok. So how many actual battles have you...." she cursed, then, cutting off her question as the sounds from outside grew and grew some more. Whatever it was was coming this way and so she glanced at Padraig and, in the seconds that she figured they had she said all that she could. "Together?" she asked, her expression very telling of the completely new situation that 'together' might pose for her. How 'together' worked she did not know because she was owned by a man with a very limited combat skill, so when there was fighting (or cooking) to be done, she did it. This behaviour was completely unknown to her and it showed.

As she said that word, whatever he had put to bar the door shattered and the door itself flew open. It might seem like it really flew as the body (not dead, not judging by how much he was flailing anyhow) of a young man shot through there, having been propelled at high speed. The high pitched screeching noise which accompanied the creatures was heard and then, following behind the body of the young man (who, should they live that long, turned out to work in the florist down the street) as he landed with a crash. The shadow creature ran in, looked around and hissed at the two of them. The first one to move would almost certainly be its target and Faith was far from standing still. Given her druthers, the slave would be protecting him as much as possible, but then, that was what she did.

What he did, of course, was quite a different thing.

Get out of the window? Padraig wasn't about to dive into a quick debate on the nuances of exactly where he was standing and what he was doing. But fact was, he'd yet to see one of the shadow beasts that were terrorizing the populace, and if there was any chance of something murderous charging through his door and into his home, he'd like to know just what he'd be dealing with. Neither was he going to waste time arguing the value of one human being, opposed to another's worth, or point out that the chances of him allowing a woman to do his fighting for him, were slim to none.

He might not have handled a blade much before, except to slice off a good chunk of his morning bread. But he was a quick study. "Agreed," he said. He'd give her that. Neither of them should die that trial. And he'd get out of the way. "Battles?" That ought tell her exactly how many fights he'd engaged in to now. At least the kind she was probably talking about. The screams outdoors grew louder, he glanced at the door, and Padraig choked up on the grip of his sword with both hands. "I was a skinny, socially awkward kid more interested in learning than spitting, kicking stray dogs and scratching my arse," he said. "I've seen more than my share of skirmishes and won more than I lost." With his feet, his fists, his wits. Just not with a sword.

When the beast came crashing through the door, Padraig was temporarily stunned by its arrival. But not for long. She moved, the beast swiveled its head and it too in pursuit of her, and it shook Padraig out of his trance. If it was focused on her, pursuing, grabbing, snarling, clawing, then it was not focused on him. And he took advantage by leaping over the prone body of the florist, coming up behind the beast, and with his blade, taking an arcing, slicing, two handed swipe at the back of the thing's knees. Assuming it had knees, of course.

It did. Knees, that was. But in spite of it, Padraig's experience with a blade being what it was, it was a moving target and his aim left a lot to be desired. He made contact with cutting edge of his sword, but not on the tender backs of the knees as he'd hoped. His blade ended up glancing off the side of the beast's leg, left a good but shallow cut. And in response, the thing let out a pained and annoyed howl, and snarled as it yanked its head in Padraig's direction. He'd gotten it's attention at least, away from Faith. But now that he had it, however long that lasted, he stepped back again with the tip of his sword aimed in its general direction, attempting to ward it off.

f only she had been more of a sarcastic kind, Faith would have suggested that now was not the time to whip out what limited arse-scratching skill he had. In truth, his statement was a confusing non-sequitor for her as it referenced experiences that she had never had. But she got his general meaning which was that no, he really hadn't done this much. That was fine, in the greater schemes of thing, neither had she. Clutching her knife she stepped backwards, nervously as the damn thing jumped in and she jumped backwards, putting herself in between the florist (not that she knew that was what he was. It wouldn't have made a difference, she wasn't judgemental) and the creature. It swung a claw at her and Faith moved her upper body backwards, leaning so that it missed her. It was moving fast, though and she knew that she had evaded that blow but the next one, or the one after was just going to be too much to deal with.

Thankfully, or not as the case may be, just as it started to swipe at her again and Faith realised that this was the one that was going to hit her, because she just couldn't move fast enough, but it turned, snarling. There, behind it stood Padraig and he had swung at it. The howl that emanated from it chilled her and Faith saw it turn at him and move towards him. Obviously, it had every intention of ripping his head from his shoulders and Faith had seen the thing which had attacked her and Tristan and she knew that it took a good few stabs from him. Granted, that was with a cheese knife and as she realised that a cheese knife was exactly what she was weilding. She'd be delighted with the irony later, she decided and she stepped forward quickly, jumping and wrestling it to the ground.

Now, it might seem like a lunatic move, but Faith had done it before and it had worked. She knew herself that her skill at unarmed combat was a sight better than her skill with cheese knives. She saw the opening and jumped, arm wrapping around the thing's throat so that the back of it's head was held against hers. She could feel it's fetid breath exiting it's mouth as her other arm, and both legs, wrapped around it. Then, as she landed she twisted so that she was laying on her side, clutching the thing and yet it was open enough that Padraig could (hopefully) hit it without hitting her.

"In your own time!" she yelled, fear giving her voice an edge which she would never normally take with a free man.

Well he'd gotten the thing's attention alright. It had been Padraig's intention, but only in part, when he'd taken a swipe at the beast with his blade. It's focus then had been on Faith and, worst case scenario, he'd rather it was back on him. But he'd also hoped to take the creature down at the knees. A thick hide, combined with his inexperience with a blade had resulted in a shallow cut, and when the thing turned back on him, if possible, it was angrier than before.

A swift left hook might be preferable, but the young man rolled the grip of his sword to get a better hold on it, and stood his ground as the beast advanced. He glanced past it, determined he was going to hold its focus away from Faith. He couldn't have read her mind though or anticipated what she'd do. And then she tackled it? As she jumped on its back and it toppled sideways from surprise and from the impact, Padraig leaped out of the way but only temporarily.

She didn't have to say anything, he was already looking for an opening. And as she rolled to the side, arms and legs wrapped round the struggling, snarling, mangy form, it exposed the beast's torso and side. It was just what he'd been looking for. Padraig stepped in, and mindful of that thick hide this time, and Faith, with two hands he plunged his sword into the place just below the ribs. Or where he imagined they might be under all of that hair. The creature screamed in outrage and anguish, its body violently twisted and bucked. Enough to dislodge her or allow her to untangle herself.

Padraig's chest rose and fell from the exertion of it, but as he pulled his blade loose in hopes of Faith distancing herself from the beast, a dark stain spread from underneath the beast and pooled on the rug. Its wails had turned to a low and slow rhythmic growl, and its struggles stilled as it bled out on the floor. It twitched. It wasn't dead yet, but it would be very soon if not finished off more quickly than that.

he considered, suddenly, that perhaps her sudden tackle of the beast might have surprised him a little bit. Faith had fought these creatures before with Tristan and this move had worked well. But of course, Padraig had no idea of that. But equally she considered, there wasn't really time to explain it to him. All in all, the young woman thought that he coped more than admirably with everything that was happening and, later, she would give a slight grin to that thought. Evidently, swatting at some zombies with a frypan and wrestling a shadow beast meant that she was not only an expert in all things combat, but she was also a judge of others.

However, she held it, he stabbed it and the scream which emanated from it was enough to send chills down her back again and then, just as it seemed like it was never going to happen, it died. They knew when it did, of course, because it simply disappeared, no longer there and even the strange black oozing liquid just, gone.

Faith was laying on the floor as it disappeared and she pumped her legs in a backwards motion, pushing herself out of the way before she got up. She was spooked, there was no doubting it but her first thought was the also the first thing she said "Are you alright? Did anything break?" And indeed, she made sure that Padraig was uninured, then the florist then the household equipment.

"We should lock that door, we should ummm....." she said and sat down with a small sigh and the realisation that they were, at least, alive.