The Star Wars Iconic Characters and the Lords of the Expanse: Hunting Grounds...

[Pbartender]

OOC: Ok how do my lightsaber skills translate to lightfoils?

[OOCIt is a different enough weapon that you will not be proficient with it, but any skills, feats or special abilities that utilize a lightsaber can aslo use a lightfoil.

He activates the foil and takes a fencers stance. "This is the correct position, yes?"

"Hrm... It is a valiant effort, but it is not quite correct," the instructor paces a circle about Set, perusing his stance. "Here you see the classical Jedi training," he announces to his students, "optimal for a lengthy weapon weilded with both hands... vibroaxes, broadswords, Herglic kitanos, Barab felchions and the like... Notice the more or less square stance, with both shoulders facing the opponent and the feet set wide apart and slightly staggered for balance. A sturdy, powerful stance that provides considerable mobility for the wheeling strikes required of such a grip.

"For a duelist," he now addresses Set along with the students, "single-handedly weilding a lighter weapon... a saber, a rapier or a foil, for example... a more in-line stance is required." He grips Set's shoulders and twists them ninety degrees. "The leading shoulder should point directly toward your opponent, with the trailing shoulder pointing directly away. The feet, likewise, should be placed in a straight line, parallel with shoulders, with slightly more weight on the trailing foot. Like so." He lightly kicks Set's feet into position, and gently leans him ever so slightly backward.

"This stance requires more balance on the part of the combatant, but provides a much smaller target for your opponent.

"The weapon should be held at the en guard position, to provide a quick attack or defense to any position or direction." He positions Set's arm so that it is slightly crooked, with the lightfoil extended straight before him. "The lesser arm is then used to compensate for the lack of balance in the stance, either by curling up and over," the instructor places Set's off-hand on top of his head, "or by curling down and below." He now bends the arm down and tuck Set's hand into his belt.

"Movement should be made by a shuffling forward and backward step, in which the trailing foot never surpassed the leading foot, nor vice versa. Lateral movement is not always recommended in a duel, as it tends to expose your unguarded flanks, though many dueling veterans will employ side steps or pirouettes in a daring attempt to out-flank their adversary."

"Shall we begin, then?" The Barnaban swordsman ignites his blade and takes his position a pace or two away from Set. The lightfoil blades are thinner and seemingly thinner than the Jedi lightsabers Set is accustomed to. Even the glow itself seems weak and diffuse in comparison to the shining blades of the sabers.

"These are live blades, Sir Padawan, and so I'll trust you not to injure either us, yes?" He takes up his fencing crouch, with one hand poised over his head like a scorpion's tail, and his shimmering blade pointed precisely toward Set's nose.

"En guard."

 

[Set Harth]

Set nods listening to the instructors words. Set takes his position. He opens himself to the Force, feeling his surroundings, the lightfoil becoming an extension of his will. (Activate Battlemind +8)

"En guard."

Set will fight defensively for the first round.

 

[Kelko]

Dorn finally stops fiddling with his cards and grins at Kaz and Kelko.

"Speaking of which, are you guys ready to lay your cards on the table?

The Rodian shrugs in response, and then half-heartedly drops his rather poor hand. "Whatever, I guess you you can't win 'em all," he grumbles. He's still irked a bit that Dorn would think that he was going to shoot Kaz Lo. I mean, he had been thinking about it, but that only would've happened in self defense! Besides, friends are supposed to think the best of you.

The jedi must have been suspicious of the Zabrak Technician, that must be it. And he didn't want to just come out and say it to Kaz so he just included them both to be polite! It all made sense now. Thus rationalized, Kelko could happily step up from the finished game of Sabacc. No need to subject Dorn to spending any more time with the ill-mannered Kaz.

He moved away from the table and threw his arms high into the air, stretching his thin frame. "Well, suppose that's it for me. As fun as that was."

 

[Rorworr]

Rorworr chats with Sia while Sen attends to her lip, trying to keep her mind off the pain. "I saw Arani come in while me and Vor'en were beating the stuffing out of each other. Did she have anything much to say?"

 

[Pbartender]

Dueling Class:
Round 1!

Sensing Set's momentary hesitation to attack, the instructor launches himself to the offensive. A dazzling display of lightning fast thrusts, parries, lunges and slashes whirls before the Jedi's eyes. It is nearly all Set can do to simply knock each blow aside with barely enough time to prepare for the next. Fortunately, his fear is drown by the influx of the Force that allows to him to sense each attack mere moments before it happens. [Battlemind: +4 atk, -6 VP]

Set, nigh on breathless from his all-out defense, is astounded as the instructor non-chalantly continues his tutorial commentary, between the hums and buzzes of the flashing blades. "Here we can see the Jedi training in action. Note the concentration of purpose. The focused, centered defense. The efficiency of each movement. Not a single action wasted. Only fools or Grand Masters indulge in the acrobatic displays of the holodramas. Such maneuvers only waste valuable time and energy in which you could instead spend gloating over the defeat of your rival within the relative safety of the local pub... A practice which impresses the young women just as surely, and far less dangerously.

"Observe the the Jedi reflexes. He reacts to my attacks with almost preternatural sensitivity. No doubt drawing upon the mystical powers of the Force itself to imbue himself with an uncanny presceince. A mudane duelist like you or me cannot hope to draw such strength directly from the Force, but with long experience, practice and luck a Master swordsman can rival the combat savvy of any Jedi Knight."

 

[Vor'en Kurn]

Vor'en hovers around aimlessly for a while, watching the Cerean jedi taking care of Sia, and then goes to retrieve his armor. He feels much better after securing the last strap of his blast vest, and heads back to the others.

 

[Sia-Lan Wezz]

Rorworr chats with Sia while Sen attends to her lip, trying to keep her mind off the pain. "I saw Arani come in while me and Vor'en were beating the stuffing out of each other. Did she have anything much to say?"

"Lots of things," Sia answered in a rather cheerful if mumbly voice due to the swollen lip, glancing at Sen briefly before turning her blue gaze back on Rory. "But I'll tell you later."

Stretching out her long legs, the young Jedi sighed, not really that patient to sit still while Sen tended to her. A moment or two later, she pushes Sen's hands away and stands up, brushing off her disheveled robes. "Well, I can't sit still any longer. Let's go upstairs and find something cool to drink!"

That said, Sia grabbed Rory's furry wrist in one hand and Vor'en's armored one in the other, dragging them along with her.

"Come on, Sen!" she called after her Jedi companion.

 

[Arani Korden]

From The Very Secret Diary of Arani Korden

Yesterday, this morning, even a few hours ago, I had a very clear vision of my future. And one thing I knew for sure is that Dorn wasn't in it. It turns out I was completely wrong. Not that I mind, of course.

Dorn said earlier that he felt he was taking his first steps into a larger world. We both are. And we don't know what's going to happen next.

I think I'm okay with that.

I've been thinking about destiny lately, and I'm beginning to think that it's a kind of trap. If you believe you have a destiny, you'll either accept it or fight against it, but either way it will dominate your life. I knew Dorn wasn't a part of my destiny, so I kept a way. Which guaranteed that Dorn wasn't a part of my destiny. But the minute I forgot about destiny, I was able to change it.

I don't know what will happen next. But whatever happens, we'll always have Mrlsst.

 

[Deel Surool]

"Efficient as always. Thank you, Deel, that gives us a good place to start. I think that's all we needed - anything we can do for you?"

"You can all get a good night's rest," he admonishes, "and tell Dorn 'Good Luck and may the Force be with him'... He'll need it."

Deel turns to sign off, but looks back at Arani for a moment, "It certainly took you long enough." The screen goes blank.

 

[Arani Korden]

Arani smiles at the blank screen for a moment. Then she yawns, suddenly realizing how tired she is. Still, with nearly half the crew still at the gym and Set off who-knows-where, she realizes she can't go to bed yet.