A Paladin's Heart

[Ravyn]

Manar's eyes widen slightly, then she laughs, acting like nothing happened. "I'm almost surprised you talk about it so offhandly about it--uncomfortable it may have been, but I imagine there's quite a story behind it. Even with what you said, I'd take the opportunity in a hearthbeat."

[chiefwaha]

Rayvon listened quietly for a while, something decidedly unnatural for him. "Perhaps we should rest a while before we continue onto the more difficult terrain? he asked as he stared longingly at a small pond.

[storybookknight]

Owyn looked at Manar with a fairly closed-off expression. "It does seem a fairly glorious opportunity, doesn't it? It's a romantic sort of idea, the knight and the dragon crusading against villainy. Torm knows, I learned the saga of Brin and the Golden Wing by heart, as many times as I had to sing it... But there's nothing glorious about killing or risking one's life. Glory is what happens when circumstances force you to take risks that endanger both you and those that depend on you; next to duty, glory is... less than nothing." In an effort to lighten the mood, Owyn grinned. "Besides, after that, I had to ride a jealous filly with my chapped and bruised legs for the next hundred miles until I stopped being sore and she forgave me. She was sore she didn't have wings and well, so was I."

Looking at the pond, Owyn shrugs. "I don't see why not. As long as we're on a pleasant excursion, we might as well make the most of the opportunity. Even knights need rest on occasion, and it's likely that we'll be denied that chance soon enough."

[Ryshan Ynrith]

Aleksei looks at Owyn with a measure of approval. "Wise words, Herald Owyn. I must confess, I have never flown, or even come close to flying, save perhaps when my horse is cut out from under me."

At the suggestion to halt, he shrugs. "If you wish. I will stop or go on, whatever the rest desire."

Owyn seems a good man-experienced and mature. I think young Malfrin is in capable hands.

[Toliudar]

Malfrin

At Aleksei's words, Malfrin slings the pack off his back at the side of the pond.

Sounds like a plan to me, Aleksei. Because if I'm going to be facing danger - and probably sweating up a storm - later on, I might as well get comfortable now.

His sword belt lands on the pack. Malfrin stoops to scoop up a handful of the water, which he sloshes over his face and hair.

Ah! Just cold enough to make it fun. By your leave, my lady?

In a dash, both boots and his chain shirt are off, followed by the quilted undergarment. His chest and back are gleaming, hairless and smooth. Rolling his trousers up to his knees, Malfrin wades into the pond a step or two.

Whoo! Okay, maybe more than cold enough. Anyone else coming in?

[mdsoze]

Samson looks down at Malfrin.

No, I think my armor would get rusted. It would be most unfortunate. I am enjoying the sun as well.

Samson strolls over, and finds a sturdy tree bough that he can sit on, and he rests against it, letting the sun shine down on him.

[chiefwaha]

Rayvon raised his hand and looked about to say something as Malfrin started splashing around and let it drop. He sighed and put the fishing line he'd been pulling out back. He nodded at Buddy who bounded into the water with a large splash. He waded out to a small rock a few feet from shore and sat with his bare feet hanging into the water. He closed his eyes and turned his face towards the sun.

[Toliudar]

Malfrin

After a quick, questioning glance at Sir Rayvon, Tong wades over to Buddy to scratch the big dog between his ears, and is rewarded with a spray of water shaken from the blink dog's pelt. Splutters merge with laughter as he tries to clear the pond water from his eyes.

[Ryshan Ynrith]

Aleksei sits down next to Samson with a friendly nod, and pulls out something small and shiny from his pack. He inspects it with great care, then takes out a small box full of intricate metal tools and begins to slowly select one.

"Have you any hobbies, Sir Samson? Anything to do in your spare time?"

[mdsoze]

Samson smiles, and looks to Manar.

Yes. I find ways to keep myself busy at odd moments. I find that to be a key to sanity in our role. We are taught to tirelessly seek work, so when it doesn't find us, we end up making more.

[Ravyn]

Manar laughs, sitting down near the pond, then absently runs a hand through the water as she responds. "Of course. Else we'd get rusty." She looks down at the bank for a moment, then picks up a stone and deftly skips it over the water, softly humming an old ballad as she watches it splash away.

[storybookknight]

Owyn picks up the refrain of the ballad, whistling merrily and in tune. He deftly reaches into his pack and pulls out a silver flute, old and worn but well cared for. "I learned the horn as part of my heraldic duties, but it's a more strident instrument than really needs to be played with friends." With that, he set flute to lips and improvised a descant to the song, then afterwards changed keys, beginning to play 'Brin and the Golden Wing', a half-smile on his lips as he closed his eyes in concentration.

[Glikker]

Amun's face grows somewhat concerned as the rest of the group settles into more recreational activities, but he says nothing. Instead, he places his crossbow nearby and begins practicing sword forms, obviously watching the terrain nearby.

[mdsoze]

Samson turns to Amun.

A man who clearly loves his work. Tell me, Amun, do you ever spar? Swing, but not actually strike?

Samson steps forward, half-reaching towards his sword.

And if so, would you like to practice your forms with a partner?

[Glikker]

Amun stops his practicing and bows to Samson, "I would be honored to practice with you. I have never practiced with so large a partner. I think such practice would be... educational."

Amun stands square to Samson with his sword upright in front of him. "Samson-Dirat, this is Ashen-Dediroh. He and I greet you on the field of battle. We wish you speed, strength and cunning. We pray to Osiris that we may learn from this meeting." His monologue has the signs of ritual, but the smile on his face is friendly and open.

[Toliudar]

Malfrin

Now completely soaked, Malfrin notices the spread of gooseflesh on him, and decides to wade for shore. Shaking himself off in a pale imitation of Buddy, he manages to slide a fair bit of the water off of himself before using his undergarments to dry his face.

Listening to Owyn's beautiful melody, his soft, slender tenor picks up the melody:

As youth I roamed from field to field
And tested all the summer's pride
Till I the prince of love beheld
Within a sunbeam's delight

Colouring at the others' glances, he switches to one of his favourite tricks, combining the words to a well-known hymn to Torm with a tavern drinking tune. Punctuating it with elaborate flourishes as he dresses, the youth is soon dressed again:

Lord Torm, show me duty's path
To righteousness each day.
I take up each new task with joy.
Stand firm with me, I pray.

Winking to Owyn, he ruffles his hair to help dry it in the sun. He turns to see what might emerge between Amun and Samson.

Go easy on him, Sir Amun. He had to fight off three expert knights almost single-handed last night.

[mdsoze]

Samson

Samson draws his greatsword, measuring the distance between himself and his opponent, making surprisingly subtle movements with his sword. As Amun gives him a traditional greeting, he bares his teeth in a terrible smile.

Amun, I am Samson, Merciful Sword of Tyr, and I wish you strength, resolve, and will in our contest.

Samson measures the distance between himself and his opponent, ensuring it is at least 25 feet, and then he holds his great sword in one hand momentarily, reaching out with the other, and gesturing for Amun to approach him before returning his hand to its place on the hilt, and circling slowly, letting his partner make the first move.

[chiefwaha]

Rayvon shook his head at the two warriors readying themselves to spar. He pulled out his pipe and watched for a while. Rayvon waited a couple of minutes after Malfrin left the water and pulled out some fishing line from his pocket. He threw the end into the pond and waited, smiling.

[Ryshan Ynrith]

Aleksei watches his companions ready themselves for a few moments, then turns back to the ruby in his hands. Not too much more, now. Should turn out rather nice, as long as I don't do something completely wrong. Hmmm...perhaps I could do something unique...

As Samson and Amun spar, he selects an etching tool and begins work on the top facet of the gemstone.

I think that will work, yes.

[Ravyn]

Manar follows Owyn and Malfrin's changes in tune as they go, singing the harmony in a clear, practiced contralto and humming in the few places where she doesn't know the words, her eyes on the two about to spar.

There are places to fight and places to enjoy, and this is one of the latter, but I don't think I'd get anywhere trying to explain that....

[Toliudar]

Malfrin

Enjoying the simple joy of making music together, Malfrin plops down on the bank next to Manar. Following her glance, he has to stifle his own laugh, and warbles dangerously close to a discord before correcting.

As the song ends, he guides their tune into a more sombre tone: The Hand of Valour, a battle hymn popular among the followers of Tyr.

[storybookknight]

Owyn's piping switched from melodic to a sound more shrill and skirling, an improptu descant and accompaniment to the practice at hand. He was eager to see the fight, although the outcome seemed more likely to favor the huge, steel-clad minotaur.

[Ryshan Ynrith]

Smiling at the familiar tune, Aleksei begins humming along to it as he works carefully on the ruby in his hands, and unconsciously begins singing softly in his native tongue.

A fitting tune. Shame I've no access to an instrument...I think I was a fair hand at it, though it's been so long.

[chiefwaha]

Rayvon sighed a little, I'll never catch anything now, and wound his fishing line back around a spool and hopped back to the bank. Since everyone is being so martial, might as well practice too. He whistled and Buddy walked over. Rayvon rifled through one of the saddle bags and pulled out a quiver divided into three sections. He pulled an short bow of elven make from the largest section and quickly strung it. He then slung the quiver over his shoulder. He went back into the saddle bags and pulled out some bracers and gloves to protect his arms and fingers. "I have to say, I'm much more comfortable using this. Distance makes up for the lack of size," he said as he shot at a tree a short distance away.

[storybookknight]

Owyn broke off his melody, a grin on his face. "A friendly competition, Rayvon? The arrow isn't quite as popular among Torm's followers as it is elsewhere, and testing your skills against your peers is one of His chivalrous virtues." In easy reach Owyn had a longish recurve bow of ash, lightly reinforced by horn. It was a horseman's bow, that traded a difficulty in stringing and drawing the bow to maintain range and penetration concurrent with a conventional longbow despite its smaller size. There were dwarven runes etched into the bow's horn reinforcements, and the bowstring looked a bit too dark to be conventional gut. Owyn looked to already be wearing his gloves, though they looked slightly heavier than normal archer's wear. It was an elven design typical to scouts and skirmishers, thicker than normal to protect the hands in melee but treated with special oils to maintain its flexibility. Stringing it, Owyn asked Rayvon "Have you a target in mind?"

[chiefwaha]

Rayvon chuckled, "Sure. Let's start with something easy, say one standing shot, nonmoving target, at forty feet. I think that would give us a fairly even starting point, don't you agree?"

[storybookknight]

Owyn grinned. "That works well enough for me... Malfrin, stand still, would you?" Not waiting for the noise of disgust, Owyn turned and pointed his bow away from everyone else. "Since we lack a formal archery range, we could play Thaet - you know the rules? First person declares a target and shoots, second tries to hit the same target, a miss earns the second shooter a letter, and one takes turns?" Owyn shrugs. "I played Thaet with throwing hammers in the mountains once, against a paladin of Moradin on our way to cleaning out a nest of Wyverns. He won after he started designating wyvern wing joints as targets; they're much harder to hit after they've fallen out of the sky into a ravine. Of course, by that time we had more important duties to attend to... Sir Rayvon, the first shot is yours."

Thaet was the elven word for Horse. One really had to admire a culture that developed a form of leisure based around potentially deadly weapons...

[Glikker]

The two combatants circled each other cautiously. Samson was a bit more at ease, and clearly on the defensive. Amun analyzed the monolithic knight, attempting to find a weakness. Whether he found one or not, he decided to act first, charging in at Samson. Samson stepped to the side, but his long arms enabled him to make a swing of his own, bringing the side of his blade mere inches from Amun, whose momentum had carried him past the minotaur. Quickly, Amun turned, attempting to circle behind the minotaur, but all he saw as he did so were two very large horns, coming for him. At once, he leapt, clearly Samson as he charged and landing immediately behind him. Amun then deftly brought the flat of his sword to the hamstring of the minotaur. Samson was aware of what had happened, and had managed to swing his weight about, and though he was unable to dodge the blow, he delivered one of his own, striking Amun solidly in the shoulder, causing the small man to roll away.

Samson turned, and faced Amun, bowing.

A fine hit. Well placed.

Rolling his hit shoulder, Amun smiled at the large night. "The first hit is not the most important. Your worthy blade would have sent me to the arms of Osiris for sure. I have fought my share of larger enemies, but your speed was unexpected." Amun bows again and brings his sword forward.

When Amun took the ready position, Samson wasted no time getting to work in round two. He advaced, using his size to cut off escape routes for the other paladin. And then, he swung. A great deal of his might, gathered into a single strike. His sword missed again, though, and hit the ground with a thump. Amun, seeing his chance to score a second point, leapt up onto the sword, and began running up it like a ramp towards Samson. Seeing this, Samson reacted quickly. He dropped his sword and punched with his left arm. Amun was still falling with the fist touched the center of his breast plate, but Samson clearly pulled the blow, preventing his opponent from taking any real harm.

Amun, you have distinguished yourself in battle. I look forward to continuing this some time, but now, I wish to wash my face in the river.

Amun quickly rolls to his feet, again with a large grin on his face, and bows again to his opponent. "Thank you, Samson-Dirat. The last time I tried that move, my opponent was too stupid to let go of his weapon. It let go of its head instead. You have shown both prowess and wisdom, and you have honored me."

The two combattants turn toward the rest of the group, and Amun seems much more at ease and prepared to relax.

[Toliudar]

Malfrin

The squire leads the cheer for both combatants. Laughing, he shouts:

Remind me to never play leap-frog with, well, either of you, really. But beautiful work.

Now, boss, how's that archery coming?

[Ryshan Ynrith]

Looking up from his work, Aleksei nods. "Indeed! I have little skill in archery myself, but a good shot can save the lives of many. Let us see how you two compare, eh?"

He turns back to his work, frowning slightly in concentration.

Hmmm...this may take longer than I thought...