(INC) Bellows of War- Battle Thread Part II

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Billy nods and looks to the two of them.

"Both of you go. I have serious training to do. Im still not used to my longer spear. "

He takes a few steps back and turns back toward the training grounds and spins the cursed spear over his head.

[paladin_artea]

Trelane nodded, "Well I didn't ask anyone to look after my share so I better go and see what's available," then he winked at Kamoru, "But don't worry, I'll be sure to play fair and not be too roguish and take all the good stuff."

[Wolfykins]

Kamoru laughed and waved Trelane off as she rounded the corner.


Kamyol glanced over at Al as they moved stuff from carriage to wagon. "Is the stuff in the storage rack all that needs to be transferred?" he asked. "Because it looks like we're about done with that."

[EdgeGrinder]

"The Ifrit armor is tied up under the carriage. It's wrapped up and we can move it together with a staff." Alloishus replied.

[Wolfykins]

"Do you... have a staff?" Kamyol asked, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

[EdgeGrinder]

Alloishus reached under the carriage and untied a rope, letting a wrapped suit of armor drop. He carefully reached into the armor and pulled out a bo staff. "Another of our spoils. If I set the staff through the armor, we can carry it to the wagon."

[Wolfykins]

"Alright, that works. I'm guessing by your caution that this is the armor that made Billy sick? Were you able to figure out what it is, or do I need to check it out when we get to the Spire?" Kamyol asked, helping Al get the armor situated.

[EdgeGrinder]

"That is the armor, but Kamoru and I couldn't figure it out." Alloishus replied.

[STDM Grizzly Ad]

The armor is gingerly carried and lifted into the wagon along with the other goods. The carriage is stowed once more and the two teams haul their goods across town to the crafting spire. Once the team passes through standard security measures they, and their goods are allowed to enter.

(Everyone except for Billy, Kamoru and Niyolaku are moving to crafter thread.)

[Wolfykins]

After a while, Kamoru returned to the barracks with Niyolaku in tow. She also carried a large saddle over her shoulder, shiny and new, just purchased on the way back.
"Hey, Billy, what do you think of this?" she asked, hoisting the forty-pound exotic military saddle around in front of her like it was barely anything.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Billy smiles and nods as he looks the thing over.

"Looks like it will fit well. Have you spoken to Niyolaku about this?"

[Wolfykins]

"I told him what we were planning today while we were walking back. He didn't have much to say about it. He's still kind of subdued and seems to have a lack of energy. In a way, I guess that's kind of a good thing," Kamoru said with a slightly nervous laugh.
"But I do know when you break a horse, you let them get used to the saddle before you try and ride them. Luckily, since Niyolaku can understand us, it won't take weeks of wearing the saddle for a little at a time to get him used to it! But it would probably still be a good idea to let him wear it for a while before we do anything else. He's never carried anything before," Kamoru commented.
She turned around to face Niyolaku and lifted the saddle up. She stood on her tippy-toes. It was a stretch, and it was awkward, but she just managed to get the saddle on his back by tossing it the last few inches.
"Well!" she said breathlessly, "I wasn't quite sure I'd be able to do that without making him lay down!"


Niyolaku twisted around to look at the strange, but nice-smelling, object on his back. It started to slip.


Kamoru lunged to catch the straps under Niyolaku's belly before the saddle could slip off. She began to buckle and tighten them.


Niyolaku inhaled deeply.


Kamoru scowled at the wolf. "Nice try, but horses do that, and I'm at least familiar with harnessing them for pulling!" she said, rapping on the wolf's side.


Niyolaku let out his breath in a whoosh, surprised.


Kamoru took advantage of the moment and quickly tightened the straps flush on his exhale.
"That's fine for now... I'll check to make sure they're tight enough for riding before I actually get up there," she said, turning to look at Billy again.
"Not very many people in the caravan had horses for riding," she explained, "It was pretty much just the advanced scouts who would use them. It's cumbersome and expensive to feed horses, and we tried to limit ourselves to donkeys and mules for pulling the wagons. They're less picky about forage and can go a bit longer without food if they have to. Point being, we almost never rode. We went by foot or riding in the wagons." She paused and peered closely at Billy.
"By the way... you're um... a bit... closer to my eye level... How, uh... how did that happen?" she asked hesitantly, brow pinching.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Billy watched bemused by her familiarity with saddle prep and training without knowing how to ride. It was impressive tertiary knowledge she had gleaned. He watched carefully, making sure she was following the right procedure, even taking Niyolaku's head into his hands, scratching under his chin and behind his ears to further comfort him.

"Do you understand what we are doing Niyolaku? We are going to have you and Kamoru to train together to be a more fierce and powerful pack. "

He looked back up to Kamoru when she mentions his height.

"Oh. I figured if I was lower to the ground I could have a lower center of gravity which would grant me an advantage in combat, and would allow me to defend a smaller area while keeping the majority of my reach and power. I took the Professors Spear he made for me, while Bartleby works on my own spear. "

[Wolfykins]

Niyolaku grunted and licked Billy's face.


Kamoru raised an eyebrow at Billy. "I'm not sure that's how that works," she said wryly, "otherwise I'd have an even bigger advantage. The main advantage of being short is that people underestimate you. I suppose being a girl helps with that, too!" she said with a slightly forced laugh. "But you still look like a highly competent warrior, so I don't think you'll be underestimated," she added, smiling.
"Do you want any tips for 'FWS', 'fighting while short'?" she joked.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Billy continues to scratch Niyolaku, despite the licking.

"Once you got the straps down, you should run him around a bit, do some horse-play, rough house so he can get used to it in most situations. "

He smiles at the new short jokes, not being used to it, the teasing eased the guilt as it was already waning.

"If you have any tips for fighting the big folk, I'd gladly listen."

[Wolfykins]

Kamour's expression sobered. "I'm not sure he's up for very much rough housing," she said pensively. "Niyo, you can roll around in the dirt if you want," she suggested as a compromise.


Niyolaku trotted past her towards the middle of the open space where Billy and Trelane had been sparring and flopped down and started rolling, a joyous expression on his face.


"They're not that different from domestic dogs," Kamoru admitted wryly as she watched him. She shook her head slightly and then looked at Billy and smiled again.
"You've lost, what, six inches?" she asked, looking him up and down. "That's going to translate to your reach. You're not going to be able to thrust your spear over my shoulder as easily as you did in the last battle. You're going to have to compensate for the loss of height. Or I will," Kamoru said with a grin, "I might have to duck or weave to the side to give you access."
She shifted into a combat-ready stance, balancing on the balls of her feet.
"Being shorter changes where you're likely to get hit. You'll take more blows higher up on your body: chest, shoulders, neck, head," she pointed to the places she mentioned as she spoke, "But it also changes how the enemies strike at you. They're more likely to raise their weapons and strike down on you, which gives you an opening!" She slid forward and feinted a lower abdomen punch, as if coming in under a raised weapon, and then spun to the side. "But you have to be ready to move as soon as you hit, because that weapon is still going to come down on you! I mean... unless your blow knocks them off their feet... but that's not very likely from that kind of strike," she commented.
"When you're shorter than your opponent, sometimes it's more advantageous to hold off on striking them, and instead dodge the first few attacks so you can judge what kind of a fighter they are. I know that's not really your style though," Kamoru said with a smile.
"When you're short, you have to decide what range you're going for. I have to find openings and get in close. If I have an opening to get in with fists, I do so. If the opponent is fighting more defensively and keeping some distance between us, I'll use kicks instead, as that gives me a bit more range. Your range is determined by your spear, and that's the same length as before. So you could achieve the same range by changing the position of your grip. However, doing that is also going to change your leverage! So you may need to test the difference in feel for that so you can figure out which way you want to go with that."
"I said being shorter changes where you're likely to get hit, and it also changes where you're likely to land blows. You don't want to aim over your head very often, if you can avoid it, as that creates an opening for your opponent." Kamoru lifted Billy's arm with one hand, as if he were striking high on a taller opponent, and feinted a blow under his arm in demonstration. "You're going to make lower strikes, and that's alright! Being shorter actually gives you better access to the underside of a taller opponent's rib cage." She let go of Billy's arm and lightly poked his diaphragm, smiling. "If you go low and aim upward, you can go under the sternum and get right to the heart, if your angle is good!"
Kamoru stepped back, rocked back on her heels, and put her hands on her hips, still smiling.
"Any specific questions?" she asked.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Billy nods, watching Niyolaku go play in the dirt.

"Yes, I can see that. Ever think of getting him a playmate?"

He watches Kamoru with interest, taking note of her additional notations on being smaller on the battlefield.

"Most of that sounds like that I would expect when fighting a Giant, but it is certainly correct. Have you considered a polearm for when you mount up with Niyolaku?"

[Wolfykins]

Kamoru shrugged and frowned slightly. "A pole arm? Not really, no... I'm afraid the only martial weapons I'm any good with are short swords and hand axes. The simplest pole arm I can really think of would be a boarding pike. But I can tell you I would accomplish more with my fists, unless the weapon was enhanced quite a bit. And even then, I wouldn't be able to pull off the kind of moves like I did against Urah while wielding it," she pointed out. She turned her attention to Niyolaku.
"He would have playmates, if I recovered my clan," she said quietly. "Many of my people have companions like him. Druids, hunters, rangers, plus situations like my brother and myself. And wolves are... obviously popular," she added, looking sideways at Billy when she said it.
She let out a short, sharp whistle to get Niyolaku's attention.


Niyolaku stopped rolling and snapped his head around to look at Kamoru. He tilted his head to the side.


"That's enough rolling, it's time to practice," she called to the wolf. She glanced at Billy. "The whistle was just to get his attention; he's not trained to come to it," she explained, figuring he'd be curious, since that was the first time she'd done that.


The big wolf stood and shook vigorously to shake loose the brown dust from his charcoal-spotted blue and cream fur. He slowly meandered over to Kamoru and Billy and sat down, one ear flicking back as he regarded them with uncertainty.


Kamoru took advantage of being able to reach his back to straighten the now-crooked saddle. "Stand up," she murmured, patting his rump. When he did, she pulled the saddle straps tighter so they wouldn't be able to slip when she was on him. "Good boy," she murmured, scratching his chest. "We'll just do this for a little while, and then take a break for lunch. You'd like lunch, right? Your own big bowl of beef stew? Hmm?"


Niyolaku's ears perked up and he looked pleased. "Yes!" he whuffed.


"Good, good," Kamoru said, "you don't even have to move right now, alright? You just stand there, and I'll practice getting up and down, and you just get used to how it feels to have me in the saddle. Alright?"


"Alright... for stew! For stew I do it," Niyolaku said.


Kamoru chuckled and patted his shoulder. She turned around and leaned against him while looking at Billy.
"So," she drawled, "those stirrups are very much out of reach." She let out a small, snorting laugh and shook her head. "There won't be mounting blocks when we're on the trail, so... do I just try to jump it?"

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Billy frowns slightly.

"How about a Spear then? A Lance would be best for effect without additional training, but a Spear is always good."

He almost started to hand the spear he was holding over to Kamoru, but then jerked it back in realization. He watched the interaction between the girl and her wolf with interest but his attention was brought back when she asked a question.

"Yes, learned a kip up, a short bounce before a short jump allows you to saddle up quickly without too much effort or time spent worrying about stirrups or blocks."

[Wolfykins]

"A spear has the same problem as the boarding pike, and a lance is definitely beyond me," Kamoru said with a smile. "There was reasoning behind my choosing not to use the borrowed daggers during our last battle. Even daggers are a bit too cumbersome to pull off the kind of rapid sequence of blows that I did in that fight. Punching daggers work, but regular daggers, not so much. If I want to be able to pull that off, I have to use really close weapons, or no weapons at all. I think Kamyol's planning on talking to Bartleby about making a pair of really enhanced gauntlets for me."
Kamoru paused, a thoughtful expression crossing her face.
"You know... Niyolaku is pretty strong. There's not really a reason a second person couldn't ride him as well," she pointed out, raising an eyebrow at him. "Like someone who already likes pole arms. Or someone with a bow or sling."

Kamoru gave Billy a faintly amused look and blinked. "Right, I get what you mean, I think," she said, turning around to face the Niyolaku and the saddle. The stirrup hung down to about her chin. She reached up to grab the sides of the saddle and combined pulling up with pushing off and tried to jump high enough to catch her foot in the stirrup. Acrobatics: (1d20+13)[26] (Estimated to be about 4' off the ground, so DC 16 to jump that high.)
She easily vaulted up, foot catching the stirrup, and swung her other leg over. She sat in the saddle, face slightly flushed, and glanced around.
"Rarely been this tall before!" she joked.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Billy watches as she focuses on her own athletic ability to get herself up.

"Thats one way, but hop down and ill show you the proper way. "

He stops for a moment.

"By the way... what was with yelling at Urah like that? Not all Ifrits will know Ignan"

[Wolfykins]

Kamoru raised an eyebrow at Billy as she swung her legs over Niyolaku's side and hopped down.
"They should know their native tongue!" she said with a touch of incredulity. "That first one we killed seemed to be fairly low in the chain of command, and he knew it. My father told me the ifrit commanders gave orders in Ignan, and I should learn it so I would understand what orders the enemy was giving. He said it's important to be able to understand the language of your enemies. Unfortunately, since Kamyol's Oracle curse causes him to speak in Abyssal or Aklo in combat and times of stress, I didn't have much time to learn Undercommon on top of those and Ignan. I think maybe Trelane knows it though. I thought I might offer to teach him Ignan in exchange for him teaching me Undercommon. As for Urah, he understood me perfectly well, he just didn't care," she said, crossing her arms and looking disgruntled.
"So, what exactly did I do wrong?" she asked, tilting her head to the side as she glanced up at the saddle on Niyolaku's back.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Billy nodded, looking a little dense at the correction.

"Thats an interesting tidbit I wasnt sure about. "

He looked put his hand on Niyolaku.

"Alright Niyolaku, Im going to hop up. I wont be there long, I just need to show Kamoru how to do it so the two of you could do it even while running."

Ride Check DC 5 Mount (1d20+6)[9]

He reached up to the "Horn" of the saddle and in a single sweep of his leg swung himself atop Niyolaku.

"You were relying on yourself so much that you put too much effort into it. You should be doing a single swift and smooth action, When you are good enough with it, you can even do it under stressful situations and in combat. "

[Wolfykins]

Niyolaku tensed and shifted on his feet, looking disgruntled. He lowered his head, and for a second, it looked almost like he was planning to roll. But the wolf remembered that Billy had helped him, so he kept standing still, head low and ears back.


Kamoru tensed when Niyolaku did, ready to take control of him if she needed to. She was relieved when he seemed to be cooperating, albeit reluctantly. "Cheese," she said to the wolf, "If you cooperate for Billy too, I'll give you cheese with your stew."


Niyolaku lifted his head, instantly perking up. "Cheese!" he repeated with gusto.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Billy smiled at the interaction between Niyolaku and Kamoru. He rolls off to the side of Niyo and scratches behind his ears.

"You did good Niyolaku, I might see if I can find you some peanut butter later as well. "

He looked to Kamoru.

"Try what I did."

[Wolfykins]

Kamoru nodded and stepped up to Niyolaku's side again. She grabbed the saddle and tried to emulate Billy's movements. Ride check: (1d20+2)[20] Once again, she caught the stirrup easily and swung her other leg up and over the wolf's back.
"How was that?" she asked.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Billys eyebrows shoot up as he begins to clap his hands.

"That was a perfect execution of a swift combat mount. Much better than what I showed you. Much more difficult. You are a natural. "

[Wolfykins]

"I think I was probably just lucky!" Kamoru demurred, scratching the back of her head. "I should practice a few more times to really get a feel for it. This needs to be practically second-nature!"
She dismounted and tried again.
Ride check: (1d20+2)[20] Kamoru swung up into the saddle as easily and quickly as the first time. She grinned at Billy and dismounted to try again.
Ride check: (1d20+2)[6] Despite her confidence, Kamoru didn't quite get up as smoothly the third time. She dismounted with more caution.
Ride check: (1d20+2)[4] Kamoru's foot slipped out of the stirrup and she barely caught herself, dropping to a crouch to try and soften the fall.
Ride check: (1d20+2)[4] She tried again, but was a little shaky, and missed again. She landed on both feet, but not very well. She sucked air through her teeth and shook her legs in an attempt to ease the stinging in her feet. Determined, she tried again.
Ride check: (1d20+2)[5] Finally, Kamoru made it up into the saddle again, but barely! She looked at Billy with a chagrined expression.
"I knew I needed to keep practicing!" she said, sounding slightly embarrassed.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Billy kept a concerned look on his face as she tried to repeat her success . He would wince with her failure. And beam with her Success.

"Part of mastering any skill is finding all the wrong ways to do it. Keep it up. "

[Wolfykins]

Kamoru let out a short, breathless laugh. "Ginseng would say similar things!" she said, dismounting once more to keep trying.
Ride check: (1d20+2)[15] Feeling a bit more confident after having success again, Kamoru made it up into the saddle with little difficulty.
Ride check: (1d20+2)[6] Kamoru struggled a bit, but succeeded, and then slid down.
Ride check: (1d20+2)[18] After struggling, Kamoru vaulted into the saddle almost as quickly as the first couple of times she'd succeeded.
Ride check: (1d20+2)[17] The next try, Kamoru got up with just a hair less speed than the previous attempt.
Ride check: (1d20+2)[10] Kamoru got into the saddle successfully again, but was neither fast nor slow about it.
Ride check: (1d20+2)[3] Tired from the repeated ups and downs, Kamoru missed badly. She landed on her butt with a grunt.
"Ow. Wow, alright. I think maybe we need to have that lunch break now," she said with a weak laugh, grimacing as she slowly climbed to her feet.