A Game of Wits [Solo]
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2023 11:24 pm
30 Frost, Year 122
[Closed]
[Solo]
Another evening found Hilana in the Praetorium waiting for her paedagogus. She was quietly eating a couple of dates, since the Sentinel on door duty told her that her mentor was temporarily tied up and would be in to get her when he could. For now, she was to be patient and practice her meditation, and when Sentinel Ævril was available, he would come and find her. So the girl did as she was bid, wrapping the date pits in the cloth and putting them back in her rucksack as Tiaz shifted his weight on her shoulder. The python was half in her bag today, feeling decidedly lazy, and furthermore, he was getting ready to go into blue. It was almost time for his turn in his moss basket to start his shed. Fiya was hidden in her bag within the rucksack as well, though in a separate compartment from the main one in which the much larger serpent was half-resting in. Hilana might have had her bag on her belt, but the young python was still getting used to all of these movements and being handled as often as she was.
The girl was practicing her mudra when after half an hour or so, the Sunborn Sentinel entered the Praetorium and came over to her, using a tiny little floating spark to catch her attention. She blinked and looked up, smiling at him, and inclined her head in greeting. She left her spot on the wall to follow him through the halls towards their training room. When they entered, she was a bit surprised to see a multitude of equipment and objects gathered in the middle of the floor. Well used to the routine, though, the Vastiana slipped off her rucksack from her shoulders and when given the option, Tiaz decided he wasn’t interested in supervising, apparently. Not today. He withdrew into the bag and curled up in a ball atop her notebook and textbooks. Hilana left her snakes and bag at the side of the room, and followed her teacher to the pile of, well, stuff.
A training dummy was outfitted in armour and a steel blade was in its ‘hand’. Other items ranging around included heavy-looking axes, boots, a cloak, and a wooden box full of glass orbs. “We’ll be doing something different today,” Sentinel Ævril told his discipula. “Elementalism, as I’ve told you before, has many, many uses: combat and otherwise. Some of the tricks one can use go beyond manipulating or manifesting the elements. ‘Enmesh’ is one of them. I know you’ve a number of textbooks, Miss Chenzira, so tell me: have you read about this spell yet?”
“‘Enmesh’ is the act of imbuing a mundane item with the properties of a particular element... or para-element,” Hilana offered. “Properties can include weight, heat, fluidity, structure, or strength. At an apprentice level, it is brief and temporary, but as the student advances, they gain more control over the precision of the Enmeshment,” she finished, recalling from her books. The blond Re’hyaean nodded.
“Very good. As you can imagine, that is what we are going to practice today. Enmesh is not something the average layman, or even other mages, associate with this discipline at first thought. That element of surprise--” Hilana couldn’t stop the delighted grin on her face. Her paedagogus paused, realizing what he had said, and left it. The Vastiana remained quiet, biting her lips as her eyes danced. “--Is beneficial to you in a combat scenario. Most people think of an Elementalist as only controlling or guiding elements. Unless they are warded by Negation... someone with a quick mind can usually defend themselves and turn the tides on their assailant.” The next pun made her grin even wider. Apparently, she found them hilarious, unintended or not. “So what would you do, Miss Chenzira, if you were confronted by the armed and armoured enemy in front of you?” he clapped his hand on the sturdy pauldron of the dummy and looked her over.
Hilana considered. “I think I would Enmesh the helmet with the weight of a heavy rock, or perhaps their boots. The sword could be heated to the temperature of fire, maybe?” She offered the suggestions. “Or even their gauntlet, to throw their weight off balance. Weapons are often enchanted, but how often is something like a gauntlet?” she ran her tongue over her teeth thoughtfully. “Anything that can disrupt them might distract them, and then that gives me another opening.”
“Good. Focus on the item, and think about your element. You then connect the two. This process will get faster the more you practice it.” Ævril told her. Hilana’s bright smile was soon replaced with a look of focus, and her eyes were on the left boot of the training dummy. “Smart. Pull the leg back, disrupt their movement, throw their balance off. As I said, the element of surprise is key. The benefit of Enmeshment is that it doesn’t have to be the weapon, or the breastplate. You’ve multiple options on any opponent to pick at.” He was agreeable to her choice of strategy. “The more your skills advance, the more selectively you can control how you enmesh your element into your target. Particular traits, and on what scale you want them at, for example. That boot,” he nudged it with his own. It didn’t budge - the leather was rock hard, and its weight had gone up considerably. “Could be made just as hard, but without the weight. That could limit their flexibility and lock their angle, or even cause injury that way as they strain themselves. Or you could use it on yourself for defense to protect your foot if you kick someone, yes? Remember, being flexible, and thinking quickly, is how you win a game of wits with opponents who may very well be stronger than you. In a different vein, you could temporarily reduce the ability of the sword or chestplate to protect them by enmeshing it with water, which decreases their abilities to absorb the shock of blows. You could turn the fabric of your own skirts to the hardness of rock. Creativity and a sharp eye for taking advantage of the situation will be to your benefit. Do another.”
The Vastiana studied the dummy, and elected the breastplate. She had half an idea - she understood a bit about tempering metal, though certainly not the particulars. She didn’t know the specifics, but she knew if the metal was heated and heated, and then suddenly shocked with a drop in temperatures, that could possibly damage the temper and weaken the metal of the object. Or, even better, warp it and cause other issues. Hilana concentrated, her hands forming fists with the effort. The breastplate was larger than the boot, and that meant it took more aether to enmesh. She kept going until the metal was starting to visibly smoke. Ævril clapped his hands quite suddenly in front of her face, and Hilana stepped back, moving to the side to avoid him and the box of orbs. “Don’t let me break your focus. Keep going. You will never not have distractions in a fight, Miss Chenzira, and you must multitask. You will not have the luxury of focusing solely on the spell that you are working on,” he warned her. “But the good news is that the more you practice, the better you will get at performing them.”
The Sentinel kept advancing on her, making Hilana continue to move. There was the occasional lunge, and a strike with his hand that he forced her to twist away from him to avoid. “You’ve passing little experience in combat, haven’t you?” he remarked, and she was certain she was hearing a bit of disapproval in his tone. But as he made her move, trying to see how poor her spatial awareness was, the Vastiana applied air in her next enmeshment, as quickly as she could.
“It needs improvement,” Hilana admitted. “I’ve had some training, but it’s not particularly recent and I’m out of practice,” she let out a sound as the side of his hand caught her ribs, and she moved away again as a series of pings echoed in the training room. The breastplate was warping, the metal discolouring with the coldness of the air from her temperature drop. She knew it was something that she needed to work on, but she was going to find some time to do that, too. Even if it was just getting a punching bag and hanging it in order to do twenty minutes a day of effort. That she could manage.
“You certainly need to remedy that,” he told her, finally slowing down and glancing at the dummy to scrutinize what she had done. “Smart enough, this. Enmesh is only temporary, but you clearly recall our earlier lesson on impacting another Elementalist’s work through countering elements in order to effectively permanently damage it. You’ve experience with metal working, then?” Ævril wanted to know, looking away from the damaged armour and back to her, one eyebrow going up.
Her chest was rising and falling from the exertion of three spells in a short time. Now that she had come to a stop, one hand rested on a hip, the other folded behind her along the small of her back. She would be glad when her limits improved, at least. Perhaps the sword or the helmet might have been smarter. Could have cooked their brains if she had gone with the latter, but like as not, the head was worth protecting and that increased its chances of being warded. “Not really, but I’ve been fortunate enough to know people that do. When I was in the Sands some years ago, I watched some of my family make weapons. I asked questions... so I had some idea about what I could do. I’ve also been able to see demonstrations in the cities, and watch other craftspeople perform their work,” Hilana explained. “How would you know what Enmesh will and won’t work on?”
“Semblance is what will help you see most wards on an object. Not all, some are quite cleverly hidden... and there are Negation mages who are able to use Scrivening and reapply wards on the fly. But if you possessed that Cardinal Rune, it would likely be quite beneficial to you in this endeavour. Negation as well, if you worked on that discipline and were stronger than the mage who made the opposing wards,” Ævril explained. “You can go and get your notebook, and we’ll continue our lecture, Miss Chenzira.”
[Closed]
[Solo]
Another evening found Hilana in the Praetorium waiting for her paedagogus. She was quietly eating a couple of dates, since the Sentinel on door duty told her that her mentor was temporarily tied up and would be in to get her when he could. For now, she was to be patient and practice her meditation, and when Sentinel Ævril was available, he would come and find her. So the girl did as she was bid, wrapping the date pits in the cloth and putting them back in her rucksack as Tiaz shifted his weight on her shoulder. The python was half in her bag today, feeling decidedly lazy, and furthermore, he was getting ready to go into blue. It was almost time for his turn in his moss basket to start his shed. Fiya was hidden in her bag within the rucksack as well, though in a separate compartment from the main one in which the much larger serpent was half-resting in. Hilana might have had her bag on her belt, but the young python was still getting used to all of these movements and being handled as often as she was.
The girl was practicing her mudra when after half an hour or so, the Sunborn Sentinel entered the Praetorium and came over to her, using a tiny little floating spark to catch her attention. She blinked and looked up, smiling at him, and inclined her head in greeting. She left her spot on the wall to follow him through the halls towards their training room. When they entered, she was a bit surprised to see a multitude of equipment and objects gathered in the middle of the floor. Well used to the routine, though, the Vastiana slipped off her rucksack from her shoulders and when given the option, Tiaz decided he wasn’t interested in supervising, apparently. Not today. He withdrew into the bag and curled up in a ball atop her notebook and textbooks. Hilana left her snakes and bag at the side of the room, and followed her teacher to the pile of, well, stuff.
A training dummy was outfitted in armour and a steel blade was in its ‘hand’. Other items ranging around included heavy-looking axes, boots, a cloak, and a wooden box full of glass orbs. “We’ll be doing something different today,” Sentinel Ævril told his discipula. “Elementalism, as I’ve told you before, has many, many uses: combat and otherwise. Some of the tricks one can use go beyond manipulating or manifesting the elements. ‘Enmesh’ is one of them. I know you’ve a number of textbooks, Miss Chenzira, so tell me: have you read about this spell yet?”
“‘Enmesh’ is the act of imbuing a mundane item with the properties of a particular element... or para-element,” Hilana offered. “Properties can include weight, heat, fluidity, structure, or strength. At an apprentice level, it is brief and temporary, but as the student advances, they gain more control over the precision of the Enmeshment,” she finished, recalling from her books. The blond Re’hyaean nodded.
“Very good. As you can imagine, that is what we are going to practice today. Enmesh is not something the average layman, or even other mages, associate with this discipline at first thought. That element of surprise--” Hilana couldn’t stop the delighted grin on her face. Her paedagogus paused, realizing what he had said, and left it. The Vastiana remained quiet, biting her lips as her eyes danced. “--Is beneficial to you in a combat scenario. Most people think of an Elementalist as only controlling or guiding elements. Unless they are warded by Negation... someone with a quick mind can usually defend themselves and turn the tides on their assailant.” The next pun made her grin even wider. Apparently, she found them hilarious, unintended or not. “So what would you do, Miss Chenzira, if you were confronted by the armed and armoured enemy in front of you?” he clapped his hand on the sturdy pauldron of the dummy and looked her over.
Hilana considered. “I think I would Enmesh the helmet with the weight of a heavy rock, or perhaps their boots. The sword could be heated to the temperature of fire, maybe?” She offered the suggestions. “Or even their gauntlet, to throw their weight off balance. Weapons are often enchanted, but how often is something like a gauntlet?” she ran her tongue over her teeth thoughtfully. “Anything that can disrupt them might distract them, and then that gives me another opening.”
“Good. Focus on the item, and think about your element. You then connect the two. This process will get faster the more you practice it.” Ævril told her. Hilana’s bright smile was soon replaced with a look of focus, and her eyes were on the left boot of the training dummy. “Smart. Pull the leg back, disrupt their movement, throw their balance off. As I said, the element of surprise is key. The benefit of Enmeshment is that it doesn’t have to be the weapon, or the breastplate. You’ve multiple options on any opponent to pick at.” He was agreeable to her choice of strategy. “The more your skills advance, the more selectively you can control how you enmesh your element into your target. Particular traits, and on what scale you want them at, for example. That boot,” he nudged it with his own. It didn’t budge - the leather was rock hard, and its weight had gone up considerably. “Could be made just as hard, but without the weight. That could limit their flexibility and lock their angle, or even cause injury that way as they strain themselves. Or you could use it on yourself for defense to protect your foot if you kick someone, yes? Remember, being flexible, and thinking quickly, is how you win a game of wits with opponents who may very well be stronger than you. In a different vein, you could temporarily reduce the ability of the sword or chestplate to protect them by enmeshing it with water, which decreases their abilities to absorb the shock of blows. You could turn the fabric of your own skirts to the hardness of rock. Creativity and a sharp eye for taking advantage of the situation will be to your benefit. Do another.”
The Vastiana studied the dummy, and elected the breastplate. She had half an idea - she understood a bit about tempering metal, though certainly not the particulars. She didn’t know the specifics, but she knew if the metal was heated and heated, and then suddenly shocked with a drop in temperatures, that could possibly damage the temper and weaken the metal of the object. Or, even better, warp it and cause other issues. Hilana concentrated, her hands forming fists with the effort. The breastplate was larger than the boot, and that meant it took more aether to enmesh. She kept going until the metal was starting to visibly smoke. Ævril clapped his hands quite suddenly in front of her face, and Hilana stepped back, moving to the side to avoid him and the box of orbs. “Don’t let me break your focus. Keep going. You will never not have distractions in a fight, Miss Chenzira, and you must multitask. You will not have the luxury of focusing solely on the spell that you are working on,” he warned her. “But the good news is that the more you practice, the better you will get at performing them.”
The Sentinel kept advancing on her, making Hilana continue to move. There was the occasional lunge, and a strike with his hand that he forced her to twist away from him to avoid. “You’ve passing little experience in combat, haven’t you?” he remarked, and she was certain she was hearing a bit of disapproval in his tone. But as he made her move, trying to see how poor her spatial awareness was, the Vastiana applied air in her next enmeshment, as quickly as she could.
“It needs improvement,” Hilana admitted. “I’ve had some training, but it’s not particularly recent and I’m out of practice,” she let out a sound as the side of his hand caught her ribs, and she moved away again as a series of pings echoed in the training room. The breastplate was warping, the metal discolouring with the coldness of the air from her temperature drop. She knew it was something that she needed to work on, but she was going to find some time to do that, too. Even if it was just getting a punching bag and hanging it in order to do twenty minutes a day of effort. That she could manage.
“You certainly need to remedy that,” he told her, finally slowing down and glancing at the dummy to scrutinize what she had done. “Smart enough, this. Enmesh is only temporary, but you clearly recall our earlier lesson on impacting another Elementalist’s work through countering elements in order to effectively permanently damage it. You’ve experience with metal working, then?” Ævril wanted to know, looking away from the damaged armour and back to her, one eyebrow going up.
Her chest was rising and falling from the exertion of three spells in a short time. Now that she had come to a stop, one hand rested on a hip, the other folded behind her along the small of her back. She would be glad when her limits improved, at least. Perhaps the sword or the helmet might have been smarter. Could have cooked their brains if she had gone with the latter, but like as not, the head was worth protecting and that increased its chances of being warded. “Not really, but I’ve been fortunate enough to know people that do. When I was in the Sands some years ago, I watched some of my family make weapons. I asked questions... so I had some idea about what I could do. I’ve also been able to see demonstrations in the cities, and watch other craftspeople perform their work,” Hilana explained. “How would you know what Enmesh will and won’t work on?”
“Semblance is what will help you see most wards on an object. Not all, some are quite cleverly hidden... and there are Negation mages who are able to use Scrivening and reapply wards on the fly. But if you possessed that Cardinal Rune, it would likely be quite beneficial to you in this endeavour. Negation as well, if you worked on that discipline and were stronger than the mage who made the opposing wards,” Ævril explained. “You can go and get your notebook, and we’ll continue our lecture, Miss Chenzira.”