[center][h3]Swordplay[/h3][/center]
[hr]

A Collab by [@Rtron] and [@Amaranth]

[i]Nanine and Shakti, 11:30am, 1st of Midyear, behind [b]Three Crowns[/b][/i]

Nanine went through the motions of combat, first one hand, then both on the hilt of [i]The Eternal Vow[/i]. She went through them without fully thinking about them, the movements practically ingrained into her body after her time served in the Skyrim Civil War and beyond. There were bigger problems on her mind right now than the fact motions she had gone through a thousand times before. The other two missions had, more or less, failed. Which wouldn’t be quite so bad if they weren’t fighting the type of war that required anyone who could give up information and was likely to be caught to disappear, and had the other two groups used disguises like she had insisted upon with hers. [i]Yeah, lets waltz into these dangerous and highly illegal situations with our faces and extremely out of place, in a Redguard city, looks and just let what happens happen! It’ll be great![/i]

She sighed, moving smoothly to the next step. What’s done was done. There was nothing anyone could do to about it, except prepare for the consequences. Which was why she was out her, practicing her swordplay for the hundredth time. Waiting for consequences. 

Shakti had gone searching for a quiet place where she could practice her own sword-forms in peace, the gymnasium in which she usually practiced being occupied. She had come outside of the hotel grounds into a sandy backlot where she watched a Breton woman whom she recognised from her rescue, though only vaguely. More strikingly was the woman’s blade. A rather foreboding blade of ebony that seemed to be shimmering worryingly. Suffice it to say, it was a weapon Shakti would be hesitant to pick up if she found it lying around. Her style of sword-fencing was also sort of strange. It seemed slightly primitive, with wide hacks and chops that could be exploited. The young Redguard thought it might be prudent to point out those facts. 

“That is a very beautiful sword you have. It must be very special.” She left out the part about how it looked, to her, like some sort of cursed daedric-blade. “Your style is also, erm, unusual.” She tried to phrase it less negatively than the thought had appeared in her mind, not wanting to appear hostile to this woman who had performed some part in her rescue. 

Nanine started at the voice, lost in her own thoughts. She smiled as she saw that it was the girl they had saved from the prison caravan. “Oh! Thank you. It’s my family’s blade, been with us for centuries, or so the story goes.” Her smile widened at the awkward mentioning of her sword style. It was not the first time someone outside of the Legion had mentioned it, and she doubted it would be the last. “You mean it looks like if I ever get in an actual sword fight I’ll be killed in three seconds with all the openings you see. Don’t worry, it’s intentional. It's a high-risk sword style my father taught me. You let your opponent think there’s an opening to hit a weak point in your armor, and shift when they strike so that they hit something that can block the blow, leaving them off balance and open. I wouldn’t recommend doing it against the highly skilled, like Mazrah or Jaraleet. Or against certain weapons like maces, but against most weapons or fighters it works well for me.” She paused. “I don’t believe we ever had the opportunity to properly introduce ourselves, I’m Nanine Tilhart. Pleasure to meet you.”

Letting yourself purposely get hit? What heat-madness was this? A skilled sword-fencer who was properly cutting with not just her sword, but her spirit needed only one cut to kill. If the intent to kill was there, the intent to cut, there was no way you could block it. Shakti almost shook her head in disbelief. “I’ve… never heard of such a style. Is it common where you come from?” She had no idea where that was, but it was obvious that she wasn’t from Elsweyr or Black Marsh at least. Maybe. “I’m Shakti, of the Alik’r, I never had the chance to properly thank you for rescuing me.” She bowed to the other woman in thanks, and as a sign of respect. 

The women did share something in common though, both of them carried swords that had been in their family for generations. Shakti smiled and pulled out her sword, holding it horizontally. “This is my family’s sword too. It was my father’s sword, and his father’s before him. It’s not as impressive as your family’s blade, but I suspect few swords are.” The compliment was genuine, it was an awe-inspiring piece of metal. 

Nanine waved a hand. “Think nothing of it. From what I hear, these Dwemer are publicly more civil than the others, but behind closed doors they act exactly like the ones who sacked Imperial city. Couldn’t leave you to rot in whatever they planned to put you in.” She smiled graciously at the other woman’s compliment to her sword. “Thank you. Your blade is well cared for and you carry it with pride. You bear it well.” Nanine sheathed her sword, chuckling softly. “ As for your obvious disbelief about the ‘purposely getting hit to leave an opening’ its always done in heavy armor. Armor that blocks most blades, excluding magical or enchanted ones, and lets you continue on to strike. I don’t employ it unless I am in my heavy steel, which I doubt I will get a chance to wear here.” 

She raised an eyebrow at the girl. “From the look on your face, I’m guessing you don’t trust armor that much.”

Shakti rubbed her scar. The painful memory of the sword slicing through her bracer caused it to ache slightly. “Er, not really. The desert heat makes it hard to wear it besides.” She shrugged, “There are knights in Hammerfell who wear armour in the styles of the other provinces. Perhaps they have a similar style of swordplay.” 

Nanine shrugged. She’d personally prefer to be encased in steel. Less likely for a single blow to end her. “To each their own. I’d personally trust my life to good armor. Those knights might, if they’re from the Legion. As far as I know its a style that’s only taught to Legion soldiers.” She looked at Shakti curiously. “Since you don’t trust armor I’m going to guess you rely on dodging and blocking to avoid getting stabbed. Is that right? Seems like it’d require a lot of energy and stamina to keep up, especially in a battle.”

Shakti nodded, “Mostly dodging. I don’t like blocking. It’s not that much energy, especially if you combine your offence and defence into one motion. Like this.” The Redguard girl drew her sword and demonstrated a basic sort of technique of which she had described. She took a smooth sidestep and allowed the momentum of the sideways motion to carry into a riposte forward towards an imaginary enemy. “Or this.” Shakti hopped backwards, landing on the front of her feet and then springing forward with a clean cut from low-to-high across the body of another imaginary foe.

“Very impressive!” Nanine nodded approvingly. Shakti had great talent, that much was obvious. “But, what would you do if you’re facing someone in heavy or medium armor?” Nanine put her finger on her chest, mirroring the cut Shakti had done across her own body. “In my armor that would have bounced off and done nothing. What’s your plan against someone in armor heavy enough to block your blows?” She suspected that the younger woman had never actually fought against heavy armor, or she wouldn’t be so dismissive of it. A sword wasn’t a good weapon to use against heavy plate, no matter how skilled the sword’s wielder was. 

Shakti shrugged, “No armour is invulnerable. I killed a Dwemer in armour with his own weapon after you freed me from the wagon. You just need the right amount of force in the right place. And the Will to cut.” For emphasis, she twirled her blade and ended the spin with a chop through the air. “Surely the armour is fatiguing to wear as well, else you would be wearing it now. Not all battles have to be won quickly.” Shakti scraped some sand around with her foot on the hard stone ground. “Sometimes you must be like the desert sands. Patient and fluid, wearing down your foe and stinging them wear they are vulnerable. Have you ever been in a sandstorm? Quite violent.” The Redguard girl nodded to affirm her own point. “I haven’t actually fought anyone in armour from the Cyrads,” Shakti finally conceded, “But I can’t imagine it’s that much different from the armour of the Knights here in Hammerfell.” 

“It’s heavier. The local Dwemer armor? It’s lighter to deal with the heat. Everywhere else its heavier and stronger. Hard to punch through normally, especially when someone in it is actively trying to kill you and prevent you from killing them. And if it is someone who is experienced in wearing that armor? The battle would come down too whom is more experienced at what they are facing.” 

Nanine gestured to the Inn, where her armor was stored. “If you’d like, I can set it up and give you some lessons on what to do when facing such armor with just a sword. It can’t hurt.”

Shakti’s eyes lit up at the suggestion, “I’d love that! I think it would help both of us, much more than our talking!” She slid her sword back into its sheath and bounced excitedly. “Should I go get wooden training swords?”

Nanine smiled at the girl’s eagerness, nodding. It was good to see someone delighted, in the midst of what was going on in the shadows of Gilane and their own personal failures.  “Wooden training swords would be best. Don’t want to break any pieces of my armor or damage your sword while training. We can tell each other a little more about ourselves as we go through it. As my brother always said, ‘You never know someone quite as well as you do when you’ve fought against them.’” She sheathed her own sword. “I’ll even give you some tips on what to do when facing a destruction and/or conjuration mage.” As Shakti scampered off, practically skipping, Nanine headed into the Inn, pulling out her armor. 

By the time Shakti returned, Nanine was putting the finishing touches on her armor as she set it up. It was arranged in a loose approximation of someone being in it, held together by what Nanine could cobble together as a mannequin. 

She laid a hand on the head of her armor, smiling at the other woman. “This is Dolf. Dolf wants to kill you. Dolf is in steel plate. It is of good quality, and he’s just as refreshed and athletic as you are. All you have is your sword, and running away isn’t an option. What’s your next move?”

“Dolf? Does it mean something or is it just a name where you come from?” Even as she asked the question, Shakti was readying herself with a wooden sword, it was straight unlike [i]her[/i] sword, but it would do for now. She swung at Dolf, her “Hyah!” followed by a clang as the wooden sword bounced off the thick cuirass. She tried again, same result. “Hmm, perhaps a different tactic.” This time she thrust the sword into the armpit area with a “Kiah!”  There was a satisfying crunch noise as the tip smacked into chainmail beneath the plate. Progress. 

“Decidedly Overly Large Foe.” Nanine paused a moment, before shrugging. “Or something like that. Dolf is a nord name I’ve heard before, and nords like their heavy steel plate.” Nanine nodded approvingly as Shakti figured out what to do, rapping her own wooden sword against the chest plate . 

“There you go. You can’t go straight at this like cloth or leather armor. Your sword will just bounce off and Dolf will just stab you. You have to aim where the plate isn’t. Armpits, groin, palms, back of the knee, inner elbow, sometimes neck, visor if you have time or are really lucky. Varies based on the armor, but a general rule of them is to stab at the joints. Basically anywhere plate can’t be because the person inside it needs to move. But you’ll notice that if you were using a real blade you would have been stopped against the chainmail. You can’t just stab and away, otherwise Dolf will just be bruised. Maybe bleeding. What you have to do is make the most of your sword’s point. Turn it into a makeshift polearm. With your off hand grab the blade, and with your main hand hold the hilt.”

 Nanine demonstrated on her own blade, holding her practice sword similar to how one would normally hold a sword. “Push with your main, guide with your off, or you’re liable to slide your hand on your blade and cut yourself. Use it like a spear and shove it into the weak point. Your blade is slightly curved, making this a bit more awkward, but still doable. If you can’t find an opening with that, they’re playing to defensive for you to hit their weakpoints for example, you can stun them with your hilt.” Nanine flipped the training sword so that she was holding it by its blade, and gave a few light swings with it. “A good amount of weight in your sword is in the hilt, so you can use it as a makeshift hammer and hit your opponent in the helmet with it. Assuming they’re a living creature and don’t have impact resistant enchanted armor, it’ll stun or disorientate most people.” She grimaced. “I can attest that it’s not a pleasant experience. Almost got killed several times when Stormcloak’s decided to slam something blunt against my helmet and stun me.” 

“Any questions?”

Shakti looked cautiously at her sword on her hip and the wooden training sword in her hand. “I’m not sure holding the sword by the blade is such a good idea…” Her voice trailed off as she flipped the sword around in her hands, trying to figure out an alternative mode of attack. “Maybe if I just…” She held the sword out in front of her as if she was in a duel and then feinted an overhead strike, but instead of following through with the wide and slow chop she lunged forward and smacked the pommel of the sword into the helmet of Dolf. Her bash was rewarded with a satisfying ‘gong.’ Continuing her make-believe attack, Shakti dashed to the left and jabbed her sword into the chainmail covering the back of the knee. Circling even further left she made an underhanded cut up into the armpit and finished her chain of attacks with a hop backwards. “There, that should do it.” The Redguard girl declared, satisfied. “What did you think?”

“Excellent, but that last cut would have been ineffective. The chainmail would have blocked it. You might have left a nasty bruise, maybe even broke something with enough force, but Dolf wouldn’t have bled. Remember, anyone in decent armor is going to be immune to cuts. You’re going to have to stab. You have the general idea though.” 

“And you’re right. It’s normally a bad idea to hold a sword by the blade, but it's also a bad idea to face plate armor with nothing more than a sword. You have to get creative if you can’t run away, hit them with a spell, or stab them with proper weapon.” Nanine nodded encouragingly at the girl. Shakti would have no problem once she figured out the techniques required to face plate armor. The redguard girl a quick learner. “You’re very talented, if not experienced in facing armor. Where’d you learn to fight with a blade?”

“Stab, right. Don’t cut, stab.” Shakti repeated to herself so she would remember. “Where did I learn? Oh, well my mother and father taught me much, and the rest I learned on my own. I guess you could say the Alik’r taught me.” She laughed at her own non-answer, twirling around to continue practicing, stabbing and thrusting at the gaps in Dolf’s armour. “What about you, where did you learn?” the Redguard girl asked in between jabs and stabs. 

“Father was from the Legion, the one stationed in Hammerfell right before and during the Great War. Taught me from the day I could hold a blade, and when he died my brother took up that job. My focus and specialty lies in destruction and conjuration, admittedly, but everything I learned, I learned from them. Speaking of, once you feel you’ve gotten a basic grasp on how to fight someone in plate armor, we’ll move on to what to do against an angry mage who is fighting you.”

“Mages? I don’t really trust them. Magic is wild and untamed and humans shouldn’t meddle with it.” Shakti shook her head to emphasize her point and flourished her training sword. She practiced a few more thrusts and stabs at the joints of Dolf’s armour, each strike getting more accurate and confident. 

Nanine shrugged. “Don’t need to trust mages to kill them. And regardless of your opinions on if mortals should meddle with it, you are going to encounter people who don’t share your opinions who want to kill you with it. And much like Dolf here, they’re going to require a different set of tactics than just running up and stabbing them. Though, admittedly, that is the ultimate goal.” She gestured towards Dolf, and Shakti’s increasing skill at stabbing him. 

“I have no doubt you’ll pick it up quickly though. We’ll run through the attacks against plate mail a few more times, then talk shop about how to fight against destruction and conjuration magic.”

Shakti nodded. Nanine was right, she didn’t need to trust mages to know how to fight them. She readied her sword again and began stabbing Dolf in all of his weakpoints again, this time going faster and faster. It felt good to be able to train with someone.