War Prep in the Crescent Academy

Goldenblade can be found in the Academy, in one of the offices, which have mostly been stripped bare of the books and things on the shelf, but the furniture and the rest has gone nowhere. Tables and chairs, blank paper and ink and pens, that sort of thing. Goldenblade is working at something, though it's not at first clear what. She's got a square baking pan sort of thing, with a thin layer of brown liquid at the bottom, and she appears to be dipping a bit of paper. She sips it deveral times before she seems satisfied with it, and will dry it out with just a tiny amount of FIRE. Which from her, is still too much, it consumes the paper, and she slumps in her chair and sighs. Then sits up and pulls another page over, beginning to write again.

Vertina has spent way too much time huddled in the back of the brewery working on that allthought consuming project. Which turned out to be a tremendous success, but having one's mind so obsessively focused on a task as left other things to faulter. Considering even when she did get out for a Duty or two it was in search of new things she could experiment with as ingredients. Yet, it's not good for a martial artist to shirk training for long, especially when one had a few plans in mind before getting... sidetracked.

And with that in mind the Salamander had made her way back down to the Academy she had trained at once before to check on things. With her intended target not to be found in the yard, she heads inside. Only to come to nose with the smell of burned paper. It's not strong, but its there. "And here I thought all those tales about officials destroying documents was just exaggeration."

Goldenblade looks up to Vertina as she enters and speaks up, then laughs with amusement. "Hah, so it -is- a good plan. I only hope the Palace Landers will fall for it as well." She grins widely. "So, this place does not see as much use as I had hoped for it, and what it sees use for is maybe not readily apparent. But if the Palace Landers can find and deciper my incompletely consumed documents," she gestures to the fireplace filled with paper ash, "they will discover the location of several important assets and people." She nods, "And if they investigate, they will discover armies of undead and giant ants." Because the false messages she's writing out wlll lead them to Westelande and Ninetails.

It takes a few moments for the plan to click, but when it does Vertina chuckles a bit herself. "I see. You expect them to possibly snoop around like they did some of the other cities, so leaving some false trails for them to find. A, what is it called? Wild duck chase?" She at least got it with a type of bird.

The fireplace is given a glance. "Even then, I'd say they'd need diviner or such to read those. It'd keep them occupied if nothing else." She shrugs her shoulders and turns her attention back to Goldenblade. "But the whole looming invasion thing is kind of why I'm here, too. After the whole 'strange mood' or whatever it is people were calling it, I need to get to get back onto a proper training routine so I'm prepared. They didn't come poking around Tolbana that I know of, but I doubt we're not in their sights as well." Vertina clasps her hands together. "And as your Blazing Dodge technique has proven to be quite useful, I came to see if you've come up with any more such tricks."

"Wild goose chase, yes," agrees Goldenblade. "The stuff in the fireplace is actual waste. Invoices for stone and wood, for food and swords, nothing I don't mind them reading. There never /was/ anything of use planned here, but they won't know that."

But when brought around to the subject of actual training, she says, "Yes yes, in fact I -do- have an advanced technique that surpasses the Blazing Dodge. I have stumbled upon a useful trick, it seems, and so I have sought to imporove it. I am working on the ultimate variant of that in my free time, such as it is, but I can teach you the intermediate technique, such as it is." It's somewhat advanced for being 'intermediate', but there you go.

"Goldenblade, you found a method to utilizing fire without relying on magic. Just 'useful trick' is selling it short." Vertina grins after her remark. "But if you're willing to teach I'm willing to learn. It'll help me get back into a proper routine, too." She smacks a fist against her palm. "It may not be the kind of fighting we got into Elder Tale for, but I am sure as hell not going to stand around and let a bunch of assholes from another server come stomp out the things my friends have been working hard for!"

Goldenblade smirks about not relying on magic. "In my day, magic was not so ... /encouraged/ as it is now. A hundred years ago and more, it was a thing of the devil. Even since, it's, well, a bit of /cheating/. Doing a thing without putting the hard work in. But I guess kids don't see it that way." You can almost see her 75-year old player, cane shaking, "You /ought/ to be able to do a thing all on your own, without crutches. But FIRE isn't magic, per se, I guess by this world's rules." She shrugs. "But that's as may be." She ahems, goes on in a calmer voice, "The Advanced form, the Inferno Dodge, requires greater use of fire than the Blazing Dodge, but I'm sure you've got that in you, eh?"

Vertina laughs. "I've got fire and the fiery spirit to go with it! It's all a matter of learning to apply it." Then gives her head a flick to keep her ponytail from flopping over her shoulder. "We didn't have magic back when I was learning Tae Kwon Do, but I think one of the instructor's sayings still fits -- It is a crutch if you lean on it without applying your own ability." She snaps her nails together, making a few harmless sparks flicker in the air briefly and fade. "I've got fire, and quick dexteritous movements on the field is already a strength. You're just showing me more ways to make a successful union of them."

Followed by a soft snort. "Sometimes in life crutches are necessary. But only a hinderance when you don't learn to one day drop them and move forward on your own." She holds up two fingers. "And that counts twice coming from me, I've been through that situation. But refuse to let it be the thing that defines me, in either world."

Goldenblade nods at a fiery spirit and about learning to apply it. "Crutches are fine, if you /need/ them. But if you don't cast them off you wind up always needingg them." But she rises and leads the way down to the training yard, which looks much the same as it always has, with the addition of a wagon with some smithying supplies, and of all things, a horse hitched to it. It's just waiting, at this point.

Goldenblade will smile, stretch a bit, then concentrate for a few moments, then, taking a deep breath will leap sideways even faster than the Blazing Dodge. "And that's the base move," she explains. "It's not so much different as just more and harder."

Vertina hadn't paid a lot of attention to the wagon on her way in so she didn't notice what was hitched to it until she follows Goldenblade back out to the yard. "... I didn't know Yamato even -had- horses. It's usually Pekos. Or Grunties."

That doesn't distract her from the matter at hand though, doing a few leg stretches herself. Stretching before a workout is important. "An advanced version of a technique I already know. That's perfect for getting back into proper regiments." Then watches as Goldenblade demonstrates. "I see, I see. Similar method, but this variation focuses more on the evasive move than the effect the flames leave..."

Goldenblade sighs about horses. "You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find," she admits. "But ... pekos are giant chickens, and I feel like a bit of an idiot riding a giant chicken. Grunties are fine, if you're hauling a load, but I can /walk/ faster. So...." she trails off.

"Not exactly /less/ of the fire," she corrects. "Just more of the fire is going to accelerate the evasion, so there's less to burn people in the face with." She nods. "It actually takes more fire to use, too, of course. But that's never an issue." She laughs.

"Yeah. Grunties aren't exactly fast. But they'll make better combat mounts than Pekos do.... if you can keep them moving." Vertina just shakes her head. Her animal handling skills are limited to 'drag' or 'wrestle it into submission' and those don't always work. "So it's more like giving yourself a nitro boost. Or a minature jet engine... Kind of like how I can get some extra momentum into a jump by manipulating air for more push." She considers this and that a moment, as she crouches down. Bobs on her legs a couple of times like a track runner preparing at the start, then pushes herself off into a sprint. Partway down the courtyard, then turning and sprinting back.

After a few strides there is the familiar crackle of fire as she releases it and kicks herself sideways in the opposite direction. The Salamander drops to the ground, rolling on her shoulder to somersault over and flip back onto her feet. It's hard to tell if that was the intentional landing or her just making the best of the low angle she ended up with. "This will take practice to get the timing and positions down.. And that's exactly the kind of routine I was looking for Goldenblade! Just familiar enough to work with, and new enough to work towards the improved result."

Goldenblade nods about grunties being better in combat than pekos. "I'm no good with either, or with a horse for that matter. But the view is better from a horse, also." As you sit higher than you do on a peko or a grunty. If only by a little. "I can't ride one in a fight, though I'm thinking maybe that's something that I had ought to learn, since it seems we're going to be here for a while." It -has- gotten to the point where long term planning is worth considering.

As Vertina starts with the Blazing Dodge and ramps up, Goldenblade nods slowly, encouragingly. "Good, good, you'll get it." she says. It'll be a while before she can do it again, herself. It has to come off cooldown. "It does take a bit to master, though, yeah. If you use too much fire, you can burn yourself really badly, but if you use too little, it doesn't go. It's pretty precise."

"Use it too fast and frequent, and you won't have the Fire for other uses." Vertina blows a puff of smoke between her lips. "I may be a Salamander but even our racial fire abilities aren't endless." Then glances down at the marks left in the ground from her attempt, and the shoulder roll that followed. "I'll work it into a longer routine, so I'm practicing other moves in between it's uses. Training is as much learning to use the various techs together as it is the new one."

Goldenblade considers that about training, nods slowly. "It's true," she agrees. "You can only use it every so often and when it comes off cooldown, it's not always when you need it. That's why I don't generally use it in duels. It's a lot of concentration and careful timing to use it at rhe right time. Better in duties, or bossfights. You might only be able to use it once, but the timing is when /you/ want, not when the cooldown timer procs." She's starting to get the gamer lingo, it seems. It's only been over a year.

Vertina points both her fingers at Goldenblade. "That is also a very good tactical point. And we don't know what the Palace Landers are going to come after us with, either. Better to have it when you can best utilize it then trying to work around when it may or may not be ready." Then pats one partially scaled forearm with the opposite hand. "Much like they may not be the larger part of my repitoir, but I prefer having the option to defend rather than dodge there for when it might be needed. There's not always the room to maneuver. Or as you said, the timing for one elaborate advanced technique."

Goldenblade nods to Vertina about tactical flexibility. "That's the truth," she agrees, and adopts a defensive stance, which looks solid at first glance, and then when you look more closely, it becomes apparent she can block effectively from very nearly -any- angle. It also looks very easy to reach out strike with the flick of a wrist. It's a wildly useful stance. "I've worked out this stance, from the Tanking chain of skills, which I don't use very oftem, to be honest. But it's very effective, for shielding."

Vertina lets out a low whistle. "Impressive! ... and tactically sound. You don't need to use something all the time, if you can make it effective when you do need it. A lot like these." She holds up a hand and curls it into a tight fist, while the claw-like blades afixed to the back of her battle gloves remain pointing forward. "I don't use a lot of weapons myself, but knowing how to, and the skills within this world to craft them, helps me know how to defend against them. Even if I'm not using them to attack, these claws are spaced so they can be used to catch. And push a weapon aside, or twist it out of someone's grasp."

Goldenblade nods gravely as Vertina talks of tactics. She's made a bit of a study of it, in her early days in the game. It seemed like it might come up. She nods about not using weapons, but says, "Choosing not to use weapons and not being able to use weapons are of course two entirely different things." She looks over the claws appreciatively. "I should be learning more techniques, I think. There's -so much- to do. And with the Palace Landers, it all seems like no time available but so urgent."

"You know that trick you always see in the movies?" Vertina holds up her hands straight, palms spaced just far enough that something could be between them. "The one where a martial artist catchs a sword with their hands? Sure. That can be done here. But it's not just something you -do-. It takes knowing a sword and how a sword is used. It takes knowing how the weapon is likely balanced, where to grab the blade that it can't just be pulled free. You're not even really holding the blade. You're -holding their leverage- against them."

Goldenblade looks surprised by the revelation. "You mean that sort of thing can be done in real life?" Seems like she had assumed that it was simply Hollywood Magic. The idea that it can be done here just emphasizes the Magic angle of things, to her. "But knowing how to do a thing does take some of the magic out," she admits. "I would have thought you'd at least need armored gauntlets. Or someone with a very slow attack." And not someone like Goldenblade, whose sword can ignite and burn whatever's holding it.

"That kind of falls under the 'knowing how to use the weapon to defend against it'." Vertina smirks a bit. "I mean, it's probably -easier- to do here. But knowing -what- you're doing counts for something." She puts her hands together and stretchs out her arms. "Thanks, Goldie. I'll keep practicing, and if I need any farther advice on the technique I'll give you a hollar. But I'm certain once we're all said and done it'll see plenty of use."