Move like an Arrow

[Teeramus]

Striker had been looking forward to the evening all day. He always liked teaching people to defend themselves and he was interested to know if Bishop had any experience at all or was coming it completely green. He'd felt green that morning when he'd cast his daily spells, but they'd eventually come off as barely passable.

Seeing as Bishop had recently surrendered his keys to the Shaman, he waited on the steps outside for the Gaurdian and checked the time on his phone. I'm a little early. Striker started rolling his neck, stretching it a little and unconsciously warming up in anticipation.

  Sight and Shield

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-01-03 14:26:26		Striker rolls 6 to Organic Resilience (Gn+L+HS 24hr Mana from Hallow) (10 Again)		7, 7, 6, 3, 8, 7		1 success
2015-01-03 14:23:42		Striker rolls 2 to Pulse of the Living World (Lif+Gno+HS-2 Duration-2 retry) (10 Again)		9, 2		1 success
2015-01-03 14:23:20		Striker rolls 3 to Pulse of the Living World (Lif+Gno+HS-2 Duration-1 retry) (10 Again)		1, 4, 2		failure
2015-01-03 14:22:58		Striker rolls 4 to Pulse of the Living World (Lif+Gno+HS-2 Duration) (10 Again)		1, 5, 2, 4		failure

[Samaritan]

Ressource expenditure oo - 9mm H&K P8

  cast at sanctum

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-01-03 15:53:40		Bishop rolls 5 to cast Entropic Guard 24h [Death 4 + Gnosis 2 + HS2 -2duration-1retry] (10 Again)		5, 4, 10, 4, 8, 5		2 successes
2015-01-03 15:53:20		Bishop rolls 6 to cast Entropic Guard 24h [Death 4 + Gnosis 2 + HS2 -2duration] (10 Again)		4, 6, 3, 7, 7, 7		failure
2015-01-03 15:51:26		Bishop rolls 9 to cast Grim Sight 24h (Death 4 + Wits 3 + Occ 1 + HS 2 + Tool1 -2 duration) (10 Again)		9, 2, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1, 10, 8, 3		3 successes

At precisely 7:00pm Bishop parked his VW on the parking close to the Circle. He was dressed in a light black training suit completely devoid of all markings or commercial signs. He wore running shoes and carried a small metal framed case with him. He was clean shaven and had his hair cut yesterday. He walked over to the circle's entrance steps, a little nervous with anticipation. It had been quite a while since his last physical exercise. It had also been quite some time, since he had fired a gun. The last time he had used one with the intention to hit someone was years ago and back then he had missed and instead relied on other means for a take-down. It was probably necessary to polish these skills a little. It would probably also be prudent to get a license for PI work along with a license for carrying a concealed weapon.

One would see.

He offered a hand to the Thyrsus. "Good evening, Mr. Striker."

[Teeramus]

Striker saw Bishop's magical glow as he approached and assumed he had a sight and shield up as was prudent, especially going into a combat training session. At the sight of the case the Guardian held, his hand strayed to the knife on his belt, it was useful for mundane tasks as well as when he needed a magical tool and if Bishop wanted to train with a weapon he'd be happy to oblige.

He shook the older man's hand firmly before opening the door and letting them both in.
"Evenin' mate. Been keepin' well?" he asked in a friendly fashion.

[Samaritan]

Bishop placed the case on a table.
"Well enough to be here. You suggested, that if I am not sure enough with blades, I should favor a gun." he said, indicating towards it. "I haven't fired one in a long time, but it may be useful for refreshing my expertise."
He took a look around.
"Ok, your show. How do we play?"
He was...eager? He had not felt like this in a long time. Bishop desperately tried to remember the last time he had spent an evening with physical training - or with a mentor for that matter. Even though he considered Striker more of a trainer. Mentor had an enlightened ring to it and Bishop did not consider himself or Striker enlightened enough to fill that role.

[Teeramus]

Striker took a second look at the case with surprise.

"Oh you bought a gun ay? Hand gun is it? I haven't fired one of them, just done a bit of rifle shootin' out on the farms. Roos an' pigs an' stuff." He said considering the size of the case. "But I might be able to work something out if you're keen to practice that. I dunno where you're gonna fire it here though. Maybe set up some cans to shoot down." he said looking left to right as though considering if there was anywhere appropriate. "Be honest, I was hopin' to show you some hand to hand fighting since that's what I'm best at, but ya know, it's best not to have preferences and I'll try an' help you out however you want."

Casitive Cross Can I get some clarification if the firing range in the basement (as per the wiki) is still available. Striker has never been told about it specifically and since we're down to three dots of Size and since no-one has used it recently (that I know of) I figured it was probably part of the Circle that hasn't been maintained.

[Samaritan]

"It's fine, I just wanted to come prepared. You want to do hand to hand, we do that. We have to start somewhere and I suppose I need to do some catching up." Bishop replied, leaving the case closed on the table.
"You will forgive me, if I do a little warm up first. Tearing a limb on my first go will really mess up my schedule and will unnecessarily delay progress." he added.
With that, he started running a drill of warm-up exercises which he recalled from the top of his head. It had been some time since his last time in a do-jang but having a good memory had its benefits.

[Teeramus]

"No worries mate. Take your time. But remember that you don't usually have time to warm up when some one really wants to kick your ass." Striker replied hoping to be helpful. He was feeling warmed up already, but did a few stretches of his own.

"Once you're ready why don't you swing a few punches at me so I can see where you're at. And don't worry about hurtin' me, I can deal with any injuries no worries, but if you pull your punches this isn't gonna work as well. I'll just be dodging' so don't worry if you can't connect, just try hit me however you can punches, kicks, whatever." Striker instructed.

Feel free to roll as many attacks as you think is appropriate. Striker's armour + defense will be 9, but rolling a full die pool is always appreciated so that Striker can tell how well Bishop did.

[Samaritan]

Making his way into close-combat distance, Bishop headed into his inevitable doom. He sized Striker up and turned square to him, followed by a subtle bow from the hip. Curtesy was important. They were not adversaries, they were sparring partners. Etiquette was necessary, as it showed respect and it also affirmed, that both parties were concentrating on one another to make sure no serious injury would result.

  Pool 8 2 success, after defense failure, no dramatic fail

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-01-05 15:43:20		Bishop rolls 1 to hit Striker after Def (10 Again, Chance)		8		failure
2015-01-05 15:42:55		Bishop rolls 8 to hit Striker (Str2 + Brawl1 + aoa2 + WP) (10 Again, WillPower)		2, 5, 5, 5, 7, 9, 5, 10, 1		2 successes

Forwarding his left foot and shifting 70% of his weight onto the right leg, the old man raised his arms to a middle guard with the right open hand guarding his solar-plexus and the closed left fist guarding his forwarded left lower abdomen. Bishop inhaled and exhaled three times, then unleashed a small combination. He quickstepped towards the Thyrsus, leading with the advanced left food and pulling the right under him. The step brought him in range for a left-foot neryo-chagi, which swung up to shoulder level and was aimed at Strikers raised guard.
Unfortunately, the kick lacked dropping power, as Bishop was unable to push his hip far enough to get pressure behind the downward swing, so the kick was deflected to Strikers side and was planted into solid ground instead. Unable to kick again without exposing either his back or liver, Bishop shifted his weight into the left foot and threw a quick left handed jab followed by a right punch that carried into a left hook. He was now close enough to actually bite Striker, but his jab had hit nothing but thin air, while the punch had bounced off Strikers guard and the hook had ended at something hard, probably a knuckle or the elbow.
Somewhere in his body something had creaked in protest, but nothing had broken so far. Bishop was not sure, what had happened, but he was panting hard and had probably inflicted more pain on himself than the Thyrsus.
<Well, he is an Arrow, isn't he?>
Bishop had the nagging feeling, that managing to not hurt yourself in a sparring match did not warrant you any points.
He rubbed his left hand. And grunted.

[Teeramus]

Striker nodded to Bishop's bow with a slight smile. As he began his attack the smile grew and the Arrow responded to each attempt to hit him with encouragement.

"Nice. Nice. Not bad. Good." He interjected throughout the attack.

When Bishop let up he dropped his gaurd and relaxed. "Ok. So your technique's not bad and the high kicks can be effective if they connect, but they're a bit showy and usually leave you opened to gettin' tripped up. An' there's nohing wrong with gettin' up close an' personal either. Quick gut check or headbutt's pretty useful for takin' people down quick if you can get enough power behind them." he paused. Bishop had had a few seconds to catch his breath, time to keep going.

"Ok my turn. You defend. Think about which side you're leadin' with. If you're attackin' you prob'ly wanna lead with your strong side, if you're defending keepin' your strong side back'll let you keep going for longer." he said before giving Bishop a quick nod and beginning the attack.

  attack rolls

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-01-05 18:19:55		Striker rolls 9 to Hit the Bishop (AoA) (10 Again)		10, 10, 10, 2, 7, 4, 2, 9, 2, 1, 6, 3		4 successes
2015-01-05 18:19:11		Striker rolls 7 to Hit the Bishop (touch only) (10 Again)		8, 6, 8, 3, 3, 3, 3		2 successes
2015-01-05 18:18:11		Striker rolls 7 to Hit the Bishop (touch only) (10 Again)		4, 2, 2, 4, 3, 4, 6		failure

He stepped forward off his right foot to kick but came far to short giving Bishop another few seconds to anticipate his next strike. His left foot swung out for a decently leveled side kick that Striker intended to bounce off the oher mage even if it did connect. The lesson came in the next blow. Striker expression took a serious tone as he stepped forward, ducking down slightly as he went and pivoting his whole body to deliver a brutal punch to Bishop's mid section.

He was more interesed in teachig Bishop what it meant to survive than just fighting techniques. But before you knew what it meant to survive, you had to know what it meant to be in pain and how to keep going.

[Samaritan]

Defense is 6 - I am assuming the penalty from my aoa is void, since we disengaged before Striker makes his move.

Bishop wanted to reply something, but found himself a little breathless after his go at the Thyrsus. So instead he just nodded and went back into a left forward guard, again the open right in front of his chest and the closed left pointing towards Striker. He tried to keep on his toes.
Striker moved in with a kick to gain forward momentum and Bishop had a very clear impression about what was about to happen. He danced back a little, which carried him out of the first kick, but the follow up swung in and connected with the extended left guard.
Pain welled up the arm, first a hot line of fiery ants crawling up the lower and upper arm which half a second later turned into a piercing numbness as a nerve had been pinched.

Not that it mattered.

Bishop reflexively withdrew his left guard with a chassé and moved his right hand out, while maintaining his effective position.

Bad choice.

Something detonated on his chest.

When he opened his eyes again, a few things had changed.
One: The perspective had changed from vertical to horizontal.
Two: There was precious little wind left in his lungs.
Three: His left arm no longer hurt. While this could be considered good news, the bad news eclipsed it like a sonic boom drowned out a humming bee.
Instead, his chest throbbed with exquisite pain - which indicated, that he had been hit, but his injuries were most likely not too serious. Meaning, he would not have to go to a hospital.

Bishop coughed - which hurt considerably more than he had imagined - and angled his right foot and leg, until it snuggled into the knee bend of the extended left leg. Gritting his teeth, he raised his torso and moved over his right leg into a squatting position with his right leg beneath his body and his left leg ankled in front of him. His hands had remained off the floor and in a guard position for the whole maneuver. He rose from the ground, visibly shaken. The world still seemed undecided wether to accept this without reverting back into the vertical perspective and it felt like he was standing on a ship in rough see.
He tried a few breaths and it steadied a little.

Bishop is at 4B.