Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

Balthazar was fast but in the dreamscape he did not have the advantages granted by his magic- namely his ability to sense motion near him. Prae’s fist struck Balthazar in the centre of his chest and the mage stumbled back a little before launching his own counter-strike. His fists lashed out in quick succession and then Balthazar pushed inwards to try and drive his elbow into Praetorum’s chest.

Balthazar was quick, and damn accurate; his elbow caught Prae right under the breastbone, and the ithecal was forced to stumble back as all the air was forced from his lungs. He’d have to remember that spot in the future; it felt like an excellent way to incapacitate someone. Still, Prae was not a shieldbearer for nothing—even as he retreated to catch his breath back, he twisted, his tail lashing out to try and cuff the side of Balthazar’s head.

Fortunately a tail was not all that different from a fist, though it was not as easy to predict… for most. Balthazar had sparred with Praetorum often enough to know that the Ithecal liked using his tail. He wasn’t expecting it, but when he saw the extra limb flying toward him, Balthazar brought his arm up to block it before attempting to grab the tail and pull Praetorum into another punch.

The downside of having an eight foot long tail, it turned out, was that there was eight feet of tail to grab. Even with the far half of it coiled tight, Balth was easily able to grab on, and pull the larger fighter to him. Praetorum, unused to having to brace against that pull—it was stunning how few people ever thought to do so in a fight—yelped in surprise as he stumbled directly into Balth’s fist.

“Oof.” He grunted.

”You know, most ithecal grow out of tail pulling by six arcs old.” But most ithecal did not have a tail like his; barely a moment after Balth’s punch connected, Prae’s tail curled, and wrapped itself around the arm the human had used to hold it, and pulled him upwards, trying to hoist the smaller man into the air.

Tail grab against an athletic and acrobatic opponent: bad idea, Prae decided. Giving up on the tactic entirely, Prae uncoiled his tail from the human’s arm, and retreated slightly away from those powerful kicks, but not before one caught him once more in that spot under his ribs that knocked all the air out of him. By now the attacks Prae had been continuously taking were taking their toll, and he was breathing heavy, aches starting to catch up with him. “Think that’s enough for one night?” He asked, slightly winded.

Balthazar, gasping for air after having it knocked out of him, responded to Praetorum’s surrender with a small nod and and thumbs up. He rolled a little bit to the side and got onto his feet again, rubbing his abdomen where he’d been hit. “I think so, I’d rather not wake up with anything broken.” He said with a small laugh that caused him to wince.

Prae chuckled at that, then winced, feeling how the motion sent a fresh wave of aches through his core muscles. “Every time we do this, I wake up with new pains.” Glancing down at the sand on the floor, he saw that it only confirmed what he’d originally thought—that Balthazar was far more mobile that he was, with much steadier footwork. His own steps were sloppy in comparison, but comparing the steps to his memory of their fight, there were places where Prae could see exactly what he needed to improve on. Not just speed and steadiness, but also angle and positioning—it was good to be able to see such things so clearly.

“It should be dawn soon.” Prae said. “Well, if your travels bring you to Rharne, and I’m still there, come find me. We’ll have a drink together.”