Fight:Kaori v Reinhardt

This is a Warrior's Guild RP.

Summary: Kaori and Reinhardt go toe-to-toe in a thrilling training spar. The woman continues to prove herself capable beyond her station, impressing both the Larketian and her Warrior's Guild superiors back in Frostmaw.

Larket: Sacred Shrine

Reinhardt enters the sacred shrine with an entourage of armed guards to secure the establishment. As well, several men bring in racks of weapons of all kinds and place them by a nearby door. The Knight-Commander examines their work, as he awaits the young samurai to ready herself as she wishes. A nod to the men, and they make sure the pair shall not be disrupted, as the newly elevated Larketian Lord says to the wandering ronin. " Choose what you wish, you'll find the racks well stocked with a variety to choose from." The man himself is garbed in a leather vest, pants and only an armored sleeve on his left arm, covering from shoulder down and a small semi-plate around his upper chest and back. Upon his side is a longsword of masterwork quality, though as he examines each rack he goes to a nearby glaive, and takes the polearm into his hand and readies himself across the now cleared out room and waits. " Take lead, Kaori, and show me what you know."

Kaori follows Reinhardt and his men inside the shrine, forcing any feeling of apprehension or nerves from her body. This is her first test against a truly skilled opponent and she knows she needs to be loose and ready. Nodding to the Larketian man's suggestion, Kaori moves close to the racks to select a weapon, mindful of Reinhardt's own choice when she makes her own. Naturally, the samurai selects the naginata, a weapon she is very familiar with and with a reach to match the knight's glaive. She herself wears a suit of leather lamellar with an unseen leather on kusari chain underneath, enough to defend from most cutting attacks. Turning to face Reinhardt, she bows in respect. "Very well, I'll begin." With no further delay Kaori advances on Reinhardt in a calculated manner, every step measured to keep herself out of the reach of the stronger and physically larger opponent. Lifting her naginata with practiced ease, the business end of the cutting blade is sent slicing for Reinhardt's knees with surprising speed. Knowing she needs to vary her approach, she follows up with a second strike by bringing the curved blade in a hard thrust for the Larketian knight's chest.

Reinhardt Deveruex closes his eyes but momentarily as this training session sets to begin. The serene setting has the warrior at ease as he lets his mind prepare for what is to come. The weight of the glaive in his hand is taken into consideration, as the steel shaft of the polearm balances the heavy blade at its crown. A well-made weapon, indeed. With the sun having set, and the light of the moon and various torches held aloft by the guards who ensure no one will either get in the way, or be harmed, the knight takes in his opponent. Compared to his attire, a fitted sleeveless leather-vest with matching leggings and shin-guards, Kaori is garbed in a more fully battle ready attire. As she opts to go with the naginata, the knight-commander inhales once more just before her words leave her lips. As she approaches, the man readies himself into an appropriate stance. Her movement is smooth, precise and calculated, which is to be expected of a warrior. The first stab with her weapon is dodged by a quick back-step that places the intended limb just out of reach. It is as she draws back her weapon for the second attack that Reinhardt reacts with startling speed of his own. The glaive is spun around with practiced ease in his experienced hands, sending the weight of the blade spinning about so that the metallic shaft gains momentum just as the second strike come sin dead center-mass. She aims to end her fights quick, striking for the heart with the intent of landing a fatal blow. Clever girl. But Reinhardt’s quick reaction saves him from such a fate, as the butt end of the staff collides to parry her blow. The knight doesn’t stop there, for just as the two weapons collide, with his height of six three and his heavier frame giving him a few advantages here, the man closes the distance more, flowing with his initial strike. The glaive switches from right hand to left in a smooth motion, allowing the Larketian to send forth a viciously quick jab towards her jaw. If he connects, he will hold back his full force. This is training after all, he’d allow it to sting a good bit, but he isn’t trying to actually harm her. If he doesn’t connect, the knight will follow through with a two-pronged advance to keep her on her toes. If his jab fails, he will follow thought with his elbow to close the distance even more, spinning around to his right so that he can carry the glaive around in a wide arc now aimed to slice through the space she currently occupies with powerful velocity. He is trying to test her reflexes, timing and reactions, and this attack carries enough power and threat to warrant just that.

Kaori nods as her twin strikes are negated by what amounts to simple parries, having expected no less from such an experienced opponent. Since Reinhardt is holding a glaive, she hardly expects him to lead with a jab of his fist. Only having a few seconds to react, Kaori tucks her head to roll with the pulled punch so it only makes a minor impact to her jaw. That said, a pulled punch from someone that much larger than her still smarts! The knight's follow up attack is a bit easier to avoid with the wide arc that the glaive flows in, bringing the shaft of her naginata up to deflect the bladed end of the weapon and hopefully leave Reinhardt open and off balance. Moving with all the swiftness one might expect from a woman as slight as she, Kaori makes a trio of slicing strokes that aim to score upon the man's chest. Cautiously working herself inside the reach of Reinhardt's glaive, Kaori grips her naginata at either end and brings the weighty shaft of the weapon up for the Larketian knight's jaw.

Reinhardt feels his fist collide with her jaw, and can’t help but feel a bit bad. But, this isn’t pure social hour. This is a fight, and he will not coddle her here and now and ruin her training for the sake of pity. The enemy knows no such thing. So as his wide arc leaves him open, as he knew it would, he is surprised to see he is greeted by not just one, but three swift strikes of that naginata. Like a viper this one is! Each one comes it with impressive speed, as the lighter polearm seems to compliment her lithe frame well. She knows her weapons, that’s clear now. One strike is dodged, barely, but a quick roll of his shoulder to allow his leather vest to absorb most of the blow. A deep gash is left in its wake as the blade slices through the cured hide with ease. As she recoils to strike again the knight is given the thing he needs most, time. The second strike comes in and the armored sleeve is used to deflect that, while when the third on comes through the knight grabs hold of the shaft and pushes it away, using superior strength and his weight to his advantage. This exposes him though, enough for her follow up blow to connect to his strong jaw and daze him a good bit, making the man back-step a time or too to recover. “Very good.” Says the knight as he wipes away a small bit of blood from the gash upon his chin. A nice scar will form, a reminder to himself to always be quicker than he was. Now with his feet fully planted, the man uses this moment to unleash a devious move. Using the slight pause and laxed setting of the training, the knight snatched from his belt a pouch full of fine sand, and tosses the open pouch directly at the woman to unleash a thick cloud of dust with the aim of opening her defenses by blinding and impairing her sight just for that critical moment he needs. A less than honorable tactic, to be pure, but one she may very well find used in a real-life combat situation. Either way, the knight charges forth with amazing celerity, closing the distance once more and sliding is own grip up and that he guides the glaive by the bladed end and sends forth the long body of the metallic weapon in another sweep, this time aimed at her own legs in the attempt to trip the woman up completely or at least cause her to lose her own footing. This of course plays off the hopes she was unprepared for the sudden and devious ploy he just pulled off with that bag-o-sand trick. If he strikes, he’d level the glaive at the downed woman, but just in case she doesn’t, he follows up the sweeping blow he just unleashed by bringing the weapon back around and using his high grip, just below the blade, to drive home another blow with a leaping strike aimed at her shoulder.

Kaori heaves a breath from her chest, that multi pronged attack having taken quite a bit of energy to mount. A lesser opponent might be felled by such a combination, but this is a proper Larketian knight. Thankful for the slight pause in action so she can regain some stamina, Kaori holds her naginata out expectantly while Reinhardt fetches something from his belt. By the time the young woman sees what it is, however, it's a bit late. There's a cloud of disorienting dust around her in an instant, causing her to blink and choke while she attempts to get her wits about her. So distracted is she that she's unprepared to meet the body of the glaive sweeping in toward her. Kaori awkwardly jumps to avoid the worst outcome in being knocked down, but the body of the weapon still connects with her thigh and severely disrupts her balance. Skittering and stumbling about, Kaori regains her balance only to find the Reinhardt approaching with a leaping strike aimed at her shoulder. Unfortunately, she has no time to properly evade it; she attempts to move aside and is met with a harsh impact against her shoulder, crushing the scales there and transferring the full force of the weapon through leather and kusari chain alike while sending the girl to her knee. Crying out in pain, Kaori has to tightly grip her naginata to avoid losing hold of it. There's going to be at least a heavy bruise on the skin if not down to the bone itself, hopefully nothing is broken. The pain that radiates through her shoulder is intense, but she knows she must carry on. Forcing herself up, Kaori advances on Reinhardt with a series of light little jabs with naginata, none of them actually aiming to strike the man but rather keep him honest and out of range. Unable to make a wide sweeping strike due to her shoulder, Kaori instead makes a short slice that threatens the man's hip. Knowing it is likely to be blocked, the young woman tries to work her way inside the glaive's reach and make a swift if not particularly powerful thrust at the man's left shoulder.

Reinhardt feels the bite of his weapon dig in deep, and luckily, he can revert some of the excess kinetic energy he uses by pulling back just in time to avoid any serious injury. Again, this is just training and he means he no actual harm. Bruises are a good reminder of what can be done better, and that’s all he desires to drive home this night. But just as quick as she falls to a knee, she unleashes her wickedly fast attacks. With his footing compromised by the loose sand of his own previous attack, the knight is unable to fully evade her ravenous assault and it is by sheer luck coupled with finely honed reflexes that he doesn’t have the blade buried into his hip. It does slice into the bottom layer of his leather vest, biting into the top layer of flesh and causing blood to flow freely, but it is a superficial wound easily taken care of. It is in this that he tries to show her yet another lesson, and uses her own success against her now by grabbing the shaft of her own weapon once more, utilizing again his superior strength and weight to push out the blade with a might gained from years of hard work. This hopefully drives her back, and as he keeps a tight grip upon her weapon, just as the push would end, he pulls forth with even greater force in the attempt to use the loose sand and her injury to either make her lose grip upon her own weapon and disarm her, or, if she chooses to keep hold, the knight will send forth a powerful front kick aimed at her stomach in an attempt of knock the wind right out of her. Given her smaller and lighter frame she may be used to such odds in a fight, but if she is still learning the ways of the warrior, she may not have seen such an overwhelming difference in strength used against her in such a cunning and ruthless manner. She needs to be prepared for such methods, as the killers and thugs and warriors of less honorable origins shall attempt to use all advantages against her, with her life being on the line if she fails to make the right call. He doesn’t hold back in this instance, trying to fully display the incredible gap between the two in terms of size and strength. He hopes she can avoid the perils and traps such an instance can cause, for in the slightest of moments of may see such a mountain of an obstacle and lose heart. And even if it is for the slightest of moments, it can cost you everything in a real fight. Watching on and prepared for whatever outcome, Reinhardt watches with keen interest as to what Kaori’s next move will be.

Kaori bites her lip when Reinhardt grabs her weapon, tugging vainly to try and get it back under her control. It's a lost cause, however. Not only does her wounded shoulder make this impossible, but even if it was fresh her opponent is much bigger and stronger than her and thus far more likely to win a tugging match. Kaori reluctantly releases her grip on the weapon, stepping out of range of that hammering kick that the Larketian knight sends her way. Disarmed and facing an opponent with a rangy weapon, the young woman concedes with a bow. "I don't think I can reasonably continue this fight. Were this a fight to the death I would rely on my tanto, but this is practice and I am at a severe disadvantage. I only stand to take more wounds and wear.

Reinhardt allows a smile to form as he watches her make the right call. A moment is taken, before he'd toss her back her weapon and say. "You fight well, Kaori. Your movements are clean, crisp, and your aim is accurate. If I were a lesser capable warrior, you'd have felled me three times over." He smirks, playfully adding. " Luckily I am a Larketian Knight!" Tossing in a wink for good measure. "Continue your training, condition your body and learn to use what many will see as a disadvantage to your advantage." He speaks of course of her size. Her speed is incredible, her dexterity too, what she lacks in strength she more than makes up for. "And know, I am always here to train with, whenever you so desire." With that, he moves to a nearby table and motions for a medic and a healer to come tend to their wounds. Being a Lord has its perks, after all.