RP:Beaten At His Own Game

This is a Warrior's Guild RP.

Summary: Rorin and Ameno train excellently against a school-of-hard-knocks Warrior's Guild instructor. Afterward, Rorin really, really wants cake.

Frostmaw: Snowless Training Yard

Rorin battled on as an educator in the art of war manipulated the field at will. His battle lance was held squarely in his left hand while his right was empty. In fact he was unarmored- his speed and appearance doubly surprising those who only knew Rorin as That Masked Paladin Guy. He rushed across rolling hills, leaped through grassy plains, over pitfalls and swinging across chasms designed purely by the whim of his instructor upon one of the fluorite spheres whose sigils glowed alight during the teachers laughing praise. Meanwhile Rorin danced across the ever changing terrain swinging at targets who appeared completely at random, hitting each without failure. On his forehead rivulets of sweat beaded, dampening his shaggy black hair. A rock pillar appeared bursting from the side- demolished as Rorin summoned a magical shield. Deflected and surpassed he carries on. His face is buried in concentration but is still impeccably young, a boy of almost unmarked by time weather or war. Grey eyes anticipate the battlefield before him and a lithe, barely muscled body carries him across. He destroys target after target row after row and does not stop. Dressed merely in a dark doublet, slacks, and boots with gloves- the boys speed and agility are giving his gleefully sadistic instructor a difficult time keeping up. Still though his pointed ears hint that the above average grace of the boy is some inherited mark, his accuracy no doubt as well- though his will is purely human.

Ameno himself had arrived in time to see the feat and gave a small smile. Removing his cloak and hood, and drawing his quarterstaff, he waited to be called upon to test his abilities, he chose the staff over his sword, as he hated to mention, he stunk with blade.

Rorin made a critical error. He struck- and when he did, he estimated to jump off. He did not see the rock pillar about to crush him. Smashed quite horrifically it would seem he fell- perilously and perhaps uncomsciously into a 20 foot pit. There he groaned and moaned revealing he at the very least had not died. His trainer laughed and smirked, ordering him ro get up as he sent over a healer. Rorin could hobble towards the man at least. "Too cocky. You don't have to swing at every target boy, that's how you make mistakes. Weren't watching your back. That's why you need a partner," he patted Ameno on the back and nearly shoved him in. "Get in there. Let's see how you manage to work together," he laughed heartily, his hands still on the orb. Rorins eyes widened and he straightened up. He gripped his lance and looked at Ameno. "Be careful. The mans a crazy old dog," his trainer laughed. "Not as crazy as you for stepping into the box on my shift boy," he replied, "now dance." It seemes they had only a moment to prepare before the test began.

Ameno glanced at the instructor as he was pressed into the field. "I've seen you have a flare for the acrobatics, so a lance, good choice." Ameno said reading himself for when the trainer would begin.

Rorin could only put both hands on his lance. His eyes were wide and the bags under them were not from training. He was pushing himself. Still. The trainer was smirking as he moved his hands, the ground under them shooting up and then a wall next to them before another. Rorin bounced off them with ease but for Ameno he could not say. Targers had yet to appear, though perhaps that would come later.

Ameno felt the ground rise and reflexively braced himself, as he felt the ground come to a stop at a height he leaped aiming for the next highest ground, and landing with ease.

Rorin was only slightly ahead of Ameno after all. Not bad. A couple of meters off the ground the trainer began having targets pop up on either side, Rorin closer to the left- the outside of the box- with Ameno on his right closer in. Rorin would bash his targets one by one but soon a spiked pit appear with floating tiles. He slowed down, "be ready to jump!" He called to Ameno while he tried to keep up with the target practice. On top of all this the ground was being torn away just a meter behind them, so slowing down fully was not an option. The only option was to push forward as a team. They would have to jump at the same time.

Ameno:: when he was told to jumped he timed the motion to do so just so, as the enemies came that rorin missed, he would use his quarterstaff ends to knock them aside, and then he leapt toward one of the floating tiles preparing his wings for immediate glide if nessecary.

Rorin leaped onto the platform and then on to another rolling landmass. A tall target appeared with two striking zones. "I'll take high!" Rorin called out as he fell back to use Ameno as an improptu jumping platform.

Ameno grunted as Rorin landed on his shoulders to take the high target and used his long quaterstaff to jab it into the lower target, "I got low."

Rorin landed with the target defeated- on seperate ground! He was on another rolling plane above Ameno, where he had to be busy barreling through targets not to be crushed by the lowering ceiling and floors! Meanwhile on the bottom several tentacular extensions whipped out at Ameno and required him to pick up the pace- right before a sudden drop for them both.

Ameno felt one of the tentacles cut at his legs but he pulled away, he noted hearing a crackling sound which he knew to be the sound of something freezing over, and he knew that whatever cut him was frozen and his blood had frozen the wound, and so he continued to leap until he grabbed Rorin to slow his fall with his wings. In case there was something unexpected below.

Rorin grabbed onto Amenos leg with one hand tightly. There was a chasm below, and he would really rather not fall there. Suddenly ahead of them began launching boulders, and Rorin had to think quick. "Just catch me!" He shouted as he swung his body forward and flipped, his arm summoning a holy shield at just the right time to deflect it from Amenos flight path. It would require some timing between them, but as long as they worked together they wouldn't die. That had to be reasuringm

Ameno let his wings fold so he fell faster than rorin then caught him as he fell and and opened his wings again to catch the wind.

Rorin performed that trick far more than once before they were back on solid ground. With boulders rolling at them and spikes falling from above! As targets popped up Rorin did his best, their proper dodges would force them to criss cross paths and a moments fumble would loose them the track here. And possibly a leg.

Ameno the tricks repetitiveness made him wonder if the instructor was running out of ideas, at this point needles and rocks, and the occasional enemy, he wondered when the guy would choose the finale. In that moment the last boulder caught him in the chest, but thanks to hertiage he pushed it aside, and kept moving. "Damn boulder."

Rorin didn't want to force Ameno to keep up when he fell behind- and that was when looking behind him turned wrong, tripping and tumbling-getting smacked in the head allowed him to duck the incoming rock. Rorin was officially down. Too cocky.

Ameno wasn't about to let his own fault cause a fault on somone else, hurrying he dodged several rock formations and took out two targets, grabbed Rorin, and kept at it till the guy was ready to keep going. "No man left behind on my watch."

Rorin was picked up and ran with Ameno! He was amazed- and also trying to deal with a concussion. It seemed as if their trainer had picked a long dark tunnel for them to run through but ahead... Rorin sensed something. Were they... on a decline? "Look out!" He shouted as he went in his back. He was in a controlled slide, dodging rocks that came- up?! Targets flew by, Rorin was far too busy to deal with most of them but he got a few. He was more concerned with what lay below. There appeared to be giant cogs in the floor! They would habe to split up at some points but it seemed as if the dangers of whacking tentacles, flying boulders- random targets and giant cogs would keep them preoccupied for now.

Ameno felt the change in the circumstances and secretly smiled, now this was new. biting his palms, to get a little tempeture zeroing blood to hit the cogs, so as he dodged he let his freezing blood chill and break the cogs that he left behind.

Rorin fell back and managed to slide standing. Now he had a fighting chance. He would smash the frozen cogs- jump back- and send the falling debris scattered forward, eleminating all possible targets. The little trick didn't last long though. Soon they came upon the end. A gaping maw beckoned them forth to the abyss- where scythes rolled, rock platforms flew at them, and targets launched piercing arrows. Altogether the space was not quite as massive as it seemed. The field master had manipulated their sense of perception as he had actually drawn the collumn they'd been falling in up the entire time- creating the illusion that they had made any space downward. Now he had them where he wanted them. Open space with 5 or 10 absurdly violent obstacles per square meter, with 60 square meters of open space. The last obstacle. Their true task? Don't hit the ground with all the speed they'd gained falling! Even Amenos wings would be a challenge to use here while various things shot, fell, stabbed, or flew at him. It would take massive amounts of skill. But they could do it together. Rorin grabbed Amenos legs again and flew at a targer- smashing it to land on a platform for a bare moment. He held his hand out to catch Ameno and fling him towards the next sniping obstacle. Using horizontal space meant they could at least slow each other down.

Ameno felt the fall and the open area but as he was following he remembered something, something important that this in the end was an illusion and if he could convince himself, well magic did work two ways. as he stunted with Rorin, he brought up his theory, "Hey remember that the battlefield is an illusion, doesn't that work two ways? Stop believing in the illusion and it can't harm you?"

Rorin laughed. "The flourite spheres-" he had to hit things "control the stone around the arena" he had to dodge "the climate is an illusion" it was rather warm as he caught Ameno and swung around again "the stone that's flying is real. The targets-" it occured to him. The targets, the darts, any launched boulders didn't exist. They did not come from machines or were launched from some thing. So all he really had to hit... "hold on!" He shouted as he did something very odd. He hugged Ameno and summoned around them a white magical ball. Trying to watch where he was going Rorin rolled- bounced- crashed- free fell- and finally meteor rolled into the ground. His idea had been simple. Avoid everything possible annnd... they crashed outside of the ring! Rather, they crashed in the ring at an angle, bounced, rolled, and finally stopped as they smashed the inner part of a wall. Rorin let go and collapsed. Everything felt broken and he believed he was about to pass out.

Ameno groaned but laughed at the same time. "You my friend just beat the instructor at his own game," he picked himself off of Rorin.

Rorin tried to get up. A sound was happening that his very shut down brain simply could not process. It was clapping, to Ameno. "You survived," he said with a hint of glee, "you lived throughout my game. Bit of a rough time there," he looked at Ameno, "your reflexes need to be sharper," he looked at Rorin, "stop being so full of yourself. You can't do anything and that last barrier nearly costed your life." He pulled the boy up, "go rest. Before you keel over and I have to haul another student to the pyre," he walked off as Rorin was limping. Something felt as if it was hemorrhaging. He felt rather dead and empty inside. He was vaguely aware of clinging to Ameno, and vaguely had the capacity to hope the draconian brought him inside. Cocoa. That's what he wanted. And a lot of cake.

Ameno lifting his friend up he trudged with Rorin to the keep, for food, rest, and if the gods allowed. "A damn good soak."