The Training Grounds

[King Thedriol]

PLEASE REMEMBER TO POST IN THE ARMY HQ BEFORE BEGINING A POST HERE!!!

Nearby to the Army HQ, a large, enclosed field packed with all of the resources and equipment that aspiring soldiers need to complete their training. Near the entrance to the Training Grounds is a stone building, where some physical training can be carried out inside. To the side of this is a smaller shed where fake and real weapons, armour, shields, and all of the other equipment needed for training are kept.

Around the edge of the field that makes up the Grounds is a track, where soldiers can improve on their running and stamina. There are places where members of all the different divisions can each train to the specific qualities needed for them to excel in their chosen section of the Army: Scarecrows are set up for Sword-fighters; targets for the Bowmen; targets to be cut down and space for galloping on horseback; sets of scarecrows and targets for the Axe Men; and a large section of bare and sandy land.

There are also places where balance, physical strength, and tactical ideas can be enhanced, as well as an obstacle and a survival course. Medical aid for mild injuries can be found in the Equipment shed, but a soldier that suffers a serious injury should be rushed straight to the Healing Chambers.

]*****

When a character joins a division, they may join in the many quests that the Army must fulfil. Different divisions normally carry out different quests, although they occasionally unite as one to fight in the case of war. Commanders decide with the other leaders of the divisions (captains etc) on the storyline their division is following, which can be discussed in the Warriors' Guild in the Moot Hall. To make it easier to distinguish between different divisions and thus storylines, colour-coding rules are have been imposed in this thread:

SWORDSMEN post in red
ARCHERS and JAVELINMEN post in blue[/color]
CAVALRY post in green
AXEMEN post in purple

Your first four posts will be considered to be your training as you rise through the ranks of the army. Befre you have made any posts you are considered to be a recruit. Having made one post you attain the rank of Trainee. Having made two posts you attain the rank of Page, having made three posts you attain the rank of Squire, and having made four posts you become an elite member of your division.

((I know that until we have Commanders this might be a bit difficult, but until they are imposed you are free to work the storyline in whichever way you want))

[Arikain Galarond]

Arikain lead his horse into the Training Grounds. A huge grey warhorse, Eryn had been his favoured steed for some years now. He mounted the beast, and surveyed the grounds. Digging his heels in, he set off a a fast trot, and they carried on in this way as a warm-up before urging Eryn into a canter, and then a gallop. The wind whistled past Kain's ear as he sped around the grounds, his hair blowing out behind him and his clock billowing out like a roll of cloud.

He drew his sword, and smiled at the cold metal. The sword flashed in the light before he brought it down in a sweeping arc to his right hand side and cut down one of the scarecrows that had been erected for just such a purpose. What a shame Thought Arikain, That it is incredibly likely that I will never be able to put any of these skills into practise. While the man did not crave a war, he longed for the chance to fight for what was right. He wanted to fight for peace, but while the Kingdom was in a peaceful state he could not do that. Although there were rumours of war flitting about like bats thoughout the Golden Lands, he did not believe one of them Still. At least he was getting in some practise now.

A bead of sweat ran down his neck. Ah, this was how he liked to be, fighting and training. He sheathed his sword and performed a series of exercises in the moving saddle, swinging himself around one side and then the other side of the horse. He then heaved himself back into the saddle. He felt better. now he could go back to the Castle and have a wash.

[Khorren]

Khorren wandered onto the training grounds, Teiden, her sword clutched loosely in her hand, tip tip trailing through the grass behind her. Kianu was clinging to her shoulder. The little cat-demon was looking at her with a look of mild annoyance, evidently he had not enjoyed the run from the Army HQ to here.
Khorren wasn't quite entirely sure what to do now.. of course she had trained before, but was she supposed to train differently here? In a more 'official' way? She really didn't know. First thing's first, she picked Kianu from her shoulder who didn't seem all too happy with this either, and put him on a piece of wall a little way into the training field. He curled up there with his back to her.
With a yawn and a stretch, Khorren lifted her sword. It was light and caught the sun as she moved it, making it appear almost fluid. She held the handle with both hands and trailed a few figures of eight through the air before resting Teiden against the wall by Kianu, hoping that neither would be stolen. She walked over to the track marked into the ground and began to run, her green hair flowing out behind her.
- - -
She had jogged for several miles before she stopped, bending forwards and resting her hands on her knees, catching her breath. She glanced over to where Kianu lay, draped over the wall in the most perculiar position with Teiden next to him. She stood up straight and walked over, taking Teiden in her right hand and lifting it, pointing it in the direction of the training dolls and looking along its blade, thinking.
Kianu was looking at her with a beady eye, which he rolled when she looked at him in an expression of deep bemusement. Khorren wandered over to the training dolls and tested the strength of one by tapping it with Tieden's blade. Then, without warning and quick as a fox, Khorren pulled Teiden back behind her and brought it forwards through the air to course into the side of the nearest doll. She pulled it away. The training equipment was obviously high quality here, the doll had barely a scratch, and yet Khorren was quite sure that a force such as that she had put behind Tieden would have cut a human in two.
Khorren nodded approvingly and began casting her sword at the dolls again and again, she could almost feel herself getting stronger and she was pleased to note that her aim had improved a great deal from the last time she had practised on a dummy. Now, every slash she made cut the doll, whereas about 4 years ago, she would miss every so often, unbalance herself and fall in the mud. Obviously all that trecking across the countryside encountering orcs and trolls had helped.

((OOC: About 500 words .. is there anything on here we can use to count the words for us? I didn't check before I went ahead and did it manually XD))

[Arikain Galarond]

Arikain charged back into the Training Grounds on Eryn, his faithful steed, and whipped out his sword. Wheeling it around, he headed straight for the other side of the field where he moved immediately to destroy some of the dummies. Bringing Eryn sharply around, he was immensely grateful to have such a well-trained horse; half of the stunts he had pulled in his training had been thanks to her skills.

Smiling as the dummies crashed to the floor, he looked over to where another figure was training; she looked to be a member of the swordfighters’ division.
“Good girl Eryn,” He said, patting her neck. “Don’t worry girl, we’ll go over some manoeuvres later, but I need to work on my endurance for now.” Dismounting, he tied Eryn’s reins to a post and dropped to the ground.

One. He thought. Two. Three. Four… Press-ups were hard work, but the well-trained fighter could go pretty steadily until he had done about 25. Twenty-nine… He could feel the strain on his muscles now, but he enjoyed the feeling, he could feel himself getting stronger.

Finishing on forty, he allowed himself to fall to the floor, his arms shaking a little. Hard work… He thought blearily. Staggering to his feet, he stretched out, working from the tips of his fingers right down to his toes. Rolling his shoulders, he slowly started into a run. Running was his forte. He went out every morning without exception, and made sure he was gone always for at least an hour. Clenching his fists, a small bead of sweat rolled down his forehead and into his eyes. Rubbing the stinging liquid from his eyes and so clearing his vision, he continued at a steady pace around the rest of the field.

Once he’d arrived back to Eryn, he checked to see that no one was close by, and pulled off his shirt. The day was arm, and he was already incredibly hot. Wiping himself down with the rolled=up shirt, he breathed out. Now what should he do? There was, as yet, no Commander in his division, nor any other member training for him to practise with. Still... There were a few other cavalrymen near to the Medical Huts, and, grabbing hold of Eryn’s reigns, he stomped over, breathing heavily.
“Excuse me?” He asked tentatively. “I’m Arikain; I’m training to be in this division… And I was just wondering if you’d help me with my training?”

The men looked at him. They were obviously all good friends. Arikain shifted nervously… And then one of them stuck out a hand.
“Pleased to meet you.” He said gruffly. “There’s a muster field to the back of here… That’s where we usually train. If you want help, meet us there tomorrow at dawn. Don’t be late.” Nodding, the men walked off. “Oh!” One called back. “And we’re jousting tomorrow. So be prepared!”

Nodding to himself, Arikain almost wondered what he ahd got himself into. Then, remounting Eryn, he smiled; it was a challenge.

((502 words. Khorren – I don’t think there’s a word count tool here. Manually… that sounds like fun..,!))

[theprophet]

(This is supposed to be purple but I can't figure it out.)
Cody walked onto the training grounds. He looked over it several obstacle courses, several training devices, it was what he expected to have. How dissapoiting. Cody grinned though, this would be easy to him. He was trained in the mountains, in the forest and on the battlefield. He began to run wearing his heavy plate armour. After several hundered laps he finally began to breathe heavy. He rested for about several seconds before looking at the huge wall. It was the kind with the rope hanging down the middle so you had to climb over. He ran at it summoning the sky's spirits, he started to feel lighter his feet barely touching the ground. He lept into the air and over the wall landing with on the ground with a quick thud. He released the spirits as he could feel them begin to drain his energy. He turned to several of the hay punching dummies. He smiled, reminded him of how when he was younger his father used to make him punch trees until either the tree fell or he bleed. The tree always fell first. He swung his hammer off his back and with ease let the one hundered fifty pound hammer swing effortlessly through the first five dummies. Hay exploded into the air. He laughed like a child. It was good to play.

Cody then turned and noticed a guard laughing, joking about Cody to another guard. He walked over and tapped the guard on the shoulder.
"Dare you say you want to go one on one with a Colossus?" Cody inquired.
The guard gazed up into Cody's eyes easily imitated.
"Well...not..." looking at his buddy he didn't wanna seem like a wuss. "Sure why not? Just for sport."

The guard walked over to a place marked off for sparing. He removed his gloves and helmet.

Cody grinned pushing aside some of his white hair as he removed his heavy plated gloves.

The guard went into a fighting stance and quickly charged cactcing Cody in the jaw. Cody ran his fingers over his jaw.
"Nice." Cody gruffly spoke.
The guard got confident and swung again only for his fist to be caught. Cody's hand held the smaller guards fist. He lifted him off his feet by his arm. Cody then struck the guard once in the chest sending him tumbling back into the wall.
"You have much to learn about fighting, if you ever need instruction come ask me. Don't stand there and laugh."
Cody grinned as he picked up his gloves and went to lay down. He would return in an hour.

[Khorren]

((if you go to 'reply' instead of using the 'quick reply' box, you can change the colour of your text, or just surround all of your text in tags like this- --> [.color=Purple.] your text [./color.] (but without the dots)))


Khorren walked onto the training grounds after a good night's sleep. Kianu was flitting around in the air around her, performing figures of eight and making little chittering noises. Khorren walked towards the wall she had put her stuff by the previous day and leant Tieden, her sword, against it. She lifted her silver-plated armour off and then pulled off her chain-mail, resting them against the wall too. She had learned from the last time she had come to train here that running a few miles in heavy armour wasn't pleasant.
Kianu settled himself on Khorren's armour, curling up on the inside, there there was soft, leather padding and beginning to groom himself. Wasting no time, Khorren walked over to the running track. She started by stretching a little, although she always did stretches when she woke up in the morning anyway. She reached her left arm up into the air and then repeatedthe action with her right arm. Then she stretched her legs in turn and did a couple more stretches and shook herself lightly. She rested her gaze on the track, bright eyes taking in the worn ground and length of the track. She yawned deeply and started to run. Today she had decided to tie her hair tighter so that it didn't wave about when she ran as it did when it was in a plait. Her hair was tied in a bow and pinned to the back of her head securely.

* * *

It was almost two hours before Khorren stopped running. She slowed to a halt and leant over, clasping her knees and catching her breathe. This took barely a moment as she was in peak condition anyway. She stood up straight and stretched again before making her way back to the wall. Kianu, who had been sleeping, opened a beady eye as she approached as though daring her to move the armour from beneath him. She didn't.
She merely sat leaning in the shade of the wall and opened her bag. She pulled out a glass bottle, pulled out the stopped and drank from it. It was only water, but the bottle did look a little precarious and a few people looked at her as they passed a little way off, obviously thinking that she was some drunken beggar. Khorren didn't notice this however. She wiped her mouth and replaced the stopper, putting the bottle back in her bag. She stood up and turned to look at the sun. It was early morning and the light cast elongated shadows over the ground.
She picked up her chain mail and pulled it on over her head. It was amazingly light for chainmail and weighed barely more than a t-shirt. She looked down at Kianu, who had falled asleep once more on her armour. Well, she figured, it isn't like anybody's going to attack me... I can just train in my chain-mail.. it's perfectly safe.. She picked up Teiden and walked over to the training dolls. She had made a considerable chip in one yesterday, although she attacked it for atleast an hour.. the training ground equipment was obviously made to a very high standard.

She moved herself into the middle of a circle of training dolls and began to attack them all in turn. She weilded her sword very well for a girl her age, just 17. Her blue eyes glinted as they caught the sun, set in deep concentration. Although she did take in an obstacle course leading into a forest as she turned. She thought to herself that she would have to try that out tomorrow..

((OOC: sorry is some of that doesn't make sense ^_^; Half asleep))

[theprophet]

Cody returned to the training grounds, the guards now payed attention, as Cody walked over a random boulder. It was about the size of a small car. He took out some rope of his satchel.
"Guards, do you mind tying this rock to my back?" The guards hurried over quickly and began to tie the masssive rock onto The Last Son of the Colossus's back without question.

Cody's baby blue eyes looked into the sky. He was remembering when he was a child, carrying a boulder of the same size up the mountain in his homeland. Going through what the Colossus would call the Trials. It was extremely difficult. His father used to tell him"If it doesn't kill you it will only make you stronger" when he returned to the village after the Trials he felt stronger, faster and more conifident then ever. This training was nothing compared to the trials. They used mother earth as a obstacle course. Not wooden planks with ropes. Their were no training dummies. Only Thern and Rael soldiers. Nothing could substitute actual combat as the best trainer. But still he wanted to impress the King. If carrying a rock on his back and doing what no one else could didn't impress, then nothing could.

He looked at the track and smiled his plate armour shining underneath the bright sun. The guards had finished and back away in awe as Cody stood lifting the great boulder off the ground and onto his back. He began to run on the track his massive boots thudding faster and faster. He circled the track about fifty-times before he started to feel a significant burn in his legs. But he ignored the pain. As he was running he noticed two others training. One was a young man, obvilsouly brillant with a sword. Combat would test that though. Nothing like killing your first person with a sword that would make you think twice about going into battle or watching your best friend fall before a barrage of arrows. Cody shook his eye trying to ingore the ever present reminders of his past. He continued the run, he was on lap fifty-five, when he noticed a young girl training on the dummies. She was also excellent with the sword. It was good to see more people training so he didn't feel like he was the only one. If these ones reached Commander he would feel honored to work along side of them in combat.

After about one hundered laps. He rested for a minute looking about. He walked over and began to set up hurrdles. This would be good. He then took some training dummies and set them up along the along the side of the track. He picked his great hammer up off the ground. He then started to run as he cleared the first hurdle, which wasn't easy he swung blasting the dummies head off. He cleared the second hurdle, this time he swung smashing the hay dummie. He repeated this until all the dummies were crushed. He then looked at the guards their jaws open. He stretched the rock still on his back. He then let the fury of his beserker ancestors run through his veins he then ripped the ropes of his waist and shoulders. The huge rock landed with a large thud on the ground. He smiled as a bead of sweat dripped down his forehead finding its way down his long scar on his left side of his face. He would return later.