The Fire Circle

[Volkihere Malacalo]

(1 day after event)
Volk walks over to the fire circle looking for someone.
"Torvallis!, Torvallis!, where are you I need your assistance."
He says in a tone that doesn't denote danger.

[Torvallis!]

Torvallis! gets up from beside the fire circle, where they had been picking the petals off a daisy.

"Yes! Hello! You wish to learn Fire Magic?!"

Their eyes finally focussed on the Earth Champion.

"Oh, well. The offer's still open, but I suspect you're busy learning something else. What's up, Volkihere?"

[Volkihere Malacalo]

"I do need a teacher, but not for fire magic, I believe you have a different style of grapple combat then me, I'd like to learn the way you grapple someone, are you able to teach me or do you use only magic when you fight hand to hand?"
He says looking at the Fire Mage expecting they're disappointment.

[Torvallis!]

(OOG: I have grapple 1? If you already have grapple, I can't teach more. If you have grapple 1, you call for grapple 2. If you have grapple none, you call for grapple 1)

"Actually, yes, I can teach that, although it's most effective with fire magic as well. If you are a little more than basically skilled with fire magic, I can teach you With Fire I Engulf My Hands, and then boost your fire magic ability to make it more powerful. But you need a basic level of grapple to begin with"

[Volkihere Malacalo]

(OOG: all I have is weapon masters so I can learn grapple 1)
I'm only trying to learn the basics of your technique, I'm planning to focus my ability and combine the styles so I don't have to stab someone until they pass out to arrest them. Also I would be willing to learn your fire magic, but I must focus on combat and earth first, with the Breach and all.

[Torvallis!]

"Alright, let's get started!

So first, we need to get down low to the ground. A low centre of gravity is key. Weight helps, but it can be turned against you by more skilled grapplers than me. I often use the fact that people are afraid of fire, but unless your hands are on fire, they're going to try to match your pushes with equal pushes. You want to either get lower than them so that this means you're pushing up against them and destroying their leverage and wedging against the earth, or you want to use their pushes to pull them into you.

So come on, let's try to pin each other down and see how our styles compare, eh?"

[Volkihere Malacalo]

Volk, steps back for a second, then begins a aggressive run and then attemps to put his arm around Torvallis's stomach to force them off balance. However when he try's to go for Torvallis, he comes to the realization, that what he has been doing in combat with untrained hand to hand fighters, isn't going to be helpful against someone who knows how to reposition themselves. When he grabs Torvallis they simply move there foot and get a better position. So he takes a step back and attempts to take on a similar position to Torvallis, because other than size he knows very little about being defensive in grapple.

[Torvallis!]

Torvallis! drops into a low L-stance designed to take effect against Volk's very frontal attacks. When Volk pushes, they just need to reposition to make Volk push them into the ground, and into better leverage. When Volk grabs, they push Volk.

T! notes that despite Volk's very aggressive stance, they haven't noticed that this stance leaves Torvallis! very open to side-attacks, and instead Torvallis! can control the combat to occur on a straight line.

When Volk adopts the same stance, T! is unable to change stances and attack from the side due to Volk's aggressiveness, and the grapple is locked in stalemate

[Volkihere Malacalo]

Volk attempts to grab Torvallis!'s wrist, and begins a lunge forward into them, in a effort to force them back, but stops abruptly, puts two feet forward takes a step back, then moves again to the right, and try's to pull Torvallis! forward and off balance.

[Torvallis!]

Finding the opportunity, Torvallis! allows themselves to be pulled forward, rotating on their hips to allow their back leg to become their front leg as they turn the pull into a push, and then continues moving forward past Volkihere on the right, (Volk's left), taking Volk's arm with them, but leaving Volk behind as he instinctively repositions to resist the push.

While the repositioning is the result of training and discipline, it is ill-served here, and allows Volk to be caught in an behind back arm-lock as T! twirls around to face their opponent.

Volk naturally uses their flexibility to duck under their arm and reverse the lock, T!'s strength insufficient to hold the lock in place, but Torvallis! releases his arm and steps back.

"So, I feel that was a good contest, eh? It's obvious we were in stalemate, but there are several places I can point out how you could improve.

For one, you locked into a line of combat, which is rarely useful. Line control, as you know from sword fencing, is great for thrusting, but you can't thrust in grappling. You need to grab behind joints, you need to pivot, and you need to use your hips, which involves being low on your legs. You need to attack from the sides.

For two, once I locked you into a line of combat, I only needed to wait for you to get desperate because I was able to react to your pushes and pulls by turning them into pulls and pushes. The type of move I pulled on you is called an arm-lock, and it's a very basic grappling move. If I had more strength, I could have held you in that armlock and pinned you for a great deal of time.

For three, you really need a lower centre of gravity. Your strength played less of a role here than it should have because I was able to negate it by making you push me into the ground by adopting a lower stance, and then getting better leverage as a result of your attacks.

For four, your pulls should be pivots, and should follow a curve. If you pull straight, it is easy to adapt and counter that pull. If you pull from a pivot on your hips, I need to adapt the direction of my resistance at different parts of the pull, and I need to make an arc of the wrong curve from the wrong side of my body. If you further learn how to switch mid-pull between pulling out and pulling in, that is, pulling me towards you and to the centre of your line vs. pulling me towards you and away from the centre of your line, (so if I'm on your left, pulling me to the forward-right and forward-left respectively), It will be very easy to best me in grappling."

[OOG: I will sign off on grapple 1]

[Volkihere Malacalo]

"Hmm, thanks for the lesson, if I learn anything more on this kind of hand to hand combat I'll teach you what I learn, and I'll keep what I learned in mind."
(OOG: Thanks)

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