Vadim Bothers Ardin

[Vadim Ironstones]

Vadim, clad in his usual attire, waddles down the hill to the forge. He hadn't heard Ardin rattling around by the earth circle so Vadim presumes he'll find him down here.

[Ardin Gallagher]

Ardin is down at the forge, mending and maintaining his armour. As he hears someone heading towards the forge, he looks up to see Vadim.

"Ah, hello Vadim. Are you looking to get started on the shield training?"

[Vadim Ironstones]

"Sure thing!" Vadim proclaims, "What'd be step one?"

[Vadim Ironstones]

Vadim pauses, and surveys the forge for a moment.

"I s'pose the first step 'ud be getting a shield. You 'ave a spare 'round here or should I whip one together?"

[Ardin Gallagher]

Ardin walks over to his shield and picks it up.

"I don't have a spare shield, but this one should do. It's a bit larger than I'd prefer for training, but it's lighter than it looks so it should be fine."

Ardin adjusts the straps and hands it to Vadim.

"The most important thing to keep in mind while using a shield is balance and positioning. It will save you from the blade, but you'll still take the brunt of the force, like so."

With that, Ardin takes his sword and swings the flat of it directly against the shield, knocking Vadim off his feet. Sheathing his sword and extending his hand to help Vadim back on his feet, Ardin continues.

"We'll start with bracing for blows. You'll want to adopt a wider stance than you usually have without a shield, like so."

Ardin adopts an L-stance, with his knees slightly bent and resting more weight on his hind leg, miming holding a shield up in front of him, and waits for Vadim to follow.

[Vadim Ironstones]

Vadim takes a look at Ardin's stance, and does his best to imitate it. He holds the shield at an angle, using his right hand to brace it against Ardin's next practice swing.

"Alrighty then, 'ave another swing whydoncha? See 'ow my stance is now."

[Ardin Gallagher]

Ardin makes a couple suggestions as Vadim gets into the stance,

"A bit wider.. knees bent slightly more... perfect!"

Ardin takes his sword and gives a few strikes against the shield.

"Very good, feel how stable that is? It's important to not let your guard down while wielding a shield, lest the enemy use it to their advantage. Now try attacking while using the shield, I'll parry with my sword. The trick here is to keep your shield protecting you while you attack, to protect from counterattacks, like so."

Ardin takes the shield back for a moment to give a demonstration, then returns it to Vadim for him to try, raising his sword in preparation.

[Vadim Ironstones]

Vadim straps the shield back onto his arm, and draws one of his hand axes

"'Aighty then, I'd imagine it goes a little bit like this, then."

Vadim assumes his stance, holding the shield out in front of himself, almost pointing it at Ardin, while keeping his axe low, by his side.

"And that attacking outght'a look like this"

Vadim lunges forward, Taking a big step forward with his left foot, and drives the rim of the shield into the guard of Ardin's sword. At the same time, he taps Ardin on the side of the leg with the handle of his axe.

"Like That, wouldn'tya say?"

[Ardin Gallagher]

"Yes, quite like that, well done."

Ardin and Vadim continue practicing, trading swings and offering tips for another while until Vadim gets the hang of wielding the shield and the two take a break.

"Well, it seems you have a pretty good handle on things. You'll still need a bit more practice if you want to wield something as large as this, but you should have no trouble using something a bit lighter in battle now."

[OOG: Signing off on Shield 1 for Vadim]

[Vadim Ironstones]

[Thank you]

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