NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: sign-up here http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=539348

IC:

The park was located just outside the main Xiscapian university buildings. It was a beautiful park, lush vegetation and fruit trees could be seen everywhere, small streams, fountains, and waterfalls were spread throughout the landscape, inviting the students to follow the path deeper into the bushes. Further down the path, in the middle of the park, was a large wooden house, its architecture slightly reminiscent of a castle’s. The front door stood open and would lead the students into a large hallway where they could get a glimpse of different rooms, each one furnished in wood and with various bonzai trees, as well as dim sources of light which gave everything a rather relaxing appearance. The hallway led to the centre of the house, which consisted of a large room filled with the aforementioned furniture, as well as a staircase to one side. In the middle of the room were roughly 12 cushions for the students to sit on the floor. On one of the walls hung what appeared to be a green board, and in front of it was a small desk. No, actually it was a desk of normal proportions, only that the hulk of a Pandaren sitting behind it was, well, like all Pandaren. A big pack of muscles covered by fur. His shoulders were nearly broader than the desk, and if he stood he would stand at 2,2 metres. It was quite a sight to see, the hulk of Jinto Reedwine holding a small feather between two of his claws and peering over his enormous sunglasses down at what he was writing. Some of the students had already arrived, but the lesson wasn’t due to start for another 5 minutes, so he simply ignored them and continued scratching away at his report with his feather pen. The students could get to know each other in the meantime.

Gerrak approached the odd little park with some trepidation. While apparently outside the Academy's curricula, this odd flier promised combat training, and all combat was sacred to the Ordo Zorak Zoran. Bowing, he placed his combat training gloves before his pillow for inspection and sat, composing himself for training.

Pat entered the Building in the middle of the park. Although he already had a CQC class he figured it would be better to get a wider perspective of other fighting styles. Walking into the class Pat noticed Gerrak was already there. Pat walked up to the teacher bowed deeply and took a pillow close to Gerrak.

The room was filled with several students, not many, but then the Pandaren way of combat was rather mysterious and not so well-known. And they liked it that way. Jinto Reedwine glanced up. "Why do you want to learn Pandarian Combat Arts?" he asked out of the blue in a low bear voice.

OOC: Just giving time for anyone else to join...

Pat bowed his head lower. "My Commando Krag Mava instructor once told me that a body is not effective if only one arm is strong. The body is only effective when all its parts are strong. That way your enemy dose not know where the next attack will originate."

Gerrak bowed respectfully. "Tu Ordo Zorak Zorani, all combat sacred--iz relijeeuz obelgayshun. Alzo liyk tu no how utherz view mozt sacred act."

Jinto Reedwine listened and nodded. "Alright..." he said. "I will have to go and fetch some things before we can begin, so until I get back I want you to chat a bit and get to know each other." And with that, he rushed out the door.

OOC: fun starts next week...

Gerrak turned to Pat. "Taut we no eesh udder, Pat-'less Teesher tok in Biblical sense. Yu mush drink? Muri haff for stomaks-dunno if can drink enuff fer klazz."He held up four claws to make himself understood, then continued:"Rokk stomak break ever'ding down tu base stuff, den plant stomak take plant stuff, meat stomack take meat stuff, and crap stomak take all else-booz usually broke down in rokk stomak-must drink lots to get to plant stomak and have effek, or uze pyur alk-hol."

"Hahhaha" Pat laughed "No offense Gerrak but I don't think I wanna know you in the Biblical since." then "Four stomachs huh? I'm pretty sure, a guy your size, you can hold your booze. I can drink my share. In DR (dynamic revolution) every day was considered a holiday, so we would always drink with dinner."

"Trollz no drink holy festival-'zept fur Zorak Zoran holy nights, an' Night o' de Imp-den drink to Oblivion to spite de Imp. Zorak Zoran drink cuz no wun elze do, an' he opp'zit all udders." Gerrak replied softly-speaking in class was foreign, even with permission. "Wot gods of DR like?"

"There really is no "God" or "Gods". The people practice what they want. I've always worshiped the one God. However I'm in the warrior sect, so our views differ from traditional views. We believe that God watches over the warrior. It is the warriors responsibility to keep close ties with God, because at any moment your life could be taken. Honor plays a important role in our religion. Honor leads to strength which leads to victory, which leads to a stronger connection to God. Also there is a strong code of chivalry. However this code has been stressed lately because of the addition of women into the military." Pat explained

A huge sack burst through the door and into the room.

The sack settled itself down on the floor with a crash, and from behind it emerged the furry persona of Jinto Reedwine. He thrust his hands into the sack and pulled out several small beer kegs, recklessly throwing them behind him without looking, each one landed exactly in front of a student. He then turned around, straightened out some invisible creases on his blue-golden kimono and rolled up his sleeves. “The way of the Pandaren is one of deep unity with nature, and as such, one of immense creativity. Thus, we must start this course by acquainting yourselves (and myself) with one of our most prominent sources of creativity.” He held up a beer keg in a demonstrative fashion. “The alcoholic beverage, dear friends, is widely denounced to be a source of sloth and a power that dulls the mind and “kills your brain cells”. These false accusations come from people who neither know how to brew real beverages, nor know the purpose for drinking them. No, the true alcoholic beverage, such as my race and only a few others know how to brew, is a source of immense clarity and creativity. Not only that, but it heightens your senses, heightens the amount of pain you are able to withstand, and generally improves your combat performance. It also changes your perception of balance and rhythm, which some ignorant individuals see as a handicap. In reality, this makes a Pandaren fighter not only extremely agile, but also extremely unpredictable to his opponents.”

Jinto walked over to his desk and pushed a button on the console. Immediately the left wall of the room shuddered and started to open. Moving upwards, it revealed a small room filled with countless weapons strewn all over the place in apparent disorder Jinto withdrew a couple of what appeared to be regular quarterstaffs, and threw one to each student. “You will now use these staffs against two opponents each. Use whatever combat experience you already have. If you have none, just do your best. When you hear a loud gong, your opponents will freeze in their movements for ten seconds, and you will drink from the beer kegs I just gave you. Then you will continue the fight, and see if there is any difference.” He pushed another button on his console, and two fighters materialized in front of each student. They would each be facing two photonic holograms with the appearance (and body mass) of their own race, one armed with a staff, and one armed with a chain. Both holograms would be strong, fast, and agile.

Jinto himself was facing four Pandaren holograms dressed in black outfits. They slashed and carved at him with their weapons, but he always managed a close escape. He even made a difficult aerial acrobatic jump, flooring two of his opponents at once. They soon regained their composure, but the gong sounded, and Jinto uncorked his beer keg, draining it in one large sweep. Nothing was the same after that. He drunkenly staggered around, avoiding their blows with ease he counter-attacked with astonishing precision and speed, disarming them several times. After a few moments of ridiculous stances, laughable disarmings, and opponents missing Jinto and hitting each other, the fight was over and the opponents lay knocked out on the floor. “Mmmm…” Jinto said, a little drunkenly, reaching for another beer keg. But then he remembered his manners, and turned around to see how his students were doing.

Gerrak gripped the spear haft lightly and spun it to get a feel for it's balance. Wind in Bamboo came naturally to him, and he felt this defensive stance would serve him best. He had broken the blade from his spear before, and found he simply didn't have to keep track of where the blade was, either end serving the same purpose in those circumstances. The trolls who advanced on him were wraiths, mere outlines to his darksense, smooth and transparent as glass to his eye. Relying on sight was a drawback to him-thank the gods trolls were big.
The chain licked forth, and he caught it on his staff, pulling sharply to send one troll into the other, rounding his staff to deliver a sharp crack on the shoulder of the similarly armed apparition. He winced-he'd aimed for the skull. Wrapped in chain, the staff would have shattered his foe's shoulder, but the hologram simply slid off, the opponent unphased by the blow.
As he engaged the staff-troll the other worked it's way behind him, lashing out to find Gerrak had dropped to one knee, caught the troll's staff on his own, and used it to foil the chain. When the chain-troll pulled, it took the staff troll's weapon, and Gerrak gave a firm stab with his stave end to the staff-troll's midriff.
The bell rang, and Gerrak downed the Pandarian potable-it gurgled in his rock gizzard as it drained into his first stomach, whose volcanic digestive juices made short work of it.
As his opponents restarted, he shifted tacks-taking down the chain-troll with a trip and vaulting over him to kick the staff-troll--the chain-troll kicked the staff from under him, forcing him to swing in a wide overhead arc to maintain his hold, missing the staff-troll, who sidestepped.
He could hear the whistle of the chain as it swept in a circle and ducked-to take a solid hit on the side of his thigh that sent him sprawling.

Pat gripped the staff lightly. "Relax, let your attacks be unpredictable to the point that even you do not know where they are coming from. If in order to even the score you first must uneven it so be it, in real combat there are no fair fights." Pat remembered the instructions of his Maga teacher. Coming back to reality Pat realized his two opponents were coming at him. With some speed the chain came flying down. Pat side stepped it before the chain came down right where he had been standing. Pat heard the humming and didnt bother looking, once again he side stepped as the opponent armed with the staff sent a bone crushing slash his way. "The best defense is a good offense" his teacher had told him, so that was what Pat did. Striking out with the butt of his staff pat caught the chained attacker with a quick strike to the sternum. The attacker armed with a staff came at Pat, but before Pat knew what he was doing he had allready parried the blow and had gotten inside the attacker. Using the spinning hammer, Pat slammed his fist into his opponents throat. Then using the remaining momentum Pat sweeped his opponent and finished by heel stomping his chest. Changing targets Pat went after the chained attacker. The gong sounded and Pat walked over to his kegs and drained one of them. Returning to the fight Pat realized his momentum was gone, not only that but his opponents seemed hardly fazed by his attacks. "What the hell" Pat said as he switched into Hoodlum stance. "Might as well have fun with it."

The gong sounded again and Jinto adressed his students. "Gerak, I believe you need some heavier drink, here, try this." He handed him a keg filled with a brewed drink designed to put Dragons to sleep. "This should make him drunk enough, enabling him to release his creativity, hehe, he won't even know where all his ideas come from, and why his boody floored his opponents without asking his brain first hehe..." he thought to himself. He then turned to Pat. "Good going. Remember that a fight to the death is a serious thing. Thus, never fight to the death, but fight to disable your opponent, in other words, have fun. Not that you cannot kill your opponent this way, but you will be more unpredictable..."

Nodding, Gerrak downed the second drink, then danced lightly towards his foes, taking the Wind and Water stance. This time, he didn't bother to think-if an opportunity arose, he took it, but largely just dodged and danced until such a moment occurred.
Remembering Ordo Zorak Zoran training, he also took opportunities to antagonize and anger his foes. Though these phantoms did not anger, thwaking them firmly in some embarrassing location or grabbing their weapon and directing it towards their partner-if that's what they could be called-was not only great fun, but good practice.
Soon, he found himself scooping up random items and using them to thwart attacks or harass his opponents, playing odd games of hide and seek by manipulating whatever was at hand, and downing another Pandaran brew as the bell sounded.

Pat dodged the attack of one of his attackers. Pat wasnt quite convinced that the drink was helping, or hurting, or mabey it was the effect of the drink. Everything seemed to move slower, even himself. His footing was not nearly as secure as it had been, however when ever he did slip he always managed to turn it into an attack of some sort. Nodding Pat realized that even though he was more insecure, he definitely was heaving more fun. He thought this wile drop kicking the chained opponent.

"OK, that's enough for the day. Now, due to my governments involvement in a certain war, I'll be gone for a while. So in the meantime, you can read this." Jinto dumps an enourmous and ancient-looking book in front of each student. Further inspection will reveal that it contains enourmous quantities of detailed sketches, in other words, the perfect book for martial-arts addicts. "Also, you must know that this Pandarian fighting style is a combination of two previous ones: primarily drunken boxing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zui_Quan), and secondarily aikido (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aikido). Here are some papers about them, if you're interested."

OOC: Due to RL issues, I'll be gone during the whole of next week. During my absence, you can carry my book around in the other AoTR threads, and maybe use some of the skills it teaches you. Also, you can tell your friends about how cool it is, so that when I restart this thread in a week or so, hopefully I'll have more students. Cya for now... =)