[WFRP2e] The Power of One - Part 2 - "Transire Benefaciendo"

[BananaPhone]

Taalia Giovanni


By now, Taalia had become desensitised to the prospect of violence and bodily harm. She had personally been in hundreds of scraps and plenty of proper, life-or-death engagements, from her first use of the poison windglobe half a decade ago, to fleeing assassins, to the half a dozen combats she had participated in since dwelling on the surface. Being exposed to such quantities of bloodshed from a tender age had a way of numbing one to the visceral horror of its spectacle. Whether this brutalization was of benefit or not was up debate, but in the situation the girl now found herself in - it was most definitely a benefit.

Her shoulders a bit closer together, leaning forward, her shield prepped to defend both herself and Daniele next to her, Taalia let the sounds and sights of the crowd melt away out of her periphery as she focused on the enemy combatants. The dwarf, the Spudmeister, was of secondary concern, only to elevate in threat should their man fail to acquire the prop that secured his temporary allegiance.

Her nerves calming, focus gained, a breath exhaling from her lips - the whistle blew!

Taalia surged forward next to her group-mate, the enemy combatants swelling in her vision as they drew closer to meet them, cudgels swinging and shields blocking. It was now that Taalia attempted to use her, 'weapon', such as it was, its weight, gait and dimensions very different from the tools of death she had learned to use. It lacked the grace and response of a sword, the quickness and reach of a spear, the speed of a knife through the ribs. It was basically just a club, as primitive a weapon as could be, and it showed.

Taalia swung out with it, trying to improvise her normal skill with the weapon she had, her initial blow poking through some defenses, but the rest frustratingly clattering against shields and pushed away by shielding. However, her own defenses fared much better. She was used to the application of a shield, she knew how they worked and felt. She turned her own this way and that; causing incoming blows to glance off her protection harmlessly rather than absorb the blow by a direct block like an amateur might try.