In Quanil's defense, they did a good job for a beginner, and Jigano nodded in approval or called out encouragement when they got back up to continue. They weren't going to master the footwork in a single training montage set to peppy rock ballad, but they were at least getting the basics down enough to start practicing on their own by the time the thirty minutes were up. The bard grinned as he finally let his young Seeker rest - feeling a little 'sore' himself from the constant exertion of his magic over so constant a time. "Good! You can keep that up between your studies. Try to set aside some time each day to practice moving with the staff in those patterns you were just doing."
He called upon his magic again, this time to bring a pillar of soft earth up from the ground, roughly his height and perhaps vaguely human shaped if you were into minimalist art. "Next you should learn how to swing the staff. There's some physics involved in how the distance the end travels multiplies the force of impact, but the important thing to note is that you're generally going to want to keep an enemy from getting in too close, so you want to hit them while they still can't reach you. If you slide the staff through your hands so one end is longer, you can use your rear hand to drive the power of your strike while guiding it with your front hand-- like this." He demonstrated a simple strike, shifting his grip on the staff slowly so that Quanil could see and copy him, then striking the mudman solidly on it's 'shoulder.' The staff sunk into the earth halfway down into the 'torso' and he grimaced at it, trying to pull it free with a wet sucking sound as the damp earth near the Oasis resisted.
"Hmm... you'll want to turn your body as you do so, but this isn't ideal for striking against. Not if you want your staff back," he admitted, abandoning his own weapon for the moment. "Here, why don't you try and hit me, and I'll see what I can do to block it," he suggested with a grin, winking at Quanil as he turned to face them and offered himself as a target.
He called upon his magic again, this time to bring a pillar of soft earth up from the ground, roughly his height and perhaps vaguely human shaped if you were into minimalist art. "Next you should learn how to swing the staff. There's some physics involved in how the distance the end travels multiplies the force of impact, but the important thing to note is that you're generally going to want to keep an enemy from getting in too close, so you want to hit them while they still can't reach you. If you slide the staff through your hands so one end is longer, you can use your rear hand to drive the power of your strike while guiding it with your front hand-- like this." He demonstrated a simple strike, shifting his grip on the staff slowly so that Quanil could see and copy him, then striking the mudman solidly on it's 'shoulder.' The staff sunk into the earth halfway down into the 'torso' and he grimaced at it, trying to pull it free with a wet sucking sound as the damp earth near the Oasis resisted.
"Hmm... you'll want to turn your body as you do so, but this isn't ideal for striking against. Not if you want your staff back," he admitted, abandoning his own weapon for the moment. "Here, why don't you try and hit me, and I'll see what I can do to block it," he suggested with a grin, winking at Quanil as he turned to face them and offered himself as a target.
