Nar Shaddaa

A few more hours tinkering, and now... she might be ready.

Arali makes her way to the dojo and practices her kata. Or rather, invents new ones; no one has prepared the forms for a weapon quite like this. Longer blades, sure, and even some half-blade techniques reliant on cortosis-grip gloves, but nothing about how to incorporate a multi-vector drive array into the Makashi method. The gloves and the redesigned grip go a long way, but controlling an accelerated thrust without pulling a shoulder? There's an issue.

((Mechanics: 1eP+3eA+1eD 3 successes, 3 advantage
, custom grip upgraded with accurate.))

Hell of a day

Exhausted, Baesal was walking back to her room when she saw the twilek she had met a few days before. She did not quite know what she had planned with that lightsaber but was curious

''Good night...erm...Miss Zian, correct?''

Arali nods at her name. "Good night, Miss Zyn, and rest well; it's a big day tomorrow."

The twi'lek does not pause her practice to speak. Instead, she steps into a thrust and grabs the blade of her lightsaber. A feat she has to overcome a great deal of training and reflex to will herself to do, but she transitions from a saber form, meant to engage at reach, to a pike form, designed for when an opponent has gotten inside what would otherwise be the weapon's effective reach.

Baesal raised a hand to covera yawn ''What is happening tomorrow?'' She had not really hears anything Jedi related, at least.

She continued to observe the forms ''Mmm, that is the dueling stance...right?''

"It is one aspect of Form II, yes."

She steps back to a basic stance. "Makashi is traditionally practiced with a single lightsaber, in one hand, often a shoto. The two-handed and pike kata are... significantly less common, the latter usually only favored by temple guards."

She observed the basic stance, realising she would have to test her own weapons soon enough.

''I see...Why did you choose the Makashi technique? If I may...''

"Like so many things, it's less I chose it, more it chose me."

She begins her kata, different from the previous in that they use the length of the blade, rather than the tip, in a series of drawing cuts. A sequence of tight, controlled movements from a distance.

"Even if you already have a style that you think works for you, I strongly suggest exploring all of the forms. My original training was in Soresu, with limited exposure to Shien and Shii-cho. I reached a point where I thought myself at the limits of very limited talent. Now, I come to realize how far out of reach my limits are. And you'll be surprised what you can integrate from the other forms."

From her next thrust, instead of pulling back to a defensive position, she transitions into a broad, rising strike ending in a high stance, one of the signature striking positions of djem so, the style clearly most at odds with so wispy a twi'lek. The stroke is meant to bring the opponent into a broad stance, ready to naturally defend with an overhead parry. With a crack and a roar from her unusual weapon, she brings down an overbearing slash, the drive cores providing the brute force the technique demands to overwhelm an opponent's guard.

She observed the kata cannot help but notice a flaw

''Useful, similer technique as the one used by Tulak Hord if I recall correctly...but the defender will not be fooled more then once''

She began removing her jacket and was soon only in her white undershirt and moved not far from Arali, taking her Shoto and what seemed to be a strange short doublebladed saber with a thick central basket hilt that seemed to contain something. There was three prisms: one at each end and one in the center.

''I prefer to prepair for the long game myself: Observe, learn and exploit.''

Arali sizes up the padawan, then takes a deep breath.

"Be warned. Once the battle begins, spend too much time preparing and you may not have the resources left to act. My style was created to answer the question of how to subdue a krayt dragon without harming the dragon. Even a well-defended blow will cost you."

She assumes a basic front stance, ready to begin.

((Initiative.
Cool: 1eP+3eA 2 successes, 3 advantage

No melee defense. And, of course, offering Bae the moment to ignite her sabers.))

Baesal takes a moment to switch her lightsaber crystals for training emiters. She then ignites them both: the shoto is clearly not the Ionsaber shown before...and for the other the strange device's central gem bursts with light and then connects with the two others forming and elegant etricate pattern



cool init, practice: 2eA 1 success, 1 advantage


(Baesal currently has defensive 4)

The twi'lek starts simply; lead in with a sharp slash from a distance, as Baesal has seen before. Not terribly difficult to side-step.

Then, with a crack, the attack instantly transitions into a broad stroke that meets the shield with a thunderous roar. This saber is nothing if not loud. This shield is impressive. It will be interesting to see how the padawan integrates it into her style.

((Okay, messed up dice code twice. Rerolled. I dislike rolling from phone.
I reduce setback by 1, and gain 1 advantage on top of any I roll. Maneuver to move, action to attack.
Lightsaber: 2eP+2eA+2eB+2eD+3eS 1 failure, 2 advantage
.
I use the two advantages to give you a setback on your attack, and gain an extra boost to my next action.))

(you can't do that with 3 advantages, I took the setback for 2 and you can't give yourself a boost for 1)

She had held the shield close when the strike came. She was please to see it work so well but realised she was not used to hit quite yet.

She wondered about her next maneouvre and opted for a shield bash but she clearly lacked practice

Lightshield bash, +1boost, +1 setback: 3eA+1eP+2eD+1eS+1eB 1 failure

Two experimental styles meet. There are inevitably growing pains. The shield is an interesting idea, but hinders range of movement. But it seems to have a greater weakness.

Arali strikes the shield with an open palm, momentarily disengaging her opponent just long enough to direct a thrust low, towards the bottom of the shield, driving it toward its wielder, using its own length as leverage while the percussive wave from the impact batters the padawan's thigh.

((The way it's worded, I'm pretty sure it works that way? It says next allied character, and as I'm the only allied character, I think that means me? But I'll skip it for now, and ask Dapper. (and while writing this, Dapper said sure, so I went back after the following roll to toss that boost, too, and it whiffed)
I will, however, aim as a maneuver, because that absolutely still applies in melee.
Lightsaber: 2eP+2eA+3eB+2eD+3eS 2 successes, 1 advantage

That becomes two advantage. Overcharaged power cells let me convert advantage to damage 1-for-1. 13 strain damage, before soak. Also, our faction is at -1 strain threshold for the day.))

(to give yourself a boost its 2 advantages)

Baesal recoils after the hit and falls to the ground

((Specifying person is 2 advantage. Just 'next ally' is 1. As I am the only ally, I am the next ally. 1 advantage to give myself a boost. If there were anyone else on my side, then yes, it would cost two advantages.))

Arali douses her lightsaber and takes off her glove to offer the padawan a hand up. "An interesting design, though integrating a shield into any of the forms will be quite the task."

(I read that differently: you are not an ally, you are the active character)

She took the hand and rose to her feet

''I know and I am not a fighter myself''

She shakes the dirt of her pants

''But it will be well worth it in the end''

((If you read the two-advantage version that lets you pick, you are in fact an ally of you. And anyone will be the active character when they use the boost.))

"And I am a gardener. Jedi wear many hats. Or hoods, I suppose."

She slings her lightsaber on her back, and puts away her gloves.

"Please, forgive me if that was a bit much; the style I am working on is meant to safely incapacitate foes much larger and stronger than myself."

She scratches her chin

''But why two handed? would'nt two blades be more effective?''

"It's a combination of things," Arali answers.

"Reach. Leverage. With the gloves, this way actually gives me more flexibility and room for unorthodox tactics. Pure resources; I only have one true kyber crystal, and while that secondary crystal would be nearly useless to anyone else, it is exceedingly rare and it would be difficult to get another. I could probably buy another crystal here, but the cost would be nearly double what I spent on parts for the rest of my weapon; another crystal did not sing for me on Ilum. With the drive array, controlling one weapon becomes complicated enough, without the added intricacies of a second and one less hand to guide my blade. And unlike a conventional lightsaber, mine does have to contend with armor. I need enough striking power to punch through."

''Now that you mention it, what it that secondary crystal?''

"That's... actually an interesting question? I'm not entirely sure," she rubs the back of her neck.

"I've read about them under a number of names, going back a very long time, but they're rare. I believe it's a type of volcanic glass, and the planet that once produced them does not any longer."

The togruta ponders that answer

''Would it be possible to study the crystal eventually? I would be interested in studying its structure''

Arali opens her mouth to answer, then stops and holds up a finger.

She goes over to her datapad, taps a few times, then pulls out a data crystal. "Most of what I'd read about this crystal was unreliable. More stories and journal entries than science. So, I ran my own tests during the design process. Here's a copy of the data, and most of the references I've been able to find. If you want to do your own tests after, then by all means."

She takes the data

''Thank you, I wonder if I can replicate the conditions in which the crystal was formed''

"I would certainly be impressed. I have a few possible worlds it may have come from, but none of them quite seem to fit the records."