BlueCalibri

Verden hums to himself peacefully while casting a Heal on Kerr.

Verden moves to X23 and uses a heal on Naomi. Not much to say here.

Verden moves to AB18 and heals Argos. He seems to have gone quiet, mostly focusing on the battle for now. In fact, his focus on the battle is perhaps a bit too close to tunnel vision for comfort...

Verden moves to AC15 and heals Kerr.

Verden moves to Z13 and heals Ceridwen. Not much RP to put here this time since today is a busy day.

Verden moves to U13 and heals Kerr. He glances around at everyone else, then sighs quietly. A small part of him seems slightly ashamed of still being unharmed, as though the enemies aren't even considering him to be of notice... Still, he's aware that that's fortunate for him overall.

Verden moves to T9 and heals Argos, offering him a hand up in the process. "Apologies about not getting around to this earlier... Things sure seem a little dangerous right now." He rather nervously glances around at the rest of the group, trying to predict who could be next to go down...

Verden waits for a good opportunity to move in, sensing the tide of battle shifting to accommodate the fall of two party members already... The path is clear, time to move. He swiftly swoops in to S9, taking a look at Ceridwen. His eyes close for just a second, and once he feels confident enough to follow through with his movement, he grips the healing staff tightly with one hand to cast a Heal onto Ceridwen. With his free hand, he crouches slightly and offers her a (hopefully encouraging) smile and a hand up. "An unlucky start to this battle, I will admit... still, don't let that hinder you. Just let me know if you need some more healing once everyone's back on their feet, alright?"

As a healer, Verden feels very much "along for the ride" in this battle. His eyes take a look around, seeing the result of each individual clash and habitually noting who's been hurt, how badly they've been hurt, and who would need medical attention sooner or later. Watching Ceridwen get taken down almost immediately from a very unlucky trade of blows garners an "eep!" from him, followed by a muttered curse as he realizes he can't quite get close enough to help with that. Better do the next best thing instead... Verden moves to T7 and uses his heal to patch up Kris's wounds. At the same time, he speaks out loud, although mostly to himself. "One of us down already... that is not a good sign. Depending on how many enemies there are in this castle, I might not be able to keep up with everyone's injuries..."

Hearing what Rhian's best guesses were, Verden just nods. Briefly, it seems a slightly stronger smile of amusement crosses his face when he remembers that oh yeah, she kind of beat the shit outta that kid earlier, although given he's supposed to be... well, not a sadist, that smile is gone quickly enough. He briefly turns to face Michi, nodding again, then pauses and glances back and forth between Rhian and Michi. Something occurs to him. "...If the matter of waiting for others to arrive is based around setting up training fights, perhaps the two of you could square off against each other? Just a thought that crossed my mind..." Verden now seems to have a curious look in his eyes, wondering if what he's just said will lead anywhere interesting. Maybe it will, maybe it won't... Waiting and pure waiting just seems somewhat boring right now, when there is potential for activity.

Verden similarly slows down. No need to wander on out of the grounds if they won't be walking that far, and that's not exactly guaranteed anymore, given the potential other option available. He seems fine waiting around to see what the ultimate decision is regarding what to do, where to go, etc. "I'm fine with waiting if that's what you want to do," he replies, now leaning on the staff while seeing what Rhian does next. Of course, heading out of the area to go take a look around is also an option, so he's not trying to get too comfortable here... Hearing Michi speak up, Verden turns to face the armored fellow, nodding in reply. "That sounds about accurate. The real question is whereabouts in the village we would find them..."

Verden seems happy enough to come along, just taking a moment to make sure everything is in order before sprinting over to Rhian to keep her from having to wait too long. While he seems a bit out of breath on arrival, he soon recovers, capable enough of keeping up with Rhian's pace for the time being. He can't help but snicker a little at the dress remark, also briefly contemplating whether or not his robes could be seen as such... It doesn't matter either way to him. After all, does it matter what one wears, so long as it isn't some over-the-top impractical design? "Ehe... They'd probably think I'm already wearing one." He giggles briefly at the thought, then gets a hold of himself and turns his attention onto more important matters. Namely, the matter of finding out where in the village everyone else had gone. He begins taking a look around to see if there's much notable to see, then returns his focus to Rhian, seemingly the most comfortable when focused on a familiar presence. "So, if you want to find Johanna... Any idea where she may have gone? I'm not sure where everyone else is..."

She seems troubled, Verden thought to himself. He didn't say that out loud, of course, for the obvious reason of not wanting to make matters worse. His eyes flick over her for a moment, and internally, he can't help but wonder if she might need to follow her own advice at some point. Busy with his thoughts at the time, he fails to notice the gesture, although he seems aware at least that Rhian's starting to turn her attention elsewhere. He closes his eyes and inhales briefly, opening his eyes and moving to return the mace and shield back to their proper places, then turns to face her again. "I see... Do you mind if I tag along? I... don't know this place very well." Perhaps not the greatest reason he could come up with, but a reason nonetheless. Besides, it'd probably be best to make sure someone is nearby in case a fight breaks out, or even to prevent a fight from breaking out in the first place. Lord knows earning the animosity of the village in general would set up something of a bad reputation for the Allied Guard. Yeah, best to be safe, rather than sorry...

While Verden certainly doesn't feel like he should be done yet, he does have to admit that Rhian might have a point by now. There's only so much one can shrug off before damage starts mounting up, and he can feel some of it already - probably some bruising under the plate of metal under his robes, slightly sore spine, a dull ache in his jaw about where he got punched, and his arms feel like they're on fire by now from the weight of shield and mace. A moment of rest might do him some good... Or, more accurately, a moment with the healing staff. "I... Suppose you're right. Still not used to this..." He wanders over to where he left the staff, one hand awkwardly holding the mace while he carefully feels his jaw to make sure everything there is in order, then he carefully removes the shield from his other arm and moves to put the mace down, picking up the healing staff instead. He doesn't seem to need to actively channel it for it to work on him - his stance slowly starts getting a little more comfortable just by holding the staff. While waiting for his injuries to heal themselves properly, he turns to Rhian again, now trying to assess how she's doing. Granted, he sees no reason why she'd be hurt by anything that transpired so far, so his assessment is more one of general mood. Besides that, he's not sure what else he ought to do, aside from wait until he's better again. Maybe a question or two would be suitable here, if only he knew what to ask...

At first, Verden felt a little proud of himself for managing to do something to catch Rhian off-guard, grinning faintly to himself. That grin didn't last long on account of how events happened next. He didn't see Rhian's thrown punch until it had already connected, and by then it was too late to really do anything about it aside from... you know. Be hit by it and feel pain. While not exactly a killer blow, it certainly felt bad enough to him as he stumbled with the punch a little, dropping the mace on the ground and moving his hand up to hold his jaw instead. Ow! That one hurt... ...He couldn't hear anything in his brother's voice anymore, his concentration broken by the surprise gauntlet punch. Once he feels the pain dulling down again, he nods to Rhian in the hope it answers her question, then he gingerly moves his hand away from his face and crouches to retrieve the mace again. Once he's picked it up, he moves to rub his sleeve against his eyes, preemptively wiping away any chance of tears as he responds more verbally. "That stung... I'll be fine, though. Not a dislocated jaw..." A pause. Verden chuckles to himself, then continues with "At least I know you don't pull your punches," the smile on his face intending to make humor of the situation. Admittedly, he also said that to distract himself from how much the punch hurt. He couldn't quite remember where he first heard it before, but he distinctly recalled some statement he'd found amusing as a child - laughter is the best medicine.

Verden winced as he felt the hit against the shield, impact running through his arm as well as through the shield itself. He felt some sense of relief about going with the strike rather than against it - if it hurt to block an attack like that, who knows how much worse it could have been to meet it aggressively? The shove does stumble him backwards as expected, although he moves his feet back in a way to try and halt his stumbling, preparing the mace again. Just as he was about to prepare another swing, the axe met his mace before he could get any proper momentum into it, and his grip loosened - he almost cursed and almost dropped the mace outright, his fingers stinging from having to maintain his grip against the strike... Don't worry about the mace. You have your other hand. But I need something to hit her with if I'm going to fight back! That mace is all I have. No. You have the shield too. It's not technically a weapon, but it works the same way. ...Verden internally feels a sense of frustration at not having figured that out earlier. Seeing as he can't do anything with the mace right now, he instead shifts back on his right foot a little more, crouching to prepare... He then moves to swing the shield around, trying to make it initially look like he'll be aiming to bring the rim of it against Rhian's body, then he shifts the shield around last-second and pushes his body forward into more of a shoving motion. Maybe he could knock her off-balance? Worth a shot, he reckons.

Internally, Verden felt a sense of accomplishment at having landed something that, at the very least, could count as a proper hit. Still, training fights weren't over with just one hit - time to figure out what other moves should be. Watching Rhian circle around him, he waited for her to act, then saw her step forward with her left foot. What would his brother say here... You can usually tell what someone's about to do by their posture and footwork. See that step? Yes... What does that mean? Right-handed fighter, left foot forward, not attacking while moving forward. Prime position for a swing from her right - your left. Move with the blow and keep your shield in the way. Verden briefly appears to nod to himself, as though listening to his own thoughts, then his eyes turn to the left to see if what he heard was correct. Looks legitimate enough... He himself steps to the right, raising his shield to intercept the attack and hoping it doesn't hurt too much, then he does something a bit extra on top of defense. Namely, he decides to take a simple quick swing at Rhian with his mace, fairly confident that he could get away with it while she's committed both hands to an attack against him.

Good. Here goes another round, Verden thought to himself. It occurred to him that while he was on the defensive, it was easy to prepare potential counter attempts (even if they kept failing), but he would have little idea what to open with. Whatever he would do, Rhian might try and capitalize on it... He needed to think. What were his options with a mace? Swinging the mace worked well enough, he didn't know of anything else he could do... If only his brother were here. Maybe the more combat-oriented of the brothers would know what to do. Verden, if he focused particularly hard, could practically hear his brother's voice in his head, despite lack of presence... What would he be saying, if he were here for real? Careful, Vee. She's faster than you, stronger than you, has better training, and has better armor. You can't beat her by assuming that the techniques of soldiers in training will be enough... Defensive strategy, harass from as far a distance as you can manage, try to find a way to draw out a disadvantage from her. ...What? Fine. Step by step. Start with a jab with the mace, and get your shield ready. Although Verden isn't entirely sure how accurate the information might be, given that he's just trying to imagine what his brother would say to him now, he nonetheless feels like it'd be good advice to follow. He nods at Rhian to indicate the start of the fight, then moves quickly, pushing forward with the training mace and aiming to have a good start to the fight, maybe throw Rhian into more of a defensive position. Regardless of what happens, he moves to get his shield ready as internally instructed, bracing himself and watching Rhian carefully to see what she does to meet him...

Verden just smiles a little, accepting the offer for a hand up and wincing faintly from the rough pull, but he overall seems fine. He closes his eyes, inhaling and exhaling for a few seconds to ready himself for another round, seeing as Rhian might be willing to go for it. He then opens his eyes again, managing to get back the same calm smile that most people who've seen him would recognize. Granted, he's aware that his first showing might not have gone quite as well as he'd been hoping, but it's worth another attempt, right? "Mm... I should be fine. As long as I'm not dead or knocked out, I can still stand." Truth be told, he's not entirely sure if he's being honest with himself despite now knowing what to expect from Rhian. His arms already feel a bit hotter and more strained than usual from carrying the training shield and mace - maybe he ought to have picked a slightly lighter weapon? He isn't sure, but as long as he looks confident, he's sure it'll be fine. Besides, this felt kind of fun, albeit a bit painful so far...

Verden just watched as Rhian managed to evade his leg sweep, internally bracing himself for the impact just before it came - at least seeing it coming meant it didn't hurt quite as much as it could have. Still stung pretty bad, getting a pauldron in the face. He went down hard, collapsing on the floor in perhaps not the best way to land, feeling his breath leaving his body and a jolt of pain run through him just after the impact. ...That wasn't so bad. I- ...He promptly felt the knight landing on top of him, and immediately regretted thinking what he had just thought. If the first impact was bad enough, being sandwiched between someone in heavy armor and the floor of the training ground pretty much added a heavy dose of salt to the wound. Once he felt his breath coming back, Verden moved to stand, only to realize that Rhian got up faster and already completed a "kill" chop. Once he saw that, he knew he'd lost this round, remaining seated on the floor instead and exhaling. A pause, then mirthful chuckling of someone who knows he's pretty well outclassed here, and Verden feels ready to speak again, eyes focused mostly on Rhian for now. "Heh... Round one to you, then. How about another?"

Seeing as his attempt at the uppercut swing had missed, Verden realizes that the way he's positioned now means he can't move the shield around quickly enough to block properly. His arms would have to cross over and he'd have to somehow have his mace-wielding arm not get in the way of the shield. Internally, he curses at the realization - he's left himself wide open, even he can see that. At least it would be a learning experience for him. His fingers briefly loosen their grip on his mace, as though Verden considered dropping it, but a memory quickly runs through his mind. A memory of someone else trying the exact same tactic and coming off better in the engagement, only to be grilled by their instructor after they couldn't reclaim their weapon and lost the match. This... has turned into a difficult situation. Another thought flashes through his mind. He shouldn't do the weapon dropping trick, but he does have potential for something else instead. He proceeds to act on his plan, stretching one of his legs and sweeping it forward in the hope he could trip Rhian up, show her that he's not going to fall for the same trick so easily. He then moves to push off the ground with his other leg, trying to move himself sideways out of the way and hoping that he can at least get enough distance to not fall victim to the attempted charge... It would be a great plan, if tripping people up stopped them cold, but momentum likely still exists and so it's entirely possible his footwork won't help at all. Better than just letting Rhian get in and pretty much automatically win, at least in his eyes.

Verden, seeing that Rhian has stepped back to avoid his attack, moves to try and stop the mace from connecting so he can have a better recovery. Something of a newbie's mistake, the kind usually made by someone who has seen someone use a mace but can't quite perfectly emulate the proper technique with it. He seems uncomfortable while pulling the mace back, a slightly stressed expression crossing his face momentarily and involuntarily until he's managed to get the mace under control again. By then, he's a bit too late to properly stop the wild blow, but he does make an effort nonetheless, swinging the shield around so that the blow crashes into the surface of the shield instead of a body part of his. The arm holding the shield shakes, Verden more used to using the sheet of metal under his robes to take hits as opposed to using a shield, as well as just plain not having as much arm muscle to handle the trading of blows. Mf. Harder than I expected... Good thing this is just training. His eyes dart to the shield, making a snap judgement of what he should do, and he moves to try and push back a little against the blow he was just dealt by Rhian's axe. He then moves his left foot back, crouches a little, and swings his body around while trying a low-to-upward diagonal strike with the mace again, this one still aimed center mass for the most part. While Verden himself doesn't quite understand why someone would do an upward strike, he's seen such a move being used before by other soldiers, and it worked well enough for them at the time.

Hearing Rhian speaking again, Verden nods, his eyes glancing towards the slow swing. After a quick check of whether the shield or mace would be more convenient, he decides to maneuver to meet the axe strike with the training mace. The slightly messed-up arc applies just enough of a slight misdirection that, should he manage to pull the parry, it's not going to be something he can necessarily follow up on yet. Well, not with the mace, at least - he probably could have followed up with the shield, if he'd had the mindset to do so. Instead, he just tries to sort out the matter of getting Rhian's axe swing away from him first. He seems at least a little aware that the axe swing was slightly off... "Hm...? Um... Are you holding back? I appreciate the kind gesture, but... you don't need to." He glances aside briefly to give himself a neutral view for thinking through his next movements, then returns his focus to Rhian and, if he doesn't need to worry about the axe strike anymore, tries a swing with the mace aimed center-mass against her. While his form appears to be fine, as though copied from better fighters than he himself could be, the actual force behind his actions is lacking simply due to not having as much strength to swing with without overexerting himself.

Well, that certainly could have gone worse for him, so Verden internally feels a sense of relief that he wasn't judged too harshly for his suggestion. He then nods to Rhian, deciding to try and serious up a little and (try to) make sure she's not too upset if he doesn't hold up as well as he hopes. Given that he'd need to put the healing staff somewhere in order to use proper weaponry, he decides to put it down not too far away - close by enough that if someone tries to make off with it, he'd be able to see them pinching the staff. After that's sorted, he searches around until he's found a training shield, then it's time to decide on a weapon. Hmm... Let me think. I haven't enough proficiency with a sword to even think of using one seriously... It should be something close-range... After some deliberation over what to go with, Verden picks up a training mace, giving it a few swings to test the weighting of it. Also probably best to test how the shield feels, so he gives the shield a quick tap on the protective side of it with the same mace, continually tapping while adjusting his grip until he feels like it's comfortable in his hands. Now that he has a shield and a proper weapon, he turns to face Rhian with a fairly confident grin... the confidence fades pretty quickly once he remembers that he's going up against someone who has probably trained a lot more than he has. "Here we are. I'll... uh... If this is everything I need, um. Whenever you're ready, I suppose?"

Verden continues smiling in the same way he was earlier, nodding at hearing Rhian's frustration with earlier company and her current frustration in lack of sparring partner. Then, given what she suggested to him, Verden soon closes his eyes and manually runs through the other members of the group internally in his mind. Who would be suitable... Admittedly, something tells him most of the group might already be busy with other matters, or might not particularly want to spar with the woman. He opens his eyes again, deciding that he might as well leave it up to Rhian herself. She'd probably know who best she'd like to fight, surely? "I see. I'll try and take you up on your suggestion. Given the... attitudes of the locals, I suppose it's safest to keep them off the cards, so... Any member of the group you believe would suffice? Johanna? Argos? Ceridwen? Dulcibella?" A thought comes to mind, one that is admittedly quite risky on his part, but one that he feels like might be worth trying just in case. He glances off to the side, a little embarrassed about what he's about to suggest, but he returns his attention to Rhian soon enough. His voice, while normally quite measured and calm, now seems a little hesitant and uncertain... "Maybe... if everyone else is busy, maybe myself? I... As a priest, I doubt I can spar with you as well as a properly trained warrior could, but I know for certain I'd be willing to try."