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Circulating around Ephia's Well and beyond are hand-painted scrolls distributed by an oddly dressed cowled man with broken shackles upon his wrists and ankles.


Scroll 1: First Style: Axespeck of the Scholar (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752786#msg752786)
Scroll 2: Recluta Bernadette vs First Style - Scholar (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752833#msg752833)
Scroll 3: Second Style:Axespeck of the Dwarf (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752846#msg752846)
Scroll 4: Nahj'Ra Speaker of the Immortal Serpent vs Third Style - Blasphemous (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752861#msg752861)
Scroll 5: Third Style:Axespeck of the Blasphemous (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752865#msg752865)
Scroll 6: Fourth Style: Axespeck of the Mocker (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752874#msg752874)
Scroll 7:  Dorvant of Agaslakku vs Fourth Style - Mocker (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752889#msg752889")
Scroll 8: Fifth Style: Axespeck of the Performer (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752908#msg752908)
Scroll 9: Lyrist Lynneth the Stone Sentinel of Warad vs Fifth Style - Performer (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752913#msg752913)
Scroll 10: Sixth Style: Axespeck of the Shade (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752914#msg752914)
Scroll 11: Acolyte Amelise Terrois of Fierce Kula vs Sixth Style - Shade (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752915#msg752915)
Scroll 12: Seventh Style: Clarity (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752929#msg752929)
Scroll 13: Zyaeed of the Cold Hearted Wroth vs Seventh Style - Clarity (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752930#msg752930)
Scroll 14: Eighth Style: Miserable Toad (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752938#msg752938)
Scroll 15: Izduan Najera vs Eighth Style - Miserable Toad (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752942#new)
Scroll 16: Ninth Style: Road Warrior (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752954#msg752954)
Scroll 17: Inquisitor Salvatore of B'aara vs Ninth Style - Road Warrior (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752955#msg752955)
Scroll 18: Tenth Style: Freezing Bastion (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752969#msg752969)
Scroll 19: Hekatomb vs Tenth Style - Freezing Bastion (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg752970#msg752970)
Scroll 20: Eleventh Style: Acid Wall (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753050#msg753050)
Scroll 21: Twelfth Style: Flaming Fortress (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753051#msg753051)
Scroll 22: Thirteenth Style: Electric Shield (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753052#msg753052)
Scroll 23: Fourteenth Style: Sonic Barricade (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753053#msg753053)
Scroll 24: Fifteenth Style: Priest (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753064#msg753064)
Scroll 25: Echammon vs Fifteenth Style - Priest (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753090#msg753090)
Scroll 26: Sixteenth Style: Brute (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753092#msg753092)
Scroll 27: Seventeenth Style: Dervish (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753093#msg753093)
Scroll 28: Eighteenth Style: Bulwark (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753094#msg753094)
Scroll 29: Ninteenth Style: Indomitable (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753095#msg753095)
Scroll 30: Twentieth Style: Null  (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753097#msg753097)
Scroll 31: Twenty First Style: Dancer (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753098#msg753098)
Scroll 32: Twenty Second Style: Precision (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753099#msg753099)
Scroll 33: Twenty Third Style: Ash (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753100#msg753100)
Scroll 34: Twenty Fourth Style: Rogue (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753101#msg753101)
Scroll 35: Twenty Fifth Style: Unbalanced (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753102#msg753102)
Scroll 36: Twenty Sixth Style: Courage (https://www.efupw.com/forums/index.php?topic=708041.msg753103#msg753103)

If one stops to leaf through the scrolls, alongside odd depictions of strenuous exercise and poses, are scrawled insights

QuoteThe Scholar's path is one of endless battle. To march to war is a mental fight as much as a physical one and in this the warrior is a weapon balanced of body, mind and spirit into a single focus. Upon reaching Ephia it is fated the First of the axespecks I uncover is the scholar. The power harnessed from the magics gifted by Agaslakku expand both the mind and understanding. A feeling of oneness with the Disc and seeing plain themany fractures of the axe. To polish the weapon of the mind in proper pose stretches the weapon and expands understanding creating a harmonious soldier.

To adorn yourself in the axespecks of the Scholar unlocks in the self a broader gaze of the battlefield. To manifest the instincts of Warriors past and present recognizing their tactics, understanding the flow of combat, and ultimately opening channels of energy flooding the mind with supernatural giftings. To know the Scholar, to Master the Scholar, is to master millenia of conflict and find harmony with Agaslakku. To gaze through his eyes and see all, know all. An unconvetional Axespeck often shirked by warriors, it is a tool as any other. Another arrow in the quiver, another blade sheathed to your hip. And to recognize that the Axespecks of Agaslakku that have altered the tools and weapons all around us, ever since the shattering of the Axe.

This energy could not be destroyed so instead it was pollinated across the Disc, like a spray of blood upon the canvas of the world. Seek the Axespecks. Learn them. Study them. The Axespeck of the Scholar is a worthy one to pursue mastery of before delving into further training. To visualize possible fights, to meditate and find the self after the conflict, these things are powerful for the Warrior to understand even in the earliest days of training.

Of my journey it began with the Office of Minor Nuisances, bestowing upon me a necklace that had an unusual resonance. Upon adorning the totem did my boots grow heavier, drawing me to settle and meditate for hours. Drawing me to draft these scrolls, and the many more to come as I master this first Axespeck.

The First path to Harmonious Conflict.

Scholar Style Agasla-Ku

If one stops to read over the challenge in the scrolls, the depiction of the mercenary priestess wielding her frozen blade captured along with caligraphy upon the back of the scroll

QuoteThe First Style, to study and predict even anticipating the foe's movements. Akin to the Arrowhead Asp you watch their action, their reaction, even capable of evading their magical attacks. Though I hold no formal training in the craft of magic the gestures repeated, the prayers, the pattern recognized. A gift from the Axespeck's pieces combined as the totems take to synergy and open the Ki pathways to my mind's eye. Many combatants favoring their patterns, their training. It is the First Style's greatest strength. To know what is to come, to predict and adapt.

The Style's weakness though is like a Builder with only rotted wood to build, it offers cold comfort to know what comes and be limited in mitigating such. While the blade can be dodged, while the shield may be batted aside, while the spells themselves may be known - You may only dodge so long before fatigue takes hold. Even if a few worthy dents hammered into the Mail of their armor, against a foe girded for battle a Scholar's style offers only learning. For there is no greater teacher than defeat, icing your bruised and battered hands in chilled waters, and taking to grasp the paintbrush. The throbbing sting a reminder, a motivator, a guide.

To see, to understand, to know. This is how improvement comes. This is the Scholar's path. A worthy first Axespeck to study in the journey to greater understanding of The Warrior, and his sacred art of Agasla-Ku.

QuoteTo the Dwarves he is none but The Murderer for it is War that ruined their empire and it is The Warrior they lay upon blame. Disregarding politics the essence of the dwarf is threefold To work the earth fiercely, to work the earth delicately, and to endure the magics.In this the Agasla-Ku Second Style, Dwarf Style is forged. Lowering the center of gravity for balance, practicing breaking the stones with power, practicing, breaking the stones with care of finesse, and in anticipation of the next move. To be seen beneath your foe and overlooked opening a fierce strike to the chin. For then the Shaman of the Orc'eh can speak no more! Its jaw and teeth shattered in fierce dwarf strike.

While the style excels in the labors of moving earth, delicate removal of valued archaeological and precious gems through precise fracturing of stone, where it suffers is in the capacity of martial combat. The Dwarves themselves a hardy folk and emulating their style, absent their natural gifts, leaves one over-extended. A pale imitation of the Dwarves themself, yet a Dwarf of studious nature could take these teachings and turn such a weakness to a monumental strength.

To the Dwarven the Warrior's name is a curse, creating a truly paradoxical Koan.

How can the Dwarf study Agasla-Ku,
When the Dwarf reviles Agasla-Ku?

As all styles though the Second Style holds place and purpose for the Non-Dwarven. A more laborious style. If the First Style is useful for study in training of the mind, the Second is useful for physical training. To harness the form into a true tool - shattering stone with one's own hands.

If one stops to read over the challenge in the scrolls, the depiction of the massive Stonefolk priestess wielding her ivory spear. Globs of acid dripping as she sit coiled and shrouded, akin to her faith's namesake Oroborous awaiting to strike.

QuoteConflict, Strife, War. They do not arrive when a soldier wishes. At times one finds themselves out for a pleasant walk and beset upon all sides. My encounter with the Speaker of the Immortal Servant, the mighty Nahj-Ra, whom terrifies many of Ephia with her ferocity was unplanned. She and her collective preying upon those who delve below in the hunt of worm and otherwise. I stood before her at her fiercest. Her patron's magics surging through her vessel. Her spear dripping acid, as they beat and brutalized a woman near.

Their victim, a woman I knew not or cared for not, I only sought passage. They demanded a tithe. I countered in an offering of combat - Blasphemy before the servitors of a God. It felt a worthy test of the Third Style. Though it was not a Style I had yet to Master, the timing in my stomach felt proper. Unseen another of their company moved behind me, a man with black armor and a grey tabbard, wielding a massive Warmace. He could have easily caved in my skull as the serpent chanter cackled and danced around us. The Stonefolk woman, silent, appraising me. Before she bid me welcome to claw and struggle against my inevitable fate.

She drew her spear, twirling and coiling for battle.

I drew... a teacup. The crowd laughed.

Our fight was short. As to be expected when wielding a tea-cup against a Groknak. Yet the Third Style is not of the body. No. It is of the Spirit. As my writings will show in the coming scroll the Third Style a channeling of the spirit. To imbalance the mind, the body, in favor of the Spirit itself.

A lapse in judgement perhaps as any of logic or reason would have merely paid the bandits, or fled. But to Blaspheme before the High Priestess of a god? Such is not done by the meek. And surrounded by the woman and her adherents, deep in the cavernous gutters as they mocked and jeered... My spirit sparked alive. Another fragment of the Axe slowly reforged as I felt its bloodlust, and its burning desire for strife.

QuoteBlasphemy at its core is the belief that if a soldier is told what must be done by an entity of faith, they dare stand in a defiant position. To many this is considered a damnable sin of the faith. Of the Warrior though it is a consideration in which simply another challenge is put before a soldier. The style itself is a manipulation of  the scales of the standard harmony of the body In the
sacrifice of the mind and the body is the Spirit ignited. A corruption of sorts of the natural order resulting in the manifestation of Ki. This channel of the energy creates a searing pain upon contact with the natural form A soldiers very hands begin to glow in ever hit.

The consequences of this Third Style and the ignition of the spirit brings with it a fatigue, a fogginess, and a bloodlust. As the very fist upon the flesh of another sears and sizzles, a craving envelopes. To strike harder, faster, with more abandon. The harmonious conflict of the being is set aside in pursuit of only victory. A dangerous, but at times required stance for a Warrior to take.

Prolonged exposure to these totems build a practiced apathy bleeding into cruelty. To look upon the alms-asker derisively for their weakness, to look upon the Priest in open defiance and challenge for daring to dictate your morals. It is a twisting of the self in exchange for power and while that power takes root in many form it must be tempered. For too long igniting the spirit leads to a feebling of the body, a clouding of the mind, prone to violence and manipulation.

Lapses in judgement that would have an otherwise peaceful man dare to stand before many, his spirit craving not the harmonious conflict of Agasla-Ku but the harsh and ruthless victory of The Warrior. Wanton, destructive, open warfare.

It is the Third Style because it comes after the mind, and body. The first taste and test of power and how a student of Agasla-Ku may manifest their Ki for violence.

The Paradoxical nature of the Koan

What do you do if you find the Warrior upon the road?

A foolish man answers: You serve him.

A wise man answers: You kill him.

QuoteThe Fourth Style is a culmination of study and practice. No longer gaze inwards but now outway onto your opponent to see and know their weakness. As you master the self you can easier combine all three styles to a fourth. First you of the Scholar analyze your foe Then of the Dwarf you strike without warning in cutting word this prepares for the Blasphemous laugh of cruel mocking leaving them open for a kick to the head. For the Mocker is one who imbalances the foe while keeping yourself centered. Quickly evading their furious counter attacks as you pepper them with further japes and insults between fluid and focus strike

It is a style of dissection. To pinpoint your foe's weaknesses and exploit them, to lead to misdirection of capitalizing upon their lack of focus. Evading the errant strike while maintaining your composure is easy to write upon parchment. However until you are being swung at with a sword having nothing but a scrap of fabric to protect yourself, hoping you've fired the right volley to compromise their equilibrium? A wrong step may well be your death.

That tension though, that danger, it resonates with the Six Talisman and creates in you an edge. Like a cornered beast, your Ki flows in the opposite direction, flowing outwards. Like the Monkey eager to leap from tree to tree, throwing coconut and howling at the predator. Darting about the fight with jabs of fist, jabs of words, leaps and twist.

And with every attempted strike, your Foe's frustration mounting, growing more errant, as you continue to evade.

Toying with them, infuriating them further. It is a style of compounding woe when a foe subjected to it.

QuoteThe Fourth Style and Fifth Style lend to a unique phenomenon. There is a power to be found in crowds, it is why as long as there has been a flow of B'aaran water there has been Arena. A chance for warriors to test both themselves and their methods. To spar and feud and contest against one another for various reason. Some seek prize, some seek glory, some seek understanding. All though seek, and strive, and know what it is to be alive.

Where as the Blasphemous calls from the power within to corrupt, Mockery calls from without - To chastise, to belittle, to turn the Crowd in your favor at the expense of your foe. Momentum swings and with it the tide of battle. To embrace the Fourth Style is to feel for this pulse of Ki, twisting and warping it to oppress your foe.

In the case of the battle with Dorvant of the Fourth Legion, a devout of Agaslakku, it was his occupation besmirched. In asking of his skills, he said he had much. It was stated if he had so much why was he not a Sergeant - at which time Scribes, High Priestesses, and more took to their chortles and guffaws. The mockery effective, but effect without follow through is fleeting.

While it brought a reprieve from his first few strikes as he was off kilter, his Vanavoi Longsword gifted by Echemmon the White Axe proved worthy of its forging. Our contest while I won the crowd, was a fleeting one. Fair blows exchanged but his Sultan gifted armor, his Agasian gifted Sword, and his relentless dueling prowess shone through making our contest a victory to his merit.

While the practice of Fighting to the Death is outlawed the merits of the Fourth Style cannot be discounted.

So too though can they be countered, contested, or intertwined with the Fifth Style - That of the Performer.

QuoteWhere as the Mocker is drawn of the imbalancing of the foe by the swaying of the crowd, there is a counter path by which the Style of the Performer is born. To gather not of the imbalance but the harmonic resonance of a crowd bolstering you Pushing you upward and onward to attempt the impossible To harness that latent energy and draw it into yourself, warping it about the channels of your body, and expelling it outwards in a fantastic display of the impossible. To wow the crowd and surprise your opponents alike in the pursuit of a warrior's victory. For there is a reason there is in any battle the sense of morale and awe harness it.

For as long as there has been a theater of war, the theatre of War is eternal. Totemic displays of skull and viscera to dissuade your foe align closer to the mocker, but the cadence of the drums? The horns? The rallying speech and cry before the charge? These harness the same energy as the Fifth Style.

To wield this energy is a delicate thing, and while Bards are masters of it in their songs, Priests in their Sermons, the Warrior Monk is not without his own boons of such. To take them upon your shoulders and showcasing for them the feats of the impossible. To drive a fist through a stone, to crack a massive slab with ease, to walk upon Flame unphased, to catch an arrow mid-flight, and more are but a passing consideration.

To truly dedicate yourself is to know the Ki of others, manipulating it, that you may better know yourself. In this does the Mocker fall flat, and the Performer soar.

QuoteThe acclaim of the Lyrist, as well as her prowess as protector on full display during impromptu contest at the Krak de Rose. She was kind enough to honor me with a challenge despite being a relatively unknown. It was decided then the Fifth Style would be employed - For what better way to make a name for one's self than before a crowd, and against a foe of such acclaim.

She arrived with poise and grace, during my meditations and focusing of my Ki. As the crowd took to gasping the tension in the room shifted ever so subtly. Most did not expect a man of my talents to harness such a thing - Scribe, Student, and other onlooker let out gasps as I left fly the Blasts in rapid succession.

First blood drawn as her skin burned, her face shifting to shock, and more audience surprise. It was a sensation I had not felt in Ephia before. Most content to simply overlook me but in that moment all was on display and the Performance of a lifetime given.

Our contest though was not of first blood, and she swiftly called to Warad and adorned herself in stone, before hefting her flail in rapid succession upon my ribs. As so many before me who stood in her path I buckled.

But she herself admitted surprise by my performance, welcoming it, cheerfully mending me and indulging me. Allowing me to see just how long it would take to crack her shell with my fists.

A second performance for the crowd. My first blow to the center of her chest sent her toppling her to further murmurings of the crowd impressed. However upon recovering her footing she began conversing with the crowd it turned to laughter. I hammering from different angles, chipping and chewing away at the fascade as she spoke with her friends. At one point even turning her back to me confident in Warad's favor over her as I continued to shift from fists to knees, elbows, sterner strikes.

It was a humbling encounter for certain, but the Style proved true. In this there is no debate.

QuoteTo never be where one would expect.

This is the way of the Shade. The Sixth Style lends itself to a mixture of deception and feint in equilibrium It presents the foe in one light while you act counter If the Mocker and Performer are the energy of the crowd the Shade is the natural following in absence. Even in the sketch above the style differs as you would expect the four motions instead it is an ambush most clever. If all of warfare is deception driven the Shade is the most erratic and unpredictable of stances. But does that then lend to it a sort of sordid predictability is worth asking.

To be the shade is to be absent and yet present. And in that presence can one be found even at their most duplicitous. As it is a style devoted solely to such deception, removing one's Ki from the fight itself, you are left vulnerable to the depredations of the less physical. Fire, Magic, otherwise will make any efforts of the Style moot. For there is one thing the shadow fears, and that is the Light of the Flame.

In a purely physical contest however a severe edge can be earned with the Sixth Style. Beyond merely bobbing, weaving, ducking is the absence of Ki upon the physical form tangibly absent. An otherwise assured strike would simply pass from where aimed, the foe's senses unable to comprehend. For even the most mundane is used to the Ki of others. The sense of a presence in a room when your eyes closed? One of the Shade may not even be felt in such instance.

As many scrolls are added to the collection this evening, styles five and six and the two contests, the final is of a contest with Amelie of Kula.

QuoteThe Shade Style was put to the test in challenge of Amelie of Kula. As the faith lends itself to attending the downtrodden and gutterdwelling there is no shortage of ambush. In the wake of her abduction by the Wyrm Cultists did the Acolyte of the Sybiline Sisterhood seek to test herself. Rather than relying upon her usual tactics of summoned Wine Sprites she craved a more visceral form of combat. I obliged.

Swiftly I found the battlefield a disadvantage - She coated the cobbles of the Krak with Grease and Web in tandem, making my footing precarious on the best of slippers. The Shade style though is woven of Deception. In a feint I collapsed onto the floor of my own accord. Rather than proceeding to cast more magics she moved in swiftly for a strike.

To her surprise her senses misjudged my position, my Ki absent and my mind and body alike empty. After a few missed strikes of her spear she pivoted once more to her magics and drew both blood and agony from me. At this time did her webs take hold and the scent of blood flood her senses, my wounded body betraying my location.

Ultimately she was victorious. Her ambush prevention tactics proving most effective and even my own evasion met with stern strike and fiercest Kulamite Magic.

QuoteThe Fifth Style of Shade is to beguile the sense of the foe emptying your body and mind. The Sixth is Clarity a style in which the opposite occurs. To know Clarity is to see and understand but most importantly to accept. Understanding the mind is the aspiration of many who embark on this journey. To study the Sixth Style is not to be absent of mind or shut out distraction but to bury yourself in it. A misconception is that clarity is born of peace but true and unfettered peace comes from an overwhelming flooding of your senses. This is true clarity. To be able to keep your focus regardless of the cacophony of war to hear and see all around you to know and understand your place in this world. Expand your senses and the mind will follow. Only though if you are properly trained.

The mind a muscle as any other and only in submerging it, pushing your body, your limits, flooding it with blood will it grow stronger. You must drive yourself further, harder, fiercer. You must not shy away from the chaos of the battlefield but wallow in it. To stay focused, to stay on mission, to protect or conquer. Mastering your fears, your worries, and in the process - Yourself.

Only with proper training of mind, body, and soul in war can you push closer to mastering harmonious conflict. When your gut makes you timid, your mind is master of your body. When your mind grows fearful your body holds you firm. And when both are plagued does your spirit rise. The Seventh Style represents the fiercest refining of the Mind. Taking what has been learned of previous styles and forged into singular clarity. Polished, like a gemstone.

Able to bend the light around it, allow light to pass through it, but forever retaining its shape and form.

Two scrolls are added at once - both upon the Seventh Style, Clarity

QuoteThere is a cold, calculated, singular minded clarity in the pursuit of vengeance. Of any Spoke it can be said more than many that Wroth is the most focused. In testing of such a theory I gave strife to Zyaeed, a local Priest of the Faith. The man is aloof, his demeanor chilled, and his talents follow suit.

The boon of the style of Clarity though is distractions offer little. After he began to cast his first spell did I dip under his guard, planting a palm firmly to his sternum crashing him back against the railing of the Sparring ring, before dipping into a hammering of fist and elbow. Wroth though, is Patient. Wroth is unkind.

The moment there was an opening was I entombed in Ice. He proceeded to hammer me with a shaking fog the likes of Frostport itself. While my body imprisoned I let fly a combination of Shuriken and Ki Blast.  Vengeance though is also unrelenting. The man's form shattered, pierced, burned, and yet he remained upon his feet from raw willpower.

To his credit he was victorious, though he was quick to admit the margin was razor thin and a thrill he received from the contest. I was left meditating on how in both Vengeance and war though there is no consolation for the slimness of victory. They are mutually absolute. Survivors and those who Perish. A stark lesson from a stark foe.

QuoteIf Clarity is the maintaining of focus during the overwhelming sights and sounds of warfare
The Eighth Style, Miserable Toad is the overwhelming of the body in all its forms. A Gluttonous and dare we call it an indulgent style it lends to the massive consumption of vices and vitriolic. Liquor of all form, various smokeables sprinkled in a Torch, the harsher narcotics. To bend but not break the physical form aligns the channels of Ki. This allowing a warrior to commit feats otherwise deemed an impossibility. To indulge at such volumes as to kill the common and untrained man is a soldier able to for a short term shatter all limit and expectation. In this it is a starkly dangerous style but if properly utilized it is one of the most formidable...if it does not kill you.

The Body is a remarkable thing and just as the muscles can be grown from intense and grueling training so too can the channels of Ki. In consuming such massive amounts of what otherwise may be considered toxins does the Ki begin to morph. Consider the Blasphemous style and the corruption mentioned in the Fifth Scroll. Where as the body and mind sacrificed for the Spirit to spark outward, the Eighth Style sparks it inwards. A true test of the Spirit as the body is wracked, the mind is addled, and the Spirit folds inwards in fevered journey.

If you can pull yourself away from the edge of madness, and keep your footing as your equilibrium askew (Thus the name - A miserable frog the Adherant begins to appear crouched and groaning and reeling) - Then you may find yourself surviving skirmish that leaves companions compromised, maimed, or outright slain.

As the previous scroll is added about the Eighth Style - Miserable Toad ((OOC: See Last Post)), so too is a record laid of a Challenge from Najera of Izdu. It sounds as much a broken man's fever dream as any recollection of glorious combat.

QuoteI beg forgiveness as my recollection of the contest is somewhat tilted to say the least. Waxing in and out of consciousness we were visited by a collection of Zyaeed, Echemmon, Dorvant, Bashir, and a seven foot tall Skink with a Parrot on its shoulder with the head of an elf.among others took to visiting the Arena as we awaited her arrival.

When the colors on the wall stopped screaming at me their moteism laced tirades came up the steps the Izduan Najera, massive crook in hand. After short report of attack on her person by the inquisition and a Gorilla in a Janissary Uniform muttering did she enter the arena. After brief exchange of pleasantries commenced the fight.

Belching forth my poison she at first endured, preparing herself a litany of prayers and calling upon the Magi's grace to shroud her. Through the fog and the vaguely shaped shrieking faces of my mother, and her mother, I was able to secure a sense of the actual foe. We took to a few brief exchanges volleying back and forth, as I ducked her crook and she cracked my ankles. Leaping and twisting she sought to maneuver but the exertion took its toll.

She took a deep, weary gasp of breath at last - at which point the tide of the battle turned. In her coughing fit I was able to crack her fourth vertibrae and send her collapsing in a heap upon the ground. Deeper into the poisonous cloud she fell as time itself lost all meaning, the vortex swirling in many direction before the severed head of Apothar Azimi's laughing visage appeared. She demanded all of our Dolls before she began to devour us both. No bits, no pieces. Simply massive chunks taken from both of our bodies as severed limbs began to spray Cactus Slurp in beautiful fountains.

When I awoke The Izduan stood over me, barely conscious herself, blood oozing from hear ear, and leaning heavily upon her crook. My head continued to spin as she offered barest prayer - along with Echemmon and Zyaeed. They said it was a contest in which I barely lost but I could not tell you in truth how such a thing came to be.

We were mended, she went on her way, and I nursed the mother of all hangovers as I sought to purge my Ki of the foulness, my body of the toxins, and regain Clarity before my many newfound addictions rattled me to my core.

QuoteIf Clarity is a challenge to keep a focused mind and Toad a foe of internal body, the Road Warrior is a test of the fulfillment of the Spirit itself. To strike out in wandering staff in hand is a sirens song to adventure The spirit yearns above all else to be indulged and to wander free. You must use both mind and body to keep your spirit in check. That being said if one is able to conquer the rising ire of their spirit and channel it? There exists a true and open harmony. Balance achieved of mind,body, and spirit in this the Ninth Style and a true Warrior's Style.

When the mind, body, and soul are in spirit they adopt the similar facets of the Six Talismans, as the Second Spoke is the Warrior. Two of body, two of mind, and two of soul overlay the channels of Ki. As the mind focused, and as the spirit soars, the body is lifted with it. In near ever physical capacity is the Warrior propelled. Swifter, stronger, faster in any conflict.

Of this there is a true balance, if there was to be sighted any flaw it would be upon the mind. To focus it so severely in keeping the Spirit from running rampant may raise the body indeed but it leaves the mind preoccupied. It allows the subconcious to run rampant and eagerly seeking the next road, the next challenge, the next skirmish.

Ah - But to feel so alive, this is the Ninth Style., and like the nine spokes of the Wheel itself a truly balanced Style.

QuoteThe hazard of craving the open road is when constraint comes in the form of restriction there is a natural inclination to rebel. While the faith of B'aara holds mercy unbound the Hospitalier of Ephia take a more militant approach to such mercy. In such an opportunity to lay challenge proved most eagerly agreed by the Inquisitor.

There is a palpable thrill before a journey begins, the road calling to you as your hands and feet already begin to feel it is time to move before you are prepared. A leaping before you look and in such a wanderlust unbound. To see, to learn, to grow, to know. And when one stands in your way of such the Warrior's instinct is to fight.

Not all fights though, especially those of new style and new tool, are easily learned lesson. While I was able to draw blood from the Inquisitor the contest was a brutal one, swift and procedural. The attempt to use the Bo in open combat rather than for travel allowed a degree of protection. A dodge here, absorbing a blow of his mace on its wood there. Ultimately however he was able to nearly shatter it, and with it quite a few of my ribs.

In the wake of the contest he was impressed with my alacrity, as well as the spirit. As a style of the Spirit is lent credence to the meditations on the previous scroll. He was cordial enough to allow the same challenge to commence a secondary time, Mercy shown even in such.

Without the Bo in hand I was able to dent his shield, crack his gauntlets, and bury a fist in his chestplate. But such only served to ignite in him a deafening roar as the Mace found my jaw, ultimately securing him victory as well in the second round. Though he was in high spirits and lauded my efforts, and noted my improvement with a more familiar style having put him through the paces more rigorously and pushed him further than I had with the Bo.

QuoteWith Nine Styles to understand of the Mind Body and Spirit begins the journey to understand the world we inhabit. In the desert is water a rarity, but it adds to the ferocity and sting of ice. From Frostport, the Touch of Wroth, and in many circumstances do the clever bring the biting frost to battle. As a Warrior you must adapt and in such comes The Tenth Style. The Freezing Bastion is a mental exercise in which focus of the mind exhibits a slowing of the heart rate and calming of the spirit. Like the desert lizard and the foreign woodlands of the old city as Bear took to hibernation, so too may a focused warrior. To bring yourself to the edge of life and endure the hardships to come does your mind become a Freezing Bastion. Therein you may find peace.

The sting of ice is in the resistance to it. To submit yourself in it willingly brings a numbness soon enough and as your heart slows your mind is settled into a Torpor. As Ice moves slowly, you mimic such in moving slower than even it and in such the pain evaded until the magic fades, or the stark desert heat leads to a swift thaw.

To cede control of your body to ice comes freedom for your mind.

Two scrolls are added - The Freezing Bastion before it above, and the contest with the Twindari Hekatomb.

QuoteIn tale shared upon the Mound told the story of the Twins before their Martyring, sacrificed before Death to spare their village. That one was slain seconds before the other did the Twindari Hekatomb and I meditate upon with a crowd of others. Such a sacrifice to save your brother in a heroic martyrdom, but so too watching your brother give his life that you may survive a few more precious seconds and the guilt, grief, and relief therein.

It raised a number of questions how that moment may feel like an eternity, before you too perish, and a feeling many Warrior know well in largescale skirmish and warfare. We retreated to the Krak de Rose for Contest. To test the Freezing Bastion against the Chill Touch of the Grave.

With massive Scythe did the personification of Death come for me. At the place Death should - The End of my challenges of the Wheel, was the Martyr the Ninth and Final contest to say I have faced each and every Spoke.

With his own unique style of monastic combat did Hekatomb showcase what with trained hands a peasant's weapon may do. The Scythe, culling wheat, taken to a tool to cull the flesh. The first few strikes were evaded before a devastating slice cut one of my legs. I was able and fortunate to recover, continuing to press my attack upon him.

Death though, and the Twindari, ever remember.

A second massive strike ripped through my other leg, causing me to buckle. Both blows in such quick succession rending me defeated and at End - with Finality, my contests against the Spokes completed.

QuoteIf the Freezing Bastion requires stillness, the Acidic Wall forces the opposite. To channel one's Ki and focus it not inward or out, but in rotation. A flowing force throughout the form presents a counter to the caustic nature of such cruel action as Acidic burns. You must continue to flow and bend to even a greater degree than the source often in such cases an Oozing pool. As you ebb and flow with the form physically and your Ki rotates through you it creates a barrier the Wall akin to a wave of water. This wall of Ki channeled in rotating thwarts the effort of solidification borne of the likes of the dread Cube. The explosive outspray of acid upon you by Mage countered by bending with the tide not against and continuing to move with the flow in dynamic means.

The sting of acid is in rigidity. It cannot permeate deeper if it does not have the time to burn through the outer layers of cloth, of flesh, but so too can the Ki ameliorate. Flushing torrents of Ki in rotation adapting to the flow preserves the self in the face of any caustic woe.

If the defeat of Frost is to cede control of your body, to defeat Acid you must have complete and utter control of such.

QuoteIf the Acidic Wall requires fluidity and rotation the Flaming Fortress is a style which requires one to in no uncertain terms consider the fire an invading force. To survive you must envision the flame laying siege to your fortress and in such it must climb higher and higher over your walls To that end you must focus not in rotation and movement but in strength of spirit Raise the fighting spirit as you push both yourself and your limits higher and higher The raising of your Ki through the channels of your body higher than even the flames can surpass Build your fortress and dare it to climb as you continue to raise the wall inch by inch until it exhausts itself Unable to match your willpower as it consume itself in feeble attempt to conquer your willpower Let it burn.

The Fire races, you must channel your Ki to move the finish line. Higher, farther, up and away from the self. It is slave to its basic instincts and will chase whatever is given. If you are canny it will feed upon your energy, and not your flesh, allowing you to perform impossible feats that would leave others burning husk.

Fuel the flame's ambition and it will gorge until it relents, freeing you safely.

QuoteAs the Flaming Fortress raises in the highest flows the counterance would be the Electric Shield. In reversing the flow you send your ki into a downward arc beginning at the head and flowing outwards and in the direction of your knees. In such a style does the natural efforts of lightning to arc follow the tunnel carved not in the self but outside the self. Akin to the Leylines of the world these new passages attract any latent energy. In this case the Lightning that has struck is carried through the path of least resistance. Allow the energy to flow do not be afraid of the outcome. Cast both doubt and Ki outwards and downwards as the Electric Shield preserves the Self. In this does
the Warrior become capable of the impossible. To hold lightning in the palm of your hand and direct it onward

Where you feed the Fire's ambition, you must humble Lightning with your resolve. Breaking it with your will, shaming it to prostrate itself before you upon the ground in meek acceptance you are unimpeachable.

In this you will master Lightning, and the self.

As all five Scrolls of Elements are added at once, available above, comes the more unique and optical illusion of the Sonic Barricade Style.

QuoteStill is the Ice and Fluidity the trait of Acid. Upwards drifts flame and downwards moves lightning. Horizontal though moves the careening waves of sound as they crash into the world around it. To hear matters come slowly from afar in cacophany before descending upon you in deafening howl. This is the terror that comes with War. The drums from afar, the march that shakes the earth, and the sense of foreboding to come. In this though too does the Warrior find quiet power. To know the external and the internal is to know as the self. And in the self is balance had. To use such a thing in balance allows the countering of terror with courage, of confusion with focus, and of the sounds of war a deep peace. In acceptance that death brings with it silence means each sound even dreadful is cherished

For to hear is to be alive, even deafened and concussed by noise - do the vibrations still permeate the hair, the flesh, the very soul. For it is one of the most fundamental tools in teaching Ki to a novice. To ring a gong, and describe without word the sound felt.

From within, from without, there is balance. Inner Peace amidst War.

QuoteAs the Axespecks of the Warrior alter the channelings of Ki through Talismanic magic there exists pathway. The nature of pathways though inherently is that they may be traversed in both direction. Rivers may be long but you choose to flow upwards or downstream if one seeks to battle the current. When six of them are aligned the Talismans present the barest moment of conjunction. A moment in which your bodys Ki lay altered by the Divine Spark If you have diligently trained and focus your spirit bending your Ki you may reach out and grasp that spark Allowing it to course through you and create a greater balance A balance between yourself and the Warrior as not only his strength but his insight and wisdom you consume into your channels flooding the mind with enlightened feats.

To supplicate yourself before the Warrior is what most envision a priest would do but the Warrior respects strength, courage, audacity. He does not wish those who would kneel freely but those who would challenge him. Rise, rise your spirit. Rise your body. Rise your mind. Rise at the moment of opening and strike fiercely. With quick hand stealing away portion of the Divine Spark.

Claim what is yours in battle and the Warrior shall see you rewarded well in enlightenment. To see the world as less of a mortal, and gaze wide upon creation with new thirst for conquest.

For this is the 15th Style of Agasla-Ku.

QuoteThe White Axe of Agaslakku, The White League Candidate for Legate, The Axe's Axes, many names have been held by Echemmon of Ephia. Though some may critique his stances and politics loudly, verbosely, and fervently it stands testament to his devotion. Wherever he lays his boots strife in one form or another follows in his wake. From quarrel with the B'aaran Inquisitor to the Legates themselves he has long been a presence of the White League with the belief that All have place in war by his side.

With Axe and Prybar we ripped open the ruined temple of Agaslakku. What was broken, we broke once more to break a great deal within.

Our battle shook the ruined temple of the Axe. Wood splintered from his heavy swings, blood and spit flying as my fists found his ribcage, boots shaking long settled dust. At long last was Bloodshed returned to the Ruined Temple. At long last were Warriors once more at war.

Through our challenges of the other Spokes these last many weeks I had grown as a warrior, to the point I was able to best him.

In this he called me Brother. For though I was not of the Clergy did the Priest Style channel the will of the Warrior through me and see me to triumph against one of his most active priests in the city.

And bestowed I was the means to open my Dojhaun in Ephia's Well proper.

QuoteIf the Priest style is to open yourself to the divine and a higher power it is the opposite of the Brute. To solidify your form by narrowing your Ki passages resulting in a more savage and primitive power. Such is how the Orc'ah and more revere the Warrior and traverse the Wasteland in their great hordes. To limit the flow of Ki reduces one's self to a baser and more primal state in which the Brute Style emulates to the fullest. To battle without humanity in an unrelenting physical presence is a dangerous pursuit but in War you are surrounded by danger at every turn The Style itself gives the feinted appearance of a lack of skill allowing the possibility to catch off guard many interlopers As the Dalzac Headtwister the Scratcher or the Deathclaw you are a Brutish engine of war.

Absent the higher calling of the mind do the Body and Spirit rise to heights hereto unheralded. Men and women alike marching unrelenting, tirelessly, and unstoppable in a crashing horde upon any foe's line or emplacement.

Truly a thing of terror, the sort of thing that made the first cowards take up bricks to make walls.

QuoteIt is in Balance though that one finds truest harmony To be able to bring a neutral flow of Ki allowing a slow and steady flow in a balance of the Priest and the Brute brings forth the Dervish. As dangerous to the self as it is to the foes in the hands of the untrained to a master in the style it is a harrowing and horrifying feat to witness. Moving with otherworldly alacrity are you able to block strike and countercut The resulting style one favored to those who unafraid to risk the self in pursuit of more a common trait among the impoverished and desperate Yet so too in the hands of the dedicated warrior is one able to tear through a swath of foes with alacrity Laying waste to many in swift short cuts as both weapons and feet utilized to terrorize a foes flanked position Reap the Whirlwind

Legends tell of terrors far and wide as otherwise lowly men and women take up a pair of Kama, a Bo Staff, or other more exotic fare and sow death in wide arcing swaths across the battlements. The oppressor who would put boot upon throat finding a fierce riposte in their ankle's ligaments slicing deep in supernatural fury.

To be where the foe is not, filling the air with blade and ill intention, to spin and move and keep moving... until nothing moves.

Until nothing is heard. Aside from your heaving breath and the lamentations of your foe's widows.

QuoteWhen though the balance of Dervish is acquired- That mixture of channeled Ki coupled with the narrow flow of Brute to create the swirling balance does new pathways open. Drawing from the elemental styles you may see the Dervish augmented with the direction you channel your Ki. If you take it to your hands and feet you become the immovable Bulwark Your feet rooted and your hands placed for impact present a defensive stance capable of halting even a rampaging Dune Tiger with a firm grip. So too can a charging foe be placed firmly on their backside regardless of how heavy the armor they are adorned in when they crash into you. You become in essence the object upon which all shatter. A veritable Epicrasis of Flesh as enemies cascade off you like the errant storms sweeping the Great Ash Desert

You meet the Foe's vanguard with shoulders square, hips firm, and hands outward. Prepared to hold back the Wyrm itself if it came cascading against your combination of Mind, Body, and Spirit. Your Ki paths firing in intermittent pulse, unrelenting in your defense of your chosen position. A style for the Strong and Weak alike -

For it is the Spirit that holds you upright in this defensive style.

QuoteIf though rather than the Bulwark's flow of the Ki to the hands and feet, you shift your focus inward to your core you create insidean immovable and truly Indomitable force of energy. The likes of which man, beast or servants of the Gods themself cannot see snuffed out. A coiled spring wrapped and ready for a fierce countering strike you endure whatever thrown at you with patience and caution. It is only then as your body ready and your mind clear you are able to perform the impossible feat. Your heart-rate slowing and your breathing steady are you able to defy Death itself in meditative harmony The likes of which pursuing has seen to the death of many who with errant thought, that they were prepared to undergo such a challenge. But if mastered you are able to stare death in the face and smile as an old friend

For the Indomitable Spirit knows no age of body, nor weakness of mind. There is only the power of the Spirit checked against those who would bring Death upon you in a gaze, in a touch, or in fleeting attempt to break you.

You laugh.

Derisively.

You are Warrior. You are not so easily broken.

QuoteTo shatter and break is merely a path to rebuilding greater It is in this principle of the Warrior that the Null Style was formed. Perhaps the single most powerful Axespeck of the Warriors divinity if it can be properly harnessed In the hands of the amateur it is deceptive but in the hands of a Master the possibilities are endless. You must take the greatest risks and you must dedicate yourself to a lifetime of study in the harshest conditions. You must seek every challenge and raise to every occasion. You must become as the Warrior himself and then you shall triumph. In all my studies there is no style more Dangerous discovered. It is a transformative stance in which a Soldier grows from dutiful student to a full and true practitioner of Agasla-Ku and becomes a titan among mere mortals

When your enemies gawp in confusion at your feats of miracle performed through Harmonious conflict.

When your allies gasp in amazement at your aid to their victories.

When you are written and remembered, you will be ready to embark on the first steps of the Null style.

Then you shall rise, higher than you ever thought possible.

QuoteThe Fanu Alkhinjar are an ancient martial school of the Ashfolk. Their dances are said to dazzle the court and bewilder the senses of the Sultan himself. The style of the Dancer is a loose interpretation of the Fanu Alkhinjar ceremonial feastdance. Rather than a choreographic wonder of discipline and unity the Style of the Dancer focuses upon the single entity moving among the tide of battle. You must like the Ashfolk dancers study your crowd and make your way through it with grace and strength in tandem balance. To twist and twirl upon the edge of a knife itself with a singular toe is said to be the greatest achievement of the Masters. Turning such a thing into a battlefield practice allows for the swift work of Mendicant and Soldier alike in traversing great swaths of terrain for a singular target.

To your allies in need your grace a gift from the Wheel itself as you arrive with quick remedy to their wounds and suffering.

To your foes you are a veritable horror of speed, cunning, balance, and lethal poise. At any moment twisting and winding through the field. In your wake there is no cheers or applause.

Only screams, only horror, and only victory.

QuoteOne of the most difficult things a warrior must learn is the practice of restraint. It is inherently difficult as one grows in strength to limit and balance expenditure of effort but if it can be mastered then Focus is developed. A means by which a warrior may see training improved or take to performing entirely new styles of impossible feat. Precision is a style in which one focuses not only their Ki but their body itself. Tense becomes the limbs and long becomes the breath increasing the flow of Ki through the eyes and hands. A mirror to the style of the Dancer and the Fanu Alkhinjar which focuses more upon the foot this style serves well the Warrior in measured precision as you are able to unleash restraint in a singular and relentless strike. The potential energy of the self channeled to a singular narrow point and out.

Be it a firm blow of fist, a snapped kick, or even thrown Star with proper training in the restraint and conservation of Precision style there is no missing.

Rumored to have begun as a bar-room trick in the wake of larger battles throwing darts and more in time it would develop into a Style welcomed by those who move swiftly, strike swifter, and pepper a battlefield with death in all its varied forms.

QuoteWhere as a majority of the styles so far have been about augmenting the warrior in body
mind or spirit majority so far have heavily favored the body or mind. The Axespeck of the Ash is one of the first styles to showcase in full the challenges set by the Second Spoke. To adorn yourself in the Talisman of the Axespect of Ash is to test your spirit as your body takes to burning and your mind takes to howling in agony. A challenge of the Spirit that in the past has seen warriors test themselves in contest against one another to see who can last the longest under the cruel auspices. Many have perished but those who spirits burn the brightest are able to endure the agony therein and learn a great deal about both themselves and the journey that lays before them in the Great Ash Desert - It will be a painful one.

But from that pain does the Spirit know power, and as the body recovers and the mind remembers the Warrior able to raise to further and newer heights with confidence. That which plagued the mind with Doubt now fleeting. Now that which was thought too much for the body feels laughable by comparison.

For you have stood in the Ash Storm, alight and screaming upon winds so loud your brother next to you could not hear. For you have stood burning in your own juices as sweat boiled. For you have coughed and wheezed choking upon the Storm.

...And lived to tell the tale.

Incredible.

QuoteWhere the Unbalanced stance one of an insult not all deception is folly or unkind. The Rogue is a vital staple in any Warrior's training as it lends to a familiarity with the less spoken of sides of warfare. Strategem and Intellegence move more mountains than shovels. Advanced scouts sabotaging an encroaching armys paths and roads, your own forces striking out behind enemy lines for stealing of battle plans, troop movements, and more. These aspects while some deem them unsavory or honorless are a mandatory part of any Campaign and to shirk such the height of folly. As it is said often that majority of Baz'eel's triumphs come not from the marching ogres of the Janissaries of the First Legion but of the careful acumen and tactics of the less spoken of branches of the Sultan's military forces.

For even in peace does the dedicated Soldier prepare for war, and those who adopt the Rogue Style as their chosen path are blistering with guile and cunning, cautious and meticulous, and cultivate the skills to sow future chaos in any theater of War.

They, in tandem with the Snake and Rat style, are the whispers on the wind. They are tales told to children to keep them steady on their training. They are the initiates of walking shadow, and some of the most mercilessly effective soldiers upon the Field of Battle.

Cry of honor as you please, they shall laugh over your broken corpse.

The paradox of harmonious conflict is a study itself of balance. It is asked often among many how those of the Second Spoke can be so cordial to one another when off the field of battle and then so eager to slaughter one another. The answer is given simply in respect. For we know what is to come and we wish them the best that they may give us the best. There is but one insult - A disrespectful showing.  Of which there is none more disrespectful than the Axespeck of the Unbalanced. Where as the Mocker draws upon the energy of a Crowd the Unbalanced draw upon a purposeful altering of the patterns of Ki to make yourself weaker, to make yourself slower, and to make yourself wholly uninviting of a combatant. To appear meek to spare you from being chosen as foe. But as all aspects it has its place - as Fodder.

Send forth the Unbalanced to die upon the spears of the foe,
Send forth the Unbalanced to die upon the spears of your own if they try and flee,
For those who aspire to Unbalance sow disharmony and chaos in the ranks of yourself and your enemy.

They have their place, but it is not one of dignity or respect.[/quote]

Over a dozen previous scrolls are added in one evening above.

The final of which, is the Scroll of Courage.

QuoteWhile the Meek seek Unbalanced and the brazen seek further afield as Rogue, it
is fundamentally the role of every Soldier to find their courage. The battle of the mind against the body rages eternal but it is the Spirit that keeps the two in delicate balance. You must face your fear and accept them for only then may you dominate them. If you must then you can adorn yourself in the Tailsman of the Warrior to find a unique channeling of Ki It begins in the stomach radiating outwards towards the chest and legs You begin to stand firm and in this Style is a Sergeant or Balestriere able to muster their ranks to remember why they train and why they fight To lead lesser men to greater victory is the highest honor And may the names of those who perish under your command you have courage to write.

Write the names of those who serve you with honor, write the names of those who serve you with zeal and fury, write the names of those who have overcome their fear and risen to the heights of courage.

Those who would volunteer for the fiercest missions, those who would sacrifice themselves for a brother, and those who above all hold the forged spirit of a Hero.

Honor them well, Lead them well, and Glory will be had in victory.