"Unless the enemy has estudied his Agrippa... which I have!"
Here, for your pleasure, is a new school for those wild and crazy folks down at NOM. Let me know what you think.
Agrippa Sword School
Availability: 25 points; available to any nationality but only to those with the Advantage Membership: NOM.
Country of Origin: Vodacce
Description: Decades ago, a secret school opened in Numa to a select group of invitation-only students. The dozen students came from all nationalities and from all over Th?h, and were told almost nothing of the school and their benefactor. But, the most curious thing about the students was that they were all already masters of their own chosen sword schools.
The master of the school introduced himself only as Agrippa and made the masters an offer. He told them he was a fair fencer but wanted to learn more. He told them he wanted to create a new school that would teach its students, above all, to take advantage of the flaws of other schools. The offer was simple. They would teach each other the exploits of their styles and they would become the greatest fencers in the world. What they didn? know was that they really had no choice but to accept. Agrippa was an NOM master.
Agrippa chose his students well. He searched and researched, traveling to several nations and throughout the fencing world. He found masters who were of a more corruptible or prideful mindset and then he had his Fate Witch wife snip and stretch their lives into more agreeable circumstances. Then he sent his invitations.
The school teaches its users to look for and identify weaknesses in their opponent? styles and to use them to the best advantage. Being the child of NOM, it? also about deception and trickery. It is a defensive style but one that can be twisted into devastating offense. Its own weakness is that it doesn? always compensate for newer or less frequent styles that the student may face.
Basic Curriculum: Fencing, Athletics
Swordsman Knacks: Exploit Weakness (Donovan), Exploit Weakness (Valroux), Exploit Weakness (Aldana), Exploit Weakness (Agrippa)
Swordsman Guild: No.
Apprentice: Due to the odd nature of the school, its students learn its abilities somewhat backwards. They begin by experiencing other styles only then to learn specific tricks. Much of the school is taught in theory but the apprentice level students do learn that deception is key to survival. In this way, they are schooled in the Knack Feint and receive one rank in it.
Being a school only available to members of NOM, the Swordsman? Guild neither knows of nor would ever accept such an institution. Therefore, practitioners of Agrippa do not automatically receive membership to that august body. Instead, they receive one extra rank in one of the Swordsman Knacks of the school.
Journeyman: At Journeyman, the student learns how to turn an attack back upon the attacker and gain the Riposte Knack. Also, they learn the weaknesses of another style, one that they have chosen to learn. They learn Exploit Weakness (choice).
Master: The Agrippa master has learned that in deception and defense lies the key to offense. They learn to cheat. He learns the Dirty Fighting Skill if he doesn't already have it. They understand that a smashed nose can blind a man with watery eyes and learn the Pommel Strike Knack. In addition, they increase their repertoire of style knowledge and learn Exploit Weakness (choice) of yet another school.
Thanks, everyone.
Plum du Plumage, sooner destroying a stained-glass window
