Proper grip of your Sledgeaxe

"Ah, yes." Professor Phoebes says after you point out the list item that caught your attention. "I noticed that you seemed a bit unsure of where exactly to place your hands on your Sledgeaxe, during the simulated battle. You probably weren't able to hit with full strength -- or if you tried, I imagine it would have hurt your wrists and shoulders. To get the most out of your weapon, we need to make sure you can get comfortable with how to use it."

That makes sense!

Professor Phoebe takes you over to a corner of the Gymnasium where she's got a target dummy set up. Unlike some of the other smaller, person-sized ones that she's got around the space, some being used by your classmates, this one is absolutely gigantic and made out of a matte black material. It's shaped to look like it's got an angry face, but the body is just sort of a smooth bowling pin shape.

It's probably twice Professor Phoebe's height, and you don't even wanna think about comparing its height to yours. Though it would probably be somewhere in the range of like 2.8x to 3.6x, maybe. Ah, oh no, you thought about it!

Professor Phoebe slaps a hand against it. "This is Gregory Robustus Clarke." She says. "He's made of the toughest Kokkinport rubber, mixed in with steel dust and full of strategically placed rebar."

She knocks hard on it a few times to demonstrate. A very dull, deep sound comes out.

"He's solid all the way through, and sturdy as anything you'll find. Heavy too. Doesn't hurt too bad to punch or kick, but at the same time, good luck knocking him over or slicing him. Or piercing him. You get the idea." She says. You do get the idea. "For testing out a weapon as heavy-duty as your Sledgeaxe, this is our go-to guy."

You nod, then step forward. You introduce yourself to Gregory Robustus Clarke, since you want to be polite, and ask for his permission to try out your weapon on him please. He doesn't respond, unfortunately.

"Alright, first things first, take a wide stance. Point your toes out diagonally, so that they form an imaginary 'v'. Try to picture yourself getting pushed from every possible angle, and make sure you feel like it wouldn't knock you over or stagger you. If some angles don't feel protected and sturdy, adjust your feet and legs until they do."

You follow her advice, shifting your feet around on the ground and then making minor adjustments until you feel safe from any sudden pushing people. You hold your Sledgeaxe's grip tightly with both hands, and looks up at Gregory Robustus Clarke with a mean face, to amp yourself up. It's sort of hard to do with the friendly smile he's got beaming down at you, but you can do it if you just look at a different part of him. Wait, didn't he look angry too not that long ago?

"Now." Professor Phoebe says, getting your attention. "There's no precise answer as to where your hands should be on the Sledgeaxe at all times. It's going to be constantly changing, and that's how it should be. For example."

Professor Phoebe ducks off behind Gregory Robustus Clarke for a second, then returns with a hockey stick in hand. She stands beside you, far enough away that neither of you could accidentally hit the other during a swing, and gets into the proper stance herself.

"The further down the grip my hands are, the more power I'll get in my hit. It might be hard to understand why it's such an important amount of difference, but it's easier to think about if you picture yourself hitting something with your hands right at the top of the grip, and how weak those hits would be." Professor Phoebe moves both hands to the bottom end of the hockey stick. "How you prepare the hit matters a lot too -- you can't just go into the swing from nothing, especially with something as heavy as your Sledgeaxe. You need to get some movement and momentum before the main strike lands, see?"

Professor Phoebe swings the hockey stick, but instead of going towards Gregory Robustus Clarke and hitting him, she swings the stick around in a big circle, then uses the momentum when it comes down behind her to drive a big powerful hit into Gregory Robustus Clarke. The strike bounces off of him, and a loud BOO-OOII-IINNGGG sounds out as he wobbles back and forwards a little bit.

You knew that Professor Phoebe was strong, but you're really impressed with just how much **** she was able to get into the hit -- it moved so fast!! And with how big and sturdy Gregory Robustus Clarke is, moving him at all seems like a huge feat, let alone making him wobble like that with just a hockey stick....

"Now you try." Professor Phoebe gestures towards you. "I'll do it again slower, for you to see."

She demonstrates the winding up of the circle again, this time much more slowly, for you to follow with your eyes. Once you think you've got it, you swallow, get back into the stance, and look at Gregory Robustus Clarke with a stern expression.

"Okay... take this!!"

"Both hands together at the base of the handle for this one, remember."

"Ah, right." You fix your grip. "Okay. Take this!!"

You swing the Sledgeaxe around in the circle, but feel a bit like you're losing control of it, so instead of going right into the strike you swing it around in the circle two more times. Once you've built up your confidence, you swing forward into Gregory Robustus Clarke with all of your might, and--

"Ah!"

Your blow lands, and it lands well, definitely culminating in the most powerful hit you've ever done yet (another Warrior journey milestone, yay!). Unfortunately, you weren't quite expecting just how much **** it did end up landing with, so as the hammer-side of your Sledgeaxe bounces loudly off of Gregory Robustus Clarke, the reaction **** knocks you over onto your bum with a huff.

You peek one eye open after landing with the Sledgeaxe in your lap, to check how much damage you did. Your initial disappointment as seeing him remain stationary is all washed away when you realise that you can feel the vibrations from your hit through the blue mats you're now sitting down on, and still hear the dull and deep ringing through the Gymnasium. You grin widely and spring back up to your feet.

"That was the best!" You exclaim. Professor Phoebe gives you a smile and a nod.

"It's the most powerful form of hit you can do with a weapon like that, and once you bump out all the kinks and get perfect with it, I imagine it will come in handy quite a lot. But it does take time to wind up like that, and in some cases you need to get out a hit more quickly against a smaller foe, or because you don't have enough time for it, or simply to interrupt a larger enemy. So for a more basic attack, you want your hands wide apart, along the middle of the grip...."

Professor Phoebe spends the rest of your session together teaching you a couple of other attacks, then going through each of them repeatedly until you can do them all a lot better. You even stop falling over from the big one, after a while! It takes a lot of time and a ton of effort, but with Professor Phoebe's guidance, you eventually get yourself to a place where you're doing them all pretty well. Not only that, but you're also now so used to them that you default towards them when you try to hit something, instead of what you were doing before.

Constantly sliding your hands along the grip and swinging or circling your Sledgeaxe through the air makes you feel really really cool -- like you're already a full-fledged Warrior showing off your skills with every hit. You need to relearn some of the techniques for using the axehead side, since the weighting is a bit different, but it takes way less time since you've got the basics down and after just a handful of practice swings with each type of attack you've got it down. Go, you!

{if@ Learning Time! > 0}Professor Phoebe congratulates you on your quick improvement, and you beam up at her as you just soak up the praise. Yeah, you're awesome.

She gives you a few more pointers before moving on to help Delilah with what she wanted to practice this class, instructing you to keep practicing against Gregory Robustus Clarke until she comes back around for your next lesson. Since you've got the techniques down pretty well now, it's just about the repetition and making it all even more of a habit, plus getting more used to doing it. You're happy enough to do just that, especially since you know you must look really really cool the way you're finessing the Sledgeaxe and banging against Gregory Robustus Clarke like a drum. Hoo-rah!

By the time Professor Phoebe comes back around again, you're feeling super duper confident in your ability to do this stuff well, and are fully ready for your next learning experience!{else}As Professor Phoebe is congratulating you on your quick improvements, and you're basking in the praise, the bell rings. Professor Phoebe finishes up her compliments to you, then turns and calls the rest of your class in for a final discussion before class is over. You walk with her to the centre of the Gymnasium, watching all of your classmates converge from their various corners of the space with a pleased smile on your face and a much snugger-feeling Sledgeaxe in your hands.{endif}

EffectiveSTR + 6!