The Ballad of Adler Young, Canto 2.5

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>Adler: Look Sam in the eyes and meekly go back to scrubbing.
>Sam: Be disappointed.

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"Oh I will," I muttered while giving him my best Irritable Glower.  "I will stop you.  Eventually."

I turned back to the menhir and began polishing it again despite my aching biceps.

"Ahead of my lessons you are," Sam sighed.  "Rule nineteen:  With a more skilled adversary, pick a fight never.  Gotten to that one yet, I have not."

I suppressed a chuckle.  The old fool thought I had given in!  But, quite to the contrary, I had just thought of a plan to catch him off guard and give him the pummeling he richly deserved.  He wanted this stone to be shiny, did he?  Well, I would make it shiny!

I silently mouthed an appropriate Gramarye, and the surface of the menhir gleamed like a mirror.  I heard Sam step back and raise his arm to shield his eyes.

>Throw a limp wristed sponge at him like you haven't learned anything, but when he whacks it away with his staff give him a good right hook on the snout.
>Adler: While getting frustrated over how long this is taking you, get an idea. You are an elf. What are elves best at? Being tricksy. Use your magic to make the stone shiny right away. So shiny in fact, that the light reflecting off it blinds Sam.
>Sam: After being temporarily blinded, Adler takes a swing at you.

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Instantly I spun around and lobbed a sponge right at his face.  While he was busy swatting it away, I dropped the other sponge and swung my fist for a mighty Irenaeid punch!

Catch his wrist before he hits you. "Good, but you need to be better." -WHACK!-

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"Very clever," Sam declared approvingly as he caught my hurtling fist.  "Almost impressed I am.  Trickery, a fundamental part of Vulpitanian Style is.  Finally ready to learn, you are."

"What I'm ready to do is pulverize you!" I snarled.

"Not until to control your anger you have learned," he scolded.  "Reckless it makes you.  Also, until blocking you have mastered, pulverize no-one you will.  See if block my attacks you can as easily as the stone you polished."

With that, he swept his staff upward in an arc toward my head.  I could see it coming.  Was he moving slowly on purpose?  I thought about ducking, but instead my arm whipped up in a tight circle - just like the motion I had been using for hours to polish the menhir - and knocked the staff aside.

"Good!  Again!" Sam barked.

Adler: Try deflecting a blow from Sam with the scrubbing technique.

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As I blocked Sam's strokes, he increased the tempo until they were coming rapidly from left and right in no readily predictable pattern.  I blocked them all.

"You're a fool, old man," I chuckled grimly.  "Now that you've taught me how to defend myself, you can no longer touch me - ARGH!"

Adler: Use this as an advantage in combat, it fails get hit again.

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"Rule seven," Sam announced as I hopped around clutching my ankle where he had whacked it.  "Cocky, do not get.  To become a Vulpitanian Style master, more than one trick it takes."