Who wants a really easy win?

[Typhoon]

Under the hot midday sun, the helmet, pauldrons, and cuirass all seemed heavier, and the improvised brigandine pants on his legs were like dead weights. The vambraces pulled his arms down, and he could hardly swing the sabre he held loosely in his paw. Typh had already dropped the tall square shield, as he was starting to feel giddy. Realising that sparring outdoors was an impossibility in the hot sun and when he had just recovered from his hangover from last night, the badger picked up the shield and dragged his body over to the indoor part of the sparring court.

The badger felt himself transformed as he stepped into the shade. He stood up straighter, the armour felt lighter, and the giddiness stopped. A gentle breeze blew through the court, the comparatively narrow doorways channeling every slight movement of the air from the outside through one and out the other, thus cooling and ventilating the high ceilinged court. Sitting himself down on one of the many benches, Typh took off his helmet and waited. While waiting, he examined his sabre. One of the many weapons he had brought from his homeland, it was a moderately curved and single-edged sabre. It increased one's slashing and chopping power, while trading off some of its thrusting power, though not by much. The badger didn't mind that; he rarely used his sabre for thrusting anyway. The scabbard hung at his belt. Consisting of wood banded with iron, it was, like almost all his other equipment, unadorned but highly functional.

Typh looked up. There was no one coming, so he continued amusing himself by describing his armour to himself. The helmet was of an open-faced variety, covering the whole head except for the face. It was unadorned except for a plume of red hair on the top of the helmet. The cuirass was made out of hundreds of iron plates laced together. The pauldrons were of the same material and make. His legs were covered with brigandine trousers, which were three layered; two layers of cloth with metal plates in between. His shield was plain. Square, made of thick oak, with iron edges and centre boss. The vambraces were also of plain, unadorned, but highly polished iron.

The badger looked up again. Squinting, he saw a figure through the doorway which faced the fort, though the figure was too far away to see who it was.

OOC: Oh dear, I think that was one of the longest posts I've ever made... Not very long, is it? Ah well, I tried. Anyway, someone had better post an answer soon...

[Chicory Rue]

Rue stepped out from the doorway of the fortress, her girth and the huge shadow she cast easily identifying her as the only other badger in the fortress. She saw Typhoon looking at her and grinned, starting down the path towards him. She, unlike the other badger, was clad only in a simple russet-colored tunic and a wide belt. She waved to Typhoon as she ambled over to the storehouse where the arms were kept, calling, "wait a moment, would you? I'm not facing you like this, you know."

She picked up a pair of heavy metal gauntlets and studied them carefully, then slipped them on. She smiled. They fit her like gloves, and they were made of particularly thick metal- not to mention, they went all the way up to her elbows. An ill-timed sword thrust, unless exceptionally well-placed, would have no effect whatsoever on her lower arms.
She looked around once again, spotting a pair of copper jambeau lying in a rusty heap in the corner. She frowned, picking them up and turning them over in her paws. She shrugged- they would have to do. She winced when she slipped them on- they pinched the fir below her knees, but it couldn't be helped. She wasn't about to allow herself to be crippled in any way, not easily at least.

She stooped once more to pick up a bulky oaken shield and a short, heavy falchion before turning to leave the storehouse. She tested the weight of the falchion in one paw and smiled. The balance was good. She wished it could have been a little longer- it was only about as long as the distance from her outstretched fingertips to her elbow- but it was broad and heavy enough to do ample damage if applied properly. And it wasn't badly sharpened, either, although it was slightly tarnished in one spot near the hilt.

Now at least adequately armed, she walked back to where Typhoon stood. She reflected in amusement on how silly she must look- completely mismatched with her iron gauntlets, rusty copper jambeau, oaken shield, and tarnished falchion. Nevertheless, she still managed to exude an intimidating air- something that came naturally to badgers. She squinted up at the sun behind Typh, and shifted to a spot where it wouldn't be in her eyes. She waited for a moment then bowed stiffly, wincing as the jambeau clanked. "Well? We haven't got all day, you know."

OOC: A long post to match yours- in fact, I think it's even longer. Oh, and I know I'm already officially in a duel with someone else, but they don't seem to be very active, so I hope you don't mind my fighting with you.

[Typhoon]

Typh pushed himself off the bench and put on his helmet. He returned the bow in a polite, but also rather stiff manner.

"Certainly, madam. Would you do me the honour of beginning the spar?"

Typhoon steeled himself for the blow that was to come. Typh had never fought against another badger before. As he had had enough trouble dealing with ferrets and weasels, the old badger was understandably nervous. If Rue was anything like other badgers, then Typh would have an extremely difficult, not to mention tiring, fruitless, and ultimately unwinnable fight. But Typh didn't really care. Losing against a Horde member was quite harmless, in the sense that they wouldn't kill you when you lost.

Adjusting his stance so that his shield side faced Rue, Typh held his sabre at shoulder level, ready to parry or to counter-attack.

OOC: Sorry about the short post.

[Chicory Rue]

Rue adjusted the oaken shield a little lower on her arm- the paw grips were barely large enough for the badger's bulky limb. She sucked in a breath of air as she sized up her opponent, sighing slightly. Rue wasn't all that young herself, and to face another badger, especially one with as much experience as she was guessing this one had (one doesn't become commander of a whole legion for nothing), was going to be a complete challenge by itself.

Enough thoughts, she thought in disgust. Rue really was getting old (well, she wasn't what one would call young, at any rate), and she would need all of her concentration for the formidable duel ahead. Gripping her falchion tightly, she took a step forward and swung experimentally at Typh's waist- she wasn't really expecting to hit anything; it was more a test of the other's reflexes than anything else.

OOC: You were kidding, right? o_0 I hope you don't expect all the posts to be that long- I simply don't have the time or patience to make every post four paragraphs long.

[Typhoon]

Typh stepped back and blocked the blow easily with his huge shield. The two of them would probably just continue battering at each other's shields and armour until one got too tired to continue... Typh brought his shield up to try and hit his opponent underneath her chin with the bottom rim, while simultaneously going into a half-crouch and slashing at her stomach area with his sabre, which was almost twice as long than Rue's falchion, seeing that the whole sabre was almost as long as his arm.

[Chicory Rue]

Rue anticipated the move well in advance and leaped backwards a short distance, bringing her falchion down to counter Typh's sabre with a loud clanging noise. Her falchion may not have been very long, length-wise, but it was formidably broad: about one-and-a-half paw widths wide. She cursed inwardly, realizing that she would have to stay in close quarters in order to use it effectively- the blade was simply too short otherwise. She stepped back in, carefully keeping her shield up while she did so, jabbing at Typh from behind her shield.

[Typhoon]

Typh stepped back, but not so far back that he could not hit Rue with his sabre. The shorter length of the falchion was a distinct disadvantage to Rue; every time she came close enough to hit him, Typh would move further away.

Typh made a quick chop at Rue's unprotected head, knowing that she would probably block it.

[Chicory Rue]

Rue quickly brought her shield up over her head to block Typh's sword, which rebounded off the wood with a dull thud. As she stood there, shield held over her head like a parasol, she suddenly realized that she might be able to turn her disadvantage into a very slight advantage: with Typh forced to back up constantly to avoid her blade, she could perhaps be able to fence him in some corner or something (if she wasn't skewered first, of course). It probably wouldn't work, but she would try it anyway. Grinning for no real reason (it probably wasn't all that great of an idea anyway), she swung in again and drove in hard, raining blows fast and aggressively, hoping to force Typh to back up a bit, already knowing he would block most, if not all, of the blows.

[Typhoon]

Typh blocked all the blows easily with his large shield, and took another step back, returning Rue's grin. The male badger realised that he would be cornered eventually, but he resolved to think about that later and focus on trying to give ground more slowly. Raising his sabre above his head, he swung down while taking a small step forward to increase the force of his blow.

[Chicory Rue]

Rue stayed stock-still, letting Typh step right up to her, feeling metallic vibrations reverberate through her body as her blade connected with his. Now eye-to-eye with the other badger, she jabbed sharply with her falchion at Typh's chest (raising her shield at the same time, to protect her own), hoping that she would score a hit at such close quarters.