They eventually made camp no more than 200 leagues from the mountain. Once the tinder was gathered, you struck the flint once, and the fire lighted.
"I still don't know how she does that" said Legolas to Aragorn.
"She cheats Legolas," said Aragorn "She uses her magic to heat up the flint faster and lights it."
"Magic is not cheating, Aragorn" You say "It is merely a tool, as the sword on your back is. You wouldn't say to Gandalf that his magic is cheating would you?"
"No, I suppose not," said Aragorn, grinning a he turned to watch Boromir training Merry, Frodo and Sam in swordsmanship. You also turn to watch. You notice that Boromir is not teaching them right. You grab a sword and go over to them.
"Boromir, you want to duel me to show them how to fight?" You say.
"Are you serious?" said Boromir "I can't fight a girl."
"Well then, it should be a good demonstration, then," You say. "No shield, just a plain old sword fight."
Boromir places his shield to the side. They faced off against each other. Then, as one, they charged towards each other. The two swords clashed and Boromir was forced backwards, taken a back by the force of your attack. He is pushed back. You kick him down and keep your foot on him.
"Give up yet?" you ask him, placing your sword near his neck.
"I yield," said Boromir, relaxing his grip on his own blade as you stepped back, allowing Boromir to stand.
"When fighting a larger opponent," you said to the hobbits "Taking the initiative and using speed over strength to ensure they are kept on the defensive. If your opponent is focused on defending against you, they will not be as aware of their surroundings. A trained warrior can circumvent this to some degree, which is how Boromir was able to defend against all three of you at once. If you had been more coordinated in your attack, the captain would have had a much harder time defending against you. As I was fighting him alone, I used a similar tactic, adapted for single combat. If you attack the same point aggressively and repeatedly, the opponent will have no choice but to defend. This makes it harder to defend when you switch up your patterns."
"That doesn't mean you shouldn't think the same tactic will work every time, and against every opponent," Boromir said, picking up on the lesson "There are other ways to take the initiative. If a larger opponent can stay out of your reach, it means they can strike at you, while you can't strike at them. Sorcerers like Murder or Istari like Mithrandir can solve that issue with magic, but we need to take other tactics."
Boromir gestured to three scabbards on his belt. "These are throwing daggers. If your specialty is melee combat, you don't carry many, but not having them means you're at the mercy of anyone that can stay out of your reach. Even at my size, someone with a spear or pike would be able to remain out of my reach, and someone with a bow would be able to stay even further out of range. That's why I carry a shield. The main thing weapons like that try to do is target weak points in armour, and a shield minimizes the area those weapons can pierce."
The hobbits nodded as they listened to the lesson.
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