Val improvises, but he also realizes that no move should be a wasted opportunity, so he's careful not to overextend himself or make any movements that don't have a particular goal in mind.
He mainly fights with a spear and his daggers, something he learned both in his time growing up in his tribe and later added on to with his secondary weapons. Over time, the spear became more secondary than the daggers and each had its own purpose.
The point of the spear is to test enemies and keep them at bay with pokes, prods, and a bit of defensive maneuvers as well. It acts as a makeshift shield while also helping to serve as a weapon. If he can manage to finish off his opponent with the spear, great. Val's certainly no slouch with the weapon and has managed to do so pretty often!
However, once he grows confident in being able to read the enemy's moves or finds a weakness/opening, he'll often drop the spear in light of a swift, finishing blow. An example of this is when an opponent of his overextended with a straight jab with a sword, in which Val dropped the spear and snapped the enemy's arm at the elbow. Another, he parried a high blow and pulled a dagger to counter with a stab to the chest.
Another part of his fighting style (as mentioned above) is disabling. If a person can't use their limbs, they can't attack, and it is also something he learned in the Shroud. When they were hunting game, especially of the dangerous variety, they often operated by striking from multiple directions at key points to subsequently weaken their foe and is something that the Seeker relies on in combat, especially when fighting enemies much larger than him.
Finally, in a world where almost everyone has some sort of ace up their sleeve when it comes to magical technique, Val has the use of mudra. It is something that grew out of necessity rather than a direct desire to use it, and Val very sparingly employs it thanks to a pact he made when he began learning it and a respect for the individual that taught him. I also like to limit it based on the theory that, since Mudra pulls from the elements around, Val has to have certain elements in his vicinity to be able to use certain things.
For example, there has to be open sky/a wind in order to actually use a wind spell to improve his speed. There must be fire, or a source of heat, for him to use fire to mix in with things. There must be an open sky for him to draw on lightning, or a mage using lightning spells for him to extract the aether from, and so on and so forth. It feels more realistic to me, and while it makes him more of a.. mudra-using geomancer, it lets him (and me) get creative in the combat, which is always fun!
He mainly fights with a spear and his daggers, something he learned both in his time growing up in his tribe and later added on to with his secondary weapons. Over time, the spear became more secondary than the daggers and each had its own purpose.
The point of the spear is to test enemies and keep them at bay with pokes, prods, and a bit of defensive maneuvers as well. It acts as a makeshift shield while also helping to serve as a weapon. If he can manage to finish off his opponent with the spear, great. Val's certainly no slouch with the weapon and has managed to do so pretty often!
However, once he grows confident in being able to read the enemy's moves or finds a weakness/opening, he'll often drop the spear in light of a swift, finishing blow. An example of this is when an opponent of his overextended with a straight jab with a sword, in which Val dropped the spear and snapped the enemy's arm at the elbow. Another, he parried a high blow and pulled a dagger to counter with a stab to the chest.
Another part of his fighting style (as mentioned above) is disabling. If a person can't use their limbs, they can't attack, and it is also something he learned in the Shroud. When they were hunting game, especially of the dangerous variety, they often operated by striking from multiple directions at key points to subsequently weaken their foe and is something that the Seeker relies on in combat, especially when fighting enemies much larger than him.
Finally, in a world where almost everyone has some sort of ace up their sleeve when it comes to magical technique, Val has the use of mudra. It is something that grew out of necessity rather than a direct desire to use it, and Val very sparingly employs it thanks to a pact he made when he began learning it and a respect for the individual that taught him. I also like to limit it based on the theory that, since Mudra pulls from the elements around, Val has to have certain elements in his vicinity to be able to use certain things.
For example, there has to be open sky/a wind in order to actually use a wind spell to improve his speed. There must be fire, or a source of heat, for him to use fire to mix in with things. There must be an open sky for him to draw on lightning, or a mage using lightning spells for him to extract the aether from, and so on and so forth. It feels more realistic to me, and while it makes him more of a.. mudra-using geomancer, it lets him (and me) get creative in the combat, which is always fun!