Commander Braghaman Larethian

Training Dummy

Young Banagan looked out the window into the back yard and watched as his father spoke with a dwarf. He couldn’t hear what the adults were talking about, but he could see them gesturing to a thick wooden post that had been driven into the ground near the cats’ enclosure.  After a few more minutes, his father handed the dwarf a coin purse. The two shook hands and dwarf left. Assuming that things were done outside, the young boy went to the back door and stepped through.

“Who was that?” Banny asked as he walked over to his father.

“That was Mr. Stonehammer. He came here to do some work for me.”

“What’s this?” the six year old asked, going over to the post to get a better look at it. The wood had been sanded down, and it was almost a foot in diameter.

“This is for practice. Kind of a poor man’s target dummy. But it won’t hit you back like the ones in the city.”

“What does it do?”

“Not much. It just stands there.”

“Then why is it here?”

“Well, if you’re going to learn how to swing a mace, you need something to hit.”

Banagan’s eyes got wide as he looked first at the post and then turned to look at the paladin.

“When can I hit it?”

Braghaman chuckled and grinned at his son. “Go get your mace. We’ll have you first lesson.”