Lesson 1: Theory and stance
Standing before his class, Sigmund took a practice dagger in his hand. "The dagger combat I will be instructing in this class is intended for use against armor. Because of this, almost all attacks are oriented around powerful thrusts. There is little in terms of subtlety or careful use of distance."

That being said, Sigmund adopted a good dagger fighting stance. "The dagger is short and the range of combat is quite close. Because of this, you will want to have your dagger-side forward. That is, if you are right-handed, you will want your right foot forward. Your upper body should be straight. This will protect your head. Both hands should be about chest-height. This will allow quick defense and grappling. All attacks will come in waist-height or higher, so don't worry about your legs. Now, each of you adopt this stance and I shall correct you if needed."

OOC: For visual learners, look here: http://alliancemartialarts.com/0001.JPG Pay no attention to how they hold their daggers, you're not taking up weapons yet.

Lesson 2: Grips, where to hold the dagger, and attacks
"Now, I will show you the two ways to hold the dagger." He took his dagger in his hand. "Always make a good fist around the dagger, that's a stronger grip. Forward grip is this." Sigmund held the dagger so that the blade was on the thumb-side of his hand. "Reverse is this." Sigmund flipped the dagger around, now the blade was extending from the pinky-side of his fist. "Most of our combat will be in the reverse grip, because it provides a much more powerful thrust, as well as being more convenient for grappling. However, you should become practiced at both of them, as well as being able to quickly and smoothly switch between the two. Practice switching back and forth now."

He paused a moment to allow them to practice switching. Once they were able to get it properly, he continued. "When in reverse grip, it's normal to hold the dagger at either sternum-level" (OOC: that is, at the middle of the chest) "or slightly above ear-level. Always have the point facing your opponent. The higher grip is useful to target your opponent's head and shoulders; the lower is useful for attacking your opponent's heart. Adopt both now." Sigmund walked around the class, making subtle adjustments to the various students, then returned to the front and continued.

"Unlike the forward grip, reverse grip is more oriented around curved attacks. Most of the motion should be from the elbow-downward, although you should swing your hips to lend power to the attack. Practice a thrust or two from both high and low grips. See how the thrust from high grip tends to come down on top of the shoulder? Target the area just behind your opponent's collarbone and angle it slightly to your left, this strike will impale your opponent's heart from above. See how the thrust from low grip tends to come in at the middle of your opponent's rib cage? You should also aim for the heart."

Lesson 3: Basic Defense
Adopting fighting stance again, Sigmund began his next lesson. "Your most basic defense is simply pushing your opponent's attack to the side with your left hand. Pair up, then assume combat stance. Lets work from low grip to begin with. One of you thrust to the midsection first. What the defender should do is simply push your opponent's hand away, so their attack doesn't hit you. Pushing down and to the left works very well for low attacks. After you do this, deliver your own thrust. Practice this for a moment. Once you have the hang of it, the defender should follow his block with a thrust of his own."
OOC: Just NPC and opponent

Lesson 4: Basic grappling
Standing before his class once again, Sigmund began the lesson. "Next is the most basic grappling technique, the scissors hold and it's counters. Pair up again. One of you hold the dagger in reverse grip, point down. The other will be applying the hold first. Swing your dagger up so that your wrists hit. Your blade should be pointing up and lie against the back of their hand, their blade will lie against the back of your hand. Now, with your left hand, cross your wrists and grab your own blade. This will trap your opponent's fist between your two hands. In combat, you will normally use this to neutralize an opponent's threat, and you can follow by pulling them to the ground by their hand." He paused. "Practice this grapple on your opponent, slowly at first, then in response to an attack."
OOC: I know the description can sound a bit imposing, but it's actually a simple move. This image may help you: http://alliancemartialarts.com/Solthurner-5a.JPG The man on the right is applying the scissors hold to the man on the left. If you still do not understand how this works, email me and we'll walk through it.

Lesson 5: Scissor hold counters
Once all his students got the hang of the scissor hold, Sigmund continued. "As you can see, the scissor hold can give you a great deal of control over your opponent, but it is not the end of the fight if you act quickly. There are two responses to it. Firstly, notice how your blade is pointing downward past your opponent's other hand? If you act quickly, you can apply the scissors hold back to your opponent and jerk your opponent back. The key is to begin scissor hold the instant you can see that your opponent will be using the scissor hold. If you are too slow, this can turn into a pulling match. Avoid this, for this route is much less certain of victory. When fighting for your life, it is good to have as much certanty as possible. Practice this for a moment."

After his students got the hang of applying the hold as a counter to the hold, he continued. "The other counter is deceptively simple. Think about your hand in the hold. Your hand can slip out if it's not holding the dagger. Thus, the other escape is to take the dagger in your left hand and stab your opponent that way. Both of your opponent's hands are tied up with your right hand, so he may not be able to defend." Sigmund smiled. "This also does not rely on greater strength than your opponent, and as such it is more reliable. Practice this escape now."
OOC: Once again, just NPC an opponent.

Lesson 6: Shields
"In this lesson, we will look at what are known as shields. A 'shield' is a manuver in which you take the dagger blade in your left hand and intercept your opponent's attack with it. Your blade should hit their wrist, stopping their attack. The shield can be done from either the forward or reverse grip. Practice adopting it rapidly, then pair up and practice intercepting each other's attacks with shields. Remember to do defend against both high and low attacks." Once his students got the hang of shields, Sigmund continued.

"Notice how the attacker's blade extends downward from the shield, near the defender's wrist? If your opponent blocks with a shield, you can overcome it with a scissors hold and drag your opponent to the ground. Practice this counter now."
OOC: The shield is a simple defense, and yes, this means you are holding the dagger in both hands. If you have any questions, just email me. I hope this is clear.

Class 2

Lesson 1: Combat theory and other notes
Standing before his class again, Sigmund said, "Good afternoon, here we begin the second phase of this course. Before we begin with more techniques, I would like to say a little about combat theory."

"One key feature of this style of combat is taking and maintaining the initiative," Sigmund lectured. "Each defense or counter I teach should immediately be used to turn around and retake the offense. Similarly, if your opponent blocks your attack, you should immediately use the situation to your advantage. Merely avoiding your opponent's attack is not enough, for they can use that time just as well as you can. A good fighter will be in control of the fight at all times."

"Give me one example each of a defense that re-takes the initiative and of a counter to a defense that re-takes the initiative. Use one of the lessons I already taught you."

Lesson 2: Unarmed combat and grappling
"As you no doubt have already noticed, these techniques involve a good deal of grappling. Thus," Sigmund continued, "it should not surprise you too much that many wresting-type unarmed moves can also be done in the context of dagger combat."

"One example of this is the following counter to a stab in the forward grip. Your opponent stabs you from the forward grip. Grab their wrist with both hand, then pivot around and break their arm over your left shoulder. Their elbow should ideally hit your shoulder. Note, it is very important that if they are right-handed, you break it over your left shoulder. It is easier to counter if you go for the right shoulder. Practice this now."

Lesson 3: Basic single-time defense

"If you have your dagger in the forward grip, you have several interesting options for defending and attacking in the same motion," Sigmund continued. "This motion is called a single-time defense, because the defense and attack both happen in one time. As your opponent stabs at you, push their dagger arm out of the way with yours as you move in to stab back. Ideally, their arm should simply slide along yours as their dagger points in a harmless direction. In this case, your dagger arm is blocking his dagger arm from attacking you. This is called closing the line of attack." Calling on a student, Sigmund demonstrated. "Note how your arm must come in near their dagger, then you bend your wrist to push their arm out of the way."
OOC: Here are two pictures, because I don't know how to describe this action. It's wonderfully effective, though. Here's the first picture. Here's the second picture.

Lesson 4: Advanced single-time defense
"Here is a different sort of single time defense, designed for use from the reverse grip," Sigmund lectured. "As your opponent stabs from above in the reverse grip, block it with your dagger blade before they build up momentum. This will basically be half of an upper shield," he said, demonstrating with his dagger. He held the dagger in the reverse grip, blade pointing directly left. "When your opponent's blade impacts yours, rotate your hand so your point is facing your opponent. This will force your opponent's blade away from your chest. From here, simply lower your dagger to chest level and stab your opponent in the chest. If they are wearing armor, you can reinforce the stab by placing your left hand over the back of the dagger and press with both hands."

Lesson 5: Follow-up to shield-blocks
"As you remember I said at the beginning of this section of the class, every defense should follow up with another attack. Here, I shall teach you a follow-up attack after a successful shield block." Sigmund called up a student to demonstrate. On cue, the student performed a downward stab from reverse grip, which Sigmund blocked with the upper shield. "You all remember this from before. Now, at this point you must press forward with your right hand and slip the grip of your dagger onto the inside of his right wrist. Then, press to the outside with your dagger blade. This will rotate the point of the dagger back towards him and disarm him," Sigmund demonstrated as he spoke. "Now stab him in the chest. Don't bother letting go of the blade with your left hand."
OOC: This is the last lesson, reply to all of these for your second point.