King of Swords 2-14
“LEISURE KICKS
An external style, chiefly concerned with the sole use of the feet and legs to inflict powerful and rapid blows upon the opponent. The hands are reserved for killing blows only. The style is rare but its practitioners are extremely devoted.
The style is said to originate with the rogue Long Boxing master Kin Kiran. While abbess of her order she was accused of extravagance and over-indulgence by her subordinate monks. She took bribes for blessings and temple offerings and became well known for her love of gifts, wine, and luxury, plying her favors with the local magistrates to great effect. A rebellion within the temple took thirty lives and saw her exiled, beaten, bloody, and with her head shaved and fine silk abbess’s robes torn into shreds.
Kin Kiran swore from that day that she no longer deemed any martial artist worthy of her fists, and instead she would crush all who came before her under the bottom of her feet. Her arrogance was so extreme she established her own school after working as an itinerant mercenary for some time and soon drew a devoted following, resuming many of the corrupt and debased practices as former abbess. The mountain town about her school soon became a heaving den of sin and treachery, defended by rogues and bloodthirsty mercenaries, and ruled by the bloody and debauched abbess, flush with political power and coin, who was so skilled in martial arts that she could decapitate a man by kicking his head off faster than the eye could see.
The rogue school and Kin Kiran were ultimately destroyed by the mendicant knight Weishu Haoyang in 530 S.C. with use of his Invincible Heavy Crashing Wave technique. The abbess and all hundred and thirty of her acolytes were hurled off a mountain and dashed against the rocks, but her style survives to this day, despite efforts to stamp it out.”
– Manual of Hands and Feet
TFW you realize you’ve been antagonizing a bearer of a realised key probably ten times more than anyone in living memory has gotten away with, and instead of being turned into a greasy stain you’re asked to help her. . .
…That has to be weird.
It marks one of two things: either the bearer is a kind soul, or they consider you beneath their notice…
That’s some fast dumpling skills.
So we’ll see Preem Nand (Cio’s husband) again! Nice!
Man, we’re wasting no time getting this tournament arc started are we?
Leisure kick Larry!
In which Allison shows that she’s not actually concerned with other’s problems, and is content to treat them as quest giving NPCs.
She totally skipped that dialogue.
Praman Nand is about to get his shit kicked in, isn’t he?
Allison looking like a lvl. 3 monk here. Perhaps she’ll get a better set of raiment from this next dungeon?
You have to find some way now to give Allison a lightsaber, after that pose.
The young King actually dons each and every article of clothing with similar dramatic flair, every single day.
Cio switches between swooning and mocking her relentlessly.
Once upon a time, a young fool with more power than she knew what to do with fell into the claws of the Gilded Cage. Fortunately for her, she escaped and fled to parts unknown to the wider multiverse.
Once upon a time, a young fool with more power than she knew what to do with came upon the Gilded Cage. She was a different fool then, and the Gilded Cage would yield to her power.
The Circle. Pure. Infertile.
Walk in the Footprints of God
She has dropped the red from her crown, but the trailing hair and cloak and scars, she looks more like Incubus than ever.
Wow, how many of these martial arts styles are we going to hear about? Because I’m loving it!
Ooof, looks like it’s time to get PHYSICAL
“…despite efforts to stamp it out.” HA!
Your angel name is living its best life.
I am interested by the first real non-anecdotal look at the Martial Arts of Throne.
Foolish. When you try to stamp out evil, you play right into its hands.
Better to devour everything and leave only the Void.
If you love oblivion so much, why don’t you marry it?~
Sure, the destruction of everything may SOUND like it solves everything, but in my experience such an orderly setup will only make things worse.
Efforts to stamp it out, eh? Totally walked into that one.
Heh, walked into.
I, too, once wished to be a Jedi Knight.
so, does igniting the key ALWAYS make a whoosh? or is that Alison just doing it for effect?
I think that was when Allison used the key to don a shirt AND cloak in a single motion. Which probably qualifies as a martial-arts feat in its own right.
LEISURE KICKS is also known by the moniker LEGS FOR DAYS in some parts of the wheel. This is somewhat inaccurate for the style as “Legs for Days” refers to the ideal form that practitioners of this art strive for.
Legs For Days is one of the finest gymnasia in Upper Ashton. You get what it says on the twenty-foot-tall letters of black marble out front.
Anyone else getting a real Return of the Jedi feeling here?
Maybe it’s just me, but I think that trying to stamp out a martial art based around using one’s feet is a futile exercise. Try to punch it out, or headbutt it out instead.
Tacks or caltrops though I hear that Bear Traps hold some promise of being effective but not always. There is also rumour of the legendary M18A1 and the much dreaded by one all LEGO.
When you’re contracted to lead a force to “stamp out” a threat characterized by competent stamping, you can only grin contentedly that you will not be out of a job once you’re done with the current batch 😉
“Help me Obi-wan Allison, you’re my only hope!”