Blade Maidens: Closed Fist, Open Hand – 3

“You’re going to find yourself without your weapon. It’s a simple fact of life. Whether you’re surprised in a bathhouse or things take a turn on a night out, knowing how to hold your own in a bare-knuckle brawl is something any proper fighter should do.

Your aaverage barroom fight or alleway brawl has a few familiar players, always do. The improvisers, who will turn anything in arm’s reach into a weapon. The brutes who won’t go down until either the battlelust or the booze has worked its way through their system. The paper drakes who crumple after a solid hook.

What you need to keep watch for, above all else, is the person who looks as at home with their hands as a knight with their blade. Most fights, weapons only determine how you approach your opponent. But when you’re facing someone who willfully chooses to go without one? Better hope you can grab your blade before they get to you.”

– An excerpt from A Guide to Survive: How to Live Through Anything by former mercenary captain Suva Stuffarm