[Alphen has felt a bit like a fish out of water for much of the time he's been here, but it's certainly not the first time he's felt like he doesn't quite fit. In that way, the mask might be a little symbolic: it's hard to fit in anywhere with an inexplicable hunk of iron covering half your face. But this kind of thing? Fighting, training? Sign him up, because this is what he lives for.

At first glance, his setup is fairly simple: wooden practice swords all ready to either run drills as a group, or face off one-on-one. But you'll notice nearby a pile of stones, all roughly flat and fist-sized, as well as a ball of twine.]

We're doing some weight training today. You can choose whether to tie them to your arms or your sword -- it's wooden, so you won't need to worry about damaging it. Let me know when you're ready, alright?

[Does he really expect you to strap rocks to your arms? Is this the reason for the practice swords? Doesn't he realize what an incredibly dumb idea this is? The answers are yes, yes, and unfortunately no, respectively.]

[He's no merchant, but this sort of weapon-handling (I know, i know) is also fairly up his alley. Alphen is happy to transport and protect weapons as well, of course --hey, a subquest is a subquest, and he's happy to help whatever NPC happens to need it-- but he's also fairly animated when it comes to sales pitches...for the swords at least, of which he has a decent selection at the moment.]

When it comes to swords, it really depends on your fighting style, I guess. A shortsword is good for speed, but if you're looking for something with a longer reach, you might want to try a longsword.

[He greets anyone looking at the weapons with a genial smile -- clearly, he's nerding out and happy to answer questions.]

[A rumble, a minor tremor of the ground, and before Alphen can even think about how not right it all seems, a ball of flame is erupting into the sky. He springs into action immediately, as the explosion sends fire and debris raining down around anyone unfortunate enough to be in the area. He's uniquely equipped for this, and puts himself bodily between an unfortunate onlooker and the fire falling from the sky.]

Are you alright?

[For his part, if Alphen managed to get hit, he doesn't seem to notice.

He starts helping with recovery efforts as soon as they begin. Finding additional bombs isn't exactly in his wheelhouse, but he's here to assist -- when someone doesn't have him on muscle duty, he's getting people to safety and helping put out fires, among other tasks.]

[y'all know the drill, i'm open to any prompt and all wildcards. pm/discord (kribbit#6023)/posolutely if you wanna plot something else or want a different starter!]