Luke notices that his footwork in combat has slightly improved with practice and as a result, he is doing a better job of putting all his weight behind his sword swings.

((Going up to sixth level, Luke takes the feat Weapon Focus -- focusing on heavy blades, of course -- which provides a +1 bonus to damage rolls.))

He has also gotten slightly more observant, and hence better at menacing nearby enemies and taking advantage of the openings they leave.

((Retraining: Luke will drop Cleave and replace it with the at-will power Threatening Rush, from Martial Power 2.  With this power, you attack an enemy and if you hit you get to mark all adjacent enemies until the end of your next turn.  This power can also be used when charging.))

Although Luke is painfully aware that he is far from being a perfect warrior, he continues to ask Heironeous for help in becoming a little less flawed.  His frequent prayers seem to have slightly improved his level of mental discipline, making him more capable of resisting certain attacks that target his weaknesses.

((Luke takes the sixth-level utility power Defensive Training, which is a stance that lets you gain +2 to either Fortitude, Reflex, or Will defense.))

All in all, nothing fancy -- Luke is just becoming a little bit more of a battle-hardened veteran.

((Man, it's been ages.  I miss this game!  Thought I'd do a little RP, in hopeful anticipation of a game this weekend...))

We all make it back to the junk after somehow getting Thir out of the crocodile.  For Luke, the world is spinning a bit.  It all happened so fast... one minute it was the middle of the night and then something was eating Thir and then Luke was racing through the jungle after the crocodile, hacking at it desperately, until suddenly Ladron appeared and finished it off.

Luke takes some breaths, focuses on slowing down his breathing and his heart.  He gets his fishing line and sits down near the back of the junk.  Strange, how fishing in the moonlight can still feel peaceful and relaxing even when a huge man-eating beast just burst out of those waters and attacked.

He thinks: What's up with me lately?  It seems like almost every time we get in a fight, I screw it up in some way or other.  I started running from that big spider, for which Roxanna quite rightly chewed me out.  I accidentally killed that guy in the bar in Holderness -- not good, I really should go back there later and see if I can do something for his family, hell I didn't even get his name.  We get into a fight with some big frogs in a swamp and I get swallowed and damn near drown.  And then we get pulled into a crazy magical board game, and I make the move that loses it for us when we're winning and almost trap us for eternity.  And tonight, well, Thir didn't die but it was way too close.

He thinks further: This goes back to when Dayereth and Aerandis and Aaron went into that cavern and died and I wasn't there.  I haven't been right since then.

No, it goes further back than that.  Before that, we lost Nadarresh to some crazy sewer rat fever.  And before that -- the Drakespire.  The dracolich.  Which I've been trying to atone for ever since.  And while I've been trying to get that one thing fixed, everything else keeps going wrong.

He smiles a little and shakes his head.  Okay, fine, Roxanna, you've got a point.  I'm a coward and a fool most of the time.  But at least tonight things worked out OK.  I ran and caught up with the beast and we killed it together and kept Thir alive.  Could have been a hell of a lot worse.  Thank you, Heironeous, for helping me to protect one of my comrades.  Please help me get better at doing that.

He pulls the fishing line out of the water, realizing that it's just tempting fate to leave it in there, and looks at the night sky until dawn breaks.