Woe was caught off guard, he had to admit, by the vision in the mirrors. It caused him to recall something that happened some arcs ago in Augiery, when he'd been enslaved to the Naer of that city. The Black Haired woman resembled the Naer that had bet on him in a fight, who'd tried to pry her way under his defenses. The wild man, recalled the Lotharro, Argider, who had crushed Woe in their bout after Woe had finished two other opponents. It couldn't have been a coincidence that they were in Augiery, and now he was having this vision. He alone. No one else could see what was in the mirrors, as far as he knew.
He listened to Gennadiya's suggestion, and had to admit, as the puzzle began to come into place around them, he thought she was correct in her assessment of the situation. And, in case things didn't go well here, he turned to Zoro, who alone he hadn't introduced himself to,
"My name is Woe, by the way."
Then, he took his place, where the wild barbarian man was. He unhitched his whip from its place at his belt. It was a shortish bull whip, made for close combat, and crafted by a master from Scalvoris blooded leather. He looked up at Xander, if he'd move toward the center where he belonged, and said to him,
"I will attack you now, in the barbarian's stead. Don't worry, I know how to hit in just a way not to cause injury. But it will hurt that much more for not causing injury. Are you ready?"
Woe stared apologetically at Xander, but shook his head.
"There will be pain, but you must stand firm."
He would wait, of course, for the rest to take their places. If they would. But even should Zoro not take his place, he would take up the mantle of that barbarous figure in the mirror. He uncurled his whip, and with a swift motion, attempted to lash Xander in the side of the head, on the ear. True to his word, it would not leave a mark or an injury, but it would
hurt if it landed.
Ooc
Woe is using his capstone, True Lash to avoid doing actual damage to Xander. However, as a part of mitigating the damage, he causes intense pain, more than usual, at the site of his strike.
True Lash: Upon learning to use flexible weapons, mishaps are bound to happen. Formed from his earlier failures with the weapon, Woe has devised techniques that will absolutely prevent self-injury with a whip he is wielding. This method of prevention can also be extended toward those he uses the whip against, given his exquisite sense of control over a flexible weapon such as a whip or flail. When using flexible weapons such as whips, flails, and scourges, Woe can simply choose not to injure a person, whether it be himself or another. With finely tuned control of an attack's impact, he can increase the pain he causes while mitigating unintended damage by a factor determined by the quality of the whip and his skill with it.
The pain of these bloodless lashes are so intense, that they can stun the one struck if their discipline and endurance stats are lower than expert, with increasing resistance above those levels.
