Hitting the target(Marksmanship/Archery Basic)

[Korian]

Late Morning of the Seventh Brightening of the Second Cycle of Ioannes
Summer of Era II of the Celestine Mandate
Era XI Post Fractum

Korian arrived at the Training Grounds, rather eager to begin his training with the bow. He looked around, searching for someone who might be his instructor. The young woman he had spoken to had not mentioned a name for him to go by. All in all, he surely looked pretty lost, with all the students swinging swords and axes and other weapons all around him. He was not about to interrupt any of those practices to find what he needed. So, he scanned the area, hoping to find the woman. His brow furrowed a little in frustration. He did not see her anywhere. He could plainly see the archery range, and though no one was there, he figured that would be the best place to go. So, he headed in that direction, careful not to get in the way of anyone.

[Raevenn Lathorin]

Actually, the training grounds of Demios was more plain than the newcomer previously thought.

In the center was a barren spot where training sessions were held. Around it were tents of relatively larger grades. Several horses could be seen tied to their respective instructor's tent, while a few guards patrolled the area just in case. There was also a woodland closeby where common herbs and plants could be found and used for herbology lessons and the like. Tracking and other adventuring skills were also taught there, just for the sake of realism. No one wants to be taught how to live and survive in the wilderness inside a tent, right?

And so, Korian was left to wander actually. The woman he met earlier merely handled the trainee-trainer apointments -- nothing more. Of course, she may have been a talented warrior herself; but at this point in time, she was not teaching anyone.

But someone did catch the human's attention.

A man wearing some type of dark green leather armor stood against what looked like a practice target a few dozen yards away. He wore only a gray tunic beneath his vest complete with a darker gray pair of trousers and common hard leather boots. He appeared young, to say the least. Deep blue eyes scanned the area, as if he was waiting for someone. He had long, unkept cornbread-colored hair, which he conveniently tied into a golden pony tail behind his head.

But what drew Korian's attention the most was a silver-colored longbow that sat willingly beside him with a medium-sized quiver of plain, metal-tipped arrows.

[Korian]

Korian walked toward what he presumed to be the archery range, his attention coming to bear upon a young man that, in Korian's mind at least, looked like one of those rangers you hear about. His eyes took in the mans appearance, then was drawn to the exquisite looking bow beside him. Well, definately an archer.

Shrugging to himself, Korian made his way toward him. Looks like he would know who I should see about my training. As he neared, he held up his hand in greeting, "Serale and good morning. I was wondering if you could help me? I'm here for basic marksmanship, but, I was never told who my trainer would be." Hopefully the young man with the dark green armor would be able to help him.

[Raevenn Lathorin]

The man regarded Korian for a moment before he replied.

"I was never told who my trainee would be either", he said with a crooked grin. "They call me Krish Malkenshine, instructor during the brightening, assassin by the darkening." At that comment, his grin faded and was replaced by a more serious, hardened look. "Not really, but sounded pretty good, ay?" He chuckled at this, and proceeded to pat his new student quite heavily on the back. "Well then, I guess we, trainer an' trainee found each other", he continued as he quickly gathered his bow and quiver, "I take it we should begin our first lesson."

Gesturing for Korian to follow him, the archer began walking away from the target board, stopping at a point some twenty yards away.

"But before we begin, I need to know a few things: your name, why you want to learn how to shoot an arrow, and how much experience you've got at this art?"

OoC: Did you bring your bow and arrows?

[Korian]

As soon as the young man spoke, Korian knew that this was his trainer. Which suprised him a little. After all, Krish seemed to be a little young to be a trainer. But, who was Korian to judge. Anything that Krish may know about archery was an oceans depth more than Korian.

He smiled at Krish's introduction, then let it fade with the assassin crack, then let it grow wide again, accompanied by his own chuckle. "You almost had me there. But, I think I'll keep the possibility that you are in the back of my head." He grinned. "Just in case."

He followed Krish a little up the way from the target they had been standing by and stopped. "My name's Korian Laire. I've always wanted to learn archery, ever since I was a little kid. I remember I used to dream of being the greatest archer ever." He grinned, thinking about how silly childhood dreams are. "And as far as experience go's, I've never held a bow before in my life. Well, not a real one, anyway." Then a thought came to him. "Uh, I don't have a bow. Do I need one to start? The lady that enrolled me didn't mention it, and I had a lot on my mind and didn't think to ask." Wouldn't this be a little embarrasing if he indeed needed to supply his own bow and arrows?

[Raevenn Lathorin]

Krish chuckled again. It was not a mocking chuckle, however, but one that displayed some good-humor, despite his hardened 'assassin' exterior. At least his student had some sense of humor as well; with that thought in mind, he proceeded to respond to his pupil's comments and concerns.

"In that case, we won't be shooting today as you will need a bow of your own", he said with an apologetic smile. "I suggest you purchase one of the highest quality you can afford, as it will be your companion for a while. Now, since we won't be doing much of anything, aside from history, yada, yada, etc -- I'll give you a choice: we can proceed on the morrow, or you can sit here and listen to me lecture about bows and arrows and the like for half a candlemark." With that, Korian's teacher crossed his arms and patiently awaited his reply.

[Korian]

Korian sighed. Well, he should have known, he guessed. He considered his options and decided that perhaps it would be best to learn a little history and whatever else Krish could impart to him today. "Well, I guess then I wouldn't mind learning a bit of history and such." He paused and considered a moment. Maybe Krish didn't really feel like sitting around just talking about bows. "That is if you don't mind."

[Raevenn Lathorin]

"No, I don't mind at all", he replied shortly. "What we'll learn is fairly brief, just the basics and such. We won't be learning names and memorizing the exact pattern the bow and arrow was first invented -- but then again, such things have been lost in history. Unfortunate, really." He paused at that thought then proceeded to sit cross-legged on the ground before him. He then gestured for Korian to do the same.

"Many historians and scholars believe that the first bows were used first to improve military tactics. It was, after all, always better to kill the enemy without risking a counter attack: and that was precisely what the bow and arrow did. Before that, soldiers fought in hand to hand combat, which was dangerous and often wasteful. Thousands died and bitter combat while the generals sat atop a hill and discussed silly topics without much care for their men."

Before continuing, Krish took hold of his bow and displayed it for his student.

"Now, I have a long bow. What kind of bow you buy is a personal thing, but if you want range and power, you'd stick with these types. As an advanced practitioner, I don't need wrist guards -- but for yourself, I'd greatly recommend buying one for your bow holding arm." From there, he quickly positioned himself as if he was going to fire in demonstration. With his left hand, he held the bow a fully-extended arm's length away. And with his right hand, he gently pulled its string until the bow's limbs began to fold backwards, then released.

A low humming sound filled the air was the imaginary arrow was fired and the string was left vibrating.

"A simple long bow has the following parts: the back has two limbs, the lower and upper. The two limbs hold the bow string. In the center of the bow's back is the handle. And on the center of the bow string is the nocking point. Here is where you nock your arrow before firing. Any questions so far?"

OoC: I hope this site helps you visualize my amazingly boring explaination
http://thief-thedarksite.8m.com/armo...rrow_parts.gif
(All rights reserved. Copyrighted by illustration's creator.)

[Korian]

Korian sat and listened intently to every word Krish spoke. He soaked up any and all information his teacher could impart to him, and it occured to him that he indeed still felt like the child he was, dreaming of becoming a great archer. He watched carefully as Krish took showed and pointed out the different parts of the bow, trying to commit each bit of information to memory. His eyes studied every movement of his trainer as Krish demostrated how to properly fire a bow. As the hum of the bowstring filled the air, Korian felt a tingle of excitement throughout his body.

"No, no questions yet. Please continue, Krish. Tell me everything you can." The look on Korian's face and in his eyes, and the sound in his voice made him seem nothing more than a small child seeing a magic trick for the first time. Indeed, Korian believed he may have found his calling.

[Raevenn Lathorin]

"Good", Krish replied with a smile. "Well, you probably know the rest: one holds the bow at the handle and nock the arrow on the nocking point. An arrow usually has three 'feathers' on the end, also known as the fletching. And behind the fletching is the nock. When nocking an arrow, you must place the arrow's nock securely onto the nocking point so that the bowstring holds it until it is fired. The arrow's body rests on the hand that is holding the bow handle like so:"

Once more, Krish demonstrated what he just spoke of, but this time he actually nocked an arrow onto his longbow. And to Korian's amazement, he quickly stood up, pulled the bow string and fired the arrow cleanly through the air and impaled the bullseye almost dead center.

"Hmm, I need more practice", he noted with a grin. "Otherwise, that was our lesson for this brightening. Make sure you purchase your bow, some arrows, a wrist guard, and bring along some food and water as we will venture into the woods tomorrow instead of staying here on the training grounds. I prefer to teach outside the classroom, per se."

[Korian]

Korian all but stared as Krish stood and smoothly fired an arrow into the bullseye. He had made it seem so easy. That is what Korian wished to do. To be "one" with the bow. He stood as Krish spoke to him about the next practice. "Alright, then. Today has been very informative. I'm rather excited about the next lesson." He turned to walk away, pausing a moment to wave farewell.

[Korian]

Late Morning of the Eighth Brightening of the Second Cycle of Ioannes
Summer of Era II of the Celestine Mandate
Era XI Post Fractum


Making his way through the Training grounds to the archery range, Korian adjusted his quiver for the hundreth time since leaving his shack. He had not yet grown accustomed to it yet, but, that was understandable seeing as he had only had it for a brightening. The well made, yet plain, composite short bow he carried in his right hand and tied to his waist was a small bag with some food and water.

Right away he spotted Krish and raised his hand in greetings. "Serale! A beautiful morning, isn't it?" He wore a friendly smile and by the way he walked one could tell he was well rested. Upon reaching Krish's resting spot, he stopped and waited for today's lesson to begin.

[Raevenn Lathorin]

"Beautiful indeed", replied Krish with a broad grin. "I see that you bought yourself a composite", he added brightly, as a boy would in reference to a brand new toy. "A quiver of arrows, too. Brilliant then. Off to the woods we go!"

And with that, the Archer led the way towards a small gathering of trees just a little way's to the side of the Training Grounds of Demios. It was technically a woodland, but a lot smaller than most found in the great wilderness of Arium or Alleria. Claiming several acres of the island's land, the woodland was not demolished due to its usefulness when training students in herbology or wilderness survival. It was always better to teach subjects regarding the outdoors, well, outdoors.

"Our first lessons will be the obvious", Krish continued as they stepped through a clearing into the woodland. "Shooting the bow. We won't be firing at trees, mind you, as I've had a rather bad experience when the tree ... fought back. That was not joyous." Another grin emphasized this point before Krish began to slow in light of the increasing amount of vegetation around them. In addition to the trees, there were bushes, a variety of flowers, ferns, and little animals hopping, flying, or crawling. They were no longer in the Training Grounds.

"You'll be hitting the ground as, well, it'd be a little harder to miss and kill someone. But first, let me set a marker on it." Krish then proceeded to draw a fairly large dot on the ground some eight meters in front of Korian. When that was done, he jogged back to a point behind his student and gestured for him to ready, aim, and fire.

[Korian]

Korian smiled brighter, happy to see that Krish seemingly approved of his choice of bow. He nodded in response and followed his trainer into the small woodlands. He found himself almost lost in the quiet beauty of the wilderness; the sounds of various insects and birds almost setting his spirit at ease. Now this is what his life had been missing! Surely nothing could compare to the feeling he felt at this moment(well, maybe Malinka).

He chuckled amusedly at Krish's words. A tree fighting back? Now that would be something to see! They stopped at a small clearing and Krish drew a target on the ground. Korian had seen bow's fired a hundred times before, so he at least had an idea of what to do. He pulled an arrow from his quiver and nocked it to the bowstring. He tried to guage the distance between him and the target before drawing the string back and aiming. His eyes locked on the target, he released the string. And promptly yelped and dropped the bow as the string bit his wrist.

Trying to rub the sting from his wrist with his other hand, he looked up at Krish. "I remember now. A wrist guard."

[Raevenn Lathorin]

OoC: In the lower levels, make sure your posts are as details as possible: include little motions like the angle of your arms, how you pulled the bow, how firmly you held the bow handle, etc. It'll do wonders in moderated combat

The bow snapped and, indeed, the bow string bit into Korian's left wrist which brought a sort of burning sensation that was foreign to the aspiring archer. At that sight, however, Krish simply smiled good-naturely and allowed his student to pick up his bow while he proceeded to make his way towards that point where Korian's arrow struck.

And to his amusement, the arrow missed the mark by a mere four inches or so -- a great feat given Korian's skill level.

"Just remember to wear your wrist guard", Krish said with an approving nod. "Now, try again. This time, keep your left hand straight and bring it to a line with your target. And when pulling your bowstring, take a deep breath and follow through by simply releasing the bowstring in one fluid motion. By breathing in, you allow yourself time to make final adjustments before firing. Now, begin!"