Flashback Spending Time With Father: Basics of Hunting

[Kars]

Breeze gently wafted across Kars' young face as he sat at the edge of his family pavilion. He was eleven, now. He loved to watch the grass sway to and fro, like tiny little spirit dancers. As his eyes were transfixed on the grass land, the strong boot steps of his father caused him to turn round and watch as his father emerged from the tent, his green cloak catching the wind and billowing about him slightly.

"Ah, there you are, Kars!" His father exclaimed. He had in his hand a knife along with some lengths of wood.

He dropped the lot of it upon reaching Kars, and knelt down next to him.

"I was going to teach you and your brothers simultaneously," His father began, "But it seems your brother would rather learn from the Webbers than his old father. Ah! It's not a complaint. Instead, I shall show YOU, Kars, our clan's proud skills in hunting."

Kars eyes lit up. A wide grin spread on his face. Sure, when he was younger, he used to play around with a bow and arrow. But the bow was small and the arrow was dull. Certainly he hadn't learned to actually hunt! Stalking the prey, taking them down, and skinning them. These were things that Kars was eager to learn, and as such felt the rush within him at the opportunity.

"Okay, father!" He exclaimed.

"Well then, I'm going to teach you one of the most important parts of hunting. Making the arrows." His father took one of the lengths of wood and Slow demonstrated the process. It wasn't too difficult, the top was split by placing the arrow shaft on a rock, placing a knife on top, and gently tapping the knife until it went about 2 inches into the wood.

"I've got some rock arrow heads here, which I made earlier. They are not the best, but they'll take something down, alright." His father mentioned. He displayed a sack of ten arrowheads, and laid them before Kars. They were diamond shape, but then at one end of the diamond a stretch jutted out on both sides, like little stone arms. He then picked up one of them, and placed it inside the crack he had made in the wooden shaft. With a length of thin string, he began to wrap the split piece of wood containing the arrowhead right above the little "arms", and then below the arms, and then in a "x" motion. Kars noticed that his father was wrapping the string with alot of force, rather than just wrapping it loosely.

"There. Now after this lies just a single step; adding the fletching." His father then produced two feathers, which he split down the middle with his knife. He tied a piece of string in a small slipping loop, and place the three feathers around the shaft in a triangle-like figure, two inches from the surface without the arrowhead. He placed them through the loop which was already around the wood, and then he tightened the string and wrapped it around the feathers until it got to the hairy part, at which he then tied the string off.

"There! Done. This will be your first arrow. I want you, Kars, to make the other nine arrows. Unfortunately, I don't have the feathers for that! So, do you know what we're going to do?"

Kars shook his head. His father handed him a shortbow with lots of etching and carvings all over it. The wood was incredibly sturdy, and the bow string felt almost unbreakable.

"That's the family bow, Kars. It was my grandfather's, and his grandfather's, and his grandfather's. It's been in the family for so long, that some say it carries the personalities of all of our forefathers with it. It was mine, too. But now Kars, it's yours. To make the rest of the arrows, you're going to need to shoot some birds. Are you ready?"

Kars nodded his head vigorously.

"HAHA! Alright, lets set out. We won't go too far, but I'll go with you, just in case."

And with that, Kars and his father made their way to the edge of Endrykas to find some birds.

[Kars]

Once they reached the edge of the moving tent city, his father urged Kars to venture out with him just a tad farther. Kars was both afraid and excited; sure, the grasslands were dangerous, but they were also mystical and magical in their own right. Not a minute into their travel, a small spindly tree atop a hill was spotted, with a bush sat at its base. Sure enough, a few birds perched around the base of the bush, pecking at what might lie on the ground beneath it. A few of them were perched fluffily on the branches.

"Remember how we taught you to shoot with that little bow? Well, this is the same thing. You've practiced aiming before too, and this is no different. Only thing, however, is that this bow is much more powerful than that little one. Now, I don't expect you to get a bird yet, but this is how your father taught me. Personally I think it's the best way." His father surveyed the prey for a while, and then turned back to Kars. "Alright then, take the shot when you're ready."

Kars was ready. The bow felt natural in his hands, as did the arrow he knocked on the string. He eyed the birds for a few seconds, took a deep breathe, brought the bow up and the arrow to his cheek, and as he exhaled he let the arrow fly.

The arrow passed over the birds as it flew. It also passed under the ones in the tree. He watched in shock as it thudded into a grassy knoll a few meters away from where he was aiming.

"But..." he began.

"Go retrieve your arrow," his father commanded.

The birds were long gone now, having been spooked by Kars' unguided shot. Kars was still in disbelief as he passed under the small tree and over to his arrow, where he pulled it like a weed from the Earth's grasp.

How did he miss? he though he had aimed correctly. It didnt seem to make sense!

His father strode up to the tree on the hill, and started carving on the tree with his knife. Kars stood obediently behind him. After a few seconds of carving, a crude circle was etched into the tree.

"Alright, let's go thirty meters this way." His father said, in the opposite direction of the circle on the tree.

They stood atop a small hill, the city Endrykas clear in the distance. Horses could be seen darting around all over the landscape. Fires and smoke rose into the air. Voices and shout and other common noises were easily heard.

"I want you to try to hit that circle on that tree there," His father instructed. "Every time you miss, you will go and retrieve your arrow. Understood?"

Kars nodded. This was it, he thought. That's all he needed, a little practice.

Kars did the same thing as he did before, bringing the bow to his cheek and exhaling.

"Try aiming a little higher than the target," His father supplied.

Kars did so, and let the arrow fly. It hit the tree, but much higher than the circle.

"Lower than that," His father cautioned, as Kars went to get the arrow.

When he returned, Kars tried again. He aimed a little lower, inhaled, drew the string, brought it to his cheek, and fired. This time, it was too low.

Kars retrieved the arrow and tried again. It went past the tree and landed into the mud.

Kars retrieved the arrow and tried again. It hit the tree close to the circle, but still not within it.

Kars tried again. Still, it hit the ground.

Kars tried once more.

BAM!

The arrow landed in the edge of the circle!

"I hit it!" he exclaimed. His fists were clenched excitedly to his chest.

"Good job, son!" You're definitely getting the hang of it. Lets see if you can do it a second time."

And sure enough, Kars did. This time at the bottom of the circle, and at the edge, but still inside.

Kars practiced shooting with his father all day. He counted every shot. He missed 422 times. He made it 196 times. Sure, the misses greatly outweighed the hits, but Kars was still excited. He was finally practicing the art which he had been eager to learn his entire life.

Finally, night time was drawing on and the sun began to set.

"Come on, son, lets head back to the pavilion. You've made some incredible progress! You're old man is proud of you." His father smiled excitedly down at him. He was glad his son was practicing the proud art of the Emerald Clan.

"But father, can we not stay out a while longer?" Kars asked.

"Look, son, don't you ever think about going out in the grasslands at night. Not unless you've got a death wish. This is not the place for a lone human, even a Drykas who can read the web. We aren't too far out, but It's still not worth the risk. So come on, grab your bow and arrow and lets see if we can make it in time for some dinner. Mmmm..." His father waited for Kars, and then turned to go back to the pavilion. As they returned, Kars couldn't help but think about the progress he had made that day. He still had quite a ways to go, but he was glad to finally be shooting.

[Khida]

Kars

Skill	Points
Fletching	+1
Observation	+2
Weapon: Shortbow	+2

• Bow: release on exhale
• Fletching: adding a point to an arrow
• Fletching: split-feather fletching
• The difficulty of hitting a target
• The weight of the family bow

Consequences

Extreme muscle fatigue: Kars' arms, shoulders, and upper back will be extremely stiff and knotted for the next two days, and gradually less sore the following six days. Liniment and warmth can help relieve the pain and loosen the muscles.

Notes

A thread most to the point. I couldn't award much XP, however, because Kars didn't do much fletching; and as for bow, although he is said to have fired some 600 arrows, it's detail of description that matters over repetition. What did Kars aim for? Why did he miss? Did his arm drift, did he jerk the bow up, did he not correct for the arrow's trajectory, or was there an errant breeze? What about his stance? Long story short, there are a lot of things which go into archery above and beyond 'arrow to string, release arrow', and the more of that you incorporate, the more XP you will earn.

Also, firing 600 arrows in a day is entirely unreasonable for a novice using an unfamiliar, "more powerful" bow. It takes muscle strength to draw a bow, and he's not conditioned to the more powerful one, nor to extended sessions of use; his arms would be shaking and weak long before firing that many. Other hazards include bruising along the inner forearm of the hand holding the bow, where the string can slap when released; and the bowstring cutting into the fingers used to draw it. An armguard and glove are usually worn to prevent these things. I didn't assign any consequence of that sort this time, but please keep it in mind for the future.

Finally: don't forget to timestamp your threads!

Please PM me if you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade. Also, please edit your request to show this thread has been graded.