Targets at Sea [Solo]

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

1st Fall 511AV It was another morning for him. He had noticed there was more activity than normal around the isle. More decorations than normal going up. Seemed that they were preparing for something. Maybe a festival or sorts. He wasn’t sure he hadn’t been here for very long. But he did know that whatever it was the Konti were pouring almost everything they had into it. People were scurrying about doing whatever they could to get things done. He woke…almost like every morning. His hand brushed the ornate handle of his bow. A gift from Angelique…whom he had not seen in a very long time. He hadn’t seen her at all during the summer season. He figured something had happened to her? There were far more gloomy possibilities…But he brushed them aside. Instead he figured he would see her again sometime. He didn’t know when. But he would see her sometime. He kept telling himself that. And well he figured if he did; it would eventually come true. Wouldn’t it? He shrugged and put the bow in its long leather pouch, then tied up the end. He figured it would be good to get some practice in with it. Since it seemed to be a much more powerful bow then what he was used to. And it was a good deal larger than most of the other bows as well. This meant it had a good amount more of range. But he was hardly accurate at close range. So what made him think he could ever hit a target at a decent distance? He shrugged again he would have to practice. He brushed the sleep away from his face and crawled out of his tent. The morning sun greeted him and temporarily blinded him with its greeting. He squinted a little then looked out at the beach. He was going to miss this place… But he had made up his mind. He knew what he was to do. He didn’t want to be a danger to this place any longer. So he had settled on finishing up this season…possibly then heading somewhere else. He didn’t know where just yet. But he knew that it would have to be somewhere without water that caused delusions. His eyes caught a group of Konti down at the beach. They had a boat of some sort with them. They had obviously carried it to the beach for some reason or another. He observed the women work and was going to go down and help when one of the women looked directly at him and smiled. It was Ildin. But what was she doing here? She motioned for him to come down and he did. “Good….now that will do.” Ildin said as the women set the small boat down in the sand near the water. “Going on a sea adventure Mistress?” Serrif questioned as he approached. “Not exactly.” She answered as she then dismissed the helpers and motioned. “Well what have you got there?” She asked referring to the bow in the pouch at his side. “A little something, a longbow.” He then pulled some of the bow from the pouch and showed it to Ildin. “Well good news is you know how to shoot, bad news is you will have to relearn how to hit a target. That bow is far more powerful than the bows you have been using. But no matter we can start now. String the bow then I will set you on task.” She said as she then set up what appeared to be a target inside the boat. It was a flat square target with no bulls eye on it or anything. But she laid it somewhat flat across the inside of the boat only barely visible. Serrif now was beginning to get a little anxious to what this could all mean for him. Did the mistress have another exercise for him. And how was he supposed to hit that target? He figured it would be another interesting lesson from Ildin today. Without much of a point rather than testing his skills. He didn’t mind the tests he just wondered how she came up with all these interesting ideas. And part of him thought there had to be a point to all this. There just had to be.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

He strung his bow carefully, he had watched Ildin do this several times now. So he just mirrored her movements and understood well what he was doing. He struggled some because the recoil on the bow was so strong. But he did eventually get the bow strung. And Ildin was nodding looking the bow over. “Alright. Now today you will hit that target in the boat.” She said while pointing at the target laid almost completely flat inside the boat. Serrif looked the target over and was a little intimidated. How was he supposed to hit it? And with a new bow? He was beginning to think this morning was going to be long indeed. He assessed it. He figured a flat shot likely wouldn’t do it. Because it would go right over the target and boat. He needed to arc the shot maybe a flat shot with less power behind it would get the job done. Yes. That would likely do it. But there was another way. He could fire at more of an angle and rain the arrow down on the target. But that required more skill…that he did not have. Especially with a new bow. So he would take the more direct route and hope he could get the arrow to nose down a little before it went over the target completely. That way the nose would bite into the target and stick…hopefully. Ildin nodded as she watched her student think. He was assessing the situation. Trying to get a handle on how he was to continue. She admired that about him. He was always trying to make himself more efficient. That was why she didn’t mind teaching him. Also by doing so she could show him off. She had her reasons. She did indeed. She was going to show the mothers circle what she had produced. Who she had produced and that she could take anyone and train them to be a proficient archer. She had something to prove; and she was training this one well. She had seen the improvement and it brought a smile to her face. But not one she would show her student. She was firm with him; mostly because she knew he needed structure. “Tie the rope to the bow and push the boat out to sea. Then we shall start.” She said as she waited. The morning just kept getting more and more challenging for him. He set the bow down atop it’s bag and then pushed the boat out to sea carefully. It battled the waves then set on the plateau of calmer water while the waves washed under it. He observed carefully. He knew that all his prior training would come in handy as well. He watched the waves. How they made the boat throw from side to side. It would be during one of those times that it would be easiest to hit. And whatever he did he would want to avoid sending an arrow over when the boat rolled away from him. The target would be nearly impossible for him to hit then. He would have to accurately predict , guess really, where the boat would be and how it would react. Especially to the waves. And it would be a little more complicated because of the nature of the boat. It was longer and slender whereas the buoy he had shot at prior was round and rolled side to side a little more violently. He assumed the boat would be a little more stable. Or that it would likely be a little more stable since it was made to transport people and goods for a good distance. It was also a wider boat than normal. He wondered just how Ildin persuaded anyone to bring it down here. But well questioning such things never really got him anywhere. So he just assumed she did so for a reason. He watched as the boat battled the waves. It did so well as it was likely designed to do. He watched it carefully. And it took up position about twenty or so feet away, but was slowly drifting further away. He figured if he wanted to hit it time was of the essence. He didn’t want to put the target too far out before he tried to make attempts at hitting it. Beside him Ildin had set a quiver of arrows. She was watching again. She knew he could do it. But he would need a little practice. And well he would have to get used to this. She needed him to get good at this. She would teach him whatever he needed to know. Because what she had been training him for…boiled down to this…basically.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

He felt the air. And then looked at the boat. It had a ribbon tied on the bow of the boat that he could see move with the wind. So this way he knew the conditions of the wind where he was and where the arrow was going to go. Well he knew relatively how the wind was going to affect it. And that was enough to get him started he figured. He knocked an arrow on the bowstring and then looked out on the ocean. There weren’t a ton of waves out. But they would rock the boat somewhat. It rocked back and forth as well as side to side. But it wasn’t quite as violent as the buoy he had put arrows in. But there was another still unknown factor to him. How his bow shot. He actually hadn’t put an arrow out from it until now. This was a factor he was somewhat uncomfortable with. But he would have to get comfortable with it. Because it was his bow. He watched and saw that a wave was going to come in at an angle and tip the boat slightly toward him in his favor. But that would also tip the boat slightly backward as well. He knew where the target would end up relatively. So he pulled back, looking down the shaft he felt the extreme pull of the bow. It was far more than he had expected. And that was slightly dangerous as well, because he was pretty sure if he wasn’t careful he could sink the boat…if the wood was thin enough. But he watched and when the boat started to tilt he released. The arrow streaked quickly from the bow like a bat out of hell and missed the target slightly burying itself in the inside of the far wall of the boat. “Careful now. Don’t want to sink it.” Ildin said as she watched him recoil some and then knock another arrow into the bowstring. He again watched and was predicting where the boat would go. Another wave was making it’s way through. A good time to try and put an arrow on target. It was much like the first one only this one seemed to be a little more pronounced than the last one. Meaning it was going to be a good deal stronger and maybe tip the boat a little more. That would likely work in his favor. Now, he knew for sure the bow was stronger than he first thought. It had a great deal of power behind the string. And that was indeed a good thing if he was going to hit something far away, but for delicate work like this target…well it wasn’t the best of things. So he would have to be a little more delicate on the bowstring if he wanted to nose the arrow down any. He pulled back and gauged the amount of pressure he was putting on the arrow and well put less on. He released when the boat rolled and well immediately he knew he had messed up. The arrow released but was going much slower than he had anticipated. It was kind of thrown from the bow at a low speed. It nosed over and dove into the water about a good three feet before the boat. Ildin didn’t say or really do anything. She knew her student was trying to adjust himself to his new bow. But if he didn’t do so here soon she would just have him use the same bow he always did. She needed him to be at his best for this task. There was some things riding on it that not even he was aware of right now. And how could he? He wasn’t aware of what took place in the Festival. She doubted he even knew much about it. So she let it go for now. But he needed to show her that he could perform or she would make sure he could. But she needed to see if he could manage this skillfully on his own. Again he was slightly disappointed. But it was a learning curb. He needed to judge this correctly. For some reason he could sense that Ildin was a little tense. He wasn’t sure for what reason yet. But it seemed like this was important to her. But he washed that away and instead focused on the task at hand. He knocked another arrow. And well waited. The boat was only a few inches from its past position. That fact alone wouldn’t affect his arrow much if any. And well the wind had died down a decent amount. Making the next shot a little easier for him. But he would need to really judge the next shot well in order to get anything out of it. The boat was rolling his way again. So he pulled back and put a decent amount of pressure more on the arrow then he had the first time. There was no wind, so the arrow wouldn’t waver to either side any. He needed to account for drop. So he did. Waiting he released when he thought it was time and the arrow streaked off. It hit the target but nowhere near the center. But it was a hit…finally. “Now perfect that and you should be doing fine.” Ildin said as she continued to watch. It seemed her student was doing just fine now. Or that he was in the very least getting the gist of it all. Again Serrif knocked another arrow in the powerful bowstring. He waited again and watched as the boat move side to side. It was a little unpredictable for him right now. But he knew that he would indeed have to prove he could do this to Ildin. She was very uneasy for some reason or another. He wasn’t sure why. But he was beginning to think that maybe there was more to this than simple practice. But he wasn’t going to question her on this. He drew back and let another arrow free of the string and it streaked to target again. It hit but just barely as the boat rolled back again hiding what he had done. He watched and it had hit a little farther center than his first hit. He was getting better.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

Serrif looked out again and figured he would try and put another one on target to try and put Ildin’s mind to rest. He watched as the target rolled over again. This time he was going to do a little better. He watched carefully as the target began to act erratic. He couldn’t predict anything when the target was behaving this way. He watched and noted that there appeared to be a much more powerful wave heading in. One that should definitely give him an advantage in exposed target surface. He watched it come and it began to move under the boat. He let the arrow loose on faith that it would do what it needed to. The boat opened the target for him and the arrow struck it, again slightly more toward center. But this arrow hit with a definite impact. Burying itself into the target. Ildin seemed to ease up some when this happened and nodded. As if a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. “I am glad to see you were up to task on this one. We will be practicing again tomorrow morning same place.” She said as she let the target be out in the water. “Just leave the target we will need it for later.” She stated as she looked out. Was he ready? She was unsure but she was going to make sure he was as close to ready as he could be before the ceremony. She wanted to prove she had produced something.

[Archelon]

Thread Award "Ah... watching from the shadows... I must report your progress to the great turtle!" And the Results!!!!: Serrif : SkillName 1-5 How/why? Longbow 5 Excellent development per the skill's level Socialization 3 Observation 4 Lores: Archery: Wind Correction(Basic) Archery: Tenets of stringing a bow(basic) Archery: Steps of a succesful shooting form(Basic) [table] Would you like some extra turtle sauce ? : Great thread Serrif, though when will the angst stop? Anyways... i'm going to pm you some archery links to help you out in your training threads soon . They should help clarify and help your writing for the higher levels .