[Knirin Gardens] A Morning Meditation [Open/Rykanis]

by **Ishara Dossari** on April 30th, 2012, 1:23 am

"Raj would much rather be hunting rabbits, I assure you," pale eyes rolled laughingly as Ishara combed her fingers lightly across her hound's silken skull. "It would seem we are always running into one another, though. It makes this city seem smaller than it's true size!" she said with the flash of a smile in Serriff's direction. At the large man's insistence, Raj crept forward to give the Akalak a more thorough, investigative sniff, accepting the ear scritches the tall man offered while his nose was busy. He was more wary of Akalak in general, being subtly aware of their two-sided nature and naturally leery of their potential for unpredictability.

"Well met," Ishara murmured as Raj ducked away from the tall man, his investigation closed. She offered the warrior a brief, apologetic smile. She was forced to tip her head back to permit her pale eyes to greet his own, once again reminded how slight she was in comparisson. Serriff himself was not small by human standards, but Ishara had yet to encounter anything as tall and imposing as the great blue warriors who made Riverfall their home. Standing between the two, she felt almost...insubstantial.

Her attention was diverted as Serriff unslung his bow, and their discussion prowled around the weapon and it's attributes. Ishara was no weaponry specialist, but even she could appreciate the craftmanship in it. The men heaped compliments upon it's nature and the individual use of such a weapon...

"With all your praise, I have to wonder if it shoots as pretty as it looks," she stated with a wry smile. An idea struck her, then...and she reached up to unwind her scarf from about her neck. It was not particularly well-valued, and little more than a ribbon of fabric she used to tuck around her shoulders when the weather threatened to be cooler than she'd predicted.

"I say we have a contest," a mischievious spark ignited her gaze as she passed it between the two of them.

Oh, how this brought back memories...afternoons spent with her brothers, who were avid competitors amongst themselves when it came to training. With the lot of them scrambling to best one another, it was usually up to Ishara to pass judgement. As these recollections played out in the back of her mind, she jogged to a tree some distance away. It's boughs were heavy, long, and most importantly--low to the ground. Low enough for Ishara to stretch up and tie her scarf to one of the limbs. Once done, she returned to the pair of them, cheeks flushed in the crisp morning air.

"Now...You may test your bow against one another's skills, and I shall have a chance to see what it can do!"

by **Serrif Von Chatlyn** on May 1st, 2012, 3:14 pm

The Akalak man seemed to be very interested with things that were hidden. He seemed to have a good understanding of how every weapon was different and had its very own temperament. Like his bow for instance shot very flat…surprisingly so for a bow of its size. Also he found if he took his time pulling the string back and holding it the arrow didn’t jump off the bow as far as usual. Things that this Akalak man couldn’t know; because he had no way of knowing the intricacies of his bow. He had shot hundreds of arrows through it in Mura training, knowing every bit of it.

Ishara’s sly comment put a sly smile across his face. He swore that she had trained that dog to track him. They did seem to be running into each other a ton lately. Maybe Raj had gotten used to his scent; he and Ishara had been spending a ton of time together in the mornings. She was a curious one, so enthralled by this city…just like he was with Mura. He nodded some to Ishara as she announced that she was thinking about a contest of sorts. He smiled some, a contest like this was something that he could handle.

He watched her pace out to a tree, counting in his head how many steps she took so he could have a good idea for how far she had placed her scarf. This was starting to look like one of the many intricate tests that Ildin had designed for him in Mura. If only she knew how weighted this contest was in Serrif’s favor…he had shot with this bow many times…but the Akalak man…could be proficient with a bow and he just didn’t know it yet. He seemed to know a good bow when he saw one; either he was very knowledgeable of bows or he was just into weapons in general.

As Ishara started back he stretched his arms out some and nodded his head some…twenty five paces outabout 60-70 feet. He had counted every single one of them in his head. That was a good distance away, but not completely out of his reach. He only knew that his bow could reach out that far if he wanted; only in a way he didn’t want to hit her scarf and ruin it.

“How about we aim to hit close to it, as not to ruin a good scarf.” He said to the Akalak man standing beside him.

He looked around some and noted the wind. It was gentle and wouldn’t effect flight much. He was also shooting down some as well. Meaning he wouldn’t have to calculate for as much arrow drop as compared to a flat surface. He would select a normal arrow for the trip downrange, he had a few armor piercing arrows on him. However these arrows had a slightly different flight than others; and he didn’t want to bury the arrows deep into the tree and possibly kill it. At this distance normal arrows wouldn’t do any long term damage…everything looked clear downrange. So he would make a shot.

Shot Calculation :

My first Calculation :

He cleared his mind and looked through the fog…he could see the scarf tied on the tree limb clearly even through the mist. Indeed this would turn out to be an interesting morning. Picking a standard point arrow he decided he would try to aim a little to the left and up. He knew his arrow would likely drop a good amount and he couldn’t fully understand the involved forces until he put a few arrows downrange. However, he did know he didn’t really want to hit the scarf at all. Yes it might not be much but it was something.

Fingertips found one of his standard arrows in the quiver and he pulled it quietly from the climbers quiver strapped to his right thigh. He was familiar with how each arrow felt and he knew where in the quiver they were positioned as well. He knocked the arrow to the bowstring slowly, seemed he wasn’t the fast competitive type. No, he liked to be precise with everything he did…just like he was with medicine. Ildin had taught him to be direct and purposeful with his bow.

Slowly he pulled his bow up and with decent form he held it sternly in his left hand. Slowly he made rough adjustments for the distance the arrow was going to cover. Twenty five paces out. He had shot this distance before on all kinds of targets. So he was familiar with this himself. Evenly he pulled the bowstring back making sure not to apply too much pressure on any one side of the knocked arrow. That caused the arrow to jump and be inaccurate. He pulled back to his knocking point, which for him was his cheek; the entire time the bows massive force fought him for release. But he didn’t release yet.

Instead he made the final fine adjustments to his shot, this would be a first shot so hitting anywhere near the target would be good. After that he could make adjustments to how he shot and walk the arrows closer to the target…hopefully. With a few mental adjustments and his arms obeying his commands he put his bow where he wanted it. And then with a slow exhale he held his breath for a moment and released. The massive arms of the bow flexed sending the arrow bolting toward the intended destination.

Even while in flight Serrif could tell he was a little off. There was a slight wind toward the west, making his arrow go off target to the left. But the arrow struck, off target some; but a good first hit. He nodded and then looked at where the arrow hit. Low left, he attributed this to the fact that he had never shot downhill before now and well it was a first trial. He would make adjustments from here. He nodded.

“Fair enough, nothing trains quite like competition.” He offered the bow to the Akalak man beside him to see if he wanted to participate or not. It was really his choice.

by **Rykanis Dakshata** on May 2nd, 2012, 5:58 pm

Rykanis was not really sure how he had ended up in this position... A bow competition? He had never used a bow in his life!

"Uhm, a bow contest? I am not really sure..."

But before he could argue his point, they had gotten carried away, and were off making preparations for the contest... He was totally petched...

He took the bow looking it over... He had watched Serrif, the way he had fired it... He had hoped he had gotten the important bits down... Though who knew... So he took the bow, letting out a sigh...

"Well, to be honest, though I know a bit on weapons, I have never used a bow. Though I can still appreciate a well made weapon. But I will do my best... As you said, competition can be good training..."

Rykanis took the bow, trying to handle it as he had seen... And an arrow, trying to notch it to the arrow string... Pulling the arrow and the string back together, so that when he released it, the string would throw the arrow... That was how a bow worked right?

Unfortunately, he got a bit distracted, and his arrow tilted a bit, and the string was released without the arrow, a loud *TWANG*. He simply smiled, and looked sheepishly over at the other two. "Maye one more try..."

He notched the second arrow, this time slipping over to his other side... He was a bit more focused, and patient, his face growing impassive... He slowly drew back the arrow, making sure to keep the string on the arrow... Then after carefully aiming it, he released, another gentler twang as it shot off.

It made it about half way to the tree, though also went off course, ending about 5 feet to the left of a straight line, along with only making it halfway to the tree. At least this one fired...

by **Serrif Von Chatlyn** on May 7th, 2012, 8:46 pm

It became apparent to him that this Akalak either didn’t know how to use a longbow correctly or he was faking lack of skill. Being that he couldn’t come up with a good reason not to flaunt a skill of longbow and outdo a mere human male Serrif assumed the man didn’t know what he was doing very well. So this would be a test then to see how well Serrif could guide this man through the motions of shooting a longbow. His mind turned to Ildin and how she guided him through his first few shots with a longbow. This shouldn’t be to difficult if the man wanted to learn.

“Better try than mine with a longbow the first time.” He said as the man was likely now observing his pitfall of archery very closely.

“Trick is to concentrate and take your time. The way the bow shoots isn’t going to change; but it is your body making minor changes that will have effects on it. Try to keep as many things constant as you can. Stance, draw distanc, even breathing all play a role in how your arrow will fly.” Those were some of the things Ildin had taught him best.

“Be at peace focus on the little things your body is doing and adjust them. For instance when you get ready to draw back exhale slowly as you do so and then hold your breath for a few seconds then release.” A good start to see if the man could make headway in this little training session.

“If you want I could show you what I mean.” He offered, maybe seeing would help the man see what he needed to do. Sometimes mimicking was a lot easier than coming up with what you needed to do all on your own.

by **Rykanis Dakshata** on June 5th, 2012, 6:59 pm

As the man complimented Rykanis on his attempt, trying to be nice and say he had done better than his own first try, he simply replied to the human with a neutral face, and a quick nod to verify he had heard what he had said.

Which would seem odd, considering how active and full of life, even jocular, Rykanis' other side had been when in control. This side was all business, and completely focused on learning to use the bow... Not angry or sad or anything else... Simply cold and neutral...

He did listen to the mans words, taking them in, devouring the information hungrily, looking for any secret or trick of the trade Serrif might say, that Rykanis could use.

"Take my time, and keep things the same... Right... I can do that..."

He would nod once more, his voice oddly flat and even, unvarying, and almost without inflection... He did not even look at the human this time as he spoke, instead focusing on the weapon.

He nodded to his words, they did make sense... "Sure... Let me try one more, and then I will watch you shoot one..."

Rykanis seemed to more or less grow solid as granite, slowly moving one part of the body as he prepared, but keeping the rest still as stone... He seemed to possibly even be taking the mans words a bit to far to heart...

He took in a deep breath... Let it out... Sighted his arrow... Held the tension... And released... This time the arrow shot from the bow, making it about 3/4 of the way to the tree, before it hit the ground...

"Better, though perhaps a bit more force..." He said, a bit detached, as he handed the bow back to its owner, and waited, staring with his hungry eyes at the man, to watch how he did it...

by **Serrif Von Chatlyn** on August 2nd, 2012, 1:43 pm

The mans shots were getting closer to the target area now, which was good. He could only imagine this was exactly how Ildin felt with him when he first started practicing bow with her. This man had potential but it just needed to be harnessed and trained some. The bow was a good fit for the large Akalak man, larger than most humans could manage which made it perfect for Akalak use. The bow traded hands and Serrif nodded knowing the man would be watching him; just like he watched Ildin to pick up on all of her adjustments as well.

As he took the bow in his hand he aligned the wooden grip. The grip itself was placed back in his palm the back of the grip pressing against the webbing of his hand. His palm was large enough to let his knuckles line up along the front leading edge of the bow; allowing his fingers to wrap securely. They didn’t wrap around the entire grip though and he made sure to grip evenly his fingertips forming a straight line down along the leading edge. Alignment was key here, as it was with almost everything.

With the bow in his left hand firmly now he took up his stance and squared off a little better. Feet found squared off in alignment with his shoulders and his toes pointed at a slightly obtuse angle to widen his distribution of weight a little better on this grassy terrain. He relaxed his shoulders some not keeping them all tightened up and then took sight toward his target over his left shoulder; the bow was still not drawn up to nock an arrow…this was usually when he would start judging distance, but given his last few shots he knew what distance to shoot for. So instead he began to take other things into account.

Scanning over the grass he looked for signs of wind, little signs of the direction and strength of the gusts. Such things did have a certain way of guiding arrows off target. And the longer the distance the more chance of an arrow falling short or off target because of this. There was also a possibility of there being several different distinct wind patterns toward the target. There could be a hard wind one way and then a cross wind the other way…both things needed to be taken into account…and wind could also change at any moment. Meaning adjustments were going to be a little off if the wind decided to misbehave.

Nevertheless he made his adjustments, there seemed to be a light eastern wind at the moment. So he would have to offset for it. His quiver at his thigh he drew his bow upward in alignment with his body. The straight line formed along his heel all the way up to his shoulder and neck, and the bow aligned with this. His left arm extended with a slight bend in the elbow to allow for a little bit of a buffer against the force. But he was careful to align it properly, because if he didn’t the arrow would react poorly when released from the bow.

He drew an arrow and then knocked it against the string using his pointer and middle fingers to cradle the wooden shaft against the string. He then joined his index finger to help with the pulling power of the string on this massive bow. He pulled back evenly on the bow and held the arrow with enough force to keep it straight but not enough pressure to stress his fingers, his fingers were just here to hold the arrow on the string until he released it. With a few deep cleansing breaths he checked his position and offset for both distance and the slight wind. Once he was ready he gently rolled his fingers off the string and let the arrow fly.

((Decided not to do math for this one))

The arrow flew straight with a slight amount of rotation as it traveled. It hit well and marked just to the right of where his last arrow went. Fine tuning only went so far in his mind. Luck was a part of this equation that could actually never really be calculated for. But in the very least he was hitting in the same area. Allowing him to make small adjustments later and walk arrows where he wanted them to go.

“It isn’t simple but at the same time it isn’t as mystical as it seems.” He offered the bow back to the Akalak man along with an arrow.

“The bow is a good size for you so it will take less getting used to then it did with me.”

by **Rykanis Dakshata** on August 6th, 2012, 2:03 am

Rykanis was careful to note how he did things this time... His stance... How he drew back his arm... Loosening bits of his body, while keeping others solid... Watching his footing... How he sighted... It was a lot to take in, but Rykanis did his best to observe it all.

Then he saw as his focus went off his body, and onto something else, of which he was not sure. Apparently he was looking and noticing details and things in relation to shooting his bow, which Rykanis did not even yet know to look for. Perhaps he should ask him what these things were... As far as he could tell, he was looking into empty air.

"I see you looking into the sky for something... I was wondering what it is you are looking for. Perhaps it would help me."

He took back the bow and arrow, looking it over, inspecting its size as the man regarded it. He supposed for a human, it might be considered a bit big...

"Yes, it is a big bow. I suppose the bigger a bow is, the stronger it can fire, and the longer range over which it can shoot... Though it also requires bigger arms to... I wonder if a bow such as this, made bigger to fit
the longer arms of an Akalak, would be able to fire further and harder than a normal one... Or would that have other effects, such as on the string or something?"

All of this said in a calm even tone, it appeared as if Rykanis truly was concentrating on the task at hand. Only a Akalak would likely recognize that he had changed personalities.

Carefully getting into a stance, he moved about, planting his feet apart, one further back than the other, locked into place. Then he moved to his upper body, trying to imitate him with his shoulders, and keeping them loose and mobile as he did... Instead he ended up sort of doing so, moving it in short jerks and movements before freezing it again, instead of keeping them rock still like before.

He placed the arrow on the bow, and pulled it back, bringing back the string, and took in a deep breath, as it went back... Gauging the weight and pressure on it... The last launch had been to soft, so he needed to fire this one harder... Pull it back more...

So he did, pulling it back, coming in to sight the arrow, to make sure it was aimed at the tree... Then letting out his breath and holding it, he made some final adjustments, and fired the arrow, releasing the string... Watching as it flew onward... Closer to the tree... Closer to it... Almost there! At the tree! Past the true... Oh petch... He had overshot it...

He watched as the arrow kept on going, missing the tree by about 5 feet wide, and blazing past to finally hit the ground about 50 feet beyond... Petch...

"I guess a bit to hard that time... Do you want me to fetch it?"

by **Serrif Von Chatlyn** on September 4th, 2012, 11:38 pm

Rykanis was making very interesting observations about the making of a larger bow. Serrif thought on the subject and nodded as he began to piece it all together.

“I suppose it would be able to fire farther and likely hit harder at relative distance to a bow like mine. However you would need special arrows to support your extended draw. You would also likely need a stronger bow material and string as well.” He would like to see a full length Akalak bow, although he hadn’t taken the time to see an Akalak archer or hunter yet. Serrif noticed his tone had changed but he supposed it was because he was focusing. He didn’t get that he had changed personas…he still didn’t understand that concept yet.

He watched the man take his stance and draw back, it was clear the Akalak was taking careful visual notes about what he had been doing when he shot an arrow. The Akalak’s arrow soared and flew toward it’s intended target…although Serrif knew almost immediately by the trajectory that it would be off. But by how far he was not sure as of now. But moments later it became clear, Serrif nodded, he had made the same mistakes his first couple of shots with a bow. And then again when he had received this bow as well, it was difficult to master if you never sat hands on a bow before.

“I was watching for the wind.” He stated answering his earlier question.

With a motion he pointed out some tall grasses and such downrange. “There you see how the grass is bowing to the right? And then closer how the grass isn’t bowing as much? That little bit tells me that the wind is moving to the North. That will throw off your arrows that direction.” He nodded a little then spoke some more.

“We both knew where the arrow went no need to fetch it.” He handed the man another arrow and nodded.

“Just gauge the wind some and see what you can get. It is a powerful bow and you are a powerful person; well matched for what the bow can do.” He would see what the man would do now. Would he mark another arrow downrange? Or would he hand the bow over to see some more about what Serrif did.

by **Rykanis Dakshata** on October 23rd, 2012, 6:56 pm

Always Rykanis was trying to figure things out, and piece new information together. Since it seemed this man knew of bows, why not try and get some info on the topic from him, gather a bit of intel that he might use should he get a bow of his own.

He would file away what he had said for later... It was actually a very important fact for him to know, that if he did get a special bigger bow made, it would require special arrows... And if he went somewhere else, that would mean he would have trouble buying arrows of such special size... A factor to think of...

The wind though, that was another important thing to note. He had not realized that the wind was a factor when trying to shoot an arrow, though now that it had been said it seemed rather obvious... In hindsight though many things seemed obvious.

"So... The way the wind goes, the arrow will also be pushed to... Interesting... I will have to try and compensate next time... Interesting though, that you can use such things of the land such as grass to read it."

As the man had offered, he took the arrow, and set it to the bow... Taking in a deep breath, he brought it up and ready, and pulled back the arrow... As he exhaled, he looked at the grass... It had shifted direction, now heading in the opposite way... He shifted his direction of fire a bit to compensate for that, and prepared to shoot... He exhaled one final time, and waited till it was all out, and then... Fired.

This time he had gone for a lighter shot, harder than the first, but weaker than the last one... And he had compensated for the wind. Miraculously, the arrow struck the very edge of the tree, having flown in a bit of a arc. But unlike the clean shot Serrif had made, this one clattered off of the tree without penetrating or sticking, and flopped to the ground.

"I guess to weak that time..."

Handing the bow back, he looked back downrange, at were the arrows had gone...

"Perhaps you could show me one more time, an example."

If he did, Rykanis would focus on the archer, taking in what he did, and watching every detail, in the hopes that he would be able to replicate it.

by **Limey** on April 29th, 2013, 6:56 am

Rykanis

Skill and Lore Rewards

Skills	Lore
Investigation 2	Something To Spark One's Interest
Observation 5	Knowing When A Response Is Guarded
Intelligence 1	Serrif: An Enigmatic Human
Bow 2	Suddenly... A Contest!
	Firing A Longbow: Stance And Grip

Additional Notes :

Any questions or queries, please PM me.