Tazrae goes out on the hunt with Xander to restock her larder.
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Syka is a new settlement of primarily humans on the east coast of Falyndar opposite of Riverfall on The Suvan Sea. [Syka Codex]
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by Tazrae on August 30th, 2020, 12:30 am
“Now, Tazrae… back to the Cams. Like I was saying, Cam’s mechanically manipulate the draw weight of the bow as you pull the string back. That means that past a certain point, it gets easier to pull unlike how longbows operate where it's difficult to pull equally through the draw. Your bows limbs still store the same amount of energy. That means you can draw and shoot faster and easier without tiring as quickly nor without having as big of muscles.” He added.
Tazrae nodded, looking at her bow again.
“In addition to Cams, there are cam systems. That’s how the Cams are laid out on your bow. They can be configured for different reasons. There are different types of Cam Systems: round wheels, soft cams, hard cams, and single cams. So… for example, round wheel cams grant you a slower arrow speed but are so much more accurate than the other systems while hard cams produce fast arrows but are near impossible to keep tuned. You have neither. That Cam system you have is a single-cam…. which is a deceptive name? Single cams have a round wheel at the top of the bow and an elliptical-shaped power cam at the bottom.” He added, grinning.
“What is the advantage of a single cams system?” Tazrae asked. It wasn’t apparent just by looking at the configuration on her boy. “Is it stronger, faster… something like that?” She asked.
Xander laughed. “No, not at all. The advantage is simpler than that. They are very quiet and easier to maintain than others. You just need to oil and tighten a few parts and they will be reliable for you for a very long time. You can keep the tools you need, the small wrench and the oil, strapped to a small quiver on the bow itself.” He added.
Tazrae nodded. “Juli gave me something like that with the bow… a small leather bag I could wear around my neck that held oil and a small odd wrench along with a cloth to wipe the string down with and spare string.” She confirmed. “I have it with me.” She said, tapping her chest where the bag hung between her breasts hidden.
“Okay... next part the bowstring. This is what launches the arrow by transferring the force stored in the limbs by your draw directly to the arrow. You need extra string because over time your bowstring will stretch and lose its tension. The best ones are made of cat guts, so if someone kills a big cat over here, be sure you claim some intestines for your future strings. I notice yours has a D loop in it. That means your little kit has a mechanical release and that’s where you attach it.” He added, nodding to her bow.
Tazrae smiled and nodded. “Yes, I do at least know what that is. Juli explained when she dropped the bow by.” The Innkeeper confirmed. “What are these?” She added, pointing at more lines that ran from cam to cam which moved the cams when pulling back the bowstring.
Word Count: 515
"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."
Garden Beach ❖ Syka ❖ The Protea Inn
"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
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Tazrae - Be savage, not average.
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by Tazrae on August 30th, 2020, 12:34 am
“Those are just cables. They are adjustable according to the wishes of the archer. This rod that runs perpendicular to the riser is the cable guard. It works with this device, the cable slide, to keep the cables away from the center of the bow and out of the arrows line of fire.” He added, pointing out one more small wooden device carved and attached to the cable guard.
“This is the cable slide. It holds the cables out of the arrows path and attached to the cable guard.” He pointed, running his finger along where the cables stretched. “The cables are what run the pulleys and give you more power, Tazrae.” He explained.
“The cam system is comprised of your cams, cables, cable guard, and this cable slider. This is one of the only metal parts on your bow… it attaches to the cable guard and mounts to the cables. The cable slide acts like an extra finger that holds the cables to the cable guard and out of your way.” He added.
Tazrae nodded, reaching down to indeed learn the slide did slide up and down the cable guard which made the cables far more flexible and gave the strings a chance to be manipulated without hands. “Nice… I understand.” She added, then pointed at a circular wooden item that was open at the top and appeared to have three brushes all pointed towards each other attached to the inside. “What’s this odd thing?” She asked.
They were just coming out onto the beach now so Xander paused to explain.
“That, my dear, is your arrow rest. You slip the arrow in through the top once it's notched at the back end and it gently holds your arrows with the bristles until you release it. The brushes are such a light touch it doesn’t interfere with the arrow’s flight once it's released. It also allows your focus to be on your form and your target, not on how the arrow is held. Your bow does the work for you.” He said with a smile. Juli’s recommendation that Tazrae learns this weapon was a good one. He also realized it wasn’t a cheap weapon either. Taz had to have paid a pretty Miza for it.
“Now… do you notice anything odd about your bowstring?” He asked.
Tazrae nodded, running her hand down the bowstring. At one point, right in the middle of the straight section between the arms, a wooden donut with a small hole through it had been inserted between the woven string and seemed to be fixed in place with some sort of resin… as if it had been glued to not be moved. She pulled it slightly, puzzled over it, and frowned at him.
“I have no ideas what it is,” Tazrae admitted, her voice curious and slightly ashamed.
Xander laughed. “It’s a peep sight. You can’t really tell what it is by a glance, but if you hold the bow, draw the bowstring back, you’ll be immediately enlightened. That sight will line up with your dominant eye and you can sight in your prey and aim at the actual sight there on the riser. You have a fixed pin sight that has three pins in the sight circle. They are set for a known distance. I suspect Juli set your bow up already and sighted it in. The top is usually ten yards, the middle for twenty and the third pin is for thirty yards. This means you’ll need to practice what distances are which… pace off ten, twenty, and thirty yards at your place and put stakes in the ground so you get used to judging distance. You’ll need to know to eyeball something immediately and judge by just a look. The best hunters all do this. It’s why they get a fast shot off when the opportunity arises and kill quickly.” Xander finished and gestured to her as they stepped onto the beach.
Word Count: 663
"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."
Garden Beach ❖ Syka ❖ The Protea Inn
"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
-
![User avatar](./download/file.php?avatar=136711_1683823678.jpg)
Tazrae - Be savage, not average.
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- Posts: 1336
- Words: 1917699
- Joined roleplay: May 3rd, 2020, 2:02 pm
- Location: Syka
- Race: Human
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- Medals: 5
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by Tazrae on August 30th, 2020, 12:35 am
It was a beautiful sight. The waves were calm and the seas buoyant. The turquoise of the sea competed with the azure sky and made a beautiful evening sight. Tazrae sighed at the beauty. “It’s a very pretty place here.” She added, looking around for the pigs. They were there, of course, some in close, some could be heard rooting around in the jungle or along the flotsam line, and some were yet out further playing in the waves. Bigger pigs baked in the sun. A sow fed her brood of piglets that were attacking her stomach greedily. The crowd had left an impact on the beach, for certain. There was pig shit everywhere and bare spots in the sand where the pigs had rooted. Unlike other places along the beach, vegetation was scarce though Tazrae could see pigs feeding on washed-up seaweed as if it was grazeable grass. Her sharp eyes scanned the place, trying not to miss anything.
“Are we ready to start hunting or are there more parts?” She asked Xander, watching him take in the pig situation. It was abundantly clear that harvesting a pig today wasn’t going to be that hard.
“Just a few more things. “This long bar stretching from your riser out to the bowstring and wrapped in leather at the end is the string vibration arrestor. It can be adjusted, though it looks about to be in a perfect position right now. Its’ job is to give the bowstring something to bounce off of on its snapback which muffles the sound. String Vibration Arresters are optional and you can take them off to save weight. And one thing missing from your bow that are more optional stabilizers that stretch out forward of the riser. It attaches to the front of the bow just below the grip…. oh, the grip! Don’t forget about that. It’s where you hold the bow with your left hand. You are right-handed, correct?” He asked, curious.
Tazrae nodded. “Yes. I figured as much. The grip is very comfortable in my left hand.” She added.
Xander nodded. “Thank goodness... it's hard setting up bows and instruments for left-handers. Most of them are made for the right hand.” He added with a smile. “What we have left is just this little U hook off your bowstring. Its part of your mechanical release. You’ll need to use it at first until you develop callouses and the fine touch releasing a bowstring requires. Dig out that bag at your neck and pull out the mechanical release.” He advised.
Tazrae nodded, paused, and pulled what was a V-shaped leather strap that wrapped around her right wrist where the V part covered part of her palm and had a small set of tiny jaws on the tip of the V that clamped together tightly. The tip of the V had what looked like a small trigger that the lightest touch could cause the jaws to snap open. The wide side of the V wrapped around her wrist and buckled into place.
She dug it out, buckled it on, and then gestured to the U shaped piece of smaller bowstring attached to the main bowstring by two knots at the tips of the U. “This is my mechanical release, right? It automatically gives me a magical touch?” She asked.
Word Count: 557
"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."
Garden Beach ❖ Syka ❖ The Protea Inn
"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
-
![User avatar](./download/file.php?avatar=136711_1683823678.jpg)
Tazrae - Be savage, not average.
-
- Posts: 1336
- Words: 1917699
- Joined roleplay: May 3rd, 2020, 2:02 pm
- Location: Syka
- Race: Human
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- Medals: 5
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by Tazrae on August 30th, 2020, 12:37 am
He nodded. “Good… hold off on attaching it yet. You get the idea though. Pull the trigger, open the jaws, hook on the U shaped string, release the trigger, pull your wrist back, draw the bow tight, and feather the trigger with a gentle stroke of your finger on it when you are ready to fire. You are only ready to fire when you’ve got the peep sight and the actual sight lined up and pointing at the kill shot.” He added firmly.
Squatting down now that they have moved out onto the beach, he gestured at the pigs. “You need to know where to kill a pig at with a broadhead arrow.” He added, tugging her down next to him. Tazrae found the position awkward because the bow was so long she had to tilt it sideways to keep from digging it into the sand. He reached his hand down and traced an outline of a pig in side silhouette.
“You can tell the difference between boys and girls right?” He asked.
Tazrae laughed nervously. “Yes. The boys have the balls under their tail.” She pipped up. Xander nodded. “They are big, have tusks, and are aggressive. Sows can get big too… huge in fact.” She added.
“True. Keep a few things in mind. How much meat do you need? How much meat can you carry? How much meat can you use before it spoils? How many people are you feeding? There are two of us so we can carry a larger pig than you can carry yourself… and what is the sex of the beast? Kill a male, if you are alone … medium sized. If you are not alone… still kill a male, bigger than you normally could have carried alone, especially if your Inn has a lot of guests or you mean to share the meat.” He instructed.
Tazrae nodded. Then she tapped the outline of the pig in the sand. “Where do I kill it?” She asked.
“You want to hit a vital organ… the brain, heart, or lungs. Any of those three and it will go down. Don’t hit it in the guts… pigs will bleed for days and it will be an agonizing death for the creature. We want a clean neat kill and it to go down fast.” He added, then sketched on the pig where the vital parts were.
“Also, realize pig fat can close wounds fast. So, when you are out hunting and wound something but don’t kill it… you have to follow a blood trail to find it and finish it off. With pigs, they don’t often bleed long and so its easy to lose something and leave it in the wild wounded.” Xander said, firmly believing this wasn’t the way to do things. So when you shoot, shoot to kill, Tazrae.” He added.
Word Count: 477
"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."
Garden Beach ❖ Syka ❖ The Protea Inn
"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
-
![User avatar](./download/file.php?avatar=136711_1683823678.jpg)
Tazrae - Be savage, not average.
-
- Posts: 1336
- Words: 1917699
- Joined roleplay: May 3rd, 2020, 2:02 pm
- Location: Syka
- Race: Human
- Character sheet
- Storyteller secrets
- Journal
- Plotnotes
- Medals: 5
-
-
-
by Tazrae on August 30th, 2020, 12:53 am
She nodded.
Then he rose, bringing her up with him by a hand under her elbow. “Let's go down the beach opposite the way the pigs are. It’s my understanding that they are tame and you can walk right up to them especially if you have food… which I did bring the day-old bread you wanted to save for the birds. But I want you to take a few practice shots first.” He advised, and together they walked down the beach the opposite way from the pigs.
They found a suitable log of driftwood that looked vaguely pig-like at the base. Someone had held a bonfire there recently, so Xander dug through the burnt wood and pulled forth a bit of charcoal. He sketched a pig on the side of the wooden stump and log… then paced out ten, twenty, and thirty yards…. Making marks in the sand at each place. "Remember, there are three feet in a yard. So get these visual markers in your brain... learn this distance. It corresponds with your ten, twenty, and thirty-yard marks in your sight on your bow." He said.
It took five chimes and had Tazrae more curious than ever. She paced out the distance, once, twice, then took time standing at each spot and noting the driftwood pig's relative location in comparison. She didn't hurry, but as Xander said, she made sure it made sense in her mind and she got the distances right. Then he pointed out other locations on the beach... a pile of seaweed, an unusual washed up stone... a sleeping pig... all that seemed within the thirty-yard range and asked Tazrae to guess. She did, then he would pace out the actual difference and tell her what the distance was.
No one had ever done that for her before, and honestly, she grasped the fact of the distances quickly, at least on the sandy beach. In a jungle environment, it would be harder, but she'd practice for certain.
When she started getting them spot-0on or in the proverbial kill zone as Xander called it, the bard called a halt to the activity and they got on with practice itself.
Word Count: 362
"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."
Garden Beach ❖ Syka ❖ The Protea Inn
"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
-
![User avatar](./download/file.php?avatar=136711_1683823678.jpg)
Tazrae - Be savage, not average.
-
- Posts: 1336
- Words: 1917699
- Joined roleplay: May 3rd, 2020, 2:02 pm
- Location: Syka
- Race: Human
- Character sheet
- Storyteller secrets
- Journal
- Plotnotes
- Medals: 5
-
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-
by Tazrae on May 23rd, 2021, 8:10 pm
Tazrae-
Weapon (Composite longbow) +5, Observation +5, Interrogation +4, Drawing +1
CL: The Purpose Of Cams & Cam Systems, CL: Single Cam System- Quiet & Easier To Maintain, CL: Cables, Cams, Cable Guard, and Cable Slider, CL: Parts Of A Composite Longbow, CL: How To Use A Peep Sight, CL: Proper Grip, CL: Feathering The Trigger, CL: Kill Shot Locations On Various Animals (Brains, Lungs, Heart)
"A mark of an open mind is being more committed to your curiosity than your conviction.
The goal of learning is not to shield old views against new facts, but to revise old views with new facts.
Ideas are possibilities to explore, not certainties to defend."
Garden Beach ❖ Syka ❖ The Protea Inn
"Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows."
-
![User avatar](./download/file.php?avatar=136711_1683823678.jpg)
Tazrae - Be savage, not average.
-
- Posts: 1336
- Words: 1917699
- Joined roleplay: May 3rd, 2020, 2:02 pm
- Location: Syka
- Race: Human
- Character sheet
- Storyteller secrets
- Journal
- Plotnotes
- Medals: 5
-
-
-
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