Solo Know your archery : Powershot

[Miria]

Winter 27,512 Winter was a curious time in Avanthal. The cold dies down and the wildlife actually flourishes as Morwen makes her rounds throughout Mizahar. Making her own rounds Miria closed the doors to her arvinta before setting out bow in tow and her quiver curiously empty. This Coolwater was not of the marine trade, rather she would associate herself with a more elusive crowd. This group being the archers of Taldera. Archery was a very distinguished practice in this region more then others. Metal was somewhat uncommon so instead bow, spears, and polar bears are more commonly used to defend the city. Thus Miria set out to make arrows to trade or possibly use. Walking down the hold the archer finally came upon the room she was looking for. After a small chat with the resident she emerged with a borrowed hatchet from the fellow Coolwater. “Thanks hon!” She winked before leaving, gripping near the head of the axe. Exiting the hold Miria grinned cheerfully as she looked for a place to work. As long as it had to do with archery it put the aspiring archer in a good mood and fletching was no different. Setting her bag down near a set of a makeshift bench and chairs made out of large logs she reached inside her pack. Out of her pack she produced two arm length logs that were as wide as her whole palm. Near the logs was a stump that was cut out to hold the smaller pieces of wood steady setting the small log vertically she went to work. Thinking quietly to herself Miria recited a blessing for finding such a convenient spot close to the hold. There might be stations more suited for this type of work at the ranges but that was quite a walk just to cut wood. Raising the hatchet up she experimented with a few practice swings before putting full force down on the wood. A clean cut in one chop and the wood was hewed perfectly! Well that's how she imagined it. Miria grimacing slightly as she saw the axe head buried itself barely an inch or two into the wood. This was going to take awhile. Huffing slightly prying the hatchet out for another go she repositioned the log trying to find where to hit. A few more tries and she managed to cut a decent space into the log. Resisting the urge to twist the blade as it stuck into the wood she painstakingly aimed her tool down the middle. The wood she got from the market weren't that great of quality but there can be made into decent shafts if she was patient with the process. A fine precise few chops was all that was needed. Finally Miria cleanly separated the log into two somewhat even pieces before repeating the process. Four possible shafts from one side of the log and what looked to be... five! from the other side. Fantastic that was a lot more then she expected and doing the process with the other log left her with seventeen possible shafts in total. Reaching into her bag she took out her fletching toolkit taking out a sander to even out the shafts. The wood slowly started to wear as she tried to fashion them into long arrow shafts. It was rare but her job made her feel like she was at her original Hold again. Skyglow always had people doing little projects in the hold. Though her piece of 'art' was laughably simple. Still it was nice to be able to relate to Skyglow after being separated from the hold. When she was done she had seventeen smooth arrow shafts to work with. Next came the feathers. Looking into her bag she had bright crimson feathers to use. A nice gesture from a Frostfawn helped the archer find these.The added flair of color would help her sell them compared to the usual whites and browns usually found in the region. A sudden though wandered in as she thought of ways that might help her sell. The archer would need all the help she can get considering her woodcarving skills were wanting. All she retained from her heritage was telling stories. Blink twice she had a curious look on her face as she was suppose to do something. Looking down at the shafts she shook her head. She knew to do the fletching like she normally did. Taking a step back a small smile formed as the idea came into fruition. She would make a song. A song. A story about these red feathers. About the Inarta! Among their ginger ranks a legend. The Vantha can see it now. Ole... Hannah of Wind Reach I shall call her. What shall I compose? Taking a handful of feathers she set them near the arrow shafts starting the next part of her routine. This she can do in her sleep and now she had something to keep her focused. Grabbing her first feather Miria laid it horizontally before picking our a knife from her kit. “An archer of renown,” she hummed to herself. Cutting down the line she separated the quill into two disheveled shafts leaving her with nearly identical stems before setting the opposite pairs aside to start new piles. “A story of the Inarta land. With their strength of hand.” Another slow, deliberate cut would add another pair to the pile. “She was quite profound. Never making a sound” Miria giggled softly to herself. She did felt a little silly for coming up with such foppery. Perhaps a bit too focused on her story she reflected noticing she made a bad cut with the current feather. Where did I left off again? Cut* Oh, right. “She had a brand? Possibly doing things unplanned.” realign the feather and finish the cut. Done. Dividing the cut shafts into two piles Miria cleared her workplace from any leftover wood or mutilated feathers before continuing. Fetching a fletching jig from her tool box she grab a cut feather and put it into place. It was a curious device but it has served it's purpose well. Put a feather in the slot and then stamp the top over it to cut out a tidy looking feather ready to attach to the shaft. She needed a selling point. Something to make her fabled heroine amazing. Stamping out the feathers in turn she made quick work of the two piles. “Many came to run her down.” Taking the arrow shafts Miria cleared any leftover feathers once more before pulling a long piece of yarn. The two piles were neatly positioned next to each other. The arrow shafts and the feathers the hard part was over. Now all that was left was simple knitting. She set the yard down next to them before taking out a thinner string from her kit. “To her it was little more then a jaunt. During the fight she would whistle?” Miria pursed her lips slightly as she took an arrow and three long cut feathers and tied them together with the smaller string. Looping the small string several times halfway from the middle and the end of the arrow. The feather was held in place near the center and ran the length of the arrow ending up a thumb length away from the shaft. The feather's front was looped a few more times with the small string to put a decent hold on near the center. Then the string went up going from behind the shaft to loop twice every inch until he reached the end. The result was a feathered shaft with loops that would hold down the feather. Taking out the yarn she overlapped the initial point of the string a few times. Then closed off the arrow shaft's end with the same yarn. Sanding them down was another option but it was a different process then she was used to. That and the archer loved playing with the yarn. “She brought them all down with one missile! Leaving no one to taunt.” She repeated the process for the other arrow shafts before moving to finish with the arrow heads. Looking into her fletching kit she saw a multitude of arrow heads to use. Mostly standard small arrow heads, some blunted for game, a few heavier heads for piercing armor and two special arrow heads. The archer nodded hardily at the collection before continuing. Darn right! I spent a small fortune on this kit. “Hmm perhaps something about the way she moves without noise. Err why must you hate gingers so?” Shaking her head in disapproval at her somewhat shoddy story Miria took a deep breathe after. She would have to do quite a bit of revising. Sanding out the non-feathered ends of the arrow shafts she made the wood pointed on that end before applying an arrow head to each arrow. A heavier one on one of the better ones Miria noted finishing her workload. Taking her work back to her arvinta she gave back the hatchet after a short talk with it's owner. She smiled easy, the man in her eyes was related to archery in a way which made it easier to get along with him. Finally she reached her arvinta as she put her backpack on the table she emptied it's contents before going to a cluster corner of her home. There she had stored the arrows from the other days of the week and organized the set into her pack. It looked to be a haul of almost one hundred and fifty arrows. Taking four and a half days to make them though she would normally take a day off from those four. The other half of that day selling the arrows to the nearby market and range. Looking critically at her past handiwork she sighed quietly realizing her flimsy handiwork. It was not the worst arrows she has ever made but it was close to it. Thankfully some of them looked to be passable, mostly the ones made today it looks like. Noticing the arrow with the heavier arrowhead from before she picked it out as she tried to decipher what was so right about it. The wood was not really warped so it was easier to sand down to half a thumb's length. That had to be it. This she remembered came from the second log. Yes that one was easier to cut too. Taking a mental note from her reflection she picked up the arrow and walked back to the corner. There separated from her handiwork were the arrows she normally used. Placing the arrow into that pile she put the arrows into her quiver. Hopefully that arrow will find a permanent place in the quiver. Maybe, maybe not. Shrugging slightly at the thought she picked up her backpack and made her way out of Coolwater hold. Miria then moved on to the marketplace. There were more people there but the shy archer was not too familiar with everyone there. A few curious shoppers came and bought a decent amount of arrows which would help her get more supplies to make even more. Miria even tried her new song though the story itself was not very convincing or persuasive. There were no critics though and it looked like she was selling just fine. Thanking everyone she then moved on to the archery range. She had made friends with some of the regulars and they were happy for the service, though critical of her handiwork. Sitting down quietly on a bench the Vantha patiently waited until everyone in the range was satisfied with their buy as she put the finishing touches to her song. All that was left were questioning why the different arrows made a difference, if any. Her poem was finally done as she smiled. Unsling her bow Miria took an arrow from her pile before starting her sales pitch once again. She drew the string back as her onlookers watched her performance. Miria focused in on her target. The twenty yard target that she was all too familiar with. “There once was an archer of great renown” She started. She let her arrow loose hitting the outer ring close to the bull's eye. Taking another arrow from her pile she continued on with her story. “High up, across the sea in the Inarta land. Many a story portraying her strength of hand.” Waving her fingers to indicate the strength of hand bit she brought the arrow to the bowstring once more. This time she brought it up to a full draw before releasing the arrow. It landed closer to her initial target and deeper too. This time she heard some sounds of approval from her peers as she smiled winningly. Shy anywhere else Miria looked daring and confident when she was on the archery range. “The huntress Hannah was quite profound! Running through the forest without a sound. The only known truth about young Hannah was her brand.” Picking up three more arrows the young archer challenged herself to impress the onlookers more as she shot the set in quick succession. A little bit longer then a heart beat between each one. “Many an arrow from Hannah's bow came and hewed people unplanned.” Looking at her handiwork her heart jumped slightly as she aimed well at the ten yard target before turning on to her onlookers. “Legions came angered, trying to run her down. The way she got away was akin to a jaunt.” Next was the hardest part of the sale. The thirty yard mark. “Through the forest came a whistle” Taking an arrow from her pile she concentrated as she brought the bow up. Letting her instincts take the shot she fired high across the range and barely hit the second largest ring. It looked like the winds took it far to the right. “Her pursuers dove and scattered from the noise” Miria gripped her bow trying to keep everything under control. All that was going inside of her were multiple calculations and planning on how to land her next shot. Another arrow was taken from the stack as she took aim once more. She breathed easy as she tried to line up the shot. She aimed a bit higher left adjusting to the wind as she took slow breathes. Miria drew the arrow in a few practice pulls before finally releasing the arrow. Breathing out as the shot was fired she was left breathless watching the arrow rise and fall. A loud cheer backed her up as she hit the ring two spaces away from the bull's eye. Something to be proud of since she was using a short bow. Hardly able to believe her luck she resisted the urge to clap and hop up and down excitedly before finishing up her sales pitch. “Tearing through flesh and bark went her missile. From afar young Hannah shouted a taunt.” Before anyone could really react Miria reached for her own red shafted arrow from her quiver and aimed at the twenty yard target. A loud, forceful twang came out of her bow as the arrow hit it's target. “Maybe next time boys.” Miria finished as she winked at the crowd. The people of Avanthal love a good story and the people in the ranges loved a show of archery. Put the two together and they made Miria feel like the most popular girl in the village. Those who were skeptical now eagerly took a few with them, though commenting on the quality of some. To this the archery nodded solemnly before quietly promising to herself to make better arrows. They weren't the best arrows money can buy but a true archer would be able to use them. “Well there you have it. Know your archery everyone. Young Hannah with her red shaft arrows and her power shot.” Miria exclaimed looking back at the twenty yard target. The last shot was imbedded rather deep into the target though it wasn't as accurate as the rest. It was a bit worse then her first shot, it dropped more then she thought it would and it needed her to pull the bowstring back more. Still it's power was still pretty impressive taking a mental note. Finally most of her 'wares' were gone. Someone even wanted to use the arrows she used from the performance. Going back, Miria entered her arvinta with a smile. Looking at the corner near the wall she saw a red feathered shaft. Though she tried her best there was still much to learn about shooting more powerful arrows. It looks like it has found a home in her quiver, for now.

[Valkyrie]

Miria :

Experience
4 Fletching
2 Storytelling
2 Composition
2 Shortbow
1 Persuasion

Lore
Winter is Warmer in Avanthal
Cutting Wood into Arrow Shafts
Preparing Feathers for Fletching
The Story of Hannah the Archer
Attaching Fletching to an Arrow Shaft
Creating a Story to Pass the Time
Testing Out Arrows in Front of Customers

Other
N/A

Notes: I really enjoyed this thread! I thought it had a lot of great elements, and I particularly enjoyed how you incorporated composing and telling a story into your PC’s work. I love how you embraced the storytelling trait of the Vantha, it was very well done and fit naturally into the flow of the thread. Most of the experience I awarded should be pretty self-explanatory, but I gave the persuasion point for demonstrating with the arrows which persuaded customers to buy them. My one request is to please put the timestamp at the top of the thread. It helps keep track of continuity for me, you, and any one who wants to see what dates you are open to thread. I really liked reading this thread. I can tell when someone has done a really good job and is passionate about their writing when they make me excited to read about everyday tasks.

You Will Be Collected if Worthy

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