Open Still Water Tide

[Flyaway]

Valydor smiled kindly. "Oh it comes with experience. You and Ina come over here, learn something from an old hunter," He called across the cavern, waving them towards him.

Ina suppressed and excited smile and wadded from the lake slowly, careful not to spook Saara's fish. "What an honor!" She said to Sayani excitedly.

Ina nearly skipped around the perimeter of the lake, glancing back every few moments to ensure Sayani was close in toe. When they had arrived, Valydor motioned for them to come closer, then pointed to the red clouded water near the majority of the dead fish.

"I learned this trick in my youth," He began. Now that they were closer, it was clear that alongside the pile of dead fish was a small mound of silver glowing Opalgloams. "These can be found in the shallows. The fish here are nearly blind. They find their food by light of these stones. See the stones attract insects, so where there is light, there is food."

He picked up one of the stones and threw it into the lake. Dozens of trout swarmed near it, pecking at the water's surface with mouths wide open. Valydor grinned and took a deep breath, drawing his bow and steadying his hands. He began to fire his arrows, every shot landing deep into the skull of one of the trout.

[Sayani]

Sayani smiled when Valydor called them, and walked carefully back to the lake shore together with Ina. In fact, she cared very little to whatever or not they would spook Saara's fish, but then, there was no reason to do so. The Symenestra nodded in response to Ina's comment, just as excited as the half-blood was, but staying much more controlled than the other.

Sayani walked towards the older hunter quicker than she normally did, but slower than Ina, making the other woman look over her shoulder a few times to see if the Symenestra was following her. There was no need to, of course, as Sayani wouldn't loose the chance to learn something, specially from an experienced hunter.

Walking carefully back into the lake, Sayani followed Ina until they were standing near Valydor. The hunter pointed to a glowing point, and Sayani watched as he demonstrated how he lured the fish to one single point.

"That sure is something interesting." Sayani said, as the hunter began to hit the fish once again. She would never have guessed that the fish were actually attracted by the Opalgloams, and it was a nice knowledge to have.

Mimicking the other, Sayani took one on the stones, before throwing it on the lake. She waited for the fish to gather around it, a smirk growing on her lips, before she took an arrow and began shooting again.

Even with the impact, the fish didn't all swim away like they had been doing, and it gave her time to grab more arrows and hit more fish. It certainly was quicker, and Sayani hit some before they finally were scared away by the arrows. As the fish swam, the Symenestra tried to hit one more, but she wasn't quick enough, and missed the target. Even so, there were now three fish killed by her arrows, and this was definitely an improvement.

[Flyaway]

The old hunter clapped Sayani Gently on her back with a slight smirk painted across his face.

"Go ahead Ina, Give it a try," He said encouragingly. The Dra picked up one of the small stones slowly and gave it a once over, turning it in her small unclawed hands before throwing it into the lake. The fish swarmed around the stone and Ina fumbled to ready an arrow. Her first shot speared a fish through its tail, and it swam in panicked circles, but the reast remained. She fired off five more shots, managing to kill the rest of the fish, and the first died after a time, before the fish dispersed from the dimming Opalgloam.

"Versda, I did it!" She shouted excitedly, bouncing on the tips of her toes.

"Hunting is not all skill. Most of it is experience. There are little tips and tricks for just about everything, you just need to figure them out. I promise, if you use your mind, Krova, you'll hunt a whole lot better."

"Thank you," Ina said with a slight bow of her head.

Many bells passed as the hunters of Kalinor worked tirelessly to supply their people with fish. after a time, the fish were no longer visible, taking refuge in the deeper parts of silver lake. Valydor had collected his fish on a long cord of silk, and strung them by their jaws so they hung freely from it. The cord must have bore seventy fish, and wrapped around his shoulder twice. The ancient Symenestra strained to carry them.

"Here," He said to the group, after meeting them in the lake's shallows. He held out his hand, which had several feet of tight woven silk cord in neat little spools. "Everyone prepare your kill. But let me see it. I'll give a portion of my fish to whoever has the most."

Saara took a moment to string her fish, but after she was done, she held about twenty on a cord. Surprisingly, Ina held a cord with about thirty five, and she couldn't help but giggle when she saw her count was measurably bigger than Saara's. Saara in turn, gave Ina a sneer, and the girl fell quiet.

"Let me see yours Sayani," Valydor said with a smile. "Surely you caught a hefty hall with that trick I taught you."

Secret :

Don't be afraid to outshine the NPCs

[Sayani]

When Valydor gave Ina an advice, Sayani lowered her bow, thinking. Use your head. Her father had also said that to her, many times, and even more to her brother. The Symenestra began to walk away from the other two, approaching the rocks carefully, so she wouldn't frighten the fish. She positioned herself near the rock, so there would only be one way completely free of obstacles. She waited until the water around her was still again, before taking another Opalgloam and throwing it on the water.

All the fish around her went eagerly towards the stone, and Sayani readied her bow, aiming to the slower fish on the group. Before it could reach the stone, the arrow went through its head. None of the fish around the Opalgloam seemed to notice, and Sayani smirked again, while readying another arrow.

She managed to hit another fish, and another, and when finally the fish began to swim away, she had already shot four. Some of the fish swam towards her, and she smiled to herself, while taking yet another arrow and placing it on her bow. The fact that they weren't swimming away from her gave her time to shoot another fish, before they finally realized she was there, and swam quickly away.

For the next bells, she walked around the lake, finding good spots to ambush the fish, before attracting them. Twice she ran out of arrows, and went around taking them from the dead fish to reuse. It took a long while for her to finally lower her bow and began to gather the fish around the lake, but she was satisfied. Fishing wasn't exciting, but it was very productive, if one was willing to spend some bells on the activity. Not something Sayani would chose over hunting, but it was certainly useful for when the surface prey was scarce.

When she finally step out of the lake, Sayani almost sighed with relief. The cold water was bothering her for some time now. She accepted the silken cord from Valydor, thanking him with a nod, before sitting in a rock and beginning the tedious process of taking the arrow carefully out of the fish, inspecting it to see if it was damaged or not, and then finally tying the fish in the cord. Her mind focused only on her task, and she shut down any talk that might be going on between the other three hunters.

It took her a while to finish, and, in the end, she had lost five arrows in the water, but damaged only one. It was still a high loss, but at least she had managed to catch a good amount of fish. Or at least she thought it was a good amount, she didn't know how many she was supposed to get.

Sayani washed the good arrows on the water, before placing them back in her quiver. Only when she was done did she look up. Apparently, everyone else had finished already.

"Thirty nine." she said, when Valydor asked, raising the cord with the fish.

[Flyaway]

"Wonderful!" Valydor exclaimed, looking over Sayani's fish. The haul was enough to feed her web for weeks to come, provided the fish were perserved, and anything she decided to sell would put food into the bellies of other Symenestra within Kalinor.

"You've all done your city a great service today. Ina, you are growing to be an incredible young hunter. All of your hard work has paid of, but it would seem that Sayani has toiled the harderst, and for that-" He cut half his hefty cord of fish, about thirty, and extended it to the young Symenestra, "You reap the benefits."

Ina smirked and Saara rolled her eyes before slinging her pack over her shoulder.

"Let us be underway," Valydor said tiredly, his eyes drooping with fatigue. "Its a long trudge home and these fish won't stay fresh forever.

And so they set off for home, careful whilst navigating the stone tunnels. Though the day was good, half the winter lay ahead, and none could afford injury. But, all things accounted for, the days to come looked to be a bit brighter with full bellies.

Grading to come in just a moment

[Sayani]

When the older hunter praised her, Sayani felt proud of her work. She thought that feeling overconfident was just plain stupid, but when someone that she admired praised her, the Symenestra allowed herself to feel confident on her abilities. At least for a while.

But the reward for her hunt surprised her. Valydor gave half of his fish to her, and Sayani looked at the offer a few ticks before raising her hand and taking the fish, nodding and thanking the older Symenestra. There was enough fish to feed her entire family for a while, and her brother was hunting constantly, so there would also be enough to sell. It had been the most productive hunting trip in a long time.

Saara rolled her eyes, probably annoyed, but Sayani exchanged a smirk with Ina before following Valydor. The Symenestra huntress was just as annoying as Sayani had expected, but maybe it would be nice and interesting to talk with Ina about hunting sometime.

[Flyaway]

Skills
Fishing 5, Bow 5, Hunting 3, Observation 3, Land Navigation 1

Lore
Saara: Seasoned hunter, Valydor: Seasoned hunter, Ina: Ambitious hunter, Fishing with Arrows, Light Attracts Underground Fish, Location: Silver Lake, Diet of Silver Lake Trout, Navigating Kalinor's Depths

Item Consequences
+69 Fish

Secret :

notes

I enjoyed this thread! Hopefully you can use these skills and lores in future endevours

If you feel I have graded unfairly, or have any questions, feel free to PM me!