Traps and Trapmakers (Training/Flashback, Closed)

[Sira]

Summer 43, 506 AV "Alright kids, today we're going to learn a basic but important hunting technique. Trapping." Sira stood with three other Yasi which looked rather odd since, even though she was only three and a half years old, she towered over the older children and possessed the body of a girl twice their age. A fact that the other kids never failed to remind her of, often calling her names like, Giant or Freak. Sira dealt with it as best she could, and was often comforted by her mother on the occasions they actually got to see each other, being told she was special and should be thankful the gods blessed her with the gifts she had. Sira did the best she could to fit in, but when you have the body of a twenty year old and the mind of an ten year old, it makes things awkward no matter where you are. After a while she just stopped trying to make friends and started trying to grow up. Today was proving to be a blessing though. She had finally been given a bendi task she was interested in, hunting. The past month all her bendi tasks had been related to hunting once it became apparent that she excelled in the field. "We're going to learn about several different traps over the next few days. The first is very simple, a snare, and it can mean the difference between making it home or starving if you're trapped in the wilderness. All you need is some string or twine of some sort. If you've got a tent, you could use the cords from that, or maybe you're bowstring. Anyway, does everyone have your strings?" All the children, Sira included, held up their strings. "Good, now usually you'd want to set several of these up, but there's five of us, so that should be enough. You'll need to find a game trail, or maybe a rabbit hole to set up your snares. We've already found those for you, so all we have to do is set the snare. First you'll want to make a loop on one end, and tie it like this." The instructor showed the children how to tie off the loop, a simple knot which involved folding over the string, wrapping it around, and tying it off. "Next you'll run your string through the loop like this." Sira finished tying her knot and ran her string through the loop. This was all very easy, and she didn't really think it necessary to go over it. But, she had learned not to question the instructors. It usually resulted in a good lashing. As the instructor explained what to do next, Sira followed his instructions to the letter. Finding her assigned rabbit hold, she knelt next to it and stuck a stick into the ground on either side, then hung the loop from the sticks. Next she took the end of the string and tied it off to a nearby root that was sticking up from the ground, then stood up and waited for the instructor to come inspect her work. After checking all the other children and offering some advice to each, he made his way to Sira, giving her a sideways glance as he knelt by her hole. Shaking his head the man looked up at Sira, "No, no, no. You put the sticks to far apart, the rabbit will run right through and not get caught. You'd think for somebody your size you'd have a bigger brain." The instructor pulled the sticks out of the ground and put them closer together, "See, like this. Now the rabbit is sure to get caught. Pay better attention next time." Sira apologized to the instructor, keeping her head down and not making eye contact. She was used to this type of treatment. Many Inarta did not like outsiders, and that is what they considered her even though she was born in Wind Reach. "Alright, now we'll leave those for now and come back later to see if they've caught anything." Sira spent the rest of the morning playing with the other children. Of course, that meant that she watched while the other children played. She would have gone flying, but her instructor was adamant that no one leave the area and so Sira was forced to remain grounded and with little to do. After a few hours the instructor called them all back. Of the four traps set, only two were successful. Sira's was not one of them. Upon examining her snare, it looked like the rabbit had come out of the hole, seen the two sticks close together, and knocked one over as it went around. Of course, the instructor blamed the failure on Sira and took no credit himself for the disaster, but Sira couldn't complain.

[Sira]

Summer 45, 506 AV Sira woke early that morning, eager to begin her next lesson for the day. She was always eager to learn when it had to do with anything involving hunting, and today would be learning more about traps. Sira practically flew down the hall, something that would have been very difficult if she actually had tried to fly down it, and into the room where she would be learning today. The instructor was already speaking to the other three children and stopped abruptly when Sira entered. "Glad you could join us, Sira. I hope you slept well, instruction started half a bell ago." Sira knew for a fact that she was on time, and figured the instructor must have purposely started class earlier just to make a fool of her. She wouldn't let it bother her though, and so she simply apologized and took her place with the other children. "Now, where were we? Oh yes, as I was saying, you all did a wonderful job with your snares yesterday. There were some exceptions... but I feel comforted in the fact that at least some of you will be competent hunters one day. Today we're going to learn something a bit more complicated. As I am a trap maker, not a trap setter, we will not be going outside today. We're going to be making a foothold trap." The instructor held up an example of the trap, an iron contraption made up of two jaws, a spring, and a round trigger in the center. "You would use a trap like this to catch larger game. Depending on its size you could catch anything from a deer or goat, to boar and even bear." The instructor passes out some tools and metal to each of the students. "We're only be going to covering assembly today. To actually make the metal falls under the task of a blacksmith. But you could also make a trap like this out of some strong, flexible branches. Possibly use wire or even bone, depending on whats available." The instructor started to show the students how to assemble the trap. According to the instructor, a trap maker would order a set of parts from a blacksmith, providing him with diagrams of the shapes he'd need. The blacksmith would then forge those parts and send them back to the trap maker, who would assemble and test them. If any adjustments needed to be made, the trap maker would usually do it himself. Sira began putting the pieces together as instructed, attaching the jaws and putting a pair of wire springs between them. The springs were connected to a round pan in the middle, which would be used as a trigger. Sometimes the jaws would have jagged teeth in them, but for the safety of the children these jaws did not. Once she had her trap put together she alerted the instructor who came to examine her work. As usual he tried to criticize her, but could not really find anything wrong with the trap. After dropping a stone onto the pan in the center they snapped shut, just as they were supposed too. The instructor simply snorted and walked away, muttering "It'll do" under his breath and leaving Sira rather pleased with herself. She was certain she had impressed the instructor, even though he didn't want to admit it. The other students were having trouble getting their springs into place, and one student when it came for test time almost caught his arm in the trap when it didn't go off at first. Upon reaching to retrieve the stone, the jaws snapped shut and the Yasi only just barely retracted his arm in time.

[Sira]

Summer 53, 510 AV It was the last day she would be working with the trap instructor, but today was just like any other, as far as she was concerned. Nothing of any note had happened over the last few days. She showed up, learned to make a new trap, and then went back home. As she made her way to the room where she would be learning she assumed it would be as uneventful as the day before. She was wrong. As Sira tugged on the door to the room she heard a small clicking sound, followed by a sharp pain as she was knocked to the ground by a blunted arrow straight to the chest. Laughter followed as she hit the floor, the senses knocked out of her and wondering what in the world just happened. "That, children, is how an arrow trap works," shouted the instructor over the children's laughter as Sira shakily climbed to her feet. "Maybe next time you'll be more careful before entering a class on trap making, Sira." Sira glared furiously at the instructor, resisting the temptation to shift and peck the eyes out of his arrogant face. Taking her seat, she was unable to wipe the look of rage off her face as the instructor continued his lessons. "For our final lesson we wont be learning how to make animal traps. We are going to learn to make an arrow trap. What you saw was a very simple design. All it takes is a crossbow, a door, and some string. Tie it to the trigger, and there you have it, arrow trap." The instructor continued to talk about the various way one could set up an arrow trap. Pressure panels, invisible wire, the extremely rare magically activate trap, but Sira wasn't listening anymore. She was busy plotting her revenge. The rest of the day went by smoothly, and by the time her instructions were over she had formulated her plan. Later that night Sira found herself a Dek who did not recognize her and asked her to summon the instructor. Apparently there was an urgent situation that required his presence in the common room. She then found herself a nice hiding spot and waited for her revenge to unfold. As the instructor made his way down the hall she couldn't suppress the smile that was displayed brightly on her face. Earlier she had rigged the hall with all manner of traps. The hallway was dark, and the instructor did not notice the claw trap until it was too late. She used the very same trap she made for him just days ago, and couldn't help but laugh as the man yelped in pain when the iron jaws snapped closed on his leg. Sira jumped out of hiding as the injured avora pried the jaws of the trap open. His head snapped up, spotting Sira and spouting a series of angry threats. "Be glad I added padding, or you'd be in a pretty bad spot right now," Sira shouted as she turned tail and ran down the hall to her next spot. The angry Inarta pursued, limping slightly from the pain in his leg, and as he rounded the bin fell face first onto the ground. "Invisible wire," Sira shouted and ran into another room, slamming the door shut behind her. The instructor approached cautiously, not about to fall for another trap. "Trying to get revenge, are we girl? Well don't think I'm stupid enough to fall for that, I know you've got this door rigged. I'll just keep leave you trapped until I can send someone else in to get you. Then I'm going to beat you until you beg for forgiveness!" Sira waited patiently, not making a sound. The instructor waited outside until he heard a noise in the room down the hall. Turning to investigate he spotted a drudge lugging a sack around the corner. "You there! Come over here and open this door!" The drudge didn't appear to hear the Avora, and rounded the corner. Furious at the insubordination, the angry instructor pursued, his foot catching a thin wire strung across the hall. Too late did the instructor stop. Too late did he try to dodge as the wire pulled a bucket and poured its contents of fresh eagle droppings down on his head. Sira kicked the door open and jumped out into the hall, laughing so hard it hurt. The shocked instructor just stood there, bird droppings dripping from his nose and couldn't help but wonder... were they hers? He would never know, as Sira ran down the hall and vanished from sight. The instructor did not pursue, and never did. There was no way he was letting anybody know he had been bested by the young kelvic. Later that night Sira met up with the Dek, handing him a sack of fresh fruit, fish, and a small flagon of mead, a true feast for the poor man. She went to bed that night happier than she had in a very long time...

[Phoenix]

Character: Sira Experience: +2 Trapmaking Lores: Sweet, Sweet Revenge Enduring a Tyrant One-upping the Bad Guy. Additional Notes: Buhahaha I love it. If you think I missed anything, or can think of any other XP or lores you wish I had given, please just let me know and I will review the thread.