The Grey Tower

Makenna had been working with the crossbow in her hands for almost a year now. She had learned to clean it and reassemble the parts and how to load the bolts and even how to do so quickly. She could not hit the broad side of the Warder Hall if it was less than a pace away. She was becoming frustrated and lately, her frustration tended to turn into ill conceived attempts to pick fights with people who had the power to make her pay for it. She had come here to the ranged weapons practice lanes with her head down and her teeth gritted. Once she had arrived she had been relieved to find a lane free. She had been afraid that they would all be full and she had whipped herself up to a fuming frenzy with the expectation of having to wait for space. The unrealized irritation almost made her boil over anyway just for a lack of anything to do with the emotion.

Still, she had not recognized anyone who was there already so she clamped a lid on her temper and wished fervently that her dear departed husband were still around. What would he say if he could see her now? He had always made her smile even when he made her angry. He just had that way about him. She was pretty sure she had never had such a temper when he had been alive. She grinned a little out of the corner of her mouth at the self-deluding thought.

Taking her place behind the line in the archer's box of her chosen lane, she lay her bolts on the table beside her and checked over her weapon. The small machine was graceful and sleek and suited her in theory. The small levering bar that was stored in the underside of the body was intended to fit neatly against a bracing bar just above the hand hold. By pulling back on the levering bar while it was braced there and threaded in front of the string, the string could be pulled back to catch on the nut. When the bolt was settled in place, with the back fitted against the string and the front cradled in the groove, a light tap of the release trigger would send the string springing forward and launch the bolt out toward the target. That was the theory. The string was attached at both ends to the prod which had risers on them. This was the bit that was currently giving Makenna a problem.

She, as often as not, found the string rising up too far when the trigger was released and throwing the bolt at a downward trajectory such that it barely flew ten feet. As the archers on the line came back from their missile retrieval and the lane was cleared for shooting, Makenna set her bolt and aimed at the closest target. It was 20 yards away and she could see it quite clearly. The painted squares and rings made an excellent target to judge her accuracy on. She let a bolt fly and it was true, hitting the top right block of the target. Resetting her bolt, she tried to check to be sure that everything was the same as the previous shot and then tapped. The bolt landed eight feet from her; the trajectory had been too low. Three of the following four shots flew true and when the fifth shot grounded again, she thought she had an idea of the problem.

She raised the guide groove on the body of the weapon slightly and caused the resting bolt to lie straighter. Every bolt thereafter flew true. At least as far as the height and distance she sought. Somehow she thought getting the rest of her aim to adjust was going to be somewhat harder. Retrieving her missiles with the others on the line, she prepared to learn how to aim.

The Gaidar Captain recognized that she'd spent a great deal of time working on her swordsmanship, but she did not want her skill with the bow to atrophy. As a result, she made sure to put time in at the range, on the obstacle course, or mounted archery range at least three times a week. Today, she opted for the range, and noticed a few more trainees out practicing their skills.

Ria was a good observer, and noticed the woman with the crossbow, along with some of the troubles she'd had when she went through her first round of bolts. While the Gaidar Captain was not an expert with crossbow, there was some cross-over when it came to ranged weaponry. Adjusting the grip on her black yew recursive bow, Ria stepped into the lane next to the Novice. "We do not see many people with a crossbow on the range," she said, offering a small, but warm smile. "How do you find it?"

Makenna jumped at the sound of the Gaidar's voice speaking to her and let fly her bolt to a target three lanes over to her left. She was so ashamed of herself. The only thing that could have made it worse was if it had not hit dead center on that guy's target. But it had. That figures. She turned to look at the Gaidar who had spoken to her. "The air is not too chill but the breeze is annoying. It keeps taking my bolts and landing them where I had not intended. I was pleased to find space for my practice when I arrived. It is nice to see that the lanes are so well kempt." She blinked once and asked. "How do you find it?"

Makenna lay the crossbow down on the small table in her lane and knuckled her back and rubbed the tension from her shoulder. She was tensing up when she tried to aim and she thought that was not helping her hit her mark. The wind problem was frustrating. How do I counter an errant breeze?

She took up her crossbow once more and loaded a bolt. Standing facing her target, she lifted the weapon to point at the target. She squinted one eye closed and with the other she tried to sight down the beam of the weapon. Tapping the trigger, the crossbow wobbled and the bolt hit a corner of the target. Huffing audibly, Makenna reloaded the weapon and tried again. This time, as she was about to tap the trigger, she stopped and laid her finger on it, lightly. Holding the crossbow still and aiming as best she could, she carefully tensed her hand, causing the light activation of the trigger. The bolt flew straight and looked like it was going to hit the center ring. At the last moment, a breeze whipped up and the bolt dipped and barely hit the bottom of the target. "Flaming, goat kissing...!"

Riahana pulled her bowstring out of a pouch from her belt and began to string her black bow, "I was referring to your choice of weapon, but given the question. . .next to my morning rides, the archery range is a preferred retreat for me." She paused in her reply as she took the last step to attach string to bow and then set about 'warming up' her weapon, "The weather hints at fall around the corner, as the breeze you speak of carries a slight chill."

Taking a bow from the quiver that was slug on her back, Riahana readied it, pulled the Void around her as she took aim, and adjusted to take the breeze and distance into account before she let loose. The arrow flew true and hit just on the edge of the bulls-eye. "A breeze or wind can be annoying to those who first explore ranged weapons, but once you learn to read your environment. . .the topography, distance and weather. . .it will become less so. It takes practice, and patience, but if you adjust your aim left or right, depending on the direction of the wind, and up a bit if the wind is coming towards you, you might find you have an easier time of it hitting your target."

The Gaidar took a moment and turned her face into the breeze. "Take a moment, Novice, and get a feel for where the wind comes. Then. . .adjust your aim, and see if it makes a difference."

Makenna reset her crossbow with her back to the Gaidar. They always talk to us like we are physically incompetent. As if I didn't spend my whole life doing all the things of a life without the One Power. Just because I do not naturally grow a crossbow out of my arm.... Makenna knew it was an unfair and prickly string of thoughts but she was sullen. She had been trying to take into account the wind. The problem was that it seemed to shift on her; or perhaps it didn't respond or effect her bolts the way she thought it would. The wind was gusting from the east just then, coming from behind her and to her right, traveling over her and past the target to the left.

"Thank you, Gaidar. I will try. What do you do when the wind changes direction as it is doing today? Or when it changes speed in the middle of a gust?" Makenna took her aim and tried to feel how the wind was pushing at her arm, pushing it slightly down and to the left. I wonder if the bolt is effected the same way?

She adjusted by lifting her aim slightly up and to the right so that she was sighting the top right of the center ring. Letting her bolt fly, she was gratified to see the bolt fly true. Hitting firmly within the center ring, if not dead center, she was pleased with the adjustment. resetting and aiming once more, she used the same evaluative method and let fly. The wind shifted and the bolt went off course. It still landed near center but too high and out of the ring. Pursing her lips and hissing, she said, "Like that. How do you adjust for the shifting wind?"

OOC: Good stuff. Makenna is a quick study so she gets frustrated by things that require practice. It is very fun to play her having to actually try to learn something.

Riahana nodded, as it was not the first time she'd heard the question asked of those learning how to work with ranged weapons. "Shifting wind is one of our biggest challenges, and requires patience. Sometimes, it requires knowing your environment since objects big and small can affect the path a breeze might blow. Though, through my own experience, the biggest side of it is patience, and...sometimes, a little bit of luck."

Taking another arrow from her quiver and notching it as she took aim, she turned her body slightly to account for the dominant wind direction. She drew and held for a heartbeat as she felt a gust come through, and let loose as it died. Her arrow landed right beside the first. "You have an advantage as you don't have to hold your draw, thus making the wait a bit easier. For me. . .holding the bow in a draw for too long can damage the weapon over time."

She looked to the Accepted, "Just then, I felt the gust, and held my shot for a heartbeat before firing." She took out two different arrows from her quiver, "I also learned the importance of choosing your arrows. . .or bolts. . .appropriately. Heavier arrows will be less affected by the wind. Same goes for the bolts. So. . .practice, patience, and selecting the right bolt weight for the occasion."

Makenna drew her eyebrows together slightly. It was the biggest concession to a frown that she tended to have. Looking at the options she had in her pile of bolts, she glanced back at the Gaidar through narrowed eyes. Is she making fun of me? They all look exactly the same. But still she picked up two and held one in each hand. They felt exactly the same. She traded one for another, then another, then the third trade produced a comparison between two bolts that seemed to weigh significantly different amounts. The one she had just picked up weighed less than the one she had been holding all along. She compared the two and noticed a small black band around the lighter bolt shaft near the tip. The heavier bolt shaft had two of the same kind of band. Pawing through the pile of bolts, she quickly discerned three weights. One that had no band at all and then the one and two band weights.

Fitting a heavy bolt into her crossbow, she took aim and let loose and hit her mark firmly in the center ring. "Why then, Gaidar, do we not simply always use the heavier options? What is the advantage to a lighter bolt or arrow if it is harder to aim true?"

"Another good question," Riahana offered. "Heavier bolts and arrows will fly true on windy days, but due to the extra weight, the projectiles will fly at a slower velocity. As you practice here, it may not seem important, but when you have a fast moving foe, faster shots can mean the difference between hitting your target or not. . .or, more importantly, whether you survive the encounter or not."

The Gaidar Captain took a moment to fire another shot as she considered what else to say, and offered, "Lighter bolts and arrows will reach the target faster, thus if you do not have to combat the elements as you do today, it is to your advantage to use them. It is about using the right tool for the right situation, if that makes sense."

Makenna nodded and then frowned. "So how does one go about keeping an adequate supply of the right variety without having to carry every bolt she has at all times? If I were to travel the roads of Altara and have with me only my crossbow and bolts for protection or such, is there such a thing as an all-purpose bolt that will fly true and maintain range and speed through the most variations of weather?" She thought she had explained her conundrum adequately but wasn't sure. She was a stickler for wanting to cover all her bases and know all of the details before being willing to call herself knowledgeable.

She chose out another bolt and loaded it, took aim and fired. Then she repeated the process four more times in as rapid succession as she could manage. Her grouping was getting better and she was hitting the near target every time. It was time to move on to the next target distance. At the next call of clearing the range, she retrieved her bolts and brought them back to try again.

Her first several tries grounded early and she realized she had to aim higher to make the bolt fly farther before it dropped too far to be of use. She retrieved her bolts again and tried to adjust her aim. Finally she thought she had it and landed three bolts in a row on the target, though her grouping was not very tight.

Riahana considered the line of questions coming from the Accepted. Some she'd heard before in the course of teaching the basics of Archery to various members of the Learning Ranks, but some she'd heard for the first time. There was no such thing as a bad question, really, and she wanted to encourage the learning ranks to step up and ask if they were unsure about something.

"To be honest, it is something that will come with experience. The better you become with your weapon, the easier it will be for you to adjust to your environment, including changing winds. It may mean you can get away with carrying more of the standard bolts and just a small group of heavier ones," the Gaidar Captain answered.

She took a moment to rapidly fire three arrows, working on her precision and accuracy with rapid fire since you tended to lose both when your aim was to fire quickly. "It may also depend on where you are traveling. Some regions are known to be windier than others. . . and in such places, it would be prudent to carry heavier bolts over lighter ones. Conversely, if you travel somewhere known for calm weather or calm winds, you may not need heavier bolts. Unfortunately, as with some of my other answers, a good deal of it comes down to experience and practice."