Archery Spar [Attn: Bella, Marit and others?]

[Roan]

Ji'alantin Artem Nilan

Artem looked to the green arrow he pulled out, and then to the Gaidar known as Lysira. He had seen her around the yards lately, and wondered who she was, but hadn't been brave enough to go introduce himself. Now, he not only had a chance to get to know her, but fight along side of her, as well. He didn't know the Novice, but gave her a friendly smile before he pulled on the white jacket.

Once Riahana Gaidar explained the rules, the Ji' looked to his two team mates, and saw Lysira sign. He nodded and said, "I do. . .my mah cannot hear, so I learned the signs when I was a wee lad. I would be happy to translate." He then smirked, "Any advice on strategy, Gaidar?"

[Bree]

Makenna watched the woman waving her hands around and squinted at her. She sincerely hoped that she had not been sent to learn on a team made up of dim-wits. "Why are you flapping about?" She pulled the buckles of her jacket and adjusted it, then began to fiddle with the bolts of her sparring crossbow. Upon hearing the bell from the other team, she leaned over to the bell and rang it twice, as clearly as she could. Turning back to the other members of her team she said, "I honestly have no idea why we would leave the platform rather than just pick off the other team as they wandered around the course. Are we supposed to have another goal to induce us to leave the platform?"

Looking down over the edge of the platform and across the field, she thought she saw a white jacket flutter between the shrubs lining a low wall. The other team was already on the move. Makenna had no idea how far her weapon would reach. She looked at her supply of bolts and, deciding she had plenty, let fly one in the correct direction. She was disappointed as the bolt began to fall. There was little power behind the machine in her hand. It did not reach 100 feet before it hit the ground. The splatter of orange paint that blossomed on the grass gave her a little amusement. Still, she said, "Oh well, I suppose that may be why we have to climb down. Unless they run directly under us, we are unlikely to be able to reach them."

Sighing, she looked back and the Gaidar who seemed to be displeased. Still flapping her hands about, Makenna caught a few gestures that looked like miming certain words. Squinting at her again, Makenna asked, "Is that how you speak? I have no idea what you are saying but if you can hear me, nod please." At the woman's nod, Makenna said, "Alright, we can reduce everything we need to say to yes or no questions and if you can use slow miming when you need to say something more difficult, I will try to figure it out. For now, I am going down and swinging around to the right. I have no idea how long I will last but if I can get a couple of shots off before I get hit, I will be happy."

Makenna waited briefly for an indication that she was understood and then dropped down from the platform and took off for the nearest bushes. Ducking into that relative cover, she crept, bent low toward the other side of the field. She moved slowly and swiveled her head back and forth, watching for movement.

She found a white jacket darting through the low walls ahead of her toward her own team's side before she had gone far. Taking aim as best she could in the awkward, bent position, she let fly a bolt. Not waiting to see if it hit her target or any other, she darted to the right and forward behind a tree. She was glad that she had as an arrow winged past her toward where she had just been.

[Bella]

Lysira Walker Gaidar It has been a long time since Lysira had felt so outright disrespected. She knew she was not a channeler, but she was a Gaidar and that granted her some right to respect, even from the channeler learning ranks. Even if it wasn't clear to the girl that Lysira was Gaidar, some basic common courtesy was to be expected. Not to mention that she had apparently missed the entire interaction between Lysira and the Ji, who had clearly understood her and offered to translate. 'Flapping about...' Truly.

The girl took charge like she had any right to. Lysira felt her annoyance rise, but knew that now was not the time. The matter would be addressed in due course, and the Gaidar had a mind to take it up to the Mistress of Novices.

After the Novice jumped down, clearly determined that she knew everything and didn't need to wait for any discussion on tactics, Lysira turned to Artem with a wry look that suggested she was thinking of using the Novice as bait. 'Don't get hit,' she signed instead. 'And watch for errant fire.' She didn't say it implicitly, but she had little faith in the ability of the Novice to not hit either of her own teammates. Lys took a breath and moved off the platform, instantly bringing her recurve to the ready with three arrows in hand, waiting for her to use them.

Her first target for cover was a tree, which she sequestered herself behind and then took in the lay of the land. She saw Artem, and then spotted the Novice. Looking beyond her, she saw a flash of white. Slipping an arrow from her hand, she put it to the bow and nocked it. She shifted her aim for a little ahead of where the white flash was going and let it fly.

[Roan]

Ji'alantin Artem

Artem wasn't entirely sure what he'd just witnessed, and watched the Novice head off into the sparring arena. He looked back to Lysira with a what just happened? look, but said nothing. He smirked when he read the Gaidar's instructions. "I couldn't agree more," he said and then added, "Good luck."

Being the last to leave the platform, Artem was more exposed as he headed for his first bit of cover. He almost got hit by an arrow that zoomed past his left shoulder, and dove for cover behind one of the big boulders. Once in relative safety, he got himself more situated with his bow and the paint arrows. Holding arrows at the ready in his left hand always seemed awkward, but it was almost a necessity here. Nothing like trial by fire, right, Artem?

He saw a white jacket zip by down course, and brought his bow up to aim, but then had to lower it, as he'd only spotted the Novice called Makeena moving through the trees. He then looked for his next move, which was to a huge evergreen some twenty feet away. Not a lot of ground to cover. . .except when you have people hoping to take you out. He scanned what he could of the arena, and then made a break for it. By the time his back hit the tree, his heart was racing. He took big breaths to get his breathing under control, and then saw the Gaidar named Riahana trying to be stealthy. He smirked as he brought his bow up and took aim.

The arrow flew, but his target ducked at the last minute, and then looked in his direction. . .smirking. She was smirking. "That can't be good," Artem told himself as he sprinted for a new boulder, hoping he wouldn't be shot in the back.

Riahana Ferria Gaidar

Riahana knew where one of the opposing team was, and knowing where the Ji' was helped her get a sense for where Lys and the Novice might be. She knew better than to assume, and made haste to find a new hiding place as she kept her eyes on the 'battle field.' Her biggest goal was to avoid getting shot by the Ji, or Novice. The next goal? Not getting shot by her teammates. The ultimate goal? Winning, but with Lysira on the other team, this was not a given.

[Bree]

Makenna sprinted through a row of hedges and ducked down beneath them. Between the two shaggy greens, she fervently hoped there were no tiny bugs and began to shiver with the thought. She regretted having to wear the white jacket as there was no way to conceal oneself in a green and brown field when wearing white, but thus was her life these days. She scanned the terrain around her and wished she had a tree to climb. For now this would do.

The whole area was nearly silent. The wind rustled the branches and a few leaves fluttered across the ground. She began to take note of the direction of the wind and the rhythmic way the branches moved when it was a gust moving them. She saw it immediately when a bush jostled in a completely not the wind kind of way. She couldn't see a person but it didn't really matter. The teams were arbitrary and she just wanted practice. She raised her crossbow and took her time to aim at the place where the branch that had been moving exposed itself to jostling. It moved again and she squeezed the trigger.

She heard a grunt as the bolt hit someone. Crouching low and waddling back behind the bushes, she didn't try to see who she had hit. She tried to move from where she had been so that a return arrow would not hit her. Ha! This archery thing is easy. I can already hit my target. Makenna felt heady and pompous with a weapon in her hand. The matronly voice of reason in her head said, You have no idea who or what you hit. That you hit anything is an unsupported supposition. That could have been a grunt of surprise.

Makenna turned to lay between two knew bushes. I don't care. Some thing is going to fall to my flying stingers of doom!

[Roan]

Ji'alantin Artem Nilan Artem was still a bit surprised at the exchange between the Novice and the Gaidar. He was working his way to a bolder he knew was not too far from the starting platform, and hoped to use it as cover, as well as a perch to get a better view of the sparring arena. As the Ji' quickly and quietly (or so he thought) made his way from one tree to another, something slammed into his right side and knocked him off balance. He couldn't help the grunt, as the blow took him by surprise.

Out already? he wondered as he looked down. To his dismay, he saw green paint, and not too far away. . .a green bolt. "Blood and ashes!" he cursed as he stood up, holding his hands up to show he was out. There were no exceptions for friendly fire. . .after all, in the real world, if an ally mistakes you for the enemy and fires an arrow at you, it will kill you just as easily as an enemy arrow.

As he made his way to the neutral observation deck, Artem pulled off the white jacket so others wouldn't fire at him, bruising him more than the one bolt already had. It is up to Lysira Gaidar and the Novice. . .this should get interesting, Artem thought to himself.
Riahana Ferria Gaidar Ria heard the grunt up from her, and knew it to be the young male Ji. She took cover behind a tree, and watched as he stood up. What she was not expecting was the green patch on his left side, right in the middle of his rib cage. Friendly fire. . .not a good way to get knocked out, she thought to herself.

Turning her attention from the Ji as he withdrew, the Gaidar scanned her surroundings. She caught a glimpse of who she thought was the Novice from the other team, and wondered where Lysira was. Lys was quiet as a mouse, and could move without a sound. . .she was, without a doubt, a tough opponent in the archery sparring arena.

Adjusting her grip on the sparring bow, and moving to get a better view of who she thought was the Novice, Ria took one of the red paint arrows from her quiver. The novice was off to her right a bit, but facing her. Without hesitating, Ria pulled the Void around her as she nocked the arrow, took aim, leading a bit as the Novice moved, and fired. Just as soon as the arrow was on its way, the Gaidar was on the move, finding a new spot from which to view the sparring arena, hoping to catch site of Lys, and wondering if her arrow hit the novice.

((OOC: So Artem is out. I decided Friendly Fire. Bree, I will let you decide if Ria's arrow flew true. ))

[Bree]

Makenna felt the pressure and then the slick wet but not wet feeling of the paint on the oiled canvas jacket. As she had fallen to the ground, the arrow had not hit her dead-on. The pressure of the glancing blow was enough to convince her that she didn't want a direct hit. She could not see the place she had been hit but, reaching a hand behind her, she felt the wetness and then brought her fingers around to see the red paint.

She scrambled to her knees and rubbed her hand on the grass to clean the paint off. Standing and about to turn and walk away, another arrow suddenly came out of nowhere and slammed into her gut. Red paint splattered across her stomach and her breath escaped with an audible grunt. She realized as she gasped to pull another breath in, she was on her knees again. She was tempted to cheat and go hunt down the red team and claim she was a ghost archer.

She did not. She took off the messy jacket and held it up and to the side as she stood and walked off the field.

OOC: That is perfect actually, so Riahana will always know that she took out Makenna even when Makenna doesn't. haha

[Bella]

Lysira Walker Gaidar From her concealment and silence, the diminutive Gaidar was able to see a few things as they took place. What she didn't see the play-by-play of, she saw the results of. Those results were that she was suddenly the only one left on her team. The color of the paint on Artem's coat, however, made her frown. Not that she found herself precisely surprised, and she was almost glad to see the Novice leaving their field of "battle" since she didn't intend to be taken down by her own team.

However, that meant that there were three Gaidar left on the field versus her. Three against one, and two of those three were the Mistress of Arms and the Gaidar Captain. These odds did not make her feel too secure.

Lys held her breath for a moment and listened. It reminded her back to the days of Mouse, when she lived like a prey animal and spent much of her time in the forests. She would do just this thing, taking a breath and then withholding her exhalation. Only the sound of her heartbeat in her ears could be heard from her, but even that was quiet and steady; years of training and the Void helping keep her body calm and easy.

The curling bush around a tree's base rustled a little ways ahead of her. A flash of white between the green told her that there was an 'enemy' in that greenery and she eyed her surroundings. Looking at the tree she stood behind, she put her bow over her shoulder and scaled its various branches. It was not entirely silent, but silent enough because she had experience. From the higher view, she could recognize the ji'dar of the other team.

Of course, she thought. The other two are more experienced at this.

She balanced herself on the thick back, slightly back against the tree trunk. She pulled her bow and three arrows from her quiver. She let loose the first, just to the left of the body. The white jacket jerked to the right, away from the impact but more into view. The second arrow was a "kill shot" and the ji'dar looked down and recognized the angle, looking up. Her gaze was unfocused, however, because she couldn't see Lysira but she cursed as she turned and left the field, pulling off her jacket as she went...

Now, only two against one...

[Marit]

Amayani had lost sight of Riahana shortly after they had left the platform, the two Gaidar heading to the opposite sides of the Sparring Arena. She had a general idea of where the other woman was, though, and she was certain Riahana could hold her own against at least two of their opponents. Lysira would be a tough match for either of them on their own.

Moving silently through the undergrowth of the forested area, Yani had her bow out and ready, one arrow partially nocked and three more held at ready in her bow hand. She was on the hunt, and while she was better fighter than hunter, the years had toned her skill well enough that she made little to no sound as she moved, and her eyes and ears were tuned to her surroundings. She kept her breath even and as silent as possible to be able to pick up other sounds.

For a while, the only sound and movement she caught nearby was that of her teammate, the ji'dar Ani, moving a little distance away. A bit later she picked up the ruckus from farther off, in the direction of where she believed Riahana to be. She could only pray that it was Riahana taking out members of the other team, and not the other way around. She was pleased to spot some white moving towards the other team's platform, moving in a manner that meant they were out. She couldn't quite see who it was, but the form looked female, and didn't move with enough grace for it to be Lysira, or Riahana, which meant it had to be the novice. Or had it been two people walking off the field? Crouched as she was currently behind a big tree, she wasn't certain.

Yani held her breath for a moment, listening. She could hear Ani moving, and… was that someone else? She thought she'd heard the rustling of a tree. Still in a crouch, she moved a little until she had a visual on Ani. The girl was moving silently, scouting ahead, but not, it turned out, in the right way. The girl dodged the first arrow, only to be hit square on by a second. Yani was out of sight from the assailant, far enough away not to be spotted at first; at least she hoped.

But she had been close enough to catch the angle of the arrows taking out her teammate. They're in the trees! Or at least one of them. And she was quite certain who. Blood and ashes, Lysira's up high, Yani thought as she tried to spot the Gaidar. By the angle of the arrow that had hit Ani, she must be around that way. One of those trees, probably. Yani started moving silently away from her current hiding place, keeping her distance to the trees she gathered Lysira was hiding in.

That the Gaidar was up high was both a good thing and a bad one. The woman was an easy target if they managed to corner her up there. There was nowhere to run in a tree. But up there she would also have the better vantage point, and be able to spot anyone coming at her before they could get close enough to spot her. Yani's best bet at getting Lysira would be to catch her before she got down. But for that to work, she would need to flank her. And for that she needed Riahana. If the Gaidar was still "alive".

But in either case, she needed to find out exactly where Lysira was. Could she manage to trick the woman? Highly unlikely, but worth a try. If only it didn't backfire…

She made her way to a big log that could cover her movement if she crouched enough, and stopped at one end of it. Mocking an arrow, she angled it upwards and a bit to the side, lobbing the arrow into the undergrowth a bit away from where she thought Lysira to be. Hopefully the woman would hear it and move a little to investigate, enough that she could be spotted.

[Roan]

The flight of an arrow is nearly silent, but not completely silent. There was an unmistakable 'hushed' whistle as an arrow rips through the air. Somewhere on the sparring field, there was also the unmistakable thud of the paint arrow hitting its mark. Riahana risked a look and saw Ani moving off the field. Lysira was still alive, and the game was still afoot.

The Gaidar Captain made her way in the direction she thought Lys might be, and it was confirmed when she caught site of the Mistress of Arms letting lose an arrow up into the trees. Moving as silently as she could, Riahana tried to position herself so that she was flanking Lysira, but that required actually seeing where her friend might be hiding. Silent steps were challenging, given some of the trees started to lose their leaves. Unfortunately for Riahana, some of those leaves covered a rotten branch. She hadn't spotted it, and placed a foot squarely on the dead branch. Said foot went promptly through the rotten wood, letting lose an unmistakable crunching noise.

"Blood and ashes!" she whispered as she paused and looked down. She then looked around hoping to find some cover before her friend spotted her. There was not much cover to be had, but ahead of her and to the left there was a big bolder. Could she be quick enough to make it before Lys managed to get the drop on her? Only one way to find out. The Gaidar Captain sprinted!