Fantasy Cursed Island

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle watched Jerry before she imitated the gesture. Having no bow experience herself, that was about the best she could do.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Here, arms up, back straight," Adran said, nudging Shuffle into the correct posture. "Your spine and shoulders are key, here, you want to shoot the bow, not the other way around."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle blinked as her posture was altered. It felt strange to her, as she usually had just a slight hunch on account of her slightly bestial anatomy. "This feels stiff."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"It's going to at first," Adran agreed, "But you'll get use to it with practice. Keep your spine and arm straight. Try and keep that posture for a bit, then relax, take a breath, and do it again." He turned to Jerry to see the more experienced of the two had decent form. "You're aiming a bit high," he noted.

"I'm used to shooting with something attached to my arrows."

"Poison doesn't-"

"Not poison. Rope, explosives, so on."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle listened to Adran's advice and nodded. She through the motions of holding her posture and relaxing, listening to the two of them as she did so.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Really? And why'd you do that?", Adran asked. He gave Shuffle a thumbs up as she was getting the form right. "Good job!"

"Because I'm a professional thief, why do you think I'm so good at making plans?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle paused before looking at Jerry. "So, Joanne is right?"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"What do you mean?"

 

[Fangs9090]

"She keeps calling you a thief but you always correct her."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"That's because I'm a treasure hunter first, and a professional thief second," Jerry replied, putting emphasis on 'professional'. "That's how I make my coin when I can't schedule expeditions. And if you haven't noticed, when Joanne calls you what you are, she's not recognizing you as a person. Every time she calls you 'creature', or Adran 'warlock', or me 'thief', she's not seeing us as people, she's seeing us as heretical abominations. She's handy to have around but she's still a religious warrior. They're trained to do whatever their preacher commands. If she thought her gods wanted her to obliterate a child, she'd probably do it."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle blinked and tilted her head, looking a little concerned. "That makes it sound like she doesn't like us."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Well, look at it from her point of view," Jerry replied, handing Adran his bow back. "She's spent her entire life being taught this stuff. it's all she knows. She rationalizes her actions by calling other people things that make them seem less of a person, so she doesn't have to feel bad when she eventually has to fight them."

"You seem to know a lot about paladins," Adran commented.

"Not about paladins, about religions. The world is run by followers of gods, and they treat everyone that doesn't follow their god the same. Most of the time, you can ignore it. With paladins, you can't."

 

[Fangs9090]

"So.... She thinks she might have to fight us?"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Probably," Jerry nodded, "I'm not sure the tenets of her faith but you can bet she'd fight to preserve them."

 

[Fangs9090]

"I don't wanna fight her. She's my friend."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"We may not have a choice, all we can do is hope it isn't soon." Jerry looked at Adran. "So, you gonna teach her how to shoot this thing or just stand there?"

"Right, uh," Adran looked a little embarassed, having spent the last few seconds staring. "Okay, Shuffle, find the bow string. You aren't going to see it, but you are going to feel it."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle nodded and looked at the bow, grabbing with her fingers where the string would normally be. "Got it."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Alright, now draw, like this," Adran said, drawing his bow like he was going to shoot. "Imagine an arrow, going from between your ring and middle fingers down to the top of your bow hand, on the outside of the bow. It'll manifest a magic bolt if you do it right." He grabbed an arrow and drew again to show Shuffle what he meant.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle nodded. "I got this far before, but it blew up last time." She raised the bow, remembering to straighten her back and drew back. As before, an arrow formed, but it was weak and unstable.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Good, you're halfway there. Now, imagine what a magic arrow does. It flies towards its target in the shortest path possible, hitting exactly where you aimed." If Shuffle could do it properly, the magic circle pair would appear in front of the bow and over her right eye, showing her the rodent scrabbling across the floor on the other side of the chamber with a smaller circle around it.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle imagined as she was told. The circle appeared briefly, but it was faint and quickly disappeared as the arrow discharged and zapped her hand again. Shuffle flinched and stepped back, switching the bow to her other hand to shake the one that got zapped.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"That's progress," Adran said, clapping. "No one gets it on their first try. Try again. Magick bows are something that if it doesn't hurt when you fail, you never tried at all."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle nodded and took her stance again. She readied the bow and made another attempt. She narrowed her eyes as she focused, trying to will some kind of energy into as she drew once more. The result this was drastically different though. The arrow formed, full and strong, but the energy in it was unlike any kind of typical magic. The circle didn’t appear, instead the magic formed into a crosshair focused on where she was aiming. It only lasted a second though before the focusing crystal on the bow shattered, sending Shuffle back a couple feet as the energy burst.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Whoa!", Adran caught the bow as Shuffle flew backwards, Jerry going to the critter. "I don't think it's supposed to do that."

"You think?", Jerry hissed.

"Well, I never made it to that far! The only hunters in my homeland that are allowed Magick Bows are city defenders, we're taught how to shoot them when we become hunters, but Asmodei happened before I could get all the way through!"

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle was dizzy as she sat up, leaning back on her arms. “Did I do that...?”