Lesson 1, Part 1: The Equipment
Leisha Gaidar stood outside of Master Cassand’s shop in Elman’s creek. The midday sun shone strongly, despite the coolness in the air. She was watching as students approached, either one at a time and some in pairs, to the small gathering. This was the first meeting of her archery class and it appeared that she had quite a diverse group growing in front of her. She smiled slightly and gave a nod.

“It seems like everyone is here,” she began, her voice loud enough to be heard over the milling crowd in the roadway beside them, “Or at least everyone should be. My name is Leisha Gaidar and I am going to be your teacher for this class. At the end of this class I expect each of you to have a basic working understanding of this weapon, as well as a general idea of how to use it without shooting yourself in the foot,” she smiled slightly again, with her own humor.

“Today we begin our lesson with the fundamentals: the actual weapon. The main disadvantage of the bow is that it cannot be used in close quarters fighting, however its advantages include distance, stealth, and strategic advantage. It is one of the few weapons so suited to stopping an oncoming attack from distance. You can’t throw a sword at your attacker…” she paused for another small smile, “Well, maybe if you’re exceptionally lucky, but let’s just say stick to the bow. Archery battalions provide great advantage in battle. Some battles have hinged on their archery components.”

Leisha stepped forward from where she’d been leaning against the wall, her dark eyes glinting the sun as she looked over the gathered group, “There are four basic pieces of equipment that you need. The first is the bow itself, then you need something that you can use the bow on and those would be the arrows,” she glanced with amusement at a student who was hiding a laugh behind her hand, “The pointy part goes forward,” she smiled and looked out in the group again, “Then there’s the quiver, which holds the arrows and the lesser known the bracer. The bracer is a leather band that wraps around your arm to protect it from the bowstring.”

“Now, there are two sorts of bows: the long bow and the composite bow, also known as the horse bow. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. I tend to use the composite more often, as I am most often on horse back when I need it and its good to travel with, although I learned archery first on the long bow, but that cannot be fired from the saddle. The long bow, as the name states, is the longer and stronger of the two. It has a greater firing distance and force, however it is a heavier weapon and requires more physical strength to fire. The composite is lighter, but does lack in distance and force. As I said, you can fire it from horseback or on foot. It travels easier and employs greater speed and stealth because of its advantages. I would recommend that if you wish to go far in your archery that you learn them both, and then elect which you wish you to use primarily.”

She started walking around from the front to the side of the shop, gesturing the group to follow her, “We are standing in front of Master Cassand’s shop, where we will meet for every class before heading out to the field. He is Elman’s creek’s primary provider of fine archery material,” she smiled again, “He has graciously agreed to provide this class with practice weaponry and to any of you who want to continue, your weapons will be available to you to purchase. Now, here we have a table of quivers with arrows, and bracers and there is a rack of bows. Please go through and find one that fits you, but as my teacher advised me when I took this class, don’t draw the bowstrings. Never draw unless you’ve got something in there that you’re firing, it can be a …jarring experience, to use Ellisande’s term.” Next Leisha gestured to the equipment, “Please, take your time to find the right one and I will be right over here if you have any questions.”

OOC: Okay, here you can react to the lecture, post about finding your weapon. Remember to keep it IC and the more detail and creativity, the better. What the heck, draw a bowstring and see what happens ;) Just kidding! Have fun with it and use your imagination!

Lesson 1, Part 2: The Draw & The Loose
Lei waited until everyone was suited out in their quivers, bracers and bows (oh, my!) and she smiled, “Now that we are ready to begin, I will take us to the field,” she began and then turned and began walking. She herself was already bedecked with her weaponry as she led the small group from Elman’s Creek to the wide expanse of archery fields outside Tower grounds. It was safer to keep the beginning archery students far from where others were practicing and training. Less accidents happened that way.

It wasn’t long before they arrived at the field, which was suited with only a single target. It was strange to her to be teaching the class that she had taken what just seemed days ago… years now. She stopped and turned to face them, “For this first lesson we will only be concerning ourselves with the drawing of the bow and the loosing of said bow. We will not worry ourselves with all that silly aiming stuff, or such concepts as hitting the target,” she smiled slightly, “I am going to teach you how to shoot.”

“First off is how to stand, from what I can you’ve all got the basics of that down so next is how to stand when you are getting ready to fire. You stand side-ways to you target,” she then assumed the position, standing so that she had to turn her head to see the target, she began to string her bow as she spoke again, “In this position, you stand with your feet roughly shoulder width apart. If you are right handed, as I am, you stand with your left shoulder forward and just reverse it if you for you left handed. Keep your back straight and your left arm straight as you hold the bow towards your target and draw with your right hand, again if you’re right handed.”

She dropped back from demonstrating and turned to the class, “All right, why don’t all of you give it a try,” she said and watched as each student assumed the correct posture and she walked the line quickly to give small pieces of advice and corrections here and there, then returning to the front of the group again, “Okay, you can relax now,” she said, pulling an arrow from her quiver as the students let go of the position, “Next is what to do with that long pointy thing you have so many of, the arrow,” she said and held up the arrow, “There are four parts: the pile, which would be the pointy end that actually punctures your target, then the shaft, which is the long straight part, the fletchings are the feathers either glued or bound along the end of the shaft and finally the nock, which is the slit in the arrow that allows it to hold to the string.”

Moving back in to the stance, she began another demonstration, “All right, when you go to fire you take the arrow and place the nock over the bowstring. You rest the front of the shaft on the third segment of your forefinger, and on the bowstring you use three fingers, holding your forefinger above the arrow and the other two beneath. Remember when you fire to be sure that the cock feather – this one – is facing towards you, otherwise when you fire the fletchings will rip off and the arrow will be deflected,” she smiled again, “And even as beginners, I think that you all know that you don’t want that to happen.”

Very slowly, she placed the arrow on the string and rested the shaft on front, taking the bowstring with her three fingers, “Hold the bow straight towards your target and pull the string until your draw hand touches your cheek, then release.” Slowly she pulled the string and loosed it. She demonstrated again, although silently in the single fluid movement it took to pull an arrow from her quiver, place it, pull it and let it go. She showed two more arrows, before turning back to the class.

“Now, I would like all of you to spread out and practice what I have just shown you. Use all the arrows in your quiver. I want you to remember to take your time and don’t take it too hard if you can’t get it right away. It is harder than it looks. I will be around to each of you to aide where I can and answer your questions, although if you have any that will prevent you from beginning, you can come up and ask now. Otherwise, go ahead and get started.”

Lesson 2: Aiming
“Good afternoon everyone,” Lei stated as she walked up to the group as they gathered again outside of Master Cassand’s shop, she smiled slightly, glad to see almost everyone had decided to stick with the class, “I trust that everyone has gotten enough rest, because today I feel that we can move on to the next step in learning the bow. It is relatively important,” she smiled wryly then, “It’s the art of aiming.”

“Now, at the end of last week’s lesson before everyone left, we had a short discussion on the care of your equipment, so I trust that no one had any problems with that,” she paused briefly to see if anyone had any questions and then moved on, “All right, now we will head out to the range.” She turned and started walking, the small group all following quickly.

“As you can see,” she began as they came on to a new section of the field, “There is a target for each of you today and we will get to those shortly,” she stopped and turned to face them again, waiting for them to line up. The sun was shining again and there was little breeze, wonderful day out and she was glad she had this class to teach so that she could be out in it. “All right, first thing you need to know is that the arrow’s path is not a straight one because it has to curve around the bow,” she lifted her bow and nocked an arrow, aiming for a side, “See you it rests on the bow? That influences the curve,” she lowered her bow, “And then everything from the type of bow, the type of arrow and its pile, its fletchings to the conditions of the day and the wind… they all influence the arrow’s path, but today we’ll she be working with the standard bow and arrow.”

She turned again and lined up with one of the target, taking an arrow out and nocking it on her long bow, “All right, I am going to aim my arrow directly at the center,” she loosed it and it hit the target just below and to the left of the center, lowering her bow she turned back towards the group slightly, “See where it hit? Now, knowing that, I take it in to account and adjust my aim by moving my bow up a little and to the right to adjust for its downward fall,” she turned back and fired three more arrows, having adjusted her position and they all hit the target’s center.

“So, my lesson to you right now,” she said as she turned around, “Is to fire several arrows at the target and don’t worry even about hitting it, your goal is to land all the arrows, four or five in same area so you know that your draw and loose is with consistency, because if fire with consistency, you can have confidence in your adjustment. After you manage that task, try aiming for the target’s center for another four or five arrows.”

“Now, before you begin, I will tell you that when it comes to aiming and firing, there are a few differences between the long and composite bows, and as you progress you will come to know these better for yourselves, but for now, those of you with composite bows will have to raise your bow when you nock you arrow, but lower it slightly as you make the draw so that you can sight you target, make your adjustment and fire. Those of you with long bows will raise your bow and nock your arrow, then aim before you draw but sight down your line, draw and release quickly. Feel free to ask your questions now, and then be at your tasks.”

Lesson 3: Speed Shooting
A few clouds dotted the sky this afternoon, which wasn’t quite ideal for their lesson but at least it shouldn’t be too large of a detriment, as the clouds were light ones. She was leaning against the wall of the shop as her students came filing up, some in pairs or groups and some on their own. It seemed that those who had been at the previous lesson were those who would see the end of this course. She was pleased by that. When all were gathered, she stepped forward.

“All right, welcome back everyone. I would like to start by saying that if you haven’t already, following this class I would recommend that you begin taking the skills you learn here and practicing with them on your own time. Like every weapon, the bow requires practice and dedication, but the more you practice, the better you become,” she paused, “Today’s lesson we are going to focus on speed shooting. It is a skill that requires as especial amount of practice, as it requires the ability to take the arrow, nock it, pull it to full drawing length and fire, with accuracy and speed. The speed is generally not the problem, but keeping it accurate is where the trouble comes,” she smiled slightly, “Let’s be to the field.”

They reached the field quickly, as everyone was coming to know the walk very well all ready. Lei was glad to see more sun breaking through as she stopped and faced the students, “First off, we’ll open this lesson with a little practice of what we learned in the past few. Everyone move out to a target and work on your drawing, aiming and firing. I will come around for if anyone has any questions and I’ll offer suggestions, so be to it!”

As they students filed down the line she began walking along it, watching each one as they fired and fired. She answered some questions, gave some comments and suggestions and by the time she made it to the end of the lesson, she told the class to stop and retrieve their arrows. When they returned, she watched them walk back up in to a group.

“Speed shooting is difficult, but it can provide a new sort of concentration,” she smiled, and took her bow and lined up with a target and began to demonstrate speed shooting by pulling, nocking, aiming, drawing, and firing five arrows in a row with a sort of mechanical movement, all landing in a small group at the center of the target, after the last arrow she turned back to the class, “As you can see, I’m not lying, it is possible,” she smiled again, “But it does take practice, concentration. For the rest of this lesson I want you all the simple practice this. Start slow but steady and work on your repetition and when you fall in to the pattern of movements, increase your speed. You won’t get it perfect the first time and that’s not what I’m expecting, but just give it a try and work your way up.”

Lei took a breath and an expansive look around, “Before we begin, can anyone tell me some reasons why studying speed shooting is important?” she asked, and after several answers were stated, she gave an approving nod and sent them out to work at the target, “Use your time well.”

Lesson 4: Distance Shots
Once the group had gathered, she took the group right out to the field. They were greeted again by a single target at the end of the field, only this time it was larger, because it was further away at about two hundred paces, she gestured to it, “All right, today we will be working at distance shots. I know that I have thrown a lot of information at you over the past lessons, but you are all coming along well and with more practice on your own time, these lessons will at least give you the basic skills to work your way up from.”

“A friend of mine, Wil Gaidin, will be assisting us today. He will be standing by the target and will judge where the arrow lands, since at this distance it is difficult for us to judge from this position,” she moved in line for the target, “Now, when it comes to long distance shots, there are several things to consider. One is that when you aim, you have to move your bow upwards to compensate for the fall of your arrow over such distance. You also have to bend at the waist, because just raising your arm will cut your draw and lose strength and consistency in your firing,” as she spoke, she was nocking an arrow and bending at the waist, to make the adjusted aim and letting it fly towards the target. It shot upwards in to the sky, before falling in to the target. Wil raised his arms up to make the gesture to signify target achieved.

Stepping back and lowering her bow, she turned to the group again, “Because of the difficulty of judging elevation and aiming, especially when you are just beginning, I want each of you to fire you first arrow and a test and adjust from there. What we are going to do now is fall in line and take turns firing five arrows, with a significant pause between each so that Wil Gaidin can make his call on your distance. I hope for everyone to get more than one go, but for now let’s just line up and see where we get.”

Lesson 5: Obstacle Course
It was the last day of classes and there would be no more classes every other afternoon with this class. She was glad to see the progress that they had made. She was out to the field the night before and again at dawn that morning, straight through until the afternoon when Wil Gaidin fetched them from their meeting place at Master Cassand’s. She was finishing up a couple more things when the group arrived.

She smiled and dusted her off her hands as she walked up to them, “Hello again, and today’s lesson is going to be a little… different than your past lessons have been. As you can see behind me,” she gestured to the structures behind her, “Today’s class will be focusing on utilizing those skills that you have learned in a more realistic application. Out in the world, your target will not be kind enough to stand still,” she smiled wryly and began walking.

“There are four stations, this first station is to test your skill at a moving target on a horizontal line,” she gestured to the two wooden towers with a sort of thick laundry line between them and a man standing on one with a wheel, he gave a short wave and she motioned to him, “He will be working this line to make the dummy,” she pointed to a vaguely human shaped dummy made from clothe and hay hanging from one end, “Go back and forth. At this station, you have to fire an arrow and try to hit the dummy. He will be moving it back and forth at varying speeds, stopping sometimes for pauses or not. He will try to catch you, just concentrate and do your best. Fire about four or five arrows and move on,” she paused, “Don’t get down if all your arrows don’t hit, two or three is a fair goal for beginner’s,” she smiled and started walking again.

“Station two also deals with moving targets,” she announced, gesturing to another tower with laundry line, only this tower was taller and the line came down to a thing arch of poles, “This dummy, however, will be sent towards you from the top of the tower and it will be reeled back up and sent again. Your mission is the same: hit it, try four or five arrows and see what happens. I will warn you that this one can be disconcerting, even if it is just a dummy, having something flying at you can be disconcerting,” she laughed lightly, then walked forward again.

What she walked up in front of next was an artificial hedge line made of straw, both loose and in bundles, arranged at about waist high. It looked innocent enough, “The goal of this station is to check your reflexes,” she clapped twice and a dummy attached to a wooden panel popped up towards the left side, then went down and another on the right came up, then down, then one in the middle, and it repeated until she clapped again and then it stopped. Lei couldn’t help a laugh to herself at the image of five rather energetic and mischevious Drin sat behind the hedge and worked the dummies (with the permission to assist her for the morning).

“This is fairly obvious, there are five dummies total and their pattern will be completely random in when and which one pops up. Try to shoot them when they pop up. Once more, try for five and see what happens,” she started walking again and landed in front of the final station with a slight smile, fond.

This was a very tall wooden pole with a carved wooden bird set upon the top, “This is your final station. You have one goal: shoot that bird off that pole. There are several blunted arrows at the bottom there, and unlike the other stations, here you get three tries and if you get that bird off the pole, you have to put it back.”

Tradition, Ellisande had called it, and Lei remembered her turn through. She had managed to actually hit that bird off on her first try… and the ‘joy’ of putting it back up. She laughed lightly to herself, then glanced at the students, “If there are no questions,” she paused, “We will begin. I will be sending you through at a stunted timing of roughly ten minutes, so that you don’t over-lap one another on your way through. Make your shots quick and keep moving,” she gave a quick nod and led them back to the beginning, “Any volunteers to go first?” and after one stepped forward, she set the rest on the grass to wait their turns. She would step back to watch their performances on the way through the half circle of stations, commenting when they finished, also continuing to send the next one through.