Saving Throw: 4 using 1d20.

As Lya prepared to depart, Deputy-Seeker Haymane took her horse's reins from Deputy Muddoc and spoke briefly with the two of them. As Lya scrambled back up the bank, Haymane mounted her horse and offered Lya her arm. "We'll need to make haste if we're to make the garrison before dark," she said to the pretty thief before kicking her horse. The two Deputies fell in just behind and to either side of the Seeker as the countryside flew by and the sun neared the horizon.

As they rode, Seeker Haymane continued to ask Lya questions about the creature she'd seen and the conditions surrounding it. "About what time today was the last you saw of the creature? Did it make any noises? Are there any other details you can remember?"

The pointed questions came in spurts, but a goodly part of their conversation was about the Seeker's youth growing up in the verdant fields and humble farms around Hogship. She had never planned to be a peace-keeper, she'd wanted to be a mother and raise children on a little farm somewhere, but after marriage she had found that her body was unable to have children. She blamed it on her Elven blood, and though she did not come across as being bitter toward Elves, there was a hint of sorrow deep and secluded.

Her husband had been killed by an outlaw, and she had almost gone mad with grief. She vowed revenge, for the outlaw was well known in the area and the Sheriff had been a lazy philanderer who would never raise a finger. She had been patient and had learned to fight. She had prepared and planned for the time to be right. Then, she had been robbed of her chance when the Sheriff had died of some disease and a new Sheriff had been chosen by the people.

The new Sheriff, Kor Rainhawk, had taken little time in his efforts to fix the many problems facing the region. Almost his first action had been to attempt to arrest the Outlaw. Sheriff Rainhawk claimed the man resisted and was killed in self-defense. Many folks believed that justice had been served and didn't care about the details. Thela Haymane had lost her chance for her husband's revenge.

It had been the Seeker's decision, rash though it was in her anger, to exact the stolen revenge now on the the Sheriff. "I was in such a dark place," she explained. "Somehow I thought that killing someone would make the pain in my heart go away."

When she had gone to confront the man who had stolen her revenge, she'd had a change of heart when she realized he was honorable and good, so unlike the waste of flesh they'd had before. She'd broken down and confessed her story to Rainhawk, and instead of belittling her, he had recruited her. With no husband and no prospects of a family, she decided to join on as a Deputy, with the changed perspective that now she might prevent what had happened to her husband from happening to others.

The last stretch of the road led them nearly southward until they came to an intersection. The two Deputies, who had said little during the ride, surged ahead toward a squat stone building built on a bluff at the base of the mountains. It was nearly dark, but both the women could see just fine thanks to their common elven heritage.

"Lya, I have several hours of reports and dispatches to address yet tonight. If you'd like, report to the kitchen. Old mother Haga, we all call her Mother, will fix you some food, arrange you a cot and then get you lined out so that you may begin working off that horse... Oh, and we may summon you to give a report on your encounter with the creature. I realize you've told me much already, but likely they'll want to hear it from your mouth as well. If you'll help out Mother for a few days, I think that'll cover the horse, and you can be off. Do we have a deal?"

OOC: I'll try to get an update on the map sometime this weekend. I only have the files available on one computer right now. Anyway, you are at the intersection where the road splits to go to the Valley of Vines to the northeast and Gilgamar to the southeast. The garrison is small, but well organized and tended. It's about 9:00pm or so...
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:40, Fri 12 Sept 2014.

"Yes, we have a deal Thelma." said Lya with a smile.

Looking around her she headed off in the direction of the kitchen, her nose leading her to it by the somewhat enticing scents it was giving off.

Going through the door she came up to the old woman she found within and introduced herself. "Good evening. My name is Lya. Deputy-Seeker Haymane sent me. She said you could set me up with a cot and a meal. I'm here to work for a week in exchange for a horse."

She looked at the woman before her with a look of earnestness while also looking about curiously.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:50, Sun 14 Sept 2014.

Old Mother Haga was a large woman, indicative of much testing and tasting of the bounty of her kitchen. She appeared to be a motherly (or grandmotherly) type found in a quaint country cottage instead of a bleak stone garrison at the base of a craggy mountain. Her gray hair was pulled back behind her head, but a stray lock had fallen down in an almost girlish fashion. Her eyes betrayed the rest of the comforting appearance for they held a haunted look and she had dark circles under them, perhaps from many a night spent crying herself to sleep. She smiled warmly and extended a dough-covered hand, giving Lya a firm grip.

"Ooops, looks like you'll need to wash up. There's a basin over there Miss Lya. Then will you fetch me that basket of apples there? They're fresh off the tree, summer apples just make a meal this time of year..." The large woman bustled around the well-cared-for kitchen chattering on as if Lya had grown up there. "Mama" Haga was a study in efficiency. She was preparing and cooking, slicing and dicing, and tending the flames of her cook fires. In no time she had Lya lined out.

"A week will go quick around this place Miss Lya, there's lots to be done right now. Maybe by the end of the week I'll have convinced you to stay to help an old woman about her chores... Oh... child hold the knife this way, then you can slice in both directions... twice as fast that way." Mama Haga adjusted Lya's knuckles on the sharp knife she was using to slice the first of the summer apples.

While they were working, Mama Haga offered her tastes and tidbits of different things, asking her opinion each time as if Lya were a guest chef from some fancy staff at a Noble's Manor in the Capitol. "I think it needs a bit more salt, what do you think dear? Oh, this should simmer a tad longer to bring out the flavor, don't you think?" Lya soon found the edge taken off her hunger from all the sampling she'd been induced to partake of, and she'd learned a fair bit about cooking without even realizing she'd been instructed.

Finally, after perhaps a half an hour of business, the fat old woman handed Lya a large wooden tray, brimming with steaming meats, potatoes, carrots and other hearty sides. "Take this down to the council chamber will you dear one? I take it they're having a meeting. Tell Thela hello for me would you? Oh, don't forget these utensils... When you come back I'll have a plate ready for you, and then you can help me scrub up!" Old Mother Haga made it sound as if cleaning dirty crockery was the most exciting part of her day. Lya was bustled out of the kitchen and into the stone and wood hallway. There was a short flight of stairs leading down to her right. From that direction, she could hear muffled voices which seemed to be in deep discussion.

[Private to Lya: As usual, a few minor liberties taken in order to set the scene... sry.]

OOC: The garrison has two floors with a high stone wall around the roof from which a handful of archers might defend. The building is built into a hillside such that the back door of the kitchen goes right into a garden. The rest of the main floor is divided into a barracks and a small study or office. Down below is a medium-sized council room, a small armory, and a hallway which leads deeper into the hillside. There is also a doorway leading out into the yard. The entry into the main floor is by way of a stairway made of rough, hand-hewn boards.  Outside the building there is a stable, a stone latrine, some storage buildings, a well, and a basic blacksmithing setup. Surrounding the garrison is a wall made of stout, sharpened logs which are planted in the rocky soil and lashed tightly with rawhide.

In a bemused cloud Lya followed along with Old Mother Haga as she did the little tasks set before her. If she weren't still so spooked about being nearly caught when her friend was hung she'd have turned down the Deputy's offer. As it was she found herself doing things about the kitchen that made her feel awkward and ill at ease while her stomach growled and her belongings hung heavy on her shoulders.

Taking the tray Old Mother Haga handed her she resisted the urge to sneak some of the food into her mouth as she walked it down to the council chamber.

The sound of voices in earnest sounding discussion attracted her natural inquisitiveness and, after looking about to see if anyone was near, went to the door to see if she could hear what was being said, being careful to have an excuse in mind and keeping an eye and ear out for anyone approaching.

On silent feet, Lya approached the heavy wooden door. As she leaned her slightly pointed ear against it, she could hear a man's voice speaking, and though it was still a bit muffled, she knew that she didn't recognize it.

"...activity in the area. I have reports from all the way up near the northern border down to Gilgamar. These stories are similar enough to make me think there's only one of these... ...separated enough that distances and times don't match... ...sudden increase in activity does not bode well... ...something is coming... ...feel it!"

In response came the muffled voice of Deputy-Seeker Haymane, "Sir, I can only tell you of the... ...found them dead, their horse was also slain and bore the only marks. The woman had been dragged... ...must have been very strong to overturn the carriage. Also of note, the man was not armed, but his belt had been..."

"You followed... ...you find her?"

"At the bridge... ...either sincere, or very good at avoiding my abilities... ...has been cooperative. I think she's scared of being found and I don't blame her. Honestly Sir, I don't believe she could... ...but my "sight" led me to her from the scene for some reason..."

"Why don't we bring her in now? Oh, see about a plate of food too, Old Mother Haga must be chatting with our foundling..."

Beyond the doorway there was a scrape of a chair leg on the stone floor, and a booted footfall coming toward her!

On quiet feet Lya hurriedly went back to the hall she'd been heading down and went on her way with the tray of food though to be honest she had no idea where she was headed anyway but she shrugged to herself and relaxed her body while she thought desperately: the Seeker had the Sight?! You have GOT to be kidding me! she demanded of the gods. Hadn't they toyed with her enough already? It was enough to drive a person to distraction. Might as well give up being a thief entirely at this rate. The Sight. Hmmph. She was beginning to suspect there was something very wrong with this Universe and she wanted nothing to do with it. Might as well go into a nunnery. Yep. A nunnery with habit and all. The Sight. Bah! And so she went on muttering silently to herself the whole time.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:40, Tue 16 Sept 2014.

"Ah! There you are!" said one of the deputies she'd met earlier in the day. "Just in time, we're rather hungry. Why don't ya bring that down here, and then Deputy-Seeker Haymane would like to ask you a few questions... one last time... thanks."

The man turned back down the stairway and held open the heavy wooden door for her. Through the doorway she could see a handful of other Deputy-looking folks sitting around a very sturdy and large square table.


OOC: Sorry short, super busy...

Lya went through the door nodding her thanks to the man holding it for her. Moving about the room she deposited the food best she could not having much experience in serving at the table. That done she asked the man who'd greeted her, "Where do I find Haymane?"

"I'm right here," said a woman dressed now in gray robes. She smiled that smile which conveyed little measure of emotion. "I had to get out of that armor and riding gear. I'm afraid I was not meant for it." Her slightly elven features, much less pronounced than Lya's, were pinched and tired-looking in spite of the smile on her face.

"You've met Deputies Muddoc and Cooper, may I introduce you to Command-Deputy Byron Farfeld," she said motioning to an important looking man seated at the head of the table, "Deputy Coll Honeywell, and Ghelm, our garrison Quartermaster..." She motioned to a tall man with dark eyebrows and grayish hair and a grizzled dwarf wearing a breastplate over a sleeveless shirt which left his gnarly muscled arms bare.

"We'll try to keep this very short. I know you must be even more exhausted than we are, you said you were running most of the day, isn't that right?" The interrogation had begun.

OOC:
Ok, here's how we'll do this. We'll roll a contest of your Charisma versus Haymane's Intelligence. High roll (that is, farthest under the attribute score) for me means I control the outcome of the questioning. High roll for you means you have the final say... I'll post my roll now. If you win, go ahead and answer them if you like or simply narrate how you dodge directly answering them.

The questions concern your whereabouts since last night, if you saw anything strange on the road, a description of your first encounter with the wolf-like creature, your escape and travel to the bridge, and your real reason for being in the region...

Deputy Haymane rolled 16 using 1d20 ((16)) That was 1 under her Intelligence of 17.

So, roll 1d20 and subtract that number from your Charisma Score to find your margin of success... If it is greater than 1, you win!

Contest of Wills: 14 using 1d20. Points under CHA score of 18: 4.

Lya groaned inwardly but smiled helpfully and recounted her entire "story" beginning from her escape from the people paid to deliver her to the fat city lord as his concubine, her travel down the road with Fig, her less than happy encounters at the mining camp, her night at Fig's farm, her journey off the road and in the forest to avoid being found by either anyone sent by her parents or the city lord to retrieve her or the men from the mining camp, her sighting of the man-wolf beast, and her encounter with Deputy Haymane at the bridge. Left out of the story was her time spent with the thief in the city she'd stayed at after escaping the ship while it was in port taking on supplies before it's final leg transporting her to her new home as an unwilling concubine, the encounter at the carriage and her taking the bauble and the blade, and her hiding said items in the water.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:59, Fri 19 Sept 2014.

OOC: Nice.

Command-Deputy Farfeld spoke after the silence that followed Lya's story. It had taken her a good while in the telling, but was full of enough truth that her exclusions were easily glossed over. The others sat back in their chairs, and while they had the courtesy not to eat while Lya was talking, she could see their eyes straying to the still steaming plates.

"Thank you Miss Lya. Deputy-Seeker Haymane has informed me that she promised you a horse in exchange for helping Mother Haga. I appreciate your willingness to work, and if you're not careful you might actually learn a thing or two. While it is not normally our protocol to allow weapons to be carried by those who've not taken our Oath inside the garrison, I'm lifting that restriction in light of certain occurrences of late."

Farfeld glanced around at the others before he continued. The tall man, Honeywell, scowled, but said nothing. "We've several reports of strange creatures in the region of late. Not a few describe sights and sounds such as you experienced this morning. For your safety, I might suggest you remain under arms during your time here. We're spread fairly thin right now. I don't mean to alarm you, and there is likely little threat to the garrison, but we believe many of the reports are factual and it's better to be prepared than caught unawares. I think that is all, why don't you go check in with Mother Haga and perhaps she'll draw you a bath. Thank you Miss Lya, and well met."

The other deputies murmured and then attacked their plates as soon as they thought it was politely possible to do so.

Lya dutifully left the room and returned to "check in" with Mother Haga, inwardly relieved at having survived yet another round of questions. She was not looking forward to a week of toiling about but at present she just wanted food, a bath, and a place to sleep. She'd also have to coax some willing young man to instruct her in how to ride and care for a horse and it's equipment. That part of this, at least, should be fun.

Old Mother Haga seemed to have read the mind of the garrison commander, for as Lya returned, the matronly woman took her out the back, through the kitchen garden and showed her the bathhouse. The building was also of stone and housed several small pools of water fed by a mountain seep of warm water. It smelled just a bit of rotten eggs, but seemed otherwise very inviting. Mama Haga left a towel and a simple set of clothes and told her to take her time. When she returned to the kitchen, the older woman showed her a straw pallet in a pantry for a little privacy.

OOC

If you'd like to narrate anything between now (11pm) and tomorrow around noon, go ahead, otherwise we'll skip ahead just a bit in game time.

It had been a long day. Freshly cleaned, belly full, and the long miles behind her Lya tiredly set her things in order on the pantry floor and retrieved her blanket. Pulling it over herself she lay down on the straw and was soon asleep.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:01, Mon 22 Sept 2014.

The following morning Mama Haga got Lya lined out very early. It was still dark out, although the sky was beginning to lighten just a bit. It was now exactly a day since she'd seen the creature which had attacked the brother and sister on the road. She'd been tasked to go out into the kitchen garden and dig a basket of potatoes. Halfway through the chore, she heard far in the distance, that same bone-chilling sound the creature had made. Fig had been right. Once one heard it, one would never forget it.

The remainder of the morning went quickly with one thing leading into another. Old Mother Haga was very efficient, and she made the chores of preparing and cooking food, cleaning up dirty crockery, and washing dirty linen a rather enjoyable task. While they worked, the old matron told Lya her story. She had had five sons and a daughter who were all nearly grown when her husband was drowned in a freak spring runoff. They had decided to abandon their farm and the four older sons had enlisted as apprentices to various tradesmen. They had gone after their work and now lived in Falport, Hogship and two were in Zel. Her daughter had taken ill and after two years of struggling to fight off a fever, eventually succumbed to it. Her last son had joined the local militia and had eventually become a Deputy. He was normally stationed here at the Garrison and had arranged for her to come aboard on staff. That had been nearly twenty years ago. Now her son was leading a patrol in the mountains on the northern border of Zeland. She hadn't heard from him in several months.

It was just as Lya was cleaning up after the noontime meal that the first tremors struck. The Deputies and their men had been abuzz that day, but Mama Haga had kept Lya so busy that she'd only gotten bits and pieces... something about a few new sightings, and a warning from some monk or other who had wandered down off the high mountain to the east. The plates on the heavy table rattled and shook, and the chairs inched their way across the floor. It was over nearly as soon as it had began. Then the garrison bell began to ring!

Lya ran to her place in the pantry and donned her armor over her own clothing and then, just as she was about to just grab up a weapon decided that, all in all, prudence dictated she prepare herself just as if she were setting out on the road again. Having decided this she got her self in order, blanket and backpack, weapon belt and baldric, weapons, everything. Then she went looking to see if she could find out what was happening.

The look on Mama Haga's face spoke volumes as Lya rushed through the kitchen and into the pantry to get her things. The old matron of the garrison was all in a dither as the tremor had caused a few things to rattle off walls and a container or two to break as they hit the hardwood floor. "Miss Lya!" she exclaimed as Lya rushed back through the room on her way to find out what was going on. "Come back! Let the militia-" Then Lya was through the doorway and into the hall.

The garrison was not very full at this time. Command-Deputy Farfeld had sent out several patrols in the last several weeks as the reports of strange happenings and sightings had come rolling in. During breakfast, which had been agonizingly early, Lya had picked up bits of conversation. Among the tidbits was that Farfeld had sent to Falport for some men to reinforce the garrison while his patrols were out. The response had been that there were strange things afoot up there as well, and that men could not be spared at this time. The suggestion had been to recruit some locals. This had been the punchline, in various forms, of the joke going around the breakfast table which the few remaining men and their leaders were sitting. Once breakfast had gotten over, they had dispersed to various tasks and Lya had attacked a pile of dirty dishes with Mother Haga's endless chatter to encourage her on.

Lya had just been in the process of cleaning up after the noon-meal when things began to get a little crazy. There had only been a handful of people at the table for, what was normally, the largest meal of the day. This seemed to be a tradition in keeping with the local farming communities who ate that way as well. Lya had taken a plate of food out to the forge for Ghelm who's duties as quartermaster included shoeing horses and repairing arms and armor. Inside had been the sour-faced Deputy Honeywell - whose disposition certainly did not live up to his surname - and a few milita-men who did all of the modest amount of talking.

The bell continued to toll as Lya ran down the stone hallway to the front of the building where a doorway led into the barracks or out to the grounds below. As she opened the door, she felt the warm breeze which had suddenly come up and saw the militia-men down below scurrying around madly as they were being barked at by Ghelm who was giving orders. Farfeld and Honeywell were nowhere to be seen, and neither were any of the other Deputies.

Up on a sturdy tower in the center of the grounds stood a lookout who was ringing the bell with all his worth. From the top of the garrison's main building's steps, Lya could see out over the stone wall topped with log spikes. The farmlands lay to the north, west and south. There was smoke rising in a few places as distant barns were aflame. She could make out farmers and their families frantically working to prevent the fires from reaching the fields. Then she felt a change in the wind as the warmth fled with the passing of the sun behind a very dark wall of clouds which had just slipped over the mountains, moving rapidly.

Lya heard the sound of horses hooves and Ghelm's roar to open the gates. In rode Seeker Haymane leading a wobbly and wounded Command-Deputy Farfeld who was weakly clinging to his saddle. With them came a half dozen militia-men who were in various stages of dying, but were still on their feet.

"Close the gates!" yelled Haymane once they were through, "To arms! To defense! We are under attack!"

Lya looked again over the wall and could see clouds of dust rising from the west and north... riders approaching. As if to start things off, the nasty cloud above them streaked with lighting and pounded out a booming peal of thunder which echoed off the mountains to the east.

Lya ran to meet Seeker Haymane and asked, "What's happening? Who's attacking?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:22, Fri 26 Sept 2014.

Seeker Haymane glanced at Lya, and then looked relieved. "I'm glad to see you armed Lya, we have only a brief time to be ready, for our foes are upon us!" She pointed out over the wall. "Two patrols did not report back from last night. We rode out this morning to check on them. Men were sent various ways. We found one patrol killed to a man along with their horses... they had been partially eaten!" she said with a shudder. There was a haunted look in her eye.

"Then as we were returning, we were set upon by a scouting party of men clad in gray, similar to my own uniform, but not the same. They spoke in a language I did not understand. We were able to  escape through a hidden pass, which gained us a little time. I know not of the other patrols, but my guess is that what is here is what we have left." She turned to fully face Lya and put a gloved hand on her shoulder. "I cannot require you to fight, you are not enlisted nor volunteered, but I would ask you to fight with us... especially if you want to see another dawn."

As if to punctuate her plea, a bolt of lightning seared the quickly darkening sky, accompanied by a tremendous thundering boom, enhanced by the echoes off of the nearby mountains.

"I could use an archer," she said, pointing to the lookout tower where the militia-man had been ringing the bell. "Ghelm can equip you with a stout bow and arrows, that would be the best spot. My men are already fatigued and they'll be needed to hold the gate. Can I count on you?"

Lya searched Seeker Haymane's distraught face. Then nodded.

"So you believe me better now about the man-beast I saw? Do you have any idea...at all about why these foes are attacking? What is going on? There is something you are not telling me. I will stand and fight with you, Seeker, but I believe I have the right to truly know why I am risking my life. Don't you?"

Lya glanced briefly over the wall of the garrison in the direction of Fig's farm. Her heart ached at the thought of that good man and his family out there unprotected. Then she shook her head sadly and looked back at Seeker Haymane expectantly. She comforted herself with the thought that perhaps Fig and his family had been able to slip away to safety since farming people rose early...before the sun...and perhaps even before most would begin an attack.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 22:23, Fri 26 Sept 2014.

Deputy-Seeker Haymane glanced toward the garrison gate and then sighed. "So be it Lya, give me your hand."

As their hands grasped, the Seeker reversed an ability she almost always used to peer into the thoughts of others. She projected her own thoughts into Lya's mind. The experience was intense and condensed, much quicker than trying to explain to her all that had gone on in the weeks leading up to this moment.

[Private to Lya: I'll let you narrate the following and how Lya might have experienced this in your own words. Be as creative as you like. The images communicated to her are the following:

- Supernatural creatures have been attacking in the region. Lya sees grizzly sights of the victims of these attacks.

- Signs, smells, tracks, spore, of a very large creature was discovered recently (within the last couple of days) in the mountains, victims of all types, it kills without discrimination.

- Haymane has the Sight and shares the image of an invasion and take over of Zeland which has been troubling her recently. Scenes of suffering and oppression flood Lya's mind.
]

When the experience ended, Haymane released her hand and gave her a grim look. "I'm sorry Lya, you asked for it." She shook her head sadly and then turned on her heel and began directing some of the haggard-looking men.

Command-Deputy Farfeld seemed to have recovered somewhat. His hands glowed faintly and his voice seemed to carry as his orders were spoken. Ghelm was dispersing weapons and carrying timbers to fortify the gates. He was a grizzled veteran and acted as if he alone might prevent the garrison from being overrun. It wasn't arrogance, but a sense of confidence and stone-cold determination. His white beard swirled in the cold wind as the first raindrops started to fall.

Lya gasps slightly as Thela's thoughts are poured into her mind. Gruesome images of the victims of super-natural creatures as experienced by another person cause Lya's stomach to roil. On the pictures go, one after another. Lya, wishing she could stop them, watches helplessly as they wash past her. Signs are discovered of a very large creature in the mountains in the last couple of days. Then more scenes of horror tear at her as she sees it's victims also. Zeland is being invaded. There is suffering, oppression. Finally, just as Lya thinks her mind will break under the onslaught, the contact is broken and the pictures stop. Shaken, she looks with harrowed jade green eyes at Thela. Lya hardly hears the Seeker's words before the Deputy turned away to help marshal the garrison.

Swallowing bile she looks about her and finally locates Ghelm. Walking over to him on unsteady legs, knees loose, her normal honey tan complexion now pale, she asks faintly, "Have you a bow? And arrows? Deputy Haymane said I was to ask you for them...so I could help defend." It was all she could manage to say before she had to swallow back a new wave of nausea.

Lya hated feeling this way. Hadn't felt this way since she'd seen her friend Telin, hung by the neck for stealing from a nobleman. She put out a hand and placed it on the wall to steady herself. Her normal grace of movement had abandoned her and she did a half stumble while she waited for a response.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:07, Mon 29 Sept 2014.

The white-bearded dwarf grunted at Lya as he nodded. He brought her a finely balanced bow and two quivers of stout leaded arrows. "Hey," he said in his gravelly voice, "get sick later... now ye gotta fight! Keep yer wits about ye lass... Aim true and strike often!" He gave her a rough shove in the direction of the watch tower, much as a drill instructor might do had she been enlisted.

Men scrambled to get the planks into position on the gates. Hasty preparations continued around her as everyone had a job to do and no time to do it.

OOC: The bow has an extended range due to the cunning fashion of Ghelm's dwarven design, and is no harder to pull back and hold. The arrows have been embedded with a thin line of lead to give them additional weight. When they hit, they'll add a +2 to damage at anything farther than close distance. Up close, they carry a -2 penalty to accuracy for being difficult to nock quickly.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:49, Wed 08 Oct 2014.

Lya nodded tersely, strands of her blue-black hair plastered to her sweat drenched brow.

Taking the bow and quivers she made her way to the watchtower and clambered up it.

On reaching the top she eased the straps of her pack off her shoulders and set it close to hand noting where she had put it and marking in her mind what she would do in case she had to quit the tower in a hurry. Leaving her pack behind was not an option.

This done Lya took up the bow and the arrows and inspected them closely by sight and touch.

She pulled the bowstring to test the draw weight of the bow. She made the first draw a slow one with her eyes closed to pick up how the bow acted. She made a second and third draw the same way. This done she changed the bow to her other hand and repeated the procedure. After a moment's rest she lifted the bow and drew it three times, rapidly, in succession. Switching the bow to her other hand she did the same.

That done she set the bow aside and secured the quivers to her. One she fixed around her thigh and the other she set across her back. She had to make some adjustments to her weapons belt and baldric and the frogs attached to them but in the end it came out successfully.

Picking up the bow she now repeated her previous steps but this time nocking an arrow while doing so.

After she had done all that she went from place to place around the watch tower and sighted the bow at different places and from different angles. Shortly she felt she was as ready as she could be.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:05, Tue 30 Sept 2014.