[It's been three days since you left to find this "Blazing Arrows" school. It's been a long, long walk down the highway to Omaha, but it's all been worth it. The school, such as it is, is in sight. Less than a block separates you from the main entrance. The school itself is immense compared to the surrounding buildings, and totally enclosed, presumably so that stray arrows don't strike passerby.] [Currently, there's a small flood of people leaving the school, all of which are carrying unstrung bows made in the ancient style, rather than modern compound bows.] [Session Start] * Shiho watches the people on their way out. * Rocky snoozes. * A few of the children give you odd looks, but mostly they ignore you as they are picked up by soccer moms. * Shiho makes her way into the school. * The main lobby of the school is small, probably to make more room for the practice areas. There's a small desk with a computer, behind which sits a young man with blond hair, dressed in loose jeans and t-shirt. He looks up as your entrance triggers a small bell. "Welcome! Can I help you?" *** NPC1 is now known as Secretary Hi. I'm interested in joining the school. * Secretary looks Shiho up and down. Mmmmhmm. You've already got a bow, I see. Are you any good with it? I'd like to think so. I know how to use it, at least. Really. * Secretary stands up and steps out from behind the desk. * Shiho follows the secretary with her eyes. * Secretary walks over to one of the two doors on the rear wall. * Secretary opens it up. "Come with me. We'll put that statement to the test." * Shiho goes with him. * Secretary steps through. * On the other side are a half dozen men armed with bows and they're all pointed directly at you. * Shiho stops dead, ready to dart out the door if need be. * Secretary blinks. Something wrong, miss? You appear to have frozen up. * Shiho looks to the secretary and gestures at the men. "What's this about?" Oh, they were your first test. Just to see how you react. * Secretary waves at the men. "You can go now, guys. Nice to see you're still attentive." * The men bow to the secretary and walk out through a door into the next room. Hm. Well, you've seen it. Yeah, I have. Come on, it's time for your next test. Just marksmanship for this one, nothing surprising. * Shiho follows the GM.. Ah, the secratary. Very well. * Secretary steps through the door into the next room. * Shiho still follows the secretary * The next room is a very, very large shooting range. It's also circular. That is to say, there's a track around the outside of the circle, upon which rests a cart, which you step out onto when you come through the door, and there are targets in the middle. The targets appear to be moving. In fact, when you look closer, the targets appear to be the men you were faced with last time. There's one missing, though. He's standing next to the cart, getting ready to push it. * Shiho raises an eyebrow and looks to the secretary. Draw that bow of yours. Start shooting when the cart starts moving. The men are your targets. * Shiho scowls. "You expect me to shoot them?!" Yes? * Shiho frowns. "If I do that, I might kill them." Only if you're a whole lot better than you say. Probably not, but do you want to take that chance? Yes. And so do they, otherwise they wouldn't be out there. This is training for them, too. * Shiho frowns, remembering what happened the first time she did this. Fine, I'll do it. * Shiho draws her bow, looking none too pleased. * The man behind the cart starts pushing slowly. * The men in the center stand still. You can start now. * Shiho fires at one of the men. * The man next to that one snaps out an arm, grabbing the arrow out of the air about a foot from the other's chest. * The man you were looking at does his best to not look relieved. "MOVE!" * Shiho frowns some more, wondering why they don't just have training arrows. * The cart speeds up a bit, and the men start moving slowly. * Shiho fires again! * Two of the men lean backwards, letting the arrow pass over them, while a third reaches out to snatch it out of the air. "Faster!" * The cart starts moving faster, as do the men in the center. * Shiho fires again, 'cause the secretary didn't say to stop :P * The arrow passes just between two men and grazes the ribs of a third, but is caught by the fourth. Good. "FASTER!" * The cart picks up speed again, but it's uneven as the man pushing it alternately pushes hard and pulls suddenly, while the men in the center go into full arrow-dodging action. * Shiho adjusts her aim to compensate and fires summore. * This arrow embeds itself in the thigh of the first man it encounters, dropping him to the ground. Impressive. "STOP!" * The cart is slowly pulled to a stop, and the men in the center begin treating the wounded man. * Shiho unreadies her bow. You're not bad. Not bad at all. Very well. I'll accept you as a student. * Shiho nods. * Secretary offers his hand to Shiho. "What's your name?" * Shiho takes it Shiho Yamaguchi. * Secretary nods. "Nice to meet you, Shiho. I'm Alan Magnus the twenty fifth. You can call me "Master," though." * Shiho nods. "Alright, master, when do we get started?" We can start your training whenever you like. Today, in fact, if you're ready. * Shiho nods. "More than ready. Good. It's nice to get an enthusiastic student every once in a while. This school, in case you haven't noticed, focuses rather heavily on close combat archery. If you can't take the heat of having someone trying to take your head off with various melee weapnos, this isn't the school for you. That said, let's get training. * Shiho nods. [Session End]