Four Feet to the Target (LM, The Desert, Archer Event)

[Jewel]

The desert outside the city gates once again serves as the field of competition though this time the sectioned off area is considerably larger. Near to the gate a number of horses and camels have been arrayed for those participants who do not possess their own mount. The task itself is simple for those with experience riding. Select your steed, mount, ride down the range, and fire at the provided target. While easy to describe, for those new to horseback it will likely be much more difficult to accomplish.

Participants will be judged on both their horsemanship and archery skills with a single shot being scored. They will be allowed to attempt the course twice but a lack of confidence in ones skills is likely to be judged harshly.

Prepare Your Steed
Those who bring their own horse or camel may skip this step if they wish. NPC Archers with Horsemanship are assumed to be bringing their own steed.
A character with a mount may choose to roll but must take the penalties if the roll fails. NPC Archers are assumed to have no ranks of Animal Handling and an Awareness of 2.

Players will roll Animal Handling/Awareness (Horse or Camel) against TN10. On a failed roll they suffer -5 to their Horsemanship roll plus an additional -2 for each called raise. A success means no penalty. A success with raises adds +2 to the Horsemanship roll per raise.

Ride With Style?
Players will roll Horsemanship/Agility (Horse or Camel) TN10. On a failed roll they suffer -5 to their Archery roll plus an additional -2 for each called raise.

Fire
Players will roll Archery TN10.

Repeat?
Players may attempt another round rerolling both Horsemanship and Archery. They must keep their second score even if worse. They are penalized one point.

These rolls are considered non-combat. However some combat techniques may apply - please ask in the GM questions thread if you think yours might.

Magic is highly not recommended as there is a very fixated Khadi watching this unfold. Any subtle casting will be an opposed roll.

Archers are provided a bow if they do not have one.

Scoring:

One point if Horsemanship succeeds
One point per raise on Horsemanship if the target is hit successfully.
One point for hitting the target
One point for the most raises on Horsemanship if the target was hit successfully
One point for the most raises on hitting the target

Winners will be ranked on total points, most archery raises, most horsemanship raises, most combined raises, and then Khadi's discretion in case of further ties.

1st place wins: 5 copper and +.3 Glorious Reputation
2nd place wins: 3 copper and +.2 Glorious Reputation
3rd place wins: 1 copper and +.1 Glorious Reputation
Anyone with 0 points total who called raises on Horsemanship or Archery gains +.2 Infamous Reputation)

[Asher]

Camelmanship - Ride with Style, - Void - 2 raises, tn 20: 6d10o10k4 30

archery - Fire - Void - 2 raises, tn 20: 7d10o10k4 37

Damascus is one of the first out of the gates, mounted on her camel she draws her bow and fires quickly and accurately without hesitation or word.

(4 Points)

[Soraya al-Menjari]

Soraya's sponsored archer, the Moto tribeswoman Yarut, was more comfortable in the saddle anyways. So it was that she followed up Damascus with her own fancy riding shot, hitting a bullseye at a full gallop while hanging off the side of her horse.

Day 3, LM, 4 Feet From, Ride With Style, 2 called Raises, TN 20, VP +1k1 (1/2 for sponsored archer): 7d10o10k4 40

Day 3, LM, 4 Feet From, Fire!, 2 called Raises, TN 20, VP +1k1 (2/2 for sponsored archer): 7d10o10k4 31

(4 points)

[Arash Karuvah]

Arash trotted out on his own Ivindi steed, familiar with his rhythm and cadence as he started running and raised his bow. The shots rang out, and hit quite nicely, though it seemed he wasn't alone in that.

OOC:
Prepare your steed: already done

Ride with style:
D3 LM Archery Event, Ride with Style, Prodigy, VP, 2 CR, tn 20: 6d10o10k4 31

Fire:
D3 LM Archery Event, Fire, Archery/Ref, Strength of Indra, Prodigy, VP, 2 CR, tn 20: 8d10o10k4 39

Total: 4 points

[Kezia]

Kezia looked her borrowed horse in the eyes.

"Don't give me any jib, you bastard."

It appeared to get the point across, and the animal seemed basically compliant as Kezia gingerly climbed into the saddle.

"Enter the archery contest," I said.
"It'll be fun," I said.
"What's the worst that could happen?" I said.

It's a good thing nobody asks me to think most of the time.

"Now let's try not to make a Kezia-shaped hole in the ground, hm?"

Her riding, was, well... alarmingly good, given that she had literally never done this before- but between a dancer's grace and certain gifts she kept under wraps, she managed to do a credible job.

Now I just gotta hit the bastard.

Which she did. Dead center.

Hell, that went way better than I expected...

[1 point for decent riding.
1 point for hitting the target.
2 conditional points for called raises on the target which se won't be getting, re-reading the rules.

2 points total]

[Lamis Naaji]

Lamis strokes Janan's nose as they wait their turn, watching their competitors, and frankly admiring the horsemanship of the foreigner Yarut. She looked born to the saddle and the rapport between her and the horse was almost magical.

She grins at Janan's eager shove and fishes one of yesterday's dates from a small pouch. "Only one before the contest, greedy. Two more if we shine..." with a shake of her head she says, "who am I kidding, you'll have them both regardless. OK...we need to be fancy for the crowd now, hmm."

'Fancy' in this case means no saddle, no bridle, no reins. Just horse, and rider, and the ornately painted bow. Perhaps some were born to the saddle, but nomad children were clinging to a horse's mane before they could walk, and that was the ease Lamis needed to have today.

She asks one of those assigned to the animal pens to hold her strung bow and two arrows while while she mounts carefully, saving the flashy nonsense for the field. Bow in hand, and arrows between her teeth, she signals Janan into a headlong charge down the field, sitting up after a moment to impossibly bring both arrows to the string.

She breathes, letting her focus reduce to nothing but the target. The next breath draws on the inhale and looses smoothly on the exhale, barely shifting her seat as Janan thunders onward, pulling up a bit short of the target to wait for the score to be recorded and arrows removed. One was well sunk into the center, with the second impaled three fingers to the right.

Stroking Janan's neck as she rides back, Lamis promises, "I'll buy you an actual apple at the market today."

********************************
D3 Event Ride with Style. VP 3CR TN 25: 6d10o10k4 30

D3 Event Fire! VP 3CR TN 25: 7d10o10k4 36

5 points

[Rufus Belgica]

Rufus eyes the camel in front of him. He was equally lost when it came to horses, so at least with something new, he was at least trying out something that we couldn't do at home.

"You can do this" He says, the words applying just as much to the camel as it does himself" He reaches out a hand to rest in on the beast's snout, trying to will it into calmness before he climbs on.

It doesn't work. The creature is immediately agitated and starts off at a dead run.

"Whoa, whoa WHOA there" Rufus tugs the reins, bringing the creature to heel in time as the target approaches. He pulls out the bow and tracks the target as he moves closer. There is no attempt at style here, his shot hitting home well, but without fanfare or chance to show off due to his need to grab the reins quickly to keep control


____
D3 Archery Event-Animal Handling/Awareness, VP for phantom rank, 2 CR, TN 20: 4d10o10k3 15
D3 Archery Event-Horsemanship/Agility, VP for +1k1, -9 penalty for last roll, TN 10: 4d10-9 15
D3 Archery Event-Archery/Reflexes-TN 10: 4d10o10k3 26

2 points

[Faruq Al-Farhan]

Faruq looked with some amazement at some of the archers sponsored by merchants to participate in the tournament - it might be expected, since they had been hired for this exactly, but it was still exciting and inspiring to see them riding and such with such ease and flair. He was then happy to see his rafiq Arash doing equally well... and then even more inspired by the wild, fantastic performance put forward by the nomad who had been at the Maze with Ali and himself not long before today's competition.

The stories she had told her had inspired him for other reasons, of course - but seeing this made him admire her skills, and her people, even more.

The fact that he had actually bet some coins on her late last night definitely made him happy, too... but that wasn't the point. The main one, anyway...

He knew for a fact that he could never put up a performance on par with those he had just seen... but he wanted to at least give it his best - and again, he wanted to learn.

Getting to the stalls, he chose a horse instead of a camel - maybe influenced by the competitors he had just seen. Although he had little actual experience with animals, he managed to calm his chosen steed and mount it easily enough. Once on the saddle, he felt comfortable enough to do something at least interesting, and tried spurring the horse to speed up more and more as they crossed the field.

Before the horse went from a canter to a gallop, though, Faruq's kicking seemed to hit the horse the wrong way, and it suddenly jibbed and reared, nearly throwing Faruq off the saddle. Holding on for dear life, he managed to keep mounted - barely - and pulling on the reins with far more willpower than skill, he managed to bring the horse to a trot that was at least stable enough to attempt a shot - which, unsurprisingly, went wide.

He knew this was not far from what most expected after his shooting the day before, and he was about to give up and go back to the stables... but then he reined the horse in, stopping to take a moment to think.

He had got into this to learn - and mistakes were often the best teachers one could have. Still... mistakes would only teach if you used them to go ahead and do things differently until you actually succeeded, right?

So he kicked the horse to start moving again, and turned around. This time, he spurred it only to a trot, keeping a much more careful approach. Coming closer to the target, he went for another shot - and while it wasn't anything artful like those of most of the former competitors, it did hit the target. It wasn't much, but at least he felt he had done what he set out to do as he guided the horse back to the stables once again, and he had a pleased smile on his face as he dismounted and made his way to join the audience.

OOC:
D3 LM - Prepare your Horse, TN 10: 2d10k2 12

D3 LM - Ride with Style - Riding/ Agility, 1 CR, TN 15, 1 VP for skill: 4d10o10k3 12 - THANKS Orokos! XD

D3 LM - Fire - Archery/Ref, TN 17 (+7 from failed Riding w/ 1 raise): 2d10k2 10 - yay! lol

D3 LM - Repeat - Ride with Style - Riding/ Agility, TN 10: 3d10k3 19 - Aaaaand now I get a result above 15 XD

D3 LM - Repeat - Fire, TN 10: 2d10k2 11 - Phew!

Counting points for second attempt only
Horsemanship success - 1 Point
Target hit - 1 Point

No raises called, so that's it
-1 point penalty for trying again:

Final score: 1 point \o/

[Ali ibn Farid]

"Uh... that one." Ali pointed at a horse entirely at random. After the conversation he'd had that morning, he felt more like trying a horse than a camel. Besides, how did one arrange oneself around the humps?

The horse... was awake. Mostly. Ali looked at it. It looked back at him, sort of. Ali frowned. Perhaps he should get a more lively one? But no, this seemed to be about what he could handle.

And so, Ali and the horse trotted out. Ali could feel sweat beading on his forehead as the horse took forever getting there. He raised his bow... realized he was still too far out... waited... the horse walked slowly forward... waited...

Finally, reaching the line, Ali let loose his arrow. Almost too soon, it was nevertheless a solid hit.

Smiling relief, Ali dismounted to lead the horse off at a more normal pace.

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Four Feet, Prepare Steed, unskilled awareness, TN10: 2d10 10
Four Feet, Ride With Style, Unskilled Agi: 3d10 11
Four Feet, Fire, 2 CR, TN20: 5d10o10k3 20
2 Points, wow minimum effort!

[Mari]

Mari's archery sallies forth. They ride competently and without any hesitation, showing off a bit before drawing and releasing the arrow into the target in a single, smooth motion - in the Rokugani fashion.

The option to make a second pass was waived.

----

D2 LM Event - Pass 1 - Ride w/ Style, VP, 2 CR, TN 20: 5d10o10k3 23

D2 LM Event - Pass 1- Fire, VP, 2 CR, TN 20: 6d10o10k3 31

Points:
+1 Successful Horsemanship
+2 raises on Horsemanship with successful hit
+1 Hitting target

Total: 4 pts