The path of an Archer
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It's probably midnight, it's quite dark and the far the only noise I can hear is the wind blowing through the leafs and some nocturn birds. It'd be risky to continue walking with this lack of light, in this forest I don't know, I'd probably get lost.
It's the third day in this forest, and from the thickness of the bushes and plants I believe I'm close to the exit. I've seen a lot of wild life in this forests, and also some beasts and creatures..I'm tired and hungry, I can't risk open hunting because of the goblinoids that live in these forests, they are not great scouts, but I'm also not a good sneaker, I've been lucky that I managed to get to a river to drink some water today, else I'd probably be dead.
It's time to rest, tomorrow will be a long day, hopefully the last day before I reach a town.
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_Ironic but comforting. I, who was determined in helping and protecting my elven family here in Narfell, nearly died the other day in the bugbear mines…only to be saved by Ash, the green-eyed scout I had been joking with a few hours ago. I could not but joke about that too then, eventhough innerly I was concerned about my inability to help, moreso, my inability to not be in need of help.
This clearly shows that I need to focus more in my training, train harder and never ever give up on this. I can feel I'm getting close, but I haven't reached the point yet..maybe...-she- will notice me then, and come and guide me, as she did with others._
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_I've met an elven priestess of Sehanine. Her name was Lalai'beth and she looked a bit different from other priestess I've seen. Her body all tatooed, and her calm look. Ama'bael kindly introduced her to me. She was nice, as always, and asked about my training. She's really friendly…I like that.
I asked her about Sehanine and the rest of the Seldarine, I'm certainly interested in this, and she looked wiling to tell me about it. I've already talked to others about this, Therean, Raryldor...but as I told her, every person will tell you a different story of the same tale, and even if most of what she can tell me will be nothing new, there's a high chance something will be new to me. I'm knowledge-hungry about all this, I want to know more about my elven family, our gods. I can't blame my parents for having a different culture though, but I'm glad i'm getting this chance now. The more I know -us- the better to protect -us-._
//Elidor has no lore Ranks yet due to his IC lack of knowledge on most things that should be first-thing for an elf, once I get next level though I will dump the lore skill to reflect this new influx of knowledge
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I've been spending the last months with all the elves in the region, Raryldor, Ama'bael, Therean, Yngdír, Troff, Sûldîn and others. They treat me all well, and I appreciate that. It feels like a family as it should be, so says Raryldor. I have the feeling they'd do anything for me, and that not only makes me happy, but gives me also more confidence. I think I'd do anything for them too. I've learnt a lot from them. There's many dangers in this lands, and we should protect each other to overcome this dangers. Because if you can't count with family…who do you count with?
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_Today Ama'bael gave me terrible news. She told me about some Minotaurs with red armors that are hunting elves. That seems to be their primarly goal, and they are not to be taken lightly.
I'm worried, but not just for myself or Ama'bael. I'm worried too because of the rest of my elven family, brothers and sisters that I've met here in Narfell. I've been told to avoid them and run if I spot one of the Minotaurs or hear their horns. But if I see another of mine in danger, how can I even consider runing? If i've learnt something here in Narfell from my brothers and sisters, is that we need to procect and help each other…and I won't be less. I'll be part of this too.She told me she trusts me, and I don't plan on deceiving her._
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_It was snowing, most people in Norwick was in their homes, because of the cold weather, and by the central fire there was just two men.
"Do you feel like some friendly archery contest?" Elidor asked while warming his hands by the fire. The man smiled, nodded. "Of course, why not".
They moved towards the two archery targets in the south and took position. "At the best of three?" The man asked. Elidor nodded in agreement and motioned him to wait before shooting. "Any special rules?" Elidor asked, smiling. The man seemed to think for a moment, then shaked his head and chuckled.
Near bulls eye. Near bulls eye. They were quite distant from the target. And both seemed to be fine shots. Inner Ring, Inner Ring. Tied. They both looked at each other for a moment. The man talked. "want to make a bet?". Elidor was a bit surprised, it'd be the first person to ask him for a bet in archery. The man might have noticed the surprised faced and quickly added. "200 coins, not too much eh?". Elidor winced. "Sure".
They both notched an arrow. Elidor waited calmly for his turn to shoot. The other man reached quietly for his belt and as he uncorcked a bottle he said. " No special rules, remember?" he chuckled and drank the potion. "true strike potions" read the label on it. It'd seem that Elidor had that one lost, but he is in fact, a bard, and fairly clever one. Before the man shot, he left out a loud shout which bumped the air around him, pushing the Man as well as he shot. Of course, the push was not enough to make him miss the shot, but it managed to make him fail the bulls eye.
Near bulls eye. "No rules, remember?" Said Elidor as the man looked at him with an annoyed face. The man crossed his arms, and waited. "You still have to make a bulls eye to win, elf. And you already used your trick".
One chuckle. "Who said that was the only trick"."~is the rhythm of my music with each arrow that I shoot, the power of my song will be the aim that strikes true…~"
The arrow notched started to glow blue, strongly. And as when he let it lose, it flight straight into the target, with speed and accuracy.
"Bullseye, my friend"....
And as he stopped singing, so did the arrow stop glow._
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_Today it's been a special day. I've met a true Arcane Archer…one of the few that follow the same path I'm trying to follow...and he has already succeded! I already knew him from before, but I had never guess he was ...in the same path as me.
We talked for a bit about it. He gave me advice, I feel more confident now, and he said he'll think about being my menthor, he looked much more excited about the idea after the trip we had together.
He shared part of his story to me, and I can't wait to hear more.
Today it's a good day._
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_It had been a long and tiring sword training sesion. Andrew is mastering the use of his sword up to a point that is hard for Elidor to stay unharmed even if they are just sparring. Andrews movements and swings are fast and deadly, despite the size of the greatsword and his own armor and weight. They both stopped for a break, Elidor healed his own wounds and they had a snak. They didn't talk for some time, and if they did, it was about nothing worth being mention in an tale. Finally Elidor pushed himself up.
"New training today" He said, as he reached for the bow on his back. Andrew stood up, too and followed him, scratching his head. With expert skill, Elidor chop down large branches from a tree, large branches. "Hold this up, you'd best not move though!". Andrew took the branch and stood his ground, 10 feet ahead of the target.
Elidor walked away, maybe at a distance of 60 feet, maybe 70 feet, if you didn't count them, I didn't either! He started to shoot arrows. Some went through the branches and hit the target, others got deflected upon contact with the branches and missed widely, and others simply got embebed in the branches.
"Come on, Elidor, I know you can do better!" Andrew shouted at him, grinning.
A small smirk, then he begun to sing a whispered song to himself, a quiet and delicated one:
"~This song will guide my arrow, through time and space
it will hit it's target, no matter how narrow's the way.
Aim true, shoot right. If you believe, missing is not for you~"Blue sparkles covered his arrows and soon were all glowing, he notched an arrow, aimed carefuly and shot. The arrow flow straight, no even moving an inch. Pheeeeeeeeezpf! Through the branches, hit the target. He quickly shot another arrow, and then another, and another, and many others, all of them while singing this whispered song, and all them going through the brances to impact in the archery target. pheeeeeeeeeeezpf!
"You missed that one, Elidor…" Said Andrew as the last arrow didn't impact in the target. Elidor stopped singing, the arrows took a few seconds before stop glowing and he approached him. Andrew put down the branch, tossing it away, and Elidor went past him towards the target... He skiped the target and leaning forward near the trees...reaching for an arrow embebed in a spiders corpse.
"Did I?".._
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_"You cant hit the feckin' target from ther' ya blind cow" The traveler said while passing through the legion training grounds. Elidor looking at him briefly, tilting his head a moment, sizing the man up before turning back his attention to his bow and the arrow notched in it. He was aiming pretty high.
"Ya deaf 'r som'thin', elf? ya got a feckin' wall right by your nose" the man started laughing some. Elidor began to whisper quietly to himself, a song. The man looked at him for a bit more "ya mutterin' to yourself now? hahahaha crazy elf.." the man turned and started walking off. Elidor kept singing, the arrows on his quiver started glowing, and so did the one notched. He let it fly, the arrow flying and glowing moved gracefuly, going into a beautiful arch only to impact into the target 70 feet ahead.~Plonk!~
How much surprised the traveler was upon hearing the arrow hit the target, is anyone's guess, yet Elidor kept shooting one arrow after another, from different possitions but always behind the fence, and not seing the target, though he knew where it was standing more o less.He stopped singing, and hung the bow from his back. It was a some seconds before the arrows stopped glowing.._
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_"Solonor Thelandira…" Elidor said quietly to himself as he reached for his bow and put it on his lap, running a hand through it.
Elidor was born in an Uthgar elven tribe and he was raised without ever questioning himself about his god."Why Uthgar? My actions, path and lifestyle hardly represent his dogma. Maybe I should have questioned this before, but now there's not really a thing I can do about it. Is it?" Elidor took a deep breath.
Andrew seemed to ponder for a moment, then put his hand in Elidor's shoulder. "I think you should follow the god who's dogma is represented more by who you are and what you do. It's not something that should be simply treated as a heirloom" That said, Andrew stood up and kept training against the orc dummy, leaveing Elidor alone so he could think about it...
Elidor opened the bag to his side and reached for a book. He stared at it for a while. He read the title to himself "The Great Archer". He ran his fingers through it once, then put the book away and pushed himself up, heading southwards giving Andrew a nod.
He asked an elven priest about Solonor. Therean was the priest. He learned all about Solonor that the priest could tell him, those that were present noticed his interest, any new thing he learned about Solonor he was even more impressed and fascinated. He then left to a quiet spot to think about it all.
"Uthgar? Solonor? One it's been my god for so long...and yet the other seems to fill me with joy and hope just by hearing his name."
Elidor was alone for a few hours, but when he came back to the fire where everyone was gathered, he told to Therean:"e> From now on, I'll be Elidor the archer, follower of Solonor. Thank you for bringing light to me.
It might have been pure coincidence, or it might not. But as he spoke those words, it started to rain, and he felt he had done the right choice_
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_"I want to practice some fast movements today, Elidor" He said, as he grabbed the amazing greatsword from his back, a blade with electrical sparks. He quickly swung at Elidor, so fast and unexpected that was it not for Elidor's innate agility and the fact Andrew didn't want to, he'd be cut in two, Andrew kept swinging and Elidor dodging or blocking, suddenly Andrew, even with his heavy armor and heavy sword, managed to move swiftly with a roll only to appear behind Elidor. The training for Andrew was like this for an hour, moving graceful despite the heavy armor, making Elidor dodge and unable to take advantage of Andrews continuous moving in battle.
"This will do for now. Time for your training." Andrew said, looking hardly tired. But Elidor had not such stamina, and he needed to stop for a bit to rest. Elidor tossed him a bag full of Coal to Andrew before sitting down to rest his arms. He pointed him to the top of the stairs leading to the legion tower.
Andrew made his way to the spot with a shrug. "What do you want me to do with this?" He asked curiosly. Elidor smiled and pushed himself up from the ground, taking the bow from his back and adjusting his quiver. "Throw them at me, as fast and accurate as you can".Andrew left the bag open and start throwing coal stones towards Elidor, not extremly accurate but in such an amount and speed that Elidor was forced to dodge them. At first , Elidor would dodge and try to shoot at the target. This time he wasn't too far from it, so he'd hit most of the times, yet not very accuratedly. Dodging and shooting is necessary at times, but it's also harder. "Now!" He shouted to Andrew. He picked up as many Coals as he could and started throwing with his two hands. Elidor started whispering a song to himself:
"~is the rhythm of my music with each arrow that I shoot, the power of my song will be the aim that strikes true…~"
He jumped backwards to dodge a coal, he landed on his feet and shot an arrow in less than a second, just before jumping again to dodge the next coal. Bulls Eye. Jump on the fence just to get a bigger jump frontwards from there, shooting while mid-air before landing. Bulls Eye. The now blue glowing arrows seem to find their way magicaly to the target thanks to the song. Dodge, duck, shoot. His movements ever so graceful and his aim ever so accurate, it looked more like a performing than a real training...which is what is was though.
"Out of Coal" Shouted Andrew. Elidor stopped singing and the arrows still were glowing blue....for some seconds. He took a deep breath, and hung the bow from his back approaching the archery target to retrieve his arrows and check how accurate he was. They both nodded approvingly.
For the sake of it, Andrew picked a coal "Elidor, get it!" he threw it high on the sky. Elidor turned around, notched an arrow and with a very low voice:"~With the power of my song there's not target small enough~" The arrow flying while glowing towards the coal and Zzaaaaaap! Impacted._
//OOC: I just want to clarify that all this I'm writing regarding Elidor and Andrew's training is something we both are in fact taking our time and effort to RP IG. I'm having a blast with him and the training and I so much feel it deserved to be posted in the forums
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_"my steel will strike true!" he heard, as he reached the legion's training grounds. Elidor stepped down from his horse and looked over the fence. A man in armor wielding a sparkling greatsword was graciously swinging the blade at the Orc combat dummy. "What are you doing there, fella?" Elidor asked , curiosly at him. The man didn't stop swinging, and only glanced at Elidor barely."Training". Shrug of shoulders, unstrapping the bow from his back right after that. "That's right" said Elidor just before starting shooting at the archery target from a fair distance.
The man by the Orc dummy was swinging the sword for a long time, and eventualy he'd stop for a break. Elidor, stopped to, and they both sit, back leaning at the fence. They were both visibly tired. One spoke about a important mission he had to succed in, the other about a lifestyle, a personal path to follow.
They kept talking for a while, and talking and talking they came with the idea of helping each other training."I'm-no–t really good with AH! swords!" Elidor said as Andrew and him were sparring with greatswords. Elidor could barely lift the sword, let alone swing it propertly and so Andrew didn't show any evidence of effort to block Elidor attacks. Elidor stepped back and raised his hand, the fight stopped. "Let me make this more challenging" Said Elidor opening a bulls strengh potion and enhancing the sword with a basic spell.
Now Andrew was showing more trouble to block Elidor's attacks, but he had been training for years and knew well how to use that type of sword, and quickly adopted a new defensive style that allowed him to block every single hit..."It's your turn!" said Elidor, from 80 feet distance, while Andrew, holding an archery target in his hands started moving it left and right, slowly. A few arrows flying into the target, careful of not hitting the man."Now comes the good part! Do it!" Shouted Elidor, and Andrew started to run left and right, while moving the target, always facing towards Elidor.
It was even harder than hitting a running goblin, Andrew was moving the target randomly, at the time he was runing left and right.A deep breath. Then...
"~is the rhythm of my music with each arrow that I shoot, the power of my song will let it fly right through....~" sang Elidor to himself in a whisper.
A blue glowing arrow impacted in the archery target, then another, and quickly another one. No matter how fast would Andrew move, Elidor would still manage to hit the target. His arrowstack inside the quiver was all glowing blue, and he shot about 20 more arrow.
"That was impressive" Andrew left the target on the ground as Elidor approached. The arrows not glowing anymore since the moment he stopped singing." How do you do that?" Andrew looked certainly amazed. Elidor shrugged lightly and helped him put the archery target in place, then they both sit by the fire to have something to eat. Had been a long, tiring day. Finaly, Elidor spoke.
"It's the music, the song"._
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_"Hey Elf, wanna come with us to the hobgoblins?" A man in full armor asked. Elidor glanced briefly at him, then at the group that was heading out. He adjusted the bow to his back and smiled. "Sure".
Eventhough a bit chaotic, the group advanced through the graveyard without trouble. A few skeletons here, few zombies there. Nothing too tough for them, yet they still got slightly wounded. Elidor gave some thought to that, but said nothing and he kept shooting arrows to the legs or arms of the foes if only to make the fighting easier to the others.
First group of hoblins, quite a number. The front liner looked capable enough of holding the line, and the other three looked like doing a good job as support archers. Elidor would only shoot everynow and then, since the aim of the trip was for the group to train, or so was he told at least. Hobgoblins dead, the group presented some light injuries, but they all decided to push it into the deeper territory while the sun still shone. "If you think you can handle.." said Elidor, quietly and not sure of their abilities.
To his surprise, things went rather good at the begining. Fighting one or even two hobgoblins was something they could manage on their own. Suddenly a scream, a cry for help. One of the archers was being chased by one of those scythe wielders. No time to think, no time to speak. Elidor notched an arrow….zzup! The hobgoblin left leg was incapacitated. zzzup! It could barely raise the scythe now. Zuup! It was dead. Three shots in a few seconds, precise and accurated. "Let's keep going".
"There's only two with crossbow over there." said Elidor, pointing behind some trees. The group decided , including elidor, that rushing them two wouldn't be a problem. However the hobgoblins had prepared a well planned ambush. It happened then, that as soon as they killed the first hobgoblin, 6 more appeared, including one of their casters. It was a tough battle, the sound of arrows flying and the sound of crossing swords echoed in the forest. "Back up here!" shouted one of the melees "Back up!" his voice scared and worried. One of the archers ran to aid him and managed to bring down in one shot the hobgobling as it was about to deal the final blow. Elidor took care of the caster before it could even start muttering the first spell and then quickly applied some balm on the barely alive man.
"Time to leave" Said the one leading the group. "We can't keep pushing as it is now." They started walking back to Norwick, quietly and with the eyes well open, in case more hobgoblins would show up. It was all clear though, and they reached the town quickly.
"Where's the elf?" Asked one. They looked around but they couldn't see him, was it left behind? where, when? was he dead? lost? Truth be told, they didn't look overly worried, but such things happen with people you barely know. They were sitting quietly by the fire, resting up their wounds, when they saw him enter the gates, wounded and singing to himself a quiet song. The arrows on the quiver glowing bright blue, and an Umberhulk shell on his hand."I needed to train to"._
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_The fire extinguishing quietly, Elidor drops another piece of wood. It's late, the sky is dark, cloudy so, that not even the moon is to be seen. The small fire feeds itself with the piece of wood and soon starts growing. Another wood log….and a small sigh.
"It has to be that. I wasn't able to pull out enough of the magic inside me." Murmers a few words and a ball of light floats over his head, giving him an easier time seeing what he's doing. Marking his arrows again. "But now it's different, I've been increasing the amount of magic I can take from inside myself. It might work this time".
He pushes himself up after carving his initial "E" in a whole stack of arrows. He kicks dirt at the fire and everything turns dark quickly. He reaches for his packs and lifts them easily, starts moving through the forest towards norwick..._
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_The sound of wood being cut and carved could be heard outside the walls." "What are you doing, Elidor?" someone asked, peering from inside the walls. It was nothing new to see Elidor alone, moreso now that most people had him for a traitor.
"Well..I'm marking the arrows. I've done them myself, all of them."he said, not specialy proud or bragging, just stating a fact. "And I'm marking them with the E". The other one chuckled. And with a grin in his face asked "And why'd you do that, you don't want them to be stolen" The man burst into a loud laugh.
Elidor didn't look up to him. Simply put the arrow away and picked the next one while starting to carve the E on that one. "I believe it makes the bound stronger." He considered that was all what was needed to be said. And the other man either understood or didn't give a damn about it and headed back inside the walls. Not that It mattered any to Elidor, so he kept with his carving and marking. But soon another voice raised, this time someone friendly, a voice of a friend.
"Heh, Elidor, I thought you had given up on that already" A friendly grin and pat on his back.
"It's been a long time, Aelfin…and yes, after my long search I gave up...but now I realize my mistake." Elidor pats the ground next to him, motions Aelfin to take a sit besides him and offers some elven fine wine to him as well. "I'm not sure why. Honest. All I know is that it's what I really want to become, and frankly...I think I would be more capable of defending those close to me. I've already failed to do so, I need to become stronger, and I know this is the way I want to do that."
Leaves out a sigh and puts the arrow away before taking the next one. He looks briefly at Aelfin's eyes. "I'll try even harder"._
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_"shoot, run , cover. Shoot, run , cover…" he said in low voice, nearly muttering, just to himself, as he was doing exactly what his words say. Thick woods in front of him, thousand trees ahead...some with a red target, others with a blue one. It was a good idea for a training. Or so he thought. Blue ones were those to be shot, red ones, represented his friends and commrades. Amongst them, some black ones, those made of metal, much more resisten to arrows.
Elidor would leave every night through the south gate and not return until the next day in the morning. This was serious. He had lost already friends to shadovars, and he was not going to let it happen to any other. He had to train, to become strong enough to protect those he loved, and his new home.
Whether that would be enough...only time will tell.The first hundred metters were easy. He's nimble and has a great aim. He moved fast though the trees, covering from the invisible opponents. Arrows piercing through the blue targets easily..but suddenly.."bang". One arrow hit a metal target and was deflected.
"Damn it. Not like that Elidor. Your arrows don't pierce this, then won't go through shadovars either." he blamed himself and went back to the start.
Deep breath while filling his quiver again. Just 99arrows, and 99 blue and black targets. No room for mistakes. You never know when one mistake might be fatal.
"One, two, now!" Elidor runs towards the woods again, shooting accuratedly at the blue targets and ducking behind trees every now and then. As he enters the cover by the tree, he spots a black target while notching the next arrow. With a firm conviction the only thing that crosses his mind is a common word. "Now".
~"The might of my song will enchance this arrow, let the power inside me fly straight and narrow~ he whispered concentrating. As soon as he starts whispering this, the arrows in his quiver start glowing blue and he quickly exits the cover from the tree and with a quick movement let's the arrow fly it's way to the metal target which gets pierced.
Swift movements from tree to tree, shooting glowing arrows now, the blue targets crack when hit by them and the black targets get pierced and the arrows stuck in them. ~"The path of archery is here, through the bow and the arrows runs what I feel"~. Elidor keeps whispering his enhancing song as he advances through the woods..._
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_I've recently met new people…and I've start traveling with them from time to time , not forgetting my old friends though. One must stay true to those.
Most of this new people are elves, which makes me happy twice. Had never met so many elves together in narfell. I've been into very dangerous trips with some of them...and they all have shown great skills and powers, and I can't but feel I'm way behind, even if they dont tell me so themselves.I feel much more comfortable again with my magic. I'm nearly at the same point I was, but I'm taking it calmly and with a smile on the face. There has been no signs of her yet, but I don't lose hope. Adventuring and experiencing new situations keep my spirit high, and I learn other things that could be equally important and related to relationships and friends.
I've started again with fletching and woodworking, it helps my mind relax and it feels good from time to time. Anyways I keep marking my arrows, now even more since I know the link it's important.
I only have to wait. What's that for an elf?_
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Today I advanced some. If not magically, mentaly. I realized that in order to bypass my current limits, I had to understand myself and my power better. I can't enhance just any arrow. My song, my power, relays on the link I have with the archery, -my- archery…and I'm only able to make it work with the arrows that are linked to me, which are those I craft myself and mark. I tested this with Rasuil's arrows and my own crafted arrows. My song didn't channel propertly into his arrows, while it did on mine. True that the enhancement didn't last more than a second, but I believe that's because I'm still not fully recovered from my death.
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I thought it could be her. Elf, female, excellent archer. Had seen only a couple of times and she always seemed to came from the woods. I had some hopes, but it seems she's not the one I'm looking for, her name's Lin.
I've tried again to enhance the arrows as I used to do via my singing, but it doesn't last long enough for me to shoot a single arrow.
My friends tell me I need time and practice again, that they are sure I'll get back to where I was.
I hope they are right, as much as I hope I can find her
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It'd seem dying has taken some of my power and I can barely enhance my arrows via my song. It still makes a difference, but not as much as it used to be. Is good that I keep this diary, now I know what exercises I used to do to improve my arts.
I've lived through many things. Deaths, parting with my family, and many others…but without doubt, the path towards mastering the archery with the help of my song is the most complicated and hard.
It's crystal clear to me that I will need from the help of Sha'mai or another arcane archer to advance further. When I sing for my archery, there's a strange feeling that I'm not making the most profit from the singing, from the magic, there's a feeling that it could be greater with just a little something, maybe a different way of singing, or a different way of performing the enhancement.
I keep waiting and my hopes will not end...this is my path, and I will reach the end.
-
Unbelievable? No…it isn't unbelievable at all. It was stupid of me to go to such a place, even with the strong group we had.
Honestly, I can't advance any further in my path without the help of sha'mai. I feel useless now everywhere I go, I simply was not able to hurt most of the things in that place, and I was definetly not able to defend myself. I hope she decides soon to come visit me. I need help, need her help.