Public [Veridia] The Festival of Silk and Arrows: Archery Competition

[DM Player-Slayer]

// Anyone is welcome to join and roleplay. Please do not bring warships or private military squads. If needed, you may bring up to two NPC bodyguards. PVP is allowed as long as it stays small in scale and does not disrupt the festivities. Larger disturbances will be handled accordingly by NPCs I will write. This is a social event thread, so have fun.

The Festival of Silk and Arrows
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Location: Veridia: Jade Garden​

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On a small planet like Viridia, the Land of Flowers has no shortage of local events to mark the turning of the seasons, yet few draw a crowd quite like the Festival of Silk and Arrows.

Today the city streets are lined with food stalls, their awnings swaying in the breeze as savory scented steam curls up into the spring air. Skewers hiss over open heat, lacquered with glazes that cling to grilled chicken and river fish, sweet with soy catching the light before it drips into the coals below. Vendors ladle out hot bowls of ramen and udon rich with broth, topped with sliced scallion, soft egg, or tempura crisp and fresh from the oil.

There are octopus dumplings turned in their molds until golden and round, savory pancakes striped with sauce and a veil of bonito, rice balls wrapped in seaweed, and little bamboo trays of sushi as neat as ornaments.

Elsewhere, sweeter scents drift through the crowd: candied fruit gleaming beneath syrup shells, mochi soft beneath powdered sugar, taiyaki pressed in fish-shaped irons and filled with red bean or custard, dango brushed with glaze, sweet shaved ice in bright colors, and warm castella cakes cut into little squares for passing hands.

Beyond the food lanes, merchants display their finest wares beneath canopies of silk and paper lanterns. Some such wares are part of what the festival is famous for, boasting a wide variety of fine silks to choose from. Haori in soft spring shades hang beside darker, more formal pieces embroidered with cranes, plum blossoms, clouds, reeds, and curling streams worked in gold or silver thread. Kimono are folded and draped with care, some rich and ceremonial with long sleeves and layered collars, others lighter and easier in their wear, meant for strolling the festival grounds in grace and comfort. Yukata appear in brighter seasonal patterns, floral prints and flowing water motifs made for warmer weather, easy movement, and evening lanternlight. Hanfu-inspired garments bring another kind of elegance to the stalls: long, trailing sleeves, high-waisted skirts, gauzy outer robes, fine sashes, beadwork, and delicate fastenings that lend each piece a courtly air.

Handmade accessories and other artisanal crafts are also bountifully available. Hairpins, combs, kanzashi, ribbons, fans, perfume sachets, lacquered ornaments, carved jade trinkets, and painted masks fill the gaps between bolts of cloth, so that every stall seems to offer some smaller treasure waiting to be discovered as the perfect souvenir to take home.

Here and there, little games and minor tests of skill draw pockets of laughter from the younger crowd. Goldfish scooping remains a favorite, among children leaning over shallow basins with fragile paper scoops, trying to lift quick flashes of orange and white before the wet paper gives way. Ring toss stalls offer painted bottles, carved figurines, sweets, or charms for a steady hand. There are cork-gun galleries with tiny prizes arranged on shelves, shell-matching games, lucky draws, fan-toss challenges, and narrow target boards meant for beanbags or wooden darts.

Some of these booths test patience more than strength, while others reward a sharp eye, a delicate touch, or a bit of luck. Children dart between them with excitement, while older guests share in conversation with friends, sleeves gathered back as they try their hand and feign greater confidence than they possess.

Yet for all the delights spread through the streets, the main event that gathers the largest crowd is the archery competition. There, beneath banners and flowering boughs, skill is measured in poise, control, and the clean flight of an arrow.
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❀꧁༺༒❁༒⟡༼✿༽⟡༒❁༒༻꧂❀
Archery Tournament Instructions
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Out of Character Instructions

• Each participant will fire three arrows in total.
• Before writing your IC post, please make your dice roll first. (Rolls must be done in this thread)
• Use 1d20 for each shot.
• Each arrow should be posted separately, with one post per shot.
• Please label each post clearly as Arrow One of Three, Arrow Two of Three, or Arrow Three of Three.
• Your post should include a short IC description of the shot being taken, along with the rolled result.
• After all three arrows have been fired, points from each shot will be added together for a final score.
• The highest total score wins.
• If there is a tie, tied contestants will roll one final 1d20 for a sudden-death shot.

Scoring Guide​

• 1–4 = Miss (0 points)
• 5–8 = Outer edge (1 point)
• 9–12 = Solid hit (2 points)
• 13–16 = Strong shot, near center (3 points)
• 17–19 = Excellent shot (4 points)
• 20 = Bullseye (5 points)

Example Post Header​

Arrow One of Three
Rolled: 15
Score: 3 points

❀꧁༺༒❁༒⟡༼✿༽⟡༒❁༒༻꧂❀​

 

[Ko Vuto]

Location: Verida, Jade Garden

Ko didn’t think he’s spent enough time here to be representing the produce that had been cultivated in and around the estate that his friend was constructing. He’d given a few pointers on what he would do to create a highly productive farm but beyond that hadn’t done much of the work himself.

As if now he was at the festival with a decent sized stand to showcase and sell their produce. But before he had the Kel Dor had wanted to be able to provide something eye-catching. Expertly cultivated fruits and veggies were great on their own but they didn’t quite have the pizzazz that he felt was needed.

So the day before Ko had sought to exploit his skills and talents with The Force. With the help of plant surge he’d grown a bunch of oddly polygonal watermelons. Using the ability to shape them mostly into cubes but also into some other symmetrical shapes as well. It just came with one drawback…

Ko yawned from behind his mask as he dutifully maintained his role to oversee the produce stand. He was tired, exhausted even. Using a bit too much of his own energy to make such spectacular watermelons. His posture didn’t maintain its usual straightness and his leathery skin seemed a bit dull. Visually contrasting with his wares.

“Hey Valor, would you be willing to find us some local teas? I’m sure there’s some good blends here for us to try.” He asked his apprentice. “I can keep an eye on the melons for now.”

Valor the Forsaken ​

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[Valor the Forsaken]

Valor had initially been rather against going anywhere that promised large swaths of people, and he had been quite stubborn about being convinced to come along. Still, he did as Ko had asked, even helping move the Keldor's strange produce so they could set up the stall together. He was not at all certain anyone would buy oddly shaped fruit, and throughout the whole process he kept casting Ko concerned glances, plainly doubtful of the venture.

He was growing restless standing by the Keldor's side with very little to do, and truth be told, now that he was here, there were certainly plenty of interesting things catching the youth's attention… things he would have liked to inspect more closely. Of course, he was too stubborn and too shy to say as much. Valor was a quiet lad, one who did not speak often and more usually chose to stare and watch others instead.

"Oh… uh, sure… I'll go find us something nice, Master," Valor chirped, before immediately scampering off toward the vendor stalls where food and drinks were being served. How hard could it be to find some teas?

He wandered through the area, looking over the various treats on offer, and Valor certainly found himself wanting more than a few of them. But no… he had to focus on his mission. And his mission was to find some teas.

At last, he found a stall offering several fragrant blends and managed to exchange some local currency for a large gourd of tea, along with two small cups fashioned from dried fruit rinds, cured and polished into minor works of art. With the floral-scented tea in hand, he carefully made his way back toward the fruit stall, though not without casting one long, forlorn glance toward a serving of sweet sticky rice that smelled amazing. For a moment, he silently lamented that he did not quite have the funds to buy any for himself.

He should have been watching where he was going… but he was not, and for that he bumped into a much larger man with enough force to send himself stumbling back. He landed hard on his rear, dropping the gourd and spilling tea all over the street.

Turquoise eyes went wide as he immediately began sputtering apologies to whoever he had just crashed into, though his real panic was already turning toward the tea. He quickly gathered up the fallen gourd, but its contents had already spilled out, leaving a spreading mess across the road. He did not have enough to buy more… what was he supposed to do now?

He could hardly return to Ko Vuto carrying a ruined, empty gourd.

That would mean admitting failure over something that should have been such a simple, easy task.

 

[Roten]

Veridia
Tags: Valor the Forsaken , Ko Vuto

Kiba no Shimai​

Turquoise eyes went wide as he immediately began sputtering apologies to whoever he had just crashed into, though his real panic was already turning toward the tea. He quickly gathered up the fallen gourd, but its contents had already spilled out, leaving a spreading mess across the road.

"Ah, what the-"

Roten sputtered as somebody ran into him. He had come to this festival to try and take his mind off of that blasted slaver planet, but this festival wasn't doing it for him. Too crouded, to lively. Or maybe he was just too afraid to dive in and join all of that. Have fun. Whatever the case was, he wasn't having fun now. He turned to see a familiar face, sputtering apologies on the floor in a way that was unbefitting of their last encounter. The Bursantian let out a sigh.

Boy, what a sorry sight. Now he felt a little bad that he zapped the guy earlier. A little. He had still deserved it.

"Ah, quit your apologizing. Yappin won't fix it," Roten scolded Valor with a huff. "S'posed to be aware of your environment. A warrior caught unawares is a bastard that's as good as dead and gone..."

His tone was still a bit irritable, given their last encounter, but it softened when he noticed the dispare set in as the padawan looked over his lost tea. The furred young man let out a sigh and crouched down, assessing the fluid. Smelled like tea, something herbal.

"Alright..." he muttered, letting out a sigh. "Tell me where you got this from. I'll replace it. Consider it an apology for biting you last we met. I don't like collecting grudges... I'd rather we part today on better terms. I helped break it anyways."

And it gave him an excuse to spend money at this festival. He had still been sitting and saving the allowance that Matthew of Valendale had given him. Least he could do was decreas his potential enemies at the temple.

Or at least that was the excuse he spun up to ignore how soft he had gotten.

 

[Kivah]

Arrow One of Three
Rolled: 14
Score: Strong shot, near center (3 points)

It was a beautiful evening, fresh air scented with the festival food, sugary treats and cooking meat, the breeze carrying the entwining smells across the noise of the crowds and through the streets of this town woven through with nature. Despite the presence of a Jedi temple, she found the planet and its people as a whole rather pleasant in a way that reminded her of Ran Dom Kuun. Her tail flicked at the thought, but otherwise stayed loose, so she put such musings behind her. Home had been a long time in her ion trial. Here, she was a spacer, and dressed like one even among the traditional robes and yukata rental booths of the fair. A brown jacket over a tight black shirt tucked into a pair of high-waisted trousers, each leg with a dirty yellow stripe running down the seam to show she was a captain.

Discovering the archery contest was an open affair, she'd signed up with little hesitation, even returning to the little shuttle she lived out of to retrieve her beloved bow. The Miraraya was large, shaped to fit her strength and frame perfectly, a weapon she'd made to replace the hunting bow her father had taught her with stalking the jungles of Cathar before its breaking during her trials. That had been to put food on the table and sometimes act as wildlife management, keeping down dangerous predators or booming prey populations. This new one was a darker, uglier, thing made from alloys and plastids and meant to hunt down other beings with.

Stepping up to the line, Kivah drew one of her practice arrows and thumbed it onto the string while she felt the festival air move through the fur of her ears. She checked her stance and squared her shoulders, drew back on the string, relaxed, and drew again. Pulling the draw back to her cheekbone before letting the string slide free from her fingers as she completed the motion. Kivah watched the arrow loose from the bow, bending and flexing around the riser as it took flight. Half a breath later, and she lowered her arms and turned towards her next arrow. Her first stuck from the target not far from the central ring. It was a good warm up shot, but Kivah knew she could do better, expected herself to do better, even without drawing on the Force to improve her aim or guide her shots onto target.