A long walk away from the center of Hobbiton you come upon large farms and open tracts of land.  You continue walking past the farms and orchards until you come to a pastoral area devoid of any smials.    You look about you.   A babbling brook runs past a grove of tall oak trees.  A perfect spot for a long nap but this is a place for training those who guard the Shire.   You have come to the Shirriff and Bounder Training Grounds.  It is then that you notice the training areas that are clevely hidden from view.   Located on the far side of the open plain is an archery range.  The Range is fenced off from the rest of the land by a  large wooden fence.  On the other side of the plain is a wall nearly five times the size of a full grown man.  This is the infamous Climbing Wall.  The Wall challenges hobbits with a fear of heights which just happens to be most hobbits.   The center of the plain has ample room for sword practice or close hand to hand defense exercises.   Hidden behind a thicket of shrubs is the Obstacle Course.  Here, hobbits are expected to run, roll, climb, swim, and rappel.   All training is closely supervised by the Chief Shirrif and the Deputy Shirrif.  Occasionally  experienced Hobbit Defense Squad officers and the Mayors are invited to teach the new Shirriffs and Bounders the finer points of weapons handling and defense moves.

The road from the Grounds to Hobbiton passes straight through the Combat Armory facility.  If you are in need of new weapons please visit the Combat Armoury on your way home.

Rules:
-Bounders post in Brown please and Shirriffs in Blue. The Chief Shirriff posts in purple, and the Deputy Shirriff in Magenta
-This activity is only for the use of The Shire Watch members
-All posts are required to be at least 300 characters.
-NO Signatures allowed.
-This is an RPG, so stay IC-Any ooc questions can be fielded to here.

Nice work everyone! Everyone has been putting up such excellent posts!  We’ll just continue on with the obstacle course and give everyone a chance to finish. If you have already finished sit around and enjoy yourselves!

Obstacle Course

This bit of training will hopefully test you as well as give you a fun time. The obstacle course is a difficult thing to judge and as such we figured the best way is to do it by post quality. Those with detailed posts that take include plenty of action and dialog will be declared the winners of the race through the obstacle course. So please do your best and give it your best shot! You may work with a partner if you like, however you will still be judged individually by post quality. Emmi and I will be participating with you just to sharpen our skills as well. Good luck and have fun!

General Rules:
-Stick to the list below. It is consecutive of where you should be at all times.
-Make at least one post for each of the areas listed in an in-character, storyline format.
-List the area of the obstacle course you are in at the top of each post.
-You may have a partner, though still your posts will be judged individually for post quality.
-ALWAYS keep in-character. Save comments for the OOC thread.
-Posts should be at least 300 characters.

Area One-Small Forest: In these woods tall trees of all shapes and sizes are about you. Animals perhaps reside there as well, which you could hear from the bird calls. There is no distinct path through it and the only thing you have to go by are foot prints and other evidence that someone might have come through. That evidence is up to you to describe...it could be anything within reason. Find your way through the forest by following the trail clues through the downward sloping forest. However, don’t take the evidence with you! Leave some for the others to follow!

Area Two-Babbling Brook: Once out of the small forest, you find that you are at the edge of that babbling brook that was also flowing by the entrance of the grounds. Somehow you must cross it, though the choice is yours. The current isn’t swift, nor the water too deep. Watch out for the slippery rocks! On the opposite bank of the brook there seems to be a large pile of rocks. You must climb over this before you reach the next obstacle on the other side.

Area Three-Archery Field: After the rock pile and through an unlocked tall wooden fence you finally greet the archery field. Several spare bows and arrows are nearby your entrance. Take a few shots at the targets before you move on. Try to hit somewhere on the target at least once, just for a little practice. After your practice exit the archery field East, since you came from the Sout East entrance.

Area Four-Hills: Outside of the other side of the archery field you see a few rather large hills. It looks much like how most of the Shire would. The ground is covered lightly from the last snow, though a sign directs you to get over the hills as fast as possible by either running or rolling down them.

Area Five-Small Lake: At the bottom of the hills a small lake is to be found. At the edge of it several small boats can be found. To be rowed either by one or two only, there should be enough for everyone. Row quickly across the lake to help overcome any fear with water or swimming you might have.

Area Six-Climbing Wall: Unfortunately the rest of the marked obstacle course leads you straight to the climbing wall as you get out of the lake. The only way is up, though the incline isn’t dangerously steep. Ropes are provided as needed.

Area Seven-Field of Foes: Once you overcome the climbing wall, an open field is set before you. This is the same one you had encountered before, though all sorts of wooden dummies of orcs, birds and all sorts of evil spies have been set up. Defeat at least three of these foes with your weapon across the field, and you shall again be back at the Watch Grounds Building.

Finish-Watch Building: You finished! Congradulations! Sit down, have a breather and eat some of the refreshments before you while you wait for everyone to return.