Welcome to Cove

Greetings!
You've finallly reached the rank of a Junior Guardsman and deserved the Cap. You've been spotted and offered to join the Light Company. But to do this you'll have to complete Three dangerous tasks.

Task 1 - The Flute
Your first tasks Is essential for all Scouts wanting to join the Division. The Flute have long been a symbol for the Light Company and also a useful item. It's used to communicate between Scouts In the Divison.

Objective: Retrieve the Flute

Task 2 - The Scouting
Either If you find you useful as Assasisin , Supporter , Infiltrator or the other Proffessions In the Divison -ALL- Scouts must be able to actully Scout.It's of course essential.
 The Volcano problem seems to be solved and In Vesper you can find the Vesperians hopefully returned from Ilshenar. You'll stay In disguise and work effective. Do not get seen or caught.

Objective: Find out Information about and between the small company "VTC" and -V-.
- Allied?
- Warred?
- Trades?
- Buildings?

Task 3 - Your Place
The Last and final task for your entrance in the Light Company. The Task will be set when you've completed the two first. How and when the third task will be set remains to see how you manage to complete your first ones.

*Signed*
Scout Sergeant Valiro Gryphonclaw
Cove Army & Command

After reading the long expected Scout trial tasks I refilled my bag of reagents and headed for Britain. After some hours of searchin and questioning I was finally able to get a first clue of the flutes origin: an old drunken and verminious beggar sweard by his life he had seen an old witch casting spells with the help of a strange instruments somewhere in the woods west of Britain.
It was better than nothing so I led my path in that wooded part of Trammel. Close to midnight a strange blue light caught my attention, and I carefully moved closer. In the very middle of the wood the ruins of an ancient tower were visible, and the light came from within. Of course there was no hesitating, and I entered the building.
The witch emerged as an old shaman who lives with her apprentice in those ruins for she had been contravened by her family clan. After a very fantastic cup of tea she politely asked me for help: her apprentice had left to gather some ingredients but never returned. If I could solve the problem she offered me one of her fantastic hand-crafted flute. I was electrified, for I was able to identify one of the Light Companies magic telecommunication element. So it was no hurry when I started my search for her boy.
To keep myself short: the boy had been killed by evil Imps, and I was at least able to kill some of them to reduce the old ladys grief. For my effort she gratefully gave me one of the magic flutes....

*Reads the note and his eyes buldge*

Wait!! Ben got junior!?

*Signed*

Tom Sendrich, Regular Guardsman

After cautious preparations I finally took an old hooded robe I once "borrowed" from a necromancer, whose smoking corpse not really filled it anymore, and used my magic to travel to Vesper.

Right after arriving I luckily found a stone building and used my dwarven skills to vanish in the stones. For the following hour I searched the heart of the city, but except some lonely travellers not one hint for the Vesper Trading Company, or the other Vesperians was visible....
Too dogged for my task I continued my search and increased my search pattern. And finally found a building in the south-western part of the town: the large Inn called Staggert Inn or so.
To get in was easy, for it was deserted, and few sign of a recent use were visible. Nevertheless I took the time and tried to find any hints as ordered.
(http://images6.theimagehosting.com/Vesper0002.jpg) (http://www.theimagehosting.com)(http://images6.theimagehosting.com/Vesper0003.jpg) (http://www.theimagehosting.com)

All available records and lists gave proof of a good going business, but not a trace of anything mysterious... It looked so clean, you might think it was an example for a business school teaching book...

After leaving the Inn I spotet another large building next to it... without any doubt a church! Of course I remembered the ill fate Cove had will Odenething and his crazy monks were around, so I used my skills to get in and search the building. Again all was deserted, and the chests I was able to open without leaving any sign behind seemed okay.....
But on the towers top my bad feeling got confirmed: all signs of dark magery were visible, a pentagram to cast daemons, necromantic reagents, and the smell of evil all around - memories of the Covian church disaster made me shiver of hate, but I forced myself to stay calm and leave without burning the whole thing!!

Back on the clear air I identified a hanger on the next building of the of Twothumb itself. A quick search of the building again showed no proof of life, all reachable chests were filled with stuff without any trace of foul trades or any aggression towards Cove.
(http://images6.theimagehosting.com/Vesper0007.jpg) (http://www.theimagehosting.com)(http://images6.theimagehosting.com/Vesper0009.jpg)[/url

I got more and more confused... no living Vesperian around, all files correct... I smelled jugglery stronger than ever!!

The next building I "visited" was the Jailhouse. All cells neatly furnished, the records almost empty except one or two drunk beggars, who got jailed to become sober again.
[url=http://www.theimagehosting.com](http://images6.theimagehosting.com/Vesper0008.jpg) (http://www.theimagehosting.com)
The guard tower.... a great view, but not one piece of furniture!! After the flight of the Vesperians some poor elves manlings ones must have taken all away...

Already cursing my fate of scouting a deserted town I finally stumbled over a path marked with barrels. It went straight west, so I followed it. Deep in the woods the path ended infront of a house. For that was invitation enough for me I got in and searched the interiors. On some papers I found the name Vivian Riovannes, which didn´t mean anything to me.... at first. But then I remembered the name on one of the lists in the Inn, so I am sure the lady has something to do with the Vesper Trading Company, but again I was unable to detect any signs  that might be interesting for Cove.

My summary after 1 whole day of investigation:
it seems to me the Vesperians haven´t really returned yet. The informations I was able to find were prepared - so noone could use the absence of the Vesperians to gather any valuable intelligence.

*curses the Vesperians and throws the pen through his home*

Excellent! Excellent!
You've quickly reached to your final Task which will include lots of Spying - You're good at this Travelling to places and also from them.

The Task have been set by a Sealed Letter.


*Signed*
Scout Sergeant Valiro Gryphonclaw

*Silently undresses his hooded shroud and puts it back into the locker. With a keg of dwarven beer Ben sits down on his table and reads Valiros letter again. "Get as fast as possible to the Swaggers Inn, for there are rumours that the VTC is involved in illegal trades". Ben leans back and takes a deep sip. "Trades? They even sell no dwarven brew!!" And with a grim smiles he starts to write the report.*

After the arrival of the Seargents letter I immideately moved to Vesper. I decided to go visible into the Inn, and therefor used my hooded shroud. Once there I found only two persons moving around: one I already knew, a female manling called Anna. The 2nd person was a man, later I got to know his name is Kiran. I decided to play an elf a simple mind and asked for beer.
Both were a knid of peeved by my desires, and more busy with the load of a ship anchoring straight infront of the tavern than to earn money...
I decided to use the direct way and really got on their nerves trying to get beer. This included interupting when they thought I had gone, and following wherever one of them might go.
Anna carried alot of heavy baskets into the Inn - to be honest, sometimes it was hard to believe she is female, for her behaviour while carrying heavy loads was more male.
During one of my "incidents" a third person appeared: another female manling, later called Madiline. One thing was not to be missed: she wore parts of a Covian scout uniform, and her kilt was crafted by our Jessica, for her typical cross stitches and her small label were clearly visible. To be precise: she wore the Covian kilt and sash, and the scouts green on her leatcher armor!
The following actions gave me more informations: during one of the basket transports I was able to sneak into the cellar and watch Anna put the content away - it was lots of nightshade!! Too many for a simple mages stock!
Unfortunately I hit an agapite vein while trying to sneak out, and the following big "bounce" put my visible infront of Anna. *rubs the large bump on his head*

She wasn´t very happy to see me, but believed when I ordered beer, as I had done for hours then.... Finally the Maddey gal gave me a liquid, thinking to get rid of me either by death or being happy to have some beer. Luckily I was able to continue my stodgily role, and poured the brown liquid away. Later I heard it was horse urin, a trick in the Inn is often used with supposed drunk guests.
The following talks without being detect gave no new hints.

Summary:
1. The Swaggers Inn gets giant loads of nightshade by a trader on a "Sandy Island" and stows them in its cellar,
2. the crew of the Inn uses violance - they shot twice with arrows on your beloved dwarf,
3. they trick people with adulterated liquids,
4. they use Covian armor and colors for their business!!

*leans back and scans the note. "Looks like there is a plot either direct or indirect against Cove!"*

Grand! Just Excellent!
You've completed your Third task.

*Signed*
Scout Sergeant Valiro Gryphonclaw

Yahar! A Fine New scout! Good ter have you!
Signed Jenifer Feather

YAR!! Another scout! Hes a small one aswell, can hide better.

*nods sagely*