Welcome to Cove

Darath scanned through the endless piles of recruit and watchmen army records, regarding each only momentarily “Lost in action, killed on active duty, killed in action, tripped onto his own sword” he grunted sourly to himself and pulled out the next file. Squinting at it he read the title: ‘Watchman Salick Kaysen’. He grimaced faintly, “Well at least one Watchman may see it to Junior rank, even if he was aspiring to join the bloody Light Company…….”


Greetings Watchman Kaysen. It seems you have managed to stay alive and even to clamber you way up through the muck of inadequate recruits to the cusp of achieving a somewhat respectable rank. Some would say congratulations, i would say the worst is yet to come.

Assignments:

1.   You are to lead a hunt to the arid deserts of Southern Malas. Here you will find an ancient pyramid. Bring back the head of the crafty sphinx that resides within it to prove the might of the Covian Army and your leadership capabilities.
2.   You must oversee a fortification and manning expedition of the Altmere outpost. You must ensure that this Covian province is free of danger while also keeping your troops interested
3.   Demonstrate you aptitude as an aspiring scout. Design 3 booby traps that could be used to protect Cove, or even used on that battlefield against Lithos dammed Loyalists! Also detail how these contraptions would work.

Conditions:

* For assignments 1. and 2. at least 5 Guardsmen other than yourself must be present.
* The Altmere outpost must be fortified with crates and other materials and manned for at least one hour. You may also delegate small tasks during this time such as hunting for food, collecting water and firewood and short patrols deeper into Altmere.
* For assignment 3. use a number of different materials in your constructions. Feel free to also use editing programs (paint etc) to enhance your pictures.
* All assignments must be well documented with full reports in this thread

Salick sat down in his writing chair. Old scars in his thighs pulled taught and he winced slightly. Dragging his arm across the table, he scraped shafts, feathers and bow strings to the floor. Reaching up a shelf above, he pulled down a very dusty tome and blew dust off its spine.

'Watchman Trial' it read. He opened the tome and began to leaf through forgotten paintings of another life, before his kidnap and torture. He sat back in the chair, looking to the roof for inspiration, finding a small spider sitting in a half-spun web. The spider had lived there for three years now, and had never finished its web, Salick had no idea why.

"Well, for Avatar's sake, ONE of us should finish someone in our lifetime."

Leaning forward again, he slowly prepared a fresh peice of parchment and began scratching with what was left in his dried out ink-pot.

----------------'I had best make this short, the inks all but gone. A long time ago now i lead a troop of covians to the Great Pyramid near Umbra. After scouting the surroundind area and managing to find what looked like an entrance at the base of the pyramid, i returned to cove to gather the troops. I led them back to the nearby archeologists camp before approaching the pyramid proper. We climbed its peak to find a safer and less treacherous entrance inside. Descending the halls on the inside we came across mummies and all sorts of undead fiends. Dispatching of these with ease, we moved deeper into the bowels of the great pyramid, until at the very bottom we found a great Sphinx. The battle was drawn out, the creature made seemingly of stone. With adept healing and good formation, we dispatched the Sphing and those undead who came to aid the great beast. Seemingly angered by the great beast slain, the pyramids inhabitants led a counter-attack with zeal. Fighting bolt and blade to the northern wall, i quickly identified the hidden entrance and we made a hasty retreat into the daylight outside, where the ghouls were un-eager to follow.'-------------

Salick leant back in his chair, convinced that this was the most paperwork he has possibly ever done in one sitting. The spider above him had captured a wasp, which was buzzing furiously as its captor circled cautiously, waiting to strike. Salick began arranging a few drawings of the events at the pyramid and stood to take the parchment to the Barracks.

 (http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/i1099034_trialmix.JPG) (http://www.imagehosting.com)

Attending :
Salick Kaysen
Mela
Hoagie
Olchafa Serper
Kal Shadowhart
Kendall Richter
Joey Lanaichte


(OOC) Sweet Jesus im actually getting round to the Trial, its a miracle. Just got the internet back at my place, so finnally found the old patrol pictures  ;D (/OOC)

Salick plonked back down into the writing chair, it groaning underneath him. Salick spoke to the chair.

"Yes i know, id rather be elsewhere too, stop groaning and lets get on with it..."

Having brought some fresh inks this time and some non-yellowed parchment, Salick got to work on the next report.

----------For the second part of my Trials i was instucted to march a contingent of covians out to the Altmere outpost, to check on the men there and re-supply them.

We set off in the afternoon with a pack horse full of supplies, lead by our Recruit. We made good time, although the northern road seems overrun with bandits. This did not bode well for the outpost...

Arriving after numerous ambushes, pack horse and suplies still intact, we opened the doors to find the outpost in tatters and totally deserted. Their was nothing in the bade except for a few unmade beds and some shoddy masonry. The healers had stuck around, but everyone else had vanished. Either they defected or were killed by the bandits, we did not find out.

The outpost was then fortified and defended.  I sent off a few of the men into the nearby desert on a special task, they were to fetch me a bagful of scorpion tails, to be used in the third section of my trial, the trap making. When they returned we were finnally set upon again by bandits, making a last attempt at keeping the outpost unoccupied so they could continue their criminal ways uninterupted. They were dealt with.

Just as we were about to leave, a troop of orcs from cove attacked us! Word travels far it seems, and there were heavy casualties on both sides. The orcs were eventually chased off and the survivors helped the wounded, and soon enough we were all back on duty guarding the post once more. It is now fully stocked and hopefully soon to be re-staffed.

(http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/5683/trialmix2fe9.jpg)

Attending:
Salick Kaysen
Mela Arkay
Ihiniar Tel'var
Adrien Garnier
Hoagie
Desmond Krieger
Demarian Tel'var

- Signed Salick Kaysen.

(OOC) Woo, only one more to go! How i hate paperwork....(/OOC)

Good Job Sal, your trials are waiting *Waves the paper*

No lagging paperwork to re-write, this one is fresh off the presses! Today i set out to complete my trials, looking to put together three new traps to be used in battle, or for defense.

The first is called the Scorpion Box. A set of venemous scorpion tails are installed into a crate on a string-trigger. When buried in the ground and someone steps on the trap, their foot and leg is stabbed by the tails, giving them a heavy dose of poison.

(http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/1289/trap1bw5.jpg)

The second is called a Barrel Trap. Unimaginative name but it will have to do. By connecting a set of bolts to a barrel, spring-loaded, i have crated a trap that could be used in the re-building of our town wall. When someone attempts to climb over the wall, they will trigger the barrel trap, which will shoot out fifty bolts in all directions, impaling the intruder.

On second thought, the trap could also be created to only fire bolts in ONE direction...no need for people on OUR side of the wall to get impaled...

(http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/6288/trap2og4.jpg)

The third trap is one i have ben using for some time allready, but have never submitted the designs for wide-spread use. As a scout, it is often nessecary to escape a much more heavily armoured foe, and the shadows are not always forthcoming. By taking some of the key side-nails from a crate, and then filling it with sharp objects, you have a crate-trap. Thrown down behind you during an escape, or used in blockades, it severly holds up an enemy as they traverse the dangerous ground.

(OOC The crate-trap is actually quite useful to use in-game, whereas the other two are fiction. Fill a crate with three or four smaller crates, use it to block off a doorway or strategic bottleneck. When an enemy chops the crate down (instead of trying to move them all by hand) they are simply multiplying their work. Also, scouts can destroy the crates themselves from the shadows to hold up an enemy. (/OOC)

(http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/3927/trapcollagedi8.jpg)

- Signed Salick Kaysen

Fine work Watchman Kaysen, i look forward to seeing you in a Covian cap.

*Signed*

Officer Cadet Mithar, Army Administration

Very fine work indeed. Those traps are brilliant (and fearsome!)