Welcome to Cove

Raiden sat in the Grenadier Halls reading over the latest Grenadier application from Junior Regdar.

About time he applied, a damn fine guardsman... But does he have what it takes to earn them arms?

Only one way ter find out!


Greetings Junior Regdar,

So yer want ter be a Grenadier eh?! Grand, grand. Let's see if yer up to it!

Task One

You will demonstrate your leadership and tactical skills by taking a group of guardsmen to slay the feared Skeletal Dragon which dwells in the caves of Ilshenar.

It will take more than shouting FORM at your squad to bring the bugger down, it will need a cunning plan. Have a word with Senior Arkay he's good at cunning plans.

Bring back the beasts tooth as proof of it's demise.


Task Two

Brotherhood - The Grenadiers are a close knit squad who's steadfastness in combat is ledgendary. Lead a squad of Grenadiers and aspiring Grenadiers to the caverns of Shame.

There with limited resources you will lead your squad to the rope bridges located on the second level. With explosives supplied by either Sergeant Valentine or myself you will blow up these bridges thus stranding any vile beasties on the other side. You will then make a fighting withdrawl to the dungeon entrance.


Task Three

War is a difficult time. Ye never know when or where the enemy may strike. They may even make an attempt on the Baron's life!

Liase with the Baron himself and arrange for a Grenadier escort led by you to accompany him on a trip to wherever he may choose.


Conditions

At least 5 (although I would suggest you take more) other guardsmen must accompany you on your quest to slay the Skeletal Dragon.

At least 3 other Grenadiers/aspiring grenadiers must accompany you on your mission to shame.

Each of you may only carry 50 bandies, no healing potions either! Teamwork and reliance on yer fellows will keep you alive. Also the only armour ye may wear is as follows -
Sword/Mace fighters may equip their shields - Archers may equip their helms.

At least 2 Grenadiers must join you to escort the Baron - though feel free to invite as many Grenadiers and aspiring Grenadiers to attend. Ye can never have enough Grenadiers I say!

Full reports with pictures of all three tasks must be posted by you below.


Once all the above tasks have been completed you will take the Baron's Oath and swear fealty to your Liege. Then and only then will the famed bronze arms be in your reach.

Good luck Junior!

*signed*

Raiden, Grenadier Corporal.

Grenadier Trial - Task One:

Leading:

Regdar Le'Faye, Junior Guardsman

Attending:

Marcus, guardsman recruit
Hoagie, Sergeant
Dalamar, Junior Scout
Garak nightchill, offcier cadet
Faden Wildheart, watchman
Demarian Tel'var
Vince Valentine, Grenadier Sergeant.
Amy, Watchman
Max O'Munpain, Watchman
Raiden Morana, Grenadier Corporal
Perrin, Watchman
Kelly, Junior Scout
Johnathan, Guardsman recruit

*Regdar limped through the barracks, heading to the back corner - away from all the ruckus.
After sitting down, Regdar slowly pulled out a sheet of paper and a quill and began to scrawl down what happened, moaning every so often from his injuries...*

A most hardy task indeed, slaying a Skeletal Dragon. I now see why Corporal Morana suggested to talk to Erik - I'm just glad I took head of what was said. Perhaps, if I didn't, half the men would have died. Arkay's words were most wise indeed, and I followed his tactics down to the finest detail. I feel atleast half of the success of this mission go to him.

(http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/1091/skeletal1pg2.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Trailing forward to next eve - not enough showed up the first time - I arrived to an already lined up group of guardsmen, done so by Raiden Morana, who then handed the line up to me, after he had seen my arrival.
The line up wasn't too shabby, it had some good soldiers in there, not to mention Grenadiers too. Though, getting some of the line up to keep quiet was perhaps nearly as hard as slaying the beast itself. I would suggest further training and discipline because of this.

(http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/6822/skeletal2aa1.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

It took a while, but the line up held their tongues long enough to explain the mission, stating where we were to head, and why. Atleast all of them understand this, and thus, I forced marched the entire line up to the Minoc Moongate.

(http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/7228/skeletal3yf1.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Quickly arrived, by some anyway, I ordered the men (and women) to head through to Sacrifice, and from there, to head all the way up to the Rat cave; where the dragon's lair is.

(http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/6573/skeletal4qc7.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Now at the rat cave, the men were marched inside the dank pit itself. Calling for a ready of arms, we progressed further, killing all the pesky giant rats and walking rock piles as we did so. That was, untill, we came to the back... Where the Skeletal Dragon lies.

(http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/554/skeletal5sb7.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

This is where Erik's advice came in, which helped to keep most of the people there concious, helping us to vanquish the foul beast as hastily as possible. This was provedto be half right, it took longer than expected but, quicker than most could do so.
Watching the beast fall before our eyes, I walked over to it's giant mouth, hacking away for a tooth, and thus ending my mission.

(http://img302.imageshack.us/img302/1946/skeletal6zj8.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Exiting the area was a little shaky, some dropped on the way out, but, were helped back to their feet. The rats were no longer a threat to us, nor the walking rock piles, we had just defeated a Skeletal Dragon - Nothing could stop us.

Forced marched all the way back, I then moved to lining all of them up, and calling "FOR COVE!", followed by all present (even those who did not attend).
After this, I handed the line over to Father Damion, and walked away with the tooth in it's pouch.
My first task complete.

(http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/4486/skeletal7wf6.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
FOR COVE!



*Signed*
Junior Guardsman,
Regdar

Damn fine work Regdar!

A great start to your trials.

*signed*

Raiden, Grenadier Corporal.

Grenadier Trial - Task Three

Escort led by:

Regdar Le'Faye, Junior Guardsman

Attended by:

Baron Octivous Von Richter, Ruler of the North
Raiden Morana, Grenadier Corporal
Demarian Tel'Var, Senior Grenadier
Eve, Junior Guardsman
Max O'Munpain, Watchman

After only just finishing my first Grenadier task, our glorious Baron rode forth on his "Chelmsford", to grenadiers who were assembled there. He had a most hardy of task indeed! This wasn't anything easy like, kill a soldier from Haven, no no.. We were to escort him to Trinsic!

(http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/9482/escort1jw0.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Arriving at the moongate, out side of Trinsic, the Baron wasted no time here, and quickly told us our mission objectives are as follows:
(http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/9751/escort2jx8.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Galloping on, as we slowly trailed behind on foot, we made our way to the city of Trinsic, our first stopping being the western gate. Ofcourse, not before our fine Lord got a chance to express his feelings to the local peasents.
(http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/5657/escort3au1.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Clearly, all the peasents were far too shy to be in our great Baron's presence, as there seemed to be no one at the Western gate. Obviously displeased by this, the Baron needed to be cheered up, thus, we mrached over to the Rose to drink their wine!
Ravaging Walking through the tavern's front doors, we set about finding the closest table to the door the finest table, for the finest Lord in the lands. Once sat down, the Baron wasted no time what so ever ordering the drinks. I loved the sound of that, but then, our fine Baron cried out: "The drinks are on Regdar!" So, as you can probably tell, I was a tiny bit disheartend by that.

(http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/3666/escort4zm8.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Hah! What is an escort mission with the Baron, without showing the locals the ol' Grenadier Swagger? It was quickly proven that our reminiscence of the Grenadier song would attract all the ladies in the room, so we bellowed it out as loud as we could; it definitly turned some heads!

(http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/1719/escort5jv2.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

It was duely noted on this escort, I should try where others failed, and look for a bride for our most prestigious Baron.
Scanning the tavern, I found only one lady (Tammy and an elf do -not- count) so I walked over to her and started "the ol' Reggie charm". Obviously, she could not resist and I forced asked her politely if she would like to meet a real life Baron - the finest at that!
Handing over from one charming man to another, our fair Baron worked his charm, and what a charm it was! Perhaps he didn't quite woe her to be his bride but what he did do, was, convince her to come back to Cove with us.

(http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/7884/escort6qv2.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Trudging through the Covian snow blizzards, we arrived outside the barracks, where we would walk up to our most gracious Baron's office, and gain another citizen!
A job well done, if I may say so. The Baron was successfully escorted, wine was drank, Grenadier songs sang -and- another citizen for our fair city of Cove!

(http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/7976/escort7os4.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

*Signed*
Junior Guardsman,
Regdar Le'Faye.

A good show, Regdar! We certainly showed Trinsic the swagger!

Two down, one to go!

Keep it up Junior!

*signed*

Raiden, Grenadier Corporal.

Grenadier Trial - Task Two

Leading:

Regdar Le'Faye, Junior Guardsman

Attending:

Raiden Morana, Grenadier Corporal
Gimbly, Regular Grenadier
Max O'Munpain, Watchman

Not the easiest of tasks, but I've gone through worse! The mission objectives were quite simple, and as follows:
*Lead a group of three Grenadiers/Aspiring Grenadiers to the depths of Shame
*Once there, fight through the back.
*Now at the back, blow the bridge.
*Fight back to the second bridge.
*Blow this one too.
*Head out of shame.
*Return to the barracks, mission complete.

With all of that in mind, I lined up two full Grenadiers and one Aspiring Grenadier outside of the barracks. I gave a short briefing, telling them to bring fifty bandages (no more, no less) and all their armour must be removed, except for their shields. Damn it was freezing out there...

Arriving at Shame, we entered very wearily of our surroundings. We could easily take them all - we are Grenadiers after all - but it's best not to take an unnecessary risks. With that in our heads, we moved through quickly to the back.

Now at the back of the dungeon, the explosives could be administered, and the first bridge blown to smithereens. I'll just leave the boring parts out here - the bridge was blown sky high (not literally ofcourse) as we cheered "FOR COVE!"

Cheering, and full of adrenaline, we raced back towards the entrance, and the second bridge, smashing everything in our paths.
The same thing happened again here, though this one was a bit bigger!

Now, mission complete, we had to escape from Shame. It's a "shame" it's never that easy - we were ambushed!
I made that sound worrying, when in fact it -was- easy. We bashed at them untill the dropped like flies.. Yes, giant sized rock flies.

(http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/1423/finaltask1zj1.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Now it truly was 'Mission complete' and we marched back to Cove, were the men were dismissed.. And, finally, my trials ended.

(http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/8927/finaltask2dl7.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

*Signed*
Junior Guardsman,
Regdar

Excellent work indeed!