[Thursday, 8th November around 10pm]

Thursday, 8th November around 10pm

I took the path through the Shire, starting from the Cardinal Feather Inn heading towards the Arcanist Tower at the south coast. In between, I stumbled upon a lonely Deadite and attacked it. I quickly dispatched it and it ran away into the dark night, heading towards Avarice mountains.

Leanne Martin-Melior, Regular Scout

Additional information on Miss Masteen: [Heavily redacted] the drunken.

I used my arcane powers to lift her body from the intoxication a bit and protect her from organic damage.

It seems she had been given either high percentage beverages or poisoned ones out of malice by a third person. Be very careful! We don't know what or who distributes these kind of drinks.

Ilyana Drachen, Senior Arcanist

Grand report, Kobra!

Ilyana Drachen, Senior Arcanist

PS: I'm not dead, damnit! Never was!

Chapter 10 - The War Council

The rain set in a short time massive and Ilyana and her comrades arrived drenched in the main camp of the army. "You can get quarters over there," Sergeant Feather said, pointing to a large canvas tent. It was tan in color and black, like Shoreham's coat of arms. "Get warm and eat something first. We'll come back to you later." "Ilyana!" Bersi added, "I'll get you for the War Council in about two hours." Ilyana confirmed him and went with the others to the aforementioned tent, while Bersi, Sergeant Feather and also Elizabeth went in the direction of the officer tent.

The camp seemed huge and confusing at first. The smell of rain, hearths and steel in the air was a special mix. Ilyana could hear the sounds of blacksmith hammers relentlessly working swords, axes and spears on anvils. Axes and saws working woods. Everywhere voices were audible. The smoke of the fireplaces swelled through the air and mingled with the wet, cold rain. No sooner had Ilyana and her comrades occupied the empty tent than some of the soldiers who were strangers to Ilyana came to them and distributed food. There was lentil stew in a broth mixed with long boiled rabbit meat. "Enjoy it!", one of them shouted as they moved on with their pot. "We seem to have arrived just in time.", said Iolan, nudging Ilyana lightly in the side, which like Ruby was already busy devouring the stew.

The interior of the tent was sparse. What made sense to Ilyana, after all, the army had to be able to quickly raise and lower the tents. A few bunks, a few boxes, here and there a barrel filled with water. Fortunately, the floor was still dry so they could use the central hearth and warm up. "Bersi wants to take you to the council, Ilyana?" Celuvian began a conversation. "Yes. He told me that one day I'm supposed to replace him and I'm already learning." "That sounds like a lot of work!" Abigail added, "But I think you'd be very suitable for that."
Ilyana seemed a bit uncertain. "I do not know. Everyone else here is at least as talented as I am, and probably more." She pointed to Kas and Celuvian and they laughed. "Do not be silly, dearest Yana," Kas replied. "The good Celuvian here is already too old to take on such a post. And I, dearest, am simply too lazy. My future would be diplomacy rather than war tactics. This is clearly a talent on your part."
"He's right," Fred agreed. "I remember how you took the lead in your trial. As if you had never done anything else. Thinking back to Abigail's trial... Hey, do you still remember Abigail? The thing about the ferret and the hive?" "Don't you dare to warm up that old story, Fred." Abigail reminded him, frowning. "I remember," Rita added with a laugh. "In the end, we all had to pay this old owl to return our clothes because you led us straight into a stinging nettle field. A true path of shame. Why were we naked again?", she asked, whereupon Ruby had an answer: "Well, because of a naughty ferret!" "I did not think it was so funny.", Abigail pouted. But her pouting quickly turned into a laugh as she was infected by the others. Especially for Ilyana it was unusual to see Rita or Fred laughing. But she found it a very nice moment that would be remembered for a long time.

The laughter stopped as Bersi entered the tent. "Ilyana. It's time." She got up and left her group, which was saluting her. It was still raining outside, even though the rain was getting weaker. Bersi said nothing on the way to the main tent. This allowed Ilyana to fully concentrate on her surroundings. There was a lot going on around them. Many women and men, all at work or sparring. They looked determined, but tired too. Ilyana remembered that some of them had been here for a month already.
Bersi and Ilyana reached the main tent. It was the same color as the others, but it was almost twice as big and on the top was Shoreham's flag. Two guards let the two arcanists inside. "Ah, Corporal Bersi and his future successor have also found their way here." It was none other than Commander Morana. Bersi and Ilyana saluted the attendees, who did it like them. In the middle stood a dark spruce table, and on it a map and various figures were to be recognized. "Commander Morana, Gentlemen and Women Officers.", Bersi began, "Some of you already know my student Ilyana Melior. She recently joined the Arcanist squad and has great talents. She will take on a passive role and just listen. This has already been discussed with the Commander."
In addition to Commander Morana, Sergeant Feather, Elizabeth and Bersi, Ilyana could inspect three other, previously unknown persons - all of whom had a bald head. Only their facial hair was different. "Nice to have you here, young lady!", The first one introduced himself. He was clearly the oldest of the new faces and his beard was already gray. "I am Gregor Eason, former Commander and now Deputy of Captain Grayner." He pointed to the slightly smaller, chubby man beside him. "Hoagie Grayner, that's me. Nice to have you with us, Ilyana."

The third bald guy snorted and shook hands with Ilyana. "I am Torrak Keres. My sister told me about you."
Ilyana shook his hand, squeezing hard, which made Ilyana's hand painful. In a shaky voice, she said, "Oh, so you have to be Abi's sister." Torrak just nodded and smiled slightly.
"Well, let's start?" Raiden began, and Ilyana stood between Bersi and Elizabeth. The latter was barely taller than herself, and Ilyana clearly liked to stand beside her. Most officers and soldiers were a lot older than her, but Elizabeth was still very young and a little naive. However, she could feel a strong aura of determination from her.
"Sergeant Feather? What are your Scouts reporting?" She stepped to the table and began to circle various points on the map. "It's as I expected. Both Durrun and Stroud have camped on the north and west sides, respectively. Unfortunately, it is true that they dare to march on the city and not fight each other." "Damn bootlickers of the Queen. Pha!", Torrak interposed.
Raiden rubbed his chin, studying and worried, he asked, "Any news from Barain?"
Gregor shook his head. "No. It seems they will not send their troops. So we can not rely on support. On the other hand, we do not have to worry about an opponent more." grinned Gregor.

"Sergeant, what about the city itself?" Bersi intervened. "The city is abandoned. The people from Avelsstrum have realized that there will soon be a fight here and have entrenched themselves with bag to the mountains."
"We do not have to worry about civilians after all," Elizabeth said, tapping her own nose. "That's right." Bersi continued. "Commander, I recommend an attack on the back of the opposing main unit because of our minority. We will need a few units to divert the bulk of the enemy's forces and lure them into the city center, where we can attack them with archers and arcanists."
"Oh, and who is going to be the sacrificial lamb while you fine flame throwers are attacking from safety? My men!?" Hoagie exclaimed annoyed while Bersi frowned. "Still, Hoagie," intervened Raiden.
"We only need a few soldiers for it. They should not sacrifice themselves, they just have to trap the enemy. Pickles, do you think the rain will continue like this?" Elizabeth moved her nostrils and nodded. "Yes, Commander."
Raiden chuckled. "Very well. Sergeant Feather. The rain will allow you and your Scouts to sneak around the battlefield unnoticed. Attack the opposing generals directly. Without officers focusing on combat, their morale will be destabilized. Hoagie, together with Gregor you will bring the main unit from the east. Wait for the others to prepare an ambush and stand with them once the trap snaps. Bersi and Pickles, you two will lead the Arcanists from the north, while Torrak and his grenadiers will launch a first attack from the south with crossbows before they also rush into the fray. All understood?!"

All officers, like Ilyana, saluted and said yes. "I want to see all troops operational in two hours! Everything has to go smoothly!"
Ilyana, Bersi and Elizabeth left the tent together. Barely out, Bersi gave Elizabeth a kiss on the lips, whereupon Ilyana's jaw dropped. Elizabeth smiled and said, "See you soon, sweetie."
Ilyana tugged Bersi on the sleeve. "You two are together?" Bersi just chuckled. "Together is the wrong word. She and I meet every now and then for... nocturnal actions." Ilyana pouted, but she did not want to ask further.
Arrived by their comrades, Bersi assigned them their tasks before they started to say goodbye. "See you after the battle!" Iolan shouted while Ruby hugged Ilyana and Abigail. Rita sighed one more time. She was still nervous about the fight. "As soon as we have the opportunity, we fight as a team.", said Ilyana, whereupon Rita nodded.
Fred and Gabriel set out to catch up with Sergeant Feder for the surprise attack.
Ilyana memorized the faces of her friends. She was nervous. Together with Bersi, Abigail, Celuvian and Kas, she set off to meet Elizabeth and the other Arcanists. Soon the city would smell like blood and sulfur. In the distance she could hear war drums. Depth, first slow, faster and faster beats. Stroud, too, seemed to be on the move.

*bump*

He may has used his one time token of holiday escape

Enjoy your holidays Hoagiebear! Send pics of your trip

[Led by:]

Led by:

• Falconheart, Junior Grenadier

Attended by:

• Markus Kobra, Officer Cadet (missing in action)
• Leanne Martin-Melior, Regular Scout
• Avalynn Vale, Junior Grenadier (missing in action)
• Sheriam Palmer, Junior Guardsman (missing in action)
• Piper Vale, Warlock from Vesper

Early in the evening, we gathered at the barracks called out for action by Grenadier Falconheart. Little did we know then what expected us yet. Frankly, I was chosen to write the report once more. I'd just wish I'd get my trials so I could actually make use of all these overdue reports...

We patrolled the Shire until we stumbled upon an attempted fortification. Bones gnawed off all flesh, blood and intestines everywhere and a stench that I was once more happy to wear a mask. We could not tell who these people were, as there was no uniform at all. However, the grenades implied that it might have been some Grenadiers.

We burned down the fortification and continued to search for what was causing this mess.

It did not take us long until we eventually found a mighty beast accompanied by undead minions at the graveyard. It seemed it was this beast that was attacking the fortification.

A bitter battle began! While Grenadier Vale and Junior Palmer were nowhere to be seen after a short time, Falconheart and I attacked the beast from a distance while Cadet Kobra battled and distracted the undead minions. We eventually got reinforced by Piper Vale from Vesper.

All of us got knocked on our butts a couple of times, but luckily, all of us avoided death once more. Not just a couple of minutes, but through hours we fought this black, winged beast!

The winged beast got weaker, but so did we get tired. To our luck tho, traveling warriors that passed through the Shire from north, heard our battle cries and came to aid us, finishing this mighty beast off for good and defending Cove once more!

The fiend that can match Covian wit and courage needs first to be born!

Leanne Martin-Melior, Regular Scout

[Led by:]

Led by:

• Piper Vale

Team Purple:

• Aries Harper-Morana
• Esca Flowne
• Garrofi
• Sheriam Palmer, Junior Guardsman

Team Green:

• Leanne Martin-Melior, Regular Scout
• Rimeny De Blaze
• Kurita Omiko

Team Blue:

• Levi
• Reg
• Jeddra

So there we were. Piper Vale from Vesper called out the people of Vesper, Cove and Stonekeep to participate in a bit of friendly games. So it was time for a Drow Hunt! I was mighty excited. Unfortunately, we weren't hunting real drows...

Vale took us to Dagger Island in front of Deceit, where we split up in three teams à three. Palmer, casually arriving late, made the teams uneven. Vale thought it to be a good idea to reinforce Flowne's team, which was already the team with the most firepower.

Once inside, instead of going for gold, everyone started to bash each others heads. Favorite targets? Flowne, Rimeny and myself. Why people weren't going more after that sneaky guy Levi with his attacks from the shadows paired with poison is beyond me, but apparently people just go after the known figures it seems.

The battle went on for quite some time until teams started to split up. Levis team went down to the lower levels while the other two teams kept searching for gold on the top level and eventually clashed with each other every now and then.

Unfortunately, one member of my team kept running around alone most of the time instead of sticking with me and Rimeny, which ended in an easy fight for Aries' team taking us two with a combined power of four on their side.

I didn't really pay attention who round one, but it surely was our team and definitely not one of the others, because they were cheating anyway and were overall backstabbing ninnies.

Aries sat out for round two, so the teams were even once more. However, round two started with all teams running down to the second floor. Personally, I did way better that round, however, I don't know what they give their people in Vesper! My whole team was bashing on Garrofi and he did not fall. Same with that muddy old bear! How this is possible, I don't know. Both my team mates got knocked on their bums, so I was forced to retreat. For the rest of the round I hunted gold by myself and took out eventual targets that passed by me, only to get disappointed that they had little or no gold with them.

Frankly, our team had won once again by miles. There was no need to count the gold, it was clear that we were the most fabolous and not some ganking immortal whimps.

Leanne Martin-Melior, Regular Scout

There are a lot of duties to be done! Rally sharp on time and ready for everything!

Come on, come all!

On Sunday, 8:30pm Cove will host a Bagball Tournament for the people of Vesper, Cove and Stonekeep. There are prizes to be won and endless glory!

Hosted by yours truly,
Leanne Martin-Melior

[Led by:]

Led by:

• Leanne Martin-Melior, Regular Scout

Attended by:

• Garrison Hawke, Watchman
• Alexander Hawke, Guardsman Recruit

While everyone is a lazy bugger, I am certainly not. I head off to the Altmere Outpost and saw it fit to strengthen it once more. All by myself, I built up the sentry. It took me a while and I had to be super careful! Like, did I ever tell you how I lost my fingers?! I was minding my own business, hammering together some crates, then all of a sudden BOOM! The nails exploded and ripped them of. True story!

After I finished building, two figures stepped on me from south. One of them was a known Watchman, the other was apparently his son. I didn't know there were other families in the army. Other than the Kereseseses. And Easons. And Shadowhands. And Meliors...

In any way, they arrived just in time for the second part of my plan...

We ventured to Destard, the cave filled with big dragons with even bigger teeth! Slowly and cautious we entered their Den and valiantly fought our way through their fire and flames.

Needless to say, the recruit had some trouble fighting them off, but we succeeded until...

Until we got surrounded! Countless fire breathing lizards around us, even some of those ancient big ones. A grave mistake on my account for loosing track of my surroundings. After things seemed a bit harsh for us, I ordered a tactical retreat with all the gold and leather in our pockets.

We head home to Cove where we counted our collected leather and coins. Needless to say, we did gather more than enough for re-equipping the Scouts. And enough gold to buy loads of milk. More than we could ever imagine!

A fine Covian display of skill, all done in a fine afternoon.

Leanne Martin-Melior, Regular Scout

"Can ye look at my hands hun? I have this weird rash on my hands lately and it's itchy!", said Leanne as she approached her wife. Pickles arched her eyebrow and asked: "Did you perhaps try to cast some spells with Nightshade?" Leanne nodded. "Yes, I cast the Strength spell a couple of times lately."

Pickles took a closer look at Leanne's hands. "Well, you didn't wear your gloves when you did, right? You as a Scout should know that Nightshade has is toxic and may, as now seen on you, give you a rash." Leanne sighed and agreed to her. It wasn't the first time she heard that, and it sure was no new news to her. After all, her unofficial mentor Kal used to poison his blades with Nightshade essence.

"Nay a bad idea, actually..." she said to herself. Why not use the poison of Nightshade on her arrows? She patted her bag with herbs and produced a bunch of Nightshade. In the Scout Tower she found a mortal and pestle and started to carefully mash it into tiny pieces and it eventually became viscous liquid.

Leanne made a mess, puddles of the liquid all around her on the floor, her gloves and even her leather suit. But she managed to successfully apply the toxic liquid on her arrowheads and store them safely in her quiver. She was taken out of her concentration when her wife's voice rang at her ears.

"You're not trying to lick your own fingers right now, are you?", Leanne blushed and they both laughed.

Leanne had yet a long way to go.

[Led by:]

Led by:

• Leanne Martin-Melior, Regular Scout

Attended by:

• Thomas Aylmer, Junior Arcanist
• A much more younger looking Hoagie Grayner, Captain (?)
• Ilyana Drachen, Senior Arcanist
• Alton Aldwin, Guardsman Recruit

"Time for new meatshields!", I said, so we head off to Haven and started to pester everyone speak to everyone we could get a hold of and beautify the place with Covian banners. We caught the attention of some people, unfortunately, one of them was a drow and the other one someone lecturing us about how we treated the recruit. We got some people interested tho, that's what matters!

Quickly afterwards, we went over to the far away lands of Atlantic. Their cities looked a lot like our Haven and Luna. Quite weird. But I'm sure it was a coincidence. It was a very crowded place and Hoagie joined us. Maybe it was the long travel, but it seemed to me that Hoagie all of a sudden looked like ten years younger. I could swear he even had hair on his otherwise usual bald scalp.
In Luna we found a guy that looked just like the Yewish Inquisitor.
Yet again, we found a couple of potential recruits.

Last stop was the lands of Catskills. Less crowded, but still some weird people. Ilyana met a pirate of some sort and quickly traded recruit Aldwin for a hat. Can't blame her, the hat was really nice.
In Luna, both the pirate and Ilyana attempted to persuade some drow half breed to join the their side. However, he quickly threw their leaflets across Luna bank and seemed rather annoyed by the two.
Naturally, they both blamed the recruit for scaring the drow breed off.

Leanne Martin-Melior, Regular Scout

[Leanne Martin-Melior, Regular Scout]

Alton Aldwin is now my apprentice. Under my guidance, he shall learn Valor and Honor and to keep his hands to himself

Leanne Martin-Melior, Regular Scout