As the guardsman sat in the Tavern, tapping the desk and whistling to themselves, in hope of obtaining an alcoholic beverage, Commander Eason was busy commmunicating with Retired Officer Sir Nicolas on stealing and escorting Yewish Alcohol from the Winery in Yew to the Docks of Britain, and then onto Cove.Map of the route.
'We shall be marching to Yew! Or takin' a wytchy portal there' The Commander sniggered as he lined the men up. That very same day Commander Gregor Eason had been discussing important and secretive business with a man named Sir Nicolas. The Tavern in Cove had little or no alcohol, and Vesper ale is..well, crap.
Sir Nicolas was a respected man, always believed that something wasn't a crime if you didin't get caught. So he agreed to the Commander's request of stealing Yewish wine from the winery just south of the Abbey.
All was well, the route was set, and the men were ready for action!
A young citizen wishes to take part in the journey.
The Commander ordered the attending guardsman to be put into groups ; Ranged squad, Scouting squad and Heavy fighting squad. Once the squads had been formed, Watchman Kas Valentine opened a portal to the roof of The Yewish Abbey.
Unfortunately, upon arriving on this roof, there seemed to be no means of getting to the ground. However, Junior Guardsman Hoagie happened to be merrily jigging, and fell onto a light brown platform, which instantly teleported him to the ground. We cheered and followed him, eager to smell the blood of Yewish foe once more.
We were standing on solid ground, and were talking amongst ourselves waiting for the man named Sir Nicolas to appear. Faintly in the distance we could all hear a tune being sung. It happened to be a well known Christmas carol, in Covian lands. The Commander mounted his steed and rode off into the distance in search of this mystery carol-singer.
'Aha! Officer Cadet Drachir! Come with!' The Commander shouted from a nearby building. Drachir ordered the men to keep an eye out, and rushed off towards the Commander.
Inside the building, was a man dressed in the finest of clothes. He pointed at Drachir and asked if he was in charge. Drachir nodded nervously and the man told him about the wine. He asked Drachir whom he should give the pack-horses with the wine in them, Drachir chuckled and told Sir Nicolas to give them to Grenadier Sergeant Arkay. Sergeant Arkay mumbled and grabbed the reigns of the two horses, and yanked them outside. The journey had begun !
Sir Nicolas tells Drachir of the plan.
No sooner had we recieved the Ale from Sir Nicolas, the Yewish Militia had arrived. They did not waste any time, and demanded the Ale at once. We refused outright, and a battle begun !
The Guardsman Militia arrive.
CHARGE !!
The battle for the Yewish Ale.
At first, we were holding out well, until a strange man in full platemail on a steed arrived, and knocked many of our men too quickly for our liking. After this we were forced to retreat, and lost some of our most wanted Ale.
But we did not fret! Oh no! We had a plan B, and infact, a plan C! Drachir glanced at his map quickly, looked up and ordered a march to the next Stockpoint!
The map showed that the next stockpoint was but a mere half an hours walk. Drachir chuckled as he knew that we would get there in no time. Half an hour later, he looked at his map again,
'Oh deary me, I've been lookin' at this thing the wrong way up! Bwahaha!'
The guardsmen moaned and turned around and walked in the opposite direction.
We reached a building, we could see the Commander's steed outside nibbling on a patch of hay. Drachir glanced at the window and saw the Commander with a mug of Ale in his hand. We had reached the Stockpoint! Drachir ordered for logs to be cut down, and a barricade to be put up.
The barricade at its best...
Again, no sooner had we built the Barricade, the Yewman were back. Regular Deibeau whispered to the Commander,
'How do they keep findin' us Sah?'
'I do not know Regular, I just do not know...' The Commander said in a puzzled tone of voice.
The Commander attempted to have a word with the Yewman, but communicating with a Yewman is like attempting to fish in your cupboard. In other words, they attacked us.
Battle for the Yewish Wine! Fight number Two!
Appauling, to say the least. The Yewish guardsman triumphed again, with even fewer casualties than the last time. However, it was quite amusing for Junior Guardsman Jenifer Feather creeped up behind an unsuspecting Yewman, and simply greeted him with a hearty, 'ello'. Undoubtedly, the Yewman attacked, and with one might swoop, Feather was down.
We picked ourselves up, and walked onwards. Our next walk, or should I say run, would be a long and dangerous one. We would not be going along a well built road, or be close to any public buildings, we would be going through the Yew Forest, the one place any Covian wouldn't like to be alone.
We made it in half the time that was expected, probably because everyone was scared. We got the main road, and walked along silently except for a few coughs and moans of pain. We reached the secret location! Ha!
Earlier on, the Commander had told Cadet Drachir to run into Yew Forest to this location, and place two pack-horses. If the plan succeeded, then one of Sir Nicolas' contacts would have filled the horses with Yewish Ale. We reached the horses. Success! They were packed to the teeth with the finest of Ales! This should surely work! Without the Commander looking, a group of us had a bottle each before setting off again.
One last mouthfull, and that was it. We had to keep moving, and the men knew it. We grabbed our halberds and our spears, told Sergeant Arkay to get the horses, and off we went.
We had to get to a mountain path near Britain, it wasn't much of a walk...according to the map anyway. Once we arrived it had felt like we had been walking for days. The sun had already set, and the Commander was already there. We were greeted by a hooded group, who had kindly set up a barricade for some money.
Five thousand crowns, a fair price.
Once we were on the other side of the Barricade, we felt like this was the first time we were actually safe. Well, until the Yewman arrived. There were even more of them this time, and it seemed as though we could never win.
'One last push,' The Commander shouted, as he raised his battle staff high into the air. The guardsman roared as the Barricade opened and they attacked the front ranks of the Yewman.
Are we to win...?
Hazzah! It seemed like we were pushing back the dreaded Yew Guard! We had successfully secured One out of the Three crates of Ale. Although this does not sound much, it was bloody hard to get, so we were all extremely pleased!
'Tis nay over yet!' The Commander shouted over the cheers of the guardman. 'We've still got to get this gorgeous ale back to Cove, which means..to Britain!'
The guardsman did not seem reluctant to doing this last trudge through foreign lands, for they knew what the reward was...Ale!
Upon reaching the first Britain farm, Officer Cadet Kal Shadowhand caught sight of a wandering Yewman.
'Ey ey! A Yewman! Kill it!!' Kal shouted in anger. He grabbed the Yewman by the throat and told him to get out of here.
'No no, Cadet, this one may come in handy, lets take him back to Cove' The Commander said, chuckling evily.
We had reached the Docks! Hurrah and Shazzam!
'Le's go then eh Commander?' Officer Cadet Drachir urged.
'Hold your boat Cadet, eh? Get it? Boat? Bwahahaha!' The Commander cackled. A strange tuffed of hay rolled past as he said this, which was somewhat odd. ' I wish to interrogate this Yewman.' The Commander added. I don't think the Yewman realised what interrogation was, for he attempted to tell us a joke! We all eyed him evily, and he shut up.
Tough crowd indeed, enemy.
Everyone was on the ship, the Ale was securely in the Hatch, and we were ready to go!
'Sergeant Valiro Sir, ye coming on board?' Cadet Drachir questioned. Valiro chuckled and answered, 'No no, Drachir, I have some...business to attend to'. Drachir nodded and waved farewell the Sergeant.
Farewell Sarge! Greetings Yewish Ale!
Cadet Drachir quickly told the tiller man to take orders from the Commander, as he was not one for steering a ship. The Commander grabbed the key and boasted about how he was offered a place in the Navy. We all grinned and knew we were in safe hands..or were we...?
Some Navy that must have been!
The group on the boat quickly destroyed anything that seemed to be on the side of the Yewman and the Guardian, and let the Commander attempt to sail us safely home.
We were home! At last! The Commander did a fine job getting us back, even if he did almost kill us all and we managed to get Sergeant Arkay on a boat for the first time in his life!
Home again, home again, jiggidy jog.
Officer Cadet Drachir thanked Sergeant Arkay for taking care of the horses for the trip, and took the reigns. He took a quick walk down to the Tavern where he could see Grief snoring by the fire.
'Wah'da'?!!' He shouted as Drachir's feet creeked on the floor boards.
'Err, Grief? I've got the Ale.'
'Yah'mon! D'as'th'sheet!'
Drachir has never really understood what Grief says, but he nodded politely and gave the packhorses to Grief.
'Latas'mon! Yah'yah!' Grief shouted as Drachir left the Tavern.
As Drachir walked back to his humble abode he thought to himself,
'Well, the Tavern is stocked up! ...For another Night!'
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