Watchman Trial: Zoie Hayden [COMPLETE]

[Hoagie]

Zoie, eh? An aspiring Dragoon! Time she got herself a Covian cap and started workin' towards her iron arms. Now...

TASK ONE - COMPLETE
Lead an expedition to reinforce the old "Highlander's Hollow" in the Glenmore mountains.
Man the outpost until nightfall, then lead a torch lit attack on the orc fort.
Give the orcs a damn good thrashing and return with no less than 10,000 coins looted from their stinking corpses.

• At least 4 other guardsmen must accompany you on this task.
• 10,000 gold must be acquired.
• This task must be done with dark nights enabled, no nightsight. Torches or lanterns to be used.
• At least 5 Brutes must be slain.
• A full report with pictures must be posted below.

TASK TWO - COMPLETE
Lead a combat training session. Discuss tactics, targetting and teamfighting before putting it all to the test.

• At least 6 other guardsmen must attend.
• End the session with a free for all.
• A full report with pictures must be posted below.

TASK THREE - COMPLETE
Lead a series of patrols to keep Cove safe.

Seperate patrols must be led to the following locations: Covian graveyard, Covian Shire including the Baronship Household and Civilian Quarter, the Altmere outpost, the northern swamps and Cove town.

• Note down any brigand activity and report any skirmishes etc.
• At least 3 other guardsmen must accompany you on each patrol.
• A full report of each patrol must be posted below.

Good luck, Watchman!

[Zoie Hayden]

Task Two: Advanced Combat Training Session

Led by: Zoie Hayden, Junior Guardsman
Attended by:
- Hoagie Grayner, Dragoon Sergeant
- Raiden, Grenadier Sergeant
- Dalamar, Regular Scout
- Delcarakdur, Junior Guardsman
- Feraz, Junior Guardsman (Left early)
- Flina Trix, Junior Dragoon (Joined in late)
- Mercy, Watchman
- Dimman, Guardsman Recruit
- Karl Von Manheim, Church Servant

On June 13th, at 8:30 in the evening, I held an advanced combat training session that I had been organizing for some time. I have felt it necessary to teach the troops more practical skills and tactics not covered in the usual basic training sessions for some time; so I hosted one as per my trials.

I focused on three main areas: Advanced combat tactics, Intermediate targetting, and Team fighting.

Combat Tactics

I opened the session by highlighting the importance of learning more advanced tactics; especially those we use in battle and those used against us. The first two I discussed were to be used against beasts and monsters as they would be less effective against more intelligent foes.

The first tactic I went over was called 'Skirmishing'. I explained that this was to be used against a dangerous, strong enemy you had no hope of standing toe to toe against. Basically it is used to run circles around your enemy, allowing you to strike it while avoiding it's attacks because you are constantly moving. It is particularly effective against slow moving, hard hitting monsters.

The second tactic I covered was what I called the 'Bait' technique. This tactic literally uses one or two guardsmen as bait (usually recruits) who stand at the monster's front while the rest of the army attacks it from behind. The baiter is to keep the monster's attacks focused on themselves allowing his allies to bring down the beast as efficiently as possible. I explained that this tactic can be used to bring down foes such as dragons whose fire breathing can easily incinerate an entire army standing before them.

The last two tactics I wanted to cover tied in with the Team fighting exercise so I promised to come back to them later.

Intermediate Targetting

I moved on to give a general overview of targetting in battle and certain situations that might require more specific targetting commands. I explained that this applied both to monsters and enemy factions, such as Yew and the Orcs. I gave an example of a squad faced with 3 similar looking Ettins to fight. The commanding officer for one reason or another may want a certain Ettin to fall before the others, and thus needs to command his squad in order to do that.

I explained that commands such as "Charge the leftmost Ettin" would tell everyone exactly which one to attack. The same applies to our factional enemies, and in that case, the soldiers might hear such commands as "Target the axe-wielder" or "Charge the mage".

Combat Tactics, Part II

I then split the 8 guardsmen attending into two teams of four. I had them stand opposite each other and went back to the last two combat tactics I had left to cover.

With Sergeant Raiden's help, I explained how to properly defend against a conflaguration potion, or any field of fire. We demonstrated to the troops that remaining in formation despite the blazing inferno was the best defense against such a tactic designed to disrupt and panic the line. The searing, burning pain would pale in comparison to the punishment a lone soldier were to receive if he ran out into the enemy's waiting arms.

We tested the theory and both teams did very well in remaining in formation and maintaining discipline. Even with Mercy's very long lasting field of fire, nobody broke formation.

the last combat tactic I demonstrated was 'Containment'. I explained this would be best used to capture an important enemy combatant or leader without harming him or her. The tactic calls for two teams of soldiers to converge on the enemy at the same time forming an unbreakable human wall, preventing escape. It should be performed as swiftly and precisely as possible to disallow any option but surrender.

Team Fighting

With the two teams still seperated, I explained the importance of fighting as a team since they would only very rarely fight alone. I felt it unnecessary to drill them again in healing as a team, so instead reiterated the importance of healing each other in battle.

I covered team fighting in general a little bit more before I unloaded some crates I had stashed earlier. I used them to illustrate how a team can work together to quickly dismantle a barricade even under enemy fire. I built a small barricade and had one team stand inside of it, while the second team attacked and dismantled it as quickly as possible.

Both teams did well and applied the theories explained to them in good fashion. The attackers were a little over zealous and injured some of the defenders, but in the end, it was a good illustration of a real attack. It led to a new tactic of assaulting barricades: Fighters in the front to dismantle while archers and mages stand back to cover them with ranged attacks.

Free for all

At this point, I concluded the session and offered a Free for all battle for the soldiers to apply some of what they learned. It was a good fight, and it came down to Sergeant Hoagie,  Senior Joey Lenai (who came just for the free for all), and Junior Delcarakdur. The three fought furiously for ages, until Del fell and soon after, Sergeant Hoagie was bested by Joey.

All in all, it was a great session and everyone listened well and hopefully learned a lot.

*Signed*
Zoie Hayden
Junior Guardsman

[Zoie Hayden]

Task One - Reinforce Highlander's Hollow/Assault on the orc fort

Led By: Zoie Hayden, Junior Guardsman
Attended By:
- Garand, Senior Scout
- Demarian Tel'Var, Senior Guardsman
- Kas Valentine, Regular Guardsman
- Perrin Stonespear, Watchman
- Jakob D'Stoke, Watchman
- Kal Shadowhand, Church Servant

As a response to the increased Orc activity of late, I was tasked with leading a team to reinforce the old Highlander's Hollow area north of the orc fort. I spent a few days before preparing the supplies of crates, torches, and alcohol that we would need and set them aside. On June 15th, I waited until late evening before rounding up the guardsman and lined them up outside of the barracks.

I explained to them our mission and, even though Jakob swore he saw an orc creeping about, I gave the order to march to the Hollow. The orcs would soon know our presence there anyway, so a few minutes notice wasn't going to do them much good.

We quickly arrived at the Hollow and with a bit of inspection, I chose the ideal spot for our outpost. It gave us enough space to create adequate defenses and living area while still giving us a good vantage point of the orc fort.

So we started building using the crates I schlepped over from the barracks. After an hour, the outpost was taking shape, but we needed more material so Regular Demarian gathered a bunch of smaller crates from the nearby wood to reinforce the outpost even more. We set aside a living area with a bedroll, tables and chairs, and a bit of food and drink to the back of the outpost, and posted torches on either side of both gates.
Everyone worked together to make a brilliant and sturdy fort in the Hollow.

Just a few minutes after we'd completed the outpost, some orcs decided to test the fortifications, but quickly became nervous and fled upon seeing the craftmanship and the number of guardsmen.

We then made idle conversation, watched the approach to the Hollow, patrolled the walls, and relaxed a little until night fell. When it was suitably dark, I ordered everyone out of the Outpost securing it behind us and we began to march upon the orc fort.

When we entered the fort itself, we encountered very little resistance to our presence, probably because most of the orcs were sleeping by now. But soon enough we had roused the fort and fought together felling as many orcs as we could find.

The orc bodies began to pile up, but the large brutes were nowhere to be found. I had been tasked as part of my trials to slay no less than five of them on this excursion, but it seemed to us that there were none to slay! So after we thinned out the defenses a bit, we all searched together for any brutes that may be hiding.

Kal soon spotted one hiding on the other side of the wall near the sea side; so he and Kas devised a way to get us to it. Kas worked out how to open a moongate just a few yards away so we could all get on the other side of the wall. But even then, we were seperated from the brute. So I asked Kas and the archers to take it down from a distance, to which they obliged.

After that, the brutes, and other orcs, began to come out of the woodwork having seen that hiding serves little purpose in saving their skins. They fought hard but were no match for the 7 of us and soon enough, we'd killed five of them along with hundreds of their smaller cousins.

Having accomplished the task, and it being long after sunrise, I ordered everyone to make their way home. We exited the fort, but were ambushed on our way out as a last ditch attempt by the orcs to inflict any casualty. Of course they couldn't and all died. So we met up back home at the barracks.

I concluded the evening by congratulating everyone, and splitting the nearly 20,000 gold coins we'd accumulated five ways.

*Signed*
Zoie Hayden
Junior Guardsman

[Zoie Hayden]

Task Three - Series of patrols to secure the Baron's lands

Patrol #1 - Cove town

Attended By:
-Sergeant Hoagie
-Watchman Gabriel Drachen
-Watchman Jakob D'Stoke

Following our recent victory against the Orcs near Cove, I thought as per my trials it'd be prudent to patrol around and inside Cove town to make sure it was still secure. So I gathered up some guardsmen and we went to work. We checked the town thoroughly for any sign of Orc, brigands, or other unsavory types, but found nothing worth reporting.

After searching every nook and cranny of Cove, we ran into Junior Eve who needed to speak with me, so I gathered everyone together and dismissed them.

Patrol #2 - Northern Swamps

Attended By:
-Watchman Mercy
-Watchman Jakob D'Stoke
-Recruit Marcus
-Recruit Dimman

Checking my list of areas needing a patrol, I saw one that simple said "Northern Swamps". Since I didn't know at the time what that was referring to, I was sure someone else would. So I called for a patrol and gathered up the usual suspects. However, none of them knew about any nearby swamps either. So I decided to set off anyway and check an old map as we travelled.

The map wasn't much help leading us to supposed swamps that had long since been dry and were now forests. We even found all kinds of armour and weapons littered on the road with no explanation or clues. Chucking the map away, we explored the entire area that was north of Cove and eventually stumbled upon the correct swamps just west of the Yew Crossroads.

Upon entering the swamp cautiously, we quickly determined that the sheer amount of dangerous wildlife prohibited any kind of settlement, brigand or not. As soon as we said that, we ourselves became overwhelmed by animals, bog things, and what looked like piles of blue goo.
As the rest of us fought the creatures, Watchman Mercy demonstrated her unique way of killing the hideous goo beasts. She would paralyze them with magic, then use a knife to open them up and then sever the connections between the beast's organs and the rest of it's body, obviously killing the beast from within. I included a sketch of the procedure to illustrate more adequately.

We fought and slogged our way through the swamp and soon reached the other side. Having found nothing unusual in the swamp, we all made our way back to the barracks and I dismissed the guardsmen.

Patrol #3 - Altmere

Attended By:
-Sergeant Hoagie
-Junior Flina
-Recruit Edmund Rufus
-Recruit Bloodgar

The patrol to Altmere was uneventful and quite boring save for the presence of a former guardsman called Geit Arma. After assembling the necessary troops for this patrol, I noticed him (A stranger then) in the line and had no qualms about letting him tag along. As we set off though, Sergeant Hoagie recognized him and after much conversation between the two of them, Geit left and we continued to Altmere.

Upon arriving, the outpost was quiet and deserted. There was no sign of recent brigand activity or even any in the surrounding area. It was clear no one had even been to Altmere for a while. So after securing the area, we all marched home and the guardsmen were dismissed.

Patrol #4 - Covian Shire, including army buildings and Civilian Quarter

Attended By:
-Sergeant Hoagie
-Senior Demarian
-Watchman Graem Carcer

This was the biggest and longest patrol so far so I assembled a good team of guardsmen who could handle the long trek. After going over the plan, we set off and immediately began checking and securing the buildings of the Baronship including all the squad HQs, the new Town Hall, and the new Goblin grounds.

After securing those, we marched South to the gates of Cove checking each civilian house, then turned East along the coastline. No home escaped our watchful eyes as we checked the strange bakery, Krel Varone's shop, and Qom's workshop among many others. As we neared the border to Vesper, I ordered a general patrol of the wooded shire, past the mountains and up to the border to Yew. We found only one brigand camp right on the Yewian border and cleaned it up easily.

Having secured the entire Shire, I dismissed the troops with the confidence that Cove had never been more secure if we could only find one brigand camp on the very edge of our lands.

Patrol #5 - Covian Graveyard

Attended By:
-Sergeant Hoagie
-Corporal Kelly
-Regular Kas Valentine
-Watchman Graem Carcer
-Recruit Sean Greyson
-Crurch Servant Kal Shadowhand

Only the graveyard remained now before I could call the task of securing the whole of the Baronship completed. It was a needed patrol as well as I'd been hearing rumours of the undead stirring again within it's gates. As citizens of Cove, it is our duty to lay and keep at rest our ancestors.

So the troops were assembled and we marched expecting combat. We were instantly engaged as soon as we arrived at the graveyard, even before we entered, by all manner of undead creatures. It was clear something had disturbed their graves and they were not happy. We slowly marched along slaying those we saw, and entered the graveyard's gates. We put down a few dozen restless souls, including a liche, before the entire grounds was cleaned and silent.
Feeling satisfied that the dead were again at rest, we marched home and the guardsmen were dismissed.

My series of patrols confirmed that the Baronship and surrounding Shire have never been more secure and the brigands have either fled to other lands or have all been killed. Each patrol was a success and I wish to thank all those who participated.

*Signed*
Zoie Hayden
Junior Guardsman

[Hoagie]

Excellent work, Zoie! A cap well earned!