Part 1: Fort Oakhorn

[LuckyStrike]

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It's a beautiful crisp morning. Where the sunshine kisses the cold mountain earth, it chases the away the slight nights-freeze and the whole valley seems to absorb the warmth with vigor. The skies are clear and the few clouds there are promise a good day.

Summer is nearing its end though, and those that have experienced last winter know to take every bit of good weather to heart. It can get brutal along this mountain range.

But for now, it's still possible to walk about sleeveless or even bare chested and a few of Fort Oakhorns current inhabitants are taking optimal advantage of that fact. This is mostly because the other great factor for walking around the military base with half or no uniform is in effect.

As of two days ago the commander, captain Hardstool, is currently away leading a patrol through the valley and is expected to be gone for at least a week more.

With that, sergeant Slim Vallero was left in charge of about thirty lucky privates.
Vallero is a happy man. He always has a joke ready and he's loved by many of the men. It's possible that this is partly because Slim is as lazy as he is fat (considerably) and those who work with him know how to butter him up into being the single most relaxed sergeant in all of the Tellarian legions.

The sergeant and many of the men wasted no time in taking every possible freedom they could get. It's not strange, with winter well on its way they are looking forward to long days fighting the snow and ice under Hardstools grim leadership.
Still, as you wake this day, some of you might feel the men have stretched their luck a bit far...

As you walk into the courtyard five soldiers have passed out around a campfire that seems to have died an hour or so ago. Empty bottles of moonshine lay haphazardly around the place along with a few barrels of wine.
One guard is sleeping against the gate, stark naked, and another seems to have fallen over face down and bottom up. His neck would be aching for sure when he woke up but it would be the least of his problems. He seems to have face planted exactly where he'd relieved himself, after which he vomited last nights consumption.

Up along the city walls a table stood, where surely no table should be standing. Around it were three people, still playing poker and drinking the last bottles dry.
One of these three was sergeant Slim Vallero. He had the largest pile of gold in front of him and they all seemed to enjoy the silent game in front of them.
A chuckle here, moving some coins around and flipping cards onto the table. The sounds of spirits hitting the glass, followed by the glass being emptied and slammed back onto the table. The drag of a tobacco stick, and the slow long exhale.

They sit and play, and haven't noticed you yet.

The fort hasn't seen such a dismal state since the barbarian invasion 327 years ago.

And were off! Feel free to get your bearings a bit, if you joined in last nights festivities I'd like to know a bit about how involved you were.


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[Ramsus]

Naivara wakes up with a start at nothing in particular, though her foot twitching does cause a bottle to roll away from her. She blinks a few times and shields her eyes from the sun for a moment and then stretches while yawning. She gets up and spends a moment to adjust her clothes then walks over to Slim Vallero and says, "Well that was refreshing but...." and looks around at the state of the men before continuing, "I think that may be enough of that for a while don't you Sergeant?" She eyes his pile of coins meaningfully. The expression on her face a smile, but yet still reads something like "You'd sure like to keep those, I understand. It sure would be a shame if someone higher rank got upset for some reason and took them away."

[ProudGrognard]

Crixus

Crixus overslept, again. Long habits had conditioned him to waking up early, but this place was getting to him. Then again, for any civilian, an hour after dawn would be late.

Crixus gets up, washes up and gears up. The late night drinking had been a mistake, as had the gambling. Walking out, he sees chaos. It takes a minute to appreciate its magnitude, and then annoyance flares up, transforming to anger. A relaxed posting, the Captain had said. If he only could see this. Taking things easy was one thing, but neglecting watch and allowing free drinking was a disaster in the making. Especially with people that had access to weapons. Crixus was by no means a stickler for rules, but hard months into enemy territory had given him a fine appreciation for some basic military protocols. Such as keeping guards and restricting access to spirits.

Still angry, Crixus takes the time to make the sentry look outwards -still asleep- making extra sure that when he wakes up, he will be as sore as possible. The naked man, he leaves be. He has managed to punish himself most effectively. Then Crixus goes around kicking bottles into corners.

I want to see how Hardstool will whip all those men into shape when he comes back. This will be a tale to tell.

But then, Crixus spots another disaster. Naivara was about to make the Worst Mistake Of Them All, which was to piss a superior officer. Even with Slim, that would be a bad idea. Naivara still hadn't understood the finer details of soldiering. Crixus hurries over, addressing Naivara

"Here you are, Private Naivara. I see that you have found the Sergeant. The man has been keeping watch all night. Let;s go and have breakfast now, Private. No need to disrupt the good Sergeant."

If Naivara follows him away and towards the kitchen, Crixus gives her a sideways look

"Dammit, Navi. Are you looking for trouble? Slim may be as jolly as a mouse in a pantry, but don't try to smart-mouth a superior. That is Hardstool job. You are not getting paid for this. Listen to my words of wisdom, godgirl.

Now, let's go make ourselves a breakfast that a General would envy. I will bet you coppers to gold that the pantry is unlocked"

[Ramsus]

Naivara allows herself to be lead away since she gets what Crixus is saying pretty quickly. As he pulls her along she replies loud enough for everyone else (awake) to hear, "Uuhhhhof course. You know... I'd prefer if you addressed me as Sister rather than Private."

Once they're out of hearing and Crixus mentions raiding the pantry, "That's true. Also true for the armory. We should make sure everything is in it's proper place don't you think? At least it will give us some time for our stomache's to settle." She doesn't really wait for his agreement, just begins to transfer his pulling her along to her pulling him along.

[Thematthew]

Meredith woke up slowly, and significantly later than normal, having passed out in the mess hall. Deciding that she probably should let her stomach settle and sober up some before eating, she left to go for a walk of the fort before someone who felt they needed to watch her saw that she was awake.

After a brief walk she spotted Naivara and Crixus as the Sister started pulling off towards the armory.

"Having a nice morning stroll yourselves I see?" She calls out, with that unsettling smile of hers.

[ProudGrognard]

Tefkros smiles a friendly smile at Meredith.

"Yes, that's it. We are going from the armory to the pantry. This Fort is going to hell on a handbasket, so we might as well go there on a full stomach."

[LuckyStrike]

The sergeant raises his head and turns around to answer Naivara but Crixus is too fast for him. He gives a curt nod of understanding to Crixus and seems content with the respect given, and the prospect of Naivara being taken away.

Through a few corridors nothing noteworthy happens but down at the armoury you find private Jake sitting on a chair in front of the thick wooden door behind which you know the armoury is.

His head slumped down, he seems to have fallen asleep. The door is reinforced with steel bars and has a large keyhole. You spot the thick, large key in Jake's lap. It's not the only thing he's holding. The key, actually part of a keyring with several keys on it lays under a heavy crossbow. Cocked and ready to fire.

Private Jake is a quiet fellow, but you all know him to be trustworthy and someone who prefers to walk the straight and narrow. Everyone calls him Shakey Jake, and its something Jake takes in stride. Jakes hands shake often. Usually only slightly, but sometimes more severe. Strangely enough, he's also one of the best shots with a crossbow. You've all marvelled at the sight of Shakey Jake loading his weapon with a bolt, lining the crossbow up with tremors.. then taking a breath and shooting right in the bullseye.

As you all walk around the corner and take in the majesty that is Shakey Jake sleeping on a wooden chair, he suddenly jolts awake. It takes him less time than you would imagine for him to come to his senses, but by the speed of it you can deduct that he hasn't partaken in the drinking.

His voice still sounds a bit groggy though. "Wha.. Who goes there?" He asks slightly paranoid while he tries to see who he's got in front of him.

His grip tightens around the crossbow and it starts shaking quite a bit and knowing Jake, it would be a mistake to take the shaking for nerves.

[Ramsus]

"It's Sister Naivara, Corporal Crixus, and I believe we've picked up Private Meredith? Good morning." She finishes addressing the greeting to both Jake and Meredith.

[ProudGrognard]

Crixus



"What she said. Morning, Shakey. Good job here. We want to inspect the armory a bit. And then go get something to eat.

You know what? Go get something to eat yourself. We will watch here. But come back. I don;t want to come searching for you all over the Oak to relieve me!"

[LuckyStrike]

Shakey Jake seemed to relax a bit when Naivara introduced the group. Especially when he noted Crixus was with them.

"Olryn! You don't know how glad I am to see you guys here." He reached for a mug of cold coffee hidden in an alcove in the thick stone wall beside him and winced while he took a sip of the cold brew.

"I had armoury duty yesterday and was supposed to get relieved by that greenhorn, Bloom. He didn't show up and when I popped my head out to see what the commotion was about I couldn't believe my eyes. Decided I'd extend my shift a bit." He winked and attempted a smile, but he was obviously tired.

You have all seen private Bloom last night partying with the rest of them. He was trying to impress private Jayne, a huge mean halforc who liked a bit of violence over common decency. Jayne had a habit of ignoring orders when he could instead be fighting someone and it was the only reason he was still a private. He was a battle hardened soldier, transferred here because of insolence and you've all noticed the toll of boredom starting to creep up on the bloodlusting halforc.
After the first half of the evening though, noone remembers seeing Bloom, and come to think of it.. neither have you seen Jayne.

"That sergeant is going to be the death of me. One way or another." He said as he got up and tossed the keys to Crixus.

"Thanks mate, and don't worry. I'll be back soon enough. A little ray of sunshine and some protein will do me just fine. Have you seen private Bloom anywhere? I'm going to have a chat with that gorram lazy layabout about leaving his duties like that."

[Ramsus]

Naivara thinks about it for a bit and replies, "Uhmmmm.... I don't think I've seen Bloom since earlier in the evening. I guess maybe he's with Jayne since that's probably why he left you here to do his job and I don't recall seeing Jayne for a while either. Uh... maybe... be careful? Lots of drunk people with weapons out there."

[ProudGrognard]

Crixus

Crixus winces with sympathy as he works the keys

"Yep, do go and have that talk with Bloom. Hardstool will be back in a few days and then all these will be cut down short again. But careful Shakes. Hangover men can be unpredictable."

[Thematthew]

Meredith just smiles, deciding that a third voice telling him to leave the armory to us would be suspicious.