Two Volunteers Needed

[Tammo]

A sergeant walked out onto the parade grounds. Once he had reached the middle of the crowds of soldiers talking he began bawling out at them. " Alright troops! " he belted out at them. "I need two volunteers for a mission. Before you sign up this is the brief of it, " he took a deep breath then began to speak as the crowd had movedin closer to hear him, " Alright, I need two troops, to go into the city at night. You will be in casual dress. You will be meeting an informant there. He will be wearing a rose and a daffodil on his right breast. He has someinformation we need. That is all I can tell you now. Now whos in? Hmm? " Once he had saud this he took astep back and waited for volunteers.

[Keeva Kaldres]

Lance Corporal Lasant had been thoroughly enjoying milling about on the parade grounds, conversing with various soldiers in the group. It was strange that she had been a member of the army for some time now, and still could not rightfully boast about knowing many faces. The notion was a tad embarrassing, and the young woman made a mental note to herself to make that extra effort to be more sociable in the future, rather than staying locked up in her quarters every single minute that she possibly could.

A sergeant bawling at them from the other end of the parade field was not something that worked to sustain Keeva’s surprisingly good mood. Even as she shouted, she felt a low, soft groan of mild annoyance escape her lips. What did he want with them?

Not believing that any other line of action would be possible, or particularly wise, the young soldier decided against running off at the first opportunity, and instead deigned to join the crowd as they gathered around their senior officer.

Listening to what the Sergeant had to say initiated an attention grabbing spark of curiousity within Keeva’s mind. A casual clothed operation? A mission executed in the dead of night? The notions seemed so strange to the girl that she could not help but be interested.

Pushing her way through the crowd so that she was nearer to its centre point, an action that required much shoving and use of elbows, the wan girl readied herself to voice her words above any others emanating from the crowd around her.

‘I’ll volunteer, sir.’

The words had made themselves known before Keeva had even properly thought over what she might be getting herself into. She had not even considered the possibility of danger, and the vagueness of the given brief would surely be something that the woman would most definitely fret over much later on.

[Yarrow]

Yarrow saw Keeva volunteer and smiled. This would be an adventure. She hesitated, but saw that no one else seemed to be stepping forward. Well...I know Keeva well enough and she knows me well enough...who better to trust each others backs? She half wondered.

Excuse me...coming through... She mumbled to the crowd until she had managed to get herself to the front of the crowd. She raised her hand and cleared her throat. If no one else would like to go then I will gladly volunteer, sir! She called out. Her hand fell down a bit and she stepped up next to Keeva. Hello friend....ready for another adventure? Yarrow asked in a low voice.

[Tammo]

The sergeant smiled, more because he didn't have to now go around and tell people that they were the volunteers.

"Good, well that's settled then isn't it? All right people back to what you were doing!" Once he had said this the crowd quickly dispersed going back to any chairs and tables scattered around. Then he turned back to the two volunteers. "All right you two, come with me. "

He quickly led then into a small empty hut. It was dark and a little musty, but it had already been set up for the volunteers. There was a table covered in pieces of paper. At one end of the table was a chair, and two more chairs at the other end.

He sat down in the single chair, and gestured for the other two to do the same. " All right before we begin, I will need your names. I am Sergeant Midge. What are your names please, and please give me your rank and status?" He poured out three glasses of water and placed them before the two, whom were in the room but not sitting down as of yet. He took a drink and placed the glass on the table. He then started to sort through some of the files and papers, getting the correct ones for the mission. He then looked expectantly at the troops.

[Yarrow]

I am Yarrow Woodruff and I am a corporal. She paused....thoughtfully. What does he mean by status? She bit her lip and then asked him. After all...she would never know unless she asked. With that asked she lowered herself into one of the chairs that he had offered them.

[Keeva Kaldres]

At the Sergeant's gesture Keeva too took a seat in one of the proferred chairs, her deep-set grey eyes taking in the perimeter of the tent, the papers strewn across the table before her. When Sergeant Midge then continued to ask for their rank and status, Keeva looked up and gave a slight pause before answering.

'My name is Keeva Lasant, and my rank is Lance Corporal, sir.' the young woman replied, pausing with blatant confusion etched on her face as she, too, wondered what exactly he had meant by 'status.' When Yarrow showed the same bafflement, and voiced her uncertaintly, Keeva merely smiled slightly, glad that she was not the only one who was unsure of what the Serheant had meant, and waited patiently for an answer.

[Tammo]

The Sergeant smiled as they replied, but could see in their eyes, that they were unsure of what he meant by status. It was of no real value that he knew, but he was just curious. " Well, where is your place of duty? For example, do you patrol the Market Square? " He thought it was basic ebough a question but it did not seem to compute with these two.

Before they could answer, he was off again talking, " Well that information does not really matter here anyway. " He paused and took another drink of his water, draining the glass, then put it down onto the table, " Now this is quite an important job, and you will need to know the fine detail of it. "

He shifted through the large thick file in front of him on the desk. Once he had found the correct record he pulled it out. The file was big, and stamped ' Top Secret '. He opened it, quickly looking over it. Obviously, he himself had not been allowed to see it until now. He took a deep gulp of air. The tension in the room was so thick, you could have cut it with a knife. " Alright, lets get started shall we, " he paused briefly, " Okay. We have an informant inside a small Group of revolutionaries in Abestat. Its called Streea ulu Jal. I doubt that you will have heard of it. It is a group that consist totally of angry Vysstichi Moriquendi. It says here that they are wishing to try and take over Abestet. As you know this would bring literal chaos to the Prime Province. This would basically become the fortress and refuge for Vysstichi above ground. And it could cause another war of the Elves. And if you know what I am talking about, we can never have such a war again. "

" Now back to your objectives, we have our guy on the inside. You are going to meet him on a street corner in Abestat. He will be dressed mainly in black, and will have a rose and a tulip on his left breast. You are to meet him, and proceed into the alley near the corner. He will tell you some information, and will also give you, hopefully an envelope with extra information. That envelope will pass to me unopened, and undamaged. This mission cannot be failed. You are also to dress in casual clothing, but be sure to hev your weapons with you, just incase, and try and mingle with other people around. But you will each be wearing three roses on your left breasts. Is that understood? "

[Yarrow]

Hm...I was never told what status I was... Was her first thought, but it didn't seem to matter for he was off again, not caring what exactly their "status" was. It didn't matter to Yarrow. She didn't want to admit more ignorance then she had to.

Three roses on my left brest... She repeated the last comment in her head. It was way too late to turn back now. The slow excitement was now reaching to its height as she realized how important this all was.

I understand, sir. She paused. Will you be providing the roses, sir? She asked because she had no idea where she would be able to get her hands on such a thing as roses at this time of the year.

Does Abestat even have a flower shop? She mumbled something not realizing she had said the last thing out loud. She covered her mouth with a hand...wondering if the last comment had been loud enough to hear and if it had been heard...could it sound rude or disrespectful?

[Tammo]

The sergeant smiled at them. " Yes I will provide you with your roses. " As he said this he bent down, and pulled a dozen roses out of a box that had been conceeled by his legs.

He placed them all on top of the table. and said, " Take the fresh ones, you wanna look good dont you? " he said in a semi-sarcastic tone of voice. They both picked up the nicest most sweet smelling ones.

" Well you know your orders now, and there is no reason for you to know anything else, except for meet the informant, get the information and get the files. Then report back here pronto okay? Your dismissed, get ready, the informant will be waiting for you soon. "

With that he stood up, and the other did so also. He escorted them out. As they went off to prepare, he turned back and sat down on his chair again, worrying about his troops.

[Tammo]

OOC: The thread is just in Abestat's main forum, and is adequetly named " The Informant ". Enjoy.

[Tammo]

The next day Midge was sitting at his desk when a small orc ran into the room.

" Sir Sir!!! " he screamed, " The uprising! Its started. "

" Oh no, " Midge said quietly with the sound of fear in his voice, " We are too late. Corpral, rally the men, its time for war! "