Prologue: Crowd Control

[Adamah]

The cadets reported to the classroom contained in their orders. Inside, a gold armored eagle knight stood in front of the board with his hands folded behind his back.

"Come on in, quickly now, and take your seats," he ordered them in an aristocratic accent."

"My name is Captain Geoffrey Brannen. I have been tasked with finding out if you cadets have what it takes to be a members of the Eagle Knights of the Golden Legion. As you may know, our honorable order has been protecting the nation of Andoran for generations now, primarily against enemies that would seek to strike us within our borders." As he said this he looked around to each of them with his eyebrows raised.

"Our democratic nation depends on peaceful assembly and debate in order to function. But there are those who would seek to usurp this peaceful system of government we have developed. Even now, in the north, there has been much unrest over the upcoming election, and it will be your job to help me and a company of our finest troops keep the peace." He began pacing back and forth.

"In only a few short weeks, I will help you hone your crowd control techniques. Our job is to maintain order without violence, but if things should get out of hand, I want to to be able to smite those who would seek to undo our peaceful government."

"Take a few minutes to introduce yourselves, then our instruction will begin."

[Vaerdis]

Alain makes himself stand, he uncomfortably does so in a stiff military fashion that he learned to feign from the academy. His sapphire eyes peer about the class, unsure if the introductions were simply for the Captain or the other cadets as well. He speaks in a respectful and humbling manner, "I am Cadet Alain Cantell, prospective Eagle Knight and a fair singer. In training and on the campus I assisted in raising the morale of my fellow cadets through the trials ahead. I hope to provide as much aid to protecting Andoran with diplomacy as well or better than any Knight would with a sword."

[kaylara]

After spending a lot of time being disciplined, Iyani knew better than to disobey an order and quickly moved in and took her seat.

Iyani watched and listened as Alain introduced himself. Oh he likes to sing too! she thought as a smile crossed her lips. Then as the eyes turned to her awaiting her introduction, Hello Captain and my fellow Cadets, I am Iyani Craven. I too enjoy singing and taking in the beauties of the land and oceans for I am a priestess of Shelyn. I know the waters around here very well. It is my duty as a prospective Eagle Knight to try and keep everyone alive. Thru our success as a team, we shall be victorious in protecting Andoran.

[zerocool]

Alistair listened intently as Alain and Iyani introduced themselves, taking mental notes of their professional military-esque posture and professional demeanor. He had known the cadets for a while, but never gotten the chance to befriend them. After they finished their introductions, he stood with the same proper, stiff-as-a-board posture and began his introduction:

"Good morning, sir. My name is Cadet Alistair Beauregard. I, too, have trained tirelessly in hopes of becoming an Eagle Knight. I unfortunately am not as gifted as my fellow cadets in singing, but I do pride myself in my ability to set and control the pace of battle. You might say I have a..." a slight grin momentarily crossed his face "...shocking effect on the battlefield. I'm sure that - with the aid of my fellow cadets - we will gain victory in battle and keep Andoran safe from all enemies."

With that, he took his seat and waited for Tayrren to begin his introduction.

[ManicMonky]

As Tayrren enters the room, he slings the gun from his shoulder and takes a seat, the butt of the musket set upon the floor and held in his right hand. As the captain spoke he started making mental notes on what he would be required to do to keep peace with out force. He was not a fan of being up close and personal with his attackers, but at the same time, he wouldn't most likely have a good vantage point.

As the others introduced themselves he recalled each, at least in short passing, but was delighted to learn of their abilities better. None were great front-line fighters it seemed, but each appeared to have some way of controlling battle which would be beneficial to his ability of picking them off with his gun. When his turn came, he stood, saluted then returned his arm to his side and said, "Tayrron Moongazer, sir! I am a practiced marksman training to gain my place among the Eagle Knights as a ranged support, specializing in firearms, sir. I have spent countless hours practicing my aim and reload capabilities during battle."

As he completed his introduction, he clicked his boot heels together then sat down again.

[Adamah]

"Alright, now that's taken care of let's begin," Captain Brannen said, turning toward the boards behind him.

"We will be training you to suppress unlawful assembly in the most peaceful means possible. It does Andoran no good if you kill a crowd of disgruntled farmers. We are not after them. They have a right to peacefully assemble and we will not try to stop that. It's the troublemakers that use civil unrest as an excuse for lawlessness that we are worried about. We are also worried about more sinister elements seeking to undermine our way of life. As you have heard, the Worldwound has become more active again, and we share a border with one nation that has known infernal tendencies."

With that Captain Brannen spent the rest of the day explaining tactics and rules for engaging riots and other civil disturbances. Though he his explanation was exhaustive and bombastic, it mainly broke down to a few rules.

1. Meet force with like force, don't kill someone for throwing rocks at you.
2. Maintain a good fighting formation, whether facing a crowd with 4 men or 400, a disorderly rabble was more likely to break before a calm unwavering front which moved as one.
3. Remove the leader, if the head of the snake is chopped off, the rest of the body would follow, but try to do it in a non lethal manner.

He also took the time to explain the finer points of using rock salt cartridges.

They broke around dinner time with orders to return to the classroom after breakfast the next day.

The next morning, the cadets (who had their belongings moved to communal quarters) were awoken abruptly by Brannen, somehow resplendent and fully awake in his golden armor, in the wee hours of the morning.

"Reveille, Reveille, Cadets! Training exercise briefing in ten minutes in the classroom!", and promptly turned and left.

 

Rock salt will use the Salt Shot rules. The academy will provide you with 20 Salt Shot rounds, which they will replenish for you when you leave for the Final. I also suggest you look into the Entangling Shot rules, you'll have to make those yourself with your own funds, but the fact that you all got max starting gold instead of an average is supposed to represent the additional equipment that the academy provides. In order to utilize this, I'm allowing you to have a blunderbuss on loan from the academy, if you return from the Final without it you will owe the Academy it's full price, if you want to buy it you will also be given that choice when you return. If you haven't already, I suggest you read up on Gunsmithing as you will see it provides you with some nice discount on making rounds. For simplicity sake I will assume you have time to make whatever rounds you want and subtract the relevant gold before being rudely awakened in the morning. This is for all of you, not just Tayrren, the training you're receiving in the next few weeks will give you Exotic Weapons Proficiency (Blunderbuss) (though only Tayrren has Gunsmithing obviously). You're welcome to buy into this as much or as little as you want, you all just get to add a Blunderbuss and 20 Salt Shot rounds to your Equipment. If you choose to utilize it not at all that's fine too.

All of you can take any actions you want to in between dinner in the next day if you need to take care of anything.

Also, don't worry, I'm not planning on railroading you guys into a whole game revolving around crowd control. This is simply a start.

[kaylara]

In the evening, Iyani performed her usual prayers before sleeping. However, it did not take too long for the morning to quickly come around as Captain Brannen made his way to the area and informed us of our reporting time.

Iyani's eyes open and close a few times as she rolls over in her bed and flops her feet over the edge. Sitting up while stretching her arms and letting out a large yawn, Iyani takes a moment to wake up and collect her thoughts. Does he have to be so loud? It's so early in the morning. she muttered as she hopped to her feet and began to make her bed before getting dressed.

Once she cleaned up, dressed and gathered her things, Iyani made her way back to the class room with about 10 seconds to spare. Quickly she entered with a salute and took her seat.

[ManicMonky]

After dinner, Tayrron made his way to the armory and asked to receive his blunderbuss early so that he may study the weapon and take a few practice shots at the firing range. It was a much different weapon than he was used to and not nearly as accurate as his musket but perhaps it was more due to his inexperience with it. After a while, he returned the weapon to the armorer he had picked it up from and thanked him before returning to his room.

He spent the rest of his night making notes in comparison to his musket in an attempt to begin his mastery over the blunderbuss. The next morning, he had already been up for roughly half an hour, lying in his bed, and going over his notes in his head again when his thoughts were broken by the captain's call to wake up. He jumped from his bed and saluted abruptly out of habit even though he had not yet even seen the captain. He rushed to get ready and got to the classroom with plenty of time to spare. When he entered, it appeared he was the first one there, other than the captain, whom he saluted again before taking his seat.

[Vaerdis]

After dinner, Alain spent his time disdainfully trying out musket firing at the range as well, he said nothing to Tayrron when he noticed him coming into the firing range. Alain set the ungraceful weapon aside and prepared his crossbow for some practice, he used some minor tricks to quickly clean it before firing a few bolts. When returning the weapon he made the conscious decision to prevent or end fighting another way, at least I tried.

That night before bed he sung himself a song while thinking to himself, I wonder if that priestess girl needs a song...her name was...Iyani. I wonder if she prefers singing over prayer, or does she sing prayers? Alain smiles to himself in amusement as he end the song with some quiet, solemn whistling as he drifts off to sleep. At the crack of dawn he was up and ready for the call for training, yet he still took his time to get to the class a few moments before it started. He gives a brisk salute at the door and gets seated, he smiles to the others in the room with him, when the priestess comes through the door he gave her a brief watchful eye before he turned to the instructor.

[Adamah]

Seeing them seated and ready, Brennan began. "Cadets, this morning's exercise will give you a chance to implement the tactics and strategies discussed yesterday. The exercise is as follows. You will proceed to the mock village where a group of underclassmen will be portraying the part of protestors. The leader of the protest is a dangerous criminal who is wanted for various offenses. It seems that he plans on using the confusion of the protest as a shield between him and the towns constables, so your task is to peacefully dispel the protesters and arrest him. He may have a hard core element of the protest willing to attack you if you try this, but as we discussed yesterday, it is important to not escalate the violence. Lethal force is not authorized unless it is to protect your lives or the lives of others. You will have ten underclassmen to assist you in your task. For this exercise, Cadet Iyani is in command. You have fifteen minutes to assemble your gear, organize yourself, and deploy to the village, the underclassmen are waiting for you there. Good luck cadets.

 

Everyone make any preparations you want, and Iyani roleplay out your orders to the other three and the underclassmen. When ready your characters should be at the edge of the mock village and make a perception roll to see what's going on.

[Vaerdis]

Having all the gear he needs on his person he stands up in place once dismissed and stretches. He walks close to Iyani, "Does the commander need any assistance preparing herself before this...exercise?" Alain beams a friendly, confident smile, I cannot wait to see this squad in action, though I wish to see the actions of some more than others. Alain gives a brisk salute, "Or do you have orders already?"

[ManicMonky]

Tayrron was fairly sure he was ready for action, he just wanted to return his musket to his room before heading out. "With permission, commander Iyani, I must return to my room to leave this musket since it will be of little use in this exercise. I will return with haste and await your orders, sir." He saluted Iyani and held his pose until she addressed his request.

 

Provided permission is given, he will abruptly leave the classroom and head to his room to deposit the musket before returning with the blunderbuss.

If permission is not granted, I will react based on the reply.

[kaylara]

Iyani's eye's widened and her heart skipped a beat as Captain Brannen placed her in command. A soft Whaattt!?!? escaped her lips, but was quickly drowned out by, Sir! Yes sir, understood! as she saluted.

Iyani turns to her fellow Cadets. Ok, let's get ready to depart. Please go to your rooms and grab your gear, meet back here in five and we will debrief? for ten then head out to the docks for transport. It was obvious she understood her duty and also apparent that she lacked confidence as her experience was nil outside of leading prayers. At least she had a few moments to formulate an idea while the others went to acquire their belongings.

She turned to Alain... Sure... she replied slightly nervously. I was thinking that we could divide and concur. The two of us could host a concert while the others work with the other cadets to bring the fugitive in. Hopefully, by removing the masses out of the equation, it will give the others an opportunity to strike and capture the fugitive with little, and hopefully no resistance. What do you think? she looked at him with an open expression as she awaited a reply.

[Vaerdis]

Alain smiles, "A creative and beautiful distraction, I like it...it may be difficult to grab attention at first but I believe between the two of us we could rake in a crowd." A priestess leading a squad seemed like an odd choice but with this plan it seems as if we won already, depending on the combat skills of our friends. Alain traces the pommel of his rapier, The gods know better than to trust me with heavy combat.

He brushes his golden hair back with a hand, "On the idea of a concert...would we sing a lovely duet?"

[kaylara]

Iyani smiled. Well, I'm sure we need more than one song. I was thinking I could sing this... I use to sing that at the underwater temple, many of the others could not stay on land. Well, anyways, back on topic. Then you lead one of your favorites. Then for the finale we perform a duet. Would you like to duet this song? Unless you want to do a battle type song?