Scout Duty

[Broof]

Recently in the UK there was a one-off Redwall LARP event.  It loosely followed the plot of "Redwall" but with player characters instead of the ones from the book.  It was a huge success and everyone involved had a great time over the three day event.  Once it was over, quite a few short stories popped up on the event page, so I though I would share a couple of my own here.

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Sergeant Archibald Merryweather Fontain rolled his head lightly from one shoulder to the other before casting eyes about the dim woods that extended on all sides and seemed intent on snagging and plucking items from about his uniform, he had already needed to retrieve a medal from thorny branches twice. He was not overly tall, more lean than anything, he was a mountain hare who having heard of the famous fighting hares on the west coast had journey down from the far north to see if the legends were true , and since that day had never looked back. Half a step behind him followed a younger hare almost an ear shorter than the sergeant, his eyes flitting from side to side on the constant search for danger. A few moments after navigating some tricky roots he chirped up in the familiar accent of the fighting hares Salamandastron.

"I say, Sarge. Don't you look forwards to being promoted up to Captain, or Colonel one of theses days wot?"

The Sergeant gave a visible shudder, his head tilting slightly to look back at the other hare with one eye.

"What rank are you Bennet?"
"Runner Sarge!"

Merryweather could almost hear the salute that the younger one gave behind him.

"And one of these days you fancy yourself an an h'officer I'll bet"
"Well I wouldn't mind if you you know what I mean sah!"

The Sergeant nodded slowly, seeming to give the answer a great deal of though before turning his head back to the younger one, and coming to rest leaning against the trunk of a mighty oak.

"Not for me sonny. Sergeant is the best rank in the whole army y'know, carries the most responsibility."
"How so sah?"

The runner Bennet looked a little perplexed by this answer. The Sergeant gave a knowing smile, nodding his head slowly as if about to impart a great secret to the other. He lent down a little, looking off into the woods to make sure no one beast was watching or listening.

"Alright, I'll tell ya'. Now, a Sergeant has to look after those under him, right. It's the Sergeants job to make sure they all come back to the mountain safe and sound. Now you might be thinking thats the Colonels job, or the Captains. And to some extent it is, but they look at the bigger picture lad, they need to concentrate on the battles and such like. Sergeants need to look after the smaller things. smaller, but vital, such as where is the water coming from, or the scoff?"

He folded his arms lightly over his chest and took a moment to undo the top button of his uniform in the humid air.

"Now, you've been out there one the dunes fighting vermin, right?"
"Yes'ah! fought the sea rats last season on the high dunes sah!"
"Very good lad. Now when you was there, do you recall spotting the vermin camp, the scouts coming back and reporting to the h'officers about the lay of that land and all that?"

The young hare nodded eagerly, bringing a clenched paw into his other open one.

"Aye, we caught them napping Sarge"
"Aye, and do you remember the h'officers coming up with their battle plan. If you think back you might recall lines such as 'Sergeant, what do you make of this' or 'Sergeant how does this look to you' Things like that are said because the h'officers know that sergeants know what the troops can do on the spot."

The young hare seemed to give this quite a bit of though, one ear drooping slightly as his head tilted to one side before a light smile crossed his face.

"Ha, never though of that Sarge, clever wot! D'you always get everyone home sah?"

The Sergeant gave a brief and somber shake of the head as he looked off into the woods for a moment.

"Afraid not lad, even a Sergeant cant save everyone, though believe me we try. But, a Sergeant is your best mate out on the field, if a Sergeant can be by your side you can bet your whiskers that one will be there in a flash with a sword in paw to lend a blade to your cause. Now c'mon me lad, work to be done."

He gave the young hare a light thump to the shoulder before pushing off from the tree and making his way around and over the roots to the left of it. The younger hare taking the right as he threw several salutes and shot off rapid fire affirmation.

"Course sarge, as you say sarge, right away sarge!... Ooof!"

Merryweather turned to see the younger hare sprawled on his stomach in the leaves, one of his foot paws hooked under a curled root. The younger one looked shocked at this turn of events as the Sergeant shook his head lightly, about tell the other to be up on his feet, that is until the other held up his right paw, the fur now stained a dark red with blood.

"On your feet lad, nice and quiet now"

Merryweather slowly crouched down, his head slowly turning as he took in the quiet woods with a new eye, hardly a sound could be heard in the evening, far to quiet for this time of day. Slowly his right paw curled around the basket hilt sabre that hung at his left side. The young runner was up on his feet now, a short skirmish sword already out in his paw as his own eyes flitted around, settling on another blood stain showing on a tree trunk a few paces away. His eyebrows went up as his head tilted towards the mark, the Sergeant gave a nod and the two slowly and silently approached the stain. Next to the blood stain was a deep gash in the bark of the tree. Merryweather raised his own eyebrow as he ran his paw over the mark, speaking a low hushed tone.

"Looks like someone was unlucky here... over there."

He nodded his head off to the side where a polished and hard stick was laying atop the leaves, one end rounded like a walking stick, the other splintered where it had been snapped in two. less than half a minuet later the two hares stood over the body of a stoat. The vermin was laid out on his back, a curved and crude sword stained with blood was clutched in his left paw, his right was wrapped around the other half of the walking stick that protruded from his chest. The two took a moment to take in the slightly shocked look on the stoat's features, the eyes still wide.

"Cricky sah, looks like someone bit off more than he could chew wot?"
"Aye, but there is blood on his blade, the other half of this fight might not be far, take a quick look around."

The runner nodded before ducking off into the forest with his head turning from side to side. The Sergeant had taken only a handful of steps in the other direction before heard the other.

"Psst! sah... over here."

Less than twenty paces from the stoat lay the other, an elderly hedgehog face down in the leaves. Bennet was already leaning over the still form and as the Sergeant approached. The runner looked up, giving a slightly sad shake of the head.

"Dead sah, Looks like that other chap got him good with the sword. Cant have been dead more than half a day though. Bag over there too, looks like someone robbed him even as he was laying here. Ghastly vermin wot?"
"Aye, at least he gave as good as he got though, old chap was clearly tougher than he looked. We'll give him a proper burial and tell them at the Abbey next time..."

He trailed off slightly as new noises reached his ears, causing each to stand on end. Snapping twigs and distant voices off in the woods, but slowly getting closer. Both hares flattened themselves against a tree each before peering into the evening gloom. Bennet cocked an ear, then gave a small nod to himself before whispering over.

"Vermin sah, i recon about four of them, cant hear much but sounds like they are coming back for the dead stoats sword and clothing, as well as this prickly chaps possessions."
"Good ears lad. Now, you get back to the rest of the patrol nice and fast like and lead some of the quick one back here on the double?"
"Yes sah, what about you sah?"

The older hare gave a grim smile, holding the sword against his chest so no light would catch it and give him away, his other paw drawing a dirks from his belt that he clutched in his left paw.

"I don't fancy leaving this chap."

He gestured down at the still form of the hedgehog as he spoke.

"Got some sergeanting to be on with. Off you go lad, quick as a flash and quiet as the night."

With a nod the runner was gone, darting though the trees like a shadow as he headed for the edge of the forest and the small camp the hares had made for the night where the sand met the trees. He gave another mournful look to the old one who had fallen in the leaves, speaking quietly.

"You gave 'em blood and vinegar sah, I salute you. Don't you worry though, Old Sergeant Archi is gonna make sure they don't give you anymore bother this fine evening, then we'll have you on your way to those fine green lands."

As the voices of the vermin grew slowly closer Merryweather was able to make out the odd snigger and snatched half sentence from those coming. His paws renewed their grips upon the sword and dirks and once he could hear leaves rusting under paws he leapt from behind the tree half a dozen paces from a surprised looking rat. The vermin quickly turned this look into a sneer and took a single step forwards with a raised sword. Then all of a sudden he simply feel over backwards, an arrow shaft sticking out of his chest and though his heart. From within the trees came a familiar call.

"EULALIA! DEATH ON THE WIND!"

[Captain Tammo]

This is a nice story! I like the one-on-one conversation we get and it feels like a good "slice of life" kind of story. One thing I would have done differently was leave off on a more uncertain note - as if we don't know what the fate of the sergeat is. But that's not anything you have to think about. Real nice job here!

Also, can you share what exactly happened at the Redwall LARP event?! This sounds pretty sweet to have been 3 days. How many people were there?

[Broof]

Thank you kindly, I'm glad that you enjoyed it.  I was going to leave the ending a little more open, but after the trauma of that weekend I couldn't do it, plus there is a little part two.

As for the weekend, there were 100 players and 40 crew (vermin).  It was held at a big country house in some woodland with one side open to an impressive view over a river valley, first thing in the morning it was pretty much looking out over the River Moss.  It started about 16:00 on the Friday, though I couldn't get there until about 20:30.  As far as I know the Friday afternoon was just people mingling, finding rooms, messing about and having a few drinks.  At about 21:00 it got going with a massive Redwall style feast with food from the books.
The basic plot followed the story of Redwall loosely, but no Matthias as the hero, instead it went to the first person who found the sword and shield to be the hero.  There were attacks though the night, a couple of deaths and in the end we just barricaded ourselves inside for the night.
The Saturday was a day of fighting in the forest to bring people back to the abbey and such like, it's hard to explain it all because there was so much going on and I was only ever seeing a little bit of it at a time.  Many people formed groups before the event.  Long Patrol was there with about six members, Guosim were there along with a tribe of Otters and a load of squirrels, mice, hedgehogs and all manner of others. 
Feel free to ask specific things because there was so much going on I dont know where to start.

This was taken just after the end of the event.
https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/22780580_10213873168243950_5760808253526650624_n.jpg?oh=3bdefc774b0e173dfa7331cc56cc7b5a&oe=5AA219AC

[Nadaz, voice of the host]

I love this story it was nice to hear the perpective of a sargeant in the long patrol I think I would like to hear more about the stoat and the hedgehog how their battle unfolded I'm guessing that the other vermin were not there to help or the stoat probly would not have been killed. Why did the vermin not take their friend and the hedgehog's possesions earlier if they had known where they were?

[Broof]

Thank you, I might do another one with the last hours of the hedgehog and the stoat explained.  As for why they didn't take them, they thought there was no need, as they would still be there once the vermin had been to the stream to have a drink and the like, no need to rush.