The Last Recruits

Disclaimer: This story is a collaboration between two Guild Wars fans (myself and a certain Gigas 13) who would love to own the rights to Guild Wars, but don't.

The Last Recruits

The man walked down the streets of Rin, his stiff, purposeful bearing covering the chaos in his head. He scanned the streets, searching for a promising face. His nerves were driving him mad today, a frustration not totally strange in the week since the king had charged him with this little recruitment drive. It figures, he fumed, His Majesty HAD to give vague orders. "Bring me the strongest- no, the bravest in all Ascalon." What was that even supposed to mean!? How was he supposed to tell the difference between the strong men in the fields and mills and the truly brave men? And if he just opened a recruitment station how was he expected to weed out the eager and prideful from the brave ones who came to join?

A feeling of urgency only intensified the poor man's problems. Only to be expected, he supposed. After all, they were at war, and not a simple, quick war either. This war was constantly seeing Ascalon swallowed, verdant piece by piece, by the charr hordes. So far all he had to go on were scraps of information on numerous different people, most of whom he'd already checked. They had all been either the inflated stories of braggarts, the rumors of gossip circles, virtually ancient stories, or outright lies. All he had left to go on were a few more tales of a few more country folk.

Our sad recruiter looked over his notes, sighing as he reviewed what little he had on the last four before it was time to start scrounging for any recruits left or maybe just starting a sign up station and hitting the inn for a few.

The first was the little brother of an already successful soldier named Cynn. The woman had insisted on how her brother, though a little young at only 16 years, had a near freakish obsession with the universe, specifically how he could best get a thrill out of it, and would regard an actual battle as a truly enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, this fairly promising tale would have to wait until the man reached Surmia, so for now, it was on to the next hopeful.

The recruiter looked down at the next block of notes, which consisted of details gathered on a young mage living in Ascalon City. The mage, who had just turned 20 years old, showed promise in the art of fire magic. The Ascalonian army would need all the fire mages they could muster, and this one looked like potential army material.

Or so the warmaster says, the recruiter thought, stifling a laugh. He knew this particular mage, had grown up with him in Ascalon City. It wasn't that he didn't trust Ornier; the mage was reliable in a fight. He just wasn't the sort to take orders. Putting thoughts of how Ornier would react when he learned he'd been drafted out of his head, the recruiter moved down to the next name on the list.

The third candidate was the reason the recruiter was here in Rin. He had been told to find a man named Verata and ask after a butcher's son. The son had supposedly been something of a frustration to the neighborhood's many pet owners, and he was told the area would be glad to be rid of this Krysun, and that the man was "useful" in a fight.

The least information was had about the fourth man. All that was known for sure was that he spent a large amount of time in the catacombs beneath Ashford Abbey with a pet strider one informant had sworn was named Bob. Supposedly, anyone who spent this much time in those pits couldn't be too terribly easy to frighten, and so would make a perfect soldier against the masses of charr.

Wearily, the recruiter set off to find the bravest in the kingdom. His journey was quiet, save for the over-exuberance of Cynn's young brother, Girith Alon. There was difficulty in half dragging the vehemently opposed Ornier Zantoren out of Ascalon city. And he could barely find Avanth in the misty catacombs. Only Krysun came quietly, muttering about a chance to put some "bestial-at-best" brutes out of their misery. Looking around him at the bravest in all Ascalon, the saddened recruiter sighed once more. This couldn't be the most Ascalon had to offer. It would take more than this little group to save them...