It started when Constanza announced that the King's Men (that's before the corps's name was changed to "King's Guard") would accept commoners, as well as people with skills other than straightforward sword wielding. The GM explained: "The Council of Dons will fight you on this. Why not just keep them in the army? You could pay them less and wouldn’t have to spring for fancy uniforms. Gallegos needs to be retaken, after all. If you absolutely insist, the Dons might consider allowing you to form some sort of less prestigious unit – tasked with protecting the Kings hunting preserve or collecting farm tariffs or something." The exchanged continued thus:
RANDOM DON: "Captain Orduno?"
CONSTANZA: "Yes?"
RANDOM DON: "Who are all these commoners dressed in fancy uniforms standing guard in front of the Throne Room."
CONSTANZA: "It's a cross-training exercise, my lord. The King's Men and the Royal Gamekeepers."
RANDOM DON: "A cross-training exercise."
CONSTANZA: "Yes."
RANDOM DON: "With the Royal Gamekeepers."
CONSTANZA: "Yes."
RANDOM DON: "And where is my cousin and his son and my uncle and my nephew?"
CONSTANZA: "Cross-training, my lord. With the Royal Gamekeepers. Near Gallegos. I believe they should be working on the swamp-dredging techniques by now."
RANDOM DON: "Hemph. And that tapestry there… who authorized the change in the crest of the King's Men to a mob of peasants rampant, treading on the neck of a nobleman, with the motto ‘Thus always to tax-fattened hyenas’?"
CONSTANZA: "The Queen, my lord."
RANDOM DON: "And just what is a hyena?"
CONSTANZA: "It's... a very jocular animal known for its habit of hunting with lions, my lord."
RANDOM DON: "And where did these other brutes appear from? What are you… hey! What are they doing?"
CONSTANZA: "Ah, yes. I believe they are on their next exercise, practising the removal of persons dismissed from the Royal Court."
RANDOM DON: "Unhand me, you brutish thugs! Let go! Ow! Let… what… where are you taking me? Orduno, what is the meaning of this?"
CONSTANZA: "I believe you are "it" for this wargame, my lord. Thank you for volunteering your time to improve the cross-training of the Royal Gamekeepers."
RANDOM DON: "Where are these oafish peasants taking me?"
CONSTANZA: "Swampy lands near Gallegos?"
Then Ken added:
Dearest Captain Constanza Orduno, of Her Majesty's Royal Fleet,
I hope this letter finds you well and in good spirits. I have received your package of one subject who you have labeled as "Random Don". He was none too pleased to have been shipped to our parts here out on the west coast of Castille. Some of my subjects thought that for a fleeting moment, they were to just sell him in a pawn shop for mere coin, but after much discussion with him and some of my counterparts, we have come to an agreement. He is going to go through our lovely swamps, per your request and hopefully, we won't have to drag him out like the last one you sent, who, incidently didn't make it past the quarter mile marker, he was found face down drowing in muck. I look forward to seeing you once again and do give my best to Her Majesty, her presence is always welcome here in the provence.
Sincerely,
Don Ferdinand de Valiente de La Reina Del Mar.
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