War Progression Story Blood, Sweat And Tears - Part Two Of Two

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Soon after Viduggla’s departure, the Imperial Marshal and the Generals under him, Ulric Typhonus, Dietrich von Drachenburg and Dragomir du Brierust made for their respective armies. The four elderly men spent the walk from the government quarters of Merkar’sarh in silence, with Dragomir clearly the most uncomfortable of the group of Generals. It became obvious given the looks between the Imperial Marshal, Ulric and Dietrich that there was some sort of unspoken history between them, of which the du Brierust would not pry and instead using the time to eye the buildings and architecture of the city, mostly to examine the structural integrity of the surroundings. By the time the Generals exited the walls of Merkar’sarh, Viduggla’s army was completely out of sight and marching off towards its objective. The Howlester, Typhonus, von Drachenburg and du Brierust group departed using the southmost entrance into the City and were greeted with an interesting albeit humourous sight. An Anglian Frigate sailed upriver with the Varran Lord Kailu Frisque and Digmaan Cro-Zzhin at the helm. “Bloody non-humans,” the Typhonus muffled. A hand lifted to twist the ends of his moustache back into shape. The other men seemed to give some sort of quiet agreement to the Typhonus’s statement but continued on anyway. They lifted a couple of brows at an elderly looking Altalar that seemed to be chuckling to himself mischievously, no, maliciously at the sight of the Frigate. They disregarded it and continued on.
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Once reaching their designated tent, which incidentally was in the middle of 140,000 troops, the four went back over the plans to solidify that everything was clear and concise. In short, du Brierust would utilise his experience in siege combat to remain behind at Merkar’sarh and ensure that should the combined efforts of Howlester, Typhonus and von Drachenburg fail, the city would stand at least until more Regalian reinforcements would arrive. The Imperial Marshal agreed though expressed his reluctance regardless to the fact that almost a third of the army would practically be out of the fight. However, all the Generals did agree that retaining Merkar’sarh was essential, and thus Dragomir would be leading his forces back to the City to bolster the inner and outer defences. Meanwhile, Howlester with Ulric Typhonus and Dietrich von Drachenburg would march their respective forces South to meet an expected threat that had been reported by Regalian Scouts to have been amassing. Curiously, the last few weeks of scouting reports had been rather troublesome and curious. Scouts had disappeared into thin air; some had returned with reports of Kathar amassing midway between the two cities as well as spotted forces moving in and out of the jungles toward the Black Mountain Pass. As one could imagine, this left the veteran Generals uneasy. After all, the Kathar were known magic users and with the Battle of the Curag Fields still in mind from three years prior, they wanted to ensure that if anything deviant was going on, that it would be crushed before it had a chance to stem into something more serious.
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The first to meet with his army was Ulric Typhonus, who was greeted with a unified salute from his Tenpenny soldiers. The Typhonus was a welcomed sight back on the battlefield, and the combined presence of Dietrich von Drachenburg and William Howlester raised morale given the extensive military history between the three. The only thing that did not sit well with Typhonus or his troops however was the single Kathar medic amongst their ranks, Relveth Vinthracia. The existence of such a person among them not only erred caution on behalf of the Typhonus levies, but also enraged their more conservative elements. The Typhonus muttered a few choice words to one of his officers whom soon after left, eyeing Relveth before departing. Typhonus’s army held 40,000 strong, consisting of 10,000 Typhonus Cavalry levies, 10,000 Ravenstad levies and 20,000 Tenpenny soldiers. Ulric shared some choice words with his son, Aelderich Typhonus, who would act as Cavalry Commander of the Typhonus levies, and a bastard of his House, Elros Grauwald, who would also be taking a position at the front commanding soldiers, before leaving for his horse.
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Next was Dietrich von Drachenburg. Much like Typhonus, Dietrich had dedicated 15,000 of his home levy to his army, some of which were cavalry. All in all, Dietrich’s army numbered 40,000 strong consisting of his 15,000 levies, 15,000 Tenpennies and 10,000 Brilonde Troops.Overall, his army seemed eager and prepared, citing the eradication of heresy from the lands as one of their major goals. All was not well for the infantry line of the Drachenburg forces, which was to be led by Aurelius Krupp. After inquiring with his retinues, the Knight Aldwyn Howlester finally spoke up and alerted to the fact that he had seen one of his older brother’s letters and believed that Aurelius Krupp had been captured along with the Krupp Patriarch, Maximus, in a battle within the Skarpsten lands by Viduggla forces. The von Drachenburg didn’t seem all that phased but did utter a few insults House Viduggla’s way and cited their lack of dedication to the war effort and their constant proving of incompetence by jeopardizing the war effort for selfish reasons, after all, “They got their treaty, what more did they want?” Nevertheless, Dietrich’s attempts at motivating his forces went over fairly well. He scored fairly high respect with the Tenpenny army despite his more recent endeavors in the capital for his speech and his choice of retinues seemed to be sound. Not only did he have his own levies under him, amongst his retinues were a Howlester, a Tyrannian, a couple of Ravenstads, a von Duerr and a Kraus. In fact, all bar one retinue of von Drachenburg’s was a noble, the outlayer being Lucien du Clermont. Ultimately, morale was boosted because of this and his men prepared for the march ahead. They readied some siege equipment and a few choice cannons dedicated by House Howlester and awaited orders from the Imperial Marshal to proceed.
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The General du Brierust marched back to the city of Merkar’sarh. The troops were sectioned off in particular fashions: with 20,000 Tenpenny soldiers stationed outside the walls and 20,000 placed within the walls. The latter 20,000 consisted of 10,000 Tenpennies, 2,000 du Brierust soldiers, 7,000 Krupp soldiers--who were plainly unaware that their liege had been, in fact, captured--and 1,000 Ravenstad levies. General du Brierust sent men to ready defenses along the walls in order to ensure that the city would withstand a siege. This assurance of security bolstered structural integrity for the preparations and proceedings; and furthermore steadily increased the level of stable defense that the troops could maintain from inside the walls. Additionally, du Brierust made sure the men checked the food stores, stocks and reserves. General du Brierust then positioned himself in the government building and designated it as a base of operations. The General seemed arguably in good placement: the defenses lined along the wall were being readied and his troops were mostly made up of anti-magic users. Once du Brierust set himself up in the government building, he turned to his officers and requested their guidance and consultation in order to prepare for the next set of orders and action that would need to be taken.
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It didn’t take long after that for the Howlester Marshal to return, his retinue by his side consisted of Ania Howlester, his wife, and his cousin and tactician, Edmure Howlester, amongst others unfamiliar to the Typhonus and Drachenburg Generals. The conversation was swift. As it stood, House Howlester was prepared to send a token 20,000 extra troops into battle to make up for the lack of du Brierust’s men under the Imperial Marshal’s own command and led on the front line by Ania Howlester. The Generals informed their respective hierarchy and thus commenced the armies’ movement South toward Nuthotehk, with stern understanding that today the Regalian forces were to be on the defensive.
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An hour into the march, the Regalians’ worst fears had been realised. The Typhonus retinue was the first to notice but in the distance stood a line of Kathar with an equally as long line of what appeared to be Altalar captives kneeling in front of them. An extremely dutiful soldier noted something especially out of the ordinary: something that appeared to be three stone built pillars with gears with what looked like carvings in them. The Regalian forces ceased marching as soon as they approached close enough to gain a decent estimate of their numbers. Overall, the Kathar forces seemed to be moderate in number, roughly only two thirds the size of the Regalian Host. The Generals didn’t get too excited though. Intel reports indicated that this had to only be only a third of what actually was guarding Nuthotehk. This was a moderate counter attack, a proverbial shove toward the Regalian forces to see if they would budge. Both von Drachenburg and Typhonus waited for the order from the Imperial Marshal to charge, and given that it seemed like there was nothing that could be done for the Altalar captives, the order came. Ania Howlester galloped her horse down the line and bellowed the order while raising the Howlester banner for the Highland 20,000 troops who began to scream and charge forward with all manner of heavy weapons in the air. The next to follow was Typhonus, who merely gave a wave of his hand to his son who issued the charge. 10,000 Typhonus cavalry took the lead with the 20,000 Tenpennies and 10,000 Ravenstad soldiers following suit. Von Drachenburg was more wary. He issued the command for all troops bar the cavalry under Audric Kraus to proceed but opted for the cavalry to keep a watchful eye on the jungle lines for any assistance from Wolond forces.
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As the combined Regalian force approached the Kathar, the familiar looking silver clad knight proceeded out in front of the Shenath and Saivale force. He however was not alone this time; two more similar looking silver clad Kathar Knights brought up the rear with one standing on either side of him. From how the Kathar responded, it appeared as if these individuals would be leading the attack. Amidst the drum of footsteps and hooves hitting the ground, a mild chant began to bellow from the Kathar. Three Saivale Officers stepped forward toward the stone podiums from before, their arms widening as they began to chant along with the Kathar. The Saivale Officers eyes began to glow a red hue, and as the chant turned into screaming from the Saivale, the Silver Clad Kathar Knights issued a command and almost simultaneously, the throats of all of the Altalar captives were slit and their bodies hit the ground, convulsing. To the shock and horror of the Regalian troops it didn't stop there. It would appear that the stone podiums were some form of Kathar blood altar, and the Saivale within it as well as some of the Shenath around it, had begun a rare form of blood casting. Droplets changed into steady streams of blood that flowed and drifted through the air and then congregated in front of each alter. The matter crystalized, hardening and expanding until what the Saivale were doing became apparent. Within a matter of ten seconds, the blood that had once ran through the veins of the Altalar had become 12 foot tall golems which charged with the remainder of the Kathar forces and the three knights toward the oncoming Regalian attack.
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Back in Merkar’sarh, attempts to establish properly functioning defenses against a siege are foiled by the failure of Dragomir du Brierust to ensure that all distributed orders remain clandestine. While the majority of his defensive orders pass with little to no issue at all, he fails to account for the carrying of sound in the grand Altalar halls, and so his command to eject non-Ailor from the city to conserve food in the face of a long siege meet the ears of Est’alorn emmissaries, who waste no time in distributing the news to the Altalar populace of the city. Enraged by their saviours seemingly only wanting to save themselves when times become hard, the native citizens erupt into riots, galvanized into acts of violence and destruction against the occupying Ailor host. While previously grateful for the intervention of the Ailor and the Regalian Empire in clearing the city of Kathar and fending off the Dread Empire’s invaders, the Altalar are horrified by Brierust’s intent to drive them from their own homes, which the Kathar before them hadn’t dared to attempt, leading some to wonder if the Regalian Empire is truly any better than the Dread Empire.
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By the evening, the rioting Altalar turn their eyes to the main stronghold of the city. With most of the Ailor troops already dedicated to the outer walls and siege defenses, the stronghold’s defenders are almost laughably weak in the face of the oncoming Altalar rioters, who overwhelm any attempt to fend them off. Having led the charge, the emissaries and remaining Altalar military officials in the city get to Dragomir du Brierust, Condane of Wolfryr, and Freya E. Grey first, and drag them out to the courtyard of the stronghold. The three are beaten, with Dragomir suffering a black eye and some minor cuts, Condane suffering a sprained wrist and twisted ankle from a failed attempt to wrench himself free, and Freya being subject to a minor concussion, though they are spared any further brutality by being thrown into cells. The groups outside the stronghold fare far worse. On a routine patrol, Leufred du Brierust, Eleonora du Kirscht, and Camilla Moreno are faced with a mob of Altalar, who restrain Eleonora and Camilla, and target Leufred first, due to his appearance as the leader and therefore association with Dragomir. Leufred is beaten within an inch of his life by a hulking Vallea worshiper, but is saved at the last second by Meredith Lessauer’s Mark of Benediction; raising his hand into the air, Leufred is struck by a beam of bright light from the darkening sky, which heals all of his injuries. In the ensuing shock over the use of magic and seeming divine intervention, Leufred, Eleonora, and Camilla flee the scene, escaping into the streets and alleys of Merkar’sarh.
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On the eastern side of the city, things are much direr. Fenic Dak-Cervantes, unaware of the orders but clad in Regalian uniform, is targeted by an Altalar lynch mob, due to being a half-Orc. Fenic is savaged, suffering a broken arm, wrist, and ankle, as well as various severe gashes, before being strung up against an oak tree in a communal park by the neck. Before any serious damage can be done through this, however, Theresa van Linau, Adeleide Rote, and Frankland Laurent intervene. Theresa looses an arrow through the rope from which Fenic hangs, while Frankland makes full use of her Phantasma abilities to scare the Altalar into keeping a healthy distance. Adeleide, however, is not so lucky. In attempting to follow Theresa and Frankland, she is knocked over and into the crowd, and summarily trampled when the mob rushes backwards and away from Frankland, and resultantly has eight ribs broken, alongside four fingers on her left hand, her left forearm, her left leg, and her right ankle, at the same time being severely cut up by the rocks and sticks in the grass of the park. Adeleide is only saved by the timely intervention of Cyrillian Aredeth, who plucks her from the floor and whisks her away, alongside Theresa, Frankland, and Fenic to see to the wounded. In the aftermath, the 40,000 occupying Regalian troops dedicate most of their time to quelling internal strife and attempting to cease the rioting, weakening the defenses of Merkar’sarh to external assault.
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Hopefully the following battle would prevent those defenses from having to be used. The first to clash with the Kathar forces was the Typhonus army. While the Cavalry for the most part was effective, the Blood Golems seemed to tear through the riders like they were nothing. In response, Elros Grauwald ordered a combined attack from the infantry against one of the Golems and argued that a combined attack against it would surely bring it to the ground. Elros charged forward with an arming sword in one hand and a dagger in the other, shadowed by Hannah Lexen and Faust Sololov with twenty or so foot soldiers at their back. Ultimately this would go to prove Elros’s inexperience with front line leadership shone through. While Elros was able to dodge some of the Golem’s attacks, Faust took a horrible swipe from its massive hand, sending him flying back into more oncoming cavalry, one of which accidentally spearing him through the shoulder, pulling both rider and Faust to the ground where both were trampled. Faust ultimately suffered intensive injuries, which were swiftly seen to be Relveth Vinthracia. Relveth managed to save Faust from death but ultimately found himself being beaten, not by Kathar, but Typhonus levymen who had been ordered to attack him by higher members of the Typhonus command. Both Faust and Relveth were dragged from the battlefield, with Faust ultimately worse for wear. No doubt Faust would struggle to maneuver around the next week or so, and due to the extent of his injuries, will need a wheelchair and someone to push him. Hannah was the next to suffer injuries, not by the Golem itself, but from being struck in the side by Shenath magic which burned through her armor and caused severe burns to her stomach area. Given her status as an Imperial Guard, the Typhonus commanders refused to risk her life and instead forcefully removed her from the battlefield atop one of their horses. This left Elros to fend the being off himself and, try as he might, he could not fell it and suffered minor injuries from his struggle with it. He did note one thing however. Each of the Golem’s movements were mimicked by the Saivale in the stone podiums and he deducted that if one were to kill the Saivale, the Golem would follow.
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Shouting said information along to Aelderich, the younger Typhonus was spurred into action. He picked up Elros as he rode and while the two galloped through the Kathar forces, Thomas Dopsworth commandeered a horse at their side, toward the leftmost stone podium. Aelderich managed to get the two as close as possible before ultimately being bogged down and forced to retreat. Thomas however, took his chance and remarkably, leaving caution to the wind, pulled his anglian longbow atop the horse, aiming and firing. Much to even his own surprise, the arrow flew by the heads of the oncoming shenath warriors, straight between the eyes of the Saivale controlling the first of the three blood golems which collapsed back into its liquid form atop a group of unfortunate Howlester and von Drachenburg troops. The Typhonus army successfully caused the left Kathar column to collapse simply by throwing sheer numbers at it. This led to what would be a tactical victory, but a strategic failure. While the Kathar lost 3,000 troops, the Typhonus suffered 5,000 levy deaths, 1,000 Ravenstad levy deaths and 2,000 Tenpenny deaths.
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Following this, Drachenburg cited the lack of any movement from the Jungles to change his orders and have his cavalry join suit, though unlike Typhonus in the first instance, they would target the last two stone podium controlled Saivale. On the front, Erwald Ravenstad led the charge against the first and rallied Drachenburg and Tenpenny soldier alike with him. At his side, his wife, the Knight Emeline Ravenstad assisted Erwald in his endeavors by slicing through Shenath and dodging the oncoming spells that were being slung in their direction. Erwald and Emeline performed reasonably well and opened a gap in the Kathar line for the Cavalry to exploit. Combining that with the collapse of the column that had just been defeated by Typhonus, it was obvious that victory was near enough assured. However, the Kathar continued fighting. Audric Kraus atop his horse began the charge through the opening the Ravenstads had made and called on support from the other horsemen. While taking down a number of Kathar, Audric ultimately found himself overwhelmed and was toppled to the floor but managed to escape without his horse with luckily only a few cuts and bruises. Gallus Tyrannian, noting the oncoming victory, attempted to galvanise himself some face at Court by using his position as the Drachenburg tactician to make it seem as if this was a result of his own tactical advice. He left the tent and attempted to order nearby cavalrymen to bolster the Kraus Field Commander. Unfortunately, he should have remained inside the tent. As he turned he was struck hard in the chest by an oncoming arrow that pierced his lung, which would making speaking hard for him for about a week. To add insult to injury, the same cavalrymen could not stop their horses in time and trampled over one of his legs, breaking it, leaving him walking with a crutch for the same amount of time. The second Golem was inevitably causing problems on the front. Adopting the same tactic as Elros and Aelderich, Aldwyn Howlester and Lucien du Clermont teamed up to put an end to it and finally cause the second column of Kathar to fully collapse. Combined, the Viridian Knight and du Clermont sliced their way through with the assistance of the Tenpenny soldiers with both managing to stab the Saivale to death and cause the destruction of the last golem. In all, von Drachenburg lost only 2000 troops. 1000 of his own and 1000 Tenpennies.
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The three silver clad knights, noting the failure, merely signalled for the retreat. The battle today was done and there was clearly no need to continue. With a few movements of their hands, they forcefully collapsed the podiums inward on themselves and killed the third Saivale in the process. With their retreat iminent, Ania Howlester on the recommendation from the Howlester tactician, Edmure Howlester, utilised their hasty retreat to charge forward and cut down a collection of Kathar that were guarding a fleeing Saivale Officer. The female Howlester sliced through them with her longsword, then hopped from her horse to bind the Saivale and drag it back to the Howlester tent with the Howlester Highland troops assisting. This was monumental for the Regalian side for finally having captured an officer of hopefully worth note. The combined Field Marshal army cheered in victory, but the Generals however remained quiet. They knew this was merely a test and the worst was yet to come. Alas, all they could do for now was relish in their victory and retreat back to Merkar’sarh to announce their victory.
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Meanwhile at sea, Wing-Admiral Christopher Black ordered his two lesser Admirals, Vincent Ravenstad-Krier and Karl-Gustav av Nystrom to take 5 ships each of the 15 available and station themselves in particular areas of Shipwreck bay. Av Nystrom would be stationed around the outside of Merkar’sarh to fend off any bone ships that may be coming to the Kathar’s aid, and Ravenstad-Krier would take his 5 ships and patrol the area around Holvechis and Threlwar’s Pass. Black in the meantime, alongside Captain Jaques Martyn would hold command over the 5 Black ships and patrol the length between the two Admirals. Christopher’s bodyguard, Damian Black, felt something was off about the plans. Surely with all the ships so far apart, a Kathar bone attack would be not so easily repelled? Then again who was he to question. Unfortunately for the Admirals, this would turn out to be true. Before Av Nystrom knew it, seven bone ships were atop of his five frigates. He immediately ordered his broadside cannons to open fire and, while they managed to sink two, the Kathar ships quickly overwhelmed his five, crashing into the Anglian frigates to allow the Kathar to board. Practically all of the shiphands and av Nystrom’s first mate was slaughtered amongst carnage, with av Nystrom taking serious injuries trying to escape, namely slashes across his face and chest. As he attempted to abandon ship, his own ship was bombarded by the cannons of one of the other Anglian frigates taken over by Kathar, which caused an explosion aboard the Admiral’s ship, seriously burning his right side.
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Wing-Admiral Black quickly came to Admiral av Nystrom’s aid, evenly matched in numbers with Ravenstad-Krier assisting from behind. For the most part they were successful though mostly from the efforts of Captain Jacques Martyn, whose expert commanding of his smaller vessel caused the sinking of two of the stolen Anglian frigates that were once part of av Nystom’s 5 ship fleet. At that point, all 5 of those ships were destroyed with nothing to be salvaged bar a select few sailors that had survived and the barely breathing av Nystrom himself, who was immediately tended to by Black’s surgeon Issac D’Ambiose, who managed to save his life. Barely. The battle was not over though. Remaining Shenath began climbing aboard Black’s own command vessel, aiming to take control. Black was caught off guard, his men beginning to fall all around him. Damian Black was his Patriarch’s saving grace, taking charge of a handful of sailors who pushed back against the Kathar aboard the ship. In a desperate attempt to ensure his Patriarch’s safety, the same Damian Black intercepted a stab from a Shenath arming sword that was meant for Christopher’s abdomen. The sword went straight through Damian’s armor, impaling him through the lower abdomen, allowing Christopher he chance to decapitate the Shenath with his own cutlass. The ship was quickly retaken by the Regalians, Christopher himself doing a damage assessment. In all, the Kathar had managed to sink 7 of the 15 Regalian ships, 2 of which were House Black’s, and all of av Nystroms. It was only a token victory. In essence they had defended the bay, but lost nearly half of their ships. Only the Spirit would know how the Admirals would go about rectifying this in future.
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Back in Merkar’sarh, the Typhonus, Howlester and Drachenburg armies gathered en masse and made their retreat back to the city. Yet as the forces neared the walls, the roaring cries of outrage and riot filled their ears in waves. The Generals shared glances with each other and some of their men before ushering them onward to quell as much of the fighting as possible. Attempts at restoring peace were somewhat achieved; the men assured the Altalar troops of the recent victory against the Kathar menaces and this brought some degree of relief to the Altalars’ fiery spirits. As the rioting mildly subsides, Howlester, Typhonus and von Dietrich entered the government building where the other General, du Brierust, was forcibly detained. While one problem was somewhat resolved, the Generals were faced with yet another, it seemed. A four hour long meeting ensued. An Altalar Prince arrived to the government building in addition with some Regalian Generals from the North of the region, the same generals who had signed the pact with the Altalar princes. Howlester, Typhonus and Drachenburg eventually managed to take du Brierust with them and leave, though not without scolding him for his choices and actions. Howlester pushed du Brierust against a wall and berated the general for his generic sense of incompetence and for essentially sparking another cold war between the Altalar and the Regalians.Within the same hour, the returning Viduggla army returned, informing the Imperial Marshal of their failure to even get through the Jungle, let alone take Lurlavan and then after them, Wing-Admiral Black, who informed the Marshal of what had happened in shipwreck bay. That night there was barely any celebration. While the Regalians could barely rejoice in effectively obtaining two out of three victories, with losses that were far greater than that of the Kathar. Would this mark the turning point in the war? Hopefully not, but only the Imperial Marshal Cabinet would be able to see to that in the coming weeks. ​

Medical and Reward rolls to come. All players with a reward or injury will be tagged. ​