The Western Theatre Milena Cadieux infiltrates the Ithanian court during festivities to discover more about the Ithanian-Allorn treaty. The locals are not very secretive about it: The Allorn have seemingly agreed that Ithania should be allowed to “own” (the exact usage of this term is left rather vague and mostly ambiguously translated) L’Elvellen and everything north of it, if Ithania assists the Allorn ambassadors in applying pressure to Regalia to surrender ownership of the Minaal Protectorate. There is an allusion to more being exchanged towards Ithania, but the diplomats dodge any attempts to figure out what Ithania received in return for what amounts to an effective non-Aggression pact, stating that Ithania would not side with Regalia if a war was to be fought over Daenshore and the nearby city-states, with the exception of Lusits, though with the caveat that Lusits would in such a situation surrender the southern Luzan territory (south of the major river) to the Allorn Empire. Angelica Howlester and Elias von Eisner also attempt to perform military espionage on the Ithanians, but are caught. After a few hours of questioning, the two are released, seemingly in a hurry, though only by the graces of Angelica Howlester being related to the Prince of Gallovia, and Ithania not attempting to cause a diplomatic incident with another Heartland. What was gleamed from espionage was that Ithania seems to be focusing a lot on heavy and light cavalry formations, while using an immensely static battle line, using Mages in defensive positions to block out vast quantities of artillery or ranged projectiles. Even vague ballpark discoveries of military numbers could not be made, as Ithania as a country is twice the size of the Archipelago and it would take two years to visit all military installations. Milena Cadieux also visits Daenshore, where she attempts with florian Peirgarten to discover more about the structure of finances and power in the capital. They fail however, as despite their skills, the both of them look PAINFULLY Ithanian, and as such, the Daen who have a distinct dislike bordering on hatred of Ithanians even refuse to interact with them in many cases. Milena Cadieux’s order for Edrick von Eisner is bounced as Edrick von Eisner decides to do something of his own accord. Erick von Eisner and Elias Kasler attempt to perform an audit of state provided funds in Daenshore, speaking to the local leadership. Their attempts to perform an audit is completely stonewalled, neither the Governor, nor the aldermen willing to even meet with them. Attempts to discover “who is really in charge”, result equally lacklustre information, with just a general perception that local leadership is exactly how it is presumed, with the Viscount being at the head of the local government. The provisional Ailor-Altalar non aggression pact goes into effect. House de Azcoissia sends 100,000 Regals to fund the Burning Bridges clinic in Daenshore. As soon as the money arrives however, the Burning Bridges clinic explodes in a fiery blaze, with all the money seemingly having disappeared in the aftermath and all the delivery/guard personnel being murdered. After an investigation, the criminal elements of Daenshore are implicated, though it is hard to tell whether it was ultra nationalists trying to incite against the Altalar, or just nationalists trying to incite against Regalia. As soon as Regalian finances arrived to the clinic, it was defamed as Regalian interference, and a local gang blew it up while stealing all the money. The Chancellor’s continent under Kaya Sorenvik is sent into Frontierra where it is unceremoniously made the target of the same ultra nationalists who were skirmishing with the Altalar. At the very least the state was able to prevent the nationalists from breaking the non aggression pact with the Altalar, but the contingent itself is now bogged down in having its back lines and supplies skirmishes by the Daen locals who disappear just as well into the forests of Frontierra, having spent decades building lumber camps deep in the forests and creating supply caches. The governor of Daenshore makes some oblique apologies to the state for the nationalists, as does the provisional council of Frontierra, but nobody lifts a finger to help the contingent. Ariramorel attempts to locate Tohn Caant in the north of Ithania. Using a whole host of Slizzar goodies, the group eventually do locate the Tohn Caant based on the coordinates and the Archeology skill of Zzolesi. When reaching the main entryway however, they discover it wide open. Precursory glances inside find the entire vault empty, not a single pod remaining, and all crystal tech having been removed, with only dead stone remaining and no lights. Later, Ahsozhel finds a large clearing in the forest nearby, which appears like some massive object landed, though did not leave a crater behind, flattening trees yet not the soil. The group reasoned that, based on the water seeping into the Tohn, that it had been opened within recent weeks, and had already been cleared out, likely by the Maraya Home Swarm. Attempts to reach other Tohn however fail, as the events described in Departure from Havenreach occur, making travel in Ithania difficult due to the movement of soldiers on all the major highroads. Essalonia Zhu Fenha te travels to the Hadravya Kingdom in an attempt to establish contracts as a jumping board for trade with Dexai. Unfortunately, the people in Hadravya, and particularly the local merchants, seem disinterested in the potential cost of trade relations with either someone who operates from Regalia, or a jumping point to Dexai, as the crossing with the far eastern seas is a long and dangerous one for the relatively light Hadravyan ships. The attempts to establish contacts thus fails. The South Milena Cadieux, Cro-Maarx Vyzal and Matzki Maz-Vyzal visit Hadar once more in an attempt to charm Qar-Digmaan Yaotl. The attempts to charm leadership in the Hadarian Court succeed, and an offer made by the Diplomatic Minister to declare Hadar Heartland status (regardless of whether the Diplomatic Minister even had the right to offer this). The Qar-Digmaan then informs the emissaries that pursuant Heartland status, Hadar is now opting out of the war with Sendrass, offering Regalian ships the means to resupply in Hadarian ports, but that Hadar will not be sending any soldiers south, wishing them luck on their suicidal quest to die of the hundred jungle plagues of the south, telling them they are being idiots who are having their armies lured into total annihilation by the Altalar with lofty promises of destroying the Sendrassians. The Emissaries are then kicked out of the court. Attempts to use espionage by Milena and Cro-Maarx result in a lot of stonewalling. The two come to realize that the Yaotl rival faction(s) are much larger than anticipated, and have a lot of support, a lot of it emanating from the Slizzar and even some of it, surprisingly, from the Minoor Altalar. The North Valentino Solisti (order backtracked from when he was still Grand Marshal) sends military scouts to Tryllejag. Attempting to assess the military strength of the ogres and the Tryllejag Kingdom at the same time prove very difficult: Scouts normally operate from a limited incursion tactic from behind friendly lines, but are ordered to make scouting attempts in a country the size of Anglia without any real base of operations or fore knowledge of what they are getting into, and are as such, captured. This causes a diplomatic incident with the Tryllejag King who has the scouts executed for performing a hostile incursion of their territory, shortly before he loses one of the major cities on the south coast to the Ogres, a last bit of news that the shipping crew that brought the Scouts to Tryllejag is just able to bring back to Regalia as they flee. The Regalian state slashes the budget for Arlora and Torse by half. The local garrison commanders have to make a difficult decision as a result: spread the soldiers thin over a larger landmass and risk breaches in defenses all over, or abandon vast swathes of the interior of the Kingdoms to the Bone Horrors, and retreat to the coastlines. The garrisons eventually decide on the latter, abandoning the frontlines in both Kingdoms, and surrendering many stations and forts to the Bone Horrors. While most civilians and colonials are evacuated, some rancher stations that were built deep into the territories are wiped out by the Bone Horrors. The 100,000 House de Azcoissia sent to these realms is used to try and offer housing, food, and medicine to the now destitute and homeless colonists who speak out their anger about having their homes abandoned by the state to pay for the fat paychecks of the nobles in the Archipelago, wishing they had escaped their tyranny, but being victimized by it once more. Regalia Felsin Cretch attempted to gather historical experts to try and analyze a painting made by the Drunk Painter that supposedly had Callandor on it. Attempts to start the trail fail however, as none of these historians can recognize the configuration of stone, and remark that finding such a catacombs out of potentially thousands is nigh impossible. The Dread Empire Zhaleh Dilshad, Kabili Drulvaar, Laurel, Aeurisia Vostros, Heather Draghulthar, Zara and Svano Asdisardottir attempt to reach the Warpwood, ostensibly to locate things, find information, and source a plant to take back. Immediately upon breaching the border of the Warpwood, the group becomes immensely lost, noticing also Kabili is gone. They roam around for hours, the canopy of the Warpwood seemingly only growing thicker, yet seeing not a single living creature, save for flocks of glowing butterflies that roam around. Every so often, one of the people in the group would swear they saw a person hiding behind a tree, though the group eventually makes camp as they presume it was about to become night, though none could truly tell because of the constant iridescent glow in the Warpwood. After another 6 hours, the goup decides to camp out and take turns keeping watch, spending the night in the Warpwood. The next day, each member wakes up alone in their version of the camp (each member seemingly in a pocket dimension). They are each seemingly trapped in the Warpwood, unable to find anyone else, or food, or anything to drink even save for some dewdrops from the leaves. Whispers could be heard almost constantly, keeping some of them awake, or only letting some of them sleep for a few hours, whispers demanding to know why they were there, who they were with, and what they were. It was near impossible to tell the time inside, though some could swear they had been in the Warpwood for nearly 10 days, before all of a sudden, everything went white, and the group suddenly all woke up in some dusty and rotten abandoned warehouse in the Regalian port. Kabili was already awake, remarking that the last they remembered was that the group passed the boundary into the Warpwood, but instantly disappeared, leaving Kabili alone on the border. They remark that they tried to find the group, but that within moments, everything went white in front of the eyes, and then they woke up in Regalia again. They also remarked that they had asked what the day was, and the sailor told them it was exactly the same date that they arrived in the Dread Empire, despite the others having felt they were trapped in the Warpwood for more than a week. None of them showed any illness or dehydration or starvation either.
