Spoiler: Ambiance While other events unfolded in the south, Field Marshal Rodrigo Peirgarten, back in Zzondaal, rendezvoused with Field General Theopold Kreiburg who had recently left his standing army of 10,000 troops in Untingi under the temporary command of Emmeline Latimer. An attempt is made to build a defendable encampment on the outskirts of Zithyll, so that Noelle Peirgarten and Ara Drevis can tend to the numerous wounded soldiers all while the Field Marshal’s General Staff prepared to march the combined Imperial Force of 35,000 troops upon both armies on Zzondaal. Both medics also oversaw the construction of a checkpoint on the peninsula near connecting Zzondaal and Zzonzeer to prevent any further spreading of the Yellow Palement that broke out in Southern Zzonzeer. This seemed to really leave the locals miffed; annoyed, that these Regalians would prevent them from seeing their family or using their roads and transport routes critical for trading just because of a few cases of Yellow Palement which was not all too uncommon in their region. Nevertheless, the force was organised into two main groups: 20,000 soldiers under the Field Marshal Rodrigo Peirgarten and the remaining 15,000 soldiers under Theopold Kreiburg. As dusk set in and the night drew darker; Rodrigo marched his troops through the jungle towards where scouts had reported the Sendrassian army to be lingering. Despite urging from War tactician Cro-Maarx advising against this, Rodrigo moved on anyway with the attack. 20,000 men struggled through the jungle, ready to fight Void tainted Allar in terrain they were far more used to. A recipe for disaster. As the host moved South East to engage Digmaan Deridess’s troops, they realised all too late that Mu-Allar scouts had picked up on their movements and without much time to reorganise, the 8,000 Sendrassian force descended in a swift and ruthless fashion. Outnumbering the Mu-Allar vanguard, the Regalians tried their best to form a defensive line with Field Commander Florian Peirgarten and Osira Lae’rinsyr utilizing a pike-square formation charge to try to topple the Mu-Allar force to no avail. The dark night and jungle canopy made it almost impossible to coordinate so all Rodrigo could do was listen to the clash of steel and claw, overtured with the sound of a Regalian slaughter. Hundreds upon hundreds of troops died over minutes. Cro-Maarx called for the troops to retreat while Rodrigo attempted to try and keep the lines together. This strategic mistake cost the lives of nearly 7,000 Regalian troops while the Sendrassians lost only 500. Chased all the way back to their original point, the remaining 7.500 troops stormed through Northern Zzondaal, taking most of the coastline. In the Southeast, Field General Theopold Kreiburg instead waited for dawn; pressing forth with the lower force of 15,000 to push the retreating Allar force of 10,000 Sendrassians to the southern Island. Field Commanders Boromar Gyshara and Mosmo Duviri command two powerful 5,000 man columns that pushed through into the Digmaan Deridess’ territory. The 10,000 man force met Deridess with equal vigor. Theopold held strict command from Rodrigo to ensure that the Sendrassians fell into a retreat. The battle was hard and rough; with both sides met in a stalemate until War Tactician Eilaria Peirgarten sent word to the Field Commanders to form into a feigned retreat; turning soon after to launch a devastating counter assault which forced the Sendrassians into retreating to the Island as planned. In all, Theopold’s force fared far better than the Peirgarten one, only losing 500 men while the Sendrassians lost 1,000. The massacre of Field Marshal Peirgarten’s troops would come to be known in Regalia as the Massacre of the Mumungaan, the name of the very jungle the Regalian troops perished within. Elsewhere, General Cinna Eledhwen’s fortification efforts on Zzonzeer started off with great success, establishing small outposts on the fringes of the island. It is important to note, however, that it was only at the start. Though there may have been two or three outposts fortified with wooden structures they could only hold about two thousand men each at best. Eledhwen’s engineers struggled with procuring further supplies for the continued efforts, and the local timber was difficult to work with. The leaders of the fortification projects would eventually relent and provide an extensive report to Cinna describing in hard details how excruciatingly expensive the fortification of Zzonzeer would be. Needless to say the construction halted completely, with the engineering corps flat out refusing to commence again. Brand new medical equipment commissioned from Regalian workshops arrived to Eledhwen’s medical crews, worth a grand ten thousand regals. Experiments are planned, approved and gone through with, to learn more about the bothersome and pernicious Yellow Palement. The end of the experiments brought forth the conclusions that the disease itself is not the killer, but rather the hardships the disease puts a person through. Starvation and dehydration just so happens to be the greatest threat the disease poses, making it a quite manageable ailment as long as enough supplies are available for the sick. Unfortunately the results also proved that the infected require a little over a double amount of rations to maintain their wellbeing. To the dismay of the highly educated physicians, alchemists and scholars, it would be an observant tenpenny halberdier on his first deployment that would take the credit for finding the source of the ‘airborne disease’. In an almost comical incident Lily Jamesson and Aeawyn Syllbess overheard the complaints of their tent’s guard. The young soldier swatted at his neck, huffing out to his fellow soldiers that “These mosquitos are killing me.”, causing Lily and Aeawyn to look to eachother, both coming to the same realization at once. This so-called curse. This elusive, deadly foe. It showed to originate from bloodsucking flies such as mosquitos, most commonly found in the humid, warm greenery of the jungle underbrush. No cures in sight, but now the source of the outbreaks has been discovered, spreading either by touch or bite. While this all occurred, troop transports and warships littered the ocean once more to bring Field Marshal Julius du Vicieux and his host of 24,000 State Troops from Bexestaan to the recently attacked Island of Dregux. Division Admiral Tehrathel Avalorn and 25 Regalian Warships escort these transports for the duration of the journey, positioning themselves into three distinct formations of 8 warships. Flag coordination kept the fleet together to ensure maximum efficiency aboard the warvessels, which was quite welcomed by Regalian senior officers. However, despite these ships being present, no Sendrassian Warships actually engaged; effectively allowing the Regalian Ships to make a secured landing on Dregux. The armies stepped off the transports, conglomerating into a double lined battle formation with their backs to the sea. Before any troop movement occured; the Field Marshal Vicieux sent forth Henrik Norrvakt, Anathema, Sophie Perrot and a squadron of Regalian Scouts. Anathema and Sophie paused to share a glance to one another -- uncertainty in each other’s eyes as they trudged in into the lush jungles and out of sight. Meanwhile, Oscar Theodard coordinated 4,000 regimental troops from the various Field Commanders into construction teams to fortify the beachhead in which they landed with tents, a medical bay and makeshift guard towers. The scouts returned a little into the next day with full reports of the Sendrassian’s movement. Sophie and Anathema were able to deduce from melding into the jungle canopies and observing various scouting parties where the Sendrassians were likely located. Delving deeper in, Anathema actually caught sight of the army which was now significantly larger with transport ships moving in from the south each day. Overall, their numbers looked to be nearly 22,000 at this point. Henrik also was successful, having ambushed a lone Zu-Allar who had letters for a ‘Digmaan Drogaxx’ the presumed General of the force; noting that 7 Warships will be standing by to engage Xutaal again in two weeks. The Regalian force opted to dig further into the island in tow; Lyall Howlester leading one column atop her horse while Ferrikh and Cervantes led the other into the thick, unexplored jungle area. Exuro Weissmann acted as the archery expert, despite having little to fire at. Instead, he would watch Iain Howlester atop his horse, noting to himself that the man was better suited for riding a Gallovian Black Mountain Bear rather than a traditional warhorse. Chortling to himself, they continued their march, taking a considerable portion of the Northern Dregux before finally digging themselves in for defence. Meanwhile, out at sea, Admiral Sangiovese and his men enjoyed a rather uneventful week. Basic upkeep of the ships was the most arduous action the sailors suffered through, a blessing in the naval life. Boredom was fended off with all sorts of games. A competition between two sailors became a sight to behold one evening, a seemingly neverending back and forth of puns that would spread sensible chuckles and tired groans across the lower deck. On wednesday three sailors claimed to have spotted an enormous turtle carrying mermaids on its back. The spotter in the Crow’s nest debunked this claim five minutes later by pointing out that they saw a skerry with seabirds nesting on it. On friday Admiral Sangiovese slipped on a scour and bruised his tailbone, he received the sympathy of his men in the form of gritted teeth followed by a near unison ‘Ouch’. Inactivity and stagnation isn’t normally an ideal state of being, however for Admiral Sangiovese it strengthened the bonds between the men and women under his command, improving the overall morale! Overall, once more, the weeks military movements were a mixed bag of results with the nearly impeccable victories the Regalians had accomplished nearly being entirely overshadowed by the catastrophic failure that was Field Marshal Rodrigo Peirgarten’s advance on Digmaan Deridess. The people at home would be left wondering how the Marshal cabinet was going to right the wrongs of the last few weeks as the War continued to be a see-saw of emotions for both those on the front and the onlookers at home. Very Basic Map for this week (Read prog for troop numbers) Due to time constraints and doing two progs a week, War progs will now be once every 2 weeks rather than once a week.
As the morning arrived with the rise of sun, the Field Marshal returned into the forests Mumungaan on his white horse, the smell of reeking death reaching his nostrils and causing him to nearly wheeze. Flocks of crows had descended upon the terrain, picking at the piles upon piles of Regalian soldiers who laid dead on the grounds of the jungle. Rodrigo let go of the reins of his horse, dropping from his steady mount to wander into the piles of corpses, treading his feet past the severed limbs and crushed bodies of troops clad in bloodstained Imperial garments. The one-handed Marshal's breathing paced as death seemed to surround him from all corners, having to bear the gruesome displays of the consequences of his strategic oversight. The Peirgarten tripped over a chopped-up body of a fellow Officer, almost toppling to the gore-stained terrain, grunting heftily under his breath. He heard the muffled cries of a nearby soldier - a sign of life, and he reached towards it desperately. The soldier had been buried beneath the piles of corpses. With only one hand to use, Rodrigo dug the man out of the gored remains of dead Imperial soldiers, only to realize that the man was missing both legs, and the leftovers of raptor claw marks had left him mortally bleeding. The man reached with a hand to grab Rodrigo by the collar, struggling the words out of his blood-pooling mouth. "Look at us..." said the dying soldier, before the shaky grip slipped from Rodrigo's chestplate, and the man toppled back into the pile of bodies, his bloodshot eyes rolling to the back of his head. The Peirgarten leaned away from the dead soldier, exhaling shakily through parted lips, and tilting his gaze to peer into the distance where the ocean of dead bodies spanned out into every angle. His feet moved, his many Officers and Field Commanders watching him from the distance as Rodrigo continued to wander through the massacred terrain. He walked until his feet gave, and the Peirgarten dropped against his knees amongst the bodies of his dead men, his sole hand clutching a broken Imperial shield laying before him. Never again, he seethed. He would never let this happen again.
