--- With calamity subsided and the war in the South even more uncertain as stirrings elsewhere in the World ruffled the proverbial feathers of the Government and Military Cabinet alike back in the Regalian Capital, it was work as usual for Field Marshal Valarosta Ino-Femunn who was chasing down the remaining Sendrassian occupying army in the Eastern portion of the Dregux peninsula. With time being of the essence, the Field Marshal ordered all remaining scouts to forge ahead after the last known location of the army under Quin and Yue-Liang Hou who took full command of the two dozen dexterous rogues, ducking and diving through the jungle foliage in front of the gargantuan Regalian State army of 83,000 troops. The army itself was divided in the traditional Regalian column formation, under that command of two notable Field Commanders, Duke Lithuandir Telarel and Osira Lae’rinsyr. 50,000 troops were dedicated to Lithuandir and his co-Field Commander Lyall Howlester, who marched ahead of Osira’s remaining 30,000 troops in order to distract the Sendrassian defending force so that Osira’s force could swing around and flank the enemy from behind. Three hours into the march, Quin and Yue-Liang finally returned on horseback, swiftly making their way to Valarosta specifically to relay the news that half of the Sendrassian Defenders had already left Dregux and were escaping West across the sea. Why was uncertain yet, but Valarosta deduced that if this information was indeed correct, she could catch the remaining 20,000 troops with their metaphorical pants down. She hoisted herself upon a horse, gesturing with a raised fist to her personal retinue to follow her as she galloped through the clearing the Dragons had made with their might the battle before to inform Lyall and Lithuandir ahead of time to speed up their efforts. When she finally was able to make them out in the distance, the 50,000 army had already engaged the Maz-Allar rear guard and were deep into the conflict. Lithuandir and Lyall’s vanguard were under strict orders from the two to pelt and bombard the enemy with magic and alchemy, as best and as tactfully as they could properly muster with the conflict around them. Razeri and Mae Keppkuula broke the defence with their abilities, allowing Lyall to order a wedge attack, albeit in a smaller fashion than was traditional, to cut through the defense of the Sendrassian force. Bells and horns could be heard in the distance -- ships, most likely Sendrassian given how close they were now to the coast. Valarosta knew this was their chance to make the final push and properly rid Dregux of any possible incursion. Hearing the sound of marching behind her, she lifted her sword into the air which had been witnessed by Harlow Ketch who had just come through the treeline into the battle from Osira’s army, and Harlow quickly urged the men around him to spring forth and join the fight. “Forget the plan!” Valarosta boasted, “Push them hard and fast. They cannot escape now!”. And escape they could not, for what Lithuandir and Lyall was able to do was corner the retreating Sendrassians against a cliff edge near the sea. The steep, rocky cliffs gave no way out for the Void Allar that were desperately attempting to make their last stand. Osira ordered her men to hold the corner sides of Lithuandir’s force and remain steady, ensuring not a single Maz-Allar escaped their fate. Anathema, Mae, Lyall and Harlow fought through the last line of heavy defence Sendrassian troopers before Lyall barked toward their men at arms to raise their shields and push -- and so they did. Lithuandir, Valarosta and Osira, back behind the lines watched on satisfied as with every forward, forceful jutting, dozens upon dozens of Sendrassians plummeted to their deaths on the treacherous, rocky shoreline below them. Beastial screeching was harmonized to scale and bone breaking as the Western sealine was stained with Sendrassian blood. “Look” Osira pointed out toward the ocean. “The ships, they’re leaving. We’ve won! We’ve actually won!” The story of Valarosta’s victory at the Battle of the Bloody Shore was relayed loudly and with jovial festivity across the entire Hadarian warfront. To add additional fanfare to Vala’s name, supplies and relief packages, funded by Ino-Femunn herself, reached the leading hierarchical officials in many of the forefront Isles in the conflict. These supplies were then immediately put to use in helping the weakest of the Qar-Digmaan’s people, rebuilding homes and feeding the downtrodden. Valarosta had, undoubtedly, outdone herself and had completely u-turned her previous loss on Dregux some time prior around to be her magnum opus military accomplishment to date. This would certainly be noted when the war was concluded. --- A vast armada floated off the coast of south-eastern Bexestaan, boasting some 40 frigates flying imperial banners. Admiral Valentino Solisti and his captains were out on yet another mission from the desk of the Grand Marshal, assisted by marvels of modern engineering humming above them like enormous bumblebees, armed with swivelguns and a Alt-Regalian man with a mythical spyglass. Assisting him on his noble quest was the fledgling Lady Gwendolyn Black, daughter of an Admiral of some repute, and Reginald von Falkenreich was also there to help. Some miles off from the rendezvous the fleet was split into three on the order of Valentino. A once thought to be clever tactic, but proven time and time again to be unwise in most situations. Though it is a new day with new possibilities. The winds were not with the Solisti armada, taunting the sails with hard gusts from left, right and center, a not poggers moment to be sure. Yet the superstitious sailors aboard the many ships had tricks up their sleeves to bring about the luck they needed to continue on. Off on the other side of the Sea Gods’ grumbling winds they finally reached calm enough waters to confidently split into three, with Lady Gwendolyn and Sir Reginald taking charge of thirteen ships each, with the remaining eighteen staying with the Admiral Valentino. The all-seeing eye of Klaus von Falkenreich kept a look-out from the skies, gazing over enough azure and seafoam to make a man go mad. The Cerescope of Cadar’s view climbed over wave after wave on the hunt for foreign vessels, spotting only the occasional whale until a lonesome pack of five lightly armed ships was caught by Klaus’ attention. Fitting the description of the vessels mentioned by military intelligence reports he did not hesitate to report his findings down below, delicately attempting to scream past the loud, obnoxious humming of the airship’s engines. Realizing the failure of his venture he takes the more conventional decision of using nautical flags. The symbols were read out aloud to Valentino as they cruised along. Normally an admiral of his stature wouldn’t care much for a petty flotilla like this, but the reports seen at the Cabinet meetings made him wary. A series of orders left past his lips and soon the whole fleet would turn about on the course to the seemingly innocent squadron. Lady Gwendolyn and Sir Reginald’s fleets joined along the Solisti vanguard on the flanks, supported by the personal warships of Marisa and Minerva Solisti, and Rond’e Gamal and Xailya Beahan. A formidable force for even the sturdiest of Sendrassian fleets, hunting down this merry little band of ships. One might ponder what went through the heads of the Sendrassian officers. What miracle could possibly be performed, how many hidden aces could the tricky foes have? The truth would come, to both dismay and relief. The Regalian fleet had surrounded the Sendrassians. Outmanned, outgunned, outnumbered and outplanned. They’d have to make an all-out stand. Not a shot came from either side. An eery silence sitting over the would-be battlefield. The waiting was excruciating and the Admiral wouldn’t waste a minute more. With the flick of the wrist the encirclement grew closer, with ships splitting off to board the quiet foes. The moment of truth was here. What went through the officers’ heads? ‘They’re turning on us!’. The fighting was already done when the Imperials had reached the ships. A brutal mass mutiny had cut the officers down to the last man. A small siege between the marines and the captain’s men had been duked out by the captain’s cabin, all the important papers warming up the room in the braziers, disappearing too quickly for recovery. The allar had all submitted in surrender to the imperials as they began boarding, with one of the mutineers explaining in simple common to the foreigner captains their situation. “We are not wanting to die for fools glory. Captain demanded our lives in sacrifice, so we took his. We have a home, and is not here.” Was their message, and despite the heavy accent it was an understood sentiment. There was nothing special about this little fleet. They were, just like Valentino Solisti, out on a patrol. Nothing of importance was discovered, except for seven hundred new, imprisoned mouths to feed. The question of the prisoners is one to ponder on, for what a golden opportunity this is to prove the possibility of surrender rather than fight, but on the other hand.. They aren’t us. --- Reinvigorated and ready for the challenges to come, General Natharia Mac Conall continued her occupation of the small Island of Driskaan, collaborating with local Allar in ensuring a stable and secure base of operations now that the previous Sendrassian land force of 15,000 had been staunchly defeated. Accompanying the General was her sizeable force of 20,000 which were immediately put to task, scouring the Island for remaining Sendrassian Troops and rooting out any influence the Sendrassian force had in the vicinity. The General herself designated her two most senior Field Officers to the task, Yao Nil’hund and Valentino di Callegari and divided the army up equally under both. Valentino and Yao searched the Northern and Southern parts of the Island before meeting up in the West, with no sign of Sendrassian troops, camps or hideaways noticeable to them. The Officers coordinated with a notable waymaker, one Anathiel who claimed to know the Island’s terrain from maps she had studied, and although she was able to point out a number of significant and relevant areas on her travel around the entirety of the Island, there was neither fang nor scale of a Sendrassian to be found. Meanwhile, back in the Harbor that General Natharia had captured, her and a team of alchemical experts, and naturally a medium sized regiment of her personal retinue, zeroed in on some of the harborside warehouses that the Sendrassian Army had been using to store its munitions. Cecille Howlester, Sylvia Latimer and Isabelle Cadieux, all under the guidance of senior Alchemist Roselyne Howlester made quick work of cargo boxes, and by making quick work of, I mean they stood idly by, chatting, smoking and observing as they nonchalantly ordered Natharia’s retinue to pry open boxes so that they could peer inside them each individually. One by one, the warehouse’s crates were ripped open and one by one they were left disappointed with little turnover for their time. That was at least, until the last couple of crates were rummaged through. The team managed to come by a half empty Maz-Allar Bombardier contraption that still had a decent amount of strange coloured fluid inside which Isabelle and Cecille immediately went to work trying to identify. They were able to correctly dilute and diffuse a couple of vials of the substance but were only able to identify that at some point in the apotheosis, Geruda Stalk was added and this caused the disorientating effect on the battlefield and blinded the soldiers in battle. Roselyne and Sylvia assisted then, with the former astonished by what the latter was able to adulterate in their alembic. Thanks to her high skill in the field, and Sylvia, Cecille and Isabella’s help, she was able to deduce that the exact concoction being used on the front by the Sendrassian Shock Troopers was an infusion of Popfruit to make it gaseous, Pyrignis Powder for activation once the glass containers hit the Regalian troops, and then a combined mixture of Garuda stalk as identified by Isabelle and Cecille but also high quantities of extremely rare Nightshade -- all intensified with intensoid. This was groundbreaking for the troupe, who could now reconvene in Regalia and potentially look into ways of combating the alchemical threat of the Sendrassians with this new information. Back elsewhere on the Island, and with little else to do, Silver Swyftfurusat, Llosinssa and Nefer convened with the local Hadarian Allar to learn more about the Island. Naturally, the inhabitants of the Island were more than willing to give the location of every nook and cranny that remnants of the Sendrassian army could be, but followed up that it was unlikely that any remained. When Nefer inquired deeper as to why, the Allar explained that many of the Sendrassians that were still on the Island had left already on orders from their hierarchical leaders, fearing this newly reforged Allorn Empire and the threat it could pose. In fact, the sailors that conversed with the three rogues backed this claim, explaining that all over Hadar, Sendrassians had begun to reduce numbers and fall back to their homeland. An interesting development to say the least. When this was reported back to Natharia, she quickly returned to her camp and began writing, sending word right back to the Marshal Cabinet all over the Hadarian Front. --- War is not all glory and horror. The most of it is spent in brutal monotony. War waged by the Regalian Empire is meticulous and bureaucratic. Nowhere was this more apparent than on the coast of southern Dregux. Another blockade ordered from high above. Being assigned on ‘Hammock Guard’ was almost seen as a punishment by the marines and sailors this deep into the war by the newer soldiers and youths eager to prove their worth. How this would protect and serve the Empire was anyone’s guess, but it wasn’t close to any of their decision, that much was certain. Admiral Tehrathel was deaf to their concerns, knowing this temporary whinging is not worth wasting time on concessions for. His attentive eyes were busy gazing over the Dreguxan coast from the back of his flagship, tuning out the ambient sea chanties and gull screeching to settle his focus back on his work. The war might get quiet and boring, but it was no excuse for idling. Any prideful altalar could tell you that, but few were more happy to tell you this with a hint of smug satisfaction like Tehrathel. Humour like these self-reflections aside it did admittedly gnaw on him as well. For days they could just sit there with nothing worse than tiny fishing boats rowing up to his ship with locals trying to peddle exotic creatures to the sailors. Frustrating, if anything. Who could possibly let themselves be distracted with these common bleeding trinkets. Though one tropical fish specimen did catch Tehrathel’s eyes, and would later change hands for a small sum of sixty-five regals, making the trader easily one of the richest men in his village. Gosh, now where were they? Oh, yes. The coast of Dregux. The visits from the fishermen had become more of a daily routine at this point, with sailors buying different sorts of crabs from the locals so they could host fights below deck, gambling shells and what little regals they have left. Admiral Avalleia surely wasn’t pleased with this outcome, but like the quartermaster had told him, it has increased morale something fierce. However it had also served a nefarious purpose. Distraction had become commonplace, and so had complacency and a disregard for the possible dangers posed by the people of the island. Another day dawned on this bored blockade, and the rowboats had arrived just as expected yet again. More this time, actually. The crowding around the flagship had become a significant issue and threat to the ship itself, and so a leading voice among the locals had requested that they may be allowed onboard to make their trading easier. It was a controversial choice, and likely a serious miscalculation, but one of the officers had allowed it. Soon the deck was teeming with life, more akin to a bazaar than a frigate’s main deck. Opportunism among bereft locals was something all who had spent more than a month in the military academy knew about, and it for the most part was a fairly harmless thing as long as you had treated them right. And who hadn’t filled their pockets like the blockading fleet? One would think. Among the locals was a fisherman of more talents than he had displayed. Sneaking away from the deck he had managed to make his way to the captain’s cabin with nothing but a boneknife hidden behind a generic bracer on his forearm. The allar stood by the door, waiting for the right moment to enter. Sounds from the deck began to grow louder as the daily crab fights started, soon reaching to the back of the ship to provide him the cover he needed. A bout of cheering erupted and that is when he moved on the Admiral. With a fluid motion he entered the cabin, where Tehrathel came to his feet to ask for the meaning of the intrusion. The knife answered for him, and he replied with his own steel, handling the assassin in a hair-raising duel with the proficient dagger dancer. Tehrathel received minor cuts over his arm, tearing through his uniform with vicious bites. The battle was in his favour, and yet he felt himself move more sluggishly. His arm aching with numbing pain. By all that is holy, the Assassin is bringing him down with him. Some concoction had been introduced to his bloodstream, but before it could bring his song to an end his attack would be discovered by his quartermaster and the attacker was dispatched with vengeful wrath. Tehrathel wasn’t keen on giving up, and ordered the deck cleared of peddlers and fishmongers, and his personal physician brought up to him before gently dipping in and out of consciousness. He survived the terribleness inflicted on him, and a physical examination would prove that the poison in his vein was but a low-grade neurotoxin of sorts, one his body would be capable of handling on its own. A close call like this one though would serve to be an eternal reminder to both him and his men that discipline and order cannot be allowed a break, lest you wish to risk breaking yourself. --- Coinciding with Valarosta’s victory, a number of smaller transport vessels arrived in port cities all over the Regalian occupied Sendrassian front, all flying the Regalian standard and the Government’s traditional sigil. Sivrid Sorenvik, Regalia’s own Alms Minister and a group of renowned religious figures disembarked the vessels with crates of luxuries and other such worldly comforts in tow. The Alms Minister had a very simple plan, one of philanthropy and goodwill, to inspire the hardworking troops on the front with sermons in Unionism, Old Gods, Dragon Worship and the Draoidh Feya faiths. Sivrid and her retinue split into their relevant faith sects. Sivrid handled sermons for the Old Gods while Aelfric Harhold and the Nonnataen Nora Mornala held large masses for the huge number of Unionist faithful in the regions they visited. Second to the Old Gods and Unionist worshippers, which made the primary bulk of the army (outside of Estel faith), The Dragon Matron Gwenyth Zylmoira gave speeches and held private talks with Dragon Faith followers whenever she could alongside a few notable missionaries from Anglia, such as Novellia Reinard, that shared in her Religious doctrine. Then lastly, Cillian Mac Conall provided small religious ceremonies for the Draoidh Feya faithful, albeit only attracting a few dozen individuals throughout the entire travel due to the lack of followers of that religion currently engaged with the push in Hadar. The troupe were able to visit three isles on the front – Bhoszzaal, Untingi and Zzondaal, before being ordered home by the Marshal Cabinet due to increased hostility and attacks in the region. However, the impact of their visit was significant. All across the front, soldiers smoked, played cards and relished in savoury chocolates and succulent candies. Garettes were swapped for books and socks, while supportive letters from individuals at home circulated, spreading increased patriotic morale amongst the various vanguards and retinue regiments. At home, the news was received moderately well, with praise bestowed upon the Bancroft Government, Sivrid especially, for her generosity and patriotism to the troops at the front, whom were woefully missed by their families in the Empire. Special thanks was extended to Reverend Aelfric Harhold and Matron Gwenyth Zylmoira also for their time and for placing themselves in active warzones, in their own harms way, for the sake of the Empire’s bravest. The efforts and sacrifices by all three would not go unnoticed, though however there was some stir amongst the Estel worshippers in the capital and on the front for their lack of representation, expected and believed to be some nuanced stance by the Regalian Government in response to the Allorn Empire’s revival recently.
