ND/508 November Timeline

508 October Timeline <-- Full Timeline of Events --> 508 December Timeline
Session 38 - 28th of October, 508 to the 2nd of November
On the evening of the 28th, the Whitewers force arrives at Voyity Chol. It is 12,000 zombies screened by a few hundred Dynfarches and followed by three regiments of orcs. Trahaern, Greex, Cartwright, Aisling, Tezcatlipoca, and Hloomawl and the 1st Legion are waiting for them.
Trahaern and Kaja Thoen hold the outer defenses briefly before falling back into the fortress, but Aisling charges out to raid the enemy and ends up surrounded. Trahaern and Kaja sally out again, and Aisling's force cuts their way back into the fortress by dawn. The kobolds sappers drop their mined section of the road over a culvert, stranding several hundred zombies on the wrong side. The zombies are destroyed before their necromancers can regain control. Within hours, the undead renew their assault, and Trahaern and Kaja pull their forces out while Aisling's forces cover the retreat. The enemy general, Ambarussa, chooses to pursue, but a constant storm grounds his imps and the Liberation army breaks contact with minimal losses.

The two armies race south to Mitnydum, but Cartwright has prepared the way and the orcs are not used to sustained marches. The Liberation army arrives at Mitnydum in the afternoon of the 2nd and meet their new Minotaur troops, footsore from a rapid march from Hanist but ready to fight. On the morning of the 3rd, Aisling takes a raiding force northwest, planning to sneak around the orcs and raid their supply lines. Meanwhile, the Dynfarches start a march to the southwest, planning to sneak around Mitnydum and start stealing supplies from the peasants. Greex detects the movement and sends Aisling to intercept.
The Whitewers reach Mitnydum around noon, and set up their zombies and veteran orcs to screen the fortress while their other orcs attempt to slip past. Greex detects the movement and Kaja and Trahaern prepare to sally forth while Aisling leads her troops against the Dynfarch militia raiders.
Session 39 - 3rd of November to the 7th of November, 508
The Dynfarch leader, despite every advantage for reconnaissance imaginable, fails to prevent Aisling from getting a superior position as a meeting engagement develops. Aisling and Hloomawl lead a spirited assault on the man-horses, scattering them. After a few hours, Aisling calls a truce and the Dynfarch commander Fiona Mhic Martin agrees to change sides rather than take more losses. Some 80 dynfarch under Matha O'Fearadhae rebel against this treachery; 30 of them are killed by the Liberation cavalry before they manage to break contact. Aisling takes her army north to Voyity Chol and attempts to con her way in on the 5th. 7th Skullbreakers company commander Pennant Zo Gorarg is suspicious of her trick and nearly eats a dynfarch arrow for his trouble. Hloomawl uses his magic dinosaur to vault the walls and open the gates; the garrison is slaughtered and Gorarg fails to escape.

Meanwhile at Mitnydum, Trahaern launches a spoiling attack into the Whitewers' assault force while Kaja Thoen covers his flank. The Whitewer assault collapses in confusion and retreats, breaking contact mid-afternoon on the 5th. The next morning, Greex, Cartwright, and Tezcatlipoca attempt to find a way to sneak the 1st Legion out of the fortress and after the Orcs, but General Ambarussa detects their movement and moves to intercept, prompting another meeting engagement in the woods. Greex leads a lost unit of Kobold engineeers through the woods and accidentally convinces Ambarussa that Trahaern is attempting a flanking attack. Ambarussa's attack was struggling already and his efforts at defense cause him to lose the positions he took. Trahaern capitalizes on his success by having Greex lead another "flanking" attack that fixes Ambarussa's positions for his real flanking attack. After most of day's fighting, the Whitewer lines are shredded. Ambarussa passes command to Orc Banner Taeza Gulbrush with orders to cover the retreat of the Imperial Command Staff officers. The veteran Orcs manage to hold the 1st Legion back long enough, but are encircled and routed sooner after. With Aisling holding the north road, Trahaern turns south to find and destroy the two Orc regiments raiding around Cernabazina. The Skullbreakers hold the bridge over the Cerna river, but 7 companies of Orcs cannot hope to stand against the 1st Legion.
Session 40, Session 41, Session 42 - 6th of November to the 16th of November, 508
Sven receives word that the orcs are building a road south of Gurogeba. He, Attivi, Ariana, Nesta, Nayla, and Jerren set out on pegasii to disrupt the Imperial plans and free the Minotaurs on the road crew. It takes them two days to get close to the construction site, and a light cavalry force and the Stone Golem Guardian are following behind them on foot.

On the 9th, they fly low to the ground near the hill that the road crew is working on. Around 50 Minotaurs and Kobolds are logging trees ahead of the main group, and are quickly taken out. The Minotaurs are given weapons and protected by Attivi's magic, and then the group charges forward and frees another 25 Minotaurs breaking up the earth despite the best efforts of the guards. The Imperial nobles on the road crew, apparently supplemented by Imperial war college wizards, get their armor and defensive spells ready and prepare to engage. Ariana calls for additional protection from Volundr for the Minotaurs.
Sven and Ariana charge into the Imperial nobles, supported by the others. Nesta briefly duels their commander Thindis, but he has magical superspeed and chooses to chase after Nayla. Jerren fools him with an illusion and Nayla cripples him. The Imperial nobles focus on Ariana, and with great effort, manage to bring her down, but Sven kills several of them with repeated cavalry charges and then rallies the Minotaur prisoners who rescue Ariana in turn. Two of the nobles manage to flee, but six others are captured and interrogated. The Minotaurs agree to sign up for the Liberation army and the raiding party heads south.
In Zerniless, Trahaern takes the 1st Legion south to the Cerna River bridge and camps for the night while his engineers prepare bridges downstream. The next morning, he sends the Nightfangs and Nightbloods across in boats to fix the Orcs attention while the majority of his force crosses the bridge and outflanks the Orcs. The Orcs attempts a mobile defense that turns into a fighting retreat and ends with their annihilation. By noon, Trahaern is matching south in pursuit of the Dogbloods.

The Dogbloods scouts alert them that Trahaern was coming, and they attempt to ambush him. Their forces attack out of the woods after dark, into the face of Greex's prepared counter-ambush. Less than a company of Dogbloods and Dynfarch militia manages to break contact and flee back into the woods. Trahaern then turns north and meet Aisling at Probenzy on the 16th; she had overcome the Orc garrison at Clicacesty on the 10th and continued her advance to Probenzy on the 12th.
Session 43 - 19th of November to the 22nd of November, 508
Aisling, Attivi, Greex, Jerren, Tezcatlipoca, and Trahaern decide that with the Zerniless front stabilized, it was high time to seek alliance with the Fae Courts. With two days of mostly sunny weather predicted on the 19th, they pile into the Flying Boat mid-afternoon on the 19th and fly up the coast, crossing into Fae territory just before dark.
The Fae border guards immediately arrest them. In the process, the Resistance leaders discover that Aisling had been running a con on them: while she is an ambassador from the *rightful* Queen of the Fae, she is not an ambassador from the *actual* Queen of the Fae. Aisling manages to convince the guards to transfer them to the custody of the Thane Mac Morris, an ally of her patron, and they meet with Lady Brangwen later that evening.
They soon learn the true situation: Lady Brangwen had been disinherited under shaky grounds, and the current Queen Carys is afraid of the Empire. Brangwen agrees to throw the full weight of the Fae Courts behind the Liberation when she is restored to her throne, but her immediate support is minimal: she can give them sanctuary on her lands, introduce them to her handful of allies among the nobles of the Fae Courts, and get them out of trouble once or maybe twice. In the meantime, they are criminals and subject to arrest and deportation or perhaps being handed over to the Empire.

After discussing and discarding the ideas of assassinating most of the royal line or starting a civil war, they come up with a plan to stabilize Queen Carys' throne. By repeatedly appearing in public, they will hopefully convince Gravecall that Queen Carys is being disingenuous in her attempts to arrest them and force Gravecall to invade the Fae Courts. The Liberation Army First Legion will then be able to attack Gravecall's Legion on open grounds at equal odds and destroy her.
As a first step, they meet with the Lord Butler of Hollyfield, Ian O'Von, and make plans for Aisling to infiltrate the royal palace and begin spreading rumors.