Battle of the Kaktofa Glacier

The Battle of the Kaktofa Glacier was a battle between Vollandan Rangers and a pair of Withers spawned by Cloak in 187 AVL. The battle is notable for several reasons, as it caused the inception of Capital Squadron, signified the return of Cloak to Vollanda, and acted as the first combat mission of the Ranger Corps.

## Return of Cloak

Shortly prior to 183 AVL, Cloak made their reappearance known by leaving copies of a book named Darkness Returns at several settlements across Vollanda, a book outlining their return and the prescence of a three-headed beast at Kaktofa Base. Concerns were raised by the King as to the prescence of a wither at Kaktofa Base, and stressed the importance of eliminating the threat quickly.

## Scouting Mission

In 184 AVL, Litswaggerking, determined to eliminate the wither threat as hastily as possible, urged ShippinSoup to accompany him on a mission to destroy the wither before it could cause any severe damage. However, upon arriving at Kaktofa Base, they both discovered that there was not just one Wither, but two. Upon flying in, the attackers turned scouts watched as both withers began to ascend high above the build limit, firing wither skulls in the direction of Vollandan territory. Knowing that they would prove incapable of defeating both withers at once, the pair decided to withdraw, and Litswaggerking decided to form a new, powerful unit in the Ranger Corps, specifically to deal with the threat posed by Cloak.

## Bombardment & The Creation of Capital Squadron

Following the Vollandan's scouting misison, the withers spawned by Cloak began bombarding Vollandan territory from hundreds, then thousands of blocks in the air. Though inaccurate and not particularly damaging, left unchecked they still posed a significant threat to Vollandan territory, and a lucky hit could still cause major damage to the Vollandan economy or war effort. Because of this, Litswaggerking formed Capital Squadron, essentially organizing the structure of the Capital Commune within the Ranger Corps, and fitting them into a single, elite unit. And, by just 187 AVL, Capital Squadron, alongside Imaginedmoss288, offering fire support, were ready to head out to Kaktofa Base to find, engage, and destroy the withers.

## Battle of the Kaktofa Glacier

In 187 AVL, Capital Squadron, alongside Imaginedmoss prepared to set out to destroy the pair of withers. Litswaggerking, who was ready shortly before the rest of the attack force, flew out on a solo mission in an attempt to harass the Withers, and weaken them before the full force of the assault was ready. However, even with this attack, when the full force arrived on site, both withers flew up high into the sky yet again to continue bombarding Vollanda. Capital Squadron, and Imaginedmoss288 attempted to pursue, but ultimately lost both withers at high altitude, and the group as a whole quickly fell into disarray, straying off, and flying for extended periods of time meant many members ended up needing to either retreat entirely, or land and repair their elytra wings. However, after reorganizing the search, CapitalMedusa5 found both of them, and began luring them back down to the ground. Litswaggerking arrived not long after CapitalMedusa5 reestablished contact, and attracted one of the withers towards him. The pair began to descend with the withers, slowly, bringing them back down to ground level. Eventually, Litswaggerking lured one wither to touchdown on a glacier just to the west of Kaktofa Base, and the rest of the strike force, with the exception of CapitalMedusa5 who was still luring his own wither to the gorund, formed up and began battling the Wither atop the ice. It didn't take long for the combined arrow fire of the group to reduce the wither's health to half, at which point melee combat began, and the wither did not hold out much longer. Upon defeating the first wither, the team was reunited with CapitalMedusa5, and the wither behind him. This time with an added archer, the Wither's health was reduced even faster, as the group swarmed it with arrowfire, then engaged it in melee combat also. Just like the first, the second wither went down relatively quickly, and with no Ranger casualties. Though the battle was long, it ended in a complete Ranger victory.

## Aftermath

After the long battle, the force quickly disbanded, heading back home and seemingly forgetting about one of their original goals; retrieving Cloak's intel from inside Kaktofa Base itself. Realizing this only 2 Vaartals later, Litswaggerking flew back to the base, to find a book left by Cloak, signalling their retreat, once again from Vollandan territory, but stating that it was still not the end of their involvement, warning of a sudden victory by Cloak that no Vollandan would see coming until it was too late.