4th Day of the 9th Month 1101YAC
After days of buildup caused by the reluctance of the Commanders of the Free Realms the brave marines of Harnlarche struck at the southern beack of Terysaur Isle. They held the position for a single day before being wiped out to a man.
5th Day of the 9th Month 1101
The beach became a slaughter with thousands of zombies destroying anyone who tried to land there. In the north at the same time the sky ships of the Free Realms and the surviving surface vessels from Haranlarche and Ienos gathered and bombarded the island until its forests were ablaze. This sucked air from across the island and caused a bigger fire to spread down to the beaches.
Undersea ship resembling turtles had been sent from Haranlarche and they received their first bit of good luck when Captain Rock of the Silber knot was sent to command the surviving submarines. The submarines were scandalous. They were sent out to die, as distractions. However Captain Rock made them into a more usefil force and then they landed on that same southern beach.
Captain Rock led his submarienrs up the beach, losing a quarter of his soldiers in the process. WIth survivors from the army that landed at the same time in the flaming north of the island he gathered everyone at the burnt out marine base. Then he used his special ability to weave worked stone to create defences and siege weapons as a black acid rain fell and skeleton dragons swooped on the sky vessels.
Admiral Shinvari panicked and fled, deserting his post in command of the sky navy. The surface ships took huge casualties as zombies swarmed them, sinking them in some cases by sheer weight of numbers.
Meanwhile Captain Rock fought on and prevailed in fighting retreat to the sky galleons that landed near the marine's castle after he burned the remaining trees to make room for the ships to land. Entering the LZ he was heartened by his Bard reciting an old poem. With that to inspire him he fought on against 6 to 1 odds and won, losing only 63 of his own men for the total destruction of the undead enemy.
Then when he had won a shadow monster sent by the real enemy, Mogador, swooped on Captain Rock. In hand to hand combat Captain Rock killed the creature, but lost amounts of strength that would have killed a normal man.
The day was won, but at great personal cost to Captain Rock. Now he is recuperating.
Captain Rock has been given rulership of the island on which he fought. Magic will send a castle there for him, and the 5,000 surviving soldiers will accompany him and his new wife Lyddia to the Grand Duchy of LeRochesse, the new name of his island realm. I will go with him as his Bard, and his friend.
-Eregorian of LeRochesse
7th Day of the 9th Month 1101YAC
Minaean scouts and their Minotaur allies report that Hellhaven is moving
its monstrous troops west, into the Grasslands of Gen. They lost substantial
troops to assaults from Var, Durapur and the magical elven city of Mirradanor.
Nevertheless a large army has crossed into the grasslands and out of range of
Minaean scouting.
The Hellhaveners
are as yet poorly equipped, poorly armed and poorly fed. Revolt in the ranks is
not common however, possibly from sheer fright at their leader, Mogador.
8th Day of the 9th Month 1101YAC
Patchy reports via a crystal ball on the Isle of Dawn seem to indicate that an enormous fleet of war canoes and war rafts has made landings across the eastern shore of the Isle of Dawn. Before the wizard using the crystal ball ceased to send his messages to the Prince of Korenzea, he reported that over five thousand savages had landed and cut their way inland, taking massive casualties but terrifying the local populace and burning all structures in the process.
The army of Pharaoh Ixmaket II fled as the savages landed and is now considered to be disbanded.
9th Day of the 9th Month 1101YAC
Feergul Zoon, Official Bard of Ienos, speaks on behalf of his lord and master the King of the Isles. His message is carried by carrier pigeon, messagehawk, ebony fly and messenger boat.
"We are amazing diverted by the hysteria some have sought to spread. Since those who spread the lies about us are the youngest of the realms and the least experienced of the rulers of the surface world we forgive them their petty jealousy.
They whisper lies about our towers.
Know that our towers are merely lighthouses, to guide the shipping in the Dreadsea.
We enjoy good relations with many independent ports, amongst them Freeport and Rogosto. Both of these forward-thinking city-states struggle against the pack of lies others tell. Their rulers do not have the luxury of powerful friends and super-powered adventurer-thugs who force issues down the throats of their neighbours.
After the current hostilities against Mogador end successfully we must turn our attention to the plague of erratic freeswords and would-be "superheroes" who spread destruction far and wide. Let us not forget that we lack the sharp steel and quick wits of O-Ka-Lia in this battle because of the actions of the so-called heroes of the Silver Knot."
10th Day of the 9th Month 1101YAC
Thousands of citizens of the realms on the Isle of Dawn are dead and similar numbers are missing following a disastrous Eastern Empire air attack.
Intended to displace the Zendi forces of Mogador, the two surviving converted Imperial Skyliners used to carry out the mission never made it to the Zendi fortifications, encountering a flight of evil Dragons near the island's central plateau. One skyliner crashed into the city-state of Oekron, incinerating the town. The other skyliner sold its life dearly, with fearsome battles between the Dragons and their riders and the Imperial Corsair crew of the liner. The liner exploded in midair in a coruscating storm of Dragonbreaths.
The Emperor is quoted as being "concerned" at the loss of his two remaining air dreadnoughts, with air operations now restricted to the riders of the Retebian Knights of the Air and the remaining smaller Skyships and Flitters together with the remaining Dragons loyal to the Empire.
11th Day of the 9th Month 1101YAC
The Zakharan fleet known as the Golden Wolves has
crushed a fleet crewed by the undead of Mogador.
The Zombie Fleet was struggling across the Sea of
Caravans in heavy weather magically enhanced by Genies from the defending
Zakharan fleet.
After the Zombies turned near the Island of the
Elephant, the Zakharan fleet attacked in a series of hit and run engagements,
restocking on the Island of the Elephant before driving the remaining Zombie
ships into the Southern Ocean where contact was lost with them at nightfall.
Zakharan casualties after the engagement were
discovered to be light, but two significant casualties were Crown Prince Aziz
al-Almawa and the Zakharan metahuman superhero Jheremiah. Jheremiah is survived
by his wife, the metahuman Sheherazade.
12th Day of the 9th Month 1101YAC
The first official day of Winter 1101 YAC has been marked by massive white fog banks obscuring most of the western coast of Sekuthar. This has kept all but the bravest or most foolhardy of captains at harbourside in Minaea and Lyndoria. Lyndoria, which sits at the edge of the Sea of Mist, reports that its fishermen have fled from the deep sea areas where they normally cast their nets. The nets have hit bottom too early and the drifting ghost ships of the Sea of Mist have already been sighted in record numbers...
In Lyndoria Baron Ghoul Restenford-Erovanev has stood down in favour of Galion FitzSabot-Walker, hereditary claimant to the united island.
The new Baron Galion thanked the Heirs of Skull Craig for recovering the Hammer of Wortz, as well as promising formally to honour their entitlement to a fiefdom on the northern coast of his island realm. He has also thrown open the trade in Bog Lillies. His army is now putting down the revolt that this announcement has caused in his town of Rhorton. Bog Lilly futures have plunged in value but the newly reformed Herb Market in Lyndoria seems set to make the realm at least as much as the old monopoly did, as well as reducing ill-feeling against the realm for hoarding the Bog Lillies, which are a potent defence against undead and insects.
Octopus and Kraken nations are at war over possession of the deeps of the Dreadsea.
What this will mean for surface travellers none yet know.
Octopi are vastly superior intellectually to the Kraken and Squid species, which are often described by submariners as the "goblinoids of the deep", but the Kraken nation has giantism and foul sorcery on its side.
Merfolk from the Aquatican and independent dome cities, as well as the undersea barbarians from the seagrass villages and kelp forests have as yet not chosen a side although it is overwhelmingly likely that they will side with their traditional allies the Octopus nation.
The surface war in the Dreadsea continues, with fewer Zombie ships and squadrons reported at the beginning of the fourth week of the war.
Contact is still patchy between east and west amongst the Free Realms due to civil war in Braejr, revolts within the Eastern Empire and the overwhelming rearmament of Sekuthar under the leadership of Mogador from his capital of Hellhaven.
Tentative strikes against the Dedites have resulted in a devastating forest fire, but few Dedite casualties.
The Monster Duchies have been approached by their neighbours to join the Free Realms. As yet there has been no reply to these overtures from the Clans of Atru, the Seven Shires, Haranlarche or Korenzea. Wendar and Bordavia have threatened to leave the Free Realms alliance if the Monster Duchies join.
