Deadly Alliance in the Unknown Lands

 Missing a chance to see a Spinx's Disciple felt like an act of treason. Just north of the city-state of Psubib Pajibe and southeast of the Sarcagosee Mountains a team of explorers acted as part of an expedition. Each one were the type who blended in with a coalition these Calornese formed against the two invaders. For them pushing further into Unknown Lands brought them closer to the Sarcagosee Mountains. This push also left the Borvadosi Mountains behind their lines. Gantronese forces possessed some advantage on them, the terrain, soldiers, secure supply lines, on goal in mind. Due to the various alliances they made with over a dozen nations the Calornese Alliance became at odds. Despite the goal of ousting the invaders each ally had their own agenda. Malvieth wanted to keep every route open to any city states allied to the invaders who did partake. Alagen, Nahem, and Meze did not agree with allowing Evusian troops to fight. Ivodra wanted to establish some trade within the city states. Evusia saw an opportunity to set up settlements for a growing population. Ruhonthra felt obligated to direct the newly freed states towards democracy or some form of Republic with diplomacy. Tante gave the impression of keeping weapons of the locals hands. Something most of the Allies looked down on. Letting the locals have weapons gave them plenty of allies. 

Some allies stuck to the V.U.V.R. goal of removing the invaders and liberation of their planet. Lybresan, Condor, Rovantia stuck to those goals. Redrin Republic did too, except they objected to Evusians being allowed to fight the enemy. Lybresan wanted access to the raw minerals and recourses in the ground. A few commanding officers showed concern for 511 coalition personnel closest to the Gantronese lines. Talking themselves into maintaining cover their expedition made effort's to blind in with the biggest faction. The V.U.V.R. officials saw through their bullshit nodded then slapped a volunteer arm band on them. Thanks to some Uxane members and Borvadosi plenty of locals helped. A tribe or clan of mounted warriors east of their positions gave them 227 mounted fighters for cavalry. Nearby tribes and Psubib Pajibe kindly 635 warriors. The most sophisticated, technological advanced civilizations here in the mountains were Dwarves, Gnomes, some goblins other than the invaders. A few human factions had access to using their technology to create airships to bring in trade at a faster pace. In the skies they can spot at most 258 ships almost forming their own cloud above the Sarcagosee Mountains.

 Hepross the Castarian Boyar laid down a rule among the personnel to focus on pushing back the Gantronese. At least attempt to drive them away is what he would do even with his own Cavalry of 340 conscripts. Feeling outnumbered the explorers made their damn best attempt to keep their identities from the local soldiers. By creating makeshift munitions for rocket launchers, mobile ballistae, modified Gantronese weaponry along with copies of V.U.V.R. firearms. What took them by surprise after hearing about the conflict that drug this planet into a global one were Vullanese in the volunteer ranks. Plenty of Vullanese joined the fight in the Unknown Lands. Using the name Pazuzun Woodrigde, Blue Algorad attempted to speak to one known as Peregrine Griffin the Golem Artisan. One of Griffin's own 18 Vullanese were just crushed somewhere towards the southeast. Their death was brought about through undying rage of a Colossal Dreadmaw Dinosaur. Unsure what happened to the monster lizard beast the Coalition forces left this creature to the Gantronese or the Gantronese to the monster. Blue Algorad was not surprised this was the case here in the unknown. He had been to various worlds covered in jungle and full of predatory beasts. 

What surprised him was a curvy by way courier and story seeker (reporter) to arrive in this section of the front. She came to anticipate the salvage count or damage done. With little information, data, results, or such this Courier found herself harassed by several coalition soldiers. In order to resolve the situation or bring the harassment to heel, someone had to be brought in. A Dark Steel Sentinel of VUVR Bisdolan half Orc was sent over to track down a specific target among the harassers. As the Bisdolan half Orc tracked down the harassing curs their commanders sent a pair of Zedirian adjudicator cat citizens over to a settlement of 505 locals. These locals appeared distrustful towards outsiders yet sent warriors to aid them. Gantronese forces made attempts to land near their lines using three scavenging scarabs that were shot down. Replacements or reinforcements arrived to fill in for their units. Another city-state known as Anishi, a Wahote settlement sent them one Wose-Wahote Pathfinder out of 190 members. It gave them a better scout to work with who moved around the northeastern flanks. Days later they reported news about some bewitching leechcraft created a zombie problem just southeast of Sarcagos. Zombies were a plague that kept everyone on their toes. Every few years or decade a breakout occurred somewhere in this world. The most it impacted at the sometime before it even ended were between 250,000-360,000 victims. 

Listening or eavesdropping closely Algorad overheard a few small hordes emerged from the northeast. Some forces grew according to survivors of villages that were hit. One battalion's worth of coalition troops moved a portion towards Fort Pardwell. Right outside the city-state of Anishi they barred the door to the foot while the citizens prepared for the horde of zombies. Just 260 locals, 72 coalition manned the wooden fort against a horde of the zombies they heard about. Caught in the mix of this Algorad and two of his own gripped their T.M. 13 bolt action rifles, E-7 rifles. Hours went bey before this horde arrived at the gates of each. None of them got a good look at these infected. All they heard were the growls, gargling, hissing, and faint screeching. From 188 archers a few showers of arrows killed off 887 infected while the rest wiped out the rest. 

Whatever caused this horde to form it appeared weaponized. Opening the gates felt like a bad idea, but they wipe out 808 of these infected using rifles, machineguns, submachineguns, bows, and repeater rifles. Some locals armed with PF-71's, Numei Katana rifles helped fend off a second or third wave of 1,600 or more infected. Hepross' unit and Uxane cavalry hunted down the rest for a few days straight. This zombie threat caused a stir among the population creating a mob 606 or more of unruly people. Forced to deal with this unruly mob a V.U.V.R. commanding officer found a Vullanese mage to weed out the ring leaders. Three days later the mage returned with strange news about the mob. It was really caused by some other worldly outburst over food. An alien took control over the population hoping to hide it. 

Other zombie hordes attacked other positions such as a hill manned by a unit of Elves, 20 Clansmen, 20 Uxane, 45 Goblins, 30 Dwarves, 36 Knights, 60 Landwers Troopers. One thousand or more infected attacked the hill followed by another wave. Hepross rode the second wave of infected down. Yet a unit of 316 Mulzaneen caught his attention. Loosing a few arrows in their direction the Mulzaneen lured them away. Giving chase Hepross took his whole force armed with rifles. Left with no cavalry a dozen scattered units making up three thousand faced a wave of Gantronese Spawn who were chased down by the local Uxane cavalry. All he really saw were hostiles coming after them under the Gantronese banners. Two days went by with waves of hostiles and infected coming after them. Hepross returned to their side, another unit of 340 coalition troops and warbands consisting of 3,800 native warriors arrived. His own expedition lost some members in the fighting. Burying them would have to wait until they managed to even collect them. Their own 340 coalition reinforcements were elves who occupied a hill for thirteen days. Gantronese retreated as expected after another loss. What was not expected was for 348 Goblin turncoats, 6,426 Space Dark Elves to turned against the invaders. 

Over the course of five days Calornese Coalition Officers conversed with these collaborators and outerplanar aliens who switched sides overseeing the elves on the hill. Out of the six-thousand seven hundred seventy-four about 1,242 stayed put, forming an uneasy alliance. One hundred of the highest ranking and willing left for the coalition Head Quarters. Two thousand chose to mount up on any steeds or mountable creatures they found. As one large cavalry brigade went their own way. Eight hundred twenty-three voted to join the Coalition forces wherever they went. Only twenty-five chose to form their own settlement. One thousand two hundred twenty-three requested to head for the coast. Their intentions were to become sailors on merchant ships or cargo ships. As for the remaining 1,361, they turned around to attack the Gantronese on their own. 

Another week passed by with the leaders choosing to move southeast. Once permission was granted and their whole force was replaced by 3,000 or more Uxane, tribesmen, Wahote. Moving about several thousand coalition forces out of town gained the interest of an Illustrious Female Historian who pursued glory elsewhere. Algorad kept his own expedition team close by as they entered regions bordering  Wahote territory. Two days left went by in their trek towards the southeast as they entered a couple of spider nests. Deep in the jungles away from the city-state of Anishi they found the webs in the branches. It only gave it away that there were large spiders dwelling inside these jungles. One nest consisted of about 361 Mammoth Spiders that rarely ate humans. Just the larger reptilian dinosaurs, beasts, or the ones they scurry around the branches or higher ground. Managing to avoid mealtime they came across a ravine in the forest jungle. Home to 137 netcaster spider nests, this ravine cunt into the earth and jungle. 

Past the ravine and into Wahote territory they made camp. Camped by a river called their hunters gathered some cold-water snappers, 443 Sun-Crowned hunters for breakfast. What did not help was their positions came under attack. However, the enemy's force was smaller than their own. One unit of 258 Hooded assassins from Mulzan, Rhes Tarim, Novadh, Giadra, and Koriv attack the coalition forces while a day away from the Aether's muck up. It became no surprise to them as Wahote scouts tipped them off while acting as hunters. Algorad shot up three of these assassins as they burst out of the brush. Various assassin in their own unique uniforms were wiped out in minutes. He could only feel some sense of humor. 

One full year passed as coalition, local forces and turncoats found the Gantronese hard pressed on the Wahote. Plenty of vehicle battles occurred tearing up the terrain. Skirmishes turned into shootouts then spread into battles. Gantronese forces amassed enough to overwhelm the Wahote, twelve small city-states north of their main positions. Most were southeast of the Sarcagos Mountain Range. Reports came from local scouts about the Gantronese centralizing their attacks on the Wahote regions. Calculating the full forces of the Wahote, twelve-city-states, various tribes, Gnolls, and lizardmen would take forever. One high ranking commanding officer, commander, staff officer estimated 860,000 of these locals or natives would have started to meet the Gantronese threat. 

No one knew what was really going at the front except for hints. Rounding up enough troops did not take long as 2,600 Mudcrab Jeeps, 414 military troop trucks, 1,037 various tanks and armored vehicles raced over. Roughly 26,000 Coalition troops were rushed to the Wahote country. Three months of two opposing forces grinding against each other across the field. Each side kept chipping away at each other. For some time both sides kept slaughtering one unit after the other on both ends. Not intending to backstab any plans of doing something else Coalition forces held back most of their forces. Uncertain they were going to be left off the hook Algorad took his expedition team to the highest-ranking officer available. A half elf with a cropped gold brown hair under a military cap. Shuttered violet eyes, set handsomely with their sockets upon a stern serious face that saw war for decades. A stubble could be seen on his face along with an old tattoo of a flag on his neck leaving signs of burdens from past unfortunate adventures. General Hollin-Holland stood tall with his big frame he received from warfare, training, fighting, brawling, and exercise. General Hollin-Holland lost his shite when Algorad made an attempt to talk to the Commading Officer. Although he blended in, wore a uniform, he forgot to salute/ In his mind he believed he could get shot or executed. 

"What the sverx are you doing approaching an officer, a commander without saluting!?" this General Holland roared in his face. 

"I am a volunteer, General Holland, Lieutenant Pazuzun Woodridge-" Algorad was cut off by this General. A few more of his own expedition came to his side as two large Orcs in uniforms stepped towards them. 

"Go ahead and tackle that horde! All two hundred forty-six thousand Wahote Confederacy peoples are wiped out!" Holland barked at them. Taking this as orders from a superior whom they could not escape anymore, Pazuzun raced towards the front as soon as they were ready. 

Moving in with the second wave Algorad spotted 26 Tusk Apes in action. These were bulldozers designed to push tanks that were downed. Past the outposts, some forward foxholes, scattered trenches, forward camps, defense posts, defense towers they came upon the carnage that tore up the jungle terrain in places. Corpses, broken weapons, shells, destroyed vehicles, limbs, discarded weapons, helmets, blood, exposed bones, screaming wounded, scattered fires, dead animals, and craters covered large portions of the terrain before him. It painted an ugly portrait of what went on in warfare. He was not opposed to kicking the invaders off of Calorn. Smoke rose from the flames, destroyed vehicles creating a wall of black fog. Moving along a made road his unit found themselves in the after math of the Wahote's annihilation. Villages lay in ruin all over Wahote country as they moved to eliminate any remaining Gantronese forces. Plenty of scattered forces could be found in caves, dugouts, shallow foxholes, natural trenches, the brush in units no bigger than a duo, fireteam, or a squad. A group attempted to form a platoon but were wiped out immediately by Gnoll tribes who attacked both forces. Algorad had to fight off one warband of 267 Gnoll Warriors who attacked a Coalition outpost. Taking out that many Gnolls did not resolve the problem. Although the Gnolls did attack the Gantronese they went after everyone else. Even the reptilian lizardmen took the opportunity to attack humans. While on patrol his unit found themselves ambushed by these reptilians armed with spears, and stone clubs. Their claws and teeth did just as much damage. One of his fellow coalition members had his stomach ripped open causing blood to splatter all over his face and uniform. Another found his throat ripped out. It forced them to retreat to a camp with several hundred coalition forces. 

Knowing how hostile these jungles were their commanding officers in HQ planned to pull them all out in a week or two. A week or two was not fast enough even with trained locals or Uxane coming in to help. Many of the Space Elves who helped or left came to their side simply to avoid the other collaborators north of the Sarcagos.  One small unit of Lamia harass each encampment they found. Yet even they were not spared from the hostilities of Gnolls and Lizardmen. It forced them to become allies with the coalition forces who were confused. Two days later they pulled back to Borvadosi borders where they needed to resupply and replenish units. Leaving the Gantronese remaining forces to the hostile terrain of the Unknown Lands. In a briefing they were warned of Green Hags dwelling the marshlands near Borvadosi borders with the Unknown Lands. this was something the Borvadosi delt with themselves sending their finest champions, and warriors. It was relieving to hear. What was not relieving was some hot shot businessman coming in to reveal crystals were found underneath tribal areas in the Unknown Lands. Instead heeding this business proposition one young Prince from one of the Coalition Nations shove a long pistol up his butt and left his ass on the table in pain. This young handsome Prince looked more experienced in war. He grabbed up as many personnel as he could before venturing back. A week passed before he was able to gather ten thousand coalition, outlaws, pirates, soldiers, knights, warriors, former Vullanese, and former enemies. Once that force was assembled heavily armed he pressed forward with what the Coalition allowed him to have. Not knowing which member this Prince was from Algorad went ahead in the hopes of getting to the Spinx in the Sarcagos. No one else joined them it was his expedition and his alone. Forced to fight various hostiles they made it to an old ruin where they set up camp. A warband of 248 reptilians assaulted their position the next night to push them out of their revered turf. Algorad position himself at a doorway to some ruined structure along the edge. Ready to defend this position he shot a few reptilians before a spear found its way into his throat.