In a town that very nearly bordered the menacing Gallows Woods to the south, the town watch was making its routine patrol. Being so close to the monster and undead infested Gallows Woods had more negatives than positives, as while the trees could be cut down to use for lumber and firewood the risk of being attacked even on the outskirts of the dark forest was simply too great to deal with on a routine basis. Therefore, rather than exploit the abundant supply of lumber, the few people who bordered the Gallows Woods instead were more inclined to fighting than to civilian work. In any other situation, the town of Blackwood would have enough men and even women to fight off the occasional group of undead or monsters that would emerge from the woods from time to time.

This was, however, not a usual scenario, as the vast majority of able-bodied fighters had been drafted and sent to fight in the secession war. Hence, the town of Blackwood was significantly less defended than it had been only a few moths ago. The secession war had been going on for only a few months, but already the body count was in the hundreds of thousands as brother turned against brother and father turned against son. Even places far removed from the fighting like Blackwood felt the strain of the bloody war as more than half of the wives in the town were now widows, some of whom did not even know that they were. The number of KIA and MIA people continued to climb, but that would soon be the least of their worries.

As the town watch patrolled through the unwalled settlement, they smelled the telltale scent of rotting meat coming from upwind. The undead were coming and based on the intensity of the smell there were quite a number of them. Still, even if a few dozen Zombies were attacking it was nothing the watch couldn’t handle. A dozen or so members of the town watch made their way over to the east side of Blackwood and made ready to face a roughly equal number of Zombies.

The plan was, as always, to hack off the limbs and heads and then use Holy Water to purify the bodies. This was a routine endeavor and something that happened at least once every other week, so there was no hint of concern that anything would be even slightly different. As the guards made a half-hearted shield wall, several bonfires were lit, and the true power of their foe was made horrifyingly apparent.

The Zombies easily numbered in the hundreds and were moving in a box-like formation, not to dissimilar to that of a formation from a Human nation. The numbers themselves were enough of a problem, but the fact that the walking corpses were moving in a well-organized formation (by undead standards) was what really scared the guard. A runner was sent to raise the rest of the town watch and have them come to support the woefully undermanned forces that were going to attempt to hold the line as best they could.

With the Zombies more than several meters away, the shield wall prepared for the slow and gradual impact of the shamblers, but to their surprise the gait of the rotten undead humans quickened as they got closer. It was nothing too speedy, but for Zombies it was the difference between a walk and a run. If the guards decided to bail, they could have easily outrun the Zombies that were moving at the speed of a walking human, but they could not outlast the endless stamina of the risen dead.

The fear of facing a foe that outnumbered them and behaved in a radically different manner compared to others like it grew in increasing measures until the block of undead ‘slammed’ into the few dozen strong shield wall at ‘breakneck’ speed. What the guards didn’t know was that the Zombies were just a distraction, something meant to by time and divert attention from the main attack. As the rest of the town watch ran to support their comrades in the shoving match between the living and the undead, the rest of the town was made open to the advance of the rest of Kain’s forces.

From downwind came the sound of giant paws hitting the damp ground and the ominous fluttering sound of wings beating the air. A full unit of Dire Wolves rushed into the now undefended east side of Blackwood as a unit of Fel Bats made circles high above the town. Behind the rushing spear tip of the Undead Blitzkrieg came several units of Skeleton Warriors and Skeleton Spearmen, who cut down any person missed by the rushing pack of oversized and rotten canines and the bloodthirsty massive bats.

When the defenders finally realized that they had been tricked and out maneuvered by mindless undead of all things, morale plummeted to new lows and the attention of several people was diverted just enough to allow a few hits in from the Zombies. As the town of Blackwood was put to the sword by the Skeletons, the Dire Wolves stopped their surges through the town and made cycle charges with the assistance of the unit of Fel Bats into the unprotected rear of the now terrified guards. After a few impacts the resolve of the town watch vanished, and they tried desperately to flee as far as they could go.

Those who fled into the town were swiftly put down by the disciplined formations of Skeletons and those who fled away from the city were easy prey for the swarm of Fel Bats and the pack of Dire Wolves. Barely even one percent of Kain’s military force had been sent to take the town and the losses suffered by the risen Darksol Empire were negligible at worst. A few dozen Zombies had bit the big one, but with the fact that each unit was less a group of individuals and more of a single entity the losses taken could be easily recovered from by using Negative Healing on the unit as a whole rather than on individual components of the unit.

The first attack into southern Albion had gone off without a hitch, and now the go-ahead was given to continue the assault. All throughout the southernmost part of the fledgling nation of Francus the tide of undead washed in and town after town fell in only a single night. By the first light of morning, the settlements that had bordered to Gallows Woods were all either filled with only undead or were being settled by the citizens of the returned Darksol Empire.

With the war occupying the minds of everyone in Anglond and Francus, they would not notice the push that had happened before another offensive could be made by Kain and his forces. Night was when the undead shined the best, so another major push would have to wait until the sun had set and the shroud of nighttime darkness covered the land. The two kings already had enough problems to deal with, and the intrusion of a third party made things worse. They would not know until just shy of a week later that the undead had occupied southern Francus, and that knowledge would be the impetus that forced the King of Francus to end the war in Anglond’s favor so as to be able to focus on the mysterious undead army that was invading.

The secession war was over Francus had temporarily abandoned its claims on the Normand region that was the border between Anglond and Francus. Now the King and his army marched towards the south in an attempt to check the advance of the undead army. They would be in for a deadly surprise when the battle began, as Kain was more than willing to meet the forces of the defeated Francus Kingdom on the field of battle.

The ground that was being fought upon was one where only just a few days ago the bodies of thousands of men had died and were unceremoniously buried in shallow graves where they had lay. This was the perfect battleground for a master of necromancy, as the unblessed dead could be raised in the middle of or behind an enemy formation.

It was going to be a massacre.