Ever since the expeditions into the Gallows Woods had been undertaken, the Teutonia Knightly Junta had amassed a considerable amount of men and material outside the forest, ready to take advantage of the area. However, once contact with the forces inside was cut off, the invasion force turned into a border patrol force, even as the haunted woods regrew faster than any natural woodlands and the carved pathways vanished between and beneath the cursed tree line. Months later, and those who patrolled the border still had memories of the promises of riches and living space that had been showered upon them, with their fantasies having been swapped for the cold hard reality that their comrades were not coming back alive.

Once the cults started popping up on the coasts and the Untermensch nation of Anglond vanished beneath a tide of undead, the Holiest of Holies, The High Priestess who was the Pope of the Luminas Church, began to consider the idea that the worst possible event had come to pass. As more evidence of the Dark Emperor’s return came trickling in, it soon became clear that the one hated and feared above all had returned. Worse still, the five remaining House Founders had been rumored to have assisted in the invasion of Anglond, and the first incursion was found to have been led by the Crimson Empress herself! With all the evidence made available to them, the surviving members of the Luminas Confederacy now seriously considered themselves to be in a terrible bind.

The Abominable King was no longer the pure engine of destruction he had been in ages past. Now he was cold and calculating, directing well controlled armies rather than hordes of directionless undead. If he and the Crimson Empress had allied with the eldritch monsters that had corrupted those on the coast, then it showed that the Evil Emperor was now willing and able to tolerate other rulers and faiths if it meant achieving his goals. Things could not possibly get any worse!

And then they did.

The old adage was indeed true; never say that things could not possibly get worse, because they can and will. All along the waterways of Teutonia, the aquatic horrors rose up from beneath the waves and began to raid the settlements by the rivers and lakes. Men and women alike were dragged from their homes and into what was assumed to be a watery grave, although no one knew for sure what happened to those who were taken. Anything that made of metal, glass or shiny stones ended up being taken as well, from detailed works of art to the nails that kept housed together, all of it was taken by the submarine menace.

At the very same time, ten armies of undead marched from the Gallows Woods, with five armies striking in two separate points. Soon after that, another fifteen armies of undead followed suit and began to press even harder at the strained Teutonian lines. In their arrogance, Teutonia had utterly refused to allow its ‘allies’ to enter its lands and aid it in the fight that had begun. Their dogma against the ‘Untermensch’ forbade even the clergy from other nations to step foot on their soil, and even though they were being pushed harder and harder with each passing day they would not budge on their beliefs.

Like a great shoving match, the two sides, living and undead, fought each other with ferocity and tenacity, but while the living had no quick way to repopulate their lines when men fell, the undead did. With every living soul that fell on the field, there was another body that could be added to the undead and even if an entire unit of undead was broken down to bone fragments and/ or torn, rotting meat they could simply be replaced by the endless supply that existed in Darksol’s capital. What made things worse for the living was the fact that Kain and Alexis had begun to teach Blacklight Magic to their generals and to some elites in their nation. It was an arduous process, but one that had now given the invaders another trump card to use in dire straits.

The skirmishes between the living and the undead slowly began to turn in the favor of the undead as the lack of a decent mage-corps in the Teutonian military doctrine let the liches and other mages of Darksol run amok. Self-propelled siege engines, animated by unholy magics added another dimension to the fighting, as even when the Teutonians were outside of archer range they could still be struck by balls of twisting energy and casks containing all manner of hazardous mixtures. There were more than a few units of Teutonian Supersoldaten große Schwert-Schützen (Super Soldier Great Sword Shock Troopers) who blindly rushed into the fray, only to be doused with black, sticky fluids that turned them into human torches with just the slightest spark.What truly turned the tide against the Teutonians and forced them to begin moving backwards was the arival of the Imperial Mortal Auxiliary.

Due to their lives being greatly improved by the conquests of Kain, a not insubstantial amount of humans had petitioned to have a new part of the military be formed, the Mortal Auxiliary. Conceding after realizing the merits of a force that was not merely puppeteered into combat but fought with its own initiative and will, able to take advantage of situations as they arose and act as a more compassionate face of his forces, Kain alowed Krueger to form this group and lead it as he saw fit. Working on a merit-based system alone, the Mortal Auxiliary Force began to prove its worth merely a week after the initial fighting began.Unlike undead, the Mortal Auxiliary could effectively disapear behind enemy lines and was far less noticable than undead when it came to sabotage and spying. However their most active merit came from their dealings with those whose lands Darksol occupied.

Seeing a compassionate human face making sure that the undead didn’t murder and raise your family (not that such a thing would happen) was a welcome sight. Krueger had understood it was easier for the occupied lands to realize the merits of living in Darksol’s embrace when other living humans explained the benefits and showed off the wonders of modern civilization.The Teutonian’s defense finally collapsed when another ten undead armies which also fielded designated Mortal Auxilary Units began to stream in from Neo Albion. With the threat of being outflanked now foremost in their minds and no real plan in place for defense, the morale of the Teutonians was at an all time low.

Only once The Leader made his decree did any semblance of morale begin to make a resugance. Everyone and everything would begin to hold up in the nation‘s largest fortress cities and wait out the storm of undeath, just as the former bastion of Ma-Ginotte had in ages past. These Festungs would be impossible for the enemy to breach, and once they had ground themselves to dust against the unassailable defenses of the Festungs they would be easy prey for the inevitable resurgant forces of the Teutonian Knightly Junta!