The Imperial Invasion

~~RSA 1, Morningstar 15th~~

Personal Journal of Captain Xalerion



It seems that the time has finally come. Today is the day of the first great invasion of foreign lands. Vurstaria is the target on the list. It has been since RFA 137... more than 700 years since the last time the Imperial Army set foot in their lands. Today however, we will be victorious against the Vurstarian military. Our men are stronger, better, and angrier than those of the Vurstarians. We are angry, for while our great city decay's into memory, Vurstaria, the ever isolated and arrogant nation, has been unharmed. They do not care for anyone but themselves, and help no one!

New Tempera will slam its own fist into their ranks, show the might of our lineage, and claim these accursed lands for our own! It is time for a change, a great change!


~~~~~~~~~~


Xalerion himself rode upon a great white stallion. On his back a glimmering shield, and a spear of silver. By his hip clanked a long sword of dark ore. His entire body was masked, aside from his face, by a grand suit of armor made for only the Imperial Guard. He had a squad of ten other Imperial Guards, and then over five thousand Imperial Legion troops. Their iron mail glinted the sun through the trees which they all walked under.

The vast array of troops walked in a long convoy from the northern coast of New Tempera. Through the thick forest in their lands, a small hint of water was spotted. Soon, the ocean appeared through the lines of trees, along with at least one hundred large transport ships that awaited for them off shore. Giant ramps thumped down into the sand as they were lowered for the troops to get in. Xalerion was appointed to be the battle commander in this fight, therefore he led the troops onto the ships.

The voyage across the giant bay toward Vurstaria would take about a full day or more, depending as well on weather. Xalerion viewed a map from his rucksack and smiled. He was quite certain that they would gain the upper hand in this battle. His soldier were prepared this time for naval warfare as well as land. All of the transports were fitted with heavy armor, and weaponry: Ballistae, Catapult, Trebuchet, and even their trademark flamehurlers.

He watched as the large barrels of oil were brought onto the ships and put into a large metal container in the bilge of the ships. The barrels would be brought up to the deck when the flamehurler's needed to be refilled. Extra arms, by the thousands were loaded onto the flagship along with other necessities. Xalerion waited for two hours until he himself could board the flagship after his troops. It was time to set off. The anchors were pulled up, and the ships kicked off into the deep sea toward their ultimate destination. Xalerion stood at the forefront of his ship, a wild grin over his face, and yet his eyes smoldered with the faint luminescence of fire.

"If there is one thing that we New Temperians are skilled with... it is fire!" Xalerion thought.

The crash of the waves on the shore had long since disappeared. The ships were at sea, far away now from the lands of New Tempera. The gentle rocking of the ship as its hull carved the swells in two, as it made its way deeper into the ocean. Xalerion looked forward from the deck. In his hand, he held a scope, with which he peered forward, looking for a sign of land. It had been half a day already, hours had gone by quickly. The sun had just started to go down, and torches on all of the ships had started to light.

Soon enough, the sun was gone, and darkness took over the sky. A red moon had risen, casting a ghastly glow upon the now blood-like waves. Xalerion shirked away from this almost horrifying sight and looked to the men who sat anywhere they could on the decks of the ship. Others had gathered around controlled fires on the deck which lay within large steel barrels. The night air was chilly.

Xalerion spent his time talking to his men, enjoying their company. Another five hours had slipped him by, before a yell from the observation deck had been heard. It was a Imperial Guard. He held Xalerion's scope and was pointing forward. He threw the scope to Xalerion and pointed again.

"Sir, look at our one o'clock!"

Xalerion did so. His smirk reformed on his face, the same audacious smirk he held before setting off on the voyage. He slipped his scope back into his gear sack and turned to the troops who had since then gotten up and formed into rank and file before him.

"Land approaches, arm yourselves and prepare for battle."

Teekeeus and Neilix had finaly caught up with some of the soliders near the coastline, they could see the ships coming closer faster then expected.
"c'mon, lets get ready" Teekeeus says piling some streachers off to the side. He and the other medic begin to quickly assemple some form a a small camp were the wounded will eventualy be brought. during the set up another medic joind them and put out some of the supplies to be ready. "be ready, for when the time comes many of these soldier will be relying on us" Teekeeus said finishing organising the supplies. By that time the ships were clearly visible and the soldiers were ready to defend there land.

Swimming through the waters as quickly as possible, I was leading my troops across the deepest part of our city. We had to get around those ships, if we were spotted it could be deadly. I looked behind me for a brief moment, seeing my squad behind me only got my blood pumping faster. This wasn't just a fight for our people, this was a fight for our own survival. We had to stop war in its tracks, we had to get rid of our threat. And we had to do it fast, before they gained the upper hand.

"Sir, boat shadows west of our position." It seems we found them. They're getting really close to land now, we can't let them off the boats, we need to salvage what we can and retreat.

"Alright men, stay close and remember the strategy." Diving deeper, we were making our way towards the stern of their ships. Lord P'rossa, aid us with your strength. These intruders are a great threat, we must not let them pass.[/i]

It was beginning to become light out. The torches on the ships were extinguished and the soldiers awakened. The land before them was in full view. The armada of over one hundred ships was dubbed "The New Temperian Invasion Fleet". Xalerion stood on the flag ship and gazed as the giant wall of ships. He was now going to start their operation.

"Begin Operation Firestorm!" Xalerion yelled loudly.

Other yells sounded off into the distance from various officers on other ships, repeating Xalerion's order. A long smoke stack on the flagship turned almost molten red, a long jet of flames shot out into the sky signaling the beginning of the invasion. Xalerion sat at a table on the top forward deck and had a large scroll out. He would show the world just why he was hailed as New Tempera's prized tactician. The ships started to move forward, but suddenly stopped. They started to literally form into a closely nit wall of ships. Soldiers on each ship ran to the side decks and threw long metal planks from one ship to the other. All ships were soon connected, allowing soldiers to move from one to the other.

"Phase one complete. Phase two, begin." Xalerion said, ordering another giant burst of flame to be shot off.

From the bilges, large siege machines were brought to the decks of the ships. All aimed to the shore of the Vurstarian bay. Large rocks were loaded onto the slings and buckets. Xalerion approached one of the five that stood on his ship. He brushed his hand against the large rock.

"Pour the special oil." He ordered with a grin.

Two of the operators of the Trebuchet doused the boulder with a special oil. Xalerion trust his palm forward after they backed away and a jet of flames ignited the rock into a burning inferno. The deck was solid metal, therefore unaffected by the flames. He found the lever at the side of the machine and pulled it toward himself. A snap, and the shaft of the Trebuchet's arm swung forward with great force. The sling opened throwing the rock, still flaming madly into the air, heading stright for the enemy fortifications on the beachhead.

"FIRE!" Voices screamed from all ships in unison.

Xalerion had finally tolled the gong of war, as a hail of flaming rocks shot toward the beach.

Teekeeus and the other two medics have completed the medics camp and set everything to be ready. "so were ready?" Neilix asks, "looks like it" Teekeeus responds. Teekeeus walks back to where the soldiers have set up and look out over the soldiers. He then averts his attention out to the ships "there too close for comfort" He says as Neilix walks up next to him "let us wish they fall quickly" Neilix says "dont wish for the death of you enemy, plan for it" Teekeeus says turning too him then heading back to the camp.

suddenly he hears the screams of a soldier and as he turns to see what has happend he see flaming rock flying towards the beach. "dammit! what is this, Neilix go get the other medic and a strecher!" Teekeeus had ran to dodge another flaming rock coming at him. Neilix had already put a soldier on one of the streachers and go him back to camp where Teekeeus looked him over. "you will be ok" He said although he wasent sure for he was coverd in burns, Teekeeus began to dress the soldiers wounds.

From underneath the ships, we watched them form together. This is crazy, there's hundreds of them! We need to work this out one at a time. The waters were shaking from the tremors caused on land. The large molten rocks were hitting the shores of our coast. I could see other Vurstarian squads following my own as we dashed towards the ships. This gave me an idea.

"Alright men, here's what we're going to do. Spread this out to the other squads and report back immediately." After announcing our plan, the message was quickly carried to the other squads. Spreading out along the brim of the ships, we were freezing the water from underneath. We needed to bide some time, this hopefully would work as I planned it to. The ice crackled around the ships' clean steel as the rest of the squads worked their way to the back of the large embodiment.

I climbed up the chain of one of the anchors, praying not to be spotted just yet. I needed to be stealthy long enough to breach the ship and cause some chaos. A double diversion, I guess you could call it. Other Vurstarian troops crawled up some of the other anchors. The sound of the meteors rushing through the air caused a perfect deffening pitch, making it hard to hear the chains rattle. We might just be able to pull this off.

Releasing some water from my container, I poured some into my mouth and held it there. Some of the others did the same, we knew we had to be prepared for this. There were going to be thousands of soldiers on these ships. I could see the ice starting to form along the bottom of the ships now, the water turned white and cold around the exterior walls.

Teekeeus had whatched as the soldier passed away whil dressing the wounds.
He had ran back out to see that the slow moving rocks were avoidable it was the flames and sparks that were causing the most damage. He keeled next to another hurt solider "Streacher! here let me see" the soldier had a deep blistering burn across his chest, ehh this is nothing youl be just fine" Teekeeus said as he was carried away by streacher. Teekeeus looked out to the ships "damn machines" He had reached another soldier but he died shortly after that, another called for help as his foot was stuck under a rock. Teekeeus rushed over and attempted to push the rock but it was still burning hot. "ok, just hold in there" He said trying to push the rock again, two other soldier helped him and eventualy they were able to move the rock aside. Teekeeus carried the soldier back to camp and treated him. His hands were slightly burned but nothing too bad, he knew it could be worse. He then moves back out and helps streacher some of the others back out of the way of danger.

From the flagship, a yell came from below deck. Xalerion got up from his seat and looked to the door. It flew open, a worker from below deck toward the bilge ran up a series of steps and stood face to face with Xalerion.

"Sir, trouble! I am hearing cracking noises from the hull of the ship. It is getting cold down there too."

Xalerions eyes opened wide. He forgot to take into account a very interesting Vurstarian power. He didn't think it would happen this early. He looked to his own officers and nodded.

"Looks like Phase three will have to go into affect now."

Another giant jet of flame shot from the stack. Soldiers climbed onto the deck with large contraptions in their hands connected by a long tube attached to a metal box strapped to their backs. The front held a large steel dragon's head. It's mouth was open wide, dagger like jaws gleamed into the sun. These were the Flamerhurlers.

"I want you to show those Vurstarian bastards just how scalding water and oil feels. Thaw the bottom of our ship, and deep fry the ones invading." Xalerion ordered.

The troopers nodded and walked to the side of the ship. All of the other ships received the same order, and the Flamehurlers were mobilized. Toward the side of the ship, the dragon heads were aims. The operators smacked their hands onto the side of the head. The heat from their fire element heated the oil within, causing the pressure to built, sending a horrifying jet of napalm like flame into the enemies below and thawing the iced over water quickly.

Teekeeus had dropped off a few soldiers back at camp and when he returned back to the beach he saw some comotion happening on the ships"hmmm" Teekeeus thought. Another flaming rock lands to the side of Teekeeus knocking him off his feet and lightly burning the left side of his arm. "dammit." Teekeeus yelled holding his arm, He got to his feet and went threw his bag to wrap his arm, when he was done he looked back to the ship fire was coming of the decks. He then adverted his gaze back to those who needed him and got back to work

"What the-?!"

Seeing giant bursts of flames across the other ships startled me a bit, what was going on?! I heard the screams of other Vurstarians as they plummeted back into the water. I had to get aboard that ship, now!

Climbing frantically up the anchor chain I managed to board along with 4 others. There was a giant dragon-headed contraption being taken out and pointed over the ship. Were they melting the ice? It seems like my plan backfired, but that's no concern, they can take care of themselves down there. We need to elliminate as many soldiers as we can.

"No holds barred!" I shouted as coral arrows shot from my soldier's bows. Some of the soldiers jumped, but we were definately spotted now. I ran in with great speed and jumped as high as I could, releasing the water from in my mouth and splattering it all over the deck of the ship. The soldiers mimiced my movements as the deck was now covered in water. With a swish of our hands it froze over, encasing our intruders' feet in ice.

I took out my scimitar and laced it with water, slashing mercilessly through the small crowd of trapped warrirors. I will make sure that there are no survivors, these fools think that they can win so easily. They're in our territory, this is our land!

"FOR P'ROSSA!!!"

Teekeeus was helping a soldier to his feet when he saw a fight breack out on one of the ships "ha, there we go" He said showing a grin. for a moment some of the soldiers cheered but then returned to running and dodgeing the falling rock. the three other medics were back at the camp helping treat burns. Teekeeus runs over and extinguishes a burning soldier, as he tried to pick him up his skin began to come off from the bone. he looked at the soldier, he was still alive but could not move and looked as if he could no longer breath "dont worry, you will be ok, trust me ya?" The soldier looked to Teekeeus and and slightly noded. another soldier had gotton him on to a streacher and Teekeeus followed him to the camp. He had gone threw his bag and poured out what was contained in a vial, then injected the same into his arm "the pain will be gone soon" Teekeeus said tring to wrap up the burns.

Tarnaith watched as the main fleet was attacked from below, he turned back to his small group of seven ships.

''Helm! Bring us towards the beach.'' he ordered

''Aye aye sir!'' came the reply

The small group ships turned towards the beach, Tarn looked at his vessels again. They had no mast and most of the ship was under the water with only enough room for oars. These vessels were almost impossible to spot from a great distance which made them the perfect surprise attack ships. They had a small cargo hold under the deck that measured about five hundred feet by one hundred feet. On the deck were the oarsmen and about one hundred and fifty soldiers that crouched low so as not to be seen. As they approached the shore the mages on-board cast a fog spell in-front of each ship. As they slowly they advanced on the shore Tarn signaled for the men to prepare, each soldier readied his ash covered weapon. As the first boat hit the shore a lookout spotted them

''Imperials! Imperials landing on the shore!'' it shouted

With their cover blow the Imperial Legionnaires charged through the shallows and onto the beach and began to battle the shore defenders. The clash of metal rang out up and down the beach as the Imperials made their rush

''Forward! Forward the Empire!'' Tarn shouted as he charged

Swinging his sword he caught a Vurstarian in the shoulder, he then ducked blow from another Vurstarian but wasn't able to avoid an arrow from an archer. He grunted in pain as it pierced as weak spot between two different plates but charged on and hacked at another foe, dropping to one knee he snapped the shaft off and then continued his charge.

Xalerion donned his dark ore helmet and reached to his back. He withdrew his large circular shield and his long silver spear. The climbed down to the first deck and stabbed a Vurstarian soldier through the breast-plate that he wore. The soldier fell with the spear still embedded into his flesh. With a free hand, he moved it in an arching motion, covering two other Vurstarians in a wave of flames. His soldier cheered as they watched the spectacle. Battle had started, he heard on every ship, the cries and clangs of war.

He put one boot atop the fallen Vurstarian's lifeless corpse, and ripped his spear out from his gut. Holding the long silver blade in front, he put a small jet of flame to it, cleaning it of the deep purple blood. Another couple of enemies climbed aboard his ship, which he dealt lethal blows with a high arc from his spear.

"FIGHT, DESTROY! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO TRAITORS!" Xalerion bellowed loud enough for most to hear above the sounds of battle.

Teekeeus had returned to the beach to sse that the imperials had made a landing on the beach "now comes the blood" He said, He took out his bow and put an arrow and pulled back the string, the arrow had flown strait into one of the impearials side and he had fallen to the ground. Teekeeus had fired two more arrows before retuning to his medical duties and pulling injured men from the fray.
By the time he had recoverd three soldiers he was already coverd in blood. Teekeeus had been pulling a soldier of to the side when he was confronted by an imperial,he put the soldier down behind him. He then pulled out his dagger and looked the man strait in the face, the imperial swung the sword at his face, but Teekeeus dodged and got in close to stab the man in the side, and pushed him to the ground. With the dagger to his neck Teekeeus then looked at him in the eyes and could see his fear "this land is ours!" Teekeeus said before leaving him in his agony, he picked up the soldier and took him back to camp

I was able to finish off what was left on that ship, it seemed that my comrades were rising from the waters and breaching the other ships. My plan wasn't a complete failure, let's just take out as many as we can here. Using the planks that tied each ship together, I made my way across. Sheating my scimitar as more Tempereans charged at me.

"Move aside!!" I was in a complete rage, archers behind me shot their coral arrows at busy targets. My battle claws ripped through the armor of my enemy, leaving their skin vulnerable. A quick dodge from another swoop of a sword, and I sliced through a helmet. I was making quick work of these warriors, but I wasn't going to let my confidence take the best of me.

I could hear screaming from up ahead, the Tempereans were now stationing onto the beach. I needed to move faster or I wasn't going to make it in time. Using the water on the decks I swept soldiers off their feet and plowed through their forces, making sure to leave no one alive. "Rrrraaaggghh!!!"

Pushing my way forward, I refused to back down. More and more Tempereans came at me. More and more fell at my feet. I was too fast for these guys, their armor has slowed them down no doubt. I could start to see the others fighting on land. This isn't good, we need to get back to the water.

Teekeeus had once again returned to the beach, the sands were now stained with the blood from both sides, He looked out to the ships as he walked and the battle out there looked as if they were winning. Teekeeus had stoped walking, a sharp cold pain in his leg. Teekeeus fell to the ground with an arrow in his leg, he got off to the side of the fight and began to get it out. A soldier had come and began to ward off attackers away from Teekeeus. He pulled out the arrow and got up and with the soldier began to fight off some of the enemies.

Reports started to flood to the Flagship that slowly but surely the ships were being cleared of the Vurstarian resistance. The beach-head was the most problematic. Xalerion clenched his teeth as he stabbed another through the chest with his spear. He saw that Tarnaith's unit was the only ones who had landed at the beach. The rest of the armada were out at sea battling on their own ships. Xalerion saw that the eastern fleet was totally clear of all enemies.

"Order the Eastern Fleet into the Fourth Phase now." Xalerion commanded to his officers.

Activity arose from the Eastern Fleet as soon as the orders were made. Long transport craft were lowered into the water on the side of the giant ships. Ladders went down to them, streaming with fifty soldiers at a time. Almost fifty transports were to each ship, all of them being loaded quickly and systematically. Xalerion grinned, his plans were going well. The only thing that had to be dealt with that the last half of the armada, still under attack by Vurstarians.

"Coordinate a counter against the Vurstarians attacking out Western Fleet." Ordered Xalerion.

The water was now littered with the transports, almost five hundred started to move out toward the beach, making half of the overall invasion force. Xalerion watched as the small ships moved slowly toward their own destination. He then looked to his besieged Western Fleet, which could not mobilize for invasion due to the enemies persistent attack. He strapped his Spear back onto his back, and then drew his long dark ore blade from the sheath at his side.

He gave a shrill whistle, literally stopping those fighting by him out of surprise. From his flagship came about fifty Imperial Guards. All wore the great Dark Armor and had similar weaponry. They were hailed as the best of the best fighters in New Tempera. The green stallion hair head piece slowed in the wind one their helmets as they stood in rank and file before Xalerion, their Captain.

"Aest Homonryea (New Temperian for "Attention")." Said Xalerion. "We shall attack the enemies bogging down our Western Fleet right now, then heading out to link up with our invasion force."

Teekeeus had taken down a few more of the enemies and had backed out of the fray to look over a fallen soldier for vitaly signs, as he looked up from the body he saw that even more transports were in the water "oh no..." the soldiers were seemingly able to handle the soldiers already here but if all of the transports were to land, the soldiers will be able to hold out for only so long after that
Teekeeus looked across his arm, it was coverd in blood his blood, a wound had opend back up during the fighting, He went back to the small camp to rewrap it and to check over some the the injured, including the severly burned one how was still alive though in much agony.