Shireroth

The weather couldn't seem to make up its mind (or it could have been that the narrator was in a decidedly undecided mood) as alternating gusts of icy cold wind laced with snow, and warm summer breezes (complete with fluttering butterflies) beat at the company that was slowly trudging its way west. This particular group was quite small consisting of sheep-drawn carriage and two ElwynnBrigade emblazoned jeeps. With the Livgardet, Häxatrupperna, Eliriaregemente, and Nordlandregemente having departed slightly earlier from Eliria, Leo was left in the company of the late Lord Allot's Family.

"So why exactly am I here again Your Grace? I'm not officially part of the Rapid Reaction Force." Albert inquired from the corner of the carriage.

"Because your skills in the art of tea steeping will be a great help on the front."

"I don't really see how tha-"

Leo continued, cutting him off. "There isn't much difference between steeping tea and a rifle you see-" Albert and Igor (who was making his first official appearance) exchanged a glance. "-the timing. Its all in the timing. You see?" He finished with a giant smile and Albert resigned himself to his fate. Having finished he looked out the window wistfully. "A pity we missed the march. I would have made an epic story for one of the bards I bet."

Albert nodded his agreement, and Steve, Steve, and Steve all put on sheepish grins. (The third Steve achieving the best result of course considering his ovine nature.)

"We sorry boss."

"No worries chaps. I always loved a good game of hide-n-seek myself, though I will admit that I never imagined that your would be able to fit in that toaster." (Now one might expect that incredulity is an appropriate tone in this scenario, but most also havn't lived several years in Nordland so the omission should be excused.) "Plus I couldn't leave without the whole Force could I?"

Igor thought that he couldn't agree less, and that Leo would have been much better off without him and visa-versa. These thoughts never had time to form in him head however as a fluke malfunction in Igor's brain sent the electrical impulses looping through his stomach and down into his calf, which resulted in a well aimed kick at the Duke's shin. Leo let out yelp, just a snowman connected with the window of the carriage.

A brief moment of chaos issued, followed by silence, broken only by soft 'baa' of protest as Steve extricated himself from under Albert. "What was that?" Albert inquired. (as it seems he is prone to do) The creak of the wheel resumed as the sheep began pulling their load further west.

"A snowman I believe." When only silence met this Leo continued. "Well you see. From what Allot explained to me, Araxion is a very unstable place, prone to ignoring the rules of causality and the such. That is of course only if there is no warden of the tower. So when Allot... Um... Died? Well when passed away, that balance was broken and the narrative entity was allowed to run free (or at the mercy of insane authors as the case presents itself). Whats odd is that I had expected Isabelle to do that in the mean time."

A sudden clearing in the snowstorm revealed a luscious green forest and the glint of the River Elwynn. As the carriage approached the river and the Amokolian border, the effects of the narrative chaos were becoming less pronounced and the ElwynnBrigade camp was coming into sight. The sheep came to a halt and Leo stepped down into the camp.

Immediately he strode to the command tent and addressed the commanders "Report please."

"All forces are in place to move against the Ocian troops."

"Excellent. Please notify the Khan imitatively."

A few protests from the gaurds brought the attention of the room back to the doorway where a figure stood silhouetted against the sun.

A look a surprise crossed Leo's face. "You?!"

Isabelle stared back at Leo.

"Me," she said, striding into the tent. "I would like to know why exactly the entire Elwynnbrigaden is encamped on my lawn."

SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME COMEBACK

"And you have a snowy carrot in your hair, Leo."

(A super special comeback... awesome...)

Welcome back milady.

Leo opened his mouth, but Isabelle cut him off before he could answer.

"I suspect it's something to do with those people over there," she said, pointing through the tent flap across the river, where some rebel Benacians were mounting a very large weapon of some sort.

"Err...well, yes, you see, Ocia -" Leo began.
"Quite," said Isabelle, cutting him off again. "Whatever the conflict is, I believe I can help you. Or rather, they can."
She gestured Leo to come outside. As they exited Leo saw several groups...no...platoons of people standing in full battle gear. It took him a few seconds to notice the pointed ears.
"But..you...how...they...?"
"Eldynuil seems to like you. Something to do with saving his life in Eliria. Frankly I don't understand it, but the Elfinshi are apparently willing to serve under your command to protect Araxion. They might need some updates in weaponry, though," she said, as two tall Elfinshi males began sparring with swords. "You'll be paying for that," she added.

If it weren't for Andrew... But he never finished the thought. True Isabelle had the seemingly incredible talent to rub him the wrong way on almost every occasion that presented itself but she was far from useless. He did however take a few moments of silent prayer to the Great Sheep that went something along the lines of : "Why did you kill Andrew and plague me with this head strong girl in his stead?" But the designs of the Great Sheep were not his to question, they were only to be interpreted and announced by the sheeplet priests.

Near made a polite cough which broke the Duke from his revery. He took a moment and looked thoughtfully between Isabelle who was standing with one leg planted, left hand on hip, and right hand making windshield wiper like motions just below her chin (an odd sense of deja-vu briefly crossed his mind) and a black envelope that lay on his desk. Suddenly he smiled. Isabelle frowned. Perfect!

"Now it is rather unfortunate that Albert was so unfortunate kidnapped by hobgoblins while I was having my routine 2 o'clock nap, that was sarcasm my dear in case you were wondering, but whats done is done."

"I'm not quite sure what you are implying Leo-"

"Its 'Your Grace' to you!" Near cut in.

There was a breife pause before she continued. "Leo. But I'm sure you can't mean I had anything to do with it."

"Isabelle, do you know just how good are the bacon sandwiches Albert makes? Near can't even make the bacon properly. But I digress. You said that these Elfinshi will accept my command?" She nodded an affirmation. "Excellent then you are off to Agnesia my dear."

"But- You can't-" she spluttered, her regal attitude dropped in favor of how she actually felt.

"Ah but you see... I can. I'm the Duke!"

***

Western Border Araxion Command Tent

Isabelle stormed out (quite literally actually, her anger distorting the fragile narrative causality of Araxion causing a localized shower) at approximately the same time as an officer of the ElwynnBrigade came rushing in.

"Whats the news from the Khan Officer?"

"Well your grace it seems the Khan has left you in charge of the RRF."

"What! I don't know the first thing about leading a host. The most experience I have is that time I played that Lord of the Rings role playing game!" An indescribable look crossed the officer's face. With a dejected sigh Leo put his head in his hands and rubbed his temples. "Alright. I need a full list of all the forces we have under our control."

The officer unfurled a scroll.

Elwynnbrigaden Rapid Reaction Force [SCIRA]
(Total Points: 12,472)
Överste: Leo Dine
---> Livgardet

L/F1 Flygflottilj, Eliria Aerodrome / Ardashirshahr Aerodrome
x8 F7 OAH Taifun
(4,000pts)

--->R1 Eliriaregemente

R1/Pk1 Pansarkompani "Janavasper", Eliria Brigade Depot
x40 OAH Zadari Light Tank (1,400)
x400 Light Infantry (400)
x15 OAH Zor Armoured Anti-Air (300)
x10 OAH Musharref APC (100)
x10 OAH Jinnah Light Gun (100)
x10 Gentlemen-at-Cudgels (Mediaeval) (10)
(2,300pts)

R1/LJk1 Luftjägarkompani "Kapav Dawn", Eliria Aerodrome
x12 Apache Attack Helicopters
(900pts)

R1/Fgk1 Flygkompani, Eliria Aerodrome
10 UH-1 Iroquois (600pts)

---> R4 Nordlandregemente
--------> R4/B3 Wolfravenbataljon

R4/B3/Fk1 Fältkompani
408 Infantry (1632)
68 OAH Musharref APC (1020)
15 OAH Zor Armoured Anti-Air (300)

(2,952pts)

-->Kopfjäger

--->K/K1 Kopfjäger
400 Kettenhunde (400pts) (80 erb)
68 OAH Musharref APC (1020pts) (204 erb)
10 Blackops scout/snipers (20pts per Sniper = 200pts) (40 erb)
1 Daniel Dravot (100pts) (20 erb)

8,140 x OAH Stick Grenade
410 x OAH 9mm Pistol
400 x Bayonets
400 x OAH Assault Rifle with UGL
320 x LSW
160 x GPMG
160 x MILAN
32 x 81mm Mortar
10 x AS50 sniper rifle

(1720pts)

"Ok I need a map of the area now."

The officer unrolled a second scroll.
"What are these marks Officer?"

"Those are our POIs your Grace. Points of Interest if you will. Our location gives us a perfect column to march on 'La Terre' which is the main Ocian garrison headquarters. If we can take the garrison we are taking the head of the chicken so to speak. The rest of the forces will scatter. That is the plan at least."

"Excellent. Make preparations then. We march to secure Petersberg as our forward base of operations. If the Ocian forces have not moved south yet then the citizens should be more then willing to cooperate."

"Very well your Grace." With this the officer left the tent.

"What do you recommend Near?"

"Well your Grace, from the way I see it there isn't much threat until we get north of Petersberg since my intelligence has it that they are quite snug in La Terre. In any case our move north will be uneventful, but just in case, have the Livgardet run recon for us until we reach Petersberg. However from there we will have to ground the Livgardet. The Ocian's have brought in some powerful anti-air forces. The march to La Terre will have to comprise of the Eliriaregemente and Kopfjäger, at least untill we can confirm the destruction of the anti air systems."

"What of the Nordlandregemente?"

"They will remain in Petersberg as our line of defense."

"Understood. Would you please have all this related to the Regiment?"

"Yes your Grace."

"This is the part where I shout "For Gondor" or something correct?"

"It it pleases you your Grace."

***

It was on that same day that Leo discovered another interesting aspect of the strange magic of SCOWL. As he was crossing the Amokolian border the Elfinshi did the strangest thing. They vanished. His first thought was that maybe the narrative causality of Amokolia relied to strongly on 'Cause and Effect' to accept the existence of the Elfinshi. But Tyen, Cora, and Fido's presence disproved this theory.

It was only much later in an out of body discussion of with the strange wizard who had developed this equally strange magic that he discovered that only troops that have been properly documented could exists in the realm of SCOWL.