The Battle of Aldergrove

Queen Sable Aradia drew about half of each of the two regiments of LSB Chilliwack -- the 39th Combat Engineer Regiment, and the Royal Westminster Regiment, both militia forces -- to protect the Batteries and Cross-Continental Portal at LSF Aldergrove, and put them under the command of House Ailurus and their forces. The literomancers of the Woodland Family Alliance serving in the area -- about a third of the total number available to them, approximately 15 -- were ordered to reinforce the CC Portal, and the Batteries that powered them.   ICC DeadPeople directed an overwhelming force of about 3000 zombies to attack and overwhelm LSB Chilliwack before turning their attentions on the Aldergrove targets. Tome Zombies were held in reserve, and ordered not to engage in direct combat until they confronted living literomancers. There were about 20 Tome Zombies on the field.   Once the attack on the CC Portal was underway, the Aldergrove troops received reinforcements from the Warren and the Swamp.

The battle took place in two significant sites. The first was an attack on prototype MagiTech literomantic batteries that were significant power sources for the second site, the first Cross-Continental Teleportation Portal, created directly following The First Word War. Much of the terrain was in marshland, limiting troop movement on both sides.

Significant rainfall during the battle complicated the situation for the living forces. It made targets more difficult to see. Because the area is already wetland, conditions were muddy and aside from specific urban areas, made movement in the terrain challenging for both sides.   As always when fighting the undead, casualties for the living meant reinforcements for the enemy.

November 16, 15:18 Pacific Time

While in previous years the Undead Horde had not displayed much tactical behaviour, instead focusing entirely on literomancers, this time was different. The Undead forces of ICC DeadPeople attacked the nearby Chilliwack military base, where the other half of the 39th Combat Engineer Regiment and Royal Westminster Regiment were stationed. It is generally believed that their purpose was recruitment, not dividing and conquering, but that may have been a consideration.  

November 16, 15:55 Pacific Time

Without literomancer support, the base was quickly overwhelmed. A massive force of some 5000 zombies moved on to their primary targets; the Aldergrove military station, prototype literomantic Batteries, and Cross-Continental Portal.  

November 16, 16:07 Pacific Time

The Undead forces of ICC DeadPeople began their assault on Aldergrove. Acting on intel that likely came from Doomflower Wither, who had once been Panda Polemarch Senna Nightshade, they assaulted the literomantic Batteries that sustained and powered the portal first. Feral Wayfinder, then Feral (bodyguard) in the service of Archon Mykola Void, was directed to take command of the defense.  

By the Tome... just how many are there?

— Feral Wayfinder

  The Feral and the non-literomancer soldiers of the Lapin forces set up a defensive perimeter, reinforced with a dozen Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicles (TAPV) on loan from the British Columbia Dragoons. They were overwhelmed quickly.  

November 16, 16:29 Pacific Time

Archon Mykola Void checked in on the forces at the Cross-Continental Portal, just before Feral Wayfinder gave the order to abandon and destroy the Batteries. Houndstooth Company and the surviving Lapin forces fell back to the Portal itself. The Archon was informed that the Portal had enough residual power to keep it active for perhaps another 40 minutes. This advanced the timetable on the evacuation of the Warren by a good two hours, and that evacuation was complicated by the crashing of an evacuation helicopter carrying King Consort Realm of Music and the Forgelings into Okanagan Lake, necessitating a rescue mission.  

Hang in there, Sparkles. We're on the way.

— Archon Mykola Void

  The Woodlander forces set up a defensive perimeter at the Portal. Knowing the defensive Literomantic shields were likely to fail at any time without the Batteries to maintain them, and knowing their allies would be arriving within their perimeter rather than outside of it, they reinforced it with a large quantity of shaped charge explosives. Some of these were taken from LSB Chilliwack and the armoury at LSF Aldergrove. However, many were liberated from construction supplies that were intended for the repair of the damaged highway system, which had flooded out the previous November.  

November 16, 16:48 Pacific Time

The first batch of Woodlander evacuees arrived at the Cross-Continental Portal from the Warren. Prince Consort Erin Righ and Archon Mykola Void took command of the forces stationed at LSF Aldergrove, the site of the Portal.  

November 16, 17:03 Pacific Time

Reinforcements arrived at Aldergrove through the Cross-Continental Portal in the form of Good King Bob and Captain Dazzlinkat, along with a company of Sauropodan soldiers. While protecting the evacuees was their primary goal, they also hoped to encounter ICC DeadPeople so they could deal with him personally.  

November 16, 17:04 Pacific Time

Almost immediately upon their arrival, the Literomantic Shields went down and zombies began to make their way to the living forces and the Portal. A pitched battle ensued as the defenders fought to keep the Portal open until the Lapin forces from the Warren arrived.  

I'm going T-Rex. Don't jump out of your skin when I do. And give me a shout when Sable gets through. Can you hold them off and back towards the Portal?

— King Bob

 

You heard the man! We're bringing up the rear, let's go!

— Prince Consort Erin Righ

 

November 16, 17:22 Pacific Time

The survivors of The Battle of Kin Beach and evacuees of Okanagan City and The Warren made it to Aldergrove. Prinx Tempest had taken command of the forces from the Warren because Queen Sable Aradia had suffered critical Magic Drain at Kin Beach. Everyone made a rapid retreat towards the CC Portal.   In the two minutes of furious and desperate fighting that ensued, Feral Foxx pushed Archon Mykola Void towards the Portal and held off a platoon of zombies. They did not survive this supreme act of bravery.  

November 16, 17:24 Pacific Time

King Bob summoned a Meteor Swarm to cover their retreat and deal with the overwhelming Zombie Horde.  

November 16, 17:24 Pacific Time

The Cross-Continental Portal closed as the meteors came crashing in to Aldergrove.  

November 16, 17:25 Pacific Time

The survivors of both battles arrived at the Cross Continental Portal site in Okefenoke Swamp in the Sauropoda Protectorate. Queen Sable was taken to hospital and treated for critical Magic Drain. The surviving Forgelings (the Meles children) were treated for hypothermia. Various other wounds were treated, mostly resulting from flak and the occasional magical explosion from the Tome Zombies.   In the meantime, the meteors summoned by King Bob completely destroyed all of the Undead in the area; and any survivors there might have been. However, most Tome Zombies that were on the field survived the incident. It is assumed they used some form of teleportation or other dimensional travel to escape as the meteors came in.

While they took heavy losses, most of the Woodlander forces and accompanying civilians did manage to escape to the Sauropoda Protectorate. The Woodland Royal Family, minus their dead, continued to command their forces in exile, including Queen Sable, once she recovered.   The destruction of so much of the Undead Horde at once disrupted their momentum and restricted much of their activity for the remainder of the war. The living were once again able to claim the Iron Tome at the Battle of Mount Mitchell, this time for House Sauropoda, supported by the survivors of the other Great Houses, including the Woodlanders.   Literomancers killed in the battle and claimed by the Horde included: Kiarra the Bard, HalisinWonderland27, Cathwolfie, BooksbyTiffanyVega, and Feral Foxx, a.k.a. Foxwriter.

Aldergrove was completely destroyed. Nothing remains where it once was except four large craters and a developing crater lake in what was once the Jackman Wetlands, a environmentally protected swampland. A cenotaph at the edge of the craters acknowledges the event and the terrible loss of life.

The dust created by the collision lowered the ambient temperature of the Earth by 1 degree C during the winter. This led to devastatingly cold temperatures in the Western Hemisphere, damaging early agricultural crops. Famine resulted in many developing nations, and the rising cost of food drove rapid inflation, putting a strain on the already-shaky world economy. Central North America -- most of which is encompassed by the Meles Protectorate -- has continued to suffer a savage storm season, to the devastation of many small farmers.   The remains of the four meteors were forged into The Iron Crowns of the Woodlanders, and their accompanying sets of polyhedral dice, which were presented to King Bob in a ceremony during the 2023 April Tourney of Tales. These are the first true literomantic artifacts known to have been created in the modern literomantic age.   Feral Foxx was awarded the Lapin Star of Valour for their act of self-sacrifice in the Battle of Aldergrove and The Battle of Sydney Cavern.

A documentary of the events of the two congruent battles, called "How the Rabbit Runs," aired on the OneWorld News Network in April of 2023. The documentary was then uploaded to OneWorld's YouTube channel with no paywall barrier. The video went viral. Public opinion subsequently softened towards literomancers in general and the Woodland Royal Family in particular, as the raw and brutal nature of the documentary won sympathy and empathy from a significant margin of the general populace. This documentary was preceeded by "Dreamfall," which documented the House Ailurus experience of The Battle of Sydney Cavern, and this documentary film also went viral in the wake of the success of "How the Rabbit Runs."

Each Great House has subsequently spared no expense to construct Cross-Continental Portals, or an equivalent technoarcanology such as the Molluscan Whirlpools, in a secure location that is easily accessible from their primary military complexes.