Line 1
Fortunately or not the enemy flying machines are in other airspace at the moment. Almost certainly fortunately is whatever was bypassing your stealth advantage seems to be gone entirely allowing your troops to move both through the cave systems and air without being immediately detected and assaulted. The enemy seems to have conscripted prospectors to this fight - and they made good use of their dynamite to control the battlefield inside the caves either digging their own tunnels or causing cave ins on planned routes. Worse still is their leader. An older man who looks suspiciously like Ted, he is capable of navigating the caves swiftly with his whip and is apparently a potent fighter in his own right.
"Apparently" because he gets little chance to fight. Somehow those Verhal and Verstark who get close to him begin transforming into normal crows or ravens, transforming back when he leaves for a new cave. This mostly leaves him fighting only when facing humans or the occasional lucky individual who turns into a human instead. While discombobulating those who undergo these transformations don't seem to have any long-term side effects so long as they manage to live through it.
Finally the cowboy/samurai where also deployed to this location. They seem to have a new trick - when they fire a special revolver bullet it calls down an laser strike apparently from space. Our air marines could avoid this by flying directly overhead or using the caves as cover but it did limit the defensive strategies they could utilize.
Amber's techniques where especially efficient thanks to the enemy's reliance on dynamite and apparent lack of safety standards or security. They rarely had guards and where easy to detonate with supplied matches, letting her take as much as she wanted for her own ambushes or to cause coincidental cave ins at important times. When she noticed that the enemy leader often explored caves on is own using his whip to bypass obstacles that would halt the minors and cowboys, she set up an ambush to take him out...
Only to start feeling much too
human as he approached the target location. Checking her teeth she noticed they had begun to shrink. While Amber has never been one to overly rely on her powers, she hadn't expected to lose her ability to see in the dark. Without it she was unable to act in the pitch-black cave. Worse yet the prospectors had begun to follow his path after blowing up the obstacles in the way...eventually detonating part of the trap she set and trapping herself under rubble. As the enemy leader moved away her powers returned allowing her to slowly dig herself out.
Pushed back 1/2 step. Line is now between B4 and B1. Amber Incapacitated 1 turn.
Line 2
Melissa's promised enemies did in fact show their faces at this battlefield. As did her promised opportunity for a sneak attack. She found herself striking at the center of the group of Miko letting her rage control her. Soon she was in direct confrontation with the holy-sword wielding leader of the group, who seemed to be in some kind of berserk rage herself. They traded furious blow after blow as her supporters tried to support her only to face a blow from Melissa themselves. In the end she dropped her rifle and blocked the sword between her hands, shattering it in a quick motion. The enemy leader was ready and willing to continue with her fists when the Eisenkrone Kürassiere slammed into the disorganized line in a well-timed charge. The entire group of Miko, including its leader, was forced to retreat from the battlefield in short order. Melissa detects minor holy energy in the remains of the katana she shattered herself.
The air units that troubled the Confederation before have made this their battlefield, making it difficult for your artillerie to find safe position as they constantly harass it with high-altitude bombardments. This is soon rendered moot as all enemy infantry retreats from the battlefield allowing you to move forward without difficulty.
Push forward 1 step to A5, two enemy units Incapacitated 1 turn. Minor artifact discovered.
Line 3
Andries finds himself facing the Emperor directly once again. This time his enemy is atop a western dragon, riding it like a cowboy. Joining him is a group of smaller dragons following alongside the giant one. His defensive structures where able to provide significant protection from the dragon's fiery breath, but his traps and ambushes washed off the Great Dragon and its rider. The former simply absorbs the bullets either itself or by using the little dragons as shields, while the latter provides less literal supporting fire with its revolver.
In the end it wasn't lack of numbers but lack of firepower that prevented a victory. The dragon simply crashed through the Confederations defenses in a scene that resembles a dragon destroying a castle in a fairy tale. While their defenses prevented you from having many causalities and your gunfire took out many of the lesser dragons, at the end of the day it was able to push through your line forcing you to set up a new defensive front near the floating islands.
Pushed back 1/2 step to between B6 and B3
It is now Protagonist Phase 3.
Amber Hawkins: P20 Many Allies, Stealth Expert, Chess-master, Incapacitated 1 turn
Starkebrisen Windreiter: P5 Air Skirmisher Incapacitated 1 Turns
Helderzee linie infanterie: P5 Rain of Bullets AKA Continuous Fire AKA Platoon Fire
Eisenkrone Kürassiere: P5 Armored Calvary
General Andries Van Culemborg: P13 Entrenchment Master, Outnumbered, not outflanked, Organization First, Mountain choke points and how to use them
Helderzee Bronkhorst Artillerie: P6 Accurate Artillery
Melissa Powell: P19 Roaring Rampage of Revenge, Artifact Hunter, Badass Woobie
Averlon Royal Air Marines: P8 Air Marines, Integrated Arms and Lingual Training
AC
A1 A2 A3
A4 A5 A6
B4 B5 B6
B1 B2 B3
BC
AC: Heian-Style Castle Refurbished to look like a Western Castle on a ridge overlooking the head of a river
A1: Mountains
A2: Highlands with pastures
A3: Mountains
A4: Mountains
A5: Valley floor, lakes, river.
A6: Mountains
BC: Veloxflumine, the political capital of the alliance.
B1: Mountains (with cities for winged creatures)
B2: Alverlon Ruins
B3: Floating Islands (with cities)
B4: Hills with caves (and occasionally settlements)
B5: Flat farmland with a few mountains
B6: Coastal Lowlands
Line 1 is currently between B4 and B1
Line 2 is currently at A5
Line 3 is currently between B6 and B3