The Wall that separated Red Mountain from the majority of the Trelawney Kingdom had stood for generations. Those who manned its ramparts and those of the forts that were attached at precise intervals were supposed to be the best of the best and the most loyal of all. This was true for the most part in the first few generations, but slowly the lack of any attacks made the guard lazy and overly relaxed. After 5 generations the post became less of a risk and more of a place for R&R.

The Wall was weak, but at a moment’s notice all forts in the area could be called to fall upon any who attacked even one section of the wall. Yes, this post was for the ‘superior’ soldiers, but what ‘superior’ meant nowadays was the rich, influential and powerful. Fortunately for them, they were allowed to bring their personal retinues with them which artificially inflated the numbers of active guards.

There was, however, one fort in particular along the wall that was the worst offender of the bunch. It was filled with soldiers who were effectively on leave despite being on duty. In fact, it was less of a fort and more like a walled Las Vegas analogue for the nation. It was also the weakest link in the chain, and due to its gambling parlors, whorehouses and bars it was the perfect place for Red Mountain to begin setting the framework for their attack.

The fort was positioned poorly, and its walls had too many blind spots. It had no moat and due to the state of the enviornment the ramparts were short and stubby. What made it even worse was that despite the shitty soil there were once caverns running underground that were filled with monsters, and several of the cave entrances popped up right inside the fort.

Seivalt had discovered this weak link ages ago and had been working to make sure that the wall went from being a dangerous post to one more desired than any other. Yes, the very reason the wall was so poorly defended now was due to the manipulations of the very foe it was designed to keep out. It had taken Seivalt and Red Mountain centuries to get everything ready, from bribing the power players and setting up secret smuggling tunnels to getting certain structures moved into just the right places.

The weakest link in an already weakened chain was about to face the might of Red Mountain, but first they would have to deal with an uprising of an unforeseen nature.

…

It was two hours to midnight as a group of soldiers stumbled out of a 24/7 bar called ‘The Subway’. They had drunk their asses off and squandered a good week’s worth of salary to get this hammered, and they were barely able to stand. They had downed bottle after bottle of stuff far better than they had gotten at other posts and in their drunken stupor praised their luck for landing them in this place.

As they passed a stray dog on their way back to the barracks, one of them got the bright idea to try and feed the animal his half-eaten sandwich. Letting go of the shoulders of his comrades, he fell to the ground and lay in the mud for a bit before getting up and stumbling over to the canine. The dog looked at him and approached as the guard offered his now mud-covered sandwich. He tossed the morsel to the animal and watched it devour the dirty food through his beer glasses.

Then the dog approached, wagging its tail as it moved closer.

“Hooza gud dahg?” He slurred as he reached his hand out to bet the feral animal.

Then the dog leapt and sank its teeth into his throat. With a quick shake of its head, the stray tore the guard’s throat open and then moved to try and take down the next one.

“Fuhken whuh?”

One of the other drunks tried to back away and draw his sword, but he was too wasted to do anything of value and merely fell backwards and cracked his head open on a stone, killing him instantly. The dog ignored him and attacked the third drunk and managed to bite down on his arm, barely missing a vital artery. This guard was less drunk than the others and managed to pull out a dagger from his belt and sever the stray’s spinal column.

The dog fell limp to the ground and left the soldier clutching his bleeding arm. Thankfully, the alcohol dulled the pain and the guard tried to seek help. However…

“Whuht thuh hehll?”

He managed to spot the approaching eyes of other strays, both cat and dog alike. Worse still, there were domesticated cats and dogs among them. He barely got out a scream before they descended on him. Little did he know that this scene was playing out all over the Trelawney Kingdom. As if controlled by some fell hive mind, animals and monsters were working together to cause as much chaos and damage as possible.

Small tribes of feral Dragonkin (Lizardmen, Kobolds, Dinosaurs), Beastmen and Greenskins (Orcs, Goblins, Trolls and Ogres) were ransacking small settlements while wolves and other predatory beasts attacked towns and cities already under attack from domestic animals. Cows and horses were attempting to trample Trelawney citizens while birds of all sizes tried to peck and scratch anyone in the open but out of reach for the other animals.

The rising of the monsters and beasts lasted hours until the animals seemingly broke free of the spell placed upon them and went back to acting as usual. The monsters, on the other hand, continued their assaults until five days later when they were finally wiped out or driven away. However, by that time Red Mountain had already capitalized on the chaos and somehow managed to get a massive force to pop up inside of several of the forts that made up The Wall.

By the time the chaos that the animal rising caused had been dealt with, Red Mountain had already secured a decent section of The Wall and had already dismantled or destroyed a fairly large amount of it. To make matters worse, the guards in the forts nearby suffered from an unknown affliction that made them unable to leave the toilet for very long. Everything they ate seemed to further their suffering and it was only after Red Mountain had completely destroyed a good 20 mile stretch of the wall that it came to light that their food and water had been laced with potent laxatives.

Once the soldiers had dealt with that problem, they finally marched to deal with the bandits and brigands. When they got to their destination, though, they discovered that the bandits had not only torn the forts and walls down with incredible speed and efficiency, there was nothing left for the Kingdom to even use as a stopgap. Worse still, the bandits had already moved on and were rumored to have split from a single massive horde of over 100,000 to several smaller and more mobile hordes numbering at least 10,000.

The Kingdom’s soldiers trudged on in their massive line, the whole force of over 60,000 of them, all taken from various bases, trying desperately to catch even one of the roughly ten smaller forces. As they moved on, they got messages from lords and provincial rulers across the kingdom. Aside from the demand that the army drop everything and come to them immediately, there was mainly one basic parallel between all of them.

Towns and cities all over the kingdom were in a state of anarchy, or as the savage mob was chanting, ‘Revolution!’