WotBS The fate of the Fourth

So, my party decided to go on the mission they promised to Shaaladel during the summit in Gate Pass in adventure 4: To first of all take the Resistance to march into Naamis and free Northern Shahalesti, including the capital Nacaan, from the Ragesian occupation.

Now of course this would be a partial battlefield where an individual group could only do so much and offer support, but I guess this mission might be a good training set for the events that may yet come in adventure 12. Better yet, the party and the heir to Nacaan/Naamis, Lady Seryanna Fendofin, are old acquaintances and this might be a good opportunity for a reunion.

But I am in dire need of information about the Fourth Ragesian army. So far, I couldn't find the name of the commanding officers (general or second general(s)) and which types of troops they could have. Considering that they were up against elves on their home turf I'd expect some aerial combatants (Wyvern), devils and their summoners, inquisitors, a lot of scouts, maybe some druids and clearly more infantry than mounted forces.

So if someone has more information, I'd be more than happy to find out more

Absolutely nothing was written about them, at least not in the 3rd edition release. Perhaps you could grab one of the commanders from adventure 12 and have them as a leader who can withdraw and show up later. I admit, the army's villains in 12 weren't at all established in earlier adventures.

Where do you see this going in-game? I don't feel like the party should defeat an entire part of the enemy army, so what is their goal? What does a win or loss look like for them?

Oh, I made sure the party occasionally heard of Titus, de Fiaba and Cavala, plus Magdus and Danava gave them all a short briefing during the latest war council

The plan they have is to use the Torch to teleport the Resistance Army under Shaaladel's command to Naamis. They'll try to blitzkrieg into the unsuspecting Fourth Army and root out as many Ragesians as possible. The party wouldn't do this on their own, they'd help in side-missions or try to take out the enemy's leaders - kind of like in part 2 of adventure 12.

The idea is to ensure Shaaladel's loyalty by showing him that the Alliance is willing to put their lives at stake for Shahalesti. Shaaladel was promised to be in command in his own lands and kind of agreed to be second in command for the battles in Ragesia.

A victory would mean that the Alliance frees Shahalesti (as it was planned in adventure 9, I guess) which gives them all access to the Shahalesti forces and maybe perks like Shahalesti wizards who could offer them special enchantments.

A loss would mean that they cannot root out the Ragesians and that Shaaladel will hesitate to offer them troops as he'd desperately try to stop the Fourth from reaching Calanis. He knows that defeating Leska and invading Ragesia could probably stop the Fourth as well, but this would be a political desaster for him. Plus he'd have to trust a 'future Emperor' Magdus, which he doesn't.

Now I could use Revulus from the Third Army and make things more complicated by letting him join the Fourth and withdrawing from the Alydi Gap, but they already asked Pilus to tempest them into oblivion (oh the sweet temptation of quick destruction), so... hm.

If the events take place before chapter 9, maybe you could throw in Legate Kolvus into the mix. He seems like someone Leska would sent out to help with difficult missions - and it would mean that he would be a return character in chapter 9. I played him a bit like Christoph Waltz from Inglorious Basterds, which would be even more memorable if he was a returning villain.