Part I: Ceremony and Treasure Goblins
The wind was gusting atop the tower in Dornogal as Clan Battlehammer assembled for their Call to Arms their beards whipping wildy back and forth with each gust. King Regent Katrell’s voice cut through the wooshing of the wind like an axe through an orc head, “Khonar 'as declared his intent to set oot on the path to earn Gutbuster!” Khonar, a longstanding Veteran of the Clan and kin to Kurich who formally held a Herald position, was nah one to be trifled with.
“A real deadeye, tha’ one!” hollered Herald Gryth with approval as other dwarves chimed in similar sentiments. No doubt much Horde blood would be spilled in the coming months as Khonar bravely took on the challenge. Ceremonies concluded, the Hammers marched through Dornogal on their rams in an impressive display of coordination, ending at Contender’s Gate where upon the call of Katrell instructed their mighty beasts to rear up in unison, hooves slamming back down on the Earthen brickwork with such a pronounced thud that all watching the spectacle couldn’t help but flinch.
“LONG LIVE CLAN BATTLEHAMMER!” came the warcry, and the dwarves mounted their gryphons and headed out into the Isle of Dorn to set up camp just outside, hoping to catch Horde gathering that were attempting to abscond with loot from the treasure goblins that had been appearing through portals recently all across Azeroth and beyond. The few Horde there were quickly disposed of and thus the mob of dwarves’ bloodlust lay unsated. After a brief fly over Undercity to ensure the city was still a mess of blight and that the Horde had not attempted any rebuilding, the Hammers headed for Orgrimmar again intent on depriving any waiting Horde of spoils from the next treasure goblin portal. The walls of Theramore Keep reverberated with the sounds of the footsteps a dwarven piling out of the portal tunnel.
Once in Durotar, the Hammers immediately and with malice crashed down up on the Horde in the dueling area and then freshly forming goblin portal, easily ending the lives of the foul greenskins that were mucking about. Knowing that a response from inside the city would be swift, the Hammers attempted a mass stealth in front of the portal, hoping to catch the defensive force unaware. Alas! Their move had been spotted and the battle commenced.
At first, Horde reinforcements trickled in with those had survived the initial onslaught also rising to rejoin the fray. Then, a massive force of Make Durotar Great Again landed and joined the battle. Caught on the backfoot, the Hammers were forced to pull back as the sheer number of the enemy had grown untenable. Horde bodies were dropping to the ground, but the dwarves were also suffering heavy losses. Not one to back down from a fight, however, Clan Battlehammer regrouped prepared an aerial assault, determined to take as many Horde to the grave as possible. Alas, again luck was not with the Hammers this evening as their forces landed split due to miscommunication. Again, Clan Battlehammer fought with the utmost intensity but were simply outnumbered and with no choke point to provide succor to the onslaught. Though the Horde gained a few notches on the belt, it was still nothing compared to the death that the Hammers had brought to the Horde in the past few months of the war… and still the war rages on.
Part II: Death to the Darkwolf
Retreating to Dornogal, Clan Battlehammer again headed to the Isle of Dornogal in search of another one of their rivals, the Darkwolf Clan. The Darkwolf Clan had won a recent victory in the Great Wolfmaster Battle of the Hinterlands by retrieving a hostage that the dwarves had taken in a massive battle, though not without the aid of an undead guild known as The Desolate Watch who helped tipped the battle in the Darkwolf Clan’s favor. General Kraggus was the first among the scouts to spot the Darkwolf Clan as they gathered around a war crate delivery, clearly not expecting any interference.
“LONG LIVE CLAN BATTLEHAMMER!” bellowed Kraggus after sending a communication with his position to the rest of the dwarves. With that, he pointed the beak of his gryphon perpendicular to the ground and crashed into the Darkwolf Clan raid with no abandon to keep them engaged until the rest of the dwarves could arrive. He dropped an explosive trap knocking back the orcs. Infuriated, they charged toward him with reckless abandon. Knowing the next several seconds could possibly hurt A LOT, Kraggus called upon the Aspect of the Turtle to protect him as the rest of the dwarves continued their approach. While the Aspect held strong against many blows, it eventually dissipated but before the rest of the dwarven forces arrived. “Oh hornswaggle,” said Kraggus flatly as he watched the green dome around him fade as a Darkwolf mace connected with his face. He tried to use his speed and movement to kite the orcs, but there was only so much he could do. After a mighty thrashing, his General’s Bulwark surrounded his bloodied and beaten frame. Kraggus knew that as soon as the Bulwark dropped, he was done for… then he saw it! One snowy gryphon dropped into the middle of the Darkwolf, then another, and another… at that point Kraggus lost consciousness.
When he came to, the Hammers were giving the Darkwolf Clan everything he had received and more. He grinned wickedly and pulled himself off the ground and called his bees, sending them into quickly shrinking Darkwolf forces to begin delivering stings to those that still fought. The Darkwolf healers were strong but could not keep up with the onslaught of dwarven weapons and spells. Then he spied Kulgosh in the middle of the remnants in the battle, still swinging wildly.
“Take this yeh ugleh greenskin,” he muttered, following with, “Now yer gonna git th’ bestial wrath!” Kraggus’ bees enraged and began to divebomb towards Kulgosh. Kraggus paused for one more second to appeal with a Call the Wild, bringing more vicious animals forth. Then it was time. “Kill 'em NOW!” he yelled sending all the beasts onto Kulgosh at once clawing, biting, stinging, and gnashing. Kulgosh fell, his body mangled and mutilated.
“LONG LIVE CLAN BATTLEHAMMER!” came the cries of victory as a few Hammers chased down one or two orcs that tried to cowardly escape.
Part III: Confusing Parley, Bargrim’s Challenge, and Lake Races
The Hammers lined up on their gryphons to let their enemy regroup, but there was no regrouping to be had. Instead, only Kulgosh and one or two orcs with him remained. The orc leader stepped forward in some sort of confusing attempt at a parley. Without warning or explanation, he suddenly began attacking Herald Andryxia. The holy paladin laughed as he circled the gyrphon lines with Kulgosh behind him in a weakened state serving only tickling blows that were mostly deflected by the Light that shined through the holy-infused dwarf. The dwarven lines rippled with laughter until Kulgosh finally stopped attacking, panting furiously.
“Thas enough now,” guffawed General Frostgrin. The merriment in his expression suddenly changed to one of sick pleasure, frost clouds oozing between the cracks of his icy teeth on display in a sinister grin. “Now kill 'em,” he said flatly. The Hammers gleefully obliged, putting an end to whatever strange spectacle of a parley this was supposed to be.
As the Hammers began to remount their gryphons and reform lines, Andryxia mistakenly called some sort of dragon. This caught the eye of General Bargrim, a well known stickler for formation in the spirit of the King. General Bargrim had also been pulling out his flask regularly this eve, and it was filled with the strongest dwarven spirits made in Ironforge. “If you pull that dragon out one more dang time!” he slurred at Andryxia.
“But I-,”
“That sounds like a duel teh meh!” guffawed General Frostgrin. “Circle up!”
The Hammers on gryphons quickly encircled the duo and the friendly duel began. Exhausted from the earlier battles and drunk as a fish, Bargrim’s wild swings occasionally connected and were quickly healed up by Andryxia who poked and prodded at Bargrim between blows, neither dwarf wanting to actually add anymore wounds than had been acquired earlier in the evening. Eventually, the lesser ranked stood down out of respect and the duel was ended. Other Hammers jumped in and the duels continued for a time until General Frostgrin called for one final check of the goblin portals in Undermine for Horde.
The Hammers found the goblin portals of the Undermine unattended and gleefully slaughtered a few for a bit of fun and loot before finishing the evening with races around the lake.
(( You had the numbers and got the jump this time, gaining some ground from our previous engagements. Don’t worry. We’ll take it back from you. GGs MDGA!
GGs Darkwolf Clan! We got the upper hand this time, though your healers were pumping! Kraggus is looking forward to finding you out in the world to payback some of those shots you got in. KOS cuz greenskins gotta die!
Bear in mind that IC and even OOC, you are not my buddy. Though I do keep in mind good sportpersonship and that we’re all humans behind keyboards, you are still my enemy. Per longstanding Emerald Dream tradition, a little salt keeps the RPPVP from tasting too bland. Feel free to hop up when we let you reform next time and get wrecked again instead of whatever the heck that parley was. blows kiss ))