(( Amazing time! Thanks for joining us and bringing back what ED is known for! You’ve got your version of what happened and we have ours wink wink. Looking forward to more battles for Undermine, Azeroth, and beyond! ))
General Pragus was cruising around Undermine when he caught sight of a group of three-to-four Horde rounding a corner before he could see their tabards. He parked his D.R.I.V.E. and creeped up some stairs on the opposite side of the building, peeking around the corner to get a better look at the gathering enemy as he scouted for the Clan Battlehammer Call to Arms happening soon. To his surprise, there were considerably more than the few that he caught rounding the corner. 10-12 Horde were gathered on the ground level bearing the tabard of the Darkwolf Clan, a new force to be reckoned with!
Pragus spun a loose golden ring around his left ring finger as he did sometimes when he was nervous. It accidentally slid off and bounced onto the metallic stairs beneath his feet making a loud and repetitive clanging sound as it rolled down the stairs to the ground floor. Pragus gulped as the pack of Darkwolf Clan all turned and looked to see him pull his head back around the corner. Moments later he was surrounded as the enemy pummeled him left and right. He cast every spell he knew in a vain attempt to get back to his D.R.I.V.E. After nearly a minute and half, his luck ran out and he found his mortal coil splattered across the pavement.
After a ghost trip to the spirit healer and his return to the corporal world, Pragus headed to the sanctuary of the Incontinental Hotel to begin gathering dwarven forces to eradicate this new threat. As he entered, he also spotted several of The Blademasters, whom the Hammers had recently begun an open war with for control of Khaz Modan and Undermine. Finally, there were also several members of the Horde group, D7, pattering around just outside the hotel. While Clan Battlehammer would usually gather elsewhere, Pragus made the call to assemble in the hotel. He wanted the enemies of the Hammers to see them gathering their forces and prepare for a fight rather than scurrying off to assist the goblins in their fight against Gallywix as had happened during Clan Battlehammer’s previous Call to Arms.
“They’ll nah hide in tha’ blasted casino this week! This week, weh shall end 'em!” Pragus muttered as he continued to send out communications to meet at the Incontinental Hotel. Soon the hotel was filled with the sounds of dwarves sharpening their weapons and casting spells of preparation for battle. The conciergerie, Paks Topskimmer, eyed the dwarves nervously and began walking around whispering to the hired hotel muscle to be ready to throw out anyone that tried to start the battle inside of the hotel. A moment later, the goblin noticed the dwarves began forming up on the stairs, looking up towards a very threatening looking dwarven death knight perched atop the elevator above in view of them all.
The death knight was known as Frostgrin and had recently made his way up through the ranks of Clan Battlehammer to become one of King Regent Katrell’s most trusted advisors. It was clear that he would be leading the dwarves into the battle this eve, but before doing so he called on one of their beardlings, a shaman known as Elebro, to step forward to receive recognition for his bravery while serving in the name of King Bruenor. He would receive a promotion to the rank of Hammer. After the ceremony, Frostgrin led the dwarves out into the streets. Scouts reported that Darkwolf Clan had been seen recently marching through Undermine in an attempt to claim dominance of the area.
“Well, let’s have a march ourselves, then,” hollered Frostgrin. “Undermine belongs teh Clan Battlehammer, nah Darkwolf Clan!” The Hammers mounted their rams and began with a loop around the hotel. Next, they headed toward the lights of the casino, forming a barricade ready to leap into action should the Darkwolf march come that way. Alas, after waiting some time, the Darkwolf march did not come their way.
“I guess the Darkwolf Clan sent some scouts and decided they didn’t want teh meet our lines,” guffawed Pragus. The Hammers marched back up toward the hotel and found Darkwolf Clan, The Blademasters, and D7 gathering their forces along with a few other members of the Horde. A few of them stepped outside of the boundaries of the hotel and attempted to get the Hammers to engage closer to the hotel, hoping to bait them into losing a few dwarves to the ferocious hotel guards.
“Weh didna come teh figh’ th’ fer-hire guards. Weh came teh KILL TH’ HORDE! Back teh th’ casino, let them come teh us!” bellowed Frostgrin. The Hammers headed back down the hill and readied themselves. Not long after, the Horde conglomeration came charging at them with nearly even numbers and the battle was on!
Leaning on the strength of their melee, the Hammers kept pushing up and up the hill toward the hotel, felling their enemies as they progressed. Though each side was taking losses, the Horde bore the brunt of the bloodshed as the Hammers pushed forward like an unstoppable train. As they neared the top of the hill, there were suddenly shouts of death from the rear of the Horde forces closer to the hotel. The battle was unexpectedly joined by members of the Alliance force known as Cryptids League. The fighting grew so massive that time itself seemed to slow down, the swing of an axe taking nearly 10 seconds to complete its arch. Wedged between the Hammers and the unexpected Cryptid forces, the Horde fully retreated into the Hotel.
“LONG LIVE CLAN BATTLEHAMMER!” came the cry of the first victory of the evening. Though there was some unrequested assistance from Cryptids near the top of the hill, the Hammers had done the lion’s share of the work on their way up the hill and thus claimed victory. Per their honorable code, the Hammers headed back down the hill to allow their enemy to recover, should they be up for another round of death. At the bottom of the hill, a few Hammers began to pull out flasks and celebrate.
“Oi, beh ready! They migh’ come lookin’ fer more, if they’re tha’ foolish,” chided Pragus. The revelling dwarves grimaced at Pragus and began putting away their flasks and readying their weapons again. Sure enough, a Horde member of Darkwolf Clan came charging solo down the hill toward the Hammers. “Wha’ a maniac! I gotta hand it to 'em for his bloodlust though. KILL EM!” shouted Pragus. Spells were cast and hammers swung. Just before they connected, the sprinting Horde yelled, “I bring a message.” Seconds later the spells and hammers hit, and his brains were splattered across the asphalt.
“Whoops!” guffawed Pragus as several dwarves laughed at the unfortunate messenger. “Shoulda delivered yer message faster, buddy! Apologies!” Pragus bellowed into the streets, knowing that the messenger must have resurrected and could hear them with the Horde forces only being a block or two away.
“I’m not sorreh!” hollered a dwarven preist by the name of Dreddex, leading to even more dwarven guffaws reverberating off of the surrounding buildings.
“Walk, an’ yeh shall beh spared!” came Frostgrin’s voice cutting through the laughter, reminding everyone of the code of the Hammers. Bend the knee by approaching with a walk and maybe you shall live. The messenger did so this time and delivered his message.
“We seek to have a meeting of leadership from the represented guilds at the top of the hill. There has been a call for Mak’gora!” he said. Frostgrin looked around at the dwarves and gave a gruff nod to advance forward up the hill on their rams as the messenger sped ahead hoping to avoid another messy end.
As they crested the hill, the Hammers spread out into a semi-circle barricade formation, ready to handle any funny stuff the Horde might want to try like baiting dwarves into hotel guards. It appeared there was no funny stuff as the Horde guilds also began to spread into a semi-circle barricade formation in anticipation of the Mak’Gora challenge. Suddenly the Horde formation was knocked apart by a spell or trap from some Alliance near the inn, possibly the Cryptids.
“Knock it off!” bellowed Pragus. “We’re tryin’ teh setup a figh’ 'ere!” Whoever it was listened and the Horde reformed. The leader of the Darkwolf Clan, a fearsome warrior by the name of Kulgosh stepped forward as Frostgrin did so on the opposite side of the circle accompanied by a few dwarves, Slowin and Morgaise, to translate. Frostgrin refused to imbibe in the Elixir of Tongues on principle but would allow Hammers to make their own choice, which in this situation proved most useful.
With what must have been an attempt to show honor and respect to his rivals, Kulgosh began with a long-winded speech about the possibility of orcs and dwarves learning from each other. By the time it made it through the translators, Frostgrin was scratching his head and trying to determine the intent of the opening. Seeing the confusion, the orc frowned and then cut to the chase. “While I won’t deny the right of the other Horde guilds’ combat with Clan Battlehammer, I first seek single combat with your leader in Mak’gora. Afterwards, we can send forth champions from each guild to help decide the outcome of this battle since you dishonorably brought in allies from behind us from the hotel.” he said gruffly.
Frostgrin listened to the translators and responded, “We did not call for those… outsiders,” nodding toward the large group of Cryptids that now gathered in their cars to the side of Mak’gora circle. Hearing that their assistance was not needed nor wanted at this time in this new rivalry, the Cryptids drove away to secure other parts of Undermine while Frostgrin continued, “Yer terms are acceptable. You lead in, orc!”
“MAKE ROOM FOR MAK’GORA!” bellowed Kulgosh as both sides of the circle moved back to give the combatants plenty of room to maneuver without interference. Intervention in this Mak’gora would be a most dishonorable act for either side. Kulgosh let forth a mighty roar and charged in with a devastating swing that Frostgrin blocked as he worked to build his strength for a burst of death to bring down this tenacious orc.
Blow after blow Frostgrin deflected and the maddened orc charged forward with all his might. Then the time came. Frostgrin unleashed his strength upon Kulgosh knocking the warrior back with each blow and filling the air around him with noxious toxins. Kulgosh struggled and began to show signs of fully breaking when from out of nowhere, Frostgrin stopped fighting and started walking toward the hotel as if possessed.
“Interference!” cried a chorus of Battlehammers, realizing that their leader had been mind controlled by a Horde priest at the pivotal moment right before victory. The mind control wore off and Frostgrin regained his bearings, though the orc warrior had been able to use this time to recover, and so the dance began again.
“It was not us!” one of the Darkwolf Clan yelled toward the dwarven line, pointing to a Horde priest dancing back and forth between the guard line on the edge of the hotel stairs.
“Find him an’ shut 'im down!” Frostgrin calmly yet forcefully commanded while continuing to focus on the Mak’gora, his awareness of the battle and situation showing why he had become one of the King Regent Katrell’s most trusted dwarves. The orc continued to try and brute force his way through the defenses of the dwarven death knight and in doing so spent so much of his rage that he was now ripe for kill. Frostgrin exercised his namesake and split into a wide-mouthed smile, frozen air pushing and oozing between the cracks of his teeth to form a fog that almost obscured the wicked smile. With a final massive swing from Frostgrin, the leader of Blackwolf Clan crumpled to the ground.
“LONG LIVE CLAN BATTLEHAMMER!” came the second call of victory from the Hammers. They saluted their leader and then Kulgosh as well when the orc returned from his visit to the spirit world as he had fought a most honorable battle despite the interference from the honorless Horde priest that had now wandered off once he realized Clan Battlehammer snipers were trained on his position and ready to stop any further interference. Frostgrin and Kulgosh approached each other in the Mak’gora circle to determine what would come next in the battle for Undermine.
“A stouter orc, I’ve nae known,” opened Frostgrin, showing respect to the honorable orc leader.
“While my performance could have been better, the battle is not yet done. As I said, I will not deny the other Horde guilds their shot at Clan Battlehammer. Darkwolf Clan, The Blademasters, and D7 will each send forth a champion. Send yours to meet ours in the ring. You call the start when ready.” The orc nodded and stepped back into the Horde line as a champion from each guild stepped forward.
Frostgrin turned back toward the line of dwarves. “Elebro, Soryin, Hasla, you’re up,” he called again bearing his teeth in a wicked smile that no doubt sent shivers down the approaching Horde champions’ spines. A dwarf shaman and two dwarf paladins stepped forth from the line and walked to meet their opponents in the center of the circle. Frostgrin nodded to both sides and then counted down, “3… 2… 1… GO!”
Instantly, melee on both sides charged in swinging. Spells were sent slinging. The ring became a cacophony of clangs and crashes and zips and zaps. To the untrained eye, the action would seem an absolute mess of confusion, but the battle-hardened dwarves of Clan Battlehammer could tell that their champions had the upper hand from the beginning. One of the Horde champions fell followed by a chorus of cheers from the dwarves.
“Jus’ gah finish 'em off now!” yelled Pragus, which is exactly what the Hammer champions did and without a single one of them falling. It was clear who the victors of the evening were in this day’s battle for Undermine.
“LONG LIVE CLAN BATTLEHAMMER!”
Video from our side: https://youtu.be/7WfRT0BaZLk?si=SquEVrWdkyTT1a9u
We return…