The Weeping War

Subject: The Weeping War Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:31 am

//I'll be posting information here about the weeping war. People can feel free to add comments or questions as they would IG. If you have an issue with what's put here OOCly feel free to PM me or post somewhere else. While the facts are from a offical source, some might be edited or altered slightly. Please remember that historical records (even in RL) are not 100% correct. Things may in fact be altered by the staff at any time. Thank you//

Valtore brings forth a large map of the area around Myth Drannor and a number of books. He starts out slowly and takes pauses so that people can ask questions or add comments to the lecture. He has asked a number of people to attend who may offer insight into the events.

711 DR [Year of Despairing Elves] The start of the Weeping War...

Uktar 30
This utter ambush occured during the elves' wintertide celebrations on the Feast of the Moon. Given the amassed forces of the Army of Darkness, they easily surround the four outer watchposts and the entire tree settlement, putting it to the torch. As the town of Pykal burned slowly from the outer edges inward, the creatures of Darkness played cat-and-mouse with the demoralized and panicked elves for four days until the 600 elves of Pykal all lay dead.

Nightal
The Army of Darkness descended south of the Dragon Sea and enters the forest in three separate formations, which later split and spread out to form a front across much of the northern woods of Cormanthor. Within the space of one tenday during the first heavy snows of winter, these forces destroyed three villages and more than two dozen outposts of both military and trade importance.

Surprisingly, very few elves survived these initial and unexpected onslaughts, and the few that escaped to the south told stores of such unimaginable horror that the local Akh'Velahr commanders did not believe them. These delays led directly to the victory of the Army of Darkness and the continued unreadiness of Cormanthyr.

Warned by the smoke rising in the east, the folk of the tiny realm of Kerymiir had some inkling of the coming of the Army of Darkness. After some frightened reconnaissance, the 900 elves of two villages and seven minor settlements and outposts hid within local caves. They were easily found and slaughtered within the caves, then many of their hidden treasures were claimed (though not all were taken).

Valtore pauses for comments. . . .

Subject: Re: The Weeping War Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:47 am

The spell captain Nadin Moonbolt joins the class, behind the students he listens with atention the history being told. He seems not surprised with what is taught, surely its not unknow to him. The sun elf remains there in silence.

Subject: Re: The Weeping War Fri Mar 01, 2013 8:09 pm

Valtore nods once to Nadin and continues with the telling...

Hammer
Sometimes known as Jhyrennstar's Scourging (among those who aren't aware of that realm's true boundaries), the second campaign against Cormanthyr devastated the northern frontiers. More than 60% of the Akh'Velahr scouts posted in the north woods died in this rapid advance and entrenchment of the Army of Darkness.

Aulmpiter established one of his primary command posts during this campaign. After the destruction of all its people, Aulmpiter made his base of operations out of the massive tree village at the heart of the former sylvan elf domain of Oloriil to the north and east of Myth Drannor. Oloriil was a collective of seven smaller outposts and villages that had little traffic with Myth Drannor beyond the frequent aiding and hosting of Akh'Velahr scout patrols. Arrogantly, Aulmpiter's primary chamber, now desecrated by his mere presence, was once a temple holy to Rillifane. This base lay a rough 60 miles from Myth Drannor itself, though the path to it is far longer and certainly not as direct due to intervening thorn barriers and other countermeasures.

Perhaps one of the most surprising tactics of the Army of Darkness was their near-constant movement and activity. Despite their severe dislike of cold (especially the three nycaloth leaders and their mezzoloth officers), the Army of Darkness stayed active. Many believe the mitigation of the harshest weather by the elf magic throughout the forest helped the fiends, while most bards paint the fact as "their burning hatred and ire kept them from feeling all but the cruelest cold". In any event, some of the force and urgency behind these attacks and the ferocity of all involved might be traced back to their dislike of the battle conditions.

Hammer 1
Yshaalnoth, a large moon and green elf clan holding for hunters and traders and scouts, is besieged and set aflame on the third day of the siege. This is the first visible signal to the southern woods of the invaders.

Hammer 7
Sulla's Glade
The Army of Darkness again surrounded the entire battle area and then advanced inward, leaving their foes nowhere to retreat. Over 200 satyrs died here - over a third of the whole tribe. Sulla, the satyr leader of the satyrs in Cormanthyr and ally of Myth Drannor (as were his three predecessors) is slain.

Hammer 12
The noble red dragon Garnet, upon discovering that he was one of the primary causes of the nycaloth's escape and subsequent conflict, rashly took to the air, and headed north into the approaching war. Given the speed at which Garnet fled Myth Drannor, no forces could be assembled quickly enough to allow them to back up the dragon's wrathful attack. Still, an ally took flight after him, an elder silver dragon named Sylvallitham who had, in the past, acted as Garnet's mentor in draconic lessons such as flight, use of breath weapons, and innate abilities. The elder dragon attempted to talk his star pupil out of this rash action, to no avail. Without a thought toward his own personal safety, Garnet furiously dove into the heart of the main Army of Darkness, with Sylvallitharm reluctantly aiding his attack and joining the imprudent strike.

Flying directly out of the highsun to strike with total surprise, the two dragons took an awesome toll on the Army, Garnet breathing his arcing bolts of electrical fire and Sylvall his other magical attacks. The dragons managed to split the main Army group into two and slow the whole's advances. They also broke the army's supply lines and trapped whole regiments amidst surrounding forest fires, which created large breaks within the ranks as well and served to minimize troop coordination and communication on the ground. Despite these victories, the dragons were unable to focus attacks on the nycaloths due to various magic and heavy protective missile fire.

Some speculate had these two dragons coordinated this assault with large ground forces of elf troops, the war might have ended here, just north of the village of Oloriil. Their rashness kept many from moving swiftly to back up their angry flight, but there are inconclusive reports of small bands of scouts, adventurers, or isolated mages whose towers lay nearby that took advantage of the dragons' surprise attack. In addition to the four regiments destroyed by the dragons, these isolated and uncoordinated ground attacks by adventurers and others claimed another seven parties and two squadrons of orcs, gnolls, and hobgoblins.

Elf scouts watching the battle reported that it was victorious due merely to the passions and anger of two good dragons. However, just as they had scattered enough ground troops to finally close on the nycaloth leaders of the Army, six tightly-focused beams of light struck and engulfed the two dragons in their dive formation. Both Garnet and Sylvall disappeared without a trace, nor were they heard from throughout the rest of the Weeping War. »

Here again Valtore pauses to let his words sink in and look for questions...

Subject: Re: The Weeping War Sat Mar 09, 2013 12:11 pm

While the forces of darkness collected two marches of gnolls and flinds from the Army of Darkness under their new ally the lich (and newly made Major) Laummas, a group of adventurers at Twilight and some remnants of the slyvan tribes decimated by the Army's advance numbered only a total of a few hundred. For four days, the vastly outnumbered forces held their ground against the Army using their magic and woodcraft, keeping pitched battles limited to skirmishes among small groups (though the adventurers were almost always outnumbered five or more to one). While they almost always won, the Army's victories were not decisive and the Adventurers well hidden.

Much of the adventurers' strategies fell to small groups of spies infiltrating the Army's camp to sabotage supplies and cause disarray among temperamental gnolls and flinds. When Laummas or his traitor-associate Nezras were on the field, the Advnturers' magic proved the lesser, and often their own dead would be animated against them. At dusk of the fourth day of battle, Laummas fell before the furious swordplay and spellcraft of Lady Dathlue Mistwinter, the Lady Steel and the advnturers' leader. Emboldened by the death of Laummas, Lady Steel pressed on despite her fatigue and reduced spells and meeting her death soon after from Nezras' spells and her drawing-and-quartering by the animated remains of her own troops. At least in death, her pre-set spells claimed the lives of more than three parties of gnolls. Enraged by Lady Steel's death, the last 90 Adventurers forged a charge that cost the enemy over 500 more troops. Unfortunately, rage is a motivator, not a strategic plan. The charge left the final group trapped in the midst of three full squadrons of bloodthirsty gnolls.

The Adventurers battled on, accepting their deaths heroically and united in a strong battle song that sustained them while half of their number fell. Only the chance appearance of a woman spellcaster, upon the low hillock known as Jalmyra's Mound, saved even a few of the overwhelmed Harpers toward the dawn of the fifth day. While she apparently spoke only once when not casting spells of awe-inspiring destruction and power, the wild-haired woman bid the 42 survivors "Flee. Seek out those Chosen of Seven Stars, and they shall guide you. I shall hold guard, now and always." Many bards have since taken to calling her "Darkeyes", Jalmyra's Mage", Lady Star", or "The Savior of the Day". Some priests of Mystra insist this was a manifestation or avatar of Mystra, perhaps even her mysterious alias as Myrjala Darkeyes, though no being alive today can confirm this theory. In fact, of the few accounts heard, elves saw an elf save them, while humans saw a human female, thus adding to the confusion about her identity. Regardless of her true identity, her spells (some said to be on par with those of the High Mages) destroyed more than half the remaining forces of darkness and sent them into panicked retreat.

Subject: Re: The Weeping War Sat Mar 16, 2013 8:17 am

Attacks on the lone towers and outlying schools beyond the mythal signaled the 12-day ongoing series of skirmishes now called the Towers Falling Battle. Significant as the first true meeting between the Akh'Velahr and Akh'Faer and the Army of Darkness, this battle's primary defenders and forces were the besieged mages and adventurers who lived outside the mythal. In all, the First Legion destroyed numerous mages and schools and towers, and pressed onward toward Myth Drannor almost undeterred.

Still, while the armies of Cormanthyr were pushed back, they gained a pyrhic victory in the cost the Army of Darkness paid in lives: The dying mages often took hundreds of orcs and gnolls and even mezzoloths with them in death, as they or their towers exploded in arcane fury upon their deaths.

The Army of Darkness leisurely sent its troops on harassment maneuvers that allowed them to slowly wrap lines west and south along the mythal's perimeter. The eight days of battle occurred during great ice storms magically enhanced by the elves. Despite this advantage against the mezzoloth-led giants, ogres, and orcs of the Third Legion, the elves failed to consolidate their forces to their best advantages and lost the final battle (though most of the minor skirmishes among smaller units and allied advantages fell to the elves).

While not specifically a battle, this event is significant in that history of the war as the first major incursion of infernal forces into the mythal surrounding the capital. Whether Aulmpiter planned the assault as such or not, the First and Third Legions collectively advanced along an arcing front that saw them all contact the mythal almost simultaneously. With that major invasion of forces bringing the mythal's defenses surging into play along a mile-long arc, a massive surge of wild magic arced along and the mythal fell or exploded due to the wild surge, while other long-standing spell effects either died or went out of control. With the advancing forces of yugoloths and the hordes piercing the mythal on a number of fronts, the wild magic surged and corruption of the mythal powers continued through until autumn. At that time, the Woodsheart Wars forced the bulk of the Army of Darkness east and outside of the mythal, granting it a reprieve from the corrupting touch of the yugoloths and other creatures anathema to it.

While the long-term effects on the mythal were unguessed for much of the Weeping War, there were a few immediate changes to the nature of the mythal with the incursion of the Army of Darkness. The most obvious was the fall of the prohibitions against certain races entering the area, and the orcs and ogres long kept out of the forest's heart saw their first chance to plunder the capital in five centuries. A far more spectacular effect was the initial wild surges' effect on the gold and silver dragon allies of the elves: Sixteen gold and silver dragons had arrived at the summons of the High Mages and other allies of Myth Drannor, and as the wild magic arced around and through them, half the dragons dissolved into the energies and arced into the nearest dragon, the golds and silvers instantly formed eight unique electrum dragons! While all survived the shock of transformation, they were nearly comatose due to the radical changes within them, falling collectively in the Dragons' Glade north of Warriors' Gate and northwest of the city. Unconscious for nearly a month, these electrum dragons were watched over by dragonrider cavalry of Wing and Horn, whose dragon members were not within the mythal at the time of the surges, and were thus spared this strange fate.

Posts : 901 Join date : 2012-11-28

A hooded student stirs as the renditions of the historic battles ate depicted.
Ice blue eyes gaze out from the hood as delicate feminine hands pull it back, revealing blonde hair , tied up in a fashionable mannor.
She gently raises a hand to the instructor...

Subject: Re: The Weeping War Sat Mar 23, 2013 8:41 am

Valtore nods to the young woman. "Aye Lass, ye have a question?"

Posts : 901 Join date : 2012-11-28

"yes, please forgive me ... But listening to the history repeatedly surprises me... I could use some help understand something ..,
On one hand , we have ancient Elven culture , orderly , honored, tested, inspired and practiced. On the other side .., Abyssal forces .. By very nature beings of self serving chaos... Demons , demon fey, and such who lead subraces of orcs, goblins and in some cases undead, which have no mind better than a cow...
If I were a betting woman, my gold would have been on the ordered , trained and practiced forces ... And yet .. Over and over we see the powers of the Abyss victorious ...Subraces led by the chaotic scum of the outer planes... I am at a loss to understand it .... Can you comment , please ?"
Her blue eyes show a serious interest, perhaps beyond mere scholastic learning.

Subject: Re: The Weeping War Sat Mar 23, 2013 12:09 pm

Nadin shakes his head in a disaproving gesture from the back of the class, where only Valtore can notice, still he remain silent and gives a single nod to the loremaster, like aproving him and almost allowing him to answer, but the dwarf know the elf enough to know he merely demonstrate apreciation concerning his knowledge, and respect for the dwarf.

Subject: Re: The Weeping War Sun Mar 24, 2013 12:28 am

"Aye Lass. Ye be right. The order and training of the Elven foxes and their allies did account for much. The adventures that fought alone killed five fur every one of them that fell. However the numbers of the dark army were so great that they could absorb the loss with very little care. The leaders of the army only cared about one thing. Wiping out tha Elves. They didna care how many orcs, goblins, gnolls, or undead tha lost to reach that goal. As fur the soliders, tha be driven by hate. Every time the destroyed a village or tribe of tha forest dwellers their thirst for more only increased. As ye know at this point in tha conflict the full elven army has not met the army on tha field. The Abyssal forces have only been attacked soft targets and faced some resistance. The reports ta the city were incomplete and misleading. Added to the fact of tha disbelief of such a force bein brought ta bare against tha city lead ta the army bein unprepared."

Posts : 901 Join date : 2012-11-28

She nods, listening intently.
"Certainly , I can see how that is true. I just have a deep concern that lessons of history may not be teaching as well as we need. Not long ago, the battle of Cwn , just recently, demonfey came against us , but with fewer numbers than in the Weeping War, and took a terrible toll. They had 1500 demon fey and 500 demons including Yugoloths, Megaloths, Vrocks, hezrous, Nycaloths , leading thousands of Orcs, trolls , Bugbears, and Ogres...
We faced them with 8,000 elves ... 2,000 were Evereskan and 6,000 from Evermeet.
Yes we won the battle , but at terrible cost to us.
I do not want to side track from your presentation, sir, but as a student of the Red Knight, having been raised in a clan of Tempus, I ache to find ... Some thing .. That history is showing us ... Some thing ... To face these ever embolding enemies... To me, the trend is quite worrisome ... Sir. ... There have been sightings locally."
She blushes a bit , glancing around the room and then seems to have become shy and sits quietly.

Subject: Re: The Weeping War Sun Mar 24, 2013 3:42 pm

Ah-hem, very few people here have any idea where the battle of Cwn happened, it is better not complicate the lessons of sir Valtore with questions that do not concern the weeping war, let the secrets be as sir Valtore should see them miss? *His last remark seems almost rude* You can always talk about unrelated matters in particular later, so the professor may continue his lesson *Now he seems very calm polite and friendly, even smiling* I will talk personally with you in fact... *He adds very lightly in the end as almost none can hear besides someone very close* ... and your numbers are wrong, we lost only a bit more than 500, even if each was a pain, but over 300 fey'ri died, all demons were banished if not slayed and the thousands others critters were obliterated enough to survivals running for their lives.

Posts : 901 Join date : 2012-11-28

She squints with a grimace , realizing she was disrupting a class, and nods to the impressive elf.
She sinks in her chair and stays totally silent the rest of the presentation.

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