The Battle of the Northern Camber

Year 731, Age of Myth

Memoir of Cao Sun, Ranger Lord

The Rangers are a very special coalition, a legion of warriors trained in combat, stealth, and magic. Us Rangers thrive in the wild, tracking down the deadliest monsters with our wilderness expertise. Those of us who have served well are rewarded with secrets of the natural and arcane world, as we learn knowledge of druidic and mage spellcasting. The Rangers serve the land with their expertise, guarding the isle from the megabeasts of the western side of Farvion. Rangers make excellent scouts, excellent tacticians, and most importantly, legendary hunters. As a Ranger Lord myself, I may be slightly biased. Regardless of this, I can confirm that as Rangers we have achieved more than any group of Fighters across the isle.

I came to Farvion expecting to do battle with the most powerful ancient monsters who still roam the world, as something about this isle seems to attract strange and powerful creatures not documented in any books. This was not my mission as I soon came to expect, as my mission was elsewhere. My expertise in tactics is required for a different mission, the advance of an Orcish barbarian group approaching our home city: Yggdrasil. The scouts' reports say that these brigands will reach the northern peak of the Camber Mountains within the week, and will likely reach Yggdrasil soon later. We must send a message, not only to barbarians, but to any who would dare advance on the fair city of Yggdrasil. Our city is home to one of the largest Ranger guildhalls in the world, and I an not about to let some group of petty berserkers take over my city. I gathered a handful of the best of the best, our specially trained Fighters in order to prepare a defense against the onslaught about to befall our home. We set out that very night, weapons and armor at the ready. 1,000 men, ready for battle.

We reached the northern peak first. Having Rangers to lead the way across the untamed wilderness proves fortuitous in any event, especially in warfare. As soon as we scaled the peak, we saw them. There's a huge overpass right on the other side of this mountain, and on this overpass sat at least a thousand Half-Orcs. Archers, carrying bows, crossbows, ballista, you name it. The battle had hardly begun when half of each side had already fallen to the other, with my team's experience versus their superior numbers. It didn't take us more than a day to finish them off, as our horses allowed us to reach them before their artillery left us dead. As I raised my halberd to the sky, I watched their last banner fall. We made camp on the mountain that night, leading our troop rest before the journey home. i decided to take the opportunity to scout a 1 mile perimeter around the campsite myself, just to be on the safe side. I get the feeling these Orcs wouldn't have brought only a squad of archers to siege Yggdrasil. Not long later, I saw more soldiers on the march towards our campsite, mostly pureblood Orcs this time. I crept into the foliage nearby, and prepared to cast my Invisibility spell. I snuck into their camp, and gathered information on their group. They sent a bunch of archers in to weaken us, and brought out 2,200 Orcs, Half-Orcs, Goblins, Gnolls, and even Kobolds as reinforcements. They easily were triple our numbers, meaning I'd need to come up with a good plan, and quickly too.

Unfortunately, these Orcs were in the process of marching towards our camp in the dead of night as I arrived. They likely intend to reach our camp while they can attack under the cover of the dark night's sky. I can't exactly reach the camp in time to mobilize, seeing as I'd have to run at full speed in order to make it in time. Even then, I'd only have roughly 5 minutes to get everyone together. I decided to act swiftly. I'd already used my only casting of Invisibility today, so I needed something else for an escape plan. In the meantime, I think I could pretty easily pick off their leader.

I simply snuck up behind him under the concealment of invisibility, and swiftly removed his head with the head of my halberd. Immediately the barbarians were shocked awake as I attempted to make my escape. I fled in the opposite direction of my soldiers, as I would easily be able to follow my own tracks back to them later. I started running furiously, leading the barbarians on a wild goose chase in effort to stall them from reaching my troops. I led them to a nearby chasm in the Camber Mountains, one that I know to be the home of a powerful copper dragon who is known to be awakened with relative ease. As I ran deeper into the folds of the chasm and the sky above me was swallowed by the cavernous ceiling, I began to shout and roar loudly as I turned around to charge back into the enemy force. They roared and shouted in return, and an exceptionally loud battle seemed to be moments away. A much greater roar was heard from the depths of the chasm, as a magnificent creature with massive copper wings descended upon my foes. The mighty dragon spewed a wave of acid across the incoming force. All that was not destroyed fled immediately. I took a moment to rest and thank the dragon. To my surprise, I didn't need to explain myself to such a powerful creature. The dragon instead lowered its head to face mine, and told me that a friend of the dragons would soon come to the isle. To this day, I am uncertain of what he meant. Perhaps this has something to do with that "Dragon Pirate?" from what I've heard, he's hated by at least one seadragon in the southern ocean.In any case, I soon retreated to my campsite where I soon notified everyone of the incoming attacks, telling them they could expect a fight against around 1,500 Orcish soldiers. I neglected to tell them that approximately 700 of them were already dead, as I didn't deem it a necessary detail.

The next day we had an adequate ambush set where our camp used to be. We waited patiently for the Orcish advance, but they never came. For three more days we waited, in preparation for an attack. By now they would be close enough to the Orc and Half-Orc nations of the northwestern side, so I decided to wait myself for a while. The rest of my unit returned home, and I awaited their return for another two weeks. I scouted the northern mountains extensively during this time, and have since become very skilled in traversing the Camber Mountains.

I returned home after a couple weeks. I believe my extensive recon has been successful in assuming that the barbarians will not attack us for some further time. I advised the council of Yggdrasil to construct a watchtower out on the north side of the Camber Mountains, but they have refused this thus far. I look forward to my next full report on the situation, and hope it does not involve any further incidents

-Cao Sun, Ranger Lord of Yggdrasil