The Battle of the Cloud Peaks pitted the Brimmer Kingdom and its allies against the forces of the nascent Ochebana Empire.

Preliminaries

The glorious Ochebanian armies had invested Peteran, a sizeable and well-defended city, in less than a week. A small Brimmer army of 200 foot soldiers was sent to slow down the advance and feel out Ochebanian weak points, and was routed; the empire continued its inexorable advance towards the Brimmer capital, Drummir-Fjor. In order to stop the enemy and liberate the occupied territories, King Brofur raised a royal army and marched out to meet the Ochebanians on the field of battle. This move was a political necessity: though the king and his bannermen could have remained behind the walls of their cities and holdfasts, they were fast losing their economic backbone - the villages - and the support of the people. The king needed a victory now, or the whole state would collapse.

Raising the Armies

The Brimmer Kingdom itself was a powerful state with a strong land-based aristocracy backing it. The regular royal army, to a large part levied by nobles in the past few years, counted 500 infantrymen and 300 longbowmen. The Brimmer nobility also supplied 90 knights, all landed lords equipped with expensive full armor and mounts: this heavy cavalry formed the army's elite core. Furthermore, the king was able to draw from some of his autonomous vassals. Two dwarven enclaves in the Cloud Peaks, the Ironstones and Bheg Darhom, were indebted to the king and had a military alliance with him. A total of 100 dwarven heavy infantry, with full heavy plate, steel shields, and heavy weapons bolstered the royal infantry. The royal army also maintained an auxiliary force of orcish charge cavalry drawn from the many orc settlements in and near the kingdom, which combined with the knights gave the army a potent cavalry force.

The king also called to his allies for support. The Grand City of Drummir-Fjor, though the royal capital, had a degree of autonomy that included self-determination over its military forces. When the king marched to war, only 20 Drummir-Fiorite Guardsmen - well-trained and -equipped infantrymen - escorted him, in the function of royal guards. Finally, the Brimmers utilized a special corps of survival-trained light infantry, the Rangers, to police the wilderness and protect peasants from monsters. 60 of these soldiers heeded their king's call.

Ochebana had a somewhat smaller, but better trained and more experienced, professional army. It arrayed 320 foot soldiers, 100 archers, and 200 heavy infantry equipped with copper half-plate and tower shields. In addition, the empire's martial and noble elite, the Swordswingers, had sent 100 of their knights - though most preferred to use two swords or heavy weapons instead of shield, their full plate made them effective heavy infantry. Further strengthening the Ochebanian forces, 200 Brimmer soldiers who had surrendered or deserted now sided with them. Finally, when peace was closed with Bromalnor a year earlier, the goblinoids had agreed to send 80 stag cavalry to fight in Ochebana's northern campaigns. This cavalry unit consisted of chain- and scale-mail armored hobgoblin light cavalry that utilized large stags as mounts; it was exceptionally mobile and swift, forming a deadly ranged unit.

Deployment

King Brofur had the advantage of numbers, and especially of horses: his charge cavalry would give him a major advantage on the field of battle against the Ochebanian infantry. However, he did not yet wish to risk fighting the Ochebanians on the open field of battle: they were renowned for their tricky maneuvering, and Boruf's numerical advantage was too slim to risk falling into a trap - especially because his cavalry would not properly come to bear. Besides, several armies were coming to Brimmer's aid: the Great City of Drummir-Fjor had sent an army of 400 Guardsmen, which was five days' march on the main roads away, and the allied Marcher Lords in the south had sent 700 Marchers, which were about as far away. King Brofur's strategy was to wait a few days for all three armies to come together; he especially hoped the Marchers' battle experience and their uniquely mobile way of fighting would counter the well-drilled Ochebanian formations.

Accordingly, he left the main roads and the plains while the Ochebanians were still some days away, instead making camp in the rugged foothills of the Cloud Peaks. The camp was built with hills surrounding it on three sides, protecting its rear from massed infantry attack, and faced a small stretch of flat ground with a hip-deep river snaking its way down the middle. Because of limited space and the uneven terrain, the army's wagons were lined up on the side of the road, and the knights' horses were given a sizeable plot of land in the flat space between the wagons and the camp, so the powerful steeds would be fresh and strong for the coming fight. The orcs' badeep were less difficult and were allowed to roam on a hillside east of the camp.

It seemed to be a perfect plan. The Brimmers would not need to move for a few days, and they had a good defensible position "high in the Cloud Peaks" that would favor them against attacking infantry. Just in case, scouts were deployed around the camp to make sure no one could sneak up on them, and settled in for a few days' rest.

To King Brofur's shock, the very next morning, a scout with an arrow through his gut staggered into camp. The Ochebanian army was but ten minutes away.

The Battle

The alarm was raised and Brimmer's army rushed from the tents into the cool mist of early morning. The Rangers were encamped to the west, guarding the wagons and horses, but otherwise the entire army was in camp, ready to be deployed. In the chaos, the officers began lining up their forces, forming a long line facing south on the riverbank. The core of the infantry was formed by the experienced dwarves, who stood in formation well before the straggling humans formed up. The king, his officers, and his Guardsmen positioned themselves just behind the infantry line, to be able to swiftly distribute orders. Because the tents came so near to the river, there was very little maneuvering space, and the archers could not be deployed in front of the infantry - or, even, behind it.

The Ochebanian line appeared above the crest of the hill south of the camp. Moments later, horns blew, and the long line began charging down towards the Brimmers. Their core was formed by the Swordswingers, their lustrous armor shining brilliantly in the early dawn. The line's eastern flank was formed out of the 200 heavy infantry, who were further supported by 100 archers who ran in front of them.

The commander of Brimmer's forces, Lord Duke Thauyenfield, needed to use his many archers to weaken the Ochebanian line before it came too close. To make space, he ordered the infantry across the stream; the formations buckled and broke as the packed soldiers tried making their way across the water. The archers finally had enough space to properly form up, but by the time they let fly their first volley, battle was already met. The Ochebanian line, led by the Swordswingers, smashed into the Brimmer forces even while half of them were still wading across the river.

Lord Margrave-Bergfried Gauentree, the commander of the cavalry, tried to gather his forces to mount a charge against the Ochebanians' flank and encircle them. However, few of the Brimmer knights had their armor on, as there had been no time for most to put their plate on. Besides, the knights were encamped on the east side, but their horses were to the west. So, while the knights were rushing about and trying to rally around their officer, Sire Bergfried Gashnerk, the commander of the orcish cavalry, formed up his troops around him. The badeeps had been grazing on the hill right next to their tents, and the orcs were ready to ride. With their terrifying howls, they charged their heavy mounts along the thin stretch of flat ground and splashed through the river. However, they were met by a hail of arrows from the Ochebanian archers, and faced disciplined lines of heavily armored infantry as soon as they got out of the water. Without momentum, they couldn't break the enemy line, and were slowly beaten back by the armored foot soldiers.

Despite all the Brimmers' failings, now that battle was met, it looked as if both sides were even. The Brimmers had greater numbers and much of their infantry, in no small part thanks to the dwarven rectangle of steel at their center, had managed to get across the stream and had a strong foothold on the other side; the mounted orcs were keeping the Ochebanian heavy infantry at bay; and the 300 archers were properly formed up, able to support the infantry. But General Tommen Londyr, commander of the Ochebanian army, had not used up all his tricks. The Brimmer main force was fully engaged and unable to maneuver; he still had nearly 300 men available.

The 200 Brimmer turncoats who fought for Londyr marched down the road while battle was met, swiftly coming up to the Brimmer army's horses and wagons. There, they were challenged by the Rangers, who had been intending to flank the Ochebanians. 100 of them faced the Rangers, while the other hundred under Margrave Geralstone Teanae headed east after crossing the stream to fall in the Brimmers' flank. Unluckily for them, when they were about to reach the levies still stuck in the water and the exposed archers, 90 armored knights burst out from the tents and attacked them. Lord Margrave-Bergfried Gauentree had intended to get to the horses and charge the Ochebanians' flank, but instead unintentionally saved the Brimmers from being flanked themselves.

The hogoblin stag cavalry, which had done an excellent job of scouting out the Brimmer camp and killing its scouts, only revealed itself once the armies were firmly engaged. They appeared on the ridge east of the camp, above where the orcs' badeep had grazed. They fired hails of arrows into the backs of Brimmer archers, foot soldiers still wading across the water, and orcish riders still trying to break the Ochebanian infantry. Moments later, the light cavalry rode down the hill in gracious leaps, racing across the tent-streets of the camp and firing hails of arrows into the eastern part of Brimmer's army. Seeing this, the archers broke and ran, and part of the infantry tried turning around to face the new threat; this allowed the Ochebanian forces to finally break their line and push them into the stream, while the heavy infantry finished off the orcs and forced their way across the water themselves, beginning an envelopment of the Brimmers.

The hobgoblins were back on top of the hill ridge all around the camp, shooting down anyone who tried to flee up the slope. With half their army routed, the rest of the Brimmers broke and ran; the western flank, where the knights and rangers had just about defeated the turncoats, found itself surrounded and surrendered. The king himself, surrounded on all sides by infantry or mounted archers on hills, had to sound the defeat and surrender his army.

Aftermath

As Ochebana's prisoner, King Brofur the Brimmer handed over his crown and kingdom to the emperor in a solemn ceremony in Peteran. There was no Brimmer army left to speak of, and the kingdom's belief in the state was completely eroded. All of Brimmer, except the now-Free City of Drummir-Fjor, came under Ochebanian rule. The war was not over, however: the Marcher army that had been coming to Brofur's aid retreated back to its own borders, and Ochebana's armies turned their attention on the Marcher Lords.

Lord Margrave-Bergfried Gauentree died on the battlefield. Sire Bergfried Gashnerk was executed by the Ochebanians. Lord Duke Thauyenfield was imprisoned for a year, before he was allowed to return to his now-reduced family estates as a loyal subject of the Ochebanian Emperor. Margrave Geralstone Teanae was made Lord of Baklava. General Tommen Londyr continued serving as commander-in-chief of the Ochebanian forces during the Marcher campaigns, and was afterward named Warden of the Marches. Blade Captain Taren Londyr, who commanded the Swordswingers, became Governor of Peteran, before becoming Governor of Londerhome soon after. Second Commander Agene Gaunale, the veteran Swordswinger commander of the heavy infantry, died on the battlefield a year later.