The Liberation of Black Crag: A WAR Story

I wrote up this little RP story about one weekend afternoon when the Destruction forces on the Ostermark server locked the Black Crag zone, pushing Order back to Thunder Mountain. Now zone locks have become rather common on our server and occur daily at this point, but the reason this particular one stood out for me was twofold.

1) Order had pushed the conflict into Black Crag and controlled Thunder Mountain for several weeks prior to this. And being a very nationalistic orc player, that was just unacceptable from my viewpoint

2) This was the first time I had ever felt like I personally (along with a few guildmates), had made a distinct and noticeable impact on the zone control.

Click the link below to read the story.


"Skahin' hoomeez," Azh muttered as he picked up the limp body of the shaman, Khargug.

"Wake up ya dum git! It's time ta get ta smashin'!" Azh roared as he violently shook the poor goblin back and forth. A Witch Hunter assassin had snuck right in between the hulking Black Orcs and skillfully stuck a blade into the tiny shaman. The human had tried to make a quick escape afterwords, but while Orcs are often slow on the uptake, nothing stirs up their bloodlust quicker than seeing one of their own cut down in front of them. The red, pulpy remains of the assassin still lay at the end of the road leading out of the Black Crag warcamp as a few ravens circled, eying the fresh meat.

"Oi Boss! Me wakee, me wakee," Khargug groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. Azh set him down on the ground and the shaman muttered a few strange words, calling upon the power of Gork (or was it Mork, Azh could never remember which was which) to mend his grievous wounds.

Azh grunted in satisfaction as he saw the final two Greenskins of his band ride in across the bridge, two not yet fully-grown gobos, Pachum the Shaman and Scraak the Squig Herder. Along with the two other Orcs, Mlarak and Grubdug, Azh had gathered this small Shadowclan force here to probe the enemies defenses and see if they could wrest control of the Crag from the damnable stunties who had inhabited the many ravines of the area for much too long.

Azh had checked in with the goblin scouts at the warcamp who informed him that both keeps were already under the control of Destruction forces. All that was left to secure were the small, odd ruins below the Skar called Rottenpike, and the Squig Pen caves in the north.

But first, it was time to try and throw a wrench into the stuntie machine that allowed them to maintain control of the area. In a small, out-of-the-way niche amongst the many gorges and dead-ends of Black Crag, there was a vital crossing point over which the Greenskins and Stunties fought on a daily basis. Each side had a small encampment nearby, flanking a seemingly never-ending supply cache of Stuntie Boom Barrels. If the Greenskins could permanently blow up the stuntie camp there, they would have a tremendous advantage in pushing the front back towards Thunder Mountain.

So the Shadowclan band gathered their choppas, prepared their mojo and moved into the fray known as Howling Gorge. After nearly an hour of constant combat, including a number of encounters with the same Witch Hunter that had impaled poor Khargug earlier, Shadowclan withdrew, battered, tired, victorious, but ultimately unsuccessful in their attempt to drive the stunties out of the area completely. Numerous booms had been placed, many foes slain and much blood shed, but it was not quite enough to destroy the stuntie camp. Shadowclan rode away from the Gorge, patrolling past Rottenpike and the Pens, discovering in both cases that some other clan had already secured these points. Continuing their patrol of the winding chasms and paths, the Greenskins happened upon a few unlucky Order and gleefully chopped them into little bits.

Finding no other activity in the area, the Shadowclan force once more headed back into the meat grinder known as the Howling Gorge, more determined than ever. This time was different. With the Black Orcs stubbornly carrying the Boom Barrel repeatedly, at great risk to themselves (Orcs aren't known for delicately handling anything), the Destruction forces set up a chain of support from the center cache to the stuntie camp, flowing back and forth in response to pushes and attacks from their Order foes. Explosions echoed through the rocks as the stuntie camp was obliterated from the Gorge once and for all.

Battle yells of victory rang out across the land as the powder-singed Shadowclan force emerged from the Gorge. After months of fighting the stunties on the doorstep of the Greenskin fortress, Black Crag had finally been liberated from their grubby little hands, and the push on the dwarf capitol could begin again in earnest.

Azh raised his choppa and gestured northwards as the group mounted up. "Guud job, boyz! On ta Tunder Mownt. Dem stunties gonna be hoppin' mad an us gonna be der ta greet dem when dem come out ub dem holez!"

Azh let out a roar and led his troops onward to the next battle.