The Battle of the Sylint

The wood elves of the Sylint Forest have always been fiercely independent, even when it came to joining the Empire, they resisted, but in the end agreed when they found out the empire would be ruled by elves. They were not happy when Emperor Simimar Kyrn decreed 530 years later that the Sylint Forest would become part of the Barony of Westvale. The Emperor was trying to balance the various factions in Kyrnia so that the humans, who were underrepresented in the Grand Council of the Light would feel more a part of the Empire, and the Sylint was the price that he was going to pay to achieve that. He sent an Imperial Decree to Baron Yorga Lindon of Westvale giving him the lands south of the Khaziram Mountains to the River Ar, which included all of the Sylint Forest, but with the understanding that the Sylint elves would have control over the forest in perpetuity, and that they would answer to the Baron in terms of taxes and pledges of fealty.
Word got to the wood elves that the Sylint was being given to the Baron, but not that they would retain control over it. Many of the wood elves became angry at what they saw as a slight by their cousins the high elves of Quara and the Emperor, and so they prepared to defend their lands against the Baron.
When the Baron received word of the additional lands granted to him, he prepare to head to the Sylint to meet the people and the wood elf lords to discuss how the Imperial decree would work. By the time, the Baron and his retinue of one hundred men approached the Sylint, a several thousand wood elves had formed a defensive position on the edge of the woods. At first they thought the Baron's forces were just the vanguard of a much larger force, so they prepared to let this vanguard pass into the forest where they would be surrounded and destroyed, while keeping the fight out of the sight of what they thought would be the main force soon to follow.
As the Baron and his men worked their way deeper into the forest, they rode casually, not expecting any kind of attack. When the wood elves struck the devastation was quick and unexpected. Wood elven archers in the trees rained arrows down upon the small retinue, and when they tried to move off the road, the wood elf fighters rose up out of the ground and swung down from trees cutting them down quickly. Finally, only a few of the Baron's men remained with the Baron, and he ordered the remaining men to surrender. The entire battle lasted less than five minutes.
The Baron and the other prisoners were brought before the wood elf lords, where the Baron explained that he was not there for war, and there was not another force on its way to attack the elves. He showed them the Imperial Decree, and said he was there to discuss how Westvale and the Sylint would work in cooperation to fulfill the decree. After confirming the decree and how it retained the wood elf independence, the wood elf lords and the Baron negotiated a deal. The wood elves would support the Barony, and pay a minor tax each year, and in exchange, no human was allowed to enter the Sylint without permission from the wood elves.
Since the Battle of the Sylint, the peace has held, but the wood elves remain closed off and secretive, and every now and then, some people disappear when they go into the Sylint.

Conflict Type

Skirmish