Tavern Tales 6

Having grown sick of the depredations of the elves, and their cowardly, underhanded tactics Lord Drak decided that a forceful stoke was need to dissuade them from any more attacks. Knowing that the elves strengths are in misdirection, ambush and assassination he determined that the best strategy would be an attack on their home. A well placed informant had revealed the location of the elves' lair in the Witch's woods but Captain Tamrin did not have sufficient forces to storm this carefully defended site.
Fortunately, the alliances recently signed with several of the nearby villages had brought in fresh recruits, and when the Red Scales joined the alliance, the attack moved into the realm of the possible. When Lord Drak went to inquire of the church of Virid whether any of their priests could be spared to support the strike force, he was pleasantly surprised to find that their leader had a similar opinion as to what needed to be done about the elves. 80 well trained and equipped knights were dispatched from Southport to aid n this noble endeavour, and as a sign of good faith, Lord Drak outlawed the heretical Church of Tarin and banishing it's false priests. After his traitorous acts in helping the elves, the leader of that misguided faith was also sentenced to death, but managed to flee before he could be apprehended. A bounty has been placed on us head of 10gp.
The combined forces were placed under the command of Hugh Tamrin, who marched them up to Casty's Rest, where the priests conducted a ceremony to honour the victims of the raid orchestrated by the elves. Having reinforced the righteousness of their cause, the army continued on North to the Witch's Woods. As they grew closer, the elves began using their vile magics to turn the elements against our valiant soldiers. Torrential rain turned the paths to waist deep mud and driving winds swept away tents and clothing. Dismayed, but undeterred these courageous warriors pressed on into the cussed woods.
Though the branches sheltered them from the wind and rain, the woods themselves began an attack on our forces. Trees began to move, striking men and mounts without warning. Almost half of the Knights from Southport were killed before they knew what was happening. While still reeling from this, beasts began attacking, seemingly targeting the priests. Though the remaining knights rushed to their aid, only 1 priest and less than a quarter of the Knights remained alive. In spite of these unnatural attacks, clearly a result of elven magic, and the timidity of the remaining forces from Southport, the army marched on.
After several days of fighting their way through the trees and beasts the army reached the site of the abandoned elven settlement. Though their first thoughts were that w had been deceived by our informant it soon became clear that the village had not been deserted for long. It appeared as though their had been a fallen no out between the elves and orcs, unsurprising given both species' base natures. Several Orc corpses were found bearing the signs of magic, and most of the structures had been smashed or torn down. One side was clearly not expecting to return, as several vicious traps hidden n the undergrowth claimed the lives of several more of our brave champions.
Though disappointed by the cowardice of the elves, our troops set about denying the area to them. The remaining structures were destroyed, the trees they had been built in were chopped down, and many new traps were set. Throughout it all, the beasts continued their unnatural attacks, claiming more of the knights of Virid. With their work done, our forces returned, battered and bruised but ultimately successful.