Saithis' Log-

Humans. It is of their very nature to defile and destroy everything they come across. It's because of them that my warriors and I are out here, when we should be back trying to stabilize our war torn land. I fought to stay strong when High Command gave me the order to move out, to fight back a human force that had encroached on our lands against strong warning. My warriors and I were of the Night Elf elite. Why they decided to give us a task that could be carried out as a training excersise for some less experienced warriors was beyond me.

Of course I protested the order, saying that the efforts of my unit were better spent elsewhere. Humans were creative but often too overconfident in their abilities, and as such made easy prey once the arrows started flying. High Command was steadfast in their decision to send a unit they knew could not fail however, and I finally agreed. I looked at the orders given to me, and I allowed myself the briefest of smirks. I had guessed the location of our engagement correctly. Lost Temple. It had been one of our strong points in the first war against the Burning Legion, and was the greatest landmark bordering Human lands. If the Humans were intent on leading an incursion into our domain, the healing fountain at the temple would not be a bad place to start. I informed my warriors of our mission, and at night we left silently for our objective.

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We reached the temple the same time as our rivals, who were still unaware of our presence. I intended to keep it that way. Using some wisps from base I ordered the construction of a Tree of Life, some moonwells, and two ancients of war. A time later I would have them create a hunter's hall, but it could wait at the moment. A scout of mine informed me that the human settlement was located in the southern reaches of the temple, and that it had been harassed by a footman. I took the news of our discovery badly, but I had learned invaluable information as a trade-off. The Humans situated here were rebels, not part of those led by Jaina Proudmoore in the Barrens. They had broken off when their brethren allied themselves with the orcs, and were being led by a mage called Key_Boy. I decided I needed to know more about our enemy before we reached a confrontation, and so set out on my own early in the morning. Much to my surprise, I ran across the footman who had attacked my scout earlier in the day. To my shame he was the first to gather his wits, drawing his sword. His first attack was a vertical upswing (at best a clumsy one), and I nimbly sidestepped it. This man was used to slow, powerful attacks that could slice an orc in two. I gathered from the surprise on his face he knew he had a worthy opponent. As the momentum of his full body swing carried him forward, I placed my hand on the back of his head and forced it down into my knee. He was again quick to act, as he let loose a long horizontal swipe at me, which I just barely cleared in time. Before I could speak to him he had sprinted off down a worn path, and I set off after him. When it became evident that I would'nt catch him my anger rose, and I pulled out and threw one of my many poisoned knives. It caught him square in the back, and he died before hitting the ground. I stood for a moment over his body, and then moved on. I had information to gather.

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Barbarians! They are truly barbarians! I ran up the slight incline of the human base roughly twenty minutes after dispatching the footman scout, unaware if he had returned and given the information that there were Night Elves in the region. Sliding on my stomach across the dirt, I made out the form of an archmage and two more footmen standing in the distance. I also noted a town hall, several farms, and a barracks. These guys were not going to move easily.

Beyond the hill which hid my body there was no cover, and I knew that my stealth mission was coming to a close. At the moment I had two choices: I could return home and gather my warriors quickly to come and overwhelm these Humans...or I could attempt to negotiate with them. The thought did not set right with me, but if it could spare any extra bloodshed on these lands, so be it. I stood up and began walking towards the Humans with my hands raised in the sky. They failed to notice me until I was about fifty yards out, and the archmage and his escort ran out to greet me with blades raised. When they realized I held no weapons, the mage ordered his footmen to halt, and he rode out to greet me.

"Hail, good Night Elf!" I nodded at the statement, and returned the greeting. "What are you and your men hoping to establish on these lands, mage?" A bead of sweat. A moment of hesitation. Damn.
"Have we broken over our boundaries yet? I was unaware that these lands were yours, elf." Elf?
"You are perfectly aware that these lands are ours, as we sent several emissaries to warn you while you were still journeying with your men."
"Must have missed them then, sorry." He smiled, and continued. "But have not we done you a service? Not but last week was there an orc settlement located on these very lands! We fought long and hard to clear them of this sacred ground, and I have not heard back from them since!"

From the look on my face he could tell I was not buying into it.

"I assure you that I speak no falsehood! Take this if you need proof!"
He threw a large and tattered book down at me, and before I could inspect it he conjured a fireball and attacked me! I was so surprised at the sudden attack that the flames caught my tunic and clung to them, while I loosed one of my knives at the mage. He caught it in the arm and screamed with pain, while his two footman lackeys ran past to attack me. As they charged me I said a cooling spell to put out the flames dancing on my tunic, and leaped over the two guards.

I ran back to base with the news that we had an engagement on our hands.

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So be it. I knew from the beginning that the negotiations would be in vain, but it failed to ease that knowledge that more people would die because of Key_Boy's ignorance. I gathered up four of my huntress elite, and we ran off that very night back to the human base. What we found was a moderate army, made up of several footmen, the archmage, and a rifleman. They brought guns with them? That did not bode well with me at all. While at close range a huntress could find any number of ways to dispatch a dwarf, one armed with a blunderbuss rifle could pick off our warriors from great distances, with great accuracy. I ordered my warriors past the Humans, and we ran off to the side of their base to check if they had created any extra resource gathering centers. Results were negative.

We ran to the fountain at the middle of the temple, and my warriors and I drank from the cool water to heal our wounds. Dawn would be fast approaching, so we left before the unsuspecting gnolls guarding said fountain woke up. One of my huntress warriors put his finger over the largest gnoll's nose, but after a quick scolding he stopped with a smile on his face. The gnoll gave a quick snort and continued to sleep.

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We made another pass at the human base today, and managed to kill a peasant finishing construction of an arcane vault. The building fell soon after, but we met some resistance in the form of four footmen and five riflemen, so we beat it out of there. In the meantime I had ordered some wisps to attend to our Tree of Life, which had been transforming to a Tree of Ages for several hours while we were out fighting. Once it finished it would gain the knowledge necessary to begin our secret weapon: druids of the talon. I told the huntresses that our priority was to harass the Human settlement, buying time for the Tree to finish.

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We were attacked today by a large human force, about fifteen of them in all. They struck us just as the sun rose, and I scrambled back to base with my unit. We managed to take them from behind, but other than that did no real damage. The dwarves simply turned around, aimed, and fired.

Blam! Blamblam! Blamblam blam!

The noise produced by an upgraded blunderbuss rifle is deafening. A dwarven friend of mine (whom I had met when our people joined forces against the Burning Legion) told me that was part of the weapon's design; the ability to serve both damage and confusion in a battle was an advantage dwarve's relished. (He was killed four days later in a valley called Twisted Meadows after having his head lopped off by a demon's claw).

One of my warriors immediately fell off his panther with four holes in his chest, and his steed fell soon after attempting to decapitate a footman. One down and we had done almost no damage to the enemy. Realizing that the chances of us winning this fight in the open were less than that of the archmage finding a date, I ordered my remaining troops to hide within our base. We huddled behind an ancient of war while it took the brunt of the Human's damage, and after refreshing ourselves at the nearby moonwells charged out again. Another of my knives took a footman through his faceplate, which served to greatly lower the morale of those troops near him. His story came to a close when the ancient of war flattened him with its great fist. More huntresses attempted to reinforce us from the second ancient of war, but were gunned down before reaching the relative safety of the other ancient. I began to feel an emotion I had not felt since joining my unit: fear. These Humans were very well trained and showed great discipline on the battlefield, making no reckless charges into our cover where they knew we could slaughter them. To add insult to injury, the blasted archmage stood before the slow destruction of my base, laughing. Messengers waiting to send orders of reinforcement crowded around his horse, and he gladly sent them on their way. New riflemen and footmen from the enemy camp would be joining us soon.

Then Key_Boy said something that will stay with me for a long time:

"Good game."

I stood in shock at the statement, as I knew he was right. I turned towards my remaining warriors, all of them bleeding and panting, and saw the determination on their faces. I knew then, with the blunted sound of rifle fire filling my ears, that they were not yet ready to surrender. I turned back and smiled, ready to order the last heroic charge against the wall of whistling lead that was at the moment destroying one of our moonwells. As the words "charge" came to my mouth a hand grasped my shoulder, and I glanced back to see one of my oldest friends in full battle atire.

The Demon Hunter, Darkweaver.

I smiled at the sight of my old friend, and then noticed the presence of two druids of the talon behind him! So the wisps had followed orders making that ancient of wind. Gotta thank'em after this whole mess. A silent greeting was exchanged between me and Darkweaver, and with that we let loose a warcry as one and raced into battle.

The last thing I remember seeing was an enemy priest bursting into flames after being burned of mana. The last thing I remember hearing was a gun going off behind me before I blacked out.

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I awoke in the altar of our settlement, with Darkweaver sitting besides me. My head swam with thoughts of what had happened, if I had died or been saved, if we had won or lost the battle with Key_Boy's forces. I blinked my eyes and turned my head sideways, realizing then that it was on a pillow, and that I was lying on a straw mattress. Darkweaver smiled when he realized that I had awaken. We waited there smiling at each other. There was no communication. Between me and Darkweaver, there was no need for any. I laid in the makeshift hospital wing of the altar for several minutes, Darkweaver serving as company, before falling alseep.

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I was ready to fight again. The druids of the talon stationed at our base had helped me get better with their natural magic, and I actually felt stronger than I had been before being hit with that rifleman's bullet. The druids had removed the metal the night I woke up besides Darkweaver, and had been gentle with me. As gentle as one can be when removing a bullet burried six inches within a person's back. It was now two days after the surgery, (three after being shot), and during my recuperation Darkweaver had told me the story of how we survived the Human assault.

During the battle the Tree of Life had finished transforming, and the wisps carried out their orders of creating the ancient of wind that allowed the training of the previously mentioned Talons. Darkweaver had travelled to my base with a caravan bearing improved weapons and armor, and when he heard the sounds of fighting ahead he broke off and sprinted to our rescue.

When we had charged from our cover Darkweaver drained a priest of his mana (during his story I informed him I had seen his act before passing out) before dragging me to safety. I blushed when he mentioned how he had to save me during the battle; not only was it shameful but it could have very well cost him his own life to care for me. He told to cheer up though, and his next piece of advice brought a bright smile to my face. Key_Boy, the ridiculous archmage, was dead. According to Darkweaver's narrative he had charged headlong into our base to personally oversee the destruction of our Tree of Ages before being smacked into the air by our ancient of war. Another smile hit my face when I heard that the ancient of war was still alive after taking such damage from dwarven rifles.

With Key_Boy out of the fight his men retreated a short distance to regroup. Darkweaver and our remaining warriors chased and killed more of them before they broke into full retreat. They pursued all the way to the Human base before breaking off.

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Sorry the last sketch is peeling, I'll fix it later.

With several huntresses, some druids of the Talon, archers, and of course Darkweaver, I set out in the evening for the Human base. The Talons, using their main spell Faerie Fire, deduced that somehow Key_Boy had lived by taking a glimpse of their base. Whether he had been dragged from the field by his men or his horse, he had returned home and been healed much as I was. I relished the chance to face him in open combat, except that this time no cheap dwarf would lay me low.

The expression on the faces of the Humans when we charged their hill was priceless. They had obviously thought us content to be alive, let alone have the audacity to counter their assault with one of our own. A mana burn and knife killed a loitering sorceress instantly, and my huntresses and archers began trading blows with some footmen and spell breakers. Two Talons in the rear rounded out our force by casting Faerie Fire on every member of the opposing army.

While Darkweaver calmly battled four footman that had surrounded him, I chased after the archmage who had been screaming orders from the backlines of his warriors. I reached within my tunic, pulling out three knives in one hand, and loosed all three in his direction. Bingo.

All three poisoned knives struck home on his weak body, and he let out an animal scream that could do no justice to the pain he was feeling at the moment. It was music to my ears.

When several militiamen were ferried into battle from the Human's Keep, I knew it was time to retreat. Casting a scroll of town portal given to me by High Command, our forces were sent back to base for healing at the moonwells.

Taking stock of our casualties (all heavily wounded but showing no signs of complaint) I decided to head back towards the center fountain to heal. Night had fallen during our attack, and I knew that the sleeping gnolls there would do us no harm. While stationed there I had a nearby Talon take a look at Key_Boy's forces for me, and I grinned when I saw them bickering and moaning amongst each other. The common consensus was that they should retreat from the cursed Temple, and form a settlement someplace else. Many were heavily wounded, and those still standing lacked the energy to bury or even remove the dead at their feet.

When Key_Boy sauntered up towards them, a healing priest standing abreast to him, the looks of his men told me they had one thing on their mind: mutiny. Have to give the old man credit, he's tough. Realizing that he needed to salvage the remains of the situation, the archmage demanded that they launch a last ditch assault against our base.

Still standing at the fountain near my joking warriors (the one man had his finger under the gnoll's nose again) I told them to be ready to move out again, and returned to the Talon to follow Key_Boy's speech.

"These bastards have killed your comrades! They've jeered and poked fun at ya when they hurt ya, and for that I refuse to leave until they are shown some manners! (Some scattered cries of "Hear hear!") "Furthermore, I believe that we are just the people to deliver their lesson! Follow me I say! To the Night Elf base, and to fortune!" ("AHHHHHH! YEAHHHHH! HEARRR!!!")

The Talon turned to me and informed me that his Faerie Fire had dissipated, and that he could no longer find the Human's location. I patted him on the shoulder and thanked him for his efforts, and returned to the men. Another scolding brought the man (I later learned his name, "Nice Guy" Freddy) to a halt. He had the warriors around him smiling as he made one last face to the slumbering gnoll, and we left the fountain to return to base for the inevitable Human attack.

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We arrived at base only minutes after the Human force (you'll find that dwarves run surprisingly fast when angry) and laid into their exposed flank. With three times the number of forces I had last time, I managed to cause lasting damage in the form of a dead sorceress and two riflemen. Then, he was in front of me. I nodded to my warriors to travel on ahead when Key_Boy dismounted before me, staff and sword crossed in front of him in a defensive posture.
"You bitch. You'll be pleased to know that your knives hurt me deeply, but know that I will pay you back ten fold!" With that he conjured a towering creature made of water, and I stared upwards unimpressed.

As the two launched their seperate attacks, I blinked onto the mage's horse which stood behind him. As he stood confused for a moment at my disappearing act, his horse gave a brief whine. I quickly flipped over his head and behind him as his horse, which had briefly served as my perch, was engulfed in a fireball. Shocked by the man's utter disregard for life, I decided to take his. He made a weak attempt to parry while I took some fun swipes at him, then reached under my belt and threw my last knife straight for his head.

It was over.

Entry-

Darkweaver and I had been promoted by High Command for our efforts against Key_Boy's rebel forces, and the Temple had been secured by another Night Elf division sent two days after our objective was completed. Four archers had destroyed the "Water elemental" conjured by my opponent, and after watching his wretched body slump to the ground I followed the rest of my forces to a total rout. An ancient protector created during our first encounter with the enemy had laid many dwarves low, and our huntresses made quick work of the terrified footmen and spell breakers caught between two ancient. I regretted to find that the Talon who had helped heal me and transmit the information from the Human base had been slain during the battle, but two footmen were found beside him. He had fought to the last and taken them with him. Darkweaver and my unit saluted him and those who had fallen during a burial ceremony two weeks after the battle at Lost Temple, before departing for Darnassus, the Night Elf capital city. I had grown sick of fighting.

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A month after our victory at Lost Temple, I found the time to finally inspect the tattered volume dropped to me by Key_Boy. I sat at home, my dinner cooking in the background. I kicked my legs up on a side chair, cursing my clumsiness as I knocked over a trove of official reports and briefings that needed filling out. High Command was unaware if any other rebels lurked in our land, and they demanded that Darkweaver and I fill in any extra details of our engagement. I picked up and arranged the papers, and sat down on my couch covered in bear skin.

As I brushed the dust off it's cover I noticed that the book was a deep shade of red, and that ritualistic symbols were sketched over it. My eyes opened wide as I delved into the first page of what I found to be the journal of a troll medicine man. I read the details of his confrontation with Key_Boy, and finally understood the extent of the rebel invasion.

Dinner forgotten, I grabbed a quill and ran to the reports laying on the chair.