This is Covenant!

And so it was that last night found us in the murky depths of Gruul the Drakonkiller's lair. For several weeks now we had been slowly building up our assaults, though disappointing to say, with mixed results. But this time we were better prepared, our recruitment drive had swelled the ranks of those willing to put their lives on the line in the pursuit of righteous judgement. Guild craftsmen had worked overtime in creating those items that could tip the balance of power in our favour; we prayed that it would be enough. Hungry for the victory that had eluded us for so long, we set out to bring the pain.

After summarily dispatching Maulgar's meagre defences, we quickly set up in our attack formation. Against us stood 5 Ogres, all different and equally dangerous in their own ways. Aside from the High King himself stood Krosh Firehand, a particularly angry mage, Olm the Summoner, master of the dark arts, Blindeye the Seer, a fanatical priest, and Kiggler the Crazed, a shaman whose grasp on reality seemed to have slipped long ago.

At the appointed hour Asahina, decked out in equipment that boosted her health far beyond the norm called our army into action. A second before Asahina unleashed a burning frenzy at Firehand, Hunters littered around the room fired a salvo of misdirecting arrows, causing the remainder of the Ogres to run at our Warriors and Druids. As the melee of Ogres and attackers was pulled throughout the cavern we set about our first target. With a snarl of fury to let the others know he was ready, Throndil let the rest of us know he had Blindeye firmly under control. Falling upon him like a pack of wild Banshees, myself and my fellow Rogues leapt from the shadows at his back and attempted to see what his insides looked like. Hunters unleashed volley after volley of arrows, each one deadly accurate and each one aimed to cause maximum damage. It was quickly clear that our enraged assault was having the desired effect as very quickly the Seer decided that healing himself would be prudent. What he didn't bargain on was 3 hyped up Rogues all deciding to kick him in various painful spots to interrupt his casting. With a Warlock's Curse of Tongues causing him to fumble over every word of his incantation, he stood no chance of healing. Soon resorting to more desperate measures, he shielded himself in an attempt to heal all his comrades at arms. Again with the curse slowing him, his shield was crushed within a mere few seconds and his spell was stopped by a timely counterspell from one of the Mages on hand. In the end there could be only one outcome. Blindeye the Seer was the first to fall and without a healer we just levelled the playing field.

Our second objective was Ohm the Summoner. Whilst the battle with Blindeye had been raging, Tinchena had been keeping herself busy. Not only was she supplying curses to other targets, but she was also keeping the Summoner's pets under control. Turning them against him to not only cause even more damage but to help turn aside some of his magical abilities, Ohm suffered the same fate as his Priestly counterpart. Try as he might to damage our efforts, without healing he quickly succumbed to the combined weight of the extra attackers from Blindeye. Objective 2 was completed with a minimum of fuss. We were still 25 strong and they had lost 40% of their forces.

Objective 3 required a different tactic to the previous. With his ability to knock back anyone close to him, we had given the task of keeping Kiggler the Crazed occupied to 2 Hunters, Ienina and Ramocheese. Decked out in Nature resistant clothing, they squared off at 30 paces and hurled arrow after arrow, receiving bolts of lightning in return. By the time the rest of the assault force brought their arms to bears on Kiggler, he was half dead already, a hundred or more arrows turning him into a ghastly, upright porcupine. With the added salvo from the rest of us, his defiance ended in a lethal crossfire that literally tore him to shreds. 0-3 to the away team and we hadn't even broken for oranges yet.

Other than Maulgar himself, this just left Krosh Firehand to defeat and again due to his far reaching blast waves we had to attack at range for fear of a quickly but extremely painful fiery end. Again due to the time that had passed since the opening salvo from Asahina, Krosh was in a fairly bad state, but we had no room in our minds for sympathy. For too long we had been beaten back by this ferocious follower of the flame and we wanted revenge. Again the cave momentarily darkened as the first volley blotted out what little light there was and a cry of surprise and pain was heard when it met its target. A few more salvos and the fight was done. There was but one opponent remaining and we were still 25 strong.

It is at this point that I must mention our brave Warriors and the efforts that they put into keeping their targets under control. High praise indeed must go to Gwythyr who from the very beginning stood bravely against the unending assault of Maulgar without fear or doubt. For some moments the battle had raged across the cavern and with no one to turn to for aid, Gwyth stood in front of the mountain...and made the mountain blink first. Of course this also would not be possible without the aid of those healers who stood to one side constantly raining down a barrage of divine magic to close the wounds that would ordinarily cut a person in two, praying that the next heal would arrive in time to save Gwythyr's life. Though exhausted the Priests were forced onto more and more with a ready supply of Innervates.

Our time had come. For weeks we Officers had envisioned this moment; High King Maulgar alone against 25 highly motivated and highly dangerous individuals. With a cry that would unnerve Illidan himself we ran forward, united in the knowledge that our destiny laid in our own hands. For some moments we attacked like a pack of wild dogs heaping pain and misery upon his ugly, deformed head. His wild spinning attacks were something we were aware of though and at the first sign of him winding up, we all ran out of his range. Two or three times this was accomplished until he managed to maneuver himself slightly and in the blink of an eye myself and my two fellow Rogues were crushed by a single swipe that put us into a world of hurt. By this time Maulgar had got himself into somewhat of a state and started to charge into the remainder of our forces. Though gravely wounded and fighting to remain awake through the pain, I could just make out several heavily armoured shaped darting in and out, taunting Maulgar, forcing him to turn his attention away from the group. Though he managed to put poor Melyanna down not once but twice in the ensuing melee, there was always a friendly Druid on hand to bring the broken Gnome back into the fight. As the battle raged and Maulgar sought to cause more devastation and hopefully snatch victory from our grasp.

As I slipped in and out of consciousness the battle raged for what seemed like days. For every blow that landed on a Warrior, a Priest healed it. For every blow we landed on him, it seemed to do little damage. But little things added together soon become small and small become large. In the war of attrition we were slowly beating him back. Piece by piece High King Maulgar's health was robbed from him as the dedicated assault continued unabated. Maulgar threw another whirlwind attack in an attempt to break our resolve, but like a parting of the waves the remainder of the group moved aside and let him through. Once over the waves came crashing back down upon him and as the tide erodes the shore, so did we chip away at his health; there could be only one outcome.

Not since the days when Covenant first went against the might of Razorgore in Blackwing Lair had a battle stymied us for so long, pushed us to the limit of our reserves and threatened the foundation of our brotherhood. But in one almighty grinding of gears the Juggernaut that is Covenant had wrenched itself free of the mire. Once more Covenant stands ready to take on everything that this land can throw at us. Again we can stand shoulder to shoulder, staring into Death's grinning face...and grin back.

We are Covenant and we are one.