Misbegotten world

Chapter 11: Forsaken Highlands

The forsaken Highlands maintained their freedom and independence from the Order's tyranny and wrath. The dwarves retreated to the Highlands to avoid the fate of the demihumans, who had fallen under the Order's control. They refused to become slaves.

The dwarves continued to forge their weapons as their ancestors did, with strongholds in the mountains remaining pure against the curses of the Order. Many demihumans survived due to the mercy of the dwarves.

Fortresses guarded the mountain passes, horned riders patrolled the snowy peaks, and banners of the royal dwarven families flew high. Their armies were seasoned, with decades of experience, and their dwarven mithril was unmatched, not even the Orders sacred metal could match mythril.

Their fortresses defend the gate to the Highlands every single day, with the dwarves facing nonstop sieges. Yet, they held strong, their fortress walls standing firm. Not even the strongest battering rams the Order could muster could break their gates.

Drawing upon the strength of their forefathers and ancestors, the dwarves preserved their dragon incantations, a gift from their cousin species, the Draconic people, thousands of years ago. Their war hammers crushed even the strongest armor of the Order's war knights; only the Winged Knights could withstand them.

Warlords against knights, warriors against warriors. Shields clashed, hammers, spears, and swords spilled blood in each battle. The ground rumbled with the march of hoards in formation. The banners of the Order kept coming, slowly bleeding the dwarves from within. How long could the dwarves withstand the relentless hoards of the Order sent by the wrath of the Queen Goddess herself.

When the first fortress fell, the Order gained a foothold and established their own stronghold. The fortress that once defended the passage to the Highlands now stood under the Order's control. Since that victory, both sides have been locked in a stalemate. The poor navigation through the mountains hindered the Order's ability to move their massive armies.

Despite multiple attempts, the Order's armies were repelled by the dwarves' successful ambushes. The Order's banner flew high within the fortress towers, the gate firmly in their hands. Now, the Order shifted to a defensive stance, sending thousands of scouts and bands to map the Highlands.

However, the Order learned to leverage their own strengths. They discovered that the dwarves never sent their full force through the mountains at once, instead dispatching small contingents of two to six banners.

Skirmishes erupted in the mountains, allowing the Order to slowly gain some territory, capturing small forts from the dwarves. Yet, this was all they could achieve for the moment, until one lord commander proposed a new strategy. The Order began to establish rally points for their small armies. Though they couldn't muster a massive force quickly, they could gather a force of twenty to forty thousand men.

Attempting to rally hundreds of thousands would only lead to disaster. Rallying smaller forces could take months, even years, as small armies often disappeared in the mountainous maze or fell to their deaths. Some starved, while many returned to the fortress. Despite the Highlands being mapped long ago, the terrain remained treacherous and difficult to navigate.