Battle of Twoffes Wood

Date February 19-20, 377
Location Twoffes Wood
Result Decisive Brunian Victory	Date February 19-20, 377
Location Twoffes Wood
Result Decisive Brunian Victory
Belligerents 	Belligerents
Kingdom of Brun 	Kingdom of Tryr
Federation of Rangos
Commanders and Leaders 	Commanders and Leaders
King Bard Gilead
Lord Protector "Snowfire" Gilead
Rossarch	King Slovak Auchmes (k)
General Gordon Onock
Lord Protector Gossoth Yond (k)
King Bard Gilead
Lord Protector "Snowfire" Gilead
Rossarch	Lord Protector Varagyr Witvote
General Claus Weighmat (w)
Strength 	Strength
17,500 	30,000
(18,000+
12,000)
Casualties and Losses 	Casualties and Losses
5,560
(3,067 killed,
7,890 wounded,
164 captured or missing)	21,433 (15,527 Tryr, 6,906 Rangos)
(9,088 killed, (7,824 Tryr, 1,264 Rangos)
6,420 wounded, (4,569 Tryr, 1,851 Rangos)
6,925 captured or missing) (3,134 Tryr, 3,791 Rangos)
Preceding 	Subsequent
Battle of Bitterbird Farmstead	Sacking of Garrick
 
== Background ==
The week after the Battle of Bitterbird Farmstead was immensely stressful for Brun's army. The dragonborn were generally faster on the march than the allies, but Varagyr smelled blood in the water, and his troops did too, and so they pushed on with shocking speed. Marching armies in the winter are especially slow, and this winter was no different. Both the retreat and pursuit were slowed by repeated heavy snows, blanketing the ground in piles up to two feet in height. Bard pushed his troops onward despite the weather, the drive of panic spiriting them forward. The allied cavalry, under the command of Slovak, repeatedly attempted to swing around Rossarch's defensive ring and cut off the Brunian retreat, but Rossarch's much smaller troop of riders was worth more than their weight in gold, and furiously beat back their attacks at great cost to their number. 
Close to the southern border of Tryr, the dragonborn finally met a barrier they could not make their way through. The path through the hilly area near Twoffes Wood had been completely blanketed in an avalanche, and it would take days, even using the dragonborn's fire breath, to clear enough to pass through. They were trapped. Much to their surprise, they also found a detachment of two thousand dragonborn under the command of Snowfire. Snowfire had left the army the almost a year previously to raise more troops in Brun and rejoin with Bard. That plan was long since abandoned, and Bard was as relieved to see Snowfire as he distressed to see such a small force with him. He told Bard that the threat from the Western Wastes had been beaten back and essentially annihilated, but that if he did not abandon his position in Tryr, he risked losing his kingdom and his army, a fact that Bard was already far too aware of. Bard was faced with a choice: he could sacrifice a portion of his army to hold the line in a desperate attempt to clear through the trapped pass; he could attempt a breakout with his entire force and go off the road further south, hopefully swinging back west and out of the allied ensnarement; or he could fight the allies here and now. 
Recognizing that this point was the deciding moment of the war, Bard gambled everything on a desperate defense of his position in Tryr. If he could decisively defeat the allies here, it would potentially knock them out of the war, accomplishing his goal of eliminating his greatest rival and granting him the ability to travel back home to secure his heartland from drow attacks. 
The decision to fight at Twoffes Wood was not taken lightly. It was excellent defensive terrain; steep, rocky, and thick with scrubs and trees. Most of Bard's generals were either convalescing, defending Brun, or otherwise absent, leaving Bard's army with just Snowfire and Rossarch; however, these two were his most trusted lieutenants. As soon as he gave the order for his troops to stop marching and start digging entrenchments, they cheered silently, eager to fight. 
Just a day behind, the allied forces came upon them soon after, and deployed on the plains nearby. Spirited as the pursuit had been, Varagyr now hesitated. While there were reports of an invasion of Brunian territory, they had not been substantiated. Their army was still not only intact, but digging in for a fight, and they had no desire to retreat. On one hand, a victory here could give the allied forces a much needed morale boost, and very well mean the ultimate defeat of the Brunians; but the dragonborn's defensive ground was significant. Even still, the Tryrian forces were of dubious quality, and he had no real desire to bring them up against battle-hardened foes they had lost to so severely before. Slovak, on the other hand, did not share Varagyr's misgivings. He had the zeal of the converted, and wished for bloody vengeance against the dragonborn for killing his son and laying waste to his kingdom. Most of the other commanders advocated for an assault, even Onock, who suggested that it was exactly what Varagyr had planned to do anyways. Realizing that their food supply would not last them forever, especially in winter, Varagyr reluctantly agreed to attack.
== Order of Battle ==
Brun order of battle
Rangos-Tryr order of battle
== Battle ==
The battle began in earnest on the 18th, the allied host of 30,000 amassing in great open lines before the dragonborn. The skies were clear and sunny, if cold, and weather seemed to favor the assault. Recognizing Bard's personal battle flag at the center of the Brunian line, Varagyr concentrated his attack most intensely on that point, hoping to break their army in half and perhaps even slay the dragonborn king himself. For hours through the morning the battle was waged between the hosts, with the dragonborn fighting fiercely for every inch of territory that they gave. Initially, organized engagements and clearly defined battle lines ruled the field, but as time went on, disorganization took over. The weather, which had initially seemed to friendly to the allies, suddenly became cloudy and blizzard conditions began to settle in. 
The allied men, already fatigued from the long march in the frigid weather, became more and more exhausted as the cold seeped through their clothing and armor, and their exhaustion continued as their officers ushered them onward to fight. The dragonborn's shieldwalls proved to be almost invincible, however, and as the battle raged onwards, the allies fervor began to cool. The dragonborn's thick scaly hides protected them from such fierce weather, and their hardy constitution allowed them to continue the fight past the point of exhaustion. As the winds raged onwards and flying snow blocked views of the battle, the fight became a complete and utter mess. Orders were completely lost in the snow, heavily armored troops fell in and drowned in the slush, and both armies fragmented into smaller squads, often times without a commander. The battlefield stretched to several miles across, and little cohesion existed at all between the forces. Varagyr sat at his camp desperately trying to maintain order, firing off commands that were never received. Bard simply stood his ground with his personal guard, confident his soldiers would not flee. Under the leadership of Rossarch, squads of dragonborn utilized a variety of unorthodox tactics: causing avalanches using the dragonborn's inherent fire breath, hiding in the snow to ambush allied patrols, and creating pit traps. Daylight turned to night, and the battle raged on with barely any control over the situation. 
At the dawn of the the 20th, the skies cleared, and Varagyr was finally able to survey the situation. He saw that the dragonborn's center had severely buckled backwards, probably under the sheer weight of the forces arrayed against them. Seeing this, he sent out another flurry of orders for all available troops to smash through that position. Roused after a harrowing night by the sounds of trumpets and horns, the allied forces raggedly surged forward, hoping through exhausted thoughts that victory was approached. Unfortunately, all they did was help to spring Bard's trap. The left and right flanks, under Rossarch and Snowfire, had slowly been extending their lines and encircling the allied forces at the center of the valley. As they surged forward to hit the dragonborn center, Bard signaled, and the very tops of the hills were suddenly filled with great bonfires. Hidden fresh troops of Snowfire and Rossarch sprung upwards, having remained in reserve the entire time, and charged forward, enveloping the allies. 
The disarrayed allies were caught in the resulting deathtrap, thousands being caught completely off guard. Exhausted troops were easy pickings for the fresh dragonborn, even though they heavily outnumbered them. All at once the allied nerve shattered, and they began to flee back down the hills. Men slid and stumbled through the snow, and were caught by dragonborn axes. Thousands more were trampled in the ensuing panic, pleas for help unheard and ignored. At the camp, Varagyr felt a chill crawl up his spine as his worst fears were realized. The great pride of Tryrian chivalry was slaughtered en-masse, knights trained all their life to kill unable to even reach their saddles as they were cut down. 
Lord Gossoth was wrenched from his ox, his head being brutally smashed in soon after. The bodies of the dead soon outnumbered the living. King Slovak was caught out by a group of pursuing dragonborn as he attempted to rally the forces a mile back from the camps. Hit squarely in the chest with a dragonborn hammer, he was bodily launched backwards from his own horse, into his fleeing troops. Attempting in a panic to flee, his own men squashed him to death as he suffocated. Onock once again managed to escape, rallying a small group of Tryrians and retreating. Varagyr escaped as well, fleeing with General Claus as soon as he witnessed the allies in full rout. 
== Aftermath ==
The Brunians suffered terrible casualties, with 5,000 fatalities, almost a third of their force. Their men were also completely exhausted, their weapons, armor, and especially shields were heavily damaged by the cold and the snow. However, morale was never higher, and celebration amongst the dragonborn was heard long into the night as they feasted from Tryrian and Rangosian supply wagons. The allies suffered far more catastrophic casualties, losing over two-thirds of their force. Nearly the entire Tryrian force of 18,000 men was wiped out, with only a token force of a 2,500 escaping under Gordon Onock. All others were killed, captured, or left behind. Their King and Lord Protecter were both dead, and nearly their entire lineage of chivalric knights were wiped out. Tryr's ability to project power was effectively entirely destroyed. The Rangosians fared a bit better, with just about 5,000 making it out under Varagyr and General Claus and rallying a few miles back. Gordon sent a message to the Rangosians asking them to help him organize a defense of the capital, a request promptly ignored by Varagyr as he marched his men straight back to Rangos. 
Bard had won one of the most stunning victories in history, completely destroying his enemy's army as a fighting force, and with significantly less loss of life in his own army. Recognizing that the war in Tryr had effectively been decided, he allowed his men to rest for a few more days, engorging themselves upon the supply train left behind in the allies' rout. He marched on Garrick with 8,000 men, sending the rest under Snowfire to break the siege of Teraholm, and drive the drow back to their own lands.