Battle of the Western Pass

Date November 1-29, 376
Location
Result	Date November 1-29, 376
Location
Result
Belligerents 	Belligerents
Kingdom of Brun 	Tribes of the Western Wastes
Commanders and Leaders 	Commanders and Leaders
Lord Protector "Snowfire" Gilead
Captain Savrek Brownback (w)	High Chief Ooblon (k)
The Grand Talon (k)
Strength 	Strength
3,000 	Unknown, estimated at 100,000
(20,000-30,000 combatants)
Casualties and Losses 	Casualties and Losses
623
(228 killed,
395 wounded)	Unknown, estimated at 5,000
(2,000 killed,
3,000 wounded)
Preceding 	Subsequent
Battle of Hentoil's Hill	
* Battle of Bitterbird Farmstead
* Siege of Makenth
By the beginning of May, Snowfire had arrived with his 500 men at Teraholm, and he quickly put himself to work with recruiting a second army to join with Bard. He gathered the 2,000 men Bard had left at the camps, added it to the 3,000 under Markul Blackdaw left at Teraholm, and attempted to summon more men from the other clans. However, he soon found his work interrupted by several other factors that demanded his immediate attention. Cravis Brownback was still refusing to muster his levies, keeping them within Brownback territory. Snowfire tried a variety of strategies to spark the Lord's interest, but he refused to answer to anything. In addition, the routine issues of ruling and administration, which had fallen to the wayside with the outbreak of war, kept Snowfire busy for months with mundane details. 
However slowly it happened, Snowfire eventually assembled another army of about 9,000 men by mid-September and was ready to march back east. Just before he did, he received an interesting missive from the Brownbacks, specifically a young firebrand named Savrek. Savrek informed Snowfire that some refugees had passed in through the passes of the mountains on Brun's western border and carried with them some disturbing information: various tribes of the Western Wastes had banded together under a man named High Chief Ooblon, a charismatic human who zealously worshipped the Primordials, and were now marching to cross the western border. He requested reinforcements as soon as possible. 
Snowfire was fairly skeptical of this report, but he was also extremely annoyed with Cravis's unreliability and decided to investigate the authenticity of Savrek's claim. He took 500 men with him with the expectation of a fairly quick return, leaving the rest under the command of Wulroth Ironhand, who was still recovering from his wound suffered at Hentoil's Hill. Snowfire marched into Brownback territory and was fairly surprised to find the western pass being fortified by 2,500 dragonborn. Upon meeting with Savrek, looking over his reports, and surveying the situation, Snowfire discovered that what Savrek had said was true: approximately 300,000 tribespeople were headed for them, though slowly. Savrek informed Snowfire that not all the Brownbacks were too happy with how Cravis was refusing to support Bard, and that if Snowfire helped them in this endeavor, he might be able to convince more Brownbacks to defy Cravis's orders. So, Snowfire resolved to help Savrek, and sent emissaries to Wulroth and Cravis telling them to come with reinforcements. He also sent messages to Bard regretting that he could not support him in the campaign and explaining to him the situation, even as he was unaware Bard had abandoned his strategy after Hentoil's Hill. 
Snowfire came to rely heavily upon the bright young Savrek, who organized several traps to slow and inhibit the barbarian advance, and had a quick grasp for tactics. Strangely enough, troops from Wulroth never arrived, which disturbed Snowfire, though he was reluctant to leave the situation to investigate. He sent messengers to check up on this, but before they could return, the massive barbarian horde arrived in November. Their numbers had been greatly exaggerated; they numbered closer to 100,000 than 300,000, and only a portion of those were fighters. Still, they heavily outnumbered the defenders, who were only 3,000 strong. Snowfire refused Ooblon's offers of surrender, and a siege began, to last through the end of November. 
The barbarians were in much the same situation as the dragonborn were during the First War of Brun's Independence, with primitive weapons, armor, and tactics. They also lacked the leadership abilities of Brack Gilead, who was the glue that held the dragonborn together. Ooblon did not lack in charismatic draw, but he certainly did not have the tactical skill to best the fortifications of the dragonborn. The disorganized nature of the barbarian army allowed themselves to be bested time and time again as they failed to seize the western pass. Eventually, in a final desperate assault, both Ooblon and his warchief, the Grand Talon, were slain in battle. With the death of their leaders and running low on food, the horde fragmented and retreated back into the Wastes, having suffered nearly 5,000 casualties. The dragonborn only suffered about 600, though Savrek was wounded in battle. Having finally resolved this crisis, Snowfire left the 500 men to hold the western pass against any other attackers, and returned to Teraholm with the rest, completely unaware of the other invasion taking place in Brun.
* 500 Gilead
* 2,500 Brownback