Battle of Halaa

## Preface

With the second defeat of the New Horde at Sunspring the Alliance managed to firmly secure their position for the upcoming Battle of Halaa. With both the east and west roads into the city, as well as the supply routes under their control, the Alliance was able to ensure that any Horde advance upon Halaa would be contained and vulnerable, as well as potentially dangerous as a result of Congregational isolation of Garador from its lines of supply. By winning the engagements at Sunspring and the Ring of Trials the Alliance was able to move into Halaa unmolested and given ample time to prepare their defenses.

As a result of the Alliance stranglehold of the western and eastern routes into Halaa, the Horde had no other option but to focus all of its strength upon one entry point: the north bridge, an unstable and narrow entry point that negated much of the Sin'dorei numerical advantage.

Despite the bleak circumstances facing the elves of Quel'Thalas in their assault on Halaa, they had been granted a boon in their success negotiations with the Ethereal traders of Aeris Landing. At Aeris Landing Magister Syriliana of Silvermoon managed to outbid an Alliance delegation in purchasing a large and limited quantity of high potent X39 incendiary bombs. Incorporating the extremely effective explosives into their siege efforts on Halaa, the Sin'dorei were able to cause serious damage to Alliance fortifications and prevent any sally by the defenders against the Horde seige caches.

## Battle

Beginning late in evening of June 8, 623 K.C. the Horde commenced their assault upon the North Bridge leading into Halaa. For nearly two hours the Horde poured soldiers onto the bridge in a desperate attempt to cross, taking almost unsustainable casualties during the process. Nevertheless, Horde commanders orders their soldiers back into the fray time and time again, slowly and inexorably pushing the defenders back from their fortifications along the southern edge of the bridge.

Several times during the nearly two hour long battle the Horde seemed imminently poised for victory. Twice the Horde managed to dislodge the Alliance from their positions immediately abuting the bridge and twice the Alliance were able to push the Sin'dorei of the Dominion and Sunguard back. Eventually, however, the valiant forces of the Congregation were unable to hold the line against a final Horde push.

In a tacticaly sound effort, Archon Felthier Truefeather of the Sunguard ordered that his forces hold back their strength and strike only when the Alliance defense began to falter. Brilliantly gauging the exact moment to strike, the Archon ordered ordered his entire host, reserves and all, to strike at one. Exhibiting a degree of bravery that would have shaken Othmar Garithos' opinion of elvenkind, the Dominion and Sunguard poured across the bridge with a fury that had been conspiciously absent at Sunspring and the Ring of Trials.

The Congregational position was completely overrun.

With the defenses shattered and Sin'dorei forces pouring across the bridge, the dam had been broken. Some Congregational crusaders attempted to stand their ground but all were quickly overwhelmed and slaughtered. In the chaos of the break, Lord Danyl Graves the Falconheart, Commander of the Royal Army of Lordaeron, sounded a tactical retreat of his forces as Halaa had fallen to the Horde. In what would later be deemed a miscommunication Lord Graves' decision to retreat the Queensmen went uncontested and for several minutes Grand Knight Manstein attempted to rally the defenders. Sir Kerdic Lothinil, the man deamed "Oathbreaker" by his detractors, stood at Manstein's side along with the men of the League of Lordaeron and College of Canons in Halaa as the Horde rushed to fill the city.

Dismayed that the Congregation had been what he had calculated as near minutes from victory, Manstein eventually ordered the retreat and withdrew all Congregational forces from the city.

## Outcome

Having taken the city and suffered no counter attacks from their routed enemies, the Sin'dorei began to fortify their position and prepare the Journal of Alleria Windrunner for swift extraction. Unfortunately for the victors, their position in the city was far from secure. The Alliance still held the west and east approaches into Nagrand and bringing in the necessary material to extract the tome would require time, time that could leave the Sin'dorei vulnerable to counter attack and possible envelopment.

## Negotiations

With both sides seeing little choice in the matter, the army commanders meet in parlay just outside of Halaa's southern approach.

The negotiation between the two sides was both protracted and heated, with each side claiming an upper hand in the campaign at large. Several days previously, Sovereign Volanaro Ael'aran offered the Grand Knight a deal, both sides would come together to peruse the tome, each dividing the relevant parts to one another's interest and leaving without further conflict. The offer had been rejected by the Congregation, for the tome was still considered a holy relic and its partition unthinkable. Now that the tides had turned, the Grand Knight was forced to swallow his pride and offer up the same deal that he had refused not days before.

Archon Felthier cared little for the arrangement and countered that they would only agree to such an deal if the Congregation surrendured Cartres Portiave to the Sunguard authorities. Portiave was considered by the Sunguard to be a traitor to Silvermoon and his extradition and potential trial was an example that they held keen interest in setting to the populace of Quel'Thalas. The Grand Knight was adamant in his rejection of the request and drove home that the Sin'dorei were still in a perilious position. Cut off from the rest of Outland, nearly surrounded, and with dwindling supplies, a protected defense of Halaa was not a surity and the cost would be high in blood.

The parties wen back and forth for several hours on the matter, each demanding that the other cave to its demands. Eventually the Congregation won out when Ael'aran and Truefeather agreed to partition the book with no further demands. Although the Congregation was loathe to see the book destroyed, the idea of forever losing the only document that could lead them to Turalyon was unthinkable.

The book was ripped apart by, the pieces relevant to Silvermoon's defense torn out by Archon Felthier and the rest removed by Manstein. In an act of apparent spite, the Sin'dorei put the bindings of the book to flame, forever leaving the torn remnants to exist without their home.

With the book partitioned between the two parties, the forces of the Congregation of the Silver Hand withdrew from their positions surrounding Halaa and eventually back to Stormwind. The Sin'dorei followed suite and soon returned to their homes in Silvermoon.

The battle for Nagrand was over, but the Quest for Turalyon was yet to be done.