Battle of Briar Pass

The Battle of Briar Pass was a conflict between forces of the Alliance and Horde during the Fourth War. After the fall of the Undercity after the Battle for Lordaeron, many remaining forces of the Horde fled south into the forgotten reaches of Lordaeron. Doing so, many came across the ruined town of Strahnbrad and began to fortify it as a defensible position.

With the proximity of the new Horde base to Talongrab just south of Strahnbrad, and the Stormpike Clan defenses being encroached by forces at Tarren Mill, Alliance forces in the region began to mobilize preemptively against the perceived threat in Strahnbrad. The town of Strahnbrad's mountain pass was intersected by Briar Pass, the Citrine Eagle's gateway into the rest of Northern Alterac. Therefore the Citrine Eagle mobilized guards towards Briar Pass in Talongrab to defend their norther border, and the Stormpike Clan setting cannons and defenses between Tarren Mill and Gallows' Corner. The Horde forces took these emplacements as threats, and proactively worked to undo the defenses put in place at the Alliance territories.

The Strahnbrad Horde began their approach upon Briar Pass in the evening of a Thursday in August as the guard at the entrance to the pass were rotating. The battle began that night.

Initial Assault
The start of aggression from the Horde forces was to great effect against the Talongrab Guardians who held the post at the entrance to Briar Pass. The front was decimated, and the Horde forces were able to spearhead through the long tunnel near unopposed as the Talongrab Guardians fled to the other end to use the exit into Talongrab as a choke point against the Horde lines. Their defense resulted in the death of much of the first wave of combatants, but they were met by a vicious charge down the tunnel from a group of Highmountain Tauren who barreled through their lines to make way for a heavy push through the tunnel.

The lines broke down, and the Deathguards and Talongrab Guardians engaged in a vicious battle that ended with the Horde forces having barely holding the exit to the tunnel. A Guardian had escaped the battle to send word to the Citrine Eagle in Talongrab Keep. Bleeding heavily when he arrived, the man was healed by Sir Darrel, Dame Arianiie, and Heithaeowyn Stoneshatter. But the new of the Horde's push had reached the Eagles in time for them to move out just after the initial assault had commenced.

The Horde's initial victory left their numbers at the front dwindled. Awaiting reinforcement, the last five standing Deathguards held their ground at the passes exit in a phalanx formation. They would try and hold the line until reinforcements arrived. And as the Citrine Eagle arrived, the Deathguards defense proved to be greatly effective against the line of Citrine soldiers. Their defensive position kept them from having their line broken immediately, but offered little retort to the Eagles in terms of damage inflicted.

The Citrine Eagle pushed through the center of the Forsaken line to break through and collapse their defenses, but they had not broken their line and brought the Deathguards low in time. Reinforcements arrived in a timely manner as the lines broke in the form of three massive Highmountain Tauren -- replicating the devastatingly effective charge from their initial attacks. While the Eagle lines were nearly broken, they managed to hold their own against the Highmountain Tauren and held the line at the passes exit. A Tauren shaman attempted to flee from the scene when the circumstances looked dire, but was pulled back into the fray, and killed. Seeing that another push against the newly bolstered Alliance line would be fruitless for the time being, the Horde forces were called back and started to barricade and fortify their end of the pass to ensure the Alliance forces could not push through without horrid casualties. The Alliance forces began to do the same.

However, one of the Horde commanders, Elder Redhorn, demanded that he and his Tauren be able to attempt to recover the bodies of their fallen from the Alliance side. The other Horde commanders refused his request, and therefore he and his men broke the Horde barricade to march upon the Alliance forces on the other side.

The meeting of Elder Redhorn and the Alliance forces was met with tension, and threats from both sides. But at the risk of the Elder Shaman caving in the pass, and in a show of honor, the Alliance forces brought forward the fallen Highmountain. The massive frames of the Tauren blocked the pass so the Horde on the other side could not fire upon them; and in doing so the Elder and the men he brought with him collected their dead in the cave, and departed.

The first night ended in a stalemate with either side holding and fortifying an end of the pass. And the forces began to bolster their defenses.