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Reports from Istarian sources, Excellency, confirm the
truth of this last tactic, claiming that the oxen presence was
often effective against dwarves. It seems that the wagon
handlers fed the beasts a gruel laced with rum before the
battle - a goodly dose reputed to have made the normally
equable oxen most disagreeable. They are great creatures,
of course, and must have loomed over the dwarves in
elephantine proportion!
Nevertheless, the stocky mountain dwellers tried to
stop the Istarian army, even as roadblock after roadblock
crumbled before the lumbering beasts of burden as the oxen
scattered the dwarves. Still, High Thane Rankil remained
stubbornly determined to obliterate the two legions.
The humans finally were cornered before the last river
crossing - a historical site called Thoradin Bridge, which I
have located on a pre-Cataclysm map - leading to the safety
of the Istarian Plains. Here a company of young dwarves
stood, and once again the oxen were drawn to the fore.
At this point, Excellency, it becomes difficult to sort
the legend from fact. We know that the human force was
lost in total - the greatest military defeat suffered by Istar
to that date. As for the course of the battle, little is known
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