Haha, well, two of my forts, I have gotten a particular engraving that appears over and over, that of the duel of Kogan Giltpassionate the dwarven hero, and Ola Pinedrove the elven druid.
Kogan is striking a triumphant pose/laughing. Ola is striking a plaintive pose/cringing. The artwork refers to the smashing of Ola Pinedrove's upper left tooth by Kogan Giltpassionate with an iron warhammer during the Duel of Kogan and Ola in 233.
Though seeing this inspired me to write a story of it.
Kogan stalked into the deserted forest retreat. This had been a long war. A hundred years too long. Too many good dwarves had died to defeat the elves.
This was going to be the last act of the war. If Kogan succeeded in this mission, then the elves would be forced to sue for peace. If he failed... then more dwarves would die.
Without warning, a whispery voice filled with the darkness of an ancient forest, the jubilance of a young shrub and the power of the gigantic elms spoke behind Kogan.
"So, dwarf, you have come. You think to defeat the forest, in its heart. You wish to rape and plunder the trees. Your kind are all the same. We plead with you to stop, but you never listen. And now a thousand of your fellows have died to our arrows and animals."
Kogan spun around, but a hushed whistling sound whipped around him and the voice spoke again.
"You cannot hope to win. My righteous fury will strike you down and I will encase you in a tree. You will be forced to watch over the forests for all eternity. For I am Ola Pinedrove, revered druid of the Boar of Stances. I have existed since time began, and you, young dwarf, are only a blink in the eye of the world."
Kogan sighed, and gripped the haft of his warhammer all the tighter.
"You do not know what I have been through because of your foul people, Ola. I have seen friends butchered and eaten by your disgusting brethren. You say you care for the land and yet you are happy to eat the corpses of your fallen foes. To violate a dwarven's sacred rite of burial is an unforgivable crime. I know you yourself have been guilty of this more than once. Even now, I do not doubt your face and teeth are smeared with dwarven blood, a sight which would turn even my stout dwarven stomach."
Kogan tensed and prepared himself. Ola was not visible. His advantage was the trees themselves- Kogan could not hope to catch him while he hid in the trees. He hoped the druid was not using a bow, as even though the arrows were merely wood, they could still tear through body parts like paper.
A light padding sound came, again, from behind Kogan. The elf had long blonde hair, a sneer on his face, and indeed crusted blood all over him. His hands were slightly elongated, with unkempt nails resembling claws. His teeth were longer than normal, especially his canine teeth, which just barely jutted past his lips. He was unarmed.
Ola was clothed in the druidic fashion, in leaves that covered only his elven genitalia and chest.
Kogan, on the other hand, was in heavy steel armour, encrusted with gems hewn from the earth.
Kogan spoke again.
"Ola, do you see my weapon? Do you see my armour? We stopped using the Earth's Blood just to spite you fools. See how the iron has black specks all over it? That's from the charcoal we used in our furnaces. A thousand degrees of burning heat enveloped all parts of your pretty trees. We used it to make our armour, our weapons, our entire forts are constructed from wooden corpses."
He hoped that this newfangled thing- psychological warfare- that he had learnt during his time among the humans of Iquimong would have as efficacious an effect on the elf as it did on goblins and kobolds, and it indeed appeared to.
Ola bared his teeth and hissed, a gutteral, almost evil sound from the ancient elf.
"You will not rape our forests any longer! I will destroy you and encase your soul in the puniest tree in the forest, pissed on by a thousand elves! We will laugh at your pathetic dwarven kind as we destroy you all! Watch as we eat your children! They are meat, no more than the animals!"
Kogan growled, a low, menacing burr. It helped him to focus and prepare for the fight, which was most definitely to be a difficult one.
"Where have all the elves gone? Have we scared them off with our big, nasty weapons? We can cut down your trees and there is nothing you do about it! We will grow them and cut them and continue like this until the end of time! We will preserve your trees as things to be sat on, to be burnt, to be laid on, to hold our corpses and to be used as battering rams!"
Ola simply leapt forward, on all fours, running like a cheetah. He was fast, faster than nearly any elf Kogan had seen. He barrelled into Kogan, knocking him flat over and landed on top of him. Ola clawed at Kogan's helmet, trying to tear it off so he could rip into Kogan's face from there.
Some instinct took over that day. Kogan tensed every muscle in his body, then bucked like he had seen cows do when confronted with a dwarven pest, throwing the elf off him.
Ola nimbly shifted in the air, and landed a good four metres away from Kogan.
Kogan lowered his stance, and waited for Ola to attack again. He was the rock, and Ola the tree. In time, a tree can wear down a rock, but a rock can quickly snap a tree.
Ola bounded toward him again, then leapt high above him, easily three metres in the air. He almost seemed to hang there for a few seconds, when suddenly he did something Kogan never would've thought- he let fly with a stream of urine.
Kogan uttered a cry of disgust and rolled out of the way of the stream, which stunk like a predator's stench.
"I had always thought that the elves were a little too close to animals. Stop behaving like one, you filthy creature. You do not attack others with your urine."
Ola laughed, landed and launched toward Kogan again.
Kogan gripped his hammer, then swung it like his mother had taught him, smacking the elf full in the jaw. A shining ivory tooth coated with black grime and dark red blood flew out of Ola's mouth. Ola was flung backwards by the force of the strike, hitting a sapling and snapping it in two. He let out a keening, mournful sound then, whether from the pain of the strike, or the fact that he, an elf, had killed a Sibling of the Forest.
Kogan walked up to Ola and stood over him, hammer in hand, tensed, ready to strike should the filthy elf launch another attack.
Ola merely cowered away from Kogan and began to blubber.
"Spare me, spare me, please spare me... I will call off the war if you do so..." Snot and tears now joined the blood and grime coating Ola's face, which Kogan found a pleasing sight. A single strike had determined the tide of the war! Part of Kogan wanted to swipe the elf's head from his shoulders, though he knew that to do so would turn Ola into a martyr and would only increase the elven hatred of the dwarves.
Kogan spoke in an angry but subdued tone, in a very quiet voice.
"You filth. Under your command, you murdered thousands. Some of them were my friends. Some were family, however distant. You threatened our entire country just because of your deluded tree-love. I should kill you where you stand and incinerate your body in the Earth's Blood just to spite your kind. I would keep your head as a trophy, letting it rot on my mantelpiece, and when it was too disgusting, I would throw it to the vermin, and I don't think they would even touch it."
Ola blubbered again, an incomprehensible mutter of several languages, twisted Dwarven, some Human, slashes of Elven and even some Goblin was in there. Whatever he said, it was meaningless.
Kogan sheathed his hammer, satisfied that Ola was no longer a threat, and walked away, out of the forest, kicking at trees as he walked. He had succeeded his mission. Tice Vafice would call off the war.
And Kogan walked away, and fame came to him.
((Kogan features in engravings and figurines of two of my forts- Murakgoden and Limulunnos. I did use poetic license- The war did not end after Ola's defeat, but merely wound down.))
Kogan's legends entry:
-Kogan was born in 140 to unknown parents.
-In 222 Kogan became the general of the Virginal Artifact.
-In 224 the creature mate of twilight Ima Moltenskins the Umbral Tunnel attacked Kogan. Kogan was defeated, but escaped unscathed.
-In 225 the cyclops Cele Lanterndawn the Certain Elder attacked Kogan. Kogan was defeated but escaped unscathed.
-In 230 Kogan left Relievedhatchets to visit the depths of the world. He tamed some of the giant rats there, before returning to Relievedhatchets.
-In early 232 The Virginal Artifact attacked the Tufted Satins of the Boar of Stances at Weblutes. Kogan led the attack and the defenders were led by Fidale Brushstyle.
-In early 232 Kogan struck down the elf Ithithi Sensualskunks.
-In early 233 The Virginal Artifact attacked the Boar of Stances in the Pregnant Hills. Kogan led the attack and the defenders were led by Ithithe Velvetgears.
-In early 233 Kogan was attacked by Ola Pinedrove. Kogan smashed his upper tooth, and Ola fled.
-In early 233 Kogan journeyed again to the depths of the world, where he tamed some rutherers. He then returned home to Relievedhatchets.
-In late 233, Kogan's old enemy Cele Lanterndawn attacked him again. Cele defeated Kogan, but Kogan again escaped without injury.
-In late 255, the aging Kogan led the attack on the Tufts of Satin of the Boar of Stances in Weblutes. It was there that Kogan met his end, killed by an elven trained wolf.
Ola's legend's entry- I didn't know she was a female elf until I checked, and she was an acolyte rather than a druid. (edit, she was a druid at the time of her duel with Kogan.) Again, poetic license.
-Ola was one of the first of her kind.
-In 197 Ola became the acolyte of the Boar of Stances, and began scouting the area around Weblutes.
-From 200 - 211 Ola came under constant attack by various night creatures, and was defeated every time but escaped without injury.
-In 212 Ola settled in Silkyroses, and became the druid of the Boar of Stances.
-In late 212 and also in 219, Ola was attacked by night creatures. She was defeated by both but escaped without injury.
-In 221 the Boar of Stances attacked the Terror of Scholars in the Swamps of Discovering. Ola led the attack and the defenders were led by the goblin Em Curselobster.
-In 222 the troll Thicera Enjoyempties the Pale Ruins attacked Ola. Ola was defeated but escaped without injury.
-In 222 a Gloom Creature attacked Ola. She was defeated by it but escaped without injury.
-In 231 the night monster Anan Skullsnight the Oblivion of Funerals attacked Ola. Ola was defeated and escaped uninjured.
-In 233 the Duel of Ola Pinedrove and Kogan Giltpassionate occurred. Ola's upper front tooth was smashed by Kogan.
-In late 233 the creature of twilight Spos Umbralburies the Bone of Dusks attacked Ola, but she escaped unscathed.
-In late 244 Ola was struck down by a troll in Pissdread.
Ola had nine kills, all dwarves of the Pregnant Hills. Kogan had one, the Sensualskunks elf. :/
OH! Sifting through the entries, the Boar of Stances did indeed sue for peace after Ola's defeat, but resumed conflict 22 years later!