The Lay of Çerysandril & Grun'drilda

Leading up to the battle, in the year 1759, Thelandril's mother, Grun'drila Khrul of the Truth Seekers tribe, went with her family and clan in the push to settle the area north of the Osval Mountains. Being the eldest daughter of a high ranking shamaness, and training to follow in her footsteps, she spent most of her time under the shady boughs of the Wandering Woods, helping to shape the defenses of the enclave known as the Gouging Gorge.
 
Meanwhile his father, Çerysandril Inglòrion, arrived in the area in the year 1762, as part of the Torlita Woods Outriders, which were one of the first groups to join the coalition of far-flung elven bladesingers and rangers aiding their wood elf brethren in defending the western Wandering Woods from the growing orcish threat.
 
Over the next 2 years, Grun'drilda saw the loss of most of her clan, all but one of her siblings and both her parents, in the counter push to remove the orcs from the area. By the same token, Çerysandril quickly proved his valor over and over, rising through the ranks to become one of the lead reconnaissance scouts for the elves, and was one of the few elves who saw almost the entirety of the Battle of Hammer & Anvil, as he was one of the few advance scouts positioned to monitor the elven druids' and clerics' subversion of the Gouging Glades holly and briar defenses.
 
As the vengeance of Arvandus was brought to bear and the briar and holly defenses turned on their creators, a flood of woodland denizens of all sizes rushed into the encampment. Çerysandril grimly watched the absolute massacre of orcs as they were brutally savaged, trampled, and mobbed by the creatures, as he began picking off one after another who tried to flee. Grun'drilda fled the massacre after she watched her brother get decapitated by a brown bear, using her limited magic to evade both the elves and the combined dwarven and human bulwark line.
 
Almost making it to the edge of the woods, her magic ran out, and an elven arrow found its mark in her back. Just as Grun'drilda blacked out from blood loss, Arvandus gave her insight, showing her that her druidic powers had actually come from Arvandus this whole time, though the orcs used a different name for him, and that the reason for the orcish defeat was their attempt to upset the natural balance of the Wandering Woods. He had not entrusted the Wandering Woods to the orcs, but to the wood elves, because he knew the orcs would be tempted to use the powers hidden in the woods for their own personal gains, which had proven correct when they tried to take it by force. Their ignoring of his warning signs over the past half a decade had led to the orcs' own undoing, but, just as a hunter may spare a worthy quarry, if she would swear to turn from her misguided culture and people, and rededicate her life to him, he might yet still spare her life.
 
Meanwhile, Çerysandril killed 38 of the remaining orcs in less than 2 hrs, as the elves descended on the remnants of the orcs like the fall of a hammer, before being one of the main trackers sent to hunt down stragglers still trying to escape. One after another, he mercilessly executed fleeing orcs, his speeding arrows flying from his exquisitely carved heirloom bow, finding every mark as if guided by an unseen force. As he neared the edge of the woods, he noticed a female orc druidess far off in the distance, seemingly alone, and let loose an arrow from almost 300 ft, seeing it strike home and the orc fall.
 
Making his way towards her, he was gifted with an overwhelming prescient vision, of him holding a newborn baby, his baby, and looking down at the smiling face of its mother, his wife, on a bed. The voice of Arvandus whispered in his ear like the rustle of leaves and the burble of a creek, "This is one of my own, just as you are. Your union will be blessed by me, and you will sire a child that will marry the talents of both of you, my own children, and will carry my blessing, maintaining the balance I strive to keep. Go, for time is of the essence, you two cannot be found, and a hunter may always spare a worthy life as well as take it. If you trust me, take her and go north. Watch for my signs. When you near the Glenbell River, I will show you where to ford it."
 
Frantically rushing forwards after the vision faded, he quickly pulled out one of his healing poultices, and applied it to the orc. As he rolled her over, and her eyes fluttered open, he was struck by her beauty, and fell in love at first sight. By her own token, Grun'drilda regained consciousness to see a most handsome elf with a deeply worried look on his face. "We must move quickly, Arvandus guides me now." the stoic but gentle Çerysandril said to her, as he helped her to her struggling feet, the pain in her shoulder almost unbearable. Unable to heal herself, as her magic was all but spent, the two carefully made their way north, Çerysandril making sure to avoid his fellow elves the whole way, and Grun'drilda using her limited druidcraft to help hide their tracks and make the going a little easier through the underbrush.
 
Nearing the narrow but swift and dangerous Glenbell River, the two at first were at a loss for how to even get down its steep banks, much less across. As they made their way west down the riverside, they jumped a magnificent stag not far off in the underbrush, which immediately stopped instead of running, and walked seemingly unafraid towards them, before turning and navigating a hidden path down the bank and crossing the river, dashing off as it made the other side. Following the path down the bank, and the shoal the stag had crossed, the two made their way across the swift Glenbell River, and continued heading north, crossing the Ecrin Road around dusk, and eventually resting in the foothills just north of the road.
 
The two found themselves immediately enamored with each other, and spent the night huddled close around Grun'drilda's tiny flame from her druidic magic, discussing in broken Common both their visions from Arvandus, as well as their sides of the battle. The next dawn, the two shared the last of Çerysandril's waybread, before setting back out, picking their way slowly north, looking for another sign. As they finally came upon a wide clearing within the sparse woodland and rolling hills, they saw a large healthy doe with fawn grazing at the center, which was joined shortly by that same magnificent stag they had seen before. Taking this as a sign that here would be a good place to start a new life, the two made a prayer of thanks to Avandrus, together, and began building a homestead and life together.