K45 - Poking a sleeping Balrog

Taking care of business

The viceroy, Bain Stonetongue, resumed his command of the expedition and immediately dispatched the ragged remnants of Battlegroup-West to recuperate away from the Balrog's curse. A "lot" from Bronze-Attack was moved forward to keep an eye on the mutinous Mithril-Attack dwarves and the mercenary dwarves of the Adarcer-Attack. 

Bain promoted Roghel MoonOath, Attack-Lord of the Silver, into the inner circle. This was a fitting reward for showing such loyalty during the mutiny while he had been slated by the rebels to become the new viceroy. Bain also covertly entrusted to Sanddan Shieldcrusher, Lot-Herd within the Mithril-Attack, to hound and expose all of the leader of the mutiny such as to sanitize the Mithril into a reliable attack-unit again.

Food for Deema

Khazek had fathered a very live son with an ambiguously alive bride. He returned to Deema, hidden in a lost dwelling off the Hall of Trees. She was well, but getting hungry. Khazek went back to the East Gate and seeked the loremaster. Gesdrek was beyond caring and, althoug capable of speaking with the wraith, ignored his plea. Khazek then proceeded to convince Thordar to follow him and stock up on food. Thordar got a bit nervous when Khazek lead him to leap over the endless chasm by hanging on miner's chains: a setup virtually identical as the moment of Khazek's death where Thordar had been suspected to murder him at the time.

Thordar eventually met with Deema and agreed to bring food on a regular basis. The obsessive curse for Deema had been lifted, and honestly Thordar couldn't fathom quite why he had behaved so irrationally with respect to the bride.

Trolling for a soul

The Viceroy and the inner circle met in his study to decide on the next course of action. With the slaughter of the ancestors at the hands of Battlegroup-West, the loremaster was worried that much of the Balrog's soul had gone back to his reposing corpse. The question was: where could the body be?

Thordar suggested to sacrifice one more ancestor soul and entrust to Khazek the task to shadow the soul on its journey back to the Balrog. Khazek did just that: he flew across the chasm, slew an ancestor and followed its soul down into the depth of Khazad-dum.

Thifaim Chertfoot and the Flint Attack

Soon after Khazek's departure, messengers from the Flint Attack arrived to announce the arrival of the last component of the Emerald Unit. Thifaim Chertfoot was the Flint's attack-lord. The viceroy filled him in on to the situation. Thifaim proved eager to get into the action. He unloaded months worth of food and carts full of tools. His fresh troops showed a marked disdain for the Mithril-Attack and their mutinous reputation.

When Gror reported back for duty, Bain sent him to the 4th deep to scout ahead and find out more about the siege of the Infernals on the Durbagash orcs. Thifaim immediately volunteered to be part of the expedition.

Settling into the 4th Deep

Gror was released from its cell when his father returned and uprooted the mutinous elements. It took him a few days before he returned to duty. Gror insisted to command the scouting and occupation operation on the 4th deep. They descended down to Halin's mine and established a base camp. Gror then sent two lots to explore in a sweep from the East and heading into the city.

Meanwhile, Thordar smelled opportunity and requested his leave from his duty as the viceroy's butler. Bain released him so that he could infiltrate the Flint-Attack. The hitch was that Thordar was already infamous with the Flint-dwarves, much to his surprise. Thordar has offended much of the NCOs in the units in the past, and there he was today, beardless and disfigured: a huge slash across his neck and an unhealing wound caused by blighted corpse in recent past. Each dwarf in the Flint would have gotten out of his way to get Thordar in trouble.

Thordar approached it professionally and linked with the officers in his official position as the viceroy's right arm.  What really normalized his relation with the dwarves was his ability to laugh it up and be one of the boys. Thordar, through professionalism and his natural carousing demeanor had managed to be accepted, although not particularly liked.

This would come handy soon enough.

Flicking a booger on the Balrog

Khazek followed the soul down to the 6th Deep. He passed by richly decorated areas which he assumed to be near Durin's palace. He had to dodge into the dark near the ceiling to avoid detection. He encountered more and more units of infernals busying along the main highway. He passed the endless stairs, but the soul was accelerating and he didn't have much time to explore. 

He followed up until he got to a large hall where a 6m diameter well was spewing hot air and sulfurous fumes. The soul of the ancestor evaporated and got stuck at high speed into the well. Khazek dove as well and suffered a grievous wound from the arrow of an infernal sentry. He went down into a huge cave, some thousand yard below. The cave was filled with steam and a river of lava was flowing from North to South down below. 

Khazek wandered for a while and decided to follow the river of lava to the North. Time passed, hours, maybe days. Until he managed to arrive into a gigantic chamber.

The Balrog's tomb

At the far end of the cave, which spanned maybe a mile long, was a lake of lava. In the middle of the lake, a hill protruded and on it lay the body of the Balrog. Khazek flew over the cave, bypassing a number of infernal priests and approached the body. Up into the vaulted ceiling, he hid between a number of suspended iron chests. 

The priests were performing some kind of ritual while the Balrog's body was laboriously breathing fire. It was, however, not moving. Khazek floated over the maiar and, true to his old living self, got the urge to spit, pee or flick some kind of bodily fluid on it. The Balrog was half alive, struggling to open his eyes as Khazek flicked his fingers overhead. A burst of fire filled the place, Khazek nearly got roasted in the blast. The priest got excited and started to shout as Khazek understood that it was good time for him to leave the place and head up. 

A powerful earthquake shook Mount Silvertine. Thousands of yards above, as the ground roared and the stonework rattled, Bain and the other had a sinking suspicion that Khazek had something to do with this.

K44 - The long and painful march of Battlegroup West

Life beyond the gate

Bain and Thordar were last pushed out of the East Gate Hall by a mob of mutinous dwarves from the Mithril Attack. Bain had been injured at the hip by a bolt, Thordar was still grievously wounded during the battle with the infernals and was still on the mend. Some 25 loyal dwarves, unarmored and pockmarked from the brawl made for a jolly company.

They descended to the 4th deep to find weapons and a place to rest. Down into Halin's cave, they found old tools and weapons. They rested and launched a number of exploratory scouting parties in all directions. They decided that the gold mines to the South bored the best chance to break into new territory. They explored south but discovered nothing by a fraying network of caves and mines, and no real evidence of a fresh gold vein.

Bain traveled in dream to the surface and found his son, Gror, whimpering in a jail cell. He figured out that Deema was probably dead by then as there were lots of dwarves set on getting rid of the witch. Bain snapped Gror back into the old grumpy and mean commander that he is and took his leave. Work in the real world had to be done.

There was some noises coming from up above into the Endless chasm. Hungry, tired and weary of the growing curse on them, Bain lead the dwarves back to the 1st deep to meet their fate.

Meanwhile in Hatchet Dwelling

After repelling the dwarves that came for the "witch", Khazek figured out that he had to find out that was going on at the Gate. He found Deema behind the door, a silver hatchet in hand, ready to smite the next living dwarf to invade the room.

Khazek approached the dwarves through the Endless Chasm. He found some Adarcer dwarves guarding the ruins of the bridge of Khazad-dum. They were discussing of a mutiny going on. Khazek slipped into the shadows overhead and set out to find out about the mutiny.

In the East Gate, he found two groups of brawling dwarves. One of the group was protecting Bain and Thordar while a group of armed ones was attempting to arrest the viceroy. Khazek intervened by showing himself and sowed terror to anyone watching. It disrupted the brawl such that it became possible for the viceroy and his supported to withdraw beyond a large gate. His attention was drawn to a group of going North to get to "the witch". Fearing for his bride, he left Bain and Thordar to their fate and flew ahead of the withc hunters.

They crossed the Endless Chasm using the miner's chains. Ironically, the very same kind of chains that had costed Khazek his life. Beyond the chasm, they found dwellings that had not been deflied by orcs over the years. Khazek was satisfied that Deema and their unborn child would be safe there. Then, they fell asleep with the sleep of careless child and didn't pulled out of slumber for what looked like days.

A mutiny suspended

Thordar was sent ahead of the dwarves to scout near the East Gate. Instead of an organized hunt for them, Thordar found a feverish scene bordering on panic. There were dwarves from the Ardacer, the unit on garrison duty, begging for guidance regarding what was going on into the Hall of Trees. Thordar was spotted, but nothing came out of this. Thordar figured out that there was worst on their mind than the misguided impulses of the mutinous dwarves.

Bain arrived with Thordar and descended to the Hall of Trees where the source of chaos seemed to emanate. There, he found Drolf ordering volleys of crossbow across the chasm. Gesdrek the Loremaster was there, carefully observing something in the depth of the Hall.

Bain approached Gesdrek and asked for a report. Gesdrek cued them to listen for the sound of war drums. The dwarves from Battlegroup West had made it all the way through and were fighting the ancestors at the far end of the Hall. A faint light from torches could be seen amidst the rows of pillars. All present understood that dwarves killing ancestors was a bad thing for it was slowly releasing fragments of the soul of the Balrog back to its body.

Going in

They resolved to cross the chasm and link with Battlegroup West to order them to stop. Messages using war drums remained unanswered. They piled combustible on a cart and wheeled it on the beams, across the chasm. A Lot (50 dwarves) was tasked to block while the Viceroy and his entourage would advance beside the burning cart.

The ancestors were frenetically engaged against Farin's dwarves and didn't interfere with the party until much later. The order was to strictly push back without "rekilling" the dead until the cart had reached the line of Battlegroup West. It became quite clear that by then, a lot of damage had been done on the precious ancestors. Thordar went ahead to locate the commander of the force while Bain busied himself to order a withdrawal.

The BG-West dwarves had been distorted into ragged shells by the curse and the continuous fighting since their entry in the city, some 3 weeks ago. They were barely controllable, but the Viceroy's legendary leadership prevailed. Thordar found the leader and "convinced" him to order a break from assault. Farin was apparently long-dead, only 300 or so of the 900 original dwarves were still standing.

As they pulled out of the Hall of Trees, Khazek roused from his sleep and ran into them as they marched back across the chasm. Gesdrek told them that he feared the most for the fate of the Balrog as much of his soul had been released back to it by now.

Time was getting short, assuming that he is right, for if the old King of Moria was to rise again, Khazad-dum would be lost for another 1000 years.

K43 - Beer hall putsch

This session is a continuation of the previous session: "K42 - Much ado about a bride".

Sparks

A group of battle-dwarves from the Mithril-Attack had gathered in the beer hall without drawing too much attention. They were conspicuous: in full armor while everyone else was busy shooting the breeze with friends. 

When another group of Mithril-Attack dwarves burst into the hall, screaming to high murder. Apparently, the witch was real and had killed a few of them a few minutes ago. This sent a wave of panic in the hall. Gror understood right away that the bride was in danger. He had been drinking for a while to gather liquid courage and eventually talk to her. He took off immediately towards Deema's quarters and was followed by a few other dwarves willing to avenge their comrades. 

Thordar read the situation similarly. However, his eyes caught the Mithril dwarves and identified Nair Marbleminer at the other end. He was trying to organize a group of fully kitted dwarves amid the chaos. Thordar sneaked to them and hid behind a pillar. They were getting ready to take advantage of the situation to capture the viceroy.   

Thordar headed to Bain's quarter to warn him of the impending trouble to his reign. 

Interrupted

Bain was at the time debriefed by a Lot leader from the Adarcer-Attack. Apparently, six dwarves from the Silver had crossed the chasm to adventure beyond the defended perimeter. Thordar, entered and explained that the threat of putsch was materializing. 

Bain led Thordar and the lieutenant into the hall. They walked to the mutinous dwarves to confront them. There was five crossbow-dwarves and six battle-guards. The hall grew silent as Bain's voice rose to a spine chilling command to stand down. Nair, the leader, was taken aback and hesitated long enough to kill the momentum. 

Bain demanded to know why they wanted to arrest him. Nair replied that the dwarves has lost confidence in his ability to lead.  The viceroy began to rough up Nair in a brutal but theatrical display which lead to the young officer to fall flat on the floor.

By them the noose had tighten around the pair, the lieutenant from Adarcer had melted away, and so had all of the Adarcer soldiers on duty.  Clearly, this would not end well for someone.

Food fight

The mutinous dwarves moved in to neutralize the pair as anger broke the heavy air in the hall. Dwarves from the Silver-Attack moved in to pull the viceroy out of trouble but were opposed by others. And so began a long brawl with no evident structure at the onset. 

Thordar and Bain didn't leave time for Nair to get back on his feet and had him nailed to the floor with a broken hand and a deep stab wound to the opposing leg. Bain put up a good show, climbed on a table to coordinate the efforts on his side. He absorbed a bolt at the hip which made walking more difficult. Thordar and himself managed to drift across the room, blocking attacks with his cloak. 

Unfortunately for the pair, despite the neutralization of Nair, the Silver dwarves were beaten down to the far corner of the hall and had to withdraw beyond a gate and close it solidly. 

Fallout

With Bain hurt, Thordar still in bad shape from the last beating at the hands of Gror (and earlier the infernals), and the impromptu supporters looking for cold slab of steak to cover their bruises, the situation was taking a turn for the worst. The good news is that it looked like the Silver-Attack dwarves were on the viceroy's side. Hopefully, Roghel would too and take control of the rear to finally cow the rebels. 

And meanwhile, some unspeakable other trouble were being resolved in the Hatchet dwelling where Khazek and Deema were quietly pondering on their next move.

K42 - Much ado about a bride.

Summary of the campaign so far

The date is June 24th of the 15th year of the Fourth Age. We are approximately three months since the expedition to reclaim Khazad-dum left Erebor. Since, they visited Thrandhuil hall and chaseda wraith there. They then entered Mirkwood, fought off orcs, killed a sorcerer, discovered a way to the underworld and were humbled by blighted-corpse. Thordar got cursed and knows that he will, in turn, become a blighted corpse upon his death. They made friends with the new elf Queen of Lothlorien, entered Moria and found it littered with the animated bodies of generations of ancestor dwarves. They fought off hunting orcs, delved to the 4th Level to discover that the ancestors had been animated by a race of canine creatures known as the Infernals (The infernals were released in Middle-Earth upon the slaying of the Kraken by Gandlaf, Elphir of Dol Amroth, Beorn, Gwaihir and Quickbeam during a side quest). There, they pried the mythical mother of the 7th incarnation of Durin from the clasp of a black pudding. Deema (aka "The Bride") unwillingly (?) bewitched all dwarves who set eyes on her. Mayhem ensued amongst the accursed dwarves. Their loremaster discovered that the ancestors' souls were harvested to revive the Balrog. 

On their way to the 4th deep, they ran into Durbagash orcs and an important goblin prisoner. The prisoner was a prince of the Snagaii kingdom of goblins. A deal was struck to cooperate to defeat the orcs and the infernals festering in the depth of Khazad-dum. While attempting to rescue the viceroy's butler, Khazek, a dwarf secretely  prophesied to sire the 7th incarnation of Durin, plummeted to his death in the endless chasm. The expedition to recover his body met the ranger's wandering soul, and ran afoul of a small number of infernals. 

Elf-sorcery

Roghel MoonOath, reluctant coup leader.

Bain, the Viceroy of Khazad-dum, was pulled out of his dream travels through the old city by an aide. Attack-Lord Roghel MoonOath was demanding an audience with him. Bain made him wait in silence while his aide pulled together a breakfast and a huge mug of coffee.  Roghel explained that the dwarves were weary and rumour was that they were slating him as a replacement for Bain's failing command. Roghel confessed that Bain was seen as too close to elves for the dwarves' taste. He demanded that Lathmelen be expelled, that he gave up his elven amulet, and cleared the rumour about a witch clouding his judgement. 

Bain use a straightforwards approach and explained in details the reason why the elf was useful to the expedition. He also explained that the amulet was critical to speak with the spirit of Khazek, and that anyone seeing the witch would be prey to an irrational obsession. Roghel was most satisfied by Bain's diplomacy, and felt privileged to be now included in the viceroy's inner circle. 

They decided to rotate the troops such that Mithril and Silver attacks would stand down to recover from the curse. In their stead, Drolf's Adarcer-Attack, Drolf's private army, would move forward to keep the approaches from undead and orcs alike. 

Little murder between friends

Thordar and Gror were laid side by side in the infirmary to recover from life threatening wounds. The cuts, made by infernal blades, reluctantly started to scar with the help of elf magic from Lathmelen. A disease was growing in the mind of Gror. He was convinced that Thordar had killed Khazek during his rescue so as to eliminate romantic competition for the heart of Deema. His rumination grew until Gror reached the tipping point. He slipped out of his bed and climbed on Thordar's. He began smothering the butler with a pillow. 

Thordar tried to fight back while he still could. He eventually managed to stun Gror using an ear clap (good thinking here, son). He tossed him to the ground and regained his breath. Gror convinced the orderlies rushing in that Thordar was a murderer. The orderlies did not even paid attention to the protests of the butler and isolated him into another room. 

When informed of the event, the viceroy met with both dwarves. He forbade Gror from approaching Thordar. He then ensured that Thordar had done nothing wrong once more. Thordar suspected that his liege had a hand into the attempted murder. The viceroy made a concinving case against this delusional belief. 

Beardless in Khazad-dum

Thordar was in a terrible shape. A eunnuch, he spent the best of his life compensating with outrageous machismo. But now, his false beard had fallen in the endless chasm, revealing a unhealing wound to his cheek where the blighted ghouls had tore his flesh. He felt exposed, weakened. 

A walk to the dining hall didn't help. Dwarves were laughing behind his back. He could feel now that the respect due for being the viceroy's string man had somehow vanished. For the first time in his life, Thordar felt weak, his legendary and foolhardy self-confidence melted away. In an audience with the viceroy, his request to be released was turned down. Bain explained that his wild ways weren't the reason why he was his butler, and that much work was to be done to unravel the leader of the Putsch against him. 

Bain just knew which button to press and Thordar felt better about himself. The survival of the viceroy depended on his ability to find and eliminate the threat. Who else would be able to do this?

A wedding since death do them apart

Deema the irresistible.

Khazek wandered away from the living as they hiked back to the Eastern Gate of Khazad-dum. The torches, the chatters and the living folks were grating against his better nature. He set out to visit Deema. Although he was dead, his attraction to the mother of all dwarves was still strong. 

He found her quarters by flying through the endless chasm. The guards were clearly instructed not to approach and were playing dice on the floor at the other end of the atrium. The place, a former dwelling for surface farmers, was quiet as a tomb. He hid his elven sword on a high ledge, and entered her room through the front door. He found her quietly sitting on a chair, cross stitching. 

She was visible and audible as her body existed both in the real and the world of the shadows. Unlike in the past, she was relaxed and pleasant. She asked many questions to Khazek, and revealed that she knew that her husband would reveal himself as a spirit rather than a dwarf in the flesh. She insisted that Khazek's body be given a proper burial and be laid to rest on the 4th level when all this madness was sorted out. 

Their souls and their hands touched as another page in the history of Middle-Earth was being written. There would be no need for fanfare nor large ceremony. Their communion was sufficient to ensure that the last of the Durin was to rule once more. 

They were both happy, peaceful.

The inquisitors

Peaceful that is until a loud knock on the door interrupted their private time. Khazek poked his head through the door and sent half a dozen running in fear. The light of the torches was irritating, but Khazek was capable to see enough to act. He reached for the chest of two of the nearest dwarves. His icy wraith hands chilled their hearts and the two dwarves fell to the ground either stunned or unconscious. The other dwarves got so frightened that one of them fell from the balcony to the ground a story below.

Khazek recognized the insigna and identified the dwarves as part of the Mithril attack. All now seemed quiet, so Khazek returned to Deema.

A wheel set in motion

The session ended as Gror was consuming liquid courage (we'll roll for your inebriation level next session) so as to pay a visit to Deema himself. He was sure that she would choose him now that Khazek was dead and Thordar disgraced. This is when a group of Mithril battle-guard burst into the dining hall, spouting that the witch was real and had killed many dwarves. A general call to arm was raised. Terror and panic had come to the dwarves from within.

K41 - The infernals are here!

This report covers a two-session encounters against the campaing's villains and the PCs. To make things more interesting, I gave the steering wheel to one of the player whose PC was there only through a dream projection. What a good move on my part.

Where we left (A month ago)

We're on the 4th deep of Khazad-dum. Gror lead an expedition of Axe-dwarves to recover the body of Khazek, friend, colleague and dead PC. They ran into Khazek's wraith instead and things went sour. A mutiny took over the expedition and the bulk of the dwarves ran back to the East Gate. Gror lead 5 dwarves to find Lathmelen, an ally elf noble, struggling in the dark and calling for help. When Gror saw Khazek's wraith, he fell to a panic attack while the others kept their distances. Khazek tried to help Gror, but his wraith body nearly drained Gror off of his life force.

Tordar, the Viceroy's butler and spymaster arrived late and tried to talk to Khazek. Meanwhile, Khazek was in a conversation with the Viceroy who had traveled to the 4th deep in a dream using his amulet of Irmo.

Snuff out that light!

Khazek was most offended at the torch light and wandered away, barely able to contain his anger. Bain, overing in dreamscape, tied to calm him down while Thordar passed on his torch to Shortneck. Lathmelen roused Gror from his embarrassing slumber and brought him back to his feet. He was cold and pale after an accidental body slam with a wraith.

In the distance, goblins from the Snagaii kingdoms were coming down (or up) the endless chasm. They got near, then faded out to silence.

The Infernals are round the corner.

Unblurred infernals: Now imagine an army of 'em.

Three shapeless masses appeared from their rear. They couldn't pin down their appearance as their body seemed to flicker like the flame of a candle. They were tall, canine looking, armed with shortswords and shields and moving in rather fast. Without skipping a beat, they engaged the company.

The combat as difficult, in between the blur and the low light, the PC had to set their strikes very carefully. The infernals fought together very well: keeping close and striking hard.

One of them dropped his sword as he was pushed back. The third one entangled Lathmelen with his whip, but got skewered by Thordar Ithilnaur's knife (which cuts through steel like it was lead). Khazek joined in. All 8 dwarves struggled to keep on top of the two infernals. Thordar neck nearly got severed by a powerful attack to his neck, he got whisked away by a dwarf and healed by Lathmelen. The other infernals delivered a deadly blow to Gror, who fell to the ground bleeding profusely. By then, Khazek had knocked the last burning torch off the hands of Shortneck and the light was waning. The two most powerful warrior were on the threshold of death (nearly -1*HP). Khazek managed good strike from an overhead position and sent the infernals running. One was knocked down the stairs, the other barely escaped with his life.

Thus ended the combat. Blood loss was put under control despite the evil properties of the infernals' blades. The dwarves didn't spend too much time reflecting on their victory and left the two dead infernals behind on their way back to the East gate.

What about the dreamer?

Bain, Viceroy of Khazad-dum and dreamer was roused by an aide. He rushed to his feet. While he was rubbing his eyes, Roghel MoonOath entered the room with a serious look in his face. Roghel was the commander of the Silver-Attack, the elite unit of the invasion force. Bain understood that this was not a social call.

"We need to talk.", he said in a grave voice.

Gaming note

Giving the villains to a player meant that Arne got to play, try something new, and give a rough ride to the PCs. This is the second time that I give monsters to players: the stakes are higher, player death more imminent. I will reward Arne's character for his ruthless playtest of the infernal with bonus on all important loyalty check at the onset of the next episode. 

K40 - A gathering of friends

This session continues the adventures of the Viceroy of Khazad-dum and his entourage as they reclaim the old mountainhome from orcs, puddings, krakens and an irresistibly charming dwarf bride (Campaign home).

Don't shoot the messenger, maybe

The last that Thordar saw of Khazek was his brown locks flapping in the air as he fell to his death in the endless chasm of Moria. Thordar was himself a sight for sore eyes: pale from the loss of blood, a permanently openned wound oozing from his cheek now revealed since his prosthetic beard got kicked into oblivion. He hung on a chain over untold depths until he managed to swing himself to the cliff's wall. The climb was hard, but he made it to the arch of Hatchet Dwelling where the rangers were waiting. They propted him up, he pushed back and demanded to be taken to the Viceroy.
The Hall fell silent upon his arrival. Thordar looked like death. The absence of Khazek was noted immediately. Thordar explained in an unusually sad tone how his friend had fell into the shadows. People were incredulous, Gror simply didn't buy the story and assumed that Thordar had conveniently eliminated a romantic rival.
The Viceroy was upset at the loss of his chief ranger. He grilled Thordar and got a full story out of him. He summoned the two surviving ranger leader and promoted Donarik. Donarik may have been brazen and insubordinate, but had the respect of the rangers while Gimvar was more a good second in command. They discussed options and concluded that something had to be done to recover the lotus eaters stuck in Lothlorien. Bain dismissed the rangers, and sternly ordered Thordar to get out of his sight.
Thordar found a cot in the infirmary and passed out.

K39 - Shaking hands with a goblin

<confession>

I have been a naughty GM. The last session was on October 28th 2014. Life sucked fun out of everything, including gaming. But this is hopefully over now. And we're to resume Reclaiming Khazad-dum in a few days.

I didn't keep good notes from the last session although it turned out to be a very eventfull one. So, from memory... 

</confession>

This reports is a continuation of K38 - A Beard in Hell.
(Campaign home)

Shake hands with a goblin

Theomedonus was the son of the Snagaii king. The Snagaiis were goblins used as a food source by the other orc nations in Khazad-dum.  Bain, the viceroy, met with the emissary in an antechamber. There was talk of a goblin envoy speaking with him, so they thought best to keep things out of the gossip gallery. 

Theomedonus was forward with information. He explained that the Infernals had been released some three years ago (yes, the day that the Gandalf and friends killed the Kraken). He explained that the infernals were working to revive the Balrog and had conquered the most fierce of orcs from the depths: The Uruknais and the Trolls. 

Theomedonus proposed a treaty with the dwarves to help the dwarves to regain their old homeland, against a passage to the underdeep. Bain agreed for an alliance against the promise never to return once they left. 

Theomedonus also revealed that the Infernals were slowly winning against the Durbagash orcs on the 4th deep. That, the time for striking was coming soon or may never come back. 

This is when Lathmelen, the elf from Thrandhuil hall, entered the room and started to ramble about a key. Bain did his best to keep on track, dismissed the goblin and returned to other business.