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.

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.

K38 - A beard in Hell

Dude, where is my butler?

Bain toured the HQ once more in East Gate hall and started to wonder about Thordar. He hadn't seen the dwarf in over a day. He asked around: no one seemed to know where he was, as usual. Bain had a hunch that something could be wrong, and ordered his sub-commanders to find his butler.

A dwarf from the Mithril reported to the viceroy 30 minutes later. According to him, Thordar may have been caught on the wrong side of the cave in. Bain demanded explanations as to why no one informed him of this. The dwarf replied that he just assumed that someone else had reported.

Both accesses to the Marzabuul stairs were now collapsed. The only way to bypass the cave-ins involved a daredeath hike on the cliff walls of the chasm. The viceroy tasked the rangers to find a path there and ordered his son Gror to descend into the 4th deep and scout the North-South highway that was just discovered.

K32 - Insanity and Hatchets

The royal party has freed a mysterious bride from a sarcophagus and pulled her our of her own crypt despite the protest of kleptomaniac wraiths and a hungry hungry black pudding. 

Bain's dream sequence

Bain fell asleep with his body straddling a narrow hallway. They found a safe haven in a side crypt that wasn't defiled like every others that they had run into so far. As Bain drifted to sleep, an aura built around the viceroy. He slipped out of body in the glow if the Eye of Irmo hanging around his neck.  On the other side, he could make out the shapes of his companions. He headed for the Bride, and zoomed into her inner sanctum as he was sucked into a slow vortex. 

He found himself attending a wedding. A large hall, the bride was standing there but there was no groom. She was walking to a sarcophagus. Bain probed the dream, wondering what he could find. He heard the name of the bride uttered: Denma. Bain was wondering whether he could find out whether Denma liked Khazek. His answer came from behind a curtain where Khazek, as a groom, moved forward with a smug smile on his face, and the head of the Balrog in his hand (a tiny version). Bain wondered whether the bride knew about the Balrog. A drop of black shadow dripped from the Balrog's head. The shadow crept along the floor, passing between legs in the crowd and slithering at a dazzling pace until it reached a deep well. Bain felt himself falling and woke up suddenly. 

The conspirators

Khazek was half asleep when he heard the muttering coming from Helg. Helg was on guard duty. He slipped towards the sleeping body of Lathmelen. The elf was, awkwardly enough, wearing on the dowery dress of the bride. By the time Khazek smashed Helg's knee with Oin's staff, Helg had the time to lodge his hatchet between Lathmelen's shoulderblades. 

A lot of dwarves into a small area

Gror was also on guard duty. He ran over his father to wake him up and rammed his forehead into Helg's shoulder. Helg rolled sideways and turned just on time for Gror to smash again through the bridge of his nose. Lathmelen utters an elven word and Helg dropped his hatchet then dropped to the ground. 

In Gror's wake, Nalik followed with his axe over his head. he was responding to the call by Helg to do away with the elf. Bain tripped him. Nalik fell over the bridge and grappled her body. Bain kicked him hard enough to make him snap from his compromising position. 

Rogi moved into the fray, responding to the renewed calls to eliminate the elf. By then, Gror was in a scuffle with Nordan who was trying to save Helg from further harm. Bain let out a loud yell which paralyzed everyone where they stood.

The dwarves of the battleguard were driven nearly mad by the curse by then. Some had convinced themselves that their predicament was the fault of Lathmelen the elf. Many blamed their commanders for associating with her. Thordar, drew a line with his smallsword in the air, Lathmelen said something obnoxious inadvertantly, but in the end Bain explained in no subtle terms that the elf was a mean to an end and was to be used to complete their mission. This seemed to appease the dwarves, but left Lathmelen perplexed. They set out for the known exit of the 4th level before more insanity would set in. 

And thus concludes another Chapter of "Reclaiming Khazad-dum"

The dwarves returned to the towers and made their way back to the Rising hall on the second level. The dwarves of the Bronze Attack had repelled the hunters once without too much trouble. They covered the bride with Thordar's cloak to avoid her curse to ensnare yet more dwarves.  They settled in the dwelling of the Hatchet farmers. 

Gesdrek conjectured that the Balrog's repose must be the seat of the curse. They decided to delve deep into the underdeep to find what is there and deal with it. The little folks won't do: the curse is too powerful. However, the most heroic elements were eager to get going. 

Let's return to Arda's hell: the bowels of middle-earth opened up by those who delved too deep.

K30 - The Love Polygon

The bride of the unborn reincarnation of Durin had to be put away into a hidden chamber of Khazad-dum until the day of her wedding would come. The viceroy saw her in a dream, and so the Royal party left the Tomb of Arvin in a quest to find that pretty needle in a wraith-infested heystack. What they found was a giant black pudding guarding the sarcophagus of the bride where she lay, at the threshold of bonified death. 

Both Khazek and Thordar saw in her eyes what they interpreted as the promise of true and everlasting love. 

The black pudding is playing with its food

But hey, the job wasn't done. Khazek pulled the bride from the sarcophagus. She was frail, pale and shivering. Her knuckles raw from beating from within the stone receptacle. Khazek pulled her gently and huddled her, careful not to smear her with the acid burning through his heavy chain. He gently kissed her, she was gasping for air. Was this passion? Thordar, boiling with rage lunged forward and punched Khazek in a mad hope to make him drop the bride into his hands. Khazek avoided the blow and misinterpreted it as an overenthusiastic offer to help carrying her to safety.

Lathmelen stumbled while jumping over the pudding, she fell feet first into the caustic mud. Her boots were now smouldering with a brown smoke, but her adarcer shin protector remained unaffected. A foot slipped out, but the second foot stayed stuck. The wraith that was wrestling her for the sword wandered off as she became invisible to it once that she let the sword go. A second attempt to free herself sent her face first to the ground with one foot still mired into the muck. The black pudding rolled over her body and began burning at her clothes and hair.

K23 - One Thousand bottles of beers on the wall

Interview with a green thing

The victor of the battle for the Marzabul Stairs' lower hall were feasting by finishing off the surviving orcs. Thordar saw this as the bleeding of possible intelligence. He picked an orc with both legs broken and dragged him into the torchlight for an interrogation. Interrogation wasn't his forte, but he managed to improvise with a little help from his smallsword. The orc was talkative but crytpic. He mentioned that the Hunters, lead by Haguk, were the rising nation in Moria. That they thrived on selling food to the other nations. He eventually let out that the hunters were settled in the upper levels, and that they never went to the deeps. Amidst the wailing and the pleas to stop the torture, the orcs also mentioned that there were trolls in the ranks of the hunters. By then, Thordar got bored and finished him off.

Locations for this session.

K22 - War in the East

This session picks up at a cliffhanger in the campaign where the dwarves of the Emerald-Unit have finally entered Khazad-dum.

Strategic Situation

The invasion of Khazad-dum began about 1h ago.

Area 1 - Level 1 - East Gate Hall

One lot of the Mithril-Attack (49 dwarves) is tasked to remove the standing bodies of dwarven ancestors from the hall. The viceroy, Bain Stonetongue, is on site.
PC: Bain

Area 2 - Level 1 - Marzabul Way

Two lots of the Mithril-Attack (98 dwarves) have been caught by surprise by the orc hunters. The front unit, the Trapeze-lot, is shattered and in a rout while the second one, the Galley-lot, is shocked. A stream of orcs is pushing them back to the East Gate.
PC: Thordar, Khazek

Area 3 - Deep 1 - The bridge of Khazad-dum

Three lots of the Mithril-Attack are tasked to proceed to the site of Durin's bridge in the First deep. They are lead by Kiro Rockdigger.

Area 4 - Dimrill Dale - East Gate

The Silver-Attack is stacked and ready to barge in. At their head, Gror, son of Bain, Commander of the Emerald.
PC: Gror

Area 5 - Dimrill Dale - Bank of the Mirrormere

The Ardacer-Attack is tasked with camp upkeep and area security. Thordar found that the Ardacer is the weakest link in the command structure, which is not a surprise since it is a free company from the Iron Hills.

Area 6 - Dimrill Dale - Caradhras's foothills

The last Attack of the Emerald, the Bronze-Attack, is tasked with area security in the mountain areas (a terrain for which it is rated as competent).

K20 - The basement isn't clear

This long overdue session report covers two sessions and follow on the K19 - Under New Management. 

The tactical situation

The natural cave is oriented East-West. The dwarves are progressing from the East. They crossed a door some 300 yds earlier where the cave had been walled in. The ceiling of the cave drops to 3 ft in many places, making the progress difficult and forcing a crouching position (-2 attack). On the ground, there is a meandering frozen stream. The stream is covered in rubble and ice, making it rough footing (-2 attack, -1 defense). The echoes are severe, making Per checks -3. There is only a single torch lit, held by Goldo, the vision penalty is -1 per 2 hexes beyond a range of 3 from the torch. Finally, the air is thin and toxic, causing double FP damage.

K19 - Under new management

It's all about location

Gror lead the assault on the huorn which lasted a mere fifty minutes. The tree fell to its doom from the top of the tower, freeing the path to the terrace where a contraption was mounted on a bronze brace. Lathmelen, the resident elf geek, didn't know anything about the artifact. Gesdrek was eventually pulled away from a book to examine the piece. It was a looking glass capable to terrorize whoever entered its sight. Unfortunately, the operation of the device remained a mystery and its effect a matter of conjecture. 

Goldo reported to Bain that Thalladan's library was a treasure trove of knowledge on dark arts and the underdeep. Most interestingly, Goldo identified a number of papers pointing to an agreement between Thalladan, the green wizard, and a party refered to as the infernals. The contract stated that Sarn Goriwig was to produce 150 orcs per years. The payment was to be made in exotic material, and take place once per calendar year.

Prince Imeptanen was eager to get the dwarves out of Sarn Goriwig. The dwarves delayed as much as they could. Many of them wanted to get back to the lower levels and explore the way beyond the door. The prince was adamant that this would not be possible. Bain managed to sidetrack the prince sufficiently to drag on the negotiation while he was grasping at straws. He saw an opportunity for Gror to shine and asked him to expose the role of the obsidian tower in the wider dwarven strategy. Unfortunately, the prince didn't seem to care at all for the business of the dwarves. Khazek attempted to throw the prince off with his trademark familiarity, but the attempt fell flat. The prince was visibly annoyed and wanted the intruders out of his property. 

Thordar pulled enough well turned sentences from his beard to distract the prince from his predicament. The prince was intrigued, maybe amused by the antics of the dwarf. The prince opened for further negotiations. Bain explained that Erebor was considering using the underdeep as a backdoor to Khazad-dum. This could get the dwarves out of Mirkwood earlier than planned. The prince liked that. After a few more minutes of negociations, the prince agreed to grant Sarn Goriwig for 10 years under two conditions: The first one was that the dwarves would prevent wickedness from deep underground to enter Mirkwood. The second term was that dwarves couldn't enter the orcs' nest until King Thrandhuil had presided over its purification. The deal was to be revisited in 10 years. 

Bain ordered the Bronze attack under Sundtak Orcslayer to take over the guard of the tower. Two herds were assigned to the task. The rest of the unit returned to Browek Bridge to await departure for Khazad-dum. Some hoped to go through Mirkwood such as Farin II, and others begged to go underground such as the commander of the Mithril-Attack, Kiro Rockdigger.

The thespian viceroy

Time flew by as the sun began to shine again on Mirkwood. Farin II, again, began to show disinterest for the whole of the expedition and spent all of his time training Battlegroup West. Thordar went by the command post a week later in search of new agents near Farin. His luck was thin, but he brought back a message from Farin to the viceroy requesting the permission to resume the overland walk. 

Bain obliged and returned to the CP of Battlegroup West. He found a pumped-up Farin who peeled himself from field exercises to meet the viceroy. Bain figured out that if he stroked his ego a little bit, he'd be able to get a clear idea of Farin's motivations (Psychology check). With this in mind, Bain played stupid (Acting check) and convinced Farin that he was really coming to see him to get a lesson in strategy. Farin, boasted his preparedness, and contempt for the troops on Battlegroup East. He exposed to Bain how he planned to take on the watcher in the water by the West gate. The lack of thought about the Eastern approach became evident. Gror suggested that taking on the beast may be a good way to come back to Erebor on a shield, but Farin dismissed the thought as weak. Bain estimated that Farin was probably capable to carry on his glamorous mission, decided that it was time for Gror to take over command, and ordered BG-West to march again. A date was set to begin the assault.

A day later, nothing was left of Battlegroup-West but a few kilometers of despoiled roadside encampments. Gror smiled and turned around to look upon the bustle of Battlegroup-East. Thordar, too was happy as the last of Farin's troop disappeared into the thick of Mirkwood. 

The sound of two shadows when they clash

Thordar had this itch in his hand. An itch that doesn't go away and comes to him when someone must die. He hoped for an orc raid, something fast and violent in which he could release the energy that he kept bottled in for weeks. A way to cast a net into destiny for him was to stroll around the HQ of Battlegroup-West. There was this Eastern dwarf there, Jaheev, which he suspected was responsible for the disappearance of Emerek: his agent in the Gold-Attack.

Thordar wandered around the unit, but didn't find much of a lead for his next agent. He had been drawing blanks for over two weeks and was wondering if he was losing his mojo. This is when he ran into one of the cooks working for the Attack-Lord himself. The guy's name was Kirel "Fanghook": an homely dwarf who feared him enough to pay attention. Thordar chatted a bit with Kirel and figured out that he was amenable to report to him on mundane matters. Kirel wasn't going to be the spymater that he was looking for, but at least he thought that he could count on him for simple stuff.

This is about that time that Farin III himself found Thordar and asked him to pass along the request to resume the march. Thordar scanned for Jaheev, who was nearby and observing him. He smiled, and returned to the viceroy with in his pocket a good excuse to come back with a distraction.

Thordar decided to take advantage of Bain's visit to confront Jaheev. If anything, this would prevent the Easterner from interfering with Bain's engagement. Thordar asked about Emerek, but Jaheev was dismissive. Feeling that this had something to do with his manliness, Thordar explained in no ambiguous terms that whatever happened to Emerk was better never again to happen to any other friends of his. Jaheev didn't need to be an empath to figure out that Thordar was glancing disturbingly at his throat. Jaheev made a veiled admission that he at least knew what had become of Emerk. He then promised to ensure that such dissapearance wouldn't happen again.

Jaheev was elated to hear that Battlegroup-West was leaving at first light. Most importantly, leaving behind Thordar and the disturbing twinkle in his eye.

The long way down

Khazek was a bit unimpressed when he learned that King Thrandhuil had been in Sarn Goriwig for the last few days without him noticing. Thordar also felt a little dejected to be the last to know about it. The King had gone and Prince Imeptanen came to Browek Bridge to inform the viceroy that the dwarven from then on had the duty to keep Mirkwood safe from the dark creatures of the underdeep.

The company comprised among many the viceroy, Bain, and his butler Thordar. The viceroy's son Gror was to lead a guard of axmen (7 of them) while Khazek, a royal family favourite was to take Gimvar and a guard of rangers to the depths. Also included were Gesdrek the Loremaster, Lathmelen the niece of the elf Queen Ildamadhui, Tov the holy dwarf and Goldo, and old friend of the viceroy and resident architect.  All 22 dwarves packed enough supplies to last a week, and headed deep under the mountains of Mirkwood.

The orc's nest was now a crypt for the tortured souls of 5 elves. Right of way to the Mirkwood elves was granted as the place was considered to be sacred to them. The company opened the gate and tip-toed through the rubble beyond.  Khazek identified a number of old tracks of orcs walking in files, and the strange footsteps of bipedal canine creatures, probably carrying whips. They proceeded down in a ricketty set of stairs going down a hastily dug shaft for 200 yds. They then reached a staging camp. There was more tracks there, and evidence of violence in the dust. The descent resumed for another 500 yds of vertical drop. At the foot of the shaft, there was the body of two orcs that didn't came down the slow way, and a squeeze leading into a large underground hall thundering with the noise of a waterfall.

The rangers proceeded to the Eastern end of the hall and waded into the river rushing down into the chasm below. They found the desiccated body of one of these dog-like creatures pushed aside along the wall. The river gushed into the hall through a carved portal of unknown origin. There was about 2 ft of water and a strong current. The water itself was not as cold as the rest of the hall. Khazek peered into the dark tunnel and turned around. The rest of the company was gravitating around the western end of the hall.

That end, unsusually, was walled in. Again, the construction was no more than 10 years old according to Goldo, and no one knew who would have been using this style. There was a steel door at it centre. Clearly, the concern appeared more to keep things from coming in than going out as the door was locked using a large steel bar hung on their side. They lifted the bar and opened the door. Tov's drumming was silenced, only one torch was left alight. 

Beyond the wall

Beyond the wall, the hall kept on heading west. The air was thin, but breathable enough to hike through for a few hours. The silence was deafening once that the roar of the fall were left behind. The door shrank as they proceeded forward.

The ceiling was low and uneven. Often, they needed to crouch to squeeze through to higher vaults in the tunnel. A small brook, mostly frozen, was trickling to the west. They hiked for some 300 yds in difficult terrain and tight squeezes until the rangers motioned to keep still. Something was stirring ahead. Goldo moved forward in hope to shed light. Only some faint motion could be perceived. Khazek swiftly ordered the rangers to spread out. At the edge of the light, they kneeled in a squeeze and readied their bows. Time stood still.

The ambush sprang on them as a countless ghoulish creatures tore from the dark towards their positions. It was dark, the little breathable air was filled with the steam from their breath and the echoes of dozens of screeching roars.

Beyond the wall, in a glance.

K18 - Cold rain over Mirkwood

This session introduced our new PCs and se the stage for the next chapter of the campaign. 

The dust is settling over Browek Bridge

At the end of the last session, the Mirkwood elves had learned from the dwarves that there was an orc nest with live elven sacrifice deep underground. Gormiel, the leader of the elves, managed to secure one of the key from Khazek. Four of them entered Sarn Goriwig, four accompanied the dwarves back to Browek Bridge while two other remained at large. After a few hours of grueling hiking, the orb was safe within the dwarf fort. 

On the following day, Drolf appropriated the second key of Sarn Goriwig and handed it to Gror. Drolf announced that the Ardacer was to leave to open the road while Gror would stay behind to hold the bridge. Gror, worried about giant spiders and orcs, ordered the Ledge-Lot to close the perimeter and the rangers to take stock of the surroundings. Gror's hold on the troop was very good (MoS 3), and his defensive plan excellent (MoS 3). The combination of patrols by the rangers and his own axmen allowed him to build a precise mental map of the surroundings (Intelligence Analysis, critical success).  The bulk of the orcs had melted away soon after their expedition within the tower. The reasons of this scattering was unknown, but probably related to the death of the wizard. 

Khazek, now solely at the head of 21 rangers, launched into increasingly far reaching patrols. His command of the troop was adequate (MoS 0), his tracking effort highly effective (MoS 7), which was instrumental in providing Gror with a clear situational awareness. About a few days later, Gormiel linked with the ranger. The tower was sealed, and elven wraiths were haunting it for now. Khazek realized that Gormiel was uncomfortable with the situation. Gormiel told Khazek that Prince Imeptanen was on his way to Browek Bridge to resolve the dispute over the ownership of the orb and the tower.   

Gror, son of Bain.

TA 2930 - Gror is Born ( 119 years ago)

Gror was the first born of Bain, son of Nain III and Brother of Dain III Ironfoot, King of the Iron Hills. He was taught from the start that he was to behave like a King in case that the lineage of Dain II failed. This information never came from the mouth of his father, Bain Stonetongue, who never uttered out loud the possibility of such the failure. This rather came from his mother, who was a very pragmatic matriarch.

K04 - The vanguard leaves Erebor

Gates of Erebor, April 14th FA 15

Ten days of mobilization had turned Erebor upside down. The mines and workshops were now running at half speed as the dwarves from the Emerald Unit were outfitting, training and creating a nearly juvenile ruckus in the hallowed halls. Bain Stonetongue, son of Nain and Uncle to the King made sure that the event was tightly choreographed: banners unfurled, music echoing from the gates all the way to Dale. The King was to talk, then the viceroy and finally the Prime minister. The King was terse and mostly unarticulated, this didn't matter since his crowd working technique mainly consisted in getting people to cheer on at every punctuation mark. Then stepped forward Bain, viceroy of Khazad-dum, his voice penetrated the heart of all dwarves arrayed under the gates of the Lonely Mountain:

K03 - The viceroy of Khazad-dum

April 5th FA 15

The evening wore off and all dwarves present in the council returned to their own dwellings. The King has yet to make further announcement, and is not expected to rouse from his quarters until late into the afternoon on the following day of April 6. The King hinted that he would let an Unit-sized expeditionary force leave. However, that he intended to follow once that a foothold was secured. The issue of leadership has not been even broached at this point.

In the morning, the armorers of Erebor held a fitting for the members of the Royal council. This was an occasion for all to informally meet, declare their positions and attempt to posture for the upcoming day.