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.

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.

K36 - Cave-ins and squeezes

We are back to our main campaign after an eventful side quest where the Kraken died. The PCs are now free to move forward in any direction that they choose. This session was short as we played a metagame just before to set the stage. 

The initial situation ( a recap )

The viceroy's retinue returned from a venture in the 4th level with the Bride in tow. Deema, the bride, is prophetically bound to marry Durin's heir and produce the next and last incarnation of the mythical King. All dwarves seeing the bride are falling inexorably in love with the woman. The romantic tension is a bit much for everyone. She was farmed out of sight in the "Hatchet Dwelling", a small compound near the East Gate which was inhabited by farmers in the glory days of the old city. 

It was discovered during the delve that a great curse, probably the soul of the Balrog, had invested the bodies of the dwarven ancestors. The lot was now standing in the Hall of Trees, blocking the way forward along Durin's way with more than a thousand aggressive animated corpses. More worrisome is the fact that upon their second death, a shard of the curse is release and makes its way back to the bowels of Khazad-dum. 

Lastly, the curse is driving the dwarves mad. Their Will degrade over time until they turn into a rabble of incoherent, mad warriors that are virtually impossible to command. This is not helping that one orc nation called the "Hunters" is pushing them back from forward positions on the 2nd and 4th level. 

Getting caught on the wrong side of a cave-in (Bain, Thordar)

As first order of business, Bain sends scouts to identify the most effective chokepoint to block the hunters from attacking. They begin caving-in operations along the main road, the aqueduct underneath and a side passage from the Hatchet dwelling. The rear guard action is done by a small group of volunteers from the Silver-Attack. Thordar is also part of the rear guard as he can't pass on an occasion to be reckless. 

In the last moment before the final which is to seal the access to the hunters, Thordar gets carried aways on a pursuit and gets separated from the rear guard. By the time that he realizes that he is alone on the other side, he can hear the last warning of the imminent cave-in. Then comes a huge grinding noise and the underground road fills with dust. He is caught, alone, on the wrong side of the collapsed tunnel. Thordar quickly thinks and remembers a known footbridge discovered by scouts last week. That would be his only chance to escape before the hunters fill the base of Marzabul's stairs.  

Without looking back, Thordar slips west into the darkness in search of a way back to the East Gate. 

Bain had a great idea here and it worked quite well. To their knowledge, there are no alternate ways to reach their position from the stair from where the Hunters lauch raids. Thordar was involved in an abstracted MASS combat. He selected +2 for risks and lucked out. This is why he ended up separated from the main body and onto an adventure of his own.

Down they go: looking for a way to the underdeep (Khazek, Lathmelen)

Khazek was reunited with his rangers when they came back from across the Misty Mountains. The news from there were good and the danger of the watcher had not materialized. Khazek was looking for a way to get to the underdeep, get rid of the curse somehow and marry the bride. A logical first step was to descend through the known passage's to Halin's mine and try to break west from there. He considered taking a Lot (47 battle-guards, Axedwarves and crossbowmen), but decided to travel light with only his rockwalkers. 

The descent took about an hour until they got to a crossroad where all access had been caved-in by Halin some 15 years ago. The only way out was a gold mine to the south. The rangers started to look for alternatives. They found an aqueduct underneath the westward road that didn't get properly caved in. Or at least, Lathmelen's elf magic detected the weakness in the mess. They managed to get a squeeze opened that was large enough for broad-chested dwarves. They all crawled through and headed west. 

Just how big is Khazad-dum?

They spent about 6 hours traveling a well kept east-west road. They encountered multiple crossroads but kept on moving forward until they arrived to a major highway. There, they detected recent orc tracks, as well as cart tracks and fragment of the strangest of gold ore. Lathmelen positively identified it as gold ore, but there was something odd about the metal. She pocketed a few rocks and the ranger returned to the East gate to report on the finding. 

Upon their return, it was decided that a sizeable force would have to support the operation on the 4th deep. Elements of the Mithril and Bronze were ready to go while the Silver-Attack was paralyzed by an epidemic of dysentery. 

Meanwhile, in a folder full of parchemins nearby (Bain)

Bain decided to do a little HR work to place the best leader in the best positions. Particularly, in logistic posts where the long-term success of the venture resides.  While the rangers were deep underground and Thordar was lost and no one knew about it, Bain poured over rosters to identify candidates. Using his cunning, he met with sub-commanders to weed out the least competent and promote the best suited for a long underground offense in a terrifying environment (Leadership support check passed).  He identified the key roles, particularly in logistical positions, and matches the two lists (Admin check, supported by leadership).

As a consequence, a bunch of points will be awarded to decrease the dependence of sub-units to more convenient levels. 

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.

K26 - The Rising Hall

Taking a breather

Bain took a last look at the rabble across the unending well. Hundreds of ancestors, pulled from their tombs to jeer and gesticulate offensively at his dwarves. He headed back up to the East Gate Hall and ordered the rotation of the Mithril-Attack out of Khazad-dum. Bronze filled in, with strict order to avoid descending to the first deep except for a skeleton crew to keep a watch on the Hall of Trees.

Khazek left with Donarik and his Goldleaf rangers. Thordar reported to the hospital camp to have the wound in his thigh bandaged. The festering, unhealing gash in his cheek that was made by the Ghouls months ago started to tingle. The poison spread to his blood and made him very sick. He vomited for the whole of the following day and missed on the slow slug of the Silver-Attack up the Marzabul stairs.

K25 - A needle in a haystack

Instructions

Getting Started

Backgrounder

Area Knowledge

Lathmelen’s last words

Queries

The forbidden forest

An interview with Ngaii

The Stalker

The stalker’s shadow

Getting Started

Previous Scene: Lemmings

Location: East Gate

Present: Khazek, Bain

NPCs: ?

Special Circumstances:

• Everyone’s Will is at -1 at the moment to reflect a malaise that is affecting the invading force.

Situation:

• Bain wants to get Lathmelen back from her diplomatic mission into Lorien. She was last seen entering the woods through the East approach (Red dot).
• Khazek and Bain are conferring in the East Gate hall. Khazek may leave on his own, bring rangers  or anyone else.

Khazek is more than excited to get back outside and under the open sky. He will select a small group of Rock Walkers (hopefully the 7 ‘usual suspects’ that he normally takes with him. Are Gimvar and Donnarik up to snuff?) He will get as much information from Bain about the Elf woods and from anywhere else he can scrounge up information before heading out.

Important Skills he will be needing are:

• Tracking: 19
• Survival Woodlands: 16
• Area Knowledge (Rhovanion): 13
• Navigation Land: 13

Backgrounder

Khazek has three patrols of 7 rangers at his disposition. Each patrol is training well in all key area, but each has developed a specialty of their own. One should be sent to the West Gate to link with Farin’s force.

1. Goldleaf: Lead by Donarik. They are surefooted and quiet. Donarik is respected and loved by his dwarves. The best trackers are in this patrol. Donarik is still an insolent bastard, but responsibility has given him a tad of wisdom [Khazek teaching check PASS, morale good, quality good.]
2. Arrowroot: Lead by Gimvar. They are the tough, brawling and insubordinate ones. They never were the same after their foray into the underdeep. Gimvar keeps tab on the lot. They are the least excitable of the three patrols. [Khazek teaching check FAILED, morale OK, quality good]
3. Saffron: Lead by Bakar Bluebeard. Bakar is a great teacher himself and has high standards of marksmanship. Saffran has not participated into serious action so far. However, they acquitted themselves of all their assignments very well so far. Khazek just don’t know how they will react when they see themselves “in the eyes of the elephants”. [Khazek teaching check PASS, moral OK, quality OK?]

Area Knowledge

Lorien is a mystical place. However, Khazek knows enough about Rhovanion [AK(Rhovanion)-13, -4 Lorien, MoS +1] to be aware of the main entry points into the forbidden forest and the key landmarks. Khazek knows of the path shown on the map which was once used in the trade with Khazad-dum. He also knows about Caras Galadhon, the nerve center of elfdom. He is aware that historically, elves used the Celebrant to ferry materiel in and out of Lothlorien.

Each 3.9 miles on the map is about 1h of walk at full speed. 2h to get to the edge of Lothlorien. The current time is 1000.

Lathmelen’s last words

She complained that Lothlorien seemed abandoned. She planned to look for Cara Galadhon, then return to the dwarves. Lathmelen is traveling on an elven horse given to her by Thrandhuil himself when they last met at Sarn Goriwig. She confided to Khazek, whom she likes very much, that she was worried that the last of the dream elves at left Middle-Earth without saying goodbye.

On good thing is, if you are not an elf, and you want to be found. You probably will...

Queries

1. Who is going along? Who is going West?
1. Goldleaf will come with Khazek to the forest, Arrowroot will go over the mountain to West-Group while Saffron will remain in the valley providing perimeter scouting or whatever other functions are needed.
2. Where to begin, how far to go?
1. Khazek will plan to enter the forest and follow the river to where he believes Lathmelen was heading. He also hopes that this would be the path she would take to make it back to Khazad-Dum after she was done. (Ive marked Khazek’s proposed route on the map, of course it could change given developments discovered along the way.)
3. What is the overall general strategy? Key skills to rely upon?
1. Tracking: Looking for evidence of what?
1. Tracking for ANYTHING larger than an animal. Specifically 2 legged folk, Elves, Humans, Dwarves, Orcs.. etc and of course Lathmelen’s horse!
2. Navigation: Where to?
1. To the Elf city Cara Galadhon, hopefully following the banks of the river will make it considerably easier.
4. In the abstracted travel, what should trigger me to pause and report to Khazek?
1. Anything that seems important or unexpected (signs of anything passing recently that might be a danger or lead him to Lathmelen)

---

The forbidden forest

Technical details: [Tracking-19, MoS:+7; Navigation-13, MoS:+0]

Khazek rounds up the Rock Walkers and issues his orders. Goldleaf will be entering the land of dreams with him while Arrowroot will link with Battlegroup-West. Saffron will remain in Dimrill Dale to provide area patrols. Saffron is now the main force assigned to area patrols since the Bronze-Attack was mobilized to enter Khazad-dum.

By noon, the eight rangers are reaching the edge of Lothlorien. The forest takes on an unusual look as they progress deeper into the land of dreams. The trees are taller, mightier. The ground is mossier, soft and rich. Khazek notices that the water from the celebrant seems to have poisoned whatever is growing on its banks.  

Khazek looks for tracks but finds nothing.  Absolutely nothing. It is like the forest has had no animal living in it ever. Khazek isn’t sure whether this is normal in this land or not. He cross-references with his observations from Queen Ildamadhui’s garden and sees a few similarities. However, there are no birds singing, no insects.  Donarik notices that Khazek gets distracted and takes over the patrol lead. Following the river is simple, the rangers are moving at first at a good pace. However, soon enough as the afternoon grows old, they soften their pace and relax.

A white doe comes into sight and beckons the rangers to follow inland away from the celebrant river. The doe is a bit skittish. [Reaction check with the doe: Charisma +1, Elven blade +1, race in decline -1, Pacifism +1].

Khazek 20140223 -  Seeing the deer intrigues Khazek, especially since he has not seen any tracks from such an animal. Khazek notifies his rangers to be on guard. Khazek and the rangers quietly follow the creature. Along the way, Khazek will check the ground for the beasts tracks.

[reaction roll: 6+2=8, poor]

The doe is startled by the dwarves and begins bouncing nervously across the forest. However, she seems to be slowing down to let the rangers keep up. They follow a gentle incline upward, heading North. Khazek has to hurry a bit to keep up. By the time that the doe pass beyond the crest of a rise, Khazek turns around a finds himself alone. There are no signs of the other rangers. He can hear the doe bouncing away to his North, but suspect that his colleagues have fallen behind to the South. The light overhead suggest a late morning, but this makes no sense to him as it should be later afternoon.

Khazek 20140224 - Unsure of what exactly is going on, Khazek continues in his pursuit of the doe. Before moving on, however, he makes a very obvious mark on the ground indicating that he had been here and which direction he was heading off in, hoping that his Rock Walkers were at least good enough to track a plainly marked path.

An interview with Ngaii

Khazek follows the doe, mostly by ear since she apparently leaves no traces on the ground. He proceeds until he catch from the corner of his eye the silhouette of someone he know. It is Princess Ngaii, daughter of King Thrandhuil. She is dressed plainly in white linen and is wearing no visible jewelry. "I'm glad to see you again young Prince.", she says.

"Lathmelen is fine. She is with me.", she adds with a smile. "Dwarves should never come into Lothlorien. Dwarves cannot stand alone and in this land everyone is alone." A whisp of sadness shrouds her smile for a moment. She invites the ranger to sit at a table that was set amidst the gold leaves and the trees.

"It pains me to see you here. You brought with you a sinister stalker, Prince.", She pours a clear liquid from a carafe to a silver cup. Khazek notices the inscriptions are in Old Naugrim. This cup came from Khazad-dum, probably a long time ago.

"I see that the curse has withdrawn from the Celebrant." (the river running through Lothlorien). "Tell me, young Prince, about your toils.". She offers the cup to the ranger.

Khazek 20140224 - “What are you doing here? We left you back in Thranduil Hall months ago.” Khazek takes the cup and drinks from it. He tries hard to rein in his impetuous ways with some courtly skill “What in Durin’s name is going on here? Have you seen Lathmelen? Why do you keep talking to the deer? And no one is stalking me, why do you say someone is stalking me?”

[-1 Impetuous, +1 Savior Faire (Court)-11, (-2) Status of 2 vs Ngaii of 4, (+2) Rank of 2. +1 Friends of elves, charisma;+1. Roll: 11+1=12, Good.]

Khazek’s impetuosity turns out to be a bit much for Ngaii. Khazek remembers his manners but is full of questions and doesn’t have the patience for elven riddles. At the end of the day, the young officer’s natural charms manages to draw a smile out of the elf princess.

The drink is exquisite. Khazek can’t quite tell what it is, but it could be water. It fills him with a sense of wellbeing that he has not experienced before.

Ngaii speaks slowly and deliberately for the next little while. She suggests that she is now the elf queen since the departure of Lady Galadriel. She inquires about the viceroy. Khazek can see the star in the sky move quickly in semi-circles.

Khazek can barely pay attention after a while. Lathmelen appears to be somewhere in Lothlorien. Ngaii tries to calm him down. She seems interested in what the dwarves have been up to.

Khazek 20140224 - Khazek freely tells Ngaii all that the Dwarves have encountered so far since reaching Khadad-Dum. He asks how to find Lathmelen and then wonders where all the other Elves have gone. Khazek stares at the pretty lights swirling around for a while, then turns and asks Ngaii why the Dwarven ancestors have started behaving so poorly and what Evil lurks in the mines of Moria.

Ngaii humors the ranger for a long while. She listens carefully, answers questions politely. She believes that there is indeed treachery that made the ancestor walk. She points out that the river that once was poisonous is coming back to normal: that she has seen a fish in the flows for the first time today.

The deceased walk only for one reason: restlessness. In the case of Dwarves, Ngaii doesn’t believe that the ancestors have really returned. I fear that the old Maiar has not left Middle-Earth just yet, making a reference to the Balrog. She asks Khazek to inspect his elven sword. “This blade can dispatch restless souls. Spare your axes, hammers and pointy sticks. This is one of the best gifts that elvendom may have for you.”

She offers an amulet to Khazek and begs him to take this amulet to Bain Stonetongue. “This is the amulet of Irmo. It is a gift from the Queen of elves to him. Bring it back when this is all over, for I do not know for how long I can part with it.”

She tells him that Lathmelen will join the dwarves to complete her work.

Khazek is drowsy. Time is standing still. Ngaii gets this sad look once more. “I told you you once that the land of dream is a dangerous place. I will let you go, but I cannot help you any further: you are alone and you brought with you a great danger.”

Khazek doses off.

---

The Stalker

Khazek wakes up after a nap that could as well have lasted for a thousand years. He is aware of the weather: a cold nip carrying nearly icy droplets of rain. The sun is warming the moss and creates a shroud of ground fog. He can see the towering mount Silvertine to the north.

Khazek awakes to the faint sound of slithering. No one but him would have heard the noise, but he knows that there is a very large snake rustling leaves and lurking in the brushes some 20 yd. away from him. His equipment is some 5 yd. away towards the snake. There are no reasons to believe that the snake is aware that Khazek is no longer sleeping.

Khazek 20140224 - Khazek slowly moves toward his gear, staying low and trying not to alert the snake. Khazek peers around, trying to get his bearings.

Khazek manages to slip silently to the rock where his stuff was leaning against. The stalker, a 6+ yd. long constrictor of some kind (he’s never seen this species before), is heading towards his original position.

At this precise moment, the stalker spots the ranger. Khazek is in the crouched position, with access to his staff and sword. Everything else is in the pack. The bow is not strung, he seems to remember unstringing while he was talking to Ngaii.  

Khazek 20140225 - Khazek watches and studies the snake. The snake slowly makes it way toward Khazek and the young Dwarf slowly retreats. Eventually the snake climbs up into the branches of the canopy above. They continue their slow dance until Khazek finally makes his stand near a rock. The snake drops from above and Khazek sets his spear, bracing for the attack. The snake twists and avoids the point of the spear and tries to grab Khazek but the Dwarf drops back quickly and brings his spear to bear again.

The stalker falls to the ground behind the retreating ranger. Khazek retaliates with a swift blow which is avoided by the beast at the cost of moving its forward quarter out of striking reach. However, the stalker swings its rear half to grapple the ranger but failed to get a grip. Khazek retaliates with an impaling blow that lodges itself deep inside of the stalker’s body. The stalker, uses the action as a leverage to lunge forward after a brief deceptive move (AoA determined canceled by a deceptive attack to neutralize the ranger’s defense), but its body overshoots and simply thud against Khazek’s legs.

Khazek moved back and hit the snake again, this time through its head. The stalker’s body fell to the ground, stunned. Khazek finished it off before it had the time to recover and fight back.

---

Awakening from a dream

Shortly after expiring, Khazek notices a faint shadow splitting away from the stalker’s body and moving swiftly close to the ground. The shadow is heading North, apparently towards the nearby edge of Lothlorien.  It is fast, but not too fast for the ranger if he hustles.

Khazek 20140226 - Khazek watches the shadow curiously as it slithers away and thinks about Lathmelen and his rangers. He longs to follow the shadow, but then remembers his duty to his Rock Walkers and to Bain and Lathmelen. Turning, he heads back toward where he believes his rangers might be, hoping they at least made an attempt to follow him.

Khazek begins running behind the shadow but soon gets a hold of his emotions. He hesitates, look back into Lothlorien and decides to head back in to search for his Rock Walkers. He traces his step back to the river, some 2 hours later. For the longest time, he doesn’t find the footsteps steps of his rangers. He doesn’t understand why they have disappeared.

At one point, he finds the steps of one of them. They are so light, barely perceptible. Khazek realizes that Lothlorien isn’t “behaving” the way other locations do. He remembers the movement of stars in the sky and figure that he may have spend days wandering in the woods.

In the distance, he hears the steps of a horse riding at a fast pace. By his hunch, the rider isn’t quite heading his way, but would be passing North of his position beyond the crest of an incline.

Khazek 20140228 - The young Dwarf breaks into a run, hoping to get to a point where he can at least see, and if necessary, hail the rider, believing that it must be Lathmelen.

And a small world it is. Khazek runs up the incline and then down into a vale, which wasn’t there when he came in looking for the river. The forest looks more familiar: tree species are more typical of Rhovanion, he can even spot tracks of small game on the ground as he intercepts Lathmelen.

The elf is riding her purebred, which first hears Khazek, then cue the elf to his presence. Lathmelen is wearing a beautiful light plate armor made of finely crafted and intricate components. A matching elm is hooked on her saddle.

“Here you are, young Prince.”, she says as her palfrey turns around and slows to a trot. Queen Ngaii has released the both of us, for we have much to do. Galadriel had foretold that the soul of the Balrog would withdraw from the Celebrant river when the heir to Durin returned. Whether he is retreating or fading, no one can tell, but I fear the former option.

Khazek 20140301 - ... “Hey, there you are! I’ve been looking all over for you! What have you, um, where did you get that armor? Did you find, wait, why do you keep calling me Prince? Did you see that snake? I saw some shadow form slink out of it after I killed it. The forest looks different now. Did you do that? Come on. Let’s get back to report to Bain. I’m glad to see you, by the way, I’ve missed you. Oh yea, have you seen my Rock Walkers? I left them around here somewhere.” After he calms down a bit from his initial meeting with Lathmelen, Khazek will ask her if she found what she had been looking for in Lothlrien and if she had figured anything out. He also fills her in on the Dwarves progress and problems at Moria as well.

Whoa. Lathmelen jumps off her horse.

“Be at peace young Prince.”, she replies. “I missed you too my friend. I’m afraid that your friends have to find the strenght on their own before they can leave Lothlorien. Queen Ngaii has released the both of us, at odds with the laws of the land. We really do need to talk to the Viceroy. I bear serious tidings for him.”

She offers the dwarf to climb on her palfrey. “You are a prince to me. C’mon now. There are none of Yavanna’s snake in Lothlorien. Whatever you saw was a creature of Morgoth.”

Once saddled up, they ride with haste as the young dwarf blurts updates with the coherence of a twitter feed.