A March Hundreds of Years in the Making...

 

"Long, long ago, before the mountains were shaped as they are now, Durin awoke in the caverns beneath a mighty peak that joined two great mountain-ranges of the north. He looked to the peak and gave it the name we have revered ever since: Gundabad, the Mountain-home." - Stáli the Hewer

 

 

Durin's Folk delved their halls beneath the mountain of Gundabad in ages past, but it fell to the Orcs of Sauron and has remained lost ever since, save for a short time during the Great Orc War of King Thráin. Lost again only a few short years later, when the Orcs sacked it following the Battle of Azanulbizar, it has not known the tread of Dwarf-feet in more than 200 years. Still, some Dwarves who yet live remember beholding its shadowed beauty and would see it again in light. Now, Prince Durin, son of King Thorin Stonehelm, has set his eyes on reclaiming Gundabad from the Orcs, hobgoblins, and Angmarim infesting the mountain, both above and below.

 

 

"… now that the Dark Lord is gone, the Stout-axes have emerged to take what we will, and what we deserve." - Kóvo of the Stout-axes

 

Durin has amassed a great army, known as the Gabil'akkâ, but tension remains among the Longbeards, Stout-axes, and Zhélruka for deeds and conflicts past and present. Durin has managed to forge an alliance among the Dwarf-clans, aligned to reclaim their legacy, but their union remains fragile, and a difficult initial assault has taken a heavy toll. As Durin’s army musters anew for battle at the war-camp of Annâk-khurfu, word arrives that the time of preparation is over...

 

 

"I spoke to you of Azog, who led the Orcs against us during the Great Orc War, and perished beneath Dáin's heel at Azanulbizar? A son he had, Bolg, who commanded the Orcs at the Battle of Five Armies. Bolg died before the Lonely Mountain, but his line did not end there. Two were the sons of Bolg. One was named Gorgar, and if the words of Natsatúg can be trusted he calls himself now the Lord of Gundabad." - Glóin

All has not been well among the enemy, either. The self-declared Lord of Gundabad, Gorgar the Ruthless, is a figurehead rather than a true leader, subservient to the hobgoblin warlord Dushtalbúk. While the first assault by the Gabil'akkâ brought heavy losses among the Dwarves, it led to a shattering of Gorgar's host beneath the claws of an even more fearsome foe, descended from legend...

 

 

Hrímil Frost-heart has come and declared herself the true Lord of Gundabad. A great dragon of old, known as the Herald of Winter and a last remnant of the Great Army of Morgoth, whom even the Dark Lord Sauron was unable to bend to his will, Hrímil now controls Gorgar’s army, and has given the order to march upon Annâk-khurfu and bring an end to Prince Durin and his followers...

The tale continues in The Fate of Gundabad!