Dralvik nodded a farewell to Baldur. As the commander and the Iron Breakers marched to southwestern Angmar fading into the wind towards Upper Rhudaur.

Commander Toremrouk approached Dralvik while his beard was fighting against a geentle breeze that was wafting in from the open landscape. The king was studing the terrain carefully and giving orders from his sled.

"As heavily armored as they are...", said Toremrouk while shaking the snow off his boots: "...it will take them less than one day to get to Upper Rhudaur truely impressive... Are you sure you want to settle them in the south?".

"They are warmachines my friend, they are train like that in the Blue Mountians combined with the new tecnics that Auxitius taught us, may Mahal guide his soul", Dralvik paused as he recalled his fallen friend and sentenced: "... they will keep us safe protecting the borders".

Toremrouk looked at Dralvik, whom was looking far way into the landscape almost evading the old dwarf's sight that was at his side.

The old dwarf smiled gentlely and said: "You know what Dralvik, you don't have to be strong in front of your friends ... we know that you try to hide that most sensitive part of you but we know you well. Remember young friend, you are not your father, you are a better version of him... Moar your fallen and fight your enemies, not yourself...", he gave Dralvik a pat on the shoulder and went back to his sled.

Dralvik was in deep thought analyzing the words and smiling to himself, he turned around and said: "thank you old friend". Toremrouk responded with a wink and the turn to some soldier and start gaving orden to march foward.

The soldiers barely paid the old dwarf any attention, they were focused on packing their camp equipment but with the increse of Toremrouk voice they hastled and retook the march.

Dralvik looked around seen his army moving through the snowy landscape and when he looked over his shoulder he saw a rider following his army tracks. He frowned to see better and saw a large wolf crowned by and orc.

"He must be mad, or he is a messanger... for his good I hope is the last one", Dralvik said to himself while pointing at the lone rider.

There was a small commotion and a series of insults from the soldiers towards the lone rider, but he was escorted before the king to fulfill his task. The guards forced him to his knees and the orc looked at Dralvik and took out a scroll from among his garments and held it up to the dwarf king.

Dralvik took the scroll, and looked at the orc for a moment. It was different from the orcs of Gundabad but an orc non the less, the king then drive his sight to the message and read it.

"hmm...", Dralvik looked again to the orc and said: "wait here..."

The king was absent for a while, returning just in time to interrupt the exchange of glances from the soldiers to the messenger.

"Deliver this message and be gone", Dralvik said to the orc who got up with caution, went to his mount and fled, carrying with him a mixture of fear and feeling that the task was carried out successfully.

////////////////////////////////
///// To Snicklefritz the Orc
////////////////////////////////
To Snicklefritz the Orc,

I, Dralvik II son and heir of Drolvuk Frozenhelm, Bane of Cvog the Vicious, Crusher of Gundabad Dwellers, sovereign king of the Clan Frostbeard and ruler of Khazâd-gund and greets you cordially.

As for what you say, I am afraid to say that I do agree: we are after all a straightforward people, with that in mind I have to say to you that: we are not neighbours and I dont know you, but bear in mind that you do well to be cautious of the dwarven fury so do not ignite it. And by that i mean mind your own bussiness, our friendships and relations with the men and elves are our own issues.

If you really do want us to undestand you, as an act in good faith, please send an non agression pact to the dwarf nations of Defender's Ford and the Wooden Enclave. The actions speak for themselves.
////////////////////////////////

----

Sends the above message to Snicklefritz of Broken Tooth Tribe.

King Minyatur inquired about the status of his scouts that were sent to a few select nearby kingdoms with the mysterious armor and ore; no scout returned as of yet. "Perhaps we should give it a try ourselves. It may not be as good, but we have some great smiths in Arthedain! All we need is this damn ore, and to figure out how to properly mine it; perhaph Fëanáro has some suggestions ...", the king thought to himself.

--- a while later ---

His scouts from Enedhwaith returned to the king; the army arrived safely in Etyangoldi lands and awaited orders where to proceed next. The King called for an other scout;
"Send the following message to the Druwaith Folk and to the garrison of Rohan", he informed the scout.
"Humans of the realm, the Army of Arthedain is marching to reclaim Gorgoroth in the name of Men everywhere. Please allow our army to march through your lands in order to reach as soon as possible the lands of Gorgoroth and fight any foe that stands in our way."

----
Ask Druwaith Folk and Rohan for safe access into their realms; if agree, move to Nan Curunir and then either Rohan (unlikely) or Fangorn. If none agrees, then there will be an additional IC message, rerouting the army towards Pukel Land and Andrast.

In Foothills, near a valley on the east side of the Misty Mountains and past the east-gate of Redhorn, lay a lake that fed the streams and rivers of the Foothill forests; there, the Dru folk discovered a weather-worn pillar, inscribed with letters and runes. The wording on the pillar was unclear, although the words Kheled-zâram and Sigin-tarâg stood out.

Near the old pillar the Dru folk discovered a cave formation and, upon investigation, also discovered the remainder of an intricate labyrinth of long hallways that may have spanned under the mountains; might it have been a secret passageway that led out from the mountain mines to the east?

After employing the service of some dwarves that still lived nearby, digging and exploration of the caves commenced. A few desolate chambers were found, although no direct passage to the mines of Redhorn Gate; perhaps the pathways have been blocked by stone collapsing due to the most recent battles fought in Redhorn Gate, or perhaps there was no pathway to begin with; either way, the deserted hallways were like a puzzle that spun in all directions but led nowhere. If there was a secret there, it most likely was well guarded by the passage of time.

Only two items worth mentioning were found there, in a chamber that looked like a tomb; a belt, made from a fine steel mesh set with seven plates of polished stones of great hardness; the clasp of the belt is a large diamond, apparently engraved with some runes, and a dusty war artifact shaped like an axe, with a silver color and some runic decorations; they caught the attention of the Dru folk because the axe had a red and white enchantment strip tied to it (and the Dru folk are all for this color) and the belt was a trinklet with gems and runes engraved (and the Dru are all about trinklets with enchantments). After this find, the digger-dwarves wanted to claim these artifacts for themselves, as payment for their service; the Dru folk looked at them with suspicious eyes, as for any pair of eyes they very much look like like a socketed gem belt and an ordinary, rather uninspired, iron axe, but, unexplicably, the dwarves sought them.

The Dru folk felt that something was amiss with the whole situation and quickly terminated the contract with the dwarves and expelled them from Foothills. Last seen, the dwarves were heading due north west and north east.

The Dru folk looked at the artifacts closely; are they emanating power? are they quite unique? Or the Dru just acted crazy, because of their distrust of any other race? Perhaps smelting the items would give more answers ... who needs old axes anyway? The Dru folk will ponder a bit on this decision.

The orc chieftain sat amidst the army's post-battle camp, drinking a celebratory tankard of draught, and reading the correspondence his messengers had arrived with.

If you really do want us to undestand you, as an act in good faith, please send an non agression pact to the dwarf nations of Defender's Ford and the Wooden Enclave.

///////////////////////////
//// QUOTE of past message from Clan Frostbeard
///////////////////////////

"I, Dralvik II son and heir of Drolvuk Frozenhelm, Bane of Cvog the Vicious, Crusher of Gundabad Dwellers, sovereign king of the Clan Frostbeard and ruler of Khazâd-gund and greets you cordially.

As for what you say, I am afraid to say that I do agree: we are after all a straightforward people, with that in mind I have to say to you that: we are not neighbours and I dont know you, but bear in mind that you do well to be cautious of the dwarven fury so do not ignite it. And by that i mean mind your own bussiness, our friendships and relations with the men and elves are our own issues.

If you really do want us to undestand you, as an act in good faith, please send an non agression pact to the dwarf nations of Defender's Ford and the Wooden Enclave. The actions speak for themselves."

////////////////////////////

Snicklefritz folded the letter to ponder those words while absently slopping about the contents of his vessel. A smile broke across his face and he waved the messenger back over.

"Get word to the Dwarven forces stationed north of us that Snicklefritz the Orc desires pacts of a non-aggression." And he begins scratching out the messages:

"Dwarven neighbors, I write to you out of fear that a misunderstanding is leading us to needless collision. Dispatches were sent off to both of you, as well as to those of Clan Frostbeard, seeking understanding between us. King Dralvik replied promptly, and with much wisdom, recommending that I send offers of non-aggression pacts to you both as signals of honest intent. And so, this I do. Join with me in a pledge of non-aggression. Allow me a chance to show you that I pose no threat to your lands. And let Dwarf and Orc find peace in one another's company."

Snicklefritz distributed the messages to his carriers, and sat down, absently fingering the necklace of teeth strung round his neck, and lost deep in thought.

Rising at last, he pulled in a passing captain. "Ready the troops. We may be pulling back from this province before long and heading back south. Depending on the word from the north."

-----

Send messages to The Defender's Fjord and The Woodland Enclave proposing non-aggression pacts

Garahir of the Dru folk received the free passage request from the humans of Arthedain. He answered back that as long as the humans do not disturb the frail balance of the land, their armies can freely march through the Druwaith folk lands to any of their destinations.

----
Permit the passage of Kingdom of Arthedain army for Gorgoroth

The bulk of the Woodland armies await patiently in Northern Rhovanion for the signal of attack from their brethren dwarves of the Defender's Fjord. Their axes sharp and desire to crush some heads strong;

Amid all these preparations, a white-banner envoy arrived from Snicklefritz's orcs; the orcs ask for a non-aggression, apparently. "It may all be a ruse", Tulin thought to himself ... "these orcs, without a dwarvish force to stand in their way, are prone to stomp the rest of the known lands, as much as they did to the south and east. And the conquest of the whole of Rhovanion puts a serious dent on their so-called desire of non-aggression ... the lands of Rhovanion have been, for ages, populated by barbarian encampments, loyal to no-one, and a layer of security between our two races. Send this letter back to Snicklefritz:"

"Orc chieftain, your words are sweet but your actions are less so. You claim non-aggression yet your conquest of the whole of Rhovanion reeks of your true desire; of expansion. Our dwarvish lands are unsafe from your ever-growing warmongering cravings. If you hadn't claimed Rhovanion for yourself things might have been different between our two; but, now, your non-aggression truce is unbelievable and you are, thus, untrustworthy."

Tulin Ironflow also sent a dispatch towards king Alexius Comnenus:
"Brother, are you ready to strike?"

----
Send the above message to the orcs of Broken Tooth Tribe, denying the non-aggression request on the basis of their aggressive conquest of Rhovanion lands
Send the above message to the Defender's Fjord, asking about any plans of attack

After receiving word from the humans of Druwaith Folk, the army for Gorgoroth is set in motion yet again; they are to enter Nan Curunir pass and move into Fangorn forest.

King Minyatur called the old sage to him: "Fëanáro, I've yet to receive any word from my friends kingdoms. Would you mind taking it to yourself and march for King Cirdan of the Elvea-Falasse who is, most likely, right here close to us, in Northern Cardolan? His inactions in the recent past worry me a bit. Afterwards I task you to move due north to reach Dralvik II of the Frostbeards and then East, to the dwarves of King Alexius."

The old sage slowly waved his hand in a bizzare pattern in front of the king, and then replied: "My king, your words are honey to my ears and I am happy to hear of your trust towards me to bestow this quest. However, I must respectfully decline; I am too old for such long, perilous journeys, and I need my meditation. I would rather interact only with you, and no-one else; especially no elf for they could see right through my ... I mean, they would not understand the path I've undertook to reach who I am today and who I want to be tomorrow."

King Minyatur felt mesmerized by the sage's reply and subconsciously forgot about the request he just made to him.

"My sage, have you had any progress regarding understanding the works of that potentially new, and magical ore?"

The sage's reply was simply "I am still working on it, but I will report my progress soon."

----
Move the Favouritism army towards Nan Curunir and Fangorn

"No reply from the steward of Rohan. I see. Well then ... why must it always be like that?", Commander Angamaith sighted.

"To the steward of Rohan,
The lack of answer from our previous message highly displeased us. We have decided that it is in our interest to have an easier access to your capitol, so that when you do decide to answer our call you will have it easier for your soldiers to hop into the lands of the Corsairs."

----
Send a declaration of war to Rohan
Attack Anorien with all forces

At last the Army reached Forochel,and despite the joyful welcome at Khazâd-gund the king had a concern face. Dralvik was looking beyond the cheerful crowd, his tired eyes were repairing in every little detail of the city entrance crowned be a dark clouds of the overheated forges, a result of the recent war. The King and his troops continued to enter into the dwarven capital, reciving anykind of aprubal and obtion; The folks rejoiced at the return of his troops.

Dralvik and Toremrouk entered the throne chamber and boths dwarves knelt before Drolvuk Frozenhelm' statue, the king's father. When they finished the reberence the Steward approached them.

"Mahal be praise! King Dralvik, your people had been waiting anxiosly for you", said Frulvik while bowing: "Congratulations on your campaing, my lord", added while greating Commander Toremrouk. Dralvik responded with silent and a gently nood, as he was steel a little dubious about Frulvik's joy.

Frulvik continued: "I have organized a banquet your grace, a marvelous one... you will see... with mead, beer and the most delicious food you can think of..."

Dralvik took out his beautiful reddish masked-helmet with a dragon-shaped crest decorated in gold and silver and put it in a chest, and his shoulders relaxed. It was a reflection of feeling tired after the long campaing. The king looked at his Steward and said: "I'm sure it will be a great banquet, but I'm to tired to attent... but please, go on with it, the troops and the folks of Forochel needs it... I will be in my chamber".

Frulvik's disappointment was evident in his face and Toremrouk face showed concern towards his king.

Dralvik lay down on his bed and welcomed the veil of dreams.

After some time passed and deep in sleep, Dralvik saw himself walking be the docks of the Ice bay at nigth time. The sea was calm and reflected the stars, Dralvik saw at his own reflection and upon this a blue star. Its light was fadding and Dralvik sencesed a piercing pain in his right side, getting out of balance and kneeling in the grown. His eyes were fix in his reflection.

The reflection began to draw a mountainous pattern similar to the mountains ones of the maps of Middle-Earth, that he had on his war table. The surface of the lake begain to move revealing the dimmed blue star and below this one, in the middle of Eriador fall, a fallen star, masked by an evil energy.

The fallen star turned red and its brightness increased, covering the surranding space, the fallen star was expanding across the map with great speed; Dralviks heart was beating faster.

At it's right, emerged a small star witch radiated an ace of light making the fallen star exploted.

The fallen star becoming a shooting star, and flew over the mountains. There, it turned dark and returned to its previous point, covering the sight of the smallest and brightest star with its darkness. It was stronger than before.

The blue star fadded in complete darknest.

Dralvik woke up and whispered to himself, almost like a question: "Curufinwe...", his heart was pumping fast he could sense his scar at his right side beating.
The king stood up and wrote his dream in his journal, then he wrote a message to King Cirdan describing his dream.

Someone knocked on the door and the unmistakable voice of Fulvik said, "My lord, sorry to interrupt, there are some Foothills dwarves here who want to talk to you..."

"Very well, I'll come out shortly...", Dralvik responded and sealed the scroll.

----

Send a scroll describing Dravik's dream to King Cirdan of Elvea-Falasseand, asking for his opinion on the matter.

Start a conversation with the dwarves that were working for the Dru folk.

After reading the reply from The Woodland Enclave, Snicklefritz tossed aside the message with disdain, and began composing a terse response.

"Do as you wish, Dwarf. But know the consequences will be on your own shoulders should you proceed on this course. We will be pulling our forces out from Rhovanion, so let these actions speak to the legitimacy of our offer."

From there, Snicklefritz went to locate his army captains to inform them of the upcoming battle plans.

"We have pushed as far north as I wish and deem reasonable. We turn our attention next to a thorn that has been sticking in the side of our realm for some time -- we turn our attention to the Dru, and specifically, the province of Dagorlad, which has long generated difficult defensive issues for us. Ready all available forces, from all available provinces. I want the full force of the horde mobilized for this action. I want a decisive victory. I want Dagorland."

-----

Send reply to The Woodland Enclave

Officially declare war on Druwaith Folk

Attack Dagorland with the full forces in Middle Rhovanion, Western Rhovanion, Horse Plains and Gorgoroth

King Alexius is in Northern Rhovanion. He has worked hard for this moment. So when the Orc Snicklefritz had the nerve to send him a non-aggression pact after killing his emissaries, after taking all of Rhovanion except the North, and after parking a huge army on his door, the King crumpled up the request and threw it in the fire. He had received word that the Woodland Enclave had done the same. Now, it is time to attack.
----
Declare war on the Broken Tooth Tribe
Attack Middle Rhovanion with all forces
Ask that the Woodland Enclave do the same
Inform Dralvik the attack has begun.

The Dru folk received the war declaration from the Broken Tooth Tribe; Barahir was quite surprised. Unable to defend Dagorlad, the Druwaith retreated inward to the forests of Brown Lands, Fangorn and, the majority, retreated to Foothills;

----
Move all forces in Dagorlad to Foothills

Tulin receveid the message from King Alexius; "The call to arms is answered, my lads! Declare Broken Tooth Tribe as enemy and let us march with our brothers to reclaim the lands of Rhovanion!"

----
Declare Broken Tooth Tribe as enemy
Move all forces together with those of The Defender's Fjord, to Middle Rhovanion

For the past months since the troll retreat to their capitol lands, things were pretty quiet. During the day, the trolls worked hard on erecting spikes and other various traps throughout their lands, in the likely case that the dwarves of the north would restart their attacks; during the night, the trolls were roaming about in search of food and capture of anyone who might be of use.

One time at sunset, a batch of guard-trolls, following a fresh trail of broken branches, animal blood, discarded arrows and other clues, found a small dwarf encampment due east of Ettenmoors, nestled in the hillside. The guard-trolls moved quickly toward the hill, excited by the prospect of both killing and eating dwarves (their favorite pasttime was the human meat, but due to the dwarvish betrayel now their favorite food is the dwarf-meat).

Once on the hill, they felt and heard the sound of digging going on not too far below the surface. After a few minutes of searching they found the source of the digging - a place high on the east slope where the Dwarves were making a new shaft. They waited outside the entrance and then ambushed the Dwarves one by one as they climbed out of the hole.

Four of the Dwarves met a humiliating fate at the hands of the Trolls that night. One, however - the youngest - was busy in the cookhouse preparing food for the work party. When they failed to show up he went out looking for them. To his surprise, and utter dismay, he discovered them in the clutches of two Trolls, who were building a fire near the base of the hill, over which to cook their prey. He tried various strategems to get the Trolls away from the fallen Dwarves, but it was no use as they guarded their victims too jealously. He could soon tell that he was too late to save his companions anyway. So, he slipped away, and continued his move due West, soon reaching the lands of Upper Rhudaur and finding familiar faces in the form of the dwarves of Clan Frostbeard.

There he asked for asylum and asked for a meeting with their leader, as he carried some valuable information.

The escapee of Foothills and Ettenmoors had secured a meeting with Dralvik II of Clan Frostbeard; meeting him in his private quarters - a great honor, one that this young dwarf must certainly was not worthy of. The young dwarf had important news to give, thus he started speaking:

"King of dwarves of Forochel bays and the lands here and beyond, my name is Horudik and I and my family have crossed many lengths of land to reach an other familiar face. There were a few more of us but, unfortunately, they were captured on the way here on the wretched lands of Ettenmoors; I have escaped and I bring important news.

See, twelve of us were commissioned by the Druwaith folk in Foothills to some digging work. We traveled to the valley of Azanulbizar, you know, the broad and beautiful valley east of the Misty Mountains surrounding Kheled-zaram. There, in the bowels of the mountains of Barazinbar, Bundushathûr and Zirakzigil and slightly to the east we descended into a deep dale with steps carved in the rock. At the bottom we were tasked to dig, and soon enough we found an entrance hidden by the passage of time.

Inside we were met with a vast and intricate beyond the imagination labyrinth; past the steps at the entrance there were twists in the tunnel, many passages going off in all directions, and cracks and holes across the floor; natural supports of limestone, granite and alabaster were sculpted into marvelous colums, jewels and semi-precious stones accented reliefs and were inlaid into the rock of the passageways.

We soon arrived at a point where an arch opened into three eastward passages - one ascending, one descending, and one
level. We slowly inspected them all, but time was of essence; the Druwaith folk were checking on our progress on a daily basis. Thus, we naturally took the descending one, and, after having descended many flights of steps and having gone a fair distance, we reached a crypt; there, we found a sarcophagus set at the room's center, and chests around it were bare of wealth except for these; a book, an axe and a belt.

The book, you see, was of one dwarf named Brodin, and all of that intricate labyrinth was his House's work. The book had many scribbles and nonsense, but what was legible was the history of his folk and a treatise of our whole's dwarvish genealogy, up to the first Seven Dwarf Fathers and their folk. More than that, this individual Brodin and his House spent many years of his life trying to locate Durin I's artifacts.

Naturally, we easily recognized the axe in the tomb to be the axe of Durin, the one forged in the elder days, after the coming of Morgoth and the discovery of Dragons; you would have recognized it instantly as well! The belt, as well; the origins of the belt are unmistakingly ancient; it certainly must have been the belt of Durin the Deathless!

At that time we knew that the axe, the belt and their powers are indescipherable by the Druwaith folk, and we sought to remove them. But the Druwaith folk had expected us at the entrance! There, they asked about our findings and we had to claim that we found artifacts of no real value that we would have liked to claim for ourselves and forgo any other payment. But the Druwaith folk are suspicious beings, and they confiscated them and many other items from us and expelled us from their lands.

We had time to hide the book close by to the entrance, in Foothills, but the old and mighty items of Durin the I'st are now in Dru's possession. Part of our ancient history, now found! We must reclaim them! "

-snip-

----
Move 7255 soldiers from Andrast to Nan Curunir. Have any armies going through that province attacked.