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In the center of the Plane of Blood, if it could be said to have a center, was a throne platform. This could not be called a room for it had no walls, no ceiling, and no door. The obsidian floors were lifted above the burning bodies below, giving an excellent vantage point for Armok to observe their suffering. The stones radiated a heat more intense than a thousand suns, providing ignition for the condemned.

The Blood God sat atop a living throne of tortured bodies. These select few had failed the God in unique ways that had enraged him beyond reason. Their reward for this epic disappointment was inclusion into this chosen group of spirits. Every moment of their existence was blessed with direct contact with Armok, the singular most excruciating thing in all the planes of reality. They would have envied those thrashing in the flames around them, if their pain would have allowed them coherent thoughts.

On this occasion Armok was entertaining a special group of souls on his court platform. There, arrayed before the indescribable being, were four dwarves. Railick and Bailick stood front and center, with Seed and Dod off to one side. While the two brothers seemed aware of their existence the others were simply staring off into oblivion like unoccupied shells.

The brothers were not as they are on the material plane; instead they were demi-god like. Their flesh was bronzed and their previously crimson hair was replaced with flames. Their eyes were two portals into endlessness, the burning pits of their warrior souls. They wore no clothing, for in this plane there was no need. At the pleasure of their God they were untouched by the flames and the heat, even of their own hair. This was truly their essence, what the brothers were at the root of their being.

“Brother’s Stonemane, you have pleased me beyond my expectations. With a single act of violence you two have sown an entire mountain side with the blood of nearly eight thousand goblins. Further, by your actions, you have enabled your kin to have a fighting chance at slaughtering the remaining hordes with their traps and bare hands. Their blood flows through my veins as it does through the mountain stone; I am in a constant state of ecstasy brought forth by your actions!” The voice of Armok was terrible indeed, and it shook the brothers to their core. Never had they witnessed anything so glorious in all their lives on the material plane. Indeed this moment could have served as a fitting completion to their existence and they would have both been more than satisfied.

As painful it was to be in direct contact with Armok’s form, it was equally as pleasurable to receive his praises so directly. The dwarves were beyond proud; they were glorified by the ultimate glory. So it was that the flames that served as these demonic looking brothers hair burned brighter and stronger, their souls flourished under his attentions.

“Still, my servants, I am not satisfied with what you have done. The two of you could have done so much more if only you would have survived a bit longer! So it is I grant you a boon, both out of my selfish desires to see you continue and as a reward for your excellent service in the past. I grant you this boon, this wish if you will, in addition to your lives. I will send you back to the prime material plane as my avatars! So speak my servants, what do you wish of your God?!” The offer was overwhelming; the brothers could not imagine what they should ask for.

It was Railick who spoke then, inspired suddenly by the presence of his old traveling companions. “My God! Holiest and most righteous of them all! We beg only to serve you again, to provide blood for your pleasures! We ask only that you send us back with our comrades, that they might assist us in exacting your will upon the world!” Railick had no accent, he spoke perfectly. The dwarf’s essence said exactly what it meant to say, its words came to its ethereal lips instantly.

Armok was pleased with this request, as it was exactly what he willed. That was the trickiest part of being a God after all; tricking people into doing your will while allowing them to believe it is their own. In granting this simple wish Armok was furthering his own purpose. The two dwarves had served him well, but they had met an even earlier end than the brothers. So it was that Armok agreed, and sent all four dwarves back to the prime material plane together.

As the moments past it was clear that their tunnels weren’t going to crush them alive, for their workdwarfship was of the high quality. The supports they had used were all holding, even the flood gate remained perfectly in place. Finally the mountain came to rest, leaving Tindel to wonder what exactly had happened.

That would have to wait for later, however, as the vibrations from marching goblins again started to shake the stone. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he was sure that the brothers had caused whatever had happened. With a quick prayer to the gods for his friends Tindel got into position and waited for the attack.

The beat of the drums began to echo into the halls, though not as loud as Tindel had expected. Maybe they had over estimated the number of goblins; perhaps they had a chance after all? Then it came, the roar of the goblin charge. The mountain shook again as they came, and their roar was soon followed by screams of pain. A lewd smile spread across Tindel’s lips, his traps were doing their dirty work.

The first element to reach the entrance from above did not hesitate to attack. They had watched as thousands of their brothers were buried in shallow stone tombs, and they were enraged beyond self control. So it was that the bravest and most foolish of the remaining goblins rushed into the halls of Stonemane the Brave.

The very first goblin to set foot into the entrance tunnel was rewarded for his bravery with a crude wooden spear to the stomach. The freshly carved weapon had sprung up from the very stone and pierced him clear through to his spine. The goblin directly behind him was running so fast that he too was impaled on this wooden lance, pushing the first goblin’s still living body even further onto it.

   So it went that the first goblin to take a step deeper into the dwarven halls was compensated thusly. Heads were removed by spinning blades of jagged stone, skulls were smashed by falling blocks, and legs were ripped off by overly powerful snares. The deeper they got into the maze the harder it was
to go forward.

   One small group of goblins thought they had made it clear of the traps, running side by side down what seemed like a promising tunnel. This, of course, was exactly what Tindel had expected. So it was that the goblins had a most surprised look on their faces when a series of wooden planks swung down from the ceiling, running each goblin through with foot long spikes.

   Some traps were more complex than others, and even the most simple of traps killed. Down one tunnel the mason had hammered two ended nails into the ground, each a foot long. With the goblins so focused on the walls and ceilings for traps none of them noticed until they’d already slammed their feet onto the sharp spikes.

   Every tunnel that came to a dead end had one last surprise for the goblins that had discovered it. Each passageway had a small pressure plate installed with a simple jack attached to it. Every goblin that stepped on the plate caused the jack to go up another step, pushing a critical block loose a bit more with each level. After ten or so steps that block would fall out of place, and that entire section of tunnel would cave in on the goblins heads.

   So it went for several moments, the seconds seemed to stretch out into hours, the minutes into days. One after another the goblin horde succumbed to Tindel’s clever traps, each one as surprised as the last. This didn’t appear to slow their advance however as soon the old antechamber was breached.

   Even as a large group of goblin warriors made their way into the antechamber at full speed their brothers were still discovering the wrong paths. So as these lucky goblins began to explore the chamber they’re brothers were being buried alive all around them. The screams of their kin did little to slow them, indeed it enraged them still further.

   This room slowed the warriors up, as there were no obvious exits from it. It seemed to them that they had found another dead end. Still the room continued to fill with goblins, even though the first inside had set off a timer for the most deadly trap of all. None of them could guess that there were more traps to come, for the ones they had already seen were all insidious.

   More than a two hundred goblins had crammed into the antechamber before the trap began to go off. It started simply enough, with the entrance to the chamber closing with a boom. It was then that the goblins realized that they had made a dire mistake. Heat began to filter into the air tight chamber from an unknown source; the air began to get thin quickly.

   With all those goblins breathing up the air and hidden fires burning away the rest it didn’t take long for panic to spread. Soon they began to tear at one another, trying desperately to find a way out. As the hidden fires continued to burn the air in the room was slowly used up. The goblins lungs burned, their vision blurred, and they began to stagger into each other. Soon a group of two hundred powerful warriors were reduced to a pile of corpses, all having suffocated on the spot.

   After a set time the entrance to the chamber reopened, air rushing back into the room as the semi vacuum seal was broken. The goblins that stood waiting on the other side were taken aback by the sight of their fallen comrades. They there lay, without a scratch on them, dead as could be. Again the pressure of the horde forced those goblins at the fore front into the room; soon another two hundred goblins met their fate at the hands of Tindel’s most insidious trap.

   Hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of goblins were slain by this trap, for every time the door would open another group was forced to enter. Soon the hidden fires ran out of fuel and the corpses of goblins stopped the entrance door from closing all the way. Tindel had prepared for this however, and as it became clear the trap would no longer function new doors were opened in the room.
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Baltrog was incensed; nearly four fifths of his army had been destroyed in the massive land slide! He should have seen it coming, should have expected filthy dwarves to try something like this. The years of peace had dulled his mind, he thought, he was not the commander he once was! Still, he ordered his remaining troops to attack. The two dwarves that had triggered the land slide had been buried by it; he had seen that much with his own eyes.

This was not their style, dwarves preferred to meet on the field of battle or fight to the death in their halls. This must be a very small group of them, he calculated, other wise they wouldn’t resort to such filthy tricks. Though he only had one fifth of his army left he still had over two thousand troops. Surely they would be able to crush these disgusting stone mites!

As he drove his minions into their tunnels he heard no reports, no news from inside. The only way he could decide how the battle was going was to watch the flow of troops. If they were flowing into the tunnels faster that meant they were doing well, they were making a lot of progress. Of course, this could also mean that they were dieing by the hundreds!

As Tindel’s master trap went off the flow of goblins into the dwarven halls stopped suddenly. There was simply no more room in the remaining entrance tunnels to fit more troops inside. The warriors that were jammed in were being injured by traps that had already sprung long ago. Their comrades pushing them forward impaled them on spear traps that already killed four goblins before. They ran onto nail traps that had already been stepped on a hundred times before.

This sudden delay was unacceptable; the giant spiders began to tear into the rear ranks that were just standing around waiting to enter. The suddenly slow pace of the battle drove Baltrog mad, and his madness infected his command and control platoon. Soon the giant arachnids were inflicting more casualties on the army than even the dwarven traps could have done.

Every now and again a hundred or two hundred more troops would stream into the halls, but always they would halt. Their punishment was death, and the spiders feasted on the flesh of goblins. The goblins waiting on the mountainside had no choice but to flee their masters, and so the remaining army was scattered into the mountains.

“No! No you cowards! Come back! Fight for your Lord! I will kill you all!” Baltrog’s cries echoed across the mountain side. His vicious screams did not convince a single goblin to return; in fact it insured that they never would. Baltrog had effectively routed his own army in his fury, defeated himself.

They were not yet totally defeated however, for hundreds of goblin warriors were still packed tightly into the tunnels where the giant spiders could not fit. Their only choice was to go deeper, and once the trap had run its course they did just this. Outside their commanders raged, but inside the troops continued deeper.

Twenty one dwarves remained to stand against hundreds of mad goblin warriors. Their best traps had been spent, now was time for personal combat. So it was that the leading warriors of the goblin horde made first contact with their dwarven enemies. This battle would go down in history as one of the bloodiest conflicts in all the land.

<that is it for me tonight, time for me to go home! I didn't have a lot of time to proofread it so this might be worse than normal in that area. Still, I wanted to post it tonight so you could read it now instead of waiting for tomorrow morning   Tomorrow we get down into the dirty details of personal combat between dwarf and goblin!>

[ January 15, 2008: Message edited by: Railick Stonemane ]

   The twenty migrants were totally unskilled, but they were strong. Every one was good for hauling and installing simple structures like doors. They would learn the rest as time went on, the three were certain. The mining went much faster now that Railick and Bailick could both mine as hard as they wanted to. The brothers didn’t have to hold back at all as there were twenty dedicated haulers to insure they’d not cause a cave in.

   Tindel’s plans were extremely complicated and it was fortunate that none of the other dwarf’s needed to understand. So long as they followed his orders to the T there was a small chance they might survive. The brothers mined through the night, creating traps and blinds and easily defendable areas in the mountain. Tindel knew the channel before the box canyon would do them no good against goblins. They would simply come down from above them, climb down the walls.

   So the dwarves abandoned the surface and delved deeper into the stone. The old antechamber was rigged with as many traps as Tindel could devise and the maze was now a death trap. The first goblin to figure it out would be rewarded with death, and his comrades with him. Beyond the antechamber all roads lead to hell. There was no safe path any more, for there was no need for one.

   In the deepest part of the fortress the brothers mined out a dwarven structure known as Armok’s alley. This was their last line of defense and if the goblins got here the battle was all but lost. The tight tunnel was low enough that only a dwarf could stand and weapons could only be thrust. There was no room to swing or chop with a weapon here, only room for a direct attack. They carved blinds into the walls where dwarves could hide, holes in the floor for them to pop out of, and trap doors in the ceiling full of heavy stones that could be dropped on invaders heads.

   Beyond Armok’s alley the brothers dug one last large chamber. If the goblins got here all the dwarves would be able to do is stand together and fight to the last. Still beyond this they carved a tiny hidden chamber. If their enemies did made it this far one dwarf was to hide in this chamber. It would be their duty to pull a lead wire that would have two separate effects. First the floodgate above them would fall away, allowing the river to flood the fortress. Secondly it would cause the front entrance to cave-in, trapping their malefactors inside a watery tomb they could never escape.

   It was a grim reality that the dwarves might not live to see the next day, but they wanted to insure that those who slayed them would not either. With their plans set at the dawning of the day the dwarves had but one thing left to do. None of twenty migrants had braught weapons with them, nor any armor. It was Tindels duty, therefore, to arm them as best he could.

For some strange reason the Baron had sent a great deal of useless items with this group of migrants. Pots, pans, and giant iron skillets for cooking served as helmets,shields, and breast plates. Wood axes, pick axes, and mason’s hammers served as battle axes, war picks, and mauls. There was a large shipment of wooden staves that were to be used for stiring leather tannin, these were made into spears quite readily. Before the goblin army had begun to march all of the dwarves were likewise prepared for battle.

It was Tindel’s opinion that dwarves faught harder when they faught with their kin, such as it was each family was tasked with a certain objective. The brothers were sent out onto the mountain side above their outpost to scout out the goblin army. The five members of  family Jadecastle where to man Armok’s Alley to the death along side the Moreblades. When the time came Umano Diresting was to hide and pull the lead wire that would cause the fortress to flood. Finally the families Kirkstand, Papersong, Mossbone, Riverrun, and Moonsaw would all fight together in the halls above. They were to harass the goblins and fall back deeper into the fortress through hidden passages. The idea behind their action being that they would enrage the goblins into delving deeper, running into even more traps.

Everyone was as prepared as they could be, and they could feel the entire mountain tremble as the goblin army began their decent down the mountainside. The day found the two brothers picking through the mountainside in search of this army. As stealthy as they could be the two searched in the direction of the drums, until finally the massive army came into their view.

“Oi! Look at all of them!” Railick called to his brother, his stubby arm pointing up higher on the mountain. There, like a flow of green slime, marched the uncountable hordes of Stronghold TatteredMoon. Balick’s eye grew wide as he saw them and he knew at once that there were not enough traps in the world to stop this army.

“Brudder, what are we gonna do? Tindel’s toys ain’t gonna be enough!” Bailick spoke the obvious, but it needed to be said aloud. Railick could only nod his agreement as the army marched closer. They moved faster than the brothers expected, and before long the front runners were almost on top of them. The brothers looked to one another, hiding behind an over hanging stone. They knew that once the first goblins past them that they would be noticed, so they had to act fast.

Inspiration hit Railick then, like a divine bolt of lightning clearing away all the fog in his mind. With wide glowing eyes Railick looked at his brother. His grubby dwarf fist slammed into the palm of his opposing hand, the universal sign that Bailick understood all to well. A rotten grin spread across Bailick’s lips then, and both brothers jumped out from their hiding place.

The goblin horde saw them at once and arrows begin to sail down the mountain from high above. The reaction time was incredible, but it wasn’t nearly fast enough. The dwarves were of the mountain, it was their home now. All mountains bent to the will of the dwarf, and this one was no different!

“Oi gobos! Kin ye swim in a sea of stone?!” Railick roared out at the top of his lungs, his pick axe held high over his head. Bailick mimicked his brother and shouted something so vile and crude that I dare not repeat it here-in. The two struck the stone then, like they’d never done before. Fueled by the blood rage of Armok their picks cleft the mountain in twain. An entire shelf of stone turned to pebble in an instant and the mountain side began to slide at once. Goblins were thrown and crushed in the unstoppable tide of rock, their pretty armor no match for mother earth’s fury.