Exodus of the Damned
You are all that remains of the guards for your mining party. By order of the King you were to travel deep into your tunnels and secure a full load of Mithril ore for the war effort against the Red's and their minions to the North. Which is a glorious job for a miner, and as such, you all enjoy the work. It's not soldiering, so there's no dragons to shoot down from the sky, but protecting the miners supports the war and by your beard, you wouldn't let anything happen to them. Without them, your kin won't get the ore to make more weapons to fight the demon legions the Red's are pulling through their portals. So here you were, down, deep under the mountains, guarding your kin as they dug.
It's been 3 months, so deep under the mountain that the things which live down here have no clue what light is. You managed to get your full load, and then some, which is cause for a celebration. Your commander has ordered that the haul be packed up, and each Dwarf take his share to carry back. None of the bearded folk will shrug off the duty of hauling precious ore back, so there was not too much grumbling. Even though there was still far more left in the veins of the rock around you. Still, there's fighting going on up above, and it's a long climb through the tunnels to head back to the forges. The king needs his ore after all, and so you were ordered to hang behind the miners as the rear guard. Lest one of the creatures from the deep bowels of the earth catch them unaware and encumbered by precious metals.
For two weeks you climbed through the tunnels, always heading North and West, and up, up, up. Tales are there are humans directly above this area far above under the light of the sun but you aren't going out there. No, it's under the mountain for you and your closest kin. You've protected the miners, having lost none of them. However, you lost one of your own keeping it that way. One of the Stone Drakes managed to pull away Dourhan 4 nights away while you fought of the other 3 in their pack. Smart, vicious dragon kin that hide in the dark and climb on the walls of the tunnels, they hunt in packs. It took all 8 of you to fight off the 4 of them, and while only one got away, all of you were injured, and poor Dourhan was lost. May Arodhin preserve his soul.
Yet, this is not the worst of what has come. No, it was a common thing that. The creatures that live below the mountain hunt and to them, we are food, nothing more. What came later was far, far worse. Once the caravan leader turned us straight West, we ran into trouble. Trouble so great the miners dropped the ore and took up their picks to defend themselves. Our kin to the south, they've been overrun by something dark and terrible. Killed, perhaps to the last Dwarf, they now walk the halls of their home as the living dead. We know not what caused this, but we do know this. Out of the 150 of the bearded folk that left Dannedhon 4 months ago, there are only 7 left.
The rest? Dead, or worse, trying to escape the masses of Undead wandering the tunnel network that runs beneath the mountains. You've just reached the edge of the mountains, having traveled far, and the area just south of the Great Wall Of Morguth that separates the Northern Empire, and the Southern Empire. Your commander was taken just yesterday by a pale faced dwarf that crawled along the walls like a spider. However, before the foul creature attacked and bit him in the neck and pulled him away, he said you were close. No more than 5 days to the wall if you pulled a forced march. He charged you lot to carry word to the Wall, and to the King. The King must be told, and the Wall must hold, at all costs.
Built to withstand Giants, and worse, it was made a thousand years ago, before man learned to work iron up above. Good, Dwarven stonework, thick massive blocks of rock fitted together by our best masons of the time it hasn't been breached yet. However, that was against living foes, who can say what unnatural power these Undead have? So, you've made it this far. Now, you have a Charge, make it to the Wall and get word through the gate to seal it and let none more pass behind you. Not without the army at your back, and the Kings army is already at work to the North. Seal it, and keep it sealed until the war is done.
Can you make it? Will the King get word that his cousin The Queen of, and all of Toreurkral seems to be lost and has become a sea of your brethren, all Undead and hungry for warm flesh?
