Civil War of the Dwarves

In 3559 the leader of the Dwarves of the North Mountain, Demedius was warned by his chief advisor Benethor. He was told that the Guardians would rise against him. That night an intruder was found in the king’s chamber. The intruder was killed by the king’s guards before he could reach Demedius. Benethor told the king that it was one of Runehammer’s minions and that immediate action must be taken before Runehammer had the chance to flee the city. So in the midst of the night the king sent assassins to Runehammer’s quarters. The assassins had no trouble at all getting into Runehammer’s bedroom. When they went to stab him their weapons shattered against his rock hard back. The room lit up and the assassins were blasted away by a shockwave of lightning. Magne Runehammer was gone, like a flash… the next morning word was spread of the attempted murderer of Runehammer by the king. A revolt began lead by the Guardians. The King fortified himself in his chambers while the fighting ensued. The other Dwarves within the fortress took the side of the Guardians and looked to them for hope. Demedius had always been unjust and a tyrant and thoughts of an uprising have been conspired for years. Well now their time has come! A magical siege on the Kings chamber began on the 12th day. After 3 days they had almost broken through, that’s when the doors open, their stood Benethor and the other wizard advisors. The rebels charged them but their fate had already been sealed. The wizards incinerated every one of them. The order was then given to kill any Guardian that still resided in the fortress and all others banished from the Dwarven country.

The rebels gathered at a settlement not far from the fortress and barricaded it. A recruitment notice was sent out for any dwarf to join the rebel ranks. They spent many days after that training what forces they had. Gringol had taken charge of the rebels, but after seeing what he had to work with he started to doubt if they had a chance or not. Demedius’ Fortress guards had discovered the rebel encampment and began an assault. It was the 700 rebels against 5 fully armed battalions. The rebels formed battle ranks as best they could before the battalions reached them. When the battle began the rebels were doing pretty well and were more resilient than the king’s men, but they were extremely outnumbered. The rebels had the spirit but lacked the skill that the soldiers had and began to fall. 40 or so rebels remained, when the signature *clap* sounded. Runehammer had arrived.

Magne Runehammer ordered all remaining rebels to fall behind him and form ranks, and hold on tight. He then used his powers to raise the ground where the rebels stood. He took the mass of land and moved it behind the king’s forces. The enemies were stunned with awe while the rebels made quick work of them. Runehammer charge the kings vanguard but they ran in fear of him and retreated to the fortress. The King killed the returning troops in disgust. He was then advised to move all his tomes, research, and artifacts. He sent Benethor and his prime escort to the Vault of Decevus to tuck away the items.

Runehammer began to instruct the remaining rebels in the ways of the Guardians. He took them to the ancient ruins of Tordensted, the birthplace of the first guardians. Tordensted was high on a mountain peak, only great ones knew safe passage. The ruins had become an eagle’s nest; the rebels spent the next few months gaining the eagles’ trust. Runehammer saw the eagles as a valuable friend and ally and wished to ask their aid in the fight. He asked for volunteers to mount the eagles, but none came forward. Apparently dwarves are deathly afraid of heights and even more so flight, maybe why they spend so much time beneath ground? Runehammer explained that an aerial assault force would prove useful, and after much discussion he had a grand total of 5 volunteers. He left Gringol in charge while he and the 5 dwarves took flight to a place where Runehammer said they would receive ‘special’ training. The place he took them too was Himmepass, floating high in the sky. Only 3 others had ever stood foot here, and there was a reason for that. When they had reached the platform Runehammer told them not to set foot upon the platform, unless they were prepared to die. He then dismounted his eagle and stood before the puzzled dwarves. He continued to tell them that when the stand upon Himmepass they will receive judgment from the lords of thunder and lightning. They will either be killed or receive the wisdom and secrets of the great ones.

Runehammer gave the dwarves till dusk to make a decision. Within seconds all 5 dwarves had dismounted and stood on the platform. The sky turned black and a massive storm raged all around them. Before them, appeared Torden and Lyn, the lords of thunder and lightning. They told the dwarves that they will now pass judgment upon them; if they survive they will have proved themselves worthy. The 5 dwarves braced themselves as the lords called down massive bolts of lightning upon them. Each dwarf’s head was filled with knowledge and secrets of the craft during the barrage. When the bolts had ceased the lords congratulated them on their great fortitude and announced them worthy and disciples of Lyn and Torden and then they were gone. Runehammer named the 5 dwarves the Lighting Talon and took them as his apprentices. He warned them to never share the secrets of Himmepass or what had happened during their training. They then returned to Tordensted.

Gringol had been teaching the 20 dwarves he had been left with special unarmed combat techniques while Runehammer was gone. Over the course of the next year Runehammer taught the dwarves the basics of earth manipulation, while sending the Lighting Talon on various missions. The dwarves knew when they did return to the fortress to overthrow the king they would be greatly outnumbered in battle, so one of their most important goals became strengthening their defenses. One of drills created to do this was 1 on 4 combat; everyday each dwarf would fight against 4 other for as long as they could, the number would increase each month. Within a year each dwarf trainee could fend off the other 24 for at least an entire day.

Runehammer gives Gringol the name “The Sturdy” and places the 20 dwarves under his command as the “Iron Clad Dwarves”. But before they had any hopes of an assault on anything they had one major problem, all they had for weapons and armor had been scrap metal. Runehammer had already thought of this, he had been sending the Storm Talon to places to gather artifacts, enchantments, and materials galore. All they needed was a craftsman. Runehammer wanted the best of the best for this task, Burm Flameheart the Legendary Blacksmith who had created the mighty hammer Crusher. In the chaos of the rebellion however, Burm had gone missing. He gave Gringol the task of locating him while Runehammer took his Storm Talon to carry out one more mission.