The Journey to Khazad-dûm, part 1.
Khazad-dûm, long lost. Balin went there with an expedition, to reclaim it for the Dwarves. No words have been heard from Balin and his expedition in a long time. And now, it is finally decided to send a new expedition there. I, Dhordur Stonebeard, Troll Slayer, son of Ghord Stonebeard is joining this new expedition. I am hopeful of it, this will succeed, we will find Balin or what that remains of his expedition and reclaim Khazad-dûm for the Dwarves!
Setting of
''I have packed the bag, gathered things that could aid me on my travel. In the dawn we will head of. The time has come, never thought it would, reclaiming the long lost Khazad-dûm. I wish my son would be here to join me on this quest, my father would be proud as well. I do not only do this to reclaim it, I hope I will find news about where my son is captured. When I was captured myself I heard them talking about Khazad-dûm, a lot. I have heard the stories, creatures that no one even can imagine is said to dwell there in the depths along with Durin's Bane. The last thing I will pack is my armor, it will aid me in battle if we need to do battle.'' - out take from the diary ''Expedition of Khazad-dûm'' by Dhordur Stonebeard, Troll Slayer.
Dhordur Stonebeard stood there, looking at the head on his wall, a head of the first Troll he ever slain. He kneeled in front of it, saying a few words quietly before he stood up and cheered at it. He went over to his armor rack, taking his armor, packing it down. Then he went to his door, walking outside and locking it behind him. He set off towards the center of Thorin's Gate, there all of the expeditions members where found. A smaller group had been sent away beforehand to set up camp outside Khazad-dûm until they would arrive. Dhordur greeted everyone and then Bósi with his son Bori that was leading the expedition hailed everyone and all of them set off. It would take them some days to get there, they were going to camp at several places along the road.
It started to snow as soon as they set off, thick snow. They soon passed Noglond, the snow had started to fall less now. The sun had just moved up a little bit by now, still morning. They arrived at Gondamon where they halted a bit. They all had breakfast there and then, drinking ale to it. When all were ready they got some bad news. Big packs of Goblins had been seen recently, on the road where they were going.
Clearing the road
Dhordur along with some others were tasked to go a head, scouting and clearing the road if needed. They got ready and set off, a bit after the rest would follow. The small group scouted the road, as careful as they could. They were a group of four and they stopped by a bush at the edge of the forest close by. They had found traces of groups of Goblins, they decided what they should do about it. In their own counting they could trace two to three small groups of up to five goblins in each. They started to track the groups down, one by one. They found all groups at the same place, a Goblin camp.
''The Goblins, foul creatures, always been an enemy of us Dwarves. We only reached Gondamon before we had to deal with some of them. Three groups, five goblins in each. They were attacking travelers on their way from Gondamon towards the Shire. If we were going to be able to head on we had to deal with them. Me, Thorg, Ghorn and Dwal was tasked with it. We head of, scouting the road, we traced the groups and head after them. Luckily for us they all camped together, we cleared the camp quickly. Then we set off back to the road and awaited the rest of the expedition.'' - out take from the diary ''Expedition of Khazad-dûm'' by Dhordur Stonebeard, Troll Slayer.
As the rest of the expedition came by they rejoined them and traveled on.
The Shire
They went over the border between Ered Luin and the Shire. They traveled over the bridge towards Needlehole, the sun was in the middle of the sky by now. They arrived at Needlehole, where they had a stop as well. They had lunch and gathered news about the road ahead.
''Ah, the bridge to Needlehole. What a sight it is every time you see it, fine Dwarven craft! We stopped here in Needlehole for lunch, soon we will set off again. We plan two more stops here in the Shire before nightfall, the second stop will be for the night. First stop will be outside the Green Dragon Tavern, fine ale they have there. The second will be at Stock, near the bridge from the Shire to the Bree-lands. We do not have to worry about anything when traveling through the Shire, it is rather safe here.'' - out take from the diary ''Expedition of Khazad-dûm'' by Dhordur Stonebeard, Troll Slayer.
As soon as everyone had eaten, news had been heard and they had restocked on food and drinks they set off down the road towards Waymeet. They passed over the Rushock Bog without any incidents. All were calm, they met several Hobbits on the way that they greeted. The weather was fine as well, sunny with one or two clouds on the sky. They finally arrived at the Waymeet, there they headed east, towards Hobbiton. Time passed as the Dwarven caravan traveled along the road, soon they arrived near Hobbiton, they went of to the Green Dragon Inn at Bywater, in the outskirts of Hobbiton. They stopped, had some ale and dinner as it was later now and dinner time. Soon they packed up again and started to head of along the road to the east again. They wanted to arrive at the last stop for the day before nightfall.
It started to rain now as they traveled on, they passed Frogmorton and the road to Budgeford. Soon they would arrive, and they had not kept their time, it started to grow dark now, nightfall was upon them. They arrived at Stock just after nightfall, they set up camp on the outskirts of Stock, at dawn they would travel further over the bridge and into the Bree Lands.
