The Journey to Khazad-dûm, part 3.
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!
Eregion
''We met up with the caravan in Eregion, in Gwingris. Old ruin that some Elves reside in now. Now, soon, we will pack up again, heading farther south to Echad Dunann, also a ruin just outside the last road up to Durin's door and the walls of Khazad-dûm. Many of us hardly can believe that the journey soon is done, we will soon arrive to Khazad-dûm. We believe we will arrive around mid day, when we do we will set up camp and get ready to walk the last way.
It will be a big day for us, Khazad-dûm that have been lost to us for ages. We do fear what we could meet inside there. Durin's blade probably still reside in there. We will probably have to fight with Goblins and Orcs in there as well. They wont give it up that easy.'' - out take from the diary ''Expedition of Khazad-dûm'' by Dhordur Stonebeard, Troll Slayer.
The Dwarves packed up at dawn, Dhordur had been up a bit before, writing in his book and checking up on the brothers. They planned to arrive at Echad Dunann by mid day, there they were going to set up camp and getting ready to walk the last road up to Durin's gate, the west entrance to Khazad-dûm. They were all cheerful, not thinking too much on the horrors or anything that they could meet inside Khazad-dûm. They all knew of Durin's Blade that had been awoken by some way long ago, just before Khazad-dûm were lost. But they had no idea if it still existed, some had fear of it at the start of the journey but now, when they almost were there, no one said a word of it.
They set off, heading south towards Echad Dunann. They went through Glad Ereg and kept going south until they came up to a ruin, Echad Eregion. A small party of Elves resided there too, helping hurt people. There they decided to stop for a bit, resupplying what they could. They heard more rumors now, about a small fellowship that head up towards the Red Horn Pass but later was seen heading towards Khazad-dûm in a hurry. It was said to be a fellowship of nine, one being a Dwarf. They did know of Gimli heading to Rivendell for something and then was going out on a journey. They did not know what kind of journey or where to.
Wargs
Some other rumors were that there were some Wargs nearby, hunting on the nights and hiding on the day. It was decided that Dhordur along with the brothers, Dhorim and Ghorim was going to head out to see if they could track the Wargs. Another group were sent off to scout the road ahead. This was going to make the rest of the travel to be a bit late.
Dhordur, Ghorim and Dhorim head of north east towards the High Hollin where the Wargs were said to have been seen last.
They managed to track the Wargs, a small pack of them. They could only count five Wargs, one being the leader of the pack. They managed to track the pack up to the Hollin Ridge, by another ruin. There they noticed the pack of Wargs, along with a small group of Men, three Dwarves and four Goblins. They instantly figured out that it was Dourhand Dwarves. They could notice the groups planing something, the Wargs were apparently under the command of the Men there.
They knew that they were not going to be able to do anything about them for now so they set off back to the ruin and met up with the rest. It was decided that they would have to wipe that ruin out, just in case. It was voted for as some did just want to head on.
''Dourhands! Here?! By Durin's beard! If they are here it might be true, my son... My son could be imprisoned inside Khazad-dûm now. I must find out the truth. Me, Dhorim and Ghorim was tasked to track a pack of Wargs that was said to hunt on the nights around Echad Eregion. We set off north east to where they were last said to been seen. We managed to track them a bit farther north to a small ruin there.
And there, there was three Dourhands, a small group of Men and some Goblins. They all looked like they planned something. Half of the Men were those Hill tribe Men, wearing the mark of the White Hand, the other Men were wearing the mark of the Eye. I still have no clue what any of those marks mean, but they seem to work together with the Dourhands and the Goblins, making them enemy of us Dwarves. We came back to camp and planned. Some wanted to move on while some wanted to clean that ruin of the inhabitants.
I myself was the one that proposed to clean it, mostly so I could get information from those Dourhands.'' - out take from the diary ''Expedition of Khazad-dûm'' by Dhordur Stonebeard, Troll Slayer.
A group of ten Dwarves set off towards the small ruin, Dhordur being the one leading them there. When they arrived they set their plan to work, they were going to capture one of the Dourhands, or all of them if they could. Two Elves had joined them as well, to help out. The group split up into three smaller groups, the two Elves head of and were going to attack from the north, five Dwarves were going to attack from the west and the other five, counting Dhordur, were going to attack from the south.
The attack started, Wargs attacked back along with the Goblins and Men, no sight of the Dourhands so far. When the battle finally was over, the Dourhands were found, hiding in the middle of the ruin. They were captured and taken with them back to Echad Eregion. There they were questioned a lot. They did not give up on any plans what so ever.
Heading more South
It was decided that the Dourhands had to be sent back to Thorin's Hall to undergo a trial for their betrayal, First Dhordur had gotten his information he sought from them. They were sent back with five other Dwarves.
The Dwarves packed up again, heading south as the scouting group had come back and said that the road ahead was clear and no danger was there. They arrived at a crossroads, one way went back the way they came from, one went on to the west and one went on to the east. They went on to the east when they could hear some howling, Wargs, probably another pack. It was heard from the south, far off for now. The same group that had scouted before was sent a bit south to scout and warn the rest if any Wargs were heading their way. This land appeared to be infested by Wargs.
They managed to arrive at Echad Dunann without any attacks by anything more. They set up camp at the small ruin. Bósi, his son Bori, Dhordur, Ghorim and Dhorim was the first of the Dwarves that head up the old road to Durin's Door and stopped after walking up the staircase. The rest of the road was gone and a big lake was there instead. But now they could look upon the Walls of Khazad-dûm, after they had been watching it a bit, they head back to camp.
''We have arrived, we have finally arrived. Khazad-dûm will be ours again! The old road is gone a bit up it, instead there is a rather big lake there, we will have to go around it. We will have to work on a new road as we go too, we will need it if we have to send for reinforcements or more supplies. We will start with it tomorrow, making our way there under two days, might take longer.
Then during a night we must wait outside Durin's Gate to find it. Only when the moonlight shine upon the gate it will be visible.'' - out take from the diary ''Expedition of Khazad-dûm'' by Dhordur Stonebeard, Troll Slayer.
They were going to start at dawn, they got ready for the night and went to sleep...
