Troll Wars

## The First Troll War

The First Troll War was fought by Ard Ri Abel Swiftaxe against the Troll King of Thunderdeep. The troll hordes of Thunderdeep were formidable but the dwarven defenders managed to push them back to their warrens. A no man’s land called the Bitters formed in a system of caverns which connected Thunderdeep and the Ceárta Riocht of the dwarves. The Bitters became littered with the corpses of the slain. In some places, the bones are said to be waist deep. The war ended in a stalemate. The Dwergo clans were granted amnesty in return for their military service during this war.

## The Second Troll War

The Second Troll War was fought 13 years after the last great battle of the First. By means of an alliance with the treacherous dwergo, troll General Hannibal Grimstank of the Wardrum clan infiltrated the great city of Thanitos and assassinated the current Ard Ri, Piotr Chiselhand and nearly every other Ri [king] of the dwarven realm, as they were, ironically enough, in a council to determine the extent of a new rumored troll threat. The troll hordes spread out from Thanitos, taking several warrens and cities by complete surprise. The deep dwarves, the Vlar clans, were thought to be completely vanquished. The troll invasion was at last met by a surviving Ri, Amos Longbeard, who held General Grimstank’s forces at Corinth and eventually pushed the invaders back to the broken city of Thanitos. When it became apparent that Thanitos would be besieged, Grimstank retreated back into the deep passages below the city and set up a cave-in to cover his retreat.

Thus compromised, Thanitos became known thereafter as the Broken City. Under the leadership of their courageous new Ard Ri, the dwarves set up defenses at all points of access to Thanitos and moved their capitol city to Corinth. The Dwergo clans were cut off from the Ceárta Riocht for all eternity for their attempted coup.

## The Third Troll War

Seven years after the disappearance of General Grimstank, the trolls re-emerged with an ambitious plan to conquer the Forge Kingdom.

### Grimstank Returns

During the Second Troll War, he’d led only three troll clans into battle: Bloodroar, Fisthammer and his own Wardrum clan. He was now joined by four more clans of Thunderdeep: the Earthshaker, Hatescream, Darkrage and Ironclaw clans. He also had a good number of ogres and, more importantly, goblyns at his disposal. This was the first appearance of goblyns on Obsidius. Additionally, the embittered dwergo supplied Grimstank with siege works and war machines.

Goblyns swarmed out of the bowels of the Broken City without warning, numb to pain and reason by use of the berserkir’s drink, easily overwhelming the outnumbered dwarven defenders. They were followed by raging ogres, who were known to continue fighting as much as a half hour after their actual deaths, and the might of the troll hordes.

Corinth fell in a matter of days. The tunnel fighting was fierce and brutal. It seemed inevitable that the trolls should emerge victorious, especially after it was rumored that Ard Ri Longbeard had been slain in the cave-in that ended the Battle of Thoringard. Grimstank’s error was unintentional. During the Battle of Rottimar, Ri Obed Anvilspark was forced to flee to the surface. Aware that if he escaped, Anvilspark might return with reinforcements, Grimstank sent Captain Constantine Bloodtusk of the Hatescream clan to pursue Anvilspark. The Ri nearly escaped, but was set upon by Bloodtusk’s forces within sight of Khazak. None of Anvilspark’s forces survived the battle but the garrison at Khazak responded swiftly. A troop of sturdy dwarven warriors tracked down Bloodtusk’s company and captured them. Confident in the Grimstank’s supremacy, Bloodtusk boasted of everything the trolls had accomplished.

### Reinforcements

The dwarves of Khazak met with the human Arturan knights at Rothm over the matter. Both decided to march to the aid of the Forge Kingdom. The eldrus elves of Fyrgold agreed to keep the peace at the Great Tarn, agreeing not to take advantage of the situation but no more, warning that they would have to consult with solari Speaker for further instructions. The Arturan knights sent for immediate reinforcements from Pendraconis, their headquarters in the Green Lands, but marched off to aid the Forge Kingdom before those reinforcements arrived. A spellcaster, Magus Firebolt [for whom all magus are named] and a knight of Greyhelm, Sir Solon Nightreaver, accompanied the Alliance forces.

The dwarven Ard Ri had not perished at Thoringard. He crawled from the rubble and eluded Grimstank’s forces long enough to rejoin his people. During his journey back, he met the Dhagar clans of Frostbite Caverns. The Ard Ri was introduced to their guardian, an ice giant, who warned Longbeard that a greater evil than trolls and goblyns had been unleashed: a balrog of the First Age. This new threat would surely destroy the entire Forge Kingdom if not stopped. To help him fight this horror, the Ard Ri was presented with a weapon of power: Wildefyr, the first thunderhammer. The Dhagar joined the Ceárta Riocht, accompanying the Ard Ri back to his people. Longbeard rallied his forces and launched his desperate counter-attack at roughly the same time that the Alliance forces from the Tarn launched their own assault.

In the meantime, eldrus messengers had arrived at Pendraconis via pegasi with a message from the elven Imperial Speaker. Speaker Aurelius Tsai informed King Uther Pendragon that he found it unacceptable that his elven troops were now “singlehandedly” guarding the Great Tarn of Damocles. In truth, the fortresses of Saxon and Dunholt, manned by men, dwarves and shadus elves, were sharing this task with the elven fortress of Fyrgold. Aurelius’ message was not well received but Pendragon did send reinforcements to the Tarn. He also sent more troops to aid the Forge Kingdom under General Artemis Dragonbane. The Arturan knights arrived in a newly-built, experimental airship called the Phoenix (so named because it was built of materials from a failed flying warship) and upon the backs of a flying cavalry of griffon-riders. General Dragonbane’s legion entered the dwarven realm by the Great Gate of Xantham, which lies on the border of Thor-Barak. The Arturan forces, trained in anticipation of fighting dragons, proved more than a match for the troll, ogre and goblyn forces they encountered. They met up with the Ard Ri’s armies and pushed Grimstank and his minions back to Thanitos.

### The Balrog’s Gate

Meanwhile, the surviving members of the Khazak unit, being now a considerably smaller unit and possessing the magical aid of a wizard, slipped past Grimstank’s forces and crept into Thanitos itself. From there. Magus and his companions stole into the secret passages Grimstank had poured his armies through and there discovered the troll general’s true agenda. Deep beneath the Broken City stood one of the Forbidden Gates to the Nether World. The Gate was open. Grimstank had opened the Gate after the end of the previous Troll War, hoping to recruit the aid of the orc armies below. Instead he encountered a balrog, Master Goz. Goz supplied the trolls with ogres and goblyns for the Third Troll War. Of course, the balrog was only using Grimstank for his own ends. Goz was a minor Master in the balrog hierarchy.  He planned to take control of Grimstank’s forces once the troll general had conquered the dwarven kingdoms, thereby enlarging his power base and, consequentially, his standing in the balrog hierarchy. As always, the balrog’s eventual goal was the subjugation of the entire Upper World.

Upon discovering the balrog, a fierce battle ensued between Goz and the Khazak company, until only Magus, Sir Solon Nightreaver of Greyhelm and the balrog were left alive. Their fight eventually led them back up to the besieged ruins of Thanitos.

With the aid of the Arturan knights, Ard Ri Amos Longbeard had managed to push Grimstank’s forces back to into the ruins of Thanitos itself.  The emergence of the balrog came as a great shock to Longbeard’s forces nevertheless, the combined human and dwarven armies pressed against this new challenge and emerged victorious. The balrog was slain. Grimstank retreated through the Forbidden Gate of Thanitos [as it came to be called; it is also known as the Gate of Goz] with a good number of his trollish captains. Magus sealed it shut behind them. Of the 1000 knights which Pendraconis sent to aid the Forge Kingdom, only 37 returned alive.