The Oathsworn Wanderers

The oathsworn wanderers are the honor-bound dwarrow that know there is no real home left for them. Their oaths are incomplete...they must reclaim their honor before they return to their ancient homeland. They have overcome many adversaries, but they are finally breaking under the weight of their own oaths. The day is coming where they will be faced with dishonor or death.

## Dwarven Culture

### Dwarven Homes

The heaths of the east bordering the northwest of Vesca are home to the oathsworn wanderers. It is there that their clans have settled, building stone monuments they call their home.

#### Henges

In some human stories, the dwarrow live inside monoliths, only to appear at a later time. This is, of course, false. They have many secret doors into the mounds that dot the region. A grouping of these barrows is known as a henge, and is often more obvious than the rest, with a magical circle of monoliths surrounding it.

Each hill, often known as a howe, is home to a whole family of dwarves. Though the howes look small above ground, underneath they are revealed as much larger, with the actual mount making up the "roof" of the howe. When you step into a howe, you are met with candlelit rooms lined with rectangular stones that make the walls of the chambers. The room directly under the mound, called the hearthroom, is perfectly circular and acts as the eating space and where visitors are welcomed. Hospitality is everything to the oathsworn.

In a henge, one will find many amenities, such as monoliths where oaths are etched, wells, podiums for council meetings, and a few above-ground houses. The cyclopian runestones are one of the most important places in the henge, where oaths are etched one at a time, until it is covered from top to bottom. The dwarrow pride themselves in placing their oaths higher than the rest, because a common belief is that the higher the oath is set, the closer it will be to the gods.

#### Holds

The mountains bordering the northwest border of The Heath is the only place the dwarrow can find room to make a hold. It is here that the kings of the oathsworn clans dwell. They are extravagant compared to the humble henges, but they are nothing compared to the glories of Dwarrowdeep. The architects of these holds model their skill off how much it reminds them of their old home. Of course, nobody there can live to remember it, so it is mainly speculation. Each hold is set into the mountain, and at its foothills lies a great henge.

Inside each hold, you will find great stone corridors reaching high into the torchlit halls. These are often busy with bustling dwarrow, all of great importance. The dwarrow come to the holds only to meet with the clan leaders and the king. This is where criminals will be tried, where oaths will be fulfilled, and where grievances will be settled.

### Oaths

When a dwarrow swears, he is expected to fulfill it. The punishment is great for those who break oaths...many times there have been dwarrow that were banished for being untrustworthy. So why do dwarrow still swear oaths? It has become part of their life to swear oaths to those who have helped them, but it does not happen lightly. Oftentimes if a dwarf's family or his own life is saved, a dwarf will immediately offer oaths to their savior. To not offer an oath would be looked down upon. These oaths usually are to protect their savior, but whoever they swear to can always decline the oath. There will be no penalty to the swearer if their master releases them of their oath.

### Runes

Another important part of dwarven life is runes. Oaths are always written in Old Deargh, the rune language. These runic oaths can be used in life or in battle. In battle, there are defensive and offensive runes. Each one has a possibility of working, but it depends on how sincere the oath was. One can always pray for an oath to start working where it previously failed, and often that will activate it. The only magic dwarves know is bound in these runes. They have no real spellcasters. The rune priests mark most runes out, but other dwarrow that known Old Deargh often attempt to etch their own runes. Unlike normal magic, runes cannot backfire, so there is no harm in making your own runes.

## The Heath

The moorlands bordering the Broken Peaks and County Leer are known as The Heath. It is a simple name for a place with such a complicated history. The heath is made up of moors, fells, crags, and mountains. The dwarrow dwell in makeshift mounds all across the land, and they delve deep into the mountains. But it is no secret that goblyns creep these lands. The northern tribes of the Cold Tongue and Frostbiters hunt in the southern regions, closer to the mountains and to the Goblands. Kobolds live in the mountains of the west, but the dwarrow have tolerated them...for now. The land is devoid of much animal life, other than the occasional elk or goat. There are not many riches in the hills, which would shock many who know of the greed of dwarrow. The truth is, the oathsworn have become quite content in wandering and feeling shameful. Their humility has become their pride.

## The Oathsworn Archives

Deep in the vaults of the Old Library lies a great collection of books, still being written today. Most of them are in bad condition, but copies have been located all across The Heath. They retell the entire history of the oathsworn wanderers...from the final oath to the War Beneath the Mountains.

### The Final Oath

Year 346 after the Age Breaker

The dwarrow had defended Dwarrowdeep for hundreds of years. Now was the time for it to fall. Balcor the Horrific was on the edge of insanity. He had tried siege after siege to break through the mountain hold, but his patience was gone. He sent all of his armies, emptying Mar-Adun. He led them himself towards the mountain hold.

When scouts arrived at Dwarrowdeep with the dire tidings, Argen Hammerstone lost hope for a moment. He sent three more scouts, each sending worse news back. So Argen gathered the Dwarven Council and discussed what was to be done. In the end, Argen declared that all citizens be evacuated to the Hills of Vargur. He left them a final oath: to stay true to his grandfather, to keep all oaths, but to value family above all. He asked his fighting men if they would fight or go with their families. Not one left their king. The end would be glorious. The dwarven warriors would die in their hold, as they had always dreamed. The walls were manned and the gate sealed. The last siege of Dwarrowdeep was about to begin.

The legions of Adun arrived at dusk. The dwarrow were not expected to last till morning. The siege would be short, with no artillery and no waiting. The numbers would easily breach the gate. So the dark legions stormed towards the walls, but for hour upon hour, the artillery from the mountain unleashed oblivion upon their ranks, and those who got into archer range were shot down. But the numbers were too great. One at a time the soldiers arrived at the wall, often to be slain by rocks or oil. But after six hours of relentless combat, the dark elves reached the wall with ladders. The dwarves picked off those who reached the wall, but the more dwarrow that engaged in combat, the less were shooting at the elves below. So the wall was slowly but surely overrun, and the gate opened at the crack of dawn. The dark elves charged into the ranks of dwarven warriors, who clashed for hours more. One dwarf slew 10 elves, but the numbers were endless. Soon only Argen was left standing.

The dark elves surrounded the dwarvenking, attacking him one at a time with their best warriors. Soon there were none brave enough to fight him. That is, until Balcor arrived. The two fought for three hours straight, each wearing each other to their last bit of strength. Finally, Balcor had the upper hand and began to lose concentration in his confidence. Argen managed to behead the dark lord, to the shock of the dark elves. They dared not approach him, but he soon fell to one knee and then collapsed, dead from his wounds and from exhaustion. The dwarven civilians were given word before that the gate had fallen, and to make for the high mountains. Their husbands and sons would not be seen again. The dark elves were at a loss. They were broken and leaderless, so they did not pursue. They didn't even revel in their victory. They knew this was not worth it. None of Balcor's lies were true.

### The Grim Reckoning

Year 389 after the Age Breaker

The dwarven families crossed the mountains, escorted by the men delegated to guard them. There were hundreds of families, and it was hard to find food. So they all decided to split paths, keeping the families together but splitting their main group in order to survive. Some dwarves went south, only to be slaughtered by the dark elves. Others went north, where they found great riches. Others continued to cross the mountains, hoping they would find some kind of promised land. These would become the oathsworn wanderers of Clan Smithburn, Stonewall, Marbrick, and Grimward. Soon, they found that the mountains, while rich in precious metals, were no place to raise their families. So they took to the lowlands, but they were barren. It seemed no hope would come.

Finally, in the year 348, the dwarrow stopped journeying and settled in the land that is now The Heath. The lands to their south were inhabited by human barbarians, but they could take wood and food from those lands. So they began to make a new life for themselves, sifting through gravel for metals and making homes in the hills. They knew it would take a miracle to take back their homeland in this condition, but almost every dwarf had sworn to do so beforehand. So they slowly grew over the years that followed, fighting off wild beasts and goblyns while they forged armors and weapons for the day that their oaths would be fulfilled.

In the year 389, the men decided they had waited long enough. They left their homes towards Dwarrowdeep, believing they would take back the hold or die trying. They would bring their families after the deed was done. That was a day of much mourning, for their families knew they would not return. The journey back over the mountains was hard, but they were driven by their zealous passion. They arrived in the west, making their way along the Marl Mountains towards Dwarrowdeep. But something about the place seemed odd to them. The place showed little signs of dark elves. They found a few old camps and blasphemous symbols etched into the runestones, but no recent activity could be confirmed. Something was not right.

The dwarrow were about the cross the last ridge when they saw a dwarven scout approach them with full iron armor. They soon found that the mountain had been retaken by the northern clans, who had pushed the dark elves out of the lands. The dwarves journeyed to the top of the ridge and stared at the mountain. Everything in their heart told them to go to it and reform the old alliance, but something else told them no. Their honor. The oaths they had sworn said nothing about joining with their fellow dwarves to enjoy in the glories they had not taken themselves. That was not honor. The plan was to take back the mountain from their sworn nemesis, but now that they were gone, there was nothing to be done. So the dwarves looked upon their glorious homeland one last time and left, knowing they would never see it again.

Over the mountains they journeyed, and were reunited with their families. The council that night was as grim as could be. When their men were slain at the gate, there was much mourning. When their families died in the mountains, many tears were shed. When their friends left into the wilderness, there were many dirges sung. But around the great runestone, there was a grim silence. One at a time a dwarf stood and etched a new rune into the monolith. This marked a new age. The age of the wanderers.

### The First Goblyn War

Year 562 after the Age Breaker

For the longest time, goblyns had been a nuisance, but hardly a threat to the oathsworn wanderers. That changed when a series of events gained the attention of a great warlord, Garr Myrdoc of the Bludzy Eye tribe. The hobgoblyn chieftain Badrag had been trying to get his attention for some time. Myrdoc was a lazy leader, never attacking any foes that would take a fair bit of work to take down. So when Badrag kept complaining about dwarrow encroaching on *his* territory, Garr never cared. With all this talk about heavily armored warriors fighting with giant axes and mattocks, all Garr asked is for Badrag to shut up already. So Badrag and his ragtag group of goblyns continued to fight the dwarrow to no avail. Badrag himself was hit in the head by the butt of a dwarf's axe, which later was known as "the smartznog" because it seemed to knock something loose in Badrag's thick skull. He returned to Garr with a plan.

Garr rose from his foul throne and grinned when Badrag returned with the news that a short race of puny people were intruding upon his land, and they had a lot of scraps. So thus the First Goblyn War begun. Garr gathered his hordes and marched upon The Heath. The border guards responded to this threat with a barrage of fire from their archers and catapults. Seeing as how he had been tricked, first Garr broke Badrag's neck, then gave the order to retreat. But the dwarves had made a mistake. The dwarven prince Durin Haltfoot had just returned from a hunting trip, and he was standing right in front of the goblyns as they fled. He and his hunters were slain and trampled underfoot. When the guards realized this tragedy, they immediately sent their fastest riders to chase down the goblyns.

The goblyns and dwarves fought in Crag Pass, where many lives were taken on the cliffs. In the end, the dwarrow were able to slay most of the goblyns, but the warlord reached his homeland safely. That was not good. He immediately spread the word to his three closest allies, who responded to his news by storming towards the Heath with their armies. The climax of the war was only beginning.

The dwarrow fought long and hard against the great horde, but as always, they were outnumbered greatly. The three dwarrowkings stood aligned against the common threat. It was a bloody war, with a fell outcome. The winter drove the goblyns south, but the dwarrow were once again at the breaking point. The question was raised in the council...did their honor mean more than their lives? Should they return to Dwarrowdeep or die in a foreign land? The dwarrow decided to stand firm for now, but in times like this, their willpower was weak. The winter brought new problems, and the goblyns were sure to attack again.

The battles between goblyns and dwarrow would continue, but the first goblyn war was over by 587.

### The Silver Road

Year 522 after the Age Breaker

The war against the goblyns had ended 60 years before, but the threat was far from over. The dwarrow city of Hallowhall was approaching the later stages of the siege from the goblyn hordes, and the goblyns were not patient. Their unholy missiles were flung into the henge set below the mountain hold. The hills were burning, and the goblyns were slowly trickling through the magical barrier of runestones. One blind old dwarf awoke in the night, expecting to be met with the blackness he usually experienced. Instead, he realized that he could see everything, but everything was silver. He slowly stood up, legs trembling, and walked out into the burning street. A bright figure appeared out of the flames ahead, and he fell to his knees, recognizing it was Argen Hammerstone himself. Argen slammed the butt of his ax into the stone earth, and the poor blind looked up. Everything was black. He groveled in the dirt, not because he was blind again, but because the last great dwarvenking was gone again. As he clawed the earth, he felt a metal shard. He lifted it up and struggled to his feet. He walked inside, waiting for the morning to tell his family.

The morning brought much knowledge. The shard of silver was brought to the historian Gustavus, who believed it was a shard from Argen's very own ax. This small relic was enough to rally the garrison to drive back the goblyns, and the word was brought to Thorhelm. Some thought that the shad was handed down by the spirit of Argen, while others believed a goblyn must have stolen it. Either way, it was certain that the means of its discovery were supernatural. The word was spread all across The Heath: one of the silver shards was found. Later, the shard was known as a silver oath. It was handed to the king at the time, Alberic the Young. With it, he planned to find the rest of the shards, and so he started a quest with his finest warriors to take back the silver oaths. Questors were sent all across the north, gaining information from locals through conversation or through force. Soon it became clear: at least on of the silver oaths lay in the heart of dark elf lands.

There was no debate in the dwarrow council. Their best warriors would march upon the lands of shadow to take what they were due. Their king and home was taken from them...now the least they could do was take back the shards of his axe. They had already given great hope to the people, and could be used as battle runes. Surely this was the right action. They could not stay idle in the face of all these enemies.

Led by Lord Theodred, the dwarrow left their families to reclaim the relics lost to them. They set forth across the Heath, and to the foothills around the wilderness of Mogg. There they searched for the hidden pass their kind passed through on their exodus from Dwarrowdeep, but the winter blizzards had covered the road, making them nigh impossible to find. The dwarrow would be forced to cross the mountains without any roads. So the trek took them west towards the Broken Peaks, one of the lesser known regions in the north. There they fought a family of mountain trolls, who slew Lord Theodred, the leader of their company. The quest seemed lost, but the dwarrow scrivener Jacobus took control of the company and demanded they press on. So the dwarrow kept moving across the mountain, slowly but surely fighting the snowstorms and wild beasts of the heights.

The dwarrow arrived in the Vale of Woes, their number split in half. There they realized they had no idea where they were...or where they were supposed to be. They knew their best chance was to move northwest...the weather did not seem quite foul enough to be in dark elf lands yet. They were headed for Salkorvik, the black citadel set to the south below Adun.