Dwarven Clans · The campaign
The Frostcrag Reckoning
Third winter running, reavers in the high passes. Settle it properly this time.
The Frostcrags
Reavers in the high passes for the third winter running. Settle it properly this time.
The road
Ten fields — switchbacks from Lowdelve to the summit road. The Orc Horde is the rival, and six kingdoms stand in the way.
Chapter I · The Muster
Everything on this mountain is written down. That is not pedantry. That is how a grudge survives a generation.
- 1
The Muster · Cull the ranks
Lowdelve
Beasts in the low tunnels.
To win: 12 of their beasts down. Not a body count — a particular kind of body. Put down the ones named. Razing them ends it too.
Against: Mythic Beasts.
Terms: The standing works — A spawner is already raised and already yours.
Beasts in the low tunnels again. Second time this year. Log it, clear it, and shore the props while you are down there.
- 2
First Blood · Close the book
The Silver Steps
The Court wants a road through the crags.
To win: their keep, losing fewer than 60. Raze their keep, and lose no more than the book allows. One body past the mark and the field is theirs.
Against: Elven Court.
The Court wants a road cut through the crags and has offered a price. The price is fair. The road is not. Refuse it — and mind the butcher’s bill while you do, because a Clan counts its dead the way it counts its coin.
- 3
A Twist · Work the seam
Rimehold
The dead have found the old delvings.
To win: 8,000 gold banked holding the seam. Only gold banked while you hold the ring counts. Hold it and let the purse fill — or raze them instead.
Against: Undead Dominion.
Terms: The empty chest — You march with nothing. Everything you field, you earn here.
The dead have found the old delvings. Our delvings. Hold the seam and work it under their noses — there is a word for people who move into a house because the family died in it.
Chapter II · The Rival
Eleven entries under one name. The twelfth will be the last, because we are closing the account.
- 4
The Rival · Bring down the quarry
Blackcrag
Orcs, in force, in the pass. The reckoning starts here.
To win: the marked one, in the ground. One of theirs is marked, and it holds the prize. Put it in the ground — it runs for its gate when it is hurt. Their keep falling ends it too.
Against: Orc Horde — the rival.
Blackcrag. Eleven raids in the book and every one of them came down this pass. The reckoning starts at the top of the page.
- 5
Adversity · Hold the closing ground
Anvilgate
The Realm has come for the forges. Keep them out.
To win: 85s on the high ground as it closes. Hold the ring while it shrinks. By the end there is room for a handful, and they will want it.
Against: Human Realm.
Terms: No walls of your own — Your keep cannot be fortified. Meet them in the field.
The Realm has come for the forges, with paperwork. Keep the forge floor while it shrinks around you. They will be back with better paperwork.
- 6
The Ally · Burn the camps
Shrinefall
The Dynasty’s works on your mountain. Take them down.
To win: 3 of their war-camps burned. Their war-camps feed this assault, and they will keep mustering until they burn. The keep can stand.
Against: Jade Dynasty.
Terms: The war-chest — An ally has paid for this one. Spend it well.
The Dynasty has blessed our mountain without asking the mountain. Take the works down. Leave the stone where it lies.
Chapter III · The Long War
They built with our stone. We will unbuild with our hands.
- 7
The Siege · Break the works
The Emberwall
They have walled the pass against you.
To win: 5 of their works down. Put their spawners down. The keep can stand.
Against: Orc Horde — the rival.
Terms: Walled against you — Their keep was fortified long before you came.
Our courses, our dressing, our own wall - turned round and pointed at us. That is the insult. The wall is only stone. Unbuild what they raised behind it, course by course.
- 8
The Reversal · Carry the torch
Highsummit
Hold the summit. Whoever stands there sees everything.
To win: 3 fires lit by the torch, kept for 50s. Only the torch lights these fires. It starts at your gate, passes hand to hand as bearers fall, and they can put out what it lit. Every fire burning at once, and kept.
Against: Elven Court.
Terms: The thin muster — Only your cheapest ranks answered the call.
Carry the flame up to the summit fires and keep every one of them lit until dark. Whoever holds the fires sees every road in the north, and we intend to be the ones seeing.
- 9
The Gathering · Raze the keep · Eight commanders
The Great Delve
The whole mountain, and everyone who wants it.
To win: Raze the keep. Bring their walls down. Nothing else ends it.
Against: Undead Dominion.
The whole mountain, and everyone who ever wanted a piece of it, arriving together. Bring the heavy guns.
Chapter IV · The Crown
Ledger closed, passes clear. A fair rate for eleven winters.
- 10
The Crown · Raze before the horn
The Emberseat
Their warcamp. Before the horde regathers.
To win: their keep inside 7m 00s. Their walls, and quickly. Time is the other enemy.
Against: Orc Horde — the rival.
Terms: Walled against you — Their keep was fortified long before you came.
Last entry in the book. Guns up the pass by dark, and be inside the camp before the horde regathers.
The rival
The Orc Horde — Reavers of the Emberwastes.
Twelfth raid, and he has not waited for the passes to clear. Somebody told him we were coming.
Their warlord. The same one. He has raided us eleven times and this is the first time he has stood still.
The Emberwall - our own stonework, taken and turned around. That is the insult, not the wall.
The Emberseat. Not a raid, not a season. Take the chair and there is nobody left to sit in it.
How it ends
Crowned
The passes are clear and the ledger is closed. Eleven raids, one reckoning. That is a fair rate.
Broken
The passes are theirs and the winter is coming. Write it down. We settle it next year.
The Dwarves boons
The branch of the boon tree only the Dwarven Clans can take:
| Boon | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| The Deep Delve | 1 | The seam runs deeper than the survey said. |
| Clan Stonework | 2 | Built by clansmen, which is to say built to stay. |
| The Powder Store | 2 | The store is full and nobody is rationing it. |
| Anvilgate | 3 | You open walled, and walling further is half price. |
| The Great Delve | 4 | The whole mountain at your back. |