Epilogue

King Dáin is generous once he hears of the company’s deeds, and rewards them each with many riches. A feast is held in the company’s honour in Dale, and their names are spoken of with respect throughout Wilderland.

The year after the defeat of the Gibbet King is a prosperous one. The Heroes are welcomed as friends in Dale and Erebor, and easily win the patronage of Dáin and Bard.

The shadow has been driven back once more, and the company have won a few years of peace through their brave deeds.

Session 14

Heroes: Ragnarr, Sparna, Aerandir.

Year 2949 - Autumn

The Heroes don't have much time to linger in Dale, as they're summoned by King Dain under the Mountain. He tells them troubling news, of a past visit from the merchant Lockmand (the poisoner of Dale), who has apparently stolen a map from an ancient dwarven book. A map indicating the whereabout of Zirakinbar, a watchtower raising north, where the dragons make their home.

The Heroes travel north, to discover the importance of the abandoned watchtower. On their way, they encounter a lost and half-mad ent-wife, Witherfinger, who warns them of the Snow-trolls further north.

Traveling through a gorge, and following Witherfinger advise, the Heroes tread as careful as they can, but cannot avoid awakening a few Snow-Trolls! These are too mighty a foe for them, and they decide to run for their lives.

But their trouble are not yet over; as they spot Zirakinbar in the distance, they're approached by Raenar the Cold-drake! The Heroes manage to strike a deal with the dragon, after revealing to him that the Gibbet King plans to enslave him. The dragon sends the Heroes into the Watchtower, with the promise that he'll arrive later to take the orcs by surprise.

The dwarven fortress is swarming with orcs, but the Heroes succeed in creating a diversion, and while the orcs attack each other, they sneak to where the Gibbet King and his loyal Black Uruks are awaiting the dragon to enslave him with the Chain of Thangorodrim. But when the dragon arrives, having been forewarned by the Heroes, he fills the room with his poisonous breath, killing orcs and holding in check the power of the Gibbet King.

Sparna pushed the possessed corpse into a bonfire, and as the evil spirit tries to escape, the Dragon bites on it, and the very essence of the Gibbet King is consumed. While Raenar claims the Watchtower and its treasures for his own, the Heroes begin the long way back home.

Kind Dáin Ironfoot

Dáin is the son of Náin and the grandson of Grór, the youngest son of Dáin I of Durin's folk, and is lord of the Dwarves of the Iron Hills in Wilderland. He followed his grandfather, Grór, in lordship after Nain was killed by the great Orc chieftain Azog during the Battle of Azanulbizar, the final conflict in the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, before he could inherit the lordship.

Almost immediately after the death of Náin, Dáin rushed up the steps and slew Azog himself, thus avenging his father's death. He was a very young Dwarf at the time, being only thirty-two years of age, by the Dwarves reckoning, he was still a stripling. Dáin's feat was heralded as a magnificent and glorious triumph for one so young.

Dáin alone looked past the gate into Moria, and had the wisdom to know that it was impossible for the dwarves to return at that time. His kingdom at the Iron Hills was so great that they were the only people truly capable of dealing with Sauron's forces at that time.

Dáin was the third cousin of Thorin Oakenshield, and responded to Thorin's call for help during the quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain. Dáin set out with five hundred Dwarves, and his army wore large and heavy war armor, with iron boots, and they were strong, even for Dwarves. They were armed with axes and swords. He arrived just in time for the Battle of the Five Armies.

Erebor

The Lonely Mountain has been known as the lair of Smaug the Dragon for almost two centuries. Today, Erebor is again the seat of the King under the Mountain and the most prosperous colony of Durin’s Folk. It is an isolated peak, rising to the east of Mirkwood and south of its greater neighbours, the Grey Mountains. The Mountain is tall enough to be covered in snow until Spring is underway, and extends over a wide area. Its slopes separate in six great spurs, long steep-sided ridges that fall towards the plains to the south and west, and in the direction of the Waste and its tumbled lands to the north and east.

King Bard

Bard was descended from Lord Girion of Dale, whose wife and child had escaped to Laketown when Smaug ruined Dale and took the Lonely Mountain (Erebor) in the year 2770.

In the year 2941, when Smaug emerged from the Lonely Mountain and attacked Laketown, Bard, as captain of a company of town archers, was encouraging the archers and urging the town Master to order them to fight to the last arrow.

Bard himself fired many arrows with his great yew bow. He was down to his last arrow when a thrush came and perched on his shoulder. Because Bard was of the race of Dale, he was able to understand the thrush's words. The bird told him of the weak spot in Smaug's armor that Bilbo Baggins had discovered. Bard fired his Black Arrow and struck the hollow by Smaug's left breast and the Dragon fell from the sky, landing on Laketown and destroying it.

Dale

Dale is a city of Men built on the western bank of the Running River. It rises in a valley between the southern arms of the Lonely Mountain, where the river turns around the town making a wide loop before resuming its southward course. Its foundations were first laid by Northmen almost four hundred years ago.

For two centuries, the city enjoyed a close alliance with the Dwarves of the Kingdom under the Mountain and grew rich and prosperous, extending its power to the east over the lands between the Running River and Redwater. Many kings passed down their crown to their heirs, until the city was destroyed when Smaug descended on the Dwarf-kingdom. Dale remained a deserted ruin for the best part of two centuries, its power a dream remembered only in sad songs sung in Lake-town and in smaller settlements scattered along the Running River.

Dale was reclaimed in the year 2941 by Bard, a descendant of its former lords and slayer of the Dragon, when news of his great deed attracted many Men from the west and south. With the re-founding of the Kingdom under the Mountain the city is returning to its former splendour as the products of skilled Dwarven hands issues again from the Front Gate of Erebor to be sold in the markets of Dale, along with the wares made by local craftsmen and the foreign goods brought upstream by boats coming from Lake-town.

Session 13

Heroes: Aerandir, Sparna, Greyfox.

Year 2949 - Autumn

The company travel south to the Crossings of Celduin, rallying the countryside as they go. When they arrive at the village of Celduin, they prepare for the battle to come.

After a day of preparations, the sun sets and the enemy attacks the village, trying to force their way across the river, first with wolf-riders, and then with a fearsome troll. The Heroes hold the bridge, albeit with heavy losses.

The morning after, a winged messenger is spotted, bearing news of the arrival of King Barding; when the raven is shot down by goblin arrows, with his dying breath he warns the Heroes to use "fire and water" against the enemy.

At night, the enemy attacks in even greater numbers; among the Orcs, the Gibbet King can be spotted, a corpses animated by a great malice, casting dark spells against the defenders. The Heroes hold the evil tide as long as they can, but when Greyfox is killed by orcish blades, the line falters, and one by one the Heroes fall.

But their sacrifice was not in vain: an advance party of King Bard's army, led by Captain Elstan, pierces through the goblin forces, saving Aerandir and Sparna. The Orc-host crosses the Celduin, but Bard is able to intercept them several miles north of the river, fortunately still outside the most populated areas.

If they weren’t led by their dark master, the Orcs might have been routed, for Bard and his men to pursue them and put an end to their menace once and for all. Alas! The Free Folk of the North must be content with a smaller victory.

The surviving Heroes mourn Greyfox's death, then depart with the King's army to return to Dale.