TEXT:  The Journal of Grimbold Ironshanks 
  Selected Entries from Common Year 51-97 
  21 Fireseek CY 51 
  Got back ta’ Irondelve yesterday. Good thing, too. Durak’s not wantin’ ta send out any more sueveyors. 
  Thinks we have enough. Hah! He don’t know a mine shaft from the shaft in his arse! The last one we found 
  a month ago is already lookin weak, and I told ‘em so! The vein was tappin’ out and we’d be needin to find 
  another one afore long. 
  Got the latest batch o’arms and armor from the Keep today. Smaller than before, and the quality’s slippin. 
  Been gettin reports that some of the miners in ‘Nor been goin missin. Don’t know what that’s all about but 
  it’s got ‘em spooked, that’s fer sure. Ulfgar says they saw some duergar in the lower mine o’ Nor, but he’s 
  also heard other things. Shadows that move when ye ain’t lookin at them. 
  6 Reaping CY 55 
  Got Irondelve secure today, headin back to the Keep. We’ve lost four outposts in the past year, but Ulfgar 
  don’t think it’s just the duergar – they’ve got help this time. Caught me a drow last week sneakin through 
  one o’ the mineshafts. Damn elf was all blurry in the shadows and he got away.  Told Ulfgar, but he 
  think’s there’s still more out there. 
  30 Sunsebb CY 56 
  Those duergar are gettin’ smarter and smarter. Tracked a whole bunch o’them through one of the lower 
  mines, and found a trap they’d set – simple poison dart. Got the thing disarmed and started to head off 
  when the openin’ to the tunnel started cavin-in. Must have set off somethin by disarmin the first one. Got 
  my head split open for my trouble, too, but Grobb patched me up. He’s crazy sometimes, with his talk o’ Va-
  tun and a “comin’ winter.” He woke me up with his babblin’ while I was tryin to sleep. 
  “In exile, the homeless are scattered 
  Like leaves in the winter’s first gale 
  Their honor lies shredded and tattered 
  And darkness and shadow prevail.” 
  Whatever the hell that means. 
  15 Harvester CY 63 
  I ain’t never seen anythin’ like it. The rock’s been rumblin’ for the past couple o’ years – gettin a little bit 
  worse each time. Mostly been centered ‘below ‘Nor. Yesterday, an explosion went off over the city, and it was 
  darker than I’d ever seen it. Couldn’t see me hand in front o’ me face. It lasted for about a minute before I 
  could see again, but still seemed darker than before. 
  Heard screams comin from one o’ the deeper mine shafts today. By the time I got there, all that I found was 
  a couple o’ bodies – Durak and Thuldar – with their heads torn open, but there was somethin’ else, too. Their 
  faces were white, like they’d been scared to death and they looked shriveled. 
  27 Wealsun CY 75 
  The fightin’ been goin bad for a while now. The whole city seems like it’s fallin into darkness. The light 
  don’t work right – hasn’t ever since that day. 
  It’s more than the duergar out there now, there’s somthin else. They move between the cracks in the walls 
  and the shadows. We’ve lost two patrols today. Ulfgar wants me to check out the last place one of them was 
  seen. Heh – not without a brigade of battleragers to back me up! Told ‘em so, too. But I’ll prob’ly go. If this 
  keeps up, fore long – we’re goin to be in a hurt of trouble. 
  Drow been steppin’ up their attacks too. Looks like all our friends are comin’ back to say ‘hey.’ 
  
   The Journal of Grimbold Ironshanks 
  Selected Entries from Common Year 51-97 
  10 Goodmonth CY 81 
  We’re in trouble. 
  They come out o’nowhere, like shadows or pieces of night. I can’t hit ‘em. Grobb’s been dropping light spells 
  on em’ but the spells don’t always go off. We’ve tried everything but nothin we do stops ‘em. The best we’ve 
  done is slow ‘em down. I’ve never seen nothin’ like those ‘flayers and I’ve fought ‘flayers before. These is dif-
  f’rent. I’ve only seen ‘em once or twice, and each time it was like they’s there and not there. I thought I got 
  one of the flayers when he wasn’t lookin, but he just faded right before me and three more just appeared 
  where he was standing. 
  Ulfgar’s called for a retreat up to the Keep. Obon’s been talking ‘bout some strange glyphs he’s found in the 
  deeper mines. They’ve given him some idea ‘bout keeping the flayers in some kind o’ prison. Nothin’ we can 
  do but fall back and hope they don’t get out. 
  17 Coldeven CY 87 
  ‘Nor’s been overrun. The duergar and drow hold the place, and it looks like they’re campin out for a long 
  time. They got some big help, too. I saw ‘em workin on some big statue – made out o’ black stone with eight 
  arms and lookin like one of them drow gods. 
  We’ve been keepin’ the flayers at bay for a while, but something tells me it’s just a matter o’ time. Grobb’s 
  been mutterin’ in his sleep again. 
  Bring the Blade from the mists of long history  
  The key of lost birthright’s reclaim 
  Receive from the hand of the First Son’s great clan 
  The Shield of honor and of fame 
  Find the Rod’s silvery gleam wrapped with black iron’s sheen 
  In the tomb of the Ward crafter’s name 
  When Rod, Shield, and Blade to their lost home they aid 
  Then shadow shall pass in bright flame. 
   
  I don’t like it when Grobb talks about losin’ birthrights. Him, Obon and Ulfgar have been talkin’ a lot 
  about sealing the whole place up and leavin’ until we can get some help. We’ve been runnin’ for the past six 
  years, and losing the battle for a lot longer than that. But it’s gonna take a lot o’help ta get our home back. 
  4 Patchwall CY 93 
  They’ve taken the great hall and the gates of ‘Nor. They got eight o’ them black eight-armed statues – 
  eight!! The only thing stoppin’ them from coming up the stair is that they can’t fit! And there’s more – 
  they’ve been raise’n our fallen dead ta fight against us! We’re fightin ourselves on top of the duergar, the 
  drow, and the flayers. 
  Grobb got hit in the eyes by a spray o’ acid from one o’ the drow mages as he was headin’ up the stairs. I 
  think he’s lost all sight. 
  Ulfgar, collapsed the supports in the great hall – that slowed ‘em down. But it ain’t gonna last. It’s lookin 
  like we’re gonna have ta’ fall back to Irondelve once we get out. 
  Obon’s got a plan for sealin’ up the place. He’s been talkin’ about some elven magic he’s discovered in the 
  rock. Been here a lot longer than we have, he says. Looks like some of our miners damaged it and let out 
  whatever it was holdin back. It’s our own damn fault this happened, he says. We were digging where we 
  shouldn’t have been digging. Heh. Elven stuff breaks at the slightest chip, but I guess it don’t matter any 
  more. I just hope he’s right and he can keep ‘em from getting out. Moradin help us if they do. 
  
   The Journal of Grimbold Ironshanks 
  Selected Entries from Common Year 51-97 
  17 Reaping CY 94 
  Heh. Not so tough out of the mines, are they! 
  Looks like some of them got out, but not as much as we feared. They hit Irondelve with everything they had, 
  but we fought ‘em off. 
  I went back ta see the Keep once last time and Obon’s wards seem ta be holdin up. Him and Grobb have got a 
  plan to help Ulfgar hide the axe somewhere ‘neath the town. Obon’s been craftin’ these statues and usin the 
  last scrap o’ adamantine we brought out of .Nor. He says they’ll protect Worm Slayer. 
  By Moradin’s Hammer, I never thought we’d be driven from our own home. I can only hope no more of ‘em 
  get out – but if they do, they’ll wish they’d stayed locked up.” 
  30 Sunsebb CY 96 
  Ulfgar’s left, headin north and east lookin for help. Gramdaug Granitespitter’s gone – crazy druid. Obon’s 
  left, headin west back ta where the clan first came from. 
  Reminds me of one of Grobb’s blabblins. He had another dream last night. 
  “From darkness, an anvil shall thunder 
  A forge, deep in shadow, shall burn 
  Reclaimed shall be Halls, torn asunder 
  The homeless and lost shall return” 
   
  Woke up today and says he has ta’ go too. 
  1 Readying CY 97 
  (last entry) 
  I’m headin out. Don’t know where I’m goin, but I know I can’t stay here. Irondelve’s become a ghost town. No 
  one left but me and a few others. I think I’ll try and sneak back past Obon’s wards. I gotta few scores to sell 
  with them shadow flayers. 
   
  
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