Yarlwind Writings Discovered

In the deep, hollow veins of Nak-Tharud, where light dares not linger, dwarven miners uncovered something long buried and long forgotten. In 3800 BGW, while chiseling through a collapsed passage, they stumbled upon a gold-bound book resting alone in a hollow alcove, untouched by time.

The book’s surface, though dulled by dust, bore the faint shimmer of craftsmanship unseen in dwarven halls since the days of the Forgefathers. Along its spine was a single name etched in the First Tongue—“Yarlwind.”

The miners, wary of disturbing such a relic, carried it to Dumatharun, where the elders gathered beneath the glow of the Hall of Embers. As the book was opened, the air grew heavy, and the words written within cast shadows deeper than any flame could chase away.

The Words of Yarlwind

"The great halls will echo with the cries of the fallen. The hammer’s song will break beneath the weight of countless feet.
Bridges will crumble, and the forges will cool. The vaults will lie empty, and those who stood with stone and steel will be scattered like ash.
From the north, they will come. A tide of wrath, with hunger in their bellies and fire in their hands.
They will storm the mountain not for wealth, but for survival. No stone will remain unbroken."

"The Gilded Paths will run red, and the flames of Thrangrim will flicker. Only the bones of kings will hold the gates."

"It will not end until the light of the forge is extinguished, and the sons of stone lie buried beneath their own halls.
Only when Elto makes all things new will the mountain rise again."

Ominous Whispers

The prophecy struck the dwarves with unease. The Forgefathers were summoned, and scholars of the Stonewright’s Guild poured over the book, yet none could answer the greatest question of all—who was Yarlwind?

No record of such a name appeared in dwarven lineage. His name was not sung in the sagas nor carved into the stone tablets of Dumatharun. Some believed Yarlwind was a forgotten Forgefather, while others feared he was something far older, a voice from before the First Hammer fell.

Brammek Stonegaze himself decreed that the Writings of Yarlwind be sealed beneath Dumatharun in the Hall of Embers, watched over by his line. But the words carried on in whispers among the miners and smiths.

The Shadow of the Future

In the centuries that followed, dwarven fortresses grew taller, and their forges burned brighter, but the words of Yarlwind lingered like smoke in the tunnels of Nak-Tharud. As years passed, some dwarves began to see signs of the prophecy’s fulfillment—strange tremors, broken stone gates, and figures glimpsed in the distance near the northern mountains.

Few took action, but those who remembered the book’s words reinforced their walls and sealed vault doors tighter.

Unknown to them, in the shadows beyond the mountains, the orc clans stirred. Driven by famine, hardship, and the lure of dwarven treasures, the first warbands began their long migration toward the heart of Steerbright.

And with each step closer, the mountain seemed to grow colder.