Over dinner King Ungrum has a few tankards of ale, and when the meal is done he retreats to a set of stury but comfortable chairs by the fireplace.

"I wasn't always a King you know" Ungrum says to no one in particular.

"In the days before Kalamar laid siege to our home, I was a General" Ungrum takes a long pull off his tankard.

"I started as a lowly soldier in the army, stood guard in the mines, fought off Orcs and Goblins. It went on like that, for many years, I killed more and more Orcs, trained new recruits to do the same. After one glorious battle I was promoted, I lead attacks and planned battles. Victories came easy and as time burned into memory, I became a General. The life of a General is a restive one, no guard duty in the mines, no mucking out latrines, just the adulation of the people and the spoils of victory."

"Then came Kalamar, the army of the Empire of Man with a wedge of Giants and Orges at its front. A powerful Wizard at its back, a crafty Marshall orchestrating the assault from a nearby hilltop. Victories as I said, came easy, defeat was not something the Dwarven army was used to, but Kalamar crushed our ancient fortress with its Siege Engines, walls torn down by Giant foes, our people murdered by the unforgiving Ogres."

Ungrum raises his tankard to his lips, but puts it down, his face twisted as if he tasted something bitter.

"My brothers lay dead all around me, our King was dead, the other Generals dead or dying. Ogres roamed the the fields of corpses, only to maim or kill those unlucky enough to have survived. The Giants ravaged the now-unmanned defenses and vast tunnel systems beneath them collapsed onto the city killing the women and children."

"I couldn't muster a force of any size, the lines were broken, no more could we do but die."

"It was then that the wizard walked onto the battlefield, he wasn't looking to menace the dying, he was calling for surrender. Our surrender, he wanted the King brought out at once, they didn't even know how deeply they had hurt us."

"No one stirred, again he called for surrender, he said the Giants and Ogres wouldn't stop until the Dwarves surrendered, such was their agreement with the Emperor. He seemed to find the whole thing distasteful, wanted to end the killing, there was nothing left to prove."

"One of my men came to me, bleeding out of one eye, he said; You have to do it, they will respect you, there is nothing left to be done here."

"So I stepped forward, took off my helmet and presented myself, I surrendered our home to the enemy."

"It didn't end there, after the surrender, before we could start rebuilding, before we could look to our wounded, or bury our dead, Kalamar wouldn't agree to terms... terms for the occupation of our home, without a local government to give their agreement legitimacy."

"I was crowned before fifty survivors, and a host of occupiers, in a hasty ceremony while fresh blood dripped off the battlements. My first order as King was to clear the rubble, look for survivors, and reopen the mines. It was a week before we had a chance to stop, mourn our losses and bury our dead."

"The King's nephew, was found in a deep mine and smuggled out of the city with some refugees that would not remain under the bootheel of the Kalamaran usurper."

"Over the years we licked our wounds, rebuilt the city, reinforced the collapsed tunnels of the old mines and our dug yet deeper into the bones of the world. Our steel and diamonds went to Kalamar, to fuel a war of conquest."