In the 14th century DR, a dwarf cleric named Hlin gathered her friends in the city of Baldur’s Gate. They were the tiefling warlock Kairon, the kender rogue Tas, and the human paladin Henry. Together, these four heroes set out on a quest to save Hlin’s home in the distant north, the hidden city of Khundrukar.
Khundrukar was founded a century ago by the dwarf master smith Durgeddin the Black. Durgeddin was the lone survivor of a village that had been wiped out by orc raiders. He built a new home for himself and others that were similarly afflicted by the orcs of the north. Beneath a tall spire of rock called the Stone Tooth, he established a hidden redoubt and built therein a mighty forge where he would craft weapons that he filled with his sorrow and his wrath.
The weapons made by the hands of Durgeddin became widely coveted, especially in the Silver Marches. Among the works that gained the most renown were his legendary orcbane weapons. These powerful weapons could lay low even the most formidable orc berserkers and champions. But the presence of such weapons were a dire threat to orckind. Therefore, the king of the Many Arrows tribe of orcs summoned all their kindred together to lay siege to the dwarven realm of Khundrukar.
Having heard news of the orcish threat, Hlin called together her own companions to join her on a quest to save her homeland. The adventurers traveled north to heed the call to arms put out by the beleaguered dwarves. On their way, they encountered orcs who were also heeding the call to arms put out by the Many Arrows. Some of these orcs the heroes slew, but not all. And when they arrived at last in the war-torn north, rumor had gone before them among the orcs of fell adventurers that had slain their kindred.
The lands surrounding Khundrukar were covered with the warcamps of innumerable orc tribes as far as the eye could see. The skies were black with the smoke from their bonfires, and the land was stripped of all the trees that were felled for their timber and kindling. All the animals that had not been hunted had fled far away. There was nought but the orcs and their pavilions, and the bodies of the dead, both orcs and dwarves, strewn across the battlefield in front of the great Mountain Door of Khundrukar.
Knowing the danger should they be discovered by the orcs, the heroes kept themselves well hidden. But then it came into the heart of Henry the paladin to put on the guise of a mighty orc warrior and present himself before the king of the orcs of the Many Arrows tribe. He was helped in this by Tas’s expertise in creating a disguise, and the eldritch magic of Kairon the warlock. At last, he donned the orc armor that he had looted from an orc warrior the party had slain on their way north.
Henry stood before the Orc King as a mighty orc warrior. The Orc King himself was an intimidating figure, taller than any orc Henry had ever seen. Beside him was a fearsome greatsword that leaned heavily against his makeshift throne. And about him were his personal guard, all of them fierce fighters in their own right. Henry offered his service and counsel to the Orc King in the hopes of gaining his trust. But he found that the king was not so easily convinced. The king first tasked him with a mission to prove his valor before he would heed the words of an unknown orc. Therefore, the heroes set out to prove themselves so that they might infiltrate the inner circle of the orc leadership.
Many days passed until an opportunity presented itself. During that time, the war raged on. Countless orcs were slain by the orcbane weapons forged in the hidden depths of Khundrukar, and not a few dwarves gave their lives defending their home. But at last, fortune brought the heroes the chance to prove themselves. They discovered a band of dwarf commandos sneaking into the orc warcamp by cover of night. The heroes followed them to the pavilion of the Orc King. Surely they were here to murder the king and deal a decisive blow to the orc alliance in the hopes of lifting the siege.
At last, the dwarf cleric Hlin stood forward and made a choice that would decide the course of events in the war. All this while, Hlin had quietly disapproved of her companions’ decision to infiltrate the orc warcamp, fearing that they might even be tempted to join the orcs against the dwarf defenders by the promise of loot and treasure. But such misgivings would not excuse her in the eyes of almighty Moradin should she allow her kindred folk to dishonor themselves by assassinating a sleeping enemy. That was not the way of the dwarves that she knew. How far had the people of Khundrukar fallen?
Therefore, Hlin and her friends defended the slumbering orc king from his would-be assassins. When the orc king was roused from his sleep by the commotion within his tent, a fight was already under way. In the ensuing battle, Tas was gravely wounded by a dwarven mace, but the faith and magic of the cleric and paladin saved his life. The heroes were drawn closer together by their actions and their mutual fate. And their valor had proven themselves to the orc king, who graced them with a mission to infiltrate the dwarven citadel of Khundrukar. And so, the heroes were given free passage across the orcish battle lines until they arrived at last at the steps of Khundrukar itself.
When they stood before the battlements of the mountain redoubt, the adventurers cast off their disguise and revealed their true selves as stalwart allies of the dwarven defenders. They were given leave to enter the city, where they saw many wounded dwarven warriors. Hlin and Henry did what they could to assuage the hurts and wounds of the dwarves that they met, and in doing so they won the hearts and friendship of those dwarves.
Then at last they stood before the leader of the dwarves—the master smith and lord of Khundrukar, Durgeddin the Black. Scorched and darkened were his hands by the flames of the smithies where he worked day and night, forging weapons of war. And darkened was his heart by the malice that he felt toward all of orcish blood. Hlin could feel the rage and anger in him, which she had taken for granted in her youth. Now, having seen more of the world, she saw the ruin that it would bring down upon her people.
Together, the heroes beseeched the lord of Khundrukar to abandon his crusade against orcs and seek peace instead. Before they had set out from the orc warcamp, they had parlayed with the orc king and convinced him to sue for peace should the lord of Khundrukar promise to forsake any further construction of orcbane weapons. Now, it was up to them to convince Durgeddin to abide by these terms.
But the lord of Khundrukar was under no compulsion to deal with orcs. The wizard at his side advised him as much. Hlin recalled the sage wizard who had been the archivist and librarian of Khundrukar when she was young. But he seemed much changed since she had last lived in these halls. Yet the warlock Kairon recognized his true nature. For in his investigation of Khundrukar upon their first arrival, he had set about examining the chronicles of the dwarves that lived therein and discovered not a few discrepancies in its records. Most strikingly, the records regarding the movements of this wizard were incomplete, as though whole pages had been removed, or never recorded at all. And the adventurers, while lurking in the orc warcamp, had heard rumors of a dwarf betrayer who had come among the orcs to barter information on how best to break into the dwarven citadel. The heroes now realized that this wizard was a traitor who sought to end the war by realizing the downfall of the dwarves. And they suspected that he had also cast a charm upon his lord Durgeddin to heighten his emotions of rage and loss so that he would craft even more dangerous weapons to be used against the orcs.
Having discovered their true enemy, the adventurers drew arms against him, and the dwarves whom they had befriended came to their aid. And so, the wizard was apprehended and defeated by the heroes, and the charm that was cast upon Durgeddin was lifted. It was then that Hlin, whose own hatred of orcs was tempered by her desire for the survival of her people, counseled peace. And now that the wizard’s charm no longer affected him, Durgeddin hearkened to her words and promised to never again forge weapons to war designed to lay waste to a single people.
When the heroes brought tidings of their achievement to the orc king and his war camp, a great cheer went up among the orcs at their victory. The promise of peace was sealed by the destruction of all the remaining orcbane weapons in the city of Khundrukar. And the orcs for their part kept their promise as one by one the tribes gathered together under the banner of the Many Arrows tribe disbanded and returned from whence they came. Thus the siege was lifted and the utter destruction of Khundrukar was averted. Thereafter, Tas and Henry would go on to further adventurers in pursuit of glory and riches, whereas Hlin and Kairon would remain among the dwarves to study and record their lord in after years when peace and prosperity came to the people of Khundrukar.