Gori Ironahir was covered in blood - and not all of it was his.<br/><br/>His spiked armor was covered in gore - strands of it hung from the spikes, most of it indiscernible from the rest, though a few strands of cloth and fur seemed to dangle here and there too. Even the deep blackness of his armor couldn’t mask all of the blood stains that covered it.<br/><br/>His war-axe was in no better shape. Despite its expert craftsmanship, new nicks and chips were evident in both blade and haft. Both were covered in a deep red, save for where his hands had gripped the haft. Even the pommel was dented and deformed from use.<br/><br/>His feet padded along the tunnel, stirring up small puffs of dust. Dwarves did not venture to the surface, ever, and this tunnel was never used. He could smell the staleness of the air, poorly circulating, and wondered when was the last time a Dwarf had set foot in this tunnel and under what circumstances. Gori, well, Gori was on a mission from the King himself. It was the only reason Gori was willingly traversing this particular tunnel despite what lay at the other end.<br/><br/>Gori grimaced at the memory of the King and the events of the last few days. They were the reason why he was traveling Up, not Down, venturing through passages long closed and disused. Nothing in the Deep Down made him shiver in fear. But the Up? He had only heard rumors of what existed on the surface of the Up. Humans and Elves and Surface Orcs. Gori knew the Histories, knew why the Dwarves had closed their Mountain Kingdoms to the surface dwellers. If THAT was what to expect on the surface then Gori didn’t know how he was to accomplish his mission. The Up and the surface were the only things presently on Gori’s mind.<br/><br/>What made it more remarkable was that a few days ago, Gori had been as far away from the surface as any Dwarf had ever been. He was - had been - part of the Deep Watch, a Warrior Caste of Dwarves tasked with protecting the Deep Miners from all the monsters and creatures of the Dark and the Deep Dark that their tunneling had uncovered years ago. It was why his armor was spiked and made as dark as the Deep itself. It allowed some degree of both stealth - as quiet as a heavily armed Dwarf could be - and protection. It was more than enough to deal with most things the Deep Dark spat up at them and more than sufficient to deal with the raiding Goblins that died by the dozen when fighting Dwarves. But that had all changed.<br/><br/>The Goblins had united with Orcs, who had brought tame Rock Trolls with them, along with other creatures of the Deep. What had started as a trickle of Goblins had turned into a torrent of them, far larger than any raiding party he had ever seen.  It had started in the Deep and Gori had responded to the Battle Horn that had sounded, alerting the Dwarven Kingdom. Gori had never heard the Battle Horn sound three times before but the blood lust soon pushed away his fear. The roar of battle had greeted Gori as he made his way to his station and soon all trepidation was gone as he found himself in a true struggle for life vs death.<br/><br/>The appearance of the Orcs and their Rock Trolls had turned the tide against the Deep Watch and the other Castes of Warriors that had joined the battle. They had been cut off when new tunnels had appeared behind them, the work of the always crafty Goblins aided by the Rock Trolls, preventing any chance to warn the Upsiders - the Dwarves who lived far above them, closer to the Surface, away from the dangers of the Deep - that the Deep had fallen.<br/><br/>Gori’s battalion had held to the last. His Commander had given Gori a satchel containing a situational report, something that even Gori had not been privy to. To give Gori - the fastest Runner in the group - a fighting chance, they had collapsed their lines in on themselves, on all sides, along with the tunnels surrounding themselves. They formed into a narrow point, punching through the confused enemy, buying enough time for Gori to disengage himself from the melee, using side tunnels to avoid the marauding parties that now overran the Deep.<br/><br/>True to the Dwarf Heroes of Legend, his Commander had then turned back with the remainders of the Battalion, holding the line in order to give Gori a chance to escape. Gori did not need to be told twice and set off at a dead run, using a Dwarves natural instinct to find his way through the Dark, making his way up several levels.<br/><br/>When he got to the main Living Levels he quickly ran into signs of combat. Dead bodies - some Dwarf but mostly Orc, Goblin, and Toll - littered the corridors and small Bulwarks lay smashed to pieces. He quickly made his way towards the Grand Hall and Throne Room, where the sounds of combat were raging.<br/><br/>No one was expecting a Dwarf to launch an attack from the rear, let alone a Dwarf whose armor was covered in the spikes of the Deep Watch. A spiked ball of fury wrecked havoc through the massed ranks in front of him, using his battle axe to cleave a path through to the Dwarven Lines. A flash of gold through the throngs let him know he had found the Golden Watch - the Kings own bodyguard, the most elite unit of Dwarves that the Kingdom had to offer. Gori delivered his satchel and took a much needed rest.<br/><br/>Two days later, Gori found himself an honorary member of the Golden Watch as they holed up in the Throne Room to make their final stand. Gori was the first Deep Watch to ever attain the rank of Golden Watch - not that anyone would ever be around to know it! It was far from the end for Gori, though. Gori was going Up.<br/><br/>A secret door behind the Throne - the epitome of Dwarven masons - was the answer. It lead to the Up, to the Surface, through a network of tunnels that eventually lead into an abandoned Human mine. From there, one only had to go Up to reach the Surface. The High King could not leave his people (or what remained of them) nor his Kingdom and the Golden Watch could not leave the King. So Gori of the Deep Watch was given the task of going to the Up, to find the Surface, and then to find the other Kingdoms - the Kingdom of Man, the Kingdom of Elf, and the Kingdoms of Dwarves. The Underway was too dangerous so he would have to travel the surface!<br/><br/>And so, with a bleeding heart knowing that he left everyone behind to their fate, Gori Ironhair headed Up, towards the surface with a new satchel, a backpack full of supplies, and his gorey armor speaking of what had befallen him in the Halls of the Mountain King. He took one last look back at the only home he had ever known, hoping that he would one day return to it though he knew such a notion was not very likely.<br/><br/>The stale air around him gave way to fresh air, heavy with the scent of the Surface on it. His step faltered albeit briefly as he hacked down some wooden rafters to clear the way. He suddenly found himself in the Human tunnels, his nose turning up at the different smell and the ugliness of the tunnels themselves. It was clear to even the untrained eye of a soldier like Gori that no Dwarf had carved these tunnels! They were uneven an all sides, careening at odd angles, and needed wood for support. He did not pause for long and moved, following the flow of the fresh air towards the Bright at the end of the tunnel.<br/><br/>Raising an arm up against the blinding brilliance of what he knew to be the Sun, Gori stumbled out of the mines entrance - and tumbled down the snow-covered slag pile, tumbling like an Iron ball, until he was deposited rather ungainly at its bottom, dazed and confused and cold. What was this white stuff that covered the ground and now himself? The snow had served to clean his armor during his tumble, leaving a bloody smear down the side of the hill he had tumbled from.<br/><br/>Gori Ironhair stood up and brushed the snow from himself, eyes squinting heavily against the blinding brightness that surrounded him. There was not a sign of another living creature, as far as he could tell, anywhere around him as his eyes adjusted to the brightness. Perhaps the Kingdom of Man had fallen too?<br/><br/>Gori humphed and adjusted the straps of his backpack. He started to wade southwards through the snow - the King had informed him on how to navigate on the surface and what sort fo things he might expect to encounter. All Gori knew is that he had to head South as that was where he would find what he was looking for.<br/><br/>The first Dwarf to (knowingly) venture onto the surface took one last look around, remembering this exact location, before turning his back on everything he had ever known, to venture into the unknown.