Deep in the underground forge homes the dwarves too felt the disturbance. The tremor awoke infants in their cribs and stood beards on end of the Battlemages. An emergency meeting of the Stoutmages was called and the Nine discussed what must be done about what they all felt. The Stoutmages knew that the disturbance was evil, there was no doubt about that. The problem was: what were they going to do about it? In the end they decided to send their very best Battlemage to seek out this evil and if need be, destroy it. The council must remain safe so their leader, the mighty Malfod Ramcrown sent his eldest son, Hadhod, as the champion of his people. After much preparation, Hadhod set out alone for the Rising, the magical stone that would lift him up to the world of men, elves, and whatever else may await him.

The massive stone hummed beneath his feet as he passed his hand bearing his clan signet ring over the inscriptions and began to rise. Hadhod found himself in sunlight, a rare sight for his kind indeed. He looked around and saw mountains all around him with plains stretching out beyond the range. Hadhod wiped his eyes and as he did so he put a sight enchantment on them. Hadhod specialized in doing magic without obviously doing magic; these were perilous times. He scanned for miles with his temporary magical sight and located a town. He decided it was as good a place as any to start and so he began walking in that direction.