'Long, long ago, before the mountains were shaped as they are now, Durin awoke in the caverns beneath a mighty peak that joined two great mountain-ranges of the north. He looked to the peak and gave it the name we have revered ever since: Gundabad, the Mountain-home.

'The fathers of other dwarf-clans began to awake elsewhere in Middle-earth after that, in pairs, but he had awoken first of all the dwarves, and alone, and we revere him as the father of the Longbeards. We are Durin's Folk, and our claim to these lands springs from he who first awoke beneath Gundabad. In time, other dwarves awoke to accompany Durin, and to serve him, but his closest friend was a mighty warrior who helped delve the great halls beneath Gundabad. Legend tells us this friend was also the first dwarf to brew mead, and later ale, but do not think so well of him! He it was who would take the name Mótsog, and lead the Greymauls in rebellion. But that was still some years away.

'The servants of Morgoth in those days were a constant threat, and together Durin and Mótsog fought bravely to defend the Mountain-home from them, but Durin grew restless. He desired a place where the Longbeards might know peace, and so he set forth in search of such a haven. He named his dear friend Mótsog the Lord of Gundabad, a decision he would come to regret, and departed the sacred mountain.

'Do you see the statue there? It was one of my first pieces, and dare I say one of my finest. I hoped to capture some small portion of Durin's majesty as he set forth on his journey to what would become the site of treasured Khazad-dûm.'

Stáli the Hewer is in Nabgûn-mazaru, his workshop and home in the Dwelling-halls of Erebor.

Objectives

• Talk to Stáli the Hewer

King Thorin is in the Hall Under the Mountain, in Erebor.

Objectives

• Talk to King Thorin III