Casarrondo

Moria. Perhaps once it had been fair, at least to the eyes of the Naugrim in Elder days. Casarrondo it had been called, before it fell into darkness. Their greatest King, Durin, had ruled it, or so Estarfin had been told. He had seen King Azaghâl upon the field during the Nirnaeth Arnoediad; if Durin was greater than he, he must have been a mighty Lord of their kind indeed.

He had heard rumours of the place, but had never paid them much mind. He had visited Belegost and Nogrod during his apprenticeship, and though grand, they were as unlovely to his eyes as the stunted folk who had delved them. Casarrondo was the grandest of all, yet now it was but a pale reflection of Nargothrond after it fell, or even Utumno or Angband. A dark place hidden from the stars that was filled with evil. He had no desire to travel through the darkness, but darkness alone held no fear