III. On Stouthammer Hall and the War of the Dwarves and Orcs
Before the sacking of Erebor by Smaug the Golden, our family lived many years in the Ered Luin before Thrain II and his son Thorin Oakenshield settled in the Blue Mountains as well. The Stouthammers helped in rebuilding the city of Nogrod, and although it never regained its previous splendour, the sound of hammers echoed once more through its vast halls. At Stouthammer Hall, the descendants of Nurvi, proud of their bloodline, once again gained a favourable reputation amongst their Firebeard brethren. They took over an abandoned gold mine and dug up vast quantities of gold ore to refine or sell. This commodity was highly asked for as in those times the Ered Luin offered little else but iron for the dwarves to work with. They lived there peacefully for 7 centuries.
But in the year 2790 news reached their ears of Thrór's death at the hands of Azog, and the warriors amongst this proud family decided to join up with the Firebeard reinforcements answering the call of their Longbeard brethren to help avenge Thrór's death. For 'tis true that even the Firebeards were filled with rage at hearing how a descendant of the oldest of the Seven Fathers had been slain by Azog whom now claimed lordship over Moria. They travelled east to the Misty Mountains in the year 2793 and joined the Longbeards, fully armed and ready for battle. Thus they took their part in the War of the Dwarves and Orcs and stood together in its culmination in Azanulbizar.
Of all the great deeds they performed in that war it was especially Fengar and Fikli's prominence on the battlefield that inspired greatness and courage into the hearts of their brothers. Fengar, Fruni's grandfather, was a Firebeard captain whose eye for strategy won the Dwarves an important battle in the cleansing of the mines and tunnels between Mount Gundabad and Barazinbar. Fikli was especially praised for his impressive kill count. We know not exactly how many orcs had become victim to his hammer in the course of the war, but it must have been hundreds. Alas, their skill was not of that measure that they could prevent the deaths of their brothers, for in the years ranging between 2793 and 2799 we lost Norfi, Dári, Ulf and Throin.
When the Battle of Azanulbizar was over, the one-eyed Thráin spoke of victory and tried to rally the dwarves into entering Moria. But the houses of the dwarves that had come to his aid did not share his optimism and, though going home without a share of the riches inside Moria troubled them a great deal, they would not suffer any more losses in a fool's attempt at reclaiming Khazad-Dûm – not when so many had perished. Besides, these were not the halls of their forefathers they were trying to reclaim and this thought weighed heavy upon their minds. Fengar, Fingar and Fikli, demoralised by their losses, felt no kinship with Thráin's people in that moment and so it happened that they returned with their kin to their homes in the Blue Mountains, where they once again found time to exercise their crafts – soon, however, to be followed by Thrain II and his people.
The arrival of the Longbeard exiles gave a significant boost to the family's profit margins and their reputation soared. They also opened their own meadery to successfully try and compete with more foreign brews – the Firethroat meadery and their popular Firethroat mead. Warm fires burned every evening at Stouthammer Hall, and the riches kept flowing in. They even had to expand their Chamber of Treasuries just to keep up with the flow of gold.
