The War of the Beard (The War of Vengeance)

They're both still seething about it to this day.

"It was not the fault of the Dwarves that the friendship waned."
"I have not heard that it was the fault of the Elves."
"I have heard both."

– Gimli, Legolas and Gandalf respectively on dwarf/elf relations in Middle-Earth

The War of the Beard (Or the War of Vengeance as known by the Dwarfs) was the bloodiest conflict in Warhammer Fantasy Battle's history. Because really, only Elves and Dwarves can hate each other that much to spill more blood than anything else in a Grimdark universe. Famous for being one of the few major wars that didn't feature orcs, skaven, undead, dark elves (directly, since to some they instigated the war) or chaos as the bad guys (except the novel, spoiler alert!).

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Before the infamous War of the Beard, the Dwarves and the Elves were at peace. They were re-continuing trade, which made both empires rich-out-of-their-minds. The Dwarfs were at their highest point, the Silver Age. It is in this period that the Dwarfs pretty much kicked Orc ass for SPORT and not for the sake of survival. They also had most of their ancient relics, and Karak-Eight-Peaks, the second greatest Dwarf Fortress of all, still under their uncontested ownership. The Elves were somewhat dismayed at Malekith's dissension, but hey, they were rich as hell and powerful to boot with Malekith and his followers presumed fleeing or dead.

God Damnit, Caledor II

Then the Dark Elves, posing as High Elves, started to mercilessly rape Dwarven caravans. The Dwarf High-King at the time, Gotrek Starbreaker (a manly-ass Dwarf who could probably beat Khorne at arm-wrestling and make him look like a pansy in comparison, but wasn't known for his smarts) promptly got pissed and sent over diplomats to yell at the Phoenix King at the time, Caledor II (son of Phoenix King Caledor the Conqueror and one of the most skilled elf warriors at the time, but was otherwise a reckless man-child). The first time Caledor told Gotrek to piss off for being rude and if he wanted anything, had to plead. Gotrek sent the diplomats back saying he wanted double recompense for the implied insult. Caledor II got upset with the boisterous diplomats, and when one drew their axe and swore by their beard they would not leave it was the last straw. Taking him at his word, Caledor II had them shaved of their beards and hair (Hence why the Elves call it, "The War of the Beard") and send them back to Gotrek. Though the elves thought they were being merciful not to kill them, to Dwarf-kind forcibly shaving their beard is the greatest crime one can commit. Gotrek Starbreaker, upon getting Caledor II's response, spent a year or so mustering the full, raw, uncut power of the Dwarven kingdom (and to let the grudge stew for a time, very important) before launching a brutal attack on the Elven colonies in the Old World.

The Actual War of the Beard

The first siege of Tor Alessi began, in which the Dwarves were forced back (but not without wrecking half the city). Caledor II, pissed, marched on down to the Old World and slew Gotrek Starbreaker's son, Snorri Halfhand, in a duel.

After Snorri died, Gortrek finally fully committed to the war, sworn a powerful oath that would end in either him being shaved or the Elgi's payment with their death. With their high king's backing, the Dwarves got their act into gear, and began fucking up the Elven colonies. At the battle of Oregor, the Elves were struck a serious blow by the Dwarves in a battle largely consisting of Manoeuvring. Yeah.

In said battle, Gotrek Starbreaker's nephew and new heir Morgrim marched his bum right through a giant army of elite Elven troops, took Imaldrik, the Prince of Ulthuan, and proceeded to use him as a dishtowel (though some source say Imaldrik surrendered, letting the Dwarfs kill him in exchange for sparing his troops). Dismayed, the rest of the depleted Elven forces ran for their lives. He then got the name "Elgidum" from said battle - which means Elfdoom. Awesome.

After that, the Elves got butthurt and decided to try and attack Karak Azul, where the Dwarf's best smiths resided. They almost won too, due to superior numbers, until a Dwarf Thane called Brok Stonefist, nicknamed "The Nightmare of the Deeps" or Arhain-tosaith by the Elves (the shadow one of the earth), rallied the forces of the Hold and kicked the Elves halfway across the Old World with his broken op rune gear and his own tactical genius on tunnel warfare.

The High Elves realized that this badass was a pretty big threat, so they sent Salendor to combat him. Salendor being a wizard was known for his uncanny premonition that he could foreseen any ambushes from the Dwarfs.

Brok and Salendor fought many engagements against one another, and eventually they both met their doom at the siege of Athel Maraya (soon to be Talabheim). Salendor and Brok were fought each other at the heart of the city as it burned around them, forcing both forces to retreat, excluding the two leaders of the armies. Locked in close combat, they killed each other in the middle of the burning city. Some say that in the ruins of the colony, their ghosts still fight, locked in eternal combat. But that's bullshit, since manly Dwarfs who die in combat pretty much always go to Dwarf Heaven, and dead elves either get taken by Elf Waystones, Slaanesh or the elf underworld.

By then, there had been a great number of sieges on Tor Alessi. Finally, the wall was pretty much completely obliterated, so the Dwarves piled in, slaughtering the Elves cowering within the city. Gotrek, carried upon his throne, found Caledor II trapped in a corner, unable to flee. They fought mano-e-mano for days upon days before Gotrek Starbreaker struck the Phoenix King Caledor II with a single blow from his hammer and after the Phoenix King pleaded for mercy, he killed him. He then stole his crown, telling the enemy "Nanana boo-boo, I'm better than you, stick your head in doo-doo" and burnt the city down, retreating to Karaz-A-Karak to flaunt his victory. The Elves, utterly demoralized, gathered all of their forces for one final suicidal push on Karaz-A-Karak before word came that the Dark Elves had attacked Ulthuan.

Aftermath

Since then, each faction has had burning hatred for each other. But each faction was made considerably weaker by the war, precipitating their respective declines.

With the power of both the elves and dwarfs spent, it left a power vacuum that was rapidly filled up by the rising power of men (and less nice races like the beastmen and skaven). Bretonnia, the Empire and Kislev all in time rose up from the regions the elves had previously conquered.

The High Elves retreat completely from the old world and didn't return until much later, to find that all those weird smelly barbarians called humans had suddenly sprung up all over the place and making their own cities and nations to boot. To say the elves were surprised is an understatement.

The Dwarves nearly right after the war suffered a nasty series of earthquakes that wrecked their defenses. The causes of this disastrous event has two speculation, where it is either caused by the failure of the Skaven when they tried to expand Skavenblight using some sort of giant machinry, or the idiotic Slann mages and Mazdamundi from Lustria who was trying to shape the world according to the old ones. This disastrous event left many of their holds and mines open to invasion from the skaven and night goblin tribes. The fall of the dwarf empire broke them into smaller kingdoms, now with each hold under near constant siege.

With the high elves retreating to their homeland, the few left behind becoming Wood Elves who rose to be a quiet power in Athel Loren. Alas they had no peace, being constantly attacked by any old goblin and beastmen walking into their forest.

Both before and during the war, Malekith used his agents to manipulate both sides in war. One of such groups were unfortunate enough to end up in Nehekhara and get captured by Nagash, who proceeded to torture them until they've spilled all the secrets to him, resulting in Nagash inventing necromancy and turning Nehekhara into a shithole full of sand and bones later on.

Literally the only positive thing to come out of this mess is Caledor II being universally nicknamed Caledor the Idiot which still entices a laugh to historians (Though that's just the tip of the iceberg for the Dwarfs).

So in the end, Malekith got what he wanted. He ensured that the High Elves and Dwarfs would never unite against him, all while spitting at the grave of his best friend, Snorri Whitebeard (Who had sworn on the latter's deathbed that the Elves and Dwarfs would remain friends!). What a dick...

And thus, this was probably Grombrindal's origin story.

The Novels

The events were written into a book trilogy, with a different author for each book: Nick Kyme (part 1), Chris Wraight (part 2), C.L. Werner (part 3).

The novels retconned a lot of events of the war. Tensions were already high due to the attacks of the Dwarfs' caravans, but what really pissed the Dwarfs off was the assassination of an ancient runelord from Barak Varr named Agrin Fireheart. The Dwarf kings demanded Gotrek Starbreaker wage war against the Elves for Argin's murder, but he again refused to declared war. Prince Imladrik (younger brother of Caledor II, a popular guest among the Dwarf and the last living Caledorian dragon master of his time) investigated the runelord's death and discovered the essence of Dark Magic at the murder site, confirming the presence of the Dark Elves. Realizing that Malekith sought to instigate war between the High Elves and Dwarfs, he sent a message to High King Gotrek explaining the existence of their nefarious elven kin and their plans. Unfortunately, Imladrik's words fell on deaf ears, the gathered dwarf kings thought the Elves were making excuses and that these "Druchii" didn't exist. Thankfully Gotrek gave the High Elves the benefit of the doubt.

Snorri Halfhand (named Halfhand due to a Skaven biting off his fingers on one hand, later keeping his recoverd fingerbones as a trinket), High King Gotrek's son, raised an army to attack the elves without his father's consent. Snorri was a hotheaded Dwarf who believed his father had gone soft in his old age for trying to keep the peace with the elves after what happened. Snorri was persuaded to not attack the elves initially, but eventually lost his patience after being told the body of a priestess of Valaya had been found riddled with elven arrows. Learning of Elven forces rallying at Kor Vanaeth (soon to be Altdorf; the nearest elf city from his position), Snorri took the initiative and attacked, defeating the elves in less than 3 hours then razing the city.

During the attack, Gotrek Starbreaker sent his diplomats, including ambassador Forek Grimbok to Ulthuan in a last ditch effort to prevent war. But by the time the dwarfs arrived in Caledor II's court to demand an apology and recompense, word had already reached the Phoenix Court of the Kor Vanaeth attack (which Grimbok didn't know about). Furious over being demanded to apologize and compensate the Dwarfs when they just destroyed one of his cities, Caledor II ordered the diplomats shaved and kicked out despite the protest of his brother Imladrik. Though "shaving" might be an understatement; when the elves were done, Grimbok's face had cuts and gashes where his beard had been, implying either he struggled a lot or the elves cut off parts of his face to remove his beard. Caledor II is a piece of shit.

After a heated father-son conversation, Gotrek realized it was too late to prevent war at that point and decided to help his son besiege Tor Alessi. Although still mad at his son for starting the war, Gotrek didn't want to lose him either, and hoped to end the war quickly before both sides suffered heavy losses. The siege of Tor Alessi began normally, until Caledor II's duel with Snorri. Caledor insulted Snorri, mocking his father, saying a Dwarf would be much faster at digging than walking, calling them pigs in mud (the same insult he'd used on Grimbok back on Ulthuan, and would use many more times against Dwarfs) before killing Snorri with a spear to the face while Snorri was speaking.

Snorri had been perusing a prophecy from their runelord at the time: "slay the drakk, become king", which is what made Snorri challenge Caledor II in the first place. His death proved he was not the chosen one, but the real one existed and revealed himself later on.

Snorri's death led Gotrek to fully commit to the war. Gotrek swore a powerful oath that he would either have the Elgi pay in kind for what happened or he would shave his own head. Between the High King's backing and his dire oath, the Dwarfs got their act into gear and began fucking up the Elven colonies.

Caledor II sent Imaldrik to get rid of the Dwarfs, reasoning Imladrik could use the dragons to defeat the Dwarfs in battle. Imladrik was fond of the Dwarfs, didn't want the war and planned to be with his wife. But he was bound by duty to obey his older brother, the Pheonix King, and thus he was forced to go back to the old world (or Elthin Arvan as the Elves called) once more.

However, he defied his brother to a degree by trying his best to stop the war, especially if it thwarted the hated Druchii. He sought to bring the Dark Elf agents to the Dwarfs to prove his case, specifically his trusted Dwarf friend Morgrim Bargrum. With the aid of an elven diplomat named Caradryel (the same Caradryel who would later succeed Caledor II as a Phoenix King), they convinced Morgrim to meet him and see the Druchii. To capture a Druchii, Imladrik sent someone to capture them; his mage assistant Liandra (a mage from Kor Vaneth's elven council - also the daughter of the city's founder - who could command dragons and had feelings for Imladrik despite his marriage). Though Liandra hated the Dwarfs for razing her city, she also hated the Druchii for burning her childhood home at Cothique. Caradryel managed to calm Morgrim down, bringing a valued token from Snorri - Snorri's fingers that the Skaven had bitten off, as a gesture of goodwill. Unfortunately, the Thanes and Runesmith under Morgrim's command weren't as cool-headed. Worse, Liandra's attempt to capture a dragon-riding Druchii Sorceress backfired. While she got her captive, Liandra's dragon was killed. Morgrim got a false report that his army was attacked by a female sorcerer with a dragon, leading him to mistakenly assume Liandra was the culprit. Having waited for two days with no result,Morgrim lost his patience and respect for Imladrik, and the Dwarfs launched a surprise attack on Tor Alessi. Imladrik, realizing he had failed, decided FUCK IT and finally join the war with his dragon Draukhain.

Fourth siege of Tor Alessi

Even then, Imladrik didn't fully commit to the war until he learned his own son Thoriol, had been posted to the wall as an archer. Thoriol had been a scholar at Caledor, but he was tricked into enlisting while drunk by Druchii agents. Realizing the Druchii's scheme had succeeded, Imladrik finally gave in to his rage and vented it on the Dwarfs. Imladrik's dragons were a great help to the Elven forces, annihilating regiments of Dwarfs with teeth, claws and fiery breath, allowing the commander, Salendor (one of the greatest High Elf tactical genii of his day and a wizard) to cast his magic. Unable to deal with the dragons and the battalion of mages, Morgrim's force were forced to retreat, where they turned their attentions towards Oeragor, an Elven outpost in the Badlands founded by Imladrik himself.

Siege of Oeragor

Unbeknownst to both sides, Liandra had made it to Oeragor with her Druchii captive, Drutheira. Imladrik had tried to save his city and Liandra, but Draukhain was shot down by Dwarfen artillery, surviving but crashing onto a building and getting buried under rubble. After freeing himself, Imladrik was surrounded by hundreds of angry dwarfs, Morgrim emerging from their ranks and challenging him to Mortal Kombat.

Aggrieved, Imladrik blamed Morgrim for being impatient and called Snorri a fool. Morgrim blamed Imaldrik's brother for being retarded, and called his dragons verminous monsters before fighting. Imladrik' superior speed gave him the upper hand in duel initially, and he knocked Morgrim on the ground. But as Draukhain freed himself from the rubble, Morgirm's rune axe was empowered due to its anti-dragon runes. With his empowered axe, Morgrim shattered Imladrik's blade and cleaved deep into his chest, killing him. Morgrim was remorseful for killing Imladrik, as they had been good friends, and Imladrik was one of the few elves who actually respected the dwarfs. To honor Imladrik, he allowed Liandra and the wounded Draukhain to bring Imladrik's body back to Tor Alessi. Meanwhile, Drutheira escaped with her goon Malchoir, their mission a resounding success (though they would later die horribly after being shipwrecked at a certain desert kingdom and becoming captive magic teachers for a certain prince, which supposed to happened until a certain author decided to cause a time paradox...).

Siege of Tor Alessi (unknown attempt; 236th year of Caledor II)

A few years later, Morgrim's army returned to Tor Alessi with a fleet of airships, literary blitzkrieg the city. Invented by a Dwarf named Helgan Copperfist, the airships were not only good for bombing ground forces, but had bolt throwers for dealing with dragons. The bolts had barbed heads with an explosive compound installed inside their steel tips called Tharzharr aka 'thunder-fire', an incendiary chemical from Karak Zorn capable of melting through solid steel and splash its target with a burst of green fire (actually a Skaven weapon they'd tricked the Dwarfs into testing for them). The Elves retaliated by sending their dragon riders to torch the Vault, a Dwarf settlement below Loren Forest. The dragon riders then made their way to Kazad Thar and Kazad Mingol to roast more Dwarfs, their speed allowing them to outmaneuver the Dwarfs' airships. Still, an aerial fight between them resulted in the loss of a dragon and an airship, said dragon was burned by a Tharrzharr's pot thrown by a Dwarven Engineer on board when it tried to claw its way from below the airship King Snorri. The dragon riders retreated when another Dragon rider was killed by a Skarrenawi (hill Dwarfs, or beta Dwarf due to their softer, whiter skin and shorter beard, arrogant, has more love for gold and loves to trade with the Elves) named Rundin Torbansonn, who used to be a champion for the self proclaimed Skarrenawi high king named Skarnag Grum at Kazad Kro.

Siege of Karak Azul (243rd year of Caledor II)

During the siege, Grimbok (now a steelbeard - a military regiment made up of the dwarf diplomats abused by Caledor II, now wearing steel masks and carrying rune axes made for elf killing) and Rundin (now a famed hero known for dragonslaying) joined Brok Stonefist's party and dealt heavy losses to the elves. Caledor II despised the Dwarfs, but had enough self-restraint to not pull his best generals whom were in the north fighting the Druchii. What Caledor II did do was put inexperienced or disgraced commanders like Lord Myrion of Cothique against the Dwarfs, thinking they were enough to defeat the Dwarfs, and that they could gain some glory and recognition. As expected, they failed, with Lord Myrion dying to Rundin's axe in a duel.

Siege of Athel Maraya (250th year of Caledor II)

The siege of Athel Maraya (soon to be Talabheim) is significantly different from the armybook and White Dwarf accounts. It lasted three months, the Elven wizards atop the wall had used magic to prevent Morgrim's army from damaging their walls with Dwarfen artillery or closing with their ladders. It wasn't until Dwarf tunnelers undermined and "sunk" the walls that they could get into the city, a masterstroke by Brok Stonefist. Brok's plan was to have his warriors - specifically miners - be captured by the Elves, then be used for labor to reinforce the wall. But they made marks on the walls that only Dwarf miners of their guild could read. To bypass the Elf mages' premonition ability, Brok had a Runesmith besides him to hinder their premonitions. When the time was right, Brok had his sappers bring down the wall. For Salendor's part, all his premonitions showed him were that only Brok could bring down Athel Maraya, and only Brok's death could halt the Dwarfs' advance, and he arrogantly thought he could kill the Dwarf by himself. Brok was equally arrogant, keeping the plan to himself so he could get glory. Eventually, Salendor and Brok dueled inside the burning city to countless stalemates even after both armies had left and the city burned down on top of them. Their fate was unknown, but neither was seen again.

Gotrek considered Brok's action as selfish and reckless, for his action not got him killed, but nearly ruined the entire campaign. Although Brok's clever plan made him famous and earned him a place in the Dwarf history, Gotrek wasn't sure he deserved the acclaim.

Siege of Barak Var (344th year of Caledor II)

Despite losing Salendor, the Elves turned their attentions towards Barak Varr, the Dwarf's greatest and only port. Led by Lord Draikyll, known for attacking the Dwarf navy with Merwyrms "tamed" by an exiled Caledorian named Ilendril (whose ancestors had tried to harnessed Dark Magic for beast taming). Unfortunately for the Dwarfs, they couldn't build any more airships as Helgan died in a freak Tharzharr explosion "accident" in his lab, which destroyed his blueprints and many of his gadgets. Still, Tharzharr were still widely used, and effective at killing even Merwyrms since their flame cannot be extinguished by water. But the Elves' aerial advantage with their dragons prevented the Dwarfs from traveling on land. The combination of the elven fleet and Merwyrms prevented the Dwarfs from travelling by sea. The only way for the Dwarfs to traverse was tunnelling, which the elves focused on countering. Soon the elves tried to poison the Dwarf's water reservoir with basilisk venom, the entire operation being conducted by Lord Caerwal, who used this opportunity avenge his city Athel Numiel(soon to be Kislev). The plan failed when Morgrim and his forces broke through the Elves formation from underground. When Morgrim met Caerwal and realized what he did, he wrestled Caerwal into the poisoned water with him. As they sank Morgrim squeezed the elf harder, breaking his ribcage and forcing Caerwal to ingest the poisoned water. Caerwal tried to free himself by stabbing Morgrim with a small pathetic knife, but Morgrim endured it and also held his breath like a fucking champ, resurfacing when Caerwal was dead.

With Caerwal's death, the Elves failed to take down Barak Varr, and Draikyll was summoned back to Ulthuan for his failure. Still, Barak Varr couldn't be used for a decade and this prevented the Dwarfs from further attacks against coastal Elven colonies nearby.

There was another defeat for the elves. The dragons, hating the Dwarfs weapons and Draikyll's use of Merwyrms (the dragon felt uneasy toward the merwyrms, but sympathized with them for being used as tools by the elves in the war), quit the war and headed back to their mountains in Caledor.

Battle of Ilendril's hill (Massacre of Malok (Malice) ) (393rd year of Caledor II)

Without the dragons, the elves in the old world feared of the Dwarves' vengeful return on Tor Alessi. To quickly regain the colonists' trust, the Elves sought a replacement, which led them to try and tame the wyrms, the dragons of the old world. It was suggested by Ilendril, who used the same vile magic to tame the wyrms. At this point Drutheria had been captured again and helped Ilendril. This led to the slaughter later known as the "Battle of Ilendril's hill" in the Asur history. To the Dwarf's Dammaz Kron however, it was called the "Massacre of Malok (malice)" instead. It began at Kazad Kro in the Grey Mountains, a refugee hiding ground filled with mostly Skarrenawi. The hold lacked any meaningful defenses, let alone effective weapons to fight the dragons, and was pretty much untouched until this point. The Wyrms' talons and fire breathe made short work of the innocent Dwarfs, with only a lone Runesmith able to put up a fight with his rune lightning, but was killed immediately. After the Dwarfs were killed, Ilendril and his wyrm turned their attention to the pathetic ruler Skarnag Grum, whom suffered from Gold Lust and had hid in his hold to count the gold he had gained from the better days. The wyrm's breathe melted both Grum and his gold together into a lump of gilded flesh. Ilendril's wyrm were later named Ilendrakk in his pride, or Malok as both the Dwarfs and the Elves would soon call it.

Dirge for Athel Toralien (445th year of Caledor II)

In another retaliatory strike, Morgrim once again led an army to torch another Elven city: Athel Toralien (soon to be Nordland). An Elven lord named Gelthar tried to bribe the Dwarfs from attacking, but he was met by Grimbok, who responded by splitting Gelthar's head open. Inspired by Brok's brilliance, Morgrim toppled the cliff to bury the city in a landslide. Due to being part of the Elven councils in the old world, Liandra remained active throughout the war and fought the Dwarfs despite the death of her city, her dragon and her master. Having witnessed the tragedy (she pitied Grimbok after viewing his face) and violence from both sides, her hatred toward the Dwarfs cooled... but not towards the Druchii. Her mage sense had allowed her relocate Drutheria in Athel Toralien. After beating the Druchii (with a little help from the Elf mobs nearby), Morgrim's force caught up. Having finally encountered the Druchii and convinced by Liandra's words, Morgrim allowed her to leave with the Elven refugees. Drutheira was taken by the Dwarfs. Though there was too much bad blood to stop the war by that point, Liandra was glad the Druchii would get what she deserved.e

(Drutheira was never mentioned again in th books, because her son Ashelir wanted to make her mommy suffer by taking her captive and deliver her to Ilendril just so the bastard could learn how to control wyrms. In that version, her goon Asniel and Malchior were also killed by Ashelir, which had created a time paradox. It was also noted the time paradox appears in the 3rd part, meaning C.L.Werner was responsible for this mess, and he better clean it up in the reprint edition.).

The scouring of Sith Rionnasc (536th year of Caledor II)

Sith Rionnasc (soon to be Marienburg) is the next target for the Dwarfs, for it was an appealing idea to destroy the Elves' finest sea port in the old world as payback for Barak Varr. The siege was aided by the king of Barak Varr, King Brynnoth, who suffered the most during this period (Agrin Fireheart, Helgan's airship workshop, the entirely of Barak Varr, its water reservoir poisoned).

Caledor II responded by finally pulling one his best generals from the northern Druchii frontier. Prince Yverian, a hot headed cavalry favored commander who preferred assault over defense. He organized three of Ilendril's new Wyrms into a strike force that would only attack a crowded part of a Dwarf's army. Compared to the dragons of Caledor, wyrms are more hateful, greedy, arrogant and selfish, making them unreliable and less intelligent. After countless times fighting the dragons, the Dwarfs had developed tactics against them. By dispersing their army when dragon were sighted, it force the beast to chase the scattered Dwarfs. Once the Wyrm is far away, a hidden throng from the tunnels would emerge and attack the main Elven army. Fighting dragons has also led the Dwarfs to create a specialized war machine against them: a wheeled bolt thrower that fired great barbed bolts, which some are even enhanced with armor piercing runes. The Dwarfs around the bolt thrower would block the dragon's flame with their rune shield, then unleashed the bolt thrower.

Even those wyrms not killed by a shot from the Dwarfs' bolt throwers, would be sent into a frenzy by the pain and ignore their riders commands by attacking any Dwarfs they could see. This enabled the Dwarfs to finish them off. The new bolt throwers also served as a good siege tool, where it would shoot out chained grapnel that would catch on the wall first, then be pulled down by the strength of dozens of Dwarfs pulling its chain. The Dwarfs' technological prowess gave them the upper hand, as Dragon eggs take longer to hatch, and even longer for dragons to mature to a battle-ready stage.

The siege isn't what's important however, the important thing is this ABSURD event. Turns out Drogor Zarrdum, an old friend and an advisor to both Morgrim and Snorri-halfhand, was a fucking DAEMON! That's right, THERE IS A DAEMON HIDING AMONG THE DWARFS! What's more is the daemon was actually Htarken, an ancient Lord of Change that was injured by both Malekith and Snorri Whitebeard, but never killed. In order exact its vengeance against the two race, Htarken disguised himself as Drogor Zarrdum (the actual Dwarf probably existed but was killed and impersonated by Htarken), allowed him to gain instant trust with Morgrim and Snorri by saying the destruction of his hold bullshit because of Elgi attacks, allowed him to not only spark the hatred against the Elgi, but also earned their sympathy without the need to acting like a proper Dwarf (because the attack changed him into a vengeful Dwarf, much similar to a daemon's temperament). Having the ability to see future, he already knew a war is brewing and would further adding fuel to the fire by giving both Morgrim and Snorri-halfhand false advice to kickstart the war (once a Dwarf has made their decision, there's no going back). It was he who presented the formula of Tharzharr to the Dwarfs as a weapon against the Elves' dragon (just so he could watch the Elves suffer). Tharzharr was apparently made of foulstones, which it would attract the rats (you see where Htarken is going with this). It was also him that destroyed Helgan's airship workshop at Barak Varr with Tharzharr after Helgan found out about Tharzharr properties.

Morek Furrowbrow, a Runelord and an apprentice to an ancient Runelord named Ranuld Silverthumb had suspected Drogor in responsible for his master's death (who died by petrification, a side effect to Dwarfs who had too much magic entering their body). Strange is that Drogor would avoid Morek whenever possible since Morek had a rune staff that could detect the daemon's presence. To lure out the daemon, Morek meet Morgrim's gang in the midst of Sith Rionnasc invasion and showed Drogor an item: a feather belonged to Htarken's daemon form which Snorri Whitebeard had taken as a trophy and sealed below the deepest vault of Karaz-a-Karak. As Htarken revealed himself and attacks Morgrim and Morek, he mocked the Dwarfs' pride and stubbornness is what led them to this pointless war, which would wasted two of his enemies into stagnation, and he pretty much enjoyed in watching them killed one another as a spectator the entire time. Still, Rundin came charging at the daemon with his axe and Imaldrik's rune sword Ifulvin on his other hand, cutting off the daemon's head but killing himself in the process as well. This mega badass achievement advancing Rundin's fame from being a dragonslayer to a daemonslayer in death. After that, Morgrim came to a very deep regret about the war due to his refusal to believe the Elgi about the Druchii, and now the daemon's machinations... and it was too late to go back. The attacks on the Elves remained still and they will have to keep moving forward as Tzeentch and Malekith laugh at both the Elves' and the Dwarfs' tragedy.

Oh and Sith Rionnasc was completely obliterated when the Dwarfs catapulted a stone (carved with runes of destruction) at the dam, flooded the entire city. The Dwarfs and King Brynnoth who catapulted the damned thing died from the flood, but died proudly since they have their revenge. The city was obliterated so much that the actual text form the novel had claimed: "The city had been erased from the world".

The Thirteenth siege of Tor Alessi (596th year of Caledor II)

Although the reports of a Daemon and Druchii being the instigators of the war had reached Gotrek, he has little regret, for it was mostly Caledor II's dishonorable behavior that had truly started this war, who refused to admitted defeat, who would rather hide on Ulthuan. Again and again, the Dwarfs hoped to drawn Caledor II out from his toilet seat kingdom by spilling Elven blood so they could kill him and end the war. Caledor II's cowardliness and arrogance prolonged the meaningless war, but now with only Tor Alessi left, Caledor II had to either defend his colony, or have the Dwarfs not only remove the elves from the old world, but risk them attacking Ulthuan itself.

By now Tor Alessi had been besieged 13 times by the Dwarfs and yet its wall were well reinforced. The determined Dwarfs none the less pressed on with the siege and developed a fucked ton of ways to kill monsters like dragons or wyrm which made it all the more advantageous for the Dwarfs. One tactic has the Dwarf to lure the Wyrm into a webbed device from underground, immobilized the beast and had the Slayers to surround and hacking the beast until it dies.

The said Slayers came from Karak Kadrin, which Forek Grimbok has started a cult of (which is a fucking major retcon seeing as how in the White Dwarf recounting the cult was well established by this point). Inspired by Rundin's heroic deeds, Grimbok came to Karak Kadrin and become a trollslayer upon killing a troll named Yvnir near Karak Drak. Abandoned his steel mask, Grimbok finally revealed to everyone his beard scars, hoping he could kill enough Elgi and died honorably to wash away his shame.

Despite the Slayers were proven to be fierce fighters, Morgrim had refused to use them in battle many times before, for they are maniacs who cares only about killing, making them not only unreliable for general strategies like holding or occupying positions, and are also undisciplined (Slayers would often mooning at the Elven archers on the wall to fire another shots). Still, it was with Morgrim's great pity that allowed them to be on the field, for they have suffered so much at the hands of Elves that it would be cruel to reject them.

Thoriol, now a well known prince, had made himself acquainted with his father's old dragon Draukhain (now bitter and hateful at the Dwarfs for killing Imladrik, often hunting random Dwarfs out of spite and made a nest out of their corpses). Although he had believe himself to be a failure at life, unable to become a dragon rider like his father, unable to fit in with the archer crowd due to his noble background, and was only famous among the court because the influence of his father and uncle Caledor II. Speaking of Caledor II, the death of his brother Imaldrik has made him guilt tripping into adorning Thoriol, planning to grooming him as his heir(probably the only redeemable quality about this piece of shit, just slightly above the Druchii and Nagash I suppose). Thoriol however hated his uncle for being an idiot and got his father killed, and was only acquitened with him in order to seize political powers in the inner circle of the Phoenix court. After the dragons had all fucked off from the old world and the Elven public began to criticize their Elf king's idiocy and incompetence, Caledor II was in sorrow. To help his uncle, Thoriol made a suggestion to go to Tor Alessi on his behalf to boost the morale of the local Elves. Although he believed himself to be a bitter failure, he wanted just wanted prove himself by avenge his father, facing against the Dwarf that killed him. Unlike his uncle however, he did not underestimate the Dwarfs and had hold them in a very high regard.

Thoriol will eventually meet Grimbok in combat, where the crazy Dwarf would kept charging at him no matter how injured he is. Grimbok eventually died under Thoriol's attack, but would also sent Thoriol bleeding and unconscious with his attack. Just before blacked out however, Thoriol witness his father's sword on Morgrim's belt and told the Dwarf that he had killed his father. After Morgrim realized the Elf brat was Imaldrik's kin, he would immediately face Draukhain in battle as the dragon had defend Throiol with his fire breathe, which Morgrim would be shield from it by Morek's rune magic.

With Morek's rune protection and Snorri Halfhand's rune axe Azdrakghar (design for dragonslaying) in his hand, Morgrim viciously hacked every part of Draukhain until it died, and himself emerged victorious as a Dragonslayer (also fulfilled the aforementioned prophecy of a Dwarf becomes the high king after killing a dragon, which came true as Morgrim will eventually become the next heir after Gotrek: Morgrim Ironbeard.), but would find no enjoyment due the dragon belonged to his old friend, and knowing it was the Druchiis and the Daemon that had goaded both sides to war. Once again to honor his dead Elf friend, Morgrim had Thoriol healed and sent back to the city.

The Battle of Three Towers (fourteenth siege of Tor Alessi) (597th year of Caledor II)

At roughly 14th siege attempt, Caledor II finally arrived and took on the Dwarfs with fresh Elven armies pulled from the northern frontier. Gotrek and Morgrim were there where they demanded Caledor II to pay for the devastation they have wrought on their holds in gold. Caledor II is of course too arrogant and vengeful to accept the term from a bunch of mole or mud-dwellers that he and his army remained in deafen silence when Gotrek were loudly annoucing his terms. Gotrek thought we was being forgiving and civilized, hoping the Elgi were smart enough to accept his term in order to prevent both sides from suffering further bloodshed. Gotrek even go as far as showing himself in front of the gate, to prove he is not as cowardly as the Elgi king. With the Elves remained silent, Gotrek had no choice but to take Caledor II's head and his crown as compensation.

Caledor II too had his strategy...that is to head straight fighting the Dwarfs and had Ilrendril to "evacuate" (not abandoned, for the arrogant Elf king still believes he can still break the Dwarfs leadership even though the war had lasted for 400 years) Tor Alessi's refugee. Both tragically and hilariously, Ilendril's Wyrm hated his master for the centuries of enslavement under him and had developed a plan to freed himself. While his master were distracted by the thoughts of having a nobody like Thoriol to inherited the throne (Caledor II criticized him for being an exile from Caledor and a coward for leaving Thoriol to danger in the previous siege. Plus the elf knig has no love for Ilendril's "dragon" ), the wyrm would purposely expose himself to the Dwarf's bolt throwers, which the pain it causes would effect his master psyche (due to the link between the mount and the master) and allowed the wyrm to briefly freed himself and broke the talisman on his neck by doing a barrel roll (literary). Having caught his master with one talon bleeding inside him, the Wyrm, now known as Malok celebrate his freedom by forcing Ilendril to watch him roasted all the refugees alive. Ilendril could do nothing but screaming and suffering as his chest was painfuly piercing by Malok's talon while forcing to watch the elven refugee being burnt alive, a karmic justice for what he had done. Just as Malok is about to roast the 4th one, Ilendril had already stopped screaming. Dissapointed for the Elf to die so quickly, Malok thrown the elf's corpse to the sea, leaving the remaining Elven refugee behind and head to the Southland where no Dwarfs or Elves would be found.

Fun fact: According to Thanquol and Boneripper: Thanquol's Doom written by the same C.L. Werner, it was Skalfri Brandbeard of Karak Angkul that had shot Malok with his bolt-thrower. Two of Malok's scale that were felled from the attack will be dispalyed at the halls of Karak Angkul as a trophy beside many others.

In order to break the gates of Tor Alessi and ended the war, Morek made a dreadful decision to sacrifice an anvil of doom to break the gate, a relic so precious that it could never be replicate. Due to the previous confrontation with Htarken, Morek's body suffered constant changes where some part of his body would change size and shapes due to daemon's foul magic, which would gets worse and painful years after years. Morek had decided to end his life after sacrifice himself to achieve something greater, but was still regretful to what he is about to do, which made him request the high king to erase him from history, for letting other runesmiths knew would made him an oathbreaker in their eye, yet it was such a heroic sacrifice that could've made him a hero in the history. After the gate was broken, the forces of Dwarfs and Elves engaged their final battle inside the city. Caledor II the idiot, the goat worrier (Snorri's favourite insult to him btw, since Caledor II had the hunter's eye) was there too waiting, mounted on a horse in the center of the city square, surrounded by his knights and fountains of his Elven gods. Caledor II began dueling Morgrim, which he wasn't being fair since he was mounted and wield a sword known as Dawnbreaker, a weapon meant to kill powerful shits like daemons but would work the same against Dwarven armor. Morgrim's armor were shredded like paper but he endures and struck a powerful blow against Caledor II's shield, so hard it broke the elf king's arm. While Caledor's shield still stucks on Morgrim's axe, the elf king used his shield as a distraction and was prepared to ride Morgrim down, until realized he was surrounded by angry dwarf warriors.

Then Gotrek came and demand a duel to not only end this stupid war, but also to send off the souls of his son and all the fallen Dawi. Caledor II was forced to dismount to prepared the final duel of fate. The elf king managed to cut two of Gotrek's finger after mentioned his son and made a joke about the situation's similarity with his son, which was but a pointless verb abuse that would further enraged Gotrek enough to struck where Caledor II's ribcage is. Caledor II's armor greatly protected him from Grimnir's Axe from split him in half, but broke his rib cage regardless. In his final moment, Caledor II pathetically accept to pay the Dwarfs, but was too late. Gotrek straight up decapitate the fucker's head and told him: "Ask the god for mercy. You'll find none in me". Ironically, Caledor II died inside Khaine's fountain and his blood were now in the pool, along with the red dyed water that was suppose to presents Khaine's color, which Caledor II' elf blood now flew from Khaine's statue. If this tells us anything when combined with what Gotrek has said, it means Khaine has a great sense of humor.

Epilogue

With Caledor II's death, Gotrek loudly told every Elves nearby to GTFO of the old world while holding the phoenix crown it his hand (which he will take as compensation). With Caledor II's death, a new phoenix king must be crowned in order to deal with the suddenly multiplied numbers of Druchiis expanded across Naggaroth. Although Caledor II has already named Thoriol his heir, Thoriol rejects the idea of nepotism, for he believes the public will just compare the son to their father, forcing its blood inheritor to live in their parent's shadow, just like how Caledor II is a shadow to his father Caledor the Conqueror (which Thoriol can related to, for he will never be like his father Imladrik) and gave the throne to Caradryel instead, whom Thoriol believed could united the Asur. Although Caradryel protested he is no king, he would eventually become so successful, not only he had bought peace and united the entirely of Ulthuan, he managed to survived countless of Druchii assassinations and even managed died peacefully after living for 700 years, a rare achievement to anyone in the warhammer world. The new crown will be made to replaced the old one. Its loss should be symbolized as a cautionary tale to the Elves about their pride. Although Thoriol was never heard of after this, he probably became Caradryal's advisor, continue the noble bloodline of House Caledoran and became Imrik's ancestors.

The war has changed the Dwarfs. Its new generation are now more hateful and vengeful than their previous, obsessed in atone their shames and mistakes by taking Slayers Oath then die instead of actually fixing them, results in further stagnation of Dwarf populations (not to mentioned the shitshow with the earthquakes, the rise of Greenskins, Skavens, Undeads that comes later on). Morgrim is unsure how he will rule over this new generation once he inherited the throne.

Liandra's story did not end after she offered the Druchii. She kater met an Elven prophetess named Aismarr (whom claimed to came from Loren Lacoi) where she was told by her to overcome a trial, which was later revealed to defend a treeman from the Dwarfs assault. She managed to save the treeman, but at the cost of leaving her in a weak state after overcasted her spell, and died to a Dwarf axe. Despite that, she was somehow nurtured back to health by the forest, reborn and become one of the Asrai aloneside with a few Elven colonist surviver, even Druchiis (including Sevekai, who used to be part of the Druchii operators but was killed and reborn).