An absent-minded man of mysteries, Franz Lohner relies on his bulging journal to keep track of occurrences, intrigues and arguments around Taal's Horn Keep. Sometimes his notes are even useful, believe it or not. The Franz Lohner Chronicles are extracts from that journal.

Franz Lohner’s Chronicle - The Feast of Grimnir

Well, it took them long enough but the Ubersreik Five are back in residence, after chasing after… something. They don’t always tell me what they’re up to these days, but I suppose that’s to be expected.

I can’t say that they were all entirely thrilled to find Cousin Okri and his grumble of longbeards camped outside the keep. “Just what we needed: more dwarfs,” is how Kerillian put it, but I suppose she has her reasons, good and bad. Kruber and Sienna just joined in with the quaffing as if nothing was out of place, and while Saltzpyre clearly wasn’t happy to have Okri hanging about and giving him competition for his otherwise uncontested mantle of “disapproving presence”, it was actually Bardin of all people who seemed least at ease. At least to start with.

The air cleared a little when Okri laid out his intentions, in a voice as close to walking on gravel as makes no difference. No, the Ubersreik Five hadn’t yet earned the title of drengbarazi but he, Cousin Okri, was prepared to give them a fine opportunity to do so.

The dwarf hold of Karak Dal isn’t what you’d call a particularly thriving settlement, so when a particularly belligerent troll chieftain stomped his way into its upper levels, they quickly found out that they didn’t have enough steady dwarfen warriors to chop the brute into strips of easily-cured meat. Though the elders quickly petitioned aide from other holds, times are tough, and with the ratmen running hither and yon across this part of the world, no help has readily been forthcoming.

Enter the Ubersreik Five! Or, at least, that’s the plan. Okri’s claiming that tomorrow marks the first day of the Feast of Grimnir, and that such times are best marked by finding the biggest and nastiest troll you can and letting your axe do the talking. I don’t know how much of that’s actually true. Both Bardin and Hedda were giving Okri funny looks. Could be that he’s just spinning a tale - you never can tell with dwarfs.

However, Feast of Grimnir or not, some facts aren’t for questioning. The Ubersreik Five have to prove themselves to Okri’s discerning eye, and the dwarfs of Karak Dal need a bit of good old-fashioned derring-do and elbow grease to put an end to their troll troubles. Okri’s even wrangled Olesya’s crystal ball away from her so he and his grumble can keep an eye on what my bold heroes get up to down in the depths.

Win, lose or draw, it’s definitely going to be a fight to remember.

And then, if I know my dwarfs, the drinking’s going to begin all over again.