Central Steps, First Deep

You stand upon Moria's Central Steps, a 21' wide shallow cut stair circling around a great porphyry pillar which travels the height and depth of Durin's Chimney. The stairs are carved of alternating slabs of redstone and basalt. Beyond the edge of the steps is black space, cool and damp for the most part, but every now and again a draft of warmer air brushes past you from the depths of the chimney. The Steps both ascend and descend far beyond the limits of your vision. Arching stone spans provide a means to exit the central steps to the east and the west.

Obvious exits:

West leads to Moria, Durin's Chimney, West Surface.

Down leads to Central Steps, Second Deep.

Up leads to Central Steps.

East leads to Moria, Durin's Chimney, East Surface.

Garjin stands waiting upon the top of the ominous central stairs. He appears to be waiting for someone. Upon hearing footsteps, he looks up expectantly. He was apparently not too friendly with the expected new arrival, but upon seeing his mate Zaash, his face visibly brightens. "You, come here."

Zaash comes shuffling from the east, her hands in the too large pockets of her trousers, her eyes watching her feet idly while slowly trudging along. Hearing Garjin's voice, she looks up at him, grins, and walks over to him. "What is your command, master?" she asks.

Garjin prepares to address the smaller snaga, when he hears more footsteps coming from the dark halls. Expecting that this might be his despised foe, he seems almost dissappointed to find that it is Brazok, the new Latadurb. With great flourish, Garjin bows deeply to the new arrival, ignoring his waiting Cobug. "Lord, how goes it with you tonight?"

Brazok looks upon his former Chieftain and dissmisses the bow with a wave of the hand. "Garjin... Reserve the formality for the king. I have no need for these trivialities..Especially from the Chieftains.." With that he eyes Zaash and shakes his head no in case she was contemplating similar formalities... Taking a deep breath he smiles at the Chieftain and adds "At your conviencience..we need to talk..Sort of a ..Ummm.. Planning session you might say"

Zaash, noticing that she does not seem to be needed, or wanted, right now, slips into the shadows nearby, and sits down on the stairs, not having received permission to depart yet.

Garjin nods and looks towards the Cobug next to him, then back to Brazok. "Is this something that we should discuss in private?"

Brazok eyes the Cobug and then pauses for a moment. "She is one of yours and the decision to include her or not would be yours to make" He is careful to avoid any mention to the need for secrecy and the consequences for the violation of that secrecy would bring.

Garjin nods solemly. "Then shall we retire to the Throne room. It would be quiet there and without overanxious ears. This one..." he points to the Cobug sitting nearby, "..will wait until we are finished." Upon finishing, the cloaked warrior turns to head east, but awaits the Latadurb's lead.

Zaash looks up as she is mentioned, and nods slowly, "Yes, master... I'll wait 'ere for you, master." She sighs, and start to play idly with her feet, obviously pretty bored.

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Moria, Hall of the King

A chamber has been hewn from the rock here, the ancient strength of the workmanship defying the attempts of time to erode and destroy it. A rectangular cavern, longer north/south is adorned with the markings of both recent and ancient, long gone inhabitants. Whatever use it held in the past seems unclear, yet now it has become the court which belongs to the King of Moria. At the far northern end of the cavern lies a large upraised dias, steps leading on all compass points to the throne which rests at the zenith of each stairs end. Several smaller chairs rest behind, both on the right and left hands of the throne. Stone pillars upon the east and west sides running southward from the throne present sanctuaries close to the wall, and allow a great hallway of stone to extend from the chamber entrance to the throne itself. the light of flickering torches rest on both wall and pillar alike whilst an oblong shaped fire pit runs before the throne, each flickering fire from torch and pit presenting light by which to guide. Between the northern wall and the southern entrance a multitude of orcs could gather, and in such need, olog warriors and uruk-hai guards, evenly spaced on the west and eastern walls protect this hall.

Contents:

Brazok

Throne

Obvious exits:

South leads to Moria, Second Hall, Eastern End.

Huh? (Type "help" for help.)

Brazok turns as Garjn enters and he takes a moment to make sure noone else is in the room. Then with a solemn tone he starts to speak. "I know you have a uppermost part of favor as my former Chieftain with me. And now I have it with the King. There are many opportunitis for us both to prosper greatly....I know you have been thinking similar thoughts..Yes?"

Garjin allows a sly grin to cross his face at the thought proposed by the Latadurb. "Skai! I have not had such intentions, but as you speak they come into my mind like unbidden demons of knowledge. Yessss. "Garjin allows the words to trail off as he thinks. "This could indeed be very profitable. You are very wise, it is no wonder they made you under-ruler of the deeps. I would be most interested in learning what thoughts you have as to how to profit from this fortunate situation."

Brazok nearly gimmaces at the tone of the chieftain. With a bit of disgust in his eyes he addresses his thoughts.."Surly you have not made the exahulted ranking of Chieftain with out having the mind of a true Uruk-Hai...I know you have had these thought and I am not expressing them for the first time" He looks directly into the eyes of Garjin as he continues.."You may drop the pretenses of false praise. It was the Kings decision to make me Laterdurb and now that I am I intend to make the most of it. I am not fooled by your lavish praise and I know the workings of power."

Garjin displays a wide grin, knowing that his desires are indeed being met. "Aye! From one great leader to another, well met. Have you ideas as to how we can best profit from this fortunate situation? I am not sure if we should strive first for money, underlings or go directly to the Balrog. We could bring the shamans into out favor. This would look well to the Beast, and bring us great glory. What have you in your head?"

Brazok grins to himself at the thought of bringing disgrace to certain shamans..He pauses to collect his thoughts.."I think caution is best for now...I would like to work to recruit a power base and the first place I'm looking to is the Valnul. We build ranks and then play the power out. Money will come in time." He consideres the Balrog and the words of warning from the King.."I have to be cautious to not over play my role with the Balrog. The King knows the links he has to power and I must not usurp them...But a boost in favor with the Balrog would be a great boost to 'our' power." He is careful to choose the word our so as to include the Chieftain and the power it brings to him as well.

Garjin nods. Understanding full well that he is just an accomplice to the powerhungry Uruk before him, and just now realizing that Brazok has strong desires for power and wealth, and that the Valnul could profit from the Latadurb's growth, if acted on in time. "Aye, we shall not ursurp the King and his power, until we are certain to overcome any and all resistance to our right to rule. As you say, all things must come in time. What had you in mind for the time being? Simply more intense recruiting and perhaps some effort made to the other tribes members deciding to become of the Valnul?

Brazok turns thoughtful and recalls some word he has on tribal conflict. "I hear rumblings going on in the halls of Moria. Between the Valnul and the Burgapai. There may be some in the Burgapai ranks who wish not to be part of that clan. With discretion we can recruit for them as well as the snagas that are moving up. That is were we start.' His lips pull into a wicked grimmace and he eyes Garjin with interest. "I have no particular feelings towards the Burgapai and I think some power can be thrown to your side should conflict erupt"

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Zaash is still sitting on the great staircase, muttering to herself, as she has been for a few hours now. She shifts her position once in a while, lies down occasionally, and is just bored in general.

Garjin returns down the long dark halls of Moria, and has an expression from which it is difficult to determine his mood. Seeing the sitting Zaash, his face brightens as she remained there waiting for him. "You are a loyal servant of the Valnul and of the Balrog. I have news, and I wish to share it with you." Garjin looks around carefully to assure himself that there is nobody hiding in the shadows. "We must improve our recruiting, both by bringing in new snagas from the ranks and file, and also, feel free to try and sway other tribes members to join the mighty Valnul. This is important, for we will need many numbers to proceed down the path we are going. Other than the King's mindless labor in the mines, make this your first priority. But still bring word to me about what you hear of the other tribes in the evenings. I am interested in hearing your news.

Zaash looks up at her chieftain from where she is sitting. She gazes intently at him, nodding once in a while to show that she has understood. When her master has finished speaking, she stands up, and answers him. "Yes, master, your will be done. I shall see what I can do about subverting others to your will. I think I know a few that might be easily swayed." She hesitates a little before speaking again, "And I will keep reporting, naturally, although not much has happened recently."

Garjin smiles. You would almost think that it seemed in an endearingly manner if you did not know the Chieftain. "Still Zaash, your reports are very important to me. Continue coming to the barracks and reporting." With that, Garjin turns and begins walking down to the mines to oversee the work there. "Just before dissappearing from sight, he says over his shoulder, "And mind you not appear idle and cross that Burgapai Takursh. He has threatened to slay you if he sees you idle." His footsteps then fade into the gloom.

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