"Nobody tosses a dwarf!" (Playthrough of Lord of the Rings: The Card Game)

"You have been sent by the White Council to Moria, to deliver a message to Balin and his Dwarven colony.  No one has heard from him in a while."

Six brave dwarven heroes embark on this mission, being the natural choice for an adventure into the legendary mines.

Upon first entering the mines, the mission was almost brought to an abrupt halt when a stone staircase collapsed beneath our party.

Gimli* and Nori* almost plummeted to their deaths, but their friends pulled them back from the brink just in time.  They were startled and suffered minor injuries, but nothing a little rest couldn't heal.

After recovering from the near disaster, our brave adventurers entered the first hall.  Unbeknownst to our heroes, word of this new threat quickly spread from the goblin scouts back to their masters.

At this point in the quest, Gandalf made a brief appearance to bring some guidance to our travellers.

As they ventured further beneath the ground, dwarven allies began to flock to our message bearers, creating a veritable dwarven army marching underground.

That's when they were attacked.  Goblins began streaming out of every nook and cranny in the walls, floor, and ceiling, clamoring across handholds to attack their surprised guests.  Dwalin was attacked by a goblin patrol leader and was badly injured.

Gandalf became valuable for more than the wisdom he brought.  Fighting alongside Gimli and Ori, he made quick work of the patrol leader and sent his body flying into the depths of the mines.

Dain Ironfoot, the famous dwarf king from the Iron Hills, stood against the remaining goblins, causing fear to ripple through their ranks.

While the goblins were distracted, Thorin quickly pulled Thror's key from within his cloak and used it to open a secret passage that led to the Bridge of Khazad-dum.

While covering the tracks of our heroes, a dwarf warrior was brought down by a goblin attack from the shadows.

"The skeletons of Dwarves and Orcs lie undisturbed, but you have discovered no recent sign of the Dwarven colony.  The sound of scampering feet travels to your ears, and you move in that direction to investigate.  There is a patrol of Goblins, marching in a loose formation through the shadows."

The fighting was fierce.  Thalin, trying to defend an attack from the leader of the goblin patrol, was badly wounded.

Seeking revenge, Thalin's friends pushed forward, defeating the goblin patrol.

"You have captured a member of the patrol, and press the wounded Goblin for information.  It gives a nasty laugh, and with a mouthful of blood spits out 'Balin can be found in the chamber of records!'  It can say no more."

"The Chamber of Records is on the Seventh Level of Moria.  The way up is treacherous, and you have accompanied by a sense of unease and vague dread."

Unease and dread aside, fifteen angry dwarves have a way of pressing on pretty quickly.  And noisily.

Seventh Level, here they come.

*A note to Tolkien purists.  I understand that I am messing with chronology by mixing Hobbit era characters with Lord of the Rings era characters.  I just wanted to have a bad arse dwarf team and so this needed to be done.  I reconcile it by saying that they are descendants or ancestors of each other with a common name (maybe Gimli was named after a grandfather?  Maybe Nori's grandson was named after him?).  I know it's a stretch, but, I did what I had to do in order to have my dwarven throng.