Horn Dunbar (? - ? PC) was a Hylar explorer who was sent to explore the Khalkist Mountains in search of a new colony for Thorbardin. He was a hero of the Third Dragon War who wanted to search for the legendary dwarven city of Thoradin, after wielding a blade that was forged within it. Horn battled against Bakali, the twisted lizardmen who had served the evil dragons.
Upon returning to Thorbardin, Horn became obsessed with locating information about Thoradin and hoped to rediscover it. Horn talked to the elders among the Hylar and gathered as much information as he could. Through the stories Horn learned that Thoradin was located on a terraced hillside.
Horn also contacted the surviving members of other expeditions that had sought out the legendary city. They provided him with maps and information about what caused the failures of their expeditions. These dwarves were given free drinks in exchange for the information they provided.
Beak Skincutter, a Daewar dwarf, had fought with Horn during the Third Dragon War and overheard about Horn's interest in the former dwarven realm. This caused him to seek out his former companion and his interest in Thoradin grew with the telling of the stories. The two of them agreed that the peace and prosperity of Thorbardin following the war was boring.
Search for Thoradin[]
Horn and Beak planned to travel to the Khalkist Mountains in hope of either discovering the location of Thoradin or creating a new dwarven colony. Several other dwarves quickly volunteered to accompany the two on the journey since boredom with Thorbardin left them wanting more out of life. Two clans, the Theiwar and Daergar, though were outraged by Horn's decision to travel to the Khalkist and brought the matter to the Council of Thanes.
The Council of Thanes decided that all the clans would be represented on the expedition and chose former war heroes to lead each expedition. Horn was chosen to lead the Hylar clan and was also the overall leader of the journey. The number of dwarves traveling with Horn swelled to over 3,000 and it took Horn a full year to prepare for the expedition.
In 998 PC, Horn notified the Knights of Solamnia of the migration and was given permission by the knights to travel through their lands. The expedition also passed near the human kingdom of Kharolis and the city-state of Sanction. These were stopping points on the journey to resupply and gather information about the lands around the Khalkists.
By autumn of 998 PC, Horn and his expedition reached the Khalkists Mountains and Horn split the expedition into groups searching for the city. The search parties failed to find the city by winter and Horn was forced to abandon his search until spring. In the spring Horn created larger search parties in the hopes that these parties would discover one of the entrances into Thoradin.
As the search parties searched, one of them ran into a group of ogres who followed the party back to the dwarven encampment. The ogres were quickly reinforced and the dwarves began to quarrel with one another about what to do. Horn again took charge and spoke to the dwarves about the dangers of their ancient enemy. With his stirring speech the dwarves swept the ogres off the field of battle and following the retreating ogres discovered an important clue.
The clue that Horn discovered was an ancient carved block of granite that stood on a riverbank. It was perfectly shaped and was immediately recognized as a keystone for Thoradin. Horn ordered the search parties to search the area in hoped of uncovering the entrance into Thoradin.
The search parties discovered an entrance into Thoradin and also discovered ogres living in the former city in 997 PC. Horn devised a battle strategy that allowed the ogres to escape out of the city in the hopes that it would minimize future conflicts. The battle strategy worked well against the ogres as they fled out of the caves.
Horn then sent word to Thorbardin of the expedition's success and began the task of rebuilding the former city. He also settled disputes concerning where the six clans would settle in the city. Horn would eventually marry and was the grandfather of future High Thane of Thoradin, Basalt Slatefield.
References[]
- Dwarven Kingdoms of Krynn, 'Songs of the Loremaster' (Sourcebook), p. 47-51