In the twisting maze of canyons of the Knife Spires, Nuadalor and his kinsmen engaged the Dwarfs in a series of masterfully directed hit-and-run attacks. Their war bands struck the Dwarfs from all angles, hitting hard and fast before disappearing into the labyrinthine chasms whenever the Dwarfs sought to engage them in force. The Elves peppered the Dwarf’s closely packed formations with arrow fire, fleeing whenever the Dwarfs tried to close the distance. Yet when the Dwarfs ceased their advance, the Elves would turn and launch more arrows into their ranks. Invariably, the Dwarfs would once more advance, only for the Elves to pull back yet again.
Ironhelm became increasingly frustrated, for Nuadalor seemed intent on avoiding a full scale confrontation, and yet with every passing day more of his clan’s warriors were dying to Elven arrows and blades. This was a serious blow to the Dwarf lord’s pride, and as days turned into weeks, he became quickly incensed. His battle axe hungered for blood.
At last, he found his moment – or so he thought. The Elves, it seemed, had backed themselves into a corner from whence there was no retreat, and eager to finally get to grips with his foe, Ironhelm ordered a full attack. He would meet the Elves at Black Pass.
The two armies faced each other across the narrow defile of Black Pass, and the Dwarfs marched resolutely through the hail of arrows launched by the Elves. They outnumbered the Elves heavily, and were confident of victory. Just before the Dwarf charge hit home, the Elves turned tail and fled, their ranks seemingly in utter disarray. Balor Ironhelm, knowing that there was no way out of the canyon and flushed with battle lust, ordered his warriors on in pursuit, playing right into the hands of the young Elf prince.
While the Dwarf lord’s anger was hot and volatile, Nuadalor’s hatred was cold and dispassionate. Displaying remarkable skill and tactical acumen for one that had come of age less than a century earlier, Nuadalor had baited the grizzled Dwarf lord. The Dwarfs pushed forward, advancing further up the ever-narrowing canyon in pursuit of the flee-footed Elves. As the walls closed in, the crush became ever more oppressive as the entire Dwarf army surged forwards. Only then did Nuadalor launch his trap.
The young Elf prince had positioned thirty Dragons Claw bolt throwers upon the ridges overhead, and as the Dwarfs pushed into the narrow defile below, they unleashed their fury. The Dwarfs could not escape the brutal fire of the war machines,so tightly packed where they, and hundreds died in the first barrage. Those Elves that had been feigning flight turned back upon their pursuers, cutting them down with relentless waves of bow fire before Nuadalor led the charge of his spearmen, breaking the back of the enemy army. Nevertheless, it was the terrible toll that the Dragons Talon bolt throwers exacted that accounted for the vast majority of the Dwarf casualties that day. By sundown, it became clear that more than ten thousand Dwarfs had been slain, for the loss of less than fifty Elves. The Dwarf Lord Balor Ironhelm was amongst the dead, impaled upon the length of the first bolt fired. The Battle of Black Pass has long been a day rued in the annals of Dwarf history.