Beginning Author's note.

When sources disagree, I'm going with what Tolkien wrote, not with what someone filmed.

Tolkien's orcs and goblins were two words for the same thing. There were times he called the same group orcs on one page and goblins on the next page.

They were about as big as Hobbits, and rare ones got as big as almost man-high.

I remember that from reading it and the following agrees:

h tee tee ps colon double-slash wiki/Orcs

" Tolkien describes one "huge Orc chieftain" as "almost Man-high", and some must have been close to Hobbit height, as Sam and Frodo were able to disguise themselves as Orcs in Mordor."

If you prefer the orcs from other sources, which are sometimes as big as trolls and often bulging with muscles like Mister Universe contestants etc, you will be diasppointed here.

Tolkiens orcs were the embodiment of all things reprehensible, disgusting, cruel, pathetic etc. and were only any threat because of their numbers.

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Chapter 1

At the sound of a thrush trill, 35 dwarf warriors surged as one over the small ridge and rushed down into the goblin encampment below.

The dwarf attack began silently - at least as silently as could be managed when each dwarf was wearing armor from head to toe.

So, metal jingled, and rocks clattered, but there was no war-cry, at least, not until the goblins finally noticed the oncoming dwarves.

Then the dwarves all yelled their various battle-cries, and kept them up until the 2 groups clashed.

Because the goblins had not been careful in choosing a campsite, the ridge was close enough that that clash came very quickly after the war-cries sounded.

The end of the small battle came almost as quickly.

Every one of the elite dwarves dropped his first target in the initial rush.

That left only a third of the goblin war-party, who scrambled around chaotically, as goblins typically do.

Some fought.

Some fled.

Some scrambled for weapons.

None tried to organize a defense and work together.

Five grabbed for treasure preparatory to fleeing, and ended up fighting the others who had done the same.

Goblins are known to do that too.

Three of those five goblins managed to mount the 2 worgs the group had brought for scouting, and flee over the burbling stream at one side of the encampment, on towards the hills beyond.

One of those 3 fell off soon thereafter with a dagger hilt still protruding from his chest.

Goblins were always ready to fight each-other, even over trifles.

And this treasure was far from trifling.

So it was, that mere moments after the fight began, the 35 dwarves stood over the bodies of 51 dead goblins, searching.

There was little doubt that the fleeing goblins would have the treasure with them. But dwarves are careful folk and wanted to be sure.

The dwarves had not been looking for goblins. Rather, they had been chasing down a human thief who had broken into Lonely Mountain and taken two large sacks of gold.

But north of Lonely Mountain was wild country, and goblins had found the human thief first.

They had been busy torturing the human to learn what he knew, and arguing with each-other over what they had learned, and had not bothered to post lookouts.

Goblins were sloppy about things like that.

The noise of the stream, and more especially, of their arguments had masked the sounds of the approaching dwarves, who are not particularly good at sneaking up on things - all that armor tends to clank and give them away.

The dwarves armor also tends to slow them down.

And they are not very fast in the first place, due to their short legs.

Worgs, however, are quite fast.

So it was that, as the 2 worgs sped off over distant hills, Thrain, leader of the dwarf party, turned to his son Thorin, and said "That tears it. We've no way to catch them. Soon, every creature from here to the sea will know of our gold, and many will come after it."

-0-0-0-

"Order, Order!" King Thror shouted, as he banged on the table in the conference room.

The room quieted immediately.

There was no doubt about who was King of Erebor.

Thror sighed, "We've had some good suggestions and discussion, but now we're just going in circles, re-hashing old arguments and splitting hairs, so it's time to sum up and end the meeting."

The various advisers and chiefs around the table nodded or grunted their assent.

Thror turned to a wizened old dwarf sitting next to him. "Chief Scribe, what have you got?"

The white-haired dwarf looked up from his list. "It's mostly the usual stuff: more guards, stronger doors and locks, some traps, fortifications, and towers and so forth. Nothing surprising. But then again, it's the usual stuff for a reason - it definitely helps. The stand-out recommendation is to make the Humans move further away."

There was a general mutter of agreement, overriding the grumble from the Chief Trader.

It was a human who had stolen from them and, indirectly, given the goblins the knowledge that gold could be had here.

Goblins could not keep secrets, so it wouldn't be long until every monstrous creature, then even every civilized creature, knew it too.

And that human had come from the small village of Dale which King Thror had recently allowed to be founded on the slopes of Lonely Mountain.

The Dale men would now be told to move a few miles away, down to the shore of Long Lake.

Trading with them would still be possible - even easy if they used boats on the Running River - just a touch less convenient.

And the distance would both make thieving a lot harder, as well as make the humans safer, once groups of orcs, trolls and so forth came to try taking gold from the dwarves, as they inevitably would.

Thror cleared his throat. "Ok, fair enough. But I haven't heard any specific recommendations for what to do about dragons. I want each of you to be thinking of that. They drove us from the Grey Mountains only 20 years ago. They killed my father and my brother, and you can be sure they will come here, sooner or later. We need ideas, and NOT", he suddenly yelled, "any more nonsense about how we should stop mining gold."

He took the tone of a tired lecturer, "Yes, dragons are attracted to gold, but they're also attracted to anything they can eat, including us. We came away from the Grey Mountains as refugees, and it took us years, despite the plentiful gold in this mountain, to work our way back up to prosperity."

He made eye contact with each dwarf at the table, except young Durog, the apprentice engineer who was just here to take notes for his master the Chief Engineer, who was out sick. Then he continued. "Being poor won't make dragons leave you alone as long as you're edible. And it isn't like we can stop being edible. We need to keep mining gold in order to be able to pay for everything else we need to do."

He thumped the table again for emphasis. "Poverty is not a defense plan. So stop recommending it and lets hear some real suggestions."

A quiet voice mumbled "sweat."

Young Durog hadn't meant it to be heard - his master had told him, clearly and forcefully, to speak only if spoken to - but Thror had good hearing.

The king turned to Durog and demanded "What?" Then he continued in a tired voice. "Hopefully you don't mean more weapons practice - we've tried that again and again. It hardly matters how skilled you are with a sword or axe when your opponent is able to smash you flat despite your successful parry, and do so long before you ever get close enough to swing your weapon at him. The long reach and huge muscles dragons have always put us at too much disadvantage to think swords are a solution."

Durog gulped, then went for it. "Not sweat with weapons - sweat with stone-working tools. We have certain advantages - let's use them."

He went on to explain his thoughts.

It took an hour.

He came out of the meeting with a small grant of money and authority to try out one of his proposals. He needed to prove his concept, and show that it actually worked in practical terms.