The Battle for the Hero's Soul

The Battle for the Hero’s Soul is a conflict that took place in the earliest days of the Kellerian Empire and the gods before they were sealed away. Gradan Stonemaul, the dwarf paladin of Rhydbor, father of dwarfkind, was a legend amongst legends who lived to a ripe old age. In his last days, the city of Ordton in which he had retired came under siege by an army of demon worshipping dragonkin and kobolds. With his strength fading and his heart about to give out he struck the final blow on the demon lord that was leading the army. Gradan died just after striking that final blow and as his soul left his body, the demon took the opportunity to take hold of it and drag it back to the hell with it. This happened right before the seals that were to shut away the deities were to lock into place. The denizens of hell saw this as a great victory as they had claimed for a prize the soul of one of the most righteous of Rhydbor’s faithful and Rhydbor would not risk being trapped in the hells for the sake of a single soul.
Though Gradan’s body was weak at the end of his life, his soul burned with the power of his faith and convictions as bright as it ever did, and he put up a fight that challenged the infernal legions themselves. Alas even Gradan’s soul could not stem the infernal tide forever and soon his light began to fade as the fiends began to overwhelm him.
Before his soul could be claimed there was a great shaking and rending of the gates of the hells and a pure bright light, the likes that is never seen in this dismal place illuminated the battlefield. Fiends by the hundreds perished just being in its light and soon the legions backed away from Gradan. Gradan’s soul felt invigorated, and its strength returned as it beheld what walked through the shattered infernal gates. Strding through was Rhydbor himself along with the rest of the Dwarven pantheon. Outside the gates were the souls of legendary Dwarven heroes and the celestial legions of angels. Rhydbor would indeed risk all for the sake of one soul, especially the soul of so beloved a follower.
The heavenly hosts and the fiendish legions clashed in a battle that shook the very fabric of time and space causing magic to go wild in some places and natural disasters to occur on several worlds. As the seals began to lock, the dwarven host claimed the soul of Gradan and performed a fighting withdrawal. Shalmut, the Archfiend, attempted to use the power of his domain to confuses the attackers by warping reality around them. At times they were fighting in what appeared to be a fire blasted plain and then suddenly they would be in a frozen Tundra. Rhydbor quickly countered these, but it did slow the withdrawal considerably.
Though they succeeded in bringing Gradan’s soul home it was at great cost as Dhonos, the dwarven god of community and generosity escaped hell, but was not able to make it back home before the sealing of the gate. He fell into spaces between the heavens, hells and the mortal realms. It is believed that with this loss, the dwarfs lost much of their generous nature and soon the dwarfs that lived in the mortal realms withdrew from old alliances and became more insular.