After the Battle of Lonely Mountain, Allen had ordered a thousand suits of plate armor fit for humans and a thousand sets of horse armor suitable for heavy cavalry from Thorin II, who had just reclaimed Lonely Mountain, as supplies for the heavy cavalry force he was preparing.
The shipment should have arrived before the end of the previous year. Thorin had personally promised Allen that he could complete fifty sets a year, so it was already somewhat overdue.
Glóin, who led the delivery party, told Allen that the trouble with the Easterlings had kept the Dwarves of Lonely Mountain especially busy the previous year. Moreover, with preparations underway against an Easterling attack, Lonely Mountain, which did not produce much iron ore, simply could not smelt enough raw material to fulfill Allen's order.
Only in the latter half of the previous year, 2942, had Rhovanion become relatively stable, allowing the Dwarves to resume making Allen's armor. That was why the delivery had been delayed.
Still, Glóin assured him that this year's fifty sets would be completed on schedule.
Allen understood Glóin's explanation. The Easterling invasion had disrupted many of his own plans as well, and given the excellent relationship between them, such a small matter hardly counted for anything.
Allen warmly urged Glóin and his companions to stay. He entertained them lavishly in Wilderness Town for two days before letting the Dwarves return to Lonely Mountain.
Afterward, Allen looked at the Dwarf-forged plate armor with some concern.
It was not that the quality fell short of his expectations. Even judged by his knowledge, which surpassed that of this era, the armor certainly deserved to be called superb.
It was just that, in Allen's view, these suits with their unmistakably Dwarven style might be a little too cumbersome for his men.