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In the year 536 CY I was born to a miner and his
wife. My mother and the
other females in the clan named me Farnar, which means big brave.
My mother often told me that I never cried or made a peep when I
was born and she thought I was so brave.
My mother was a shopkeeper and my father a miner.
My father worked at various mining settlements and enjoyed his
work. My mother worked for
one of the dry goods stores and she would go to the mining settlement on
paydays and sell to the miners. They
were a well-liked couple and enjoyed their lives.
My father liked to drink and he would always have a few aurauns
and start talking about his days as a fighter, he often told many
stories about how he had saved the lives of several of his friends when
he was younger. He was
injured in battle once, (even though “he was hit from twice sides by
the nasty slimy Orcs, I laid em down by the ax hand of Moradin”. and
“I took em gold and I took em ears”
“Then I took em som more.” ( if I had a gold for every time I
sat upon my father’s knee and heard this story.))
and the local healer told him that he could no longer fight in
the wars because his legs just would not carry him all day.
He was taught to count by Khunnur the merchant in Dragonhome. and
then my father taught me. He
was put in charge of a group of the miners. He was a good miner and he loved doing it.
He would count and identify metals,
they say he had a nose for copper, he said he had a nose for
gold. He would organize the
carts and donkeys and make sure that the right carts were in the right
place when the clan needed him. That they all agreed the thing my father
did very well. When
something need be counted and placed in the right spaces my father would
be called upon .
One morning I went into the room for breakfast and
as I sat down my father looked at me.
As he was about to say good morning his eyes got wide and he told
my mother to come over and look. As
I sat there looking lost and wondering what the heck they were looking
at. I asked, what? My
mother touched my face and it felt strange.
I put my hand up to my face and I had grown hair on my face.
Yea!!
560 CY
My father took me to meet a couple of friends of
his one-day, after my beard had grown in a little, and I was introduced
to two men the first was Captain Falco the second Rondald Tarran.
Captain Falco had once been Sgt. Falco.
He and my father had fought together and I was to learn later
that night after several kegs of auraun that all three of them had grown
up together and fought in many battles together.
They promised to take care of each others families and to make
sure the clan had all of the things it needed they wanted me to do two
things. First I would train
as a solider. Capt. Falco
told me that I would train as a fighter and a guard and I would be
needed to help keep the mines free of vermin and intruders.
Rondald told me that he was not married and he did not think he
would ever take another wife since an Orc killed his while she was with
child. So he needed someone
to train to run the forge someday.
I was very excited my childhood dreams of fighting with a sword
or ax were about to come true.
Several
days later my father and mother had a large feast and my father named me
Grumtor. It meant steel
soul. He was very proud of
me, as I was he.
I traveled to Dragonhome where my training began.
I had traveled before with my parents, I was amazed at the site
of Dragonhome. It was an
incredible sight to see. It
got its name because? That’s right it used to be a dragons home.
I was squared away at the barracks and I was given
a new uniform, the cloak my mother had given me before I came was the
same color. I looked pretty
good in my uniform. I was
taken to the forge and showed around.
My first job there was to come early every morning and light the
forge. The fire never goes out but I was to come every morning and
stoke the fire. It was a
big responsibility for an untrained dwarf.
Rondald told me that because I was the son of his friend he would
treat me, as I was a son of his.
As the years went by I trained with the soldiers
and at the forge, the work was hard but I always did what I was told to
do. Every morning I was at
the forge, I would build the wood and coal back until the fire was hot
and the coals would be lit. Then
I would go to the barracks and help square things away there and be in
uniform when it was time to report for training drills.
I was good with several of the weapons but my
favorite was a great big ax called a greatax.
It was large and had a blade on each side.
It was a very heavy weapon and I was not very good with it.
I practiced everyday with the big thing working and training
trying to hit the tree trunks that had been placed for us to strike.
I was told by some of the other dwarfs that I should make my arms
bigger by lifting heavy things. I
would go to the forge and when I had finished cleaning up everyday I
would try to lift the anvil off of its perch.
I would pick up everything I could find that was heavy.
Soon I was getting much better at swinging that ax.
The years rolled by and I studied the art of war
and the dwarves battle techniques.
I learned about all of the weapons that we could make and use for
war. We did not want war
but, if its war you want, it is war you will get.
I learned much in the forge as well.
I learned how to tell the difference in metals and what was good
for a sword and what type was good for an ax.
I knew the difference in metal for tools and metal for weapons. I was truly learning a valuable skill. I spent my first time at the forge making a hoe.
I made a lot of hoes. I
then made shovels, lots of shovels.
I was getting good at making the tools the clan needed.
I took my time and made a good product.
I moved quickly up the ladder and soon I was making daggers and
other weapons. I soon began
to make short swords and long swords.
I learned how to make wheels and gears, tools that were used in
the mines. I had started to
make armor but there was not a big demand for armor and Rondald was not
the greatest armor maker. He
would always say, “A dwarf that needs a shovel and a pick will live
longer than a dwarf that needs armor and a sword”. We worked all the time and I was enjoying myself.
One day Rondald Had come across some metal that was
very special and he told me to take it home and hide it in his house so
no one would find out about it. He
never said too much about it again, for a long time.
I heard him say something once about the metal bars to my father.
He told my father that a gnome had enhanced the metal but my
father the skeptic told him naaa it’s not magic and if it is you
better destroy it. Rondald
once was working on a piece of the metal, he said it looked like a fine
steel and would make a great ax for someone one day.
I asked if I could have some of the metal and he just laughed at
me and his eyes would twinkle and he would laugh some more.
I was by this time moving around to different
mining settlements and doing guard duty.
It was pretty boring but I would always hope there would be
trouble and I would get to engage in battle.
There had been a few minor battles with the occasional rabbit or
boar but nothing that was exciting.
One day we were all ordered to a small mining
settlement not far from Dragonhome and I volunteered.
It was not a far walk and I had been there several times before
doing guard duty. It was
the same camp my mother and father lived and worked in.
I was always happy to go home.
I met my mother and father and had dinner with them that evening
and we all sat around and they listened as I told stories of other
camps, and other places I had seen recently.
My mother and father never had any more children so I always felt
special. After dinner that night I went and took my spot for guard
duty. It was an uneventful
night. The next several
nights were uneventful. Then
I started my dayshift rotation. Things
were more active and I would get to see more of the clan during the day. There was a young dwarf that I had met that was fascinated by
the clan guard. His name
was Aust but everyone called him Bar. He had a twin and I often confused
the two, until they spoke. Then one day I saw that the twin of
Bar, Kord, had what looked like a little piece of wood stuck in
his mouth. From that day on
I could tell Kord form Bar He was a little younger than me but not by
much. He was a little
strange but I liked him. We
would talk and hang out, his dad was teaching him about stonecutting,
and I think he was pretty good. My
days there were good, I liked being in the guard and I liked guarding my
clan.
Then
one-day things went bad wrong.
I was on post outside of the stonecutters shop. I
think it had something to do with a stone my father told me about in the
mine. He had heard the
cries about the “Gods Tear” from deep in the mine.
It was a perfect blue diamond, flawless from every angle.
Many of the dwarves said they had never seen one quite so lovely.
The town gem cutter was Bar’s and Kord’s father.
It was his shop I was guarding.
There were 4 guards at this hut all the time day and night.
I was friends with them and I liked em all pretty good. They were mostly from Dragonhome and I guess they liked guard
duty in their hometown as much as I did.
The one I was with mostly, Bernum, was a good dwarf.
He was looking forward to getting married, his father had
arranged a good wife for him. He
was looking forward to being promoted after our apprenticeship was over.
He was planning to live with his folks when he was in town.
His wife would stay there as well while he was out of town. I had dinner at his place once after a hard days fighting.
His father, Prellis Hardtack was a fighter and teacher at the
clan guard. He was the best
rider I had ever seen. He
could ride and fight and use different weapons, he was a very talented
dwarf. His father told us
the stories of my father and what a good fighter he had been. He also told me that my father was very proud of me and was
boasting to all of the clan about how I can fight and swing a hammer on
iron. I had enjoyed my
dinner that night. While on
guard duty that night, my life changed forever.
So
the night shift was late, this never happened and we were all getting a
little concerned, Bernum was looking forward to telling on the
underclassmen for being late. Then
as if the gates from hell had opened, we were under attack.
Orcs surrounded us, they came from everywhere, and they came hard
and fast. They lay dwarves
to rest everywhere. The
smell and the heat coming from their bodies is something I will never
forget. They were strong
and I was hit from behind as I was removing the head of one of em.
I woke up several days later and was in shock for a long time
after that. The details as
I got them later are not as important as the fact that I had not done my
job. I found my
mother and father later in the day.
They had been laid out for mourning.
The Orcs had killed em all.
All except 5, two passed over later.
I had been hit in the back of the head and Bernum
killed the one that hit me and then he was killed by 4 more of the
bastards. They had come
from somewhere and laid out all of the guards and then captured Bar’s
father. He finally told the smelly beast where he had hidden the
diamond. And being that they are Orcs they killed him as soon as the got
what they came for.
It was the worst thing I had ever seen, the Orcs
had tossed all of the dwarves right off of the ledge of a pit. The stack of bodies at the bottom of the hill was sickening.
I had been taken back to Dragonhome so that a healer could look
after me but I went back as soon as I could.
There was a lot of work to do back there.
It was hard but I knew the right thing to do was put them all to
rest so they could all serve Moradin in the next life.
About the time I finished my apprenticeship at
Rondalds there was a story about ‘Gods Tear” being not faraway at an
Orc camp. I volunteered to
go and I guess since they knew I wanted my revenge on those smelly
bastards. The raid was led by Bar’s uncle Dulin. Dulin was a good strong warrior. I was proud to serve under him.
He had made sure Bar was in the clan guard. Bar was a good
warrior but not a very typical warrior.
He was how would you say it?
Different. I went
out on the raid and we were kicking some major Orc butt.
I was swinging my great ax and we were killing all of the orcs
that we could see. Then
like at the stonecutters shop the gates of hell were opened and the
smelly nasty bastards were upon us.
They came from everywhere, I heard someone yell ambush and I
heard a few other things before I went down.
When I woke up this time I was buried under a pile
of nasty orc bodies. The
first thing I remembered was the thing that I had heard during the
battle. I could not shake
the sound of the big mean ugly orc and what he said.
I looked around a made a bandage from some of the material on a
corpse. I searched around
the bodies looking for our leaders.
I do not know how long I was their or what all I did while I was
there. I had found Dulin’s
ax. I had strapped the ax
to my back and our clan guard flag tied to a staff I had found.
I tried to find other items for the clan member’s back home,
things I thought the families would like to have, but the Orc slime was
on everything. I cleaned as
much of it off me as I could and then I do not know what happened but I
had to get it all off me and off me now.
After all of these years I cannot stand to be touched by or close
to an Orc, much less have that damn slime on me or my stuff.
As I stumbled out of the mess of tangled bodies I tried to keep
going but I was hurt badly. I
walked a little farther and I thought I saw riders approaching; thank
god it was a rescue party. I
saw our clan guard flag and then I collapsed.
After I healed a few days I went and saw Dulin’s
family. I told Bar, Kord,
and Gaeg’s older brother, a world-class blacksmith about what happened
at the Orc camp. I told
them all of the things I heard and saw.
I returned the ax and Gaeg’s brother was very happy to have it
back even thought there was no word from his father in weeks.
He gave to me for returning his families ax a mitheral chain mail
shirt he had been working on. The
quality was outstanding; I still wear it to this day.
Life returned to kind of normal after that, I
returned to the forge and took out my frustrations there.
I felt that I had let my clan down twice now. I took a hell of a beating and I gave as good as I got, but I
did not save the clan or Dulin. I
had reached the end of my apprenticeship at the forge and Rondald gave
me several bars of the metal that he said was magic.
I do not know if they are or not but the steel was quality.
Rondald told me that now that I was a journeyman I got to name
myself. I thought about
this for several days and decided on. Magdor Grumtor. I
decided to keep the name my father gave me as a hearth name since I no
longer had a family other than Rondald and Capt. Falco.
The two of them threw a party to announce my Rite of Leaving The
Hall. There was gost, and
klar, and auraun. Even
thought the feast was a joyful time I was lost and felt that I would
have been a disappointment to my father.
I worked the bars over and over. I would heat and fold the metal and then heat and fold it
again. I do not remember
how many times I heated and folded the metal but I let it flow just like
Rondald had taught me. I
let the metal make it own shape and I just provided the fire and the
hammer. When I was done I
had made three of the finest great axes I had ever held.
I attached them to the finest wood handles I could have made.
They cost me a top quality set of knives for the wood shaper but
I thought it was well worth it. I
gave one of the axes to Bar and I gave the other to Kord.
I felt bad that I had been on duty when their father had been
taken. I felt as if it were
my fault that their father had been killed.
They assured me that it was not my fault but the three of us
forged a bond on that day. I
told them about my father and his bond with his buddies and the three of
us decided to do the same thing. We
swore to look out after each other and each other’s families.
I caught up with Bar one day in a small village.
He was riding guard with a convoy and he was headed to Dyvers.
He had heard his cousin Gaeg mentioned in a bards song at an inn. He said he was going to go and look for him, heard he may be
with the Blades of Light in Dyvers.
So I decided to join him. Bar
was a little different now it may have been all of the gutshaker or
something deeper that changed him.
He was still a good strong dwarf, but some times I feel like I am
talking to someone different while I am looking at him.
Bar and I are here in Dyvers and I thought it would be good to
take some time and get this story scribed.
So that brings me to here and now.
I am not sure what is next or where I will be
tomorrow but I know this: I
do not want a fight, but if a fights what you want, it’s a fight your
gonna get. And if you know of any Orcs any where around let me know, Ill
take em gold and ill take em ears, and then ill take em some more.
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