"Oof, I think I overdid it with the yeti last night." Richard massaged his throbbing temples. One downside to the meat killed with the beer bolts was that if you ate too heartily then you would get roaring drunk from the meat alone. "Good thing it's so dark down here, if we were on the surface then this would be a lot worse."
"Just do what I do." Peter said with a grin. "Have Gerde sniff out the regular yeti and go light on alcohol."
"I won't have that option while guarding the gates until the Vermogen run." Richard groused. "Maybe I should follow Newman back to Handel. I don't think I can take too much more of this dwarven beer."
"Heh, quitter." Kat smirked as she teased Richard for giving up so quickly. Before he could respond though, we arrived at our destination.
The adventurer's guild here appeared similar to every other building in the dwarven city from the outside, but once we got inside I was taken aback by how much like a human building it looked. The floors had wood planks covering it, and the walls were made of wood and plaster, while purely decorative wooden beams went across the ceiling.
"The guild has a rulebook regarding the layout of their buildings." Newman commented when he saw Bekhi and I looking around in surprise. "That way adventurers from all around the world can find what they need, no matter what country they are in."
Our group waited in line a bit, and when we finally approached the counter, Newman started filling out the paperwork to say that all five of us had completed the quest successfully.
"Another successful run, Newman?" The dwarven receptionist behind the counter asked in a friendly manner. They evidently had a history and knew each other from previous meetings. He looked to be in his young hundreds with a long red beard.
"It wasn't too bad, Khairgik. Thanks to these two dwarves over here, it was certainly the most unique trip I've ever taken."
"What's so special about them?" Khairgik looked the two of us over skeptically. "They look too young to do more than swing a hammer, forget about anything interesting."
"You'd be surprised. Bekhi over there is one of the best fighters I've seen in all my years as an adventurer, and Kvalinn can make some truly devastating weapons. But that's not what made this trip unique, this is." Newman tapped on the top of my rucksack, causing Gerde to poke her head out for a treat.
"Ancestors beard! Where are her ears!?" Khairgik only looked at the side of Gerde's head and didn't even think that her wolf ears were her actual ears. Her black hair had gotten a bit longer, but it didn't quite cover where the ears of a normal human would be
"They're right here." Newman pointed at Gerde's twitching ears with a smile at his friend's surprise. "Gerde here is a beastkin. The almost mythical race from the time of the first demon lord."
"By my beard! You mean to tell me they actually exist? But what's one doing here? Didn't they retreat to the Eternal Forest centuries ago?" Khairgik outbursts caused a few of his colleagues to come over to see what the commotion was. They were just as shocked that Gerde was a beastkin as he was. When everyone had settled down a little bit, Newman explained why Gerde was there.
"Kvalinn found her abandoned in the Eternal Forest, and he's adopted her as his own. She's actually been quite useful on the trip. She can sniff out a monster from over a hundred paces away and then Bekhi kills it before I even can say anything. I've only had to draw my sword a half dozen times since leaving Handel."
"Do you mean to say that not only did Kvalinn do his job as an adventurer to defend the wagons, but he also took care of a baby while on the road!?" Khairgik looked at me with a strange expression on his face. "I'm not sure if the ancestors are looking at you in admiration or laughing at you as an idiot, but either way, I'm sure this tale will be talked about for years. It may even be added into the Book of Legends."
"The Book of Legends?" I hadn't come across that term before, so I was curious if getting into the book was a good or bad thing. As he processed our guild badges, Khairgik explained.
"Here at the Adventurer's Guild, we hear all sorts of outlandish stories of danger, peril, and adventure. Those that we ascertain to be true are written down by the Guild Master, and are then sent off to our headquarters in Altenweil, capital of the Throndian Empire. If your tale of adventure is deemed worthy and gets added to the Book of Legend, then you advance one rank and your name is immortalized forever. With copies of the book being sent out to guilds around the world every century or so."
"Only sixteen winters and you might get your name in the book of legends. Impressive job, Kvalinn." Newman cheerfully patted me on the shoulder.
"Eh, I'm betting on Bekhi getting into the Book of Legends first." Richard said with a shrug. "It'll probably be Gerde though. With you two raising her she'll end up doing somethin' absolutely nuts when she gets bigger."
"Agreed!" Peter said with an eager smile. "If I ever hear about a beastkin of the north doing something world shaking then I'll be able to say that I know her."
"Just keep taking adventures and you'll hear all about it." Khairgik stamped our guild badges one last time and handed them back to us. "Peter. Kvalinn. Bekhi. Congratulations, you have all moved up one rank. You are all now D rank. Richard and Kat, you are nearly at B rank, just a little bit more, the Vermogen run will probably get you over the edge. Here's your quest rewards." He handed each of us a small bag full of gold coins. Each of us put it with the rest of our savings wherever we stored them. Richard stored his savings in his boot, Peter had a false bottom on his staff, and Kat kept hers between her breasts.
"Well, that's that." Newman said as we left the counter. "I'll be staying at the inn for a couple days until the Tochkan coal caravan is ready to roll out, but after that it will likely be a long time before we see each other again. I pray to the gods that you have safe travels wherever the road takes you."
"Newman, it's been a pleasure as always. I'll see you around." Richard shook hands with Newman before moving to talk with friends at the bar next door.
"Goodbye, Newman." Kat nodded before going to the quest board.
"So long, Newman. Thanks for taking me along on this adventure. If you're ever in the Empire by the Westian border then be sure to pay me a visit." Peter shook Newman's hand before following Richard to the bar.
"Before you three leave, I'm going back to Handel eventually so if you want, I can take a letter back home for you. The guild will sell you some writing materials and rent you a room to write in. I'll be drinking next door for the next couple hours and I'll meet you there."
"Thank you, Newman. We won't be too long, there isn't too much to tell the folks back home." Gerde moved in my rucksack as if to remind me she was there. "Except for Gerde that is. I'm sure that news will be quite surprising for my father."
"You think?" Bekhi looked at me with a raised eyebrow and a wry grin. "It seems like yesterday that your dad was fighting tooth and nail to keep you single and now you're writing to tell him about a grandkid. If I wasn't going on the Vermogen run I'd go back home just to see his reaction."
"What about your dad?" I asked. "Will Dak march all the way up here to beat me up on a misunderstanding?" Before leaving Vesturhildrun, Dak had warned me that if I got Bekhi pregnant then he would beat me black and blue with my own hammer and throw me in the forge fire.
"Don't worry about my dad. I'll write a separate letter to my mom explaining everything and let her handle him."
The two of us then went to the guild desk and bought a couple pages of parchment and some ink for about twenty silver. An outrageously expensive price, but there wasn't exactly an alternative under the mountains. Bekhi and I then got to work on our letters home.
It had been over a year since we had left Vesturhildrun. I wondered if my father was still living there, or if he had returned to our little shop in Nurnwuhr. When I had left, Dak had promised to help him find a wife if he stayed, so it was possible that my father had set up a weapon shop in the small town.
Starting off my letter nice and simple, I informed my father that I was doing well, and that I had kept my skills sharp on the adventurer's weapons. I then told him that I had gotten to read several of Hjerouhrdinn's ancient books of knowledge and I included a few weapon crafting tips from the books that he would find useful.
Finally, after delaying the big reveal as long as possible, I told my father that I had adopted Gerde and that technically he was a grandfather. I closed out the letter by letting him know that I was doing my best to teach her weapon crafting and that she should be able to make acceptable weapons by the time we met again.
"Papa, what's a grandfather?" Gerde asked when I told her to sign her name to the letter.
"A grandfather is a person, he's my father, and that makes him your grandfather." I answered.
"You have a papa too? So he's my grandpapa? Mama! I have a grandpapa!" Gerde looked over at her mother with a wagging tail. For some reason the news excited her more than it should have.
"You actually have two, Gerde." Bekhi said with a motherly smile. "I have a dad too, so that would make him your granddad." That news seemed to shock Gerde and she sat there in silence for several minutes as she worked it out.
After we finished writing our letters, we stopped by the bar and handed them over to Newman. Of course we also had several human strength beers with our companions as a sort of farewell to Newman and Peter. They would be leaving the mountain in a few days so that they could start on their journey home.
Several beers later, when the humans in our party were hammered and Bekhi and I were still thirsty, we said goodbye and made our way to the gate. Ingrur had asked us to see him there whenever we had a free minute and he would take us to his cousin the rune smith.
"Took you long enough." Ingrur grumbled. "Follow me and I'll take you to my cousin's workshop. Just to warn you, currently he's hosting several runesmiths from the surrounding mountains so they will all be observing your work and if it turns out that you are lying about your abilities then they will write your name in their grudge books before feeding you to the yetis."
"I can assure you that I am able to craft magical runes. Every weapon that my party wielded had magical runes that I made over winter." Ingrur looked at me with a skeptical eye as we walked along the dark roads in silence.
Ingrur walked up to the only house in town where the faint vibrations of a forge could be felt through the stone in the street and knocked on the door. It was answered by an older dwarven woman with long gray hair who greeted him in a friendly manner.
"Greetings, Ingrur. What brings you here today? Have you finally brought the order of wyvern scales my husband ordered? Or are you just bringing us more yeti meat?"
"Neither one today, Zhugret. I brought the dwarf I told you about the other day in my message, the one who claimed to be a student of Elder Thrikrondromm and said he can craft runed weapons despite not being old enough to even grow a beard." Bekhi let a small snort of laughter escape at that last comment. I had been letting my facial hair grow unchecked ever since I was born, and to my chagrin, all I had to show for it was some fuzz. Apparently it was normal for a dwarf to have at least some facial hair by sixteen.
Looking over at Bekhi, Zhugret gestured at her. "Who's the girl?"
"His companion from Einangrad. They took a quest together guarding weapons from there and they're probably close since they adopted a kid together."
"Hmph. Well come on in. Waraek and the other runesmiths are downstairs working together on the armor for the Vermogen run." Zhugret stepped aside and led us down to the basement where a rune forge had been set up.
Around the rune forge, four runesmiths were hammering away at a single anvil while singing the forge song. The teamwork and coordination involved was highly impressive. Each smith hit the metal and removed their hammer just in time for the next smith's hammer to fall. For a while I was mesmerized by the sight, until I realized I should probably be taking note of the technique since I might be able to use it later for the creation of my gadgets.
When the song came to an end and a powerful rune of heat had inscribed itself on the gleaming breastplate, Zhugret got their attention with a shout. She then roughly pushed me forward to introduce myself.
"Greetings, I am Kvalinn Runecursed. May the ancestors grant that our actions today bring honor to their names." I held out my hammer for the traditional greeting, but the gesture was not returned. Instead, each of the runesmiths glared at me with the passion of a nerd whose favorite franchise has been belittled. The oldest of the runesmiths eventually stepped forward but did not greet me.
"So. You claim to be a student of the legendary Elder Thrikrondromm. And that you can craft magical runes that are not recorded in our rune books. Show us your skill, or provide fuel for the fire." A younger runesmith, who was still well over two hundred years old by the length of his beard, thrust a crossbow bolt into my hands and shoved me towards the rune forge.
I relished the familiar heat of the rune forge for a few seconds before getting to work. I hadn't made a rune of beer in a while, but since it was just a simple song and I was using my own magic to make the rune, I had it finished after less than ten minutes of work.
"By the beard of the ancestors! Did you come here to mock us!?" A runesmith roared out. "There is no way that you could have made a magical rune in so short a time."
"The beardless youth must be seeking an honorable death at the hands of his elders." Another one commented. "Perhaps the snows of the surface world have driven him mad."
"Ingrur! Why have you wasted my time with this? Were you hoping to sneak another barrel of beer from my cellar!?" The oldest runesmith was getting angry at Ingrur now.
"Just give the bolt a test, cousin." Ingrur said defensively. "I don't know anything about rune crafting, but I do know that all the weapons he and his companions had were all runed. An amount of magical weapons worth a king's ransom. So unless they stumbled upon an ancient ruin from before the elf invasion, Kvalinn probably made the weapons."
Grumbling at the impertinence of the younger generation, the oldest of the runesmiths pricked his finger with the beer bolt. Upon feeling the sensation of drunkenness that the rune bestowed on those affected by its magic, the runesmith's brows shot up in surprise.
"By my own beard! You actually did make a magical rune!" He then held out his hammer for the traditional greeting. "Greetings. I am Weraek Caveguard of the Runesmith Guild. May the ancestors look upon our work with pride. Now tell us, how is Elder Thrikrondromm doing?"
"Indeed, I heard from a merchant a century ago that he had begun teaching at an institution designed in the fashion of human schools to escape the persecution of the Weapon Clan of Einangrad." Another runesmith chimed in.
"Persecution?" I looked to the runesmith in confusion. "Elder Thrikrondromm is a highly honored and respected teacher in the Vonur School. That's where I learned rune crafting from him at such a young age."
"And why do you think an Elder as old and talented as Elder Thrikrondromm was teaching children?" An Elder sarcastically asked. "When the last high king died and Irgadhim assumed the position of Clan Head in Einangrad, he began working to undermine the other clans with the cursed subtlety of a damned elf. Spreading a narrative that the Weapon Clan was the only hope of salvation for the mountain, and that runes were responsible for the death of the High King. I myself was cast out of the mountain centuries ago when Irgadhim withheld a shipment of weapons from King Thralgrorlum during an attack by Zaihanians unless I was exiled. I suspect Elder Thrikrondromm took up the job of teacher of children so that he could remain in his beloved mountain without Irgadhim scheming to eject him."
"Agreed, I assume you are not part of any clan due to Irgadhim's lust for power and your ability with rune magic?" Weraek asked at me with a sharp and wise glare.
Several things from that terrible day when I had been kicked from the weapon clan now made sense to me. Why my grandfather was so against my working with rune magic, and why he ladled so many curses on the profession of runesmith. I entered a grudge into my mental book of grudges against my grandfather, a grudge that would only be struck out when he had been cast out of the mountain like I had been.
"You are correct." I slowly answered. "I was cast out from the Weapon Clan over a year ago, and struck from the clan records."
"I thought so." Weraek nodded to himself. "You are too young to be admitted into the ranks of the Runesmith Guild, but given your training and talents, I am willing to offer you a temporary job working with us. The Vermogen run always needs more runed weapons and armor, the four of us are gathered here to make as many as possible before the armies assemble next year and with you by our side we should be able to make more than our quota. We would be glad to have additional assistance."
"Will I be making the weapons as well?" Weraek just shook his head at my question.
"While I have no doubt that you are well trained in weaponsmithing. You cannot add runes to stone weapons, so we will be using only what is brought to us from the mountains and Tochka."
The next few minutes were spent discussing pay and work hours. When Weraek heard that we didn't have lodgings yet, he offered us two spare rooms that were currently unoccupied. He would also provide food and beer for as long as we stayed here.
Gerde and Bekhi were then introduced to the Elders, and Gerde was looked over with some curiosity before they moved on to Bekhi's weapons. They were much more excited to see the runes I had used that had come from Hjerouhrdinn's books of knowledge.
"This rune right here. Can you teach it to me?" One of the runesmiths named Grethaodhaid Brightforged asked in excitement as he pointed at one of the lost runes I had discovered. "If I could add this to my rune book when I go back home to Koghulihm, then my honor in the guild should increase tremendously."
"Don't forget about this one." Another runesmith said as he pointed at an experimental rune. "The warrior who wields this rune will likely gain great acclaim no matter if he's a dwarf, a Tochkan, or even a Vermogen!"
"With all these runes to learn, it's a pity that you can't stay with us longer, Kvalinn." I looked at Weraek in surprise. We had just finished negotiating work wages and living conditions, why wouldn't I be able to stay here until Bekhi returned from the Vermogen run. The answer turned out to be simpler than I had expected.
Apparently the Vermogen run only happened once every twenty years, and when the rune smiths of the Thomboldahr had finished making the runes for the warriors accompanying the valuables, they took a five year break to focus on the secretarial work that had built up before getting to work on the next round of weapons. They would also let the weapons supply build back up so that when it came time to return to rune smithing they wouldn't need to wait on weapon shipments. So having me work at rune smithing while they were building back up their supplies would be counterintuitive.
Later that night, after eating a hearty feast that Zhugret had cooked up for everyone, I spoke with Bekhi about the future. I didn't want to just guard the gates until Bekhi came back from Vermogen, and I also didn't want to take Gerde out alone into the Tochkan wilderness, at least not while the nobility there still had their sights set on using me for their own power.
"No, the answer is no, Kvalinn." Bekhi and I were sitting at the long table watching the dying embers on the fire. Gerde was contently sleeping on Bekhi's lap, her feet occasionally twitching as she dreamed about something. "We kept Gerde safe all the way here, but can we do that against dragons? When that pack of monsters appeared, you felt it would be a good idea to give her a hammer, what would you give her if a dragon attacked from the sky?"
"I can make up some armor for her that would keep her safe even against dragons." I said with just a hint of pride. However, that only earned me a glare from Bekhi.
"But would it be safe for her to use? Bear in mind that several of the runes you made in school nearly killed you in the testing room. I don't want Gerde to be accidentally killed by you trying to protect her."
I had no rebuttal for that argument. Several of my experimental runes back then had been overpowered and undercontrolled, and the resulting runes had been deadly to both wielder and target alike. To my knowledge, they were all rusting down in the Thane's vault due how dangerous they were.
"They will be safe. I've learned so much from the ancient books in Tochka, anything I make for Gerde will do exactly what I intend and no more."
"Yeah, but against dragons? Elder Dworhick spoke a couple times about fighting those beasts, and every time he mentioned killing one it was only after many lives had been lost."
"Are you two talking about the Vermogen run?" Zhugret spoke quietly from the entrance of the kitchen, causing us both to jump in surprise since we had thought that we were alone. She sat down at the table and passed each of us a beer mug before taking a sip from her own.
A few minutes of silence went by as we savored the strong dwarven beer. Zhugret then began speaking in a nostalgic tone. "Before I married Weraek, I was a high ranking member of the Warrior Clan, and I made the Vermogen run several times before settling down. It's a dangerous journey to be sure, but no more dangerous than what you have already done with Gerde. The Vermogen run goes through Tochkan tundra, so while it's true that you will be facing down dragons in addition to everything else out there, you will be doing so alongside tens of thousands of dwarven warriors and human adventurers so you would actually be safer than when you brought Gerde here."
"So, hypothetically, if we were to take Gerde with us. Would Kvalinn need to make special runes to keep her safe?" Bekhi was now on the fence, looking down at Gerde sleeping on her lap.
"Rune of Heat for certain, the frost dragons can breath out magic that can freeze you solid in minutes if you don't have a shield with that rune. Some armor with that rune will probably help against the snow wolves and frost trolls too. But other than that, there's nothing absolutely necessary. Maybe a Rune of Travel on her boots to help her walk when you can't carry her."
I waited with bated breath for Bekhi to make her decision. She let her eyes drift to the smoldering fire, watching it crackle and pop as she thought. Looking over to me, she gave the outcome of her internal deliberations.
"I'm going to test every single one of the runes you make for her. Do not make a single extra rune unless you run it by me first. Also, do not make any extra weapons without my approval. The guard jobs that the Adventurer's Guild has for the gate will have us work two weeks on and one week off, during the off week I'll train Gerde on the use of her weapons and shield. Make sure you practice with her every day. If you can do all that, then we can all go on the Vermogen run together."
"I'll do my best to restrain myself when making the weapons." I joked, but she shut me down with a glare.
"Restrain yourself, Kvalinn. If a rune misfires and hurts our daughter then I will beat you with that rune until she recovers."
"I'll assist Kvalinn in training her in weapons." Zhugret said with an amused smile at our conversation. "I've trained a few of my own children in the use of weapons, and Gerde looks to be a promising student. It should be interesting to find out how a child of another race takes to my teaching and what weapon she will favor."
The three of us looked at the snoozing Gerde who was blissfully unaware of how busy her life was about to become. That night with Zhugret's assistance, we came up with an education plan for Gerde to have her ready for battle by the time the armies left for the Vermogen run in spring. Of course I made sure that she had some time slotted in for me to teach her the basics of weapon crafting. My father would scold me for at least a year if I didn't pass on his lessons to his grandchild, plus I was curious to see how a beastkin would take to dwarven weapon crafting.
Work began in earnest the next morning. Bekhi left for the Adventurer's Guild to take on short term quests involving yeti hunting or gate guarding, leaving Gerde in Zhugret's care. According to her, all of her children had moved out years ago and lived in other cities so she was happy to be able to take care of a child again. I was kept busy by the runesmiths all day either making more weapons with the rune of beer, or teaching my experimental runes to them and figuring out how to make them without my magic.
Weraek and the other runesmiths were surprised by the runes on my hand, and the fact that I had magic, but they shrugged if off like Elder Thrikrondromm had back when I attended school. Their reasoning was that the gods had given me this power as either a prank or a trap, but since I was using it to expand their knowledge of the runes then they would be fools to not take advantage of my abilities. It really spoke to how corrupt the lore of the mountain of Einangrad had become due to my grandfather's machinations.
Day and night we worked on adding the runes to the accumulated weapons meant for the warriors on the Vermogen run. During my off time, I instructed Gerde in the dwarven runes, and practiced her combat skills and weapon smithing. Of course, due to her small size, combat was just teaching her how to swing a hammer against a stationary shield, and weapon smithing was just teaching her how to use the bellows and judge the fire. But she seemed to soak up the information like a sponge and kept asking for more. I looked forward to the months to come, they would evidently be very busy, and spent working hard for the future expedition.