Chapter One
The Dwarves of Ironforge were a pretty contented and focused lot, they mined, smithed weapons and drank ale. Politics sometimes came in into the mix and when it did, it became messy. The unofficial Dwarven motto was: "Don't Mess With Me"
Dunmere was one of the dwarves. He was enjoying his trade of seeking mineral lodes in old caves when word came down from King Bronzebeard that "everyone" had to drop mining and pick up "discovering the distant past" Dunmere was privately outraged and only told his sweet wife, Lonra. "Did ye know that fool King of ours is trying to cut us off at the feet? We can't mine anymore!" he groused, which Bronzebeard dwarves did so well. "Perhaps he'll change his mind." she reassured him. "Nah, he's a stubborn old Bronzebeard!" said Dunmere. "Once an idea gets into that head of his, he'll never get it out!" he said. "Like that time he got the idea to marry into the Dark Iron Clan, they aren't even allied to us for crying out loud!" he exclaimed. "Moira is a nice enough girl" said Lonra.
"A cunning and clever girl at that!" he exclaimed. "Pipe down, have some ale." said Ofstead, his neighbor. "Come on over and we'll have a pint!" exclaimed Dunmere. "Sure, just say nothing about our King for crying out loud!" exclaimed Ofstead. Old Ofstead came over with three empty steins in his hands and filled them up at the ale barrel. "Can't say I blame you for being upset!" said Ofstead, "My own uncle is ancient and not getting any younger and that mine he owns for our King is sitting empty and not making a single coin!" exclaimed Ofstead. "Everyone just took off?" asked Dunmere. "Yah, that and troggs." said Ofstead. "Blasted troggs, they almost split my head five winters ago!" said Dunmere. "Ten winters ago." said Lonra. "Oh, right!" he said, not wanting to repeat the story. "Tell us!" said Ofstead, with a huge grin on his face, he loved this story. "Alright. I was asleep and I began to sleepwalk from our barracks into the mine. I run into this huge trogg and I woke up thinking 'I'm dead!' anyway I get out of there except for the fact that the trogg hit me on the head and I ran deeper into the mine! Anyway I found me handy stash of armor and weapons and I set it on me body and went to fight my way out! I reach the exit of the mine only to find that all the troggs had cleared out. Vamoosed. You know what? A giant, trogg-eating spider was standing right behind me just waiting for me to take a step backwards. So I calmly walked out when I felt this thing dripping poison on my armor and I didn't return to that mine until I had Vassarian and Olsen the Mighty kill that thing!" laughed Dunmere. "Where is Vassarian now?" asked Ofstead. "Ah, he was sent to a bad engagement with the Twilight's Hammer and he lost half of his unit, he resigned in shame and is now retired to Stormwind, fishing and hunting in Westfall and drinking and playing cards with other army vets at that one bar in the old trade district that I could never remember. All the retired military and active mercenaries go there, seems to work out well enough, the King's spies recruit there for that agency no-one dares to speak about. Lots of rogues there sometimes. Most of the time some mercenary guild is having a party for a member that is leaving, keeps them from going you see." said Dunmere, rambling. "We know." said Ofstead. "Anyway I was up there two years ago and ran into Silent Charlie, he seemed up to no good, as usual. I asked him a bunch of questions but he said he was in town to visit his sick grandmother, then he told me there "might" be a steady payday for me if I fed him whispers from Ironforge. I flat out refused him. He told me about the Twilight's Hammer infiltration of the Dark Irons. I told him we never see Moira and he laughed for a half hour or so and that was that!" laughed Dunmere. "So he quit the topic?" asked Ofstead. "Yeah, he was working for the King of Stormwind so he didn't want to make us want to quit the Alliance and join the Horde. Why are these silly humans so afraid we'll join the Horde? The Horde ransacks our villages just as much and anyone else's village! No turning back now!" exclaimed Dunmere. "The Tauren almost joined the Alliance." said Ofstead. "That was a bloody shame, that elder female they had was a wise cow. But they listened to their war chiefs instead and now they swing the blade for the damned Orcs." said Dunmere. "You would think those zombies would have been natural Alliance, after all, they were human." said Ofstead. "Yeah, you can blame that on the witchcraft of the infamous Dark Lady." said Dunmere. Everyone sat silent for a moment. "My cat has been meowing for it's supper. Time to go." said Ofstead. "Wait, before ye go, I have a proposal to present to ye." said Dunmere. "Anything to do with damp caves or abandoned mines? We would need five or more dwarves, armed to the teeth if we were to do that!" exclaimed Ofstead. "Actually yes, I spoke to ten Bronzebeards and five Wildhammers. We have fifteen of our race and two Night Elves, Ossarion and Vassarian." said Dunmere."Oss and Vass will heal us in case we are injured. I am taking front and we'll shield wall if we have to." said Dunmere. "Count me and old Magi the Hardened in." said Ofstead. "Old Magi? I thought he died." said Dunmere. "No, he lost his wife and went into mourning for a year, he only came back into the main forge recently." said Ofstead. "Helga? She was a brave woman." said Dunmere, "I must have been away when it happened." he added. "You were out scouting the cave at in Kalimidor. Found enough copper to buy us a nice new rug." said Lonra to Dunmere. "You are worth every gold coin." said Dunmere with a grin. "No kidding, the dowry my father demanded put you back seven years." laughed Lonra. "These humans, now they don't have a dowry strictly speaking but the father does give a gift to the groom and walks the bride down the aisle, kinda like us." said Dunmere. "I'll see you at the first trumpet blast to-marrow!" exclaimed Ofstead. "I will see you then with the crew!" said Dunmere. Ofstead left. "That was nice of him." said Lonra. "Ya, and he'll turn around and report everything to the King too!" exclaimed Dunmere. "Let's go to the Inn for dinner." said Dunmere. "We could ride to Stormwind and eat at that nice Inn in the Mage district." said Lonra. "Naw, that cook did give me a bout of the runs for a week, some murloc fin stew he made, said it was spiced up with something. It was still terrible!" said Dunmere. "Alright, we'll go to the close-by Inn then." said Lonra. They got up and walked the great, circular hall until they reached the Inn, which was near the main exit to outside. Some Night Elf mercenaries were standing around, bragging about their gear and humans were riding their mounts at full speed down the walkways. "Watch out! Don't run me over! Sheesh!" said Dunmere to a group of humans too much in a hurry to get outside and kill wolves. "So the King's father let all allied races have temporary residence here. They all live in the Inns and they use Ironforge as a base ro keep Horde out of our lands, nice enough exchange I suppose but I wish they would be careful more." said Dunmere to his Lonra. "If they hit me, I'll just punch them into the grilled trench. That'll teach them a lesson." said Lonra with a frown. They reached the Inn and it was packed with "space goats" and Night Elves. "Don't you have a city to live in?" asked Dunmere in jest. "Darnasus is a holy city." said Fallalor in his ancient manner. "Not much going on at the Tree anymore." said a younger Night Elf. Dunmere and Lonra sat down. Fallalor came over and joined them. "Word has it that you are leading a crew into some lost cave." said Fallalor. "I wish I could bring you along but I have seventeen in my crew already, one more would be overkill." said Dunmere to the Night Elf. "I have news." said the Night Elf. "Ossarion the Wisened is sick with the distemper again and cannot come." said Fallalor. "So are you his cousin?" asked Dunmere. "I am, and I am a Paladin of the First Rank." said Fallalor. "Fine, make your mark in this book." said Dunmere as he pulled out his accounts book from his pocket. The Night Elf drew his clan symbol on the page. "Okay then, the pay is 5 gold a day and 5% of everything we find. I would be minded to pay three but you are a healer." said Dunmere to the Night Elf. "That is fine, I need a relic though. That is why I am volunteering, I need the staff of Gorlem." said Fallalor. "Never heard of it." said Dunmere with a frown. "Gorlem was a druid of ours who went into the Dream and never returned. I was charged by our leaders to find his staff and to return it without any loss of potency." said Fallalor. "So this is a holy quest? Do we need to fight anything to get at it?" asked Dunmere. "No, just the usual cave monsters." said Fallalor. "Slimes, Furblogs and troggs, oh my!" said Dunmere, quoting an old dwarven child's fable. Fallalor chuckled slightly. "Also something else, my master senses a danger lurking deep within this cave. He can't see it but it's there. He can feel it." said the Night Elf with a look of worry on his face. "The cave of Nash? What was it before it was used as a wine storage and a mine?" asked Dunmere. "A Burrow we called Ban'lashas. It was used by our druids before we abandoned it because of it's danger." said Fallalor. "For the Emerald Dream?" asked Dunmere. "Yes. And for storing powerful ritual objects. Do not repeat that to our human friends, they have a strong desire to learn but they often take the wrong path and become evil." confided the Night Elf druid. "I figured that out after Arthas murdered his father the King of Lordereon and Benedictus turned against the Light and joined the Twilight's Hammer." whispered Dunmere. "Not all humans are bad, they are just a tad, well, misguided." said Fallalor in a low voice. "I heard that." said a human mercenary rogue. "Old Farnar! Come on over!" exclaimed Dunmere, recognizing an old friend immediately. Farnar the Sneaky came over and sat down, holding four ales. "Shall I propose a toast? The King of Stormwind, nay, his son, the Crown Prince, has discovered the rumored Continent of Panderia!" exclaimed Farnar the Sneaky. The room cheered, the band started to play and the bard set dwarven words about the Crown Prince into his song. "I wonder if our King, well I guess he is a co-leader, but I wonder if he will send us down to Panderia next, now that King Magni is frozen into a block of crystal?" asked Dunmere. "Perhaps. But I need a favor, and I am willing to pay my own way. Can you take me down to the cave? I need a ton of slime for a client. He didn't say what it was for but I can say it was a mage who asked for it." said Farnar with a wink. "If you'll fight for us, we'll gladly pay you." said Dumere to the human rogue. "Deal, does 10 gold a day sound good?" asked Farnar the Sneaky. "Ten! Are you out of your mind? Five and no more!" said Dunmere. "How much of a profit do you make off the ores?" asked the Sneak. "After auction, I will only get maybe 20% profit because I have to pay all of you." said Dunmere with a frown. "Gah, I have to drop. My father is dragging my hide out to a historical dig, me and my brothers." said Yons. "Okay, we just lost five good dwarves." said Dunmere. "Sorry." said Oog. "Don't be. It's not yer fault." said Dunmere to the dwarves. "Fine, we can recruit here." said Dunmere to his wife. "Well, I am going home honey. That was a good meal. You haven't even touched your food yet." said Lonra. "Food? I'm too busy with business! I'll see you at home dear." said Dunmere. She left and he cast his eyes around the room. "You there! Do you need employment?" asked Dunmere to some Wildhammers. "Does it involve gryphons?" asked the older Wildhammer. "We might need to fly out to the location, yes. But the rest of it is in a cave." said Dunmere. The Wildhammers walked over. "I am Tharu Wildhammer and these are my sons and nephews. How much are you paying?" asked Tharu. "Five gold a day. Another five if you provide us with flying mounts." said Dunmere. "We have a deal. Do you have a quarter master? I am a fine cook!" bragged Tharu. "I see this as a one day job. We go in, kill everything, get what we need and walk out. We can eat at the Inn, no wait. There is no Inn where we are going!" exclaimed Dunmere. "Fine, I'll bring food and ale and the tents." said Tharu. "How much you want for your services?" asked Dunmere. "Ten gold a day and not a gold piece less!" said Tharu. "Fine, you are hired. I'll just have to remain there for an extra day to mine enough copper to make a profit." said Dunmere. The Wildhammers cheered and everyone sat back down and had a round on Tharu. "I suppose the one good thing that I have going is that ever since the Bronzebeards went nuts looking for Titan artifacts, the price of copper and other metals has soared at the Stormwind Auction House in the last year or so!" laughed Dunmere. The dwarves laughed and they drank to the health of the Head of the Bronzebeard clan and to the confusion of Moira Dark Iron.
Coming Soon! Chapter Two!
If you like this story, give me feedback at GershomArizona@hotmail.com and if you are a writer, feel free to write about Dunmere in your fan fiction. I am "open sourcing" him for the benefit of other writers and fantasy fans.
Keep reading and writing and have fun!
The Dwarves of Ironforge were a pretty contented and focused lot, they mined, smithed weapons and drank ale. Politics sometimes came in into the mix and when it did, it became messy. The unofficial Dwarven motto was: "Don't Mess With Me"
Dunmere was one of the dwarves. He was enjoying his trade of seeking mineral lodes in old caves when word came down from King Bronzebeard that "everyone" had to drop mining and pick up "discovering the distant past" Dunmere was privately outraged and only told his sweet wife, Lonra. "Did ye know that fool King of ours is trying to cut us off at the feet? We can't mine anymore!" he groused, which Bronzebeard dwarves did so well. "Perhaps he'll change his mind." she reassured him. "Nah, he's a stubborn old Bronzebeard!" said Dunmere. "Once an idea gets into that head of his, he'll never get it out!" he said. "Like that time he got the idea to marry into the Dark Iron Clan, they aren't even allied to us for crying out loud!" he exclaimed. "Moira is a nice enough girl" said Lonra.
"A cunning and clever girl at that!" he exclaimed. "Pipe down, have some ale." said Ofstead, his neighbor. "Come on over and we'll have a pint!" exclaimed Dunmere. "Sure, just say nothing about our King for crying out loud!" exclaimed Ofstead. Old Ofstead came over with three empty steins in his hands and filled them up at the ale barrel. "Can't say I blame you for being upset!" said Ofstead, "My own uncle is ancient and not getting any younger and that mine he owns for our King is sitting empty and not making a single coin!" exclaimed Ofstead. "Everyone just took off?" asked Dunmere. "Yah, that and troggs." said Ofstead. "Blasted troggs, they almost split my head five winters ago!" said Dunmere. "Ten winters ago." said Lonra. "Oh, right!" he said, not wanting to repeat the story. "Tell us!" said Ofstead, with a huge grin on his face, he loved this story. "Alright. I was asleep and I began to sleepwalk from our barracks into the mine. I run into this huge trogg and I woke up thinking 'I'm dead!' anyway I get out of there except for the fact that the trogg hit me on the head and I ran deeper into the mine! Anyway I found me handy stash of armor and weapons and I set it on me body and went to fight my way out! I reach the exit of the mine only to find that all the troggs had cleared out. Vamoosed. You know what? A giant, trogg-eating spider was standing right behind me just waiting for me to take a step backwards. So I calmly walked out when I felt this thing dripping poison on my armor and I didn't return to that mine until I had Vassarian and Olsen the Mighty kill that thing!" laughed Dunmere. "Where is Vassarian now?" asked Ofstead. "Ah, he was sent to a bad engagement with the Twilight's Hammer and he lost half of his unit, he resigned in shame and is now retired to Stormwind, fishing and hunting in Westfall and drinking and playing cards with other army vets at that one bar in the old trade district that I could never remember. All the retired military and active mercenaries go there, seems to work out well enough, the King's spies recruit there for that agency no-one dares to speak about. Lots of rogues there sometimes. Most of the time some mercenary guild is having a party for a member that is leaving, keeps them from going you see." said Dunmere, rambling. "We know." said Ofstead. "Anyway I was up there two years ago and ran into Silent Charlie, he seemed up to no good, as usual. I asked him a bunch of questions but he said he was in town to visit his sick grandmother, then he told me there "might" be a steady payday for me if I fed him whispers from Ironforge. I flat out refused him. He told me about the Twilight's Hammer infiltration of the Dark Irons. I told him we never see Moira and he laughed for a half hour or so and that was that!" laughed Dunmere. "So he quit the topic?" asked Ofstead. "Yeah, he was working for the King of Stormwind so he didn't want to make us want to quit the Alliance and join the Horde. Why are these silly humans so afraid we'll join the Horde? The Horde ransacks our villages just as much and anyone else's village! No turning back now!" exclaimed Dunmere. "The Tauren almost joined the Alliance." said Ofstead. "That was a bloody shame, that elder female they had was a wise cow. But they listened to their war chiefs instead and now they swing the blade for the damned Orcs." said Dunmere. "You would think those zombies would have been natural Alliance, after all, they were human." said Ofstead. "Yeah, you can blame that on the witchcraft of the infamous Dark Lady." said Dunmere. Everyone sat silent for a moment. "My cat has been meowing for it's supper. Time to go." said Ofstead. "Wait, before ye go, I have a proposal to present to ye." said Dunmere. "Anything to do with damp caves or abandoned mines? We would need five or more dwarves, armed to the teeth if we were to do that!" exclaimed Ofstead. "Actually yes, I spoke to ten Bronzebeards and five Wildhammers. We have fifteen of our race and two Night Elves, Ossarion and Vassarian." said Dunmere."Oss and Vass will heal us in case we are injured. I am taking front and we'll shield wall if we have to." said Dunmere. "Count me and old Magi the Hardened in." said Ofstead. "Old Magi? I thought he died." said Dunmere. "No, he lost his wife and went into mourning for a year, he only came back into the main forge recently." said Ofstead. "Helga? She was a brave woman." said Dunmere, "I must have been away when it happened." he added. "You were out scouting the cave at in Kalimidor. Found enough copper to buy us a nice new rug." said Lonra to Dunmere. "You are worth every gold coin." said Dunmere with a grin. "No kidding, the dowry my father demanded put you back seven years." laughed Lonra. "These humans, now they don't have a dowry strictly speaking but the father does give a gift to the groom and walks the bride down the aisle, kinda like us." said Dunmere. "I'll see you at the first trumpet blast to-marrow!" exclaimed Ofstead. "I will see you then with the crew!" said Dunmere. Ofstead left. "That was nice of him." said Lonra. "Ya, and he'll turn around and report everything to the King too!" exclaimed Dunmere. "Let's go to the Inn for dinner." said Dunmere. "We could ride to Stormwind and eat at that nice Inn in the Mage district." said Lonra. "Naw, that cook did give me a bout of the runs for a week, some murloc fin stew he made, said it was spiced up with something. It was still terrible!" said Dunmere. "Alright, we'll go to the close-by Inn then." said Lonra. They got up and walked the great, circular hall until they reached the Inn, which was near the main exit to outside. Some Night Elf mercenaries were standing around, bragging about their gear and humans were riding their mounts at full speed down the walkways. "Watch out! Don't run me over! Sheesh!" said Dunmere to a group of humans too much in a hurry to get outside and kill wolves. "So the King's father let all allied races have temporary residence here. They all live in the Inns and they use Ironforge as a base ro keep Horde out of our lands, nice enough exchange I suppose but I wish they would be careful more." said Dunmere to his Lonra. "If they hit me, I'll just punch them into the grilled trench. That'll teach them a lesson." said Lonra with a frown. They reached the Inn and it was packed with "space goats" and Night Elves. "Don't you have a city to live in?" asked Dunmere in jest. "Darnasus is a holy city." said Fallalor in his ancient manner. "Not much going on at the Tree anymore." said a younger Night Elf. Dunmere and Lonra sat down. Fallalor came over and joined them. "Word has it that you are leading a crew into some lost cave." said Fallalor. "I wish I could bring you along but I have seventeen in my crew already, one more would be overkill." said Dunmere to the Night Elf. "I have news." said the Night Elf. "Ossarion the Wisened is sick with the distemper again and cannot come." said Fallalor. "So are you his cousin?" asked Dunmere. "I am, and I am a Paladin of the First Rank." said Fallalor. "Fine, make your mark in this book." said Dunmere as he pulled out his accounts book from his pocket. The Night Elf drew his clan symbol on the page. "Okay then, the pay is 5 gold a day and 5% of everything we find. I would be minded to pay three but you are a healer." said Dunmere to the Night Elf. "That is fine, I need a relic though. That is why I am volunteering, I need the staff of Gorlem." said Fallalor. "Never heard of it." said Dunmere with a frown. "Gorlem was a druid of ours who went into the Dream and never returned. I was charged by our leaders to find his staff and to return it without any loss of potency." said Fallalor. "So this is a holy quest? Do we need to fight anything to get at it?" asked Dunmere. "No, just the usual cave monsters." said Fallalor. "Slimes, Furblogs and troggs, oh my!" said Dunmere, quoting an old dwarven child's fable. Fallalor chuckled slightly. "Also something else, my master senses a danger lurking deep within this cave. He can't see it but it's there. He can feel it." said the Night Elf with a look of worry on his face. "The cave of Nash? What was it before it was used as a wine storage and a mine?" asked Dunmere. "A Burrow we called Ban'lashas. It was used by our druids before we abandoned it because of it's danger." said Fallalor. "For the Emerald Dream?" asked Dunmere. "Yes. And for storing powerful ritual objects. Do not repeat that to our human friends, they have a strong desire to learn but they often take the wrong path and become evil." confided the Night Elf druid. "I figured that out after Arthas murdered his father the King of Lordereon and Benedictus turned against the Light and joined the Twilight's Hammer." whispered Dunmere. "Not all humans are bad, they are just a tad, well, misguided." said Fallalor in a low voice. "I heard that." said a human mercenary rogue. "Old Farnar! Come on over!" exclaimed Dunmere, recognizing an old friend immediately. Farnar the Sneaky came over and sat down, holding four ales. "Shall I propose a toast? The King of Stormwind, nay, his son, the Crown Prince, has discovered the rumored Continent of Panderia!" exclaimed Farnar the Sneaky. The room cheered, the band started to play and the bard set dwarven words about the Crown Prince into his song. "I wonder if our King, well I guess he is a co-leader, but I wonder if he will send us down to Panderia next, now that King Magni is frozen into a block of crystal?" asked Dunmere. "Perhaps. But I need a favor, and I am willing to pay my own way. Can you take me down to the cave? I need a ton of slime for a client. He didn't say what it was for but I can say it was a mage who asked for it." said Farnar with a wink. "If you'll fight for us, we'll gladly pay you." said Dumere to the human rogue. "Deal, does 10 gold a day sound good?" asked Farnar the Sneaky. "Ten! Are you out of your mind? Five and no more!" said Dunmere. "How much of a profit do you make off the ores?" asked the Sneak. "After auction, I will only get maybe 20% profit because I have to pay all of you." said Dunmere with a frown. "Gah, I have to drop. My father is dragging my hide out to a historical dig, me and my brothers." said Yons. "Okay, we just lost five good dwarves." said Dunmere. "Sorry." said Oog. "Don't be. It's not yer fault." said Dunmere to the dwarves. "Fine, we can recruit here." said Dunmere to his wife. "Well, I am going home honey. That was a good meal. You haven't even touched your food yet." said Lonra. "Food? I'm too busy with business! I'll see you at home dear." said Dunmere. She left and he cast his eyes around the room. "You there! Do you need employment?" asked Dunmere to some Wildhammers. "Does it involve gryphons?" asked the older Wildhammer. "We might need to fly out to the location, yes. But the rest of it is in a cave." said Dunmere. The Wildhammers walked over. "I am Tharu Wildhammer and these are my sons and nephews. How much are you paying?" asked Tharu. "Five gold a day. Another five if you provide us with flying mounts." said Dunmere. "We have a deal. Do you have a quarter master? I am a fine cook!" bragged Tharu. "I see this as a one day job. We go in, kill everything, get what we need and walk out. We can eat at the Inn, no wait. There is no Inn where we are going!" exclaimed Dunmere. "Fine, I'll bring food and ale and the tents." said Tharu. "How much you want for your services?" asked Dunmere. "Ten gold a day and not a gold piece less!" said Tharu. "Fine, you are hired. I'll just have to remain there for an extra day to mine enough copper to make a profit." said Dunmere. The Wildhammers cheered and everyone sat back down and had a round on Tharu. "I suppose the one good thing that I have going is that ever since the Bronzebeards went nuts looking for Titan artifacts, the price of copper and other metals has soared at the Stormwind Auction House in the last year or so!" laughed Dunmere. The dwarves laughed and they drank to the health of the Head of the Bronzebeard clan and to the confusion of Moira Dark Iron.
Coming Soon! Chapter Two!
If you like this story, give me feedback at GershomArizona@hotmail.com and if you are a writer, feel free to write about Dunmere in your fan fiction. I am "open sourcing" him for the benefit of other writers and fantasy fans.
Keep reading and writing and have fun!
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