No, your Dad is a Legendary ARMORSMITH, not a CHEESEMAKER. Haven't you been listening?!


He crafted much of the armor that preserved Dwarven lives during the great Elf-Dwarf war. He's produced so many masterwork armor pieces that he doesn't even get a bad thought whenever a piece gets lost or destroyed; he's simply glad that his craft was able to save lives. Many hailed him as a Smithing Hero; Nilning incarnate, the Dwarven God of Smithing and Patron God of the Eastern Mountainhome himself!


You think he's just a big jerk who hates cheese.


You don't have a mother.


Well, actually you probably do, but you don't remember her. You're adopted. The Duke says that your parents were killed during a raid in the War, so he took you in. There were so many dead that no one knew their names.


Oh, him? His name's not Urist McRandomGuard, it's Gruzzluss Holt. He's the Captain of the Guard, and quite possibly one of the oldest dwarves still living in the mountain homes.


It's okay, though, because no one can remember the last time the mountainhomes got attacked. It's so boring here that not even the ORCS want it.

The girl hopping around behind him is Reg Pashmad, the only recruit in the mountainhomes. Duke Mosus says she can't go on caravans as a guard because she's too essential to the security of the fortress to give up, although you suspect he was just saying that so he won't hurt her feelings.


She's a bit...enthusiastic about her job.


The Duke says they'll escort you to his office and wait with you until he's ready to give you a long, long, long, long, long, boring, long lecture about Dwarven morals and why you can't go to ShieldDawn. In the meantime, he has work to do. The caravan season is only a couple of months away and they barely have enough to fulfill their end of the trade agreement! Desertguard ordered a mountain of wood, and Wavemechanisms put in a massive order for iron and steel, Combinelocks needs an ocean of cloth and thread, and...