A grudge to settle

Many years ago, a Dourhand envoy, named Glumir Stonevein, claimed that old grievances were buried and offered cooperation in the form of a joint Longbeard and Dourhand mining expedition into Sarnúr, although the area was long contested by Dourhands. His words convinced the Dwarves of Durin’s Folk, and Otgar Ironkettle, Atgar Smokehand’s father, was commissioned to oversee the crafting of mining tools and infrastructure to consolidate the newfound cooperation.

Otgar was not just a respected toolsmith. He was the keeper of forge-patterns passed down through generations, along with certain tool-head designs, alloy ratios and reinforced haft binding methods. As Otgar believed in rebuilding dwarf unity, he accepted the commission and set out to Sarnur, taking his young son Atgar to the expedition.

Unbeknownst to Otgar, Glumir hadn’t buried old grievances, despite his words. He wanted the designs known to Otgar, not for craft and prosperity, but for war. While Otgar forged for unity, Glumir forged darker pacts in shadowed tunnels.

During the joint expedition into Sarnur, tensions were already high. Disputes and disagreements were building up until the time the long prepared Goblin attack came. As Longbeard Dwarves took up arms and formed their lines, the Dourhands pulled back,  leaving them exposed. Goblins closed the pass in great numbers and Durin’s Folk Dwarves were overwhelmed.

In the aftermath of the short engagement, Otgar was captured alive, along with several other survivors, including Atgar, his son, who was struck down unconscious during the fight. As the captives were bound and on their knees, Otgar was beaten by the Dourhands, with Glumir making his demands for the forge patterns and the designs he wanted to acquire.

Otgar cried his defiance at Glumir, saying:
         “Ironkettle craft was never meant for traitors.”
knowing well that giving these crafting secrets to Glumir would spell trouble for Longbeards and everyone in Ered Luin, turning his eyes to Atgar. Glumir offered to spare his life in exchange for kneeling before the Dourhand banner. Otgar refused again, as no Longbeard kneels to traitors.

Amidst the Goblin laughter and Dourhand insults, Glumir picked from the ground Otgar’s heirloom axe. This was an axe finely crafted by Otgar’s father, etched with runes along the beard of the blade and serving both as tool and weapon. As he tested the axe’s weight on his hand, Glumir mocked its balance and then said aloud:
         “If Durin’s line will not bend, it will be broken.”

as for a heartbeat, even the Goblins fell silent. He then raised the axe high so everyone could see and executed Otgar with his own heirloom axe, before the shocked eyes of the captives, and most importantly Atgar.

Glumir then turned his gaze unto Atgar, saying:
         “Let the whelp live. Let him grow. Let him come looking for it.”

lifting the axe high, letting the runes catch the torchlight.

As Atgar was bound and on his knees, with the taste of blood in his mouth and forced to watch the execution of his father, something within him turned to iron. His mind went to Mahal, as he whispered an oath for revenge in his name:
         “Mahal, Maker of my fathers.
         Hear me beneath stone and sky.
         By the hands You shaped and the fire You kindled,
         I swear this:
                  The axe of Ironkettle shall not rest in a traitor’s hand.
                  Glumir Stonevein is marked.
                  His debt is blood.
                  His reckoning is mine.
                  Let my beard fall to ash if I break this oath.”

As the Dourhands and their Goblin allies turned and vanished into Sarnur, Atgar’s gaze was focused on Glumir and his father’s axe, his eyes no longer those of a son, but of a dwarf who had carved a name into stone.