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Regis stretched out lazily against his favorite tree and enjoyed a drawn-out yawn, his cherubic diht that soh the thickly packed branches His fishing pole stood poised beside hi since been cleaned of any bait Regis rarely caught any fish, but he prided hi more than one worm

He had come out here every day since his return to Lonelywood He wintered in Bryn Shander now, enjoying the coood friend Cassius The city on the hill didn’t compare to Cali to luxury in all of Icewind Dale Regis thought hi Cassius to invite him to spend the harsh winters there

A cool breeze wafted in off Maer Dualdon, drawing a contented sigh froh June had already passed its midpoint, this was the first hot day of the short season And Regis was determined to make the most of it For the first time in over a year he had been out before noon, and he planned to stay in this spot, stripped of his clothes, letting the sun sink its warlow of sunset

An angry shout out on the lake caught his attention He lifted his head and half-opened one heavy eyelid The first thing he noticed, to his corown considerably over the winter, and fro flat on his back, he could only see the tips of his toes

Halfway across the water, four boats, two froos, jockeyed for position, running past each other with sudden tacks and turns, their sailors cursing and spitting at the boats that flew the flag of the other city For the last four-and-a-half years, since the Battle of Bryn Shander, the two cities had virtually been at war Though their battles were ht ords and fists than weapons, more than one ship had been rammed or driven into rocks or up to beach in shalloaters

Regis shrugged helplessly and dropped his head back to his folded waistcoat Nothing had changed is and soh hopes of a united couorwal of Termalaine over the drow

Even on the banks of the lake across the way, the period of good as short-lived a rivals The truce between Caer-Dineval and Caer-Konig had only lasted until the first time one of Caer-Dineval’s boats landed a valuable and rare five-footer, on the stretch of Lac Dinneshere that Caer-Konig had relinquished to her as compensation for the waters she had lost to Easthaven’s expanding fleet

Further and fiercely independent towns on the southernmost lake, Redwaters, had boldly demanded compensation fro casualties in the battle on Bryn Shander’s slopes, though they had never even considered the affair their business They reasoned that the thich had gained the most from the united effort should be made to pay The northern cities, of course, balked at the deone unheeded The ten communities remained as divided as ever before

In truth, the tohich had benefited the most from the battle was Lonelywood The population of Ten-Towns as a whole had re scoundrels continued to filter into the region, but an equal nurew disenchanted with the brutal conditions and returned to the rown considerably Maer Dualdon, with its consistent yield of knucklehead, re between Teros, and Bremen precariously perched on the banks of the unpredictable and often flooding Shaengarne River, Lonelywood appeared theof the four towns The people of the sn to draco Hero," and as the only place with shade trees within a hundred iven up his position as spokesman shortly after the battle, a choice mutually arrived at by hireater proues, the town needed a is simply didn’t want to be bothered with the responsibility anyis had found a way to turn his fame into profit Every new settler in the town had to pay out a share of his first catches in return for the right to fly Lonelywood’s flag, and Regis had persuaded the new spokesman and the other leaders of the town that since his na in the new settlers, he should be cut in for a portion of these fees

The halfling wore a broad sood fortune He spent his days in peace, coainst thea line in the water once and letting the day pass hih the only work he ever did noas carving scrimshaw His crafted pieces carried ten times their old value, the price partially inflated by the halfling’s sree of fame, but moreso because he had persuaded so Bryn Shander that his unique style and cut gave his scriis patted the ruby pendant that rested on his bare chest It see these days

The ha metal Sparks leaped off the anvil platform in a fiery arc, then died into the diain and again, guided effortlessly by a huge, muscled arm

The smith wore only a pair of pants and a leather apron tied about his waist in the small, hot charooves across his broad shoulders and chest, and he glistened with sweat in the orange glow of the forge His movements were marked by such rhythmic, tireless ease that they seeod who had forged the world in the days before rin spread across his face when he felt the rigidity of the iron finally give a bit under the force of his blows Never before had he felt such strength in the metal; it tested him to the li as the thrill of battle when he had at last proven hiar stopped for a hts, s in spite of himself as he remembered his first days in the ry youth he had been then, cheated out of his right to die on the field of honor by a gru it "good business"

This was his fifth and final spring indentured to the dwarves in tunnels that kept his seven-foot fraed for the freedoh to the warible pull of the s unbent, the ceaseless wind tickling hi his mind with mystical visions of unknown horizons

And yet, for all of their inconveniences, Wulfgar had to admit that he would miss the hot drafts and constant clatter of the dwarven halls He had clung to the brutal code of his people, which defined capture as disgrace, during the first year of his servitude, reciting the Song of Teainst the insinuation of weakness in the company of the soft, civilized southerners

Yet Bruenor was as solid as the metal he pounded The dwarf openly professed no love for battle, but he swung his notched axe with deadly accuracy and shrugged off blows that would fell an ogre

The dwarf had been an enigar in the early days of their relationship The young barbarian was coree of respect, for Bruenor had bested him on the field of honor Even then, with the battlelines firenuine and deeply-rooted affection in the eyes of the dwarf that had confused hie Ten-Towns, yet Bruenor’s underlying attitude seemed more the concern of a stern father than the callous perspective of a slave’s ar always remeruff and insulting, working Wulfgar at er had dissipated over the longBruenor’s commands without question or complaint Gradually, conditions had ie, and later, to craft the metal into fine weapons and tools And finally, on a day that Wulfgar would never forget, he had been given his own forge and anvil where he could work in solitude and without supervision - though Bruenor often stuck his head in to grumble over an inexact strike or to spout out a few pointers More than the degree of freedoar’s pride Since the first time he lifted the smithy hammer he called his own, the erness and meticulous devotion of a true crafts over the s an entire piece to correct a slight ie in his perspective, viewing it as an attribute that h he didn’t as yet understand how

Bruenor called it "character"

The work paid dividends physically as well Chopping stone and pounding angly frath And he possessed great stathened his heart and stretched his lungs to new liar bit his lip in shaht after the Battle of Bryn Shander He had vowed to pay Bruenor back in blood as soon as he had fulfilled the terms of his indenture He understood now, to his own ae of Bruenor Battlehaainst the dwarf sickened hi his ha its incredibly hard head more and more into the semblance of a blade This piece would make a fine sword

Bruenor would be pleased