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2024-10-29 19:42:56On the second day of travel, when we were halfway to Vesturhildrun, we were attacked by goblins. If there had been any landmarks on the featureless gray walls, I would have suspected that it was the exact same place we had been attacked last time.
“Goblin attack!” Came the loud cry from the guard who was tasked with listening for their scratching claws. “Goblin attack! Ready your weapons! Protect the mole-mules and Kholgaik, we don’t get paid if the cargo doesn’t make it!”
There was a loud clattering as the twenty guards prepared their shields and weapons and got the wagons into a defensive position. I had a short sword this year, but this time there was no magical rune on it so I’d have to depend on my training. Bekhi expertly twirled the hammer I had given her and grinned in anticipation at the upcoming conflict.
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I was awoken the next morning at dawn by one of Bekhi’s brothers. I was expecting to be taken to the barn for chores, but instead, Dak met me by the front door. “Good morning, Kvalinn. I’ve arranged for you to use the local forge today. So go grab whatever you were writing yesterday and get ready to fill all the requests we made. And remember Bekhi’s warning. No making anything that’s not a weapon! Humbart doesn’t need any more help in the kitchen of The Halfling’s Haven.” For a minute, I wondered how he had arranged to use the town smith when it was still pre-dawn, but then I remembered that he had sent one of his kids on an errand yesterday after dinner and that’s probably when he sent the message. I went back upstairs to get my notes of everyone’s requests. Each member of the family seemed to want a different weapon with a different rune so it was going to be a long day. Just as I was putting on the several coats that were being lent to me, the door burst open with a bang that
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As I struck the final blow, and sang the final note, a pain unlike I had ever felt in this life radiated from the rune of forging. It was as if I had stuck my hand into a bucket of dry ice, with spikes of pain encapsulating my entire hand instead just the rune lines. It was so painful, that my voice cracked as I yelled in pure agony.“Kvalinn!” Dak rushed from where he had been guarding the door to check on me. “Kvalinn! Are you ok? What happened?”“N-never rush a f-forge song.” I croaked out, my throat evidently hadn’t recovered from the shout. “Help me up. I need to make sure the rune was successfully applied.”Dak and Grildem supported me as I looked over the hammer. Fortunately for our continued survival, a rune of fire was glowing on the head of the warhamme
Reincarnated as a Dwarf Going back home
It wasn’t until the next morning that I woke up again. By that point, I was the only one who hadn’t recovered enough to be taken from the tavern, so I woke to see the dining room completely empty.“Hello?” I tried getting up from the table to see the room better, but was hit by several waves of pain from my back. Judging from the sensation, the burned and damaged skin around the rune of protection was still working on healing itself, and since the rune covered most of my back, there was a lot of skin to heal.“Kvalinn!” Bekhi scrambled up from the cot she had been sleeping in nearby. “Get back down or you’ll move the poultices!”I gladly followed her instructions, and let my head fall back onto the waiting pillow. I could feel Bekhi moving any of the
Reincarnated as a Dwarf Home again in darkness
“Good morning, Kvalinn. Ready to go back to school?” Bekhi seemed to be back to her normal self, and was washing dishes in her usual outfit. “How are your burns doing? Think you can make the trip back down to Nurnwuhr?”“I’m feeling a little better, but I’m not looking forward to three days of walking.” I was still feeling very stiff, and my hands were wrapped up with burn ointments, so the trip back home would probably be very long and very, very, miserable. “No need to worry about that.” Dak walked into the kitchen with a traveling bag on his back and weapons strapped to his side. “As thanks for making the weapon, I’ll be paying Kholgaik to let you ride on one of the wagons.” “Why do you look prepared for a trip, Dad? Are you going down to trade food for mead with the humans down the mountain?” “Not this time, Bekhi. I’m going down to Nurnwuhr with you and Kvalinn. I’ve got to explain to Kvalinn’s father why his son is coming back burned and unable to work. Plus, I’ve got to repo
Reincarnated as a Dwarf Reincarnation
Call me Ishmael… Is what I’d say if my name mattered. But since no one knows or cares about my name, not even myself, I’ll just get to telling my story. I was an average American millennial, with a job, mortgage, credit card, and friends on social media that I never saw in person. It was a good life. One thing that set me apart from the average guy was my love of technology. Every minute of every day of my life was spent in front of a computer screen, working, gaming, reading, watching movies, listening to music, everything I did was done on a computer, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Now, if you are wondering why everything is in the past tense, it’s because I appear to have died. I’m not sure how, or why, but I am, without a doubt, deader than a doornail and without a corporeal form. Looming in front of me in the midst of an infinite white void was what appeared to be a judges bench. It was well over fifteen feet high, with depictions of gods from the Norse, Roman, Gr
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I was reborn into the body of a baby dwarf. Not exactly the best afterlife experience out there, but it was still better than anything written about by Dante, or talked about in Sunday school. Needless to say, it was an extremely jarring experience, going from a fully ambulatory and rather strong adult’s body, to an infant who couldn’t even hold up his own head. However, it was better than having my soul disposed of to avoid filling out the paperwork for an errant soul. The name I got saddled with upon my rebirth was Kvalinn Ekgorsson. It didn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but it could’ve been worse. Occasionally I’d overhear my father mention people with ten syllable names in passing conversation with his friends. Those were names I most certainly did not want to have attached to me, spelling them would doubtlessly be a nightmare!As for the language, I learned the same way any infant learns. Papa, mama, baba, ect. Although unfortunately I didn’t get to use the word ‘mama’. Apparen
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“Kvalinn, pump the bellows! You’re working with steel now, remember? The fire has to be a lot hotter if you want to melt it.” Following my father’s instructions, I climbed my makeshift stairs to reach the bellows. I’m now a little taller than I used to be, but I’m still less than 2 feet tall. Three years have passed since I first received my hammer. I’ve been so busy that they seemed to pass by in the blink of an eye. Father has been teaching me weapon crafting work from dawn till dusk. Not that there is a dawn or dusk since we live deep underground, but from breakfast to dinner, Father would train me as he did his own work. Unfortunately, the grand dreams I once entertained of using my rune of forging to bring 21st tech to this world all failed spectacularly. Like any American millennial, I could tell you roughly how the various gadgets used in my daily life worked and could operate them with finesse and competence, but that didn’t translate well into knowing exactly how the devic
Reincarnated as a Dwarf Dwarven Youth center
The next morning I woke up at the usual time, but when I attempted to get started on my usual chores, my father stopped me with a gesture. “Don’t worry about that, Kvalinn. Today you will be accompanying Zikruk to socialize.” Father almost gagged in disgust and revulsion on the word socialize. Apparently he was no fonder of the act of socialization then I was. “Wash yourself up and prepare gifts in case you meet anyone you need to make a good impression on.” “Gifts?” I asked. “What type of gifts should I give?” “Depending on the person, either something small and token, or something more substantial. Customers get the former, and Elders get the latter.” Father then began working on the chores I normally did. Pointedly refusing to elaborate. I began thinking of what gifts I could feasibly give. I didn’t have any money, and most of my practice weapons that I had made up until now had been scrapped so that the materials wouldn’t be wasted. Maybe I could bake something? In my previ
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Home again in darkness
“Good morning, Kvalinn. Ready to go back to school?” Bekhi seemed to be back to her normal self, and was washing dishes in her usual outfit. “How are your burns doing? Think you can make the trip back down to Nurnwuhr?”“I’m feeling a little better, but I’m not looking forward to three days of walking.” I was still feeling very stiff, and my hands were wrapped up with burn ointments, so the trip back home would probably be very long and very, very, miserable. “No need to worry about that.” Dak walked into the kitchen with a traveling bag on his back and weapons strapped to his side. “As thanks for making the weapon, I’ll be paying Kholgaik to let you ride on one of the wagons.” “Why do you look prepared for a trip, Dad? Are you going down to trade food for mead with the humans down the mountain?” “Not this time, Bekhi. I’m going down to Nurnwuhr with you and Kvalinn. I’ve got to explain to Kvalinn’s father why his son is coming back burned and unable to work. Plus, I’ve got to repo
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Going back home
It wasn’t until the next morning that I woke up again. By that point, I was the only one who hadn’t recovered enough to be taken from the tavern, so I woke to see the dining room completely empty.“Hello?” I tried getting up from the table to see the room better, but was hit by several waves of pain from my back. Judging from the sensation, the burned and damaged skin around the rune of protection was still working on healing itself, and since the rune covered most of my back, there was a lot of skin to heal.“Kvalinn!” Bekhi scrambled up from the cot she had been sleeping in nearby. “Get back down or you’ll move the poultices!”I gladly followed her instructions, and let my head fall back onto the waiting pillow. I could feel Bekhi moving any of the
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Snow Wraiths, pt2
As I struck the final blow, and sang the final note, a pain unlike I had ever felt in this life radiated from the rune of forging. It was as if I had stuck my hand into a bucket of dry ice, with spikes of pain encapsulating my entire hand instead just the rune lines. It was so painful, that my voice cracked as I yelled in pure agony.“Kvalinn!” Dak rushed from where he had been guarding the door to check on me. “Kvalinn! Are you ok? What happened?”“N-never rush a f-forge song.” I croaked out, my throat evidently hadn’t recovered from the shout. “Help me up. I need to make sure the rune was successfully applied.”Dak and Grildem supported me as I looked over the hammer. Fortunately for our continued survival, a rune of fire was glowing on the head of the warhamme
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Snow Wraiths
I was awoken the next morning at dawn by one of Bekhi’s brothers. I was expecting to be taken to the barn for chores, but instead, Dak met me by the front door. “Good morning, Kvalinn. I’ve arranged for you to use the local forge today. So go grab whatever you were writing yesterday and get ready to fill all the requests we made. And remember Bekhi’s warning. No making anything that’s not a weapon! Humbart doesn’t need any more help in the kitchen of The Halfling’s Haven.” For a minute, I wondered how he had arranged to use the town smith when it was still pre-dawn, but then I remembered that he had sent one of his kids on an errand yesterday after dinner and that’s probably when he sent the message. I went back upstairs to get my notes of everyone’s requests. Each member of the family seemed to want a different weapon with a different rune so it was going to be a long day. Just as I was putting on the several coats that were being lent to me, the door burst open with a bang that
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Goblin attack, again
On the second day of travel, when we were halfway to Vesturhildrun, we were attacked by goblins. If there had been any landmarks on the featureless gray walls, I would have suspected that it was the exact same place we had been attacked last time. “Goblin attack!” Came the loud cry from the guard who was tasked with listening for their scratching claws. “Goblin attack! Ready your weapons! Protect the mole-mules and Kholgaik, we don’t get paid if the cargo doesn’t make it!” There was a loud clattering as the twenty guards prepared their shields and weapons and got the wagons into a defensive position. I had a short sword this year, but this time there was no magical rune on it so I’d have to depend on my training. Bekhi expertly twirled the hammer I had given her and grinned in anticipation at the upcoming conflict. Reincarnated as a Dwarf
Dark Tunnels
“Good morning, Kvalinn!” Bekhi waved to me cheerily from the wagon train. “Do you have any more fun weapons for me? Maybe something with a little more heft than last time.”I handed her the hammer with the Rune of Travel on it. “Not sure what it does, but it’s at least heavier than the hammer of strength.”Bekhi gave the hammer a few experimental swings before strapping it to her side. “It doesn’t explode or burst into fire, so that’s a point in its favor. Can’t wait to see what it does!”“Hopefully we will not find out on this trip.” Kholgaik, the boss of the expedition again, strode up with his usual dour face. “The goblins have been especially active lately, and several trade caravans have been attacked recently.”
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A trip to the surface?
“That will be all for today. Next year will be your final year, so prepare your best work for our inspection. At the end of next year, you will be presenting your work to the Thane himself. Do not bring dishonor upon your teachers or this school by displaying inferior work.” Elder Rongrim sat down at his desk and began working on paperwork.“Yet another year over, and another year where you barely stay out of trouble.” Zikruk put away his school supplies with a sigh. “I was sure that you’d be exiled over that last rune you made. The Rune of Insomnia that kept everyone awake for three days straight had both the Elders, and the rest of the town calling for your blood.”“I don’t know. It may have been torture, but at least it was productive torture.” Bekhi weakly defended me. She had spent the three sleep
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Back to school
“Goblins grog, Kvalinn. You look horrible!” Zikruk looked at me with shock and surprise as I slid into my desk chair with an exhausted thwump. “What happened on your trip to the surface?!”“It wasn’t my trip to the surface.” I sleepily started to unpack my school bag. “I forgot to prepare the gifts for the Elders until last night, so I was up all night working.”“Are you ok, Kvalinn? It’s not like you to not prepare for today weeks in advance.”“I’m fine, and more importantly, I had lots of delicious food while on winter break.”Fresh eggs, fresh meat, bacon, smoked ham. Mhmmmm.“Really?” Zikruk looked at
- Reincarnated as a Dwarf
Trapped by snow
The next few days passed peaceably. The storm kept up unabated so we were prevented from doing much more than sitting around the fireplace and eating meals. It felt very odd for me to be inactive for so long, since my father and I worked pretty much non stop from dawn till dusk, but it did feel nice to take a vacation for the first time in this world. “Are your bags packed, Kvalinn?” Bekhi was waiting for me in the kitchen on our last day in Vesturhildrun. I nodded, expecting that we would be leaving momentarily since the trade caravan would be going back home soon. But Bekhi just told me to put my bag by the door. “We need to be ready to go the second there’s a lull in the storm.” “But won’t we be late to meet Kholgaik at the surface door? Is he going to wait for us?” Bekhi just shook her head. “Nope, but this i
