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King Ulfar Stonehammer of Karak-Ungor lay dying.
Relatives andretainers were gathered round his bed with its four
dragon-toppedposts, chewing their beards in grief. Where is my son?
croaked theking, Let him come to me. A servant slipped out of the
royalbedchamber and hurried to the Prince’s apartments. After a
fewminutes, Prince Ulther son of Ulfar entered the chamber,
whistlingcheerfully. Hello, father, he said, Still here, then? Well,
that’snice, gasped the king, What about a bit of grief? The
Princescratched his beard. Of course I’ll miss you and all that, he
said,But then, I am going to be king when you’ve hung up your
hammer.Willmixed feelings do? The king raised his dimming eyes to the
ceiling.Come closer, he wheezed, There are some things I must tell you
beforeI die. The Prince approached the four-poster hopefully, as did
thecourt scribe, quill in hand. My son, croaked the king, I leave
youthe rulership of Karak-Ungor - there was an uncomfortable
shufflingamong the king’s retainers at this point - And I leave you
mywar-axe, with the dragon-etched blade... Not the hammer?
interruptedthe Prince, a little peevishly. Watch it or you won’t get
the axe.Sorry. That’s better. And along with the axe, I leave you a
duty.Years ago, I swore that I would never rest until the blight of
Chaoswas cut out from our race, and the Chaos Dwarfs were no more. I
passthat oath on to you. I also pass on to you my oath to exterminate
theGoblins and their foul kin. You shall form a warband from the
verycream of our race, and take it out to destroy these two enemies.
Youshall not rest until you have completed your task, nor shall
youreturn to Karak-Ungor, which will be ruled in your absence by
myChancellor, Gorm the Wise... The king was interrupted at this pointby
a collective sigh from hes retainers, some of whom openly
startedshaking hands. They were quelled by a stern glance fom the king,
whocarried on with his death-speech as the scribe wrote furiously.
Takefor your standard a dragon-carved post from your
father’sdeathbed...
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The Dwarf Library 
