A Miner's Tale

[Papa Rock 387]

 

Khron’Hunmar and Kal’Darakaan Miners speak of a tale as they sit in a tavern and enjoy a good Miner’s ale. They speak of a starbreaker they helped within the mines, but escaped before the tragedy. 

 

Deep within the caves of the Kal’Darakaan mountain, this starbreaker chisels away at the stone walls. Strike after strike, on a mission to find a gem worthy of becoming the apex of all stones. Why? Well the thought came to him upon a request, a thought that brought him back to the books of Silverbeard history. The first, Urguan Silverbeard, plucked a Star from the heavenly night skies and carved it into the most beautiful gem. Now this starbreaker ponders his possibilities, to pluck a gemstone from the earth and carve it into a Star. A gem to carve into a star, a star to set into a crown, and a crown to dawn the head of a queen. That is the task given to him, a quest to challenge himself beyond what is known as a limit, to show that the prime blood of the Silverbeard is not diluted, but thriving into the creativity of the Craft. 

 

Deep within the caves, there he stands, the starbreaker. Strike after strike, the stone breaking away until finally a light breaks through the cracks; light only the starbreaker can see, see with the eye of his mind as his eyes set upon a gem worthy of the Craft. Carefully, he chisels away at the curves and shape of the gemstone, to pry it out of the rough stone walls, but each strike brings him closer to his doom, for he dares challenge the greatest rival, the heaviest idea, the entity of himself.

 

Perhaps this is an attempt to stop him, the Gods and Ancestors declaring him unfit for the task, or perhaps it is The gemstone that wishes to trial him, a gemstone which knows that he dares pluck it not for his own greed, treasure and hoard, but for a purpose, to serve a need. So the walls crack from a thundering strike of the chisel, powered by the determination of the starbreaker. Cracks grow, they travel and migrate across the caves like the rams that run across the mountain sides. Hooves beating against the mountain surface, the cracks spreading deep within the caves. 

 

A rumble shakes the starbreaker, but like a pillar standing against the tides of nature, he remains to chisel and chisel away until finally, the final strike against the stone of the earth collapses the cave around the starbreaker, or maybe on the starbreaker. From this point on, it is unknown if Ulfar Starbreaker survived the collapse in search of the most glorious gem in service of the Craft. Perhaps this is the beginning of the Gemstone’s trial or maybe Ulfar Starbreaker is no more.

 

Spoiler

I am taking a break from LOTC. THIS ISN'T A PK POST.