Thorek Ironbrow

Thorek Ironbrow is one of the oldest and most venerable Runelords left in the world, a master rune-smith of Karak Azul whose knowledge of the ancient art reaches back to secrets most of his kind have long since lost. His greatest treasure is the Anvil of Doom — a sacred relic of the ancestor-gods, borne to battle on a great platform and struck with a rune-hammer to loose devastating bolts of power, hurling lightning at the foe and lending unbreakable strength to the runes of nearby warriors. Thorek tends the Anvil with jealous devotion, for such relics can no longer be made, and each one lost is a wound to the whole race that will never heal. Grim even by the standards of his grim people, he carries the weight of a dying tradition upon his broad shoulders, determined that the old skills shall not perish while he still draws breath. When Thorek strikes the Anvil and the mountains ring with its call, the ancestors themselves seem to stir — and the enemies of the dwarfs learn why the runelords were once feared above all.