The Thunder Drum

You deliver the drumskin to Brannoch Stonepaw, an ursine craftsman as broad as his workshop doorway. He unrolls the thick hide over an unfinished drum frame. "Cured skywyrm belly-hide. The only rim that can tension it is a hoop of storm-copper—and that hoop has hung in rival Longhowl Hall ever since my great-grandfather lost a clan feud. With that copper hoop fitted, this drum can command lightning in midair."

Brannoch walks you down to the dock. "The Lupines of Longhowl take guest-right seriously. Arrive bearing a proper guest-gift, and their chief is bound to feast you, hear your petition, and perhaps settle for a friendly wager. Arrive empty-handed, and he owes you nothing but a bowl of broth and a hard fight."

Longhowl Hall is carved into a jagged spire overlooking Thunder Pass. Hanging above the chieftain's high seat is the green-patinaed hoop of storm-copper. After feeding your crew according to guest-right, Chief Varric Longhowl hears your request. "Hospitality buys you a meal and a bunk, Captain, not a clan trophy. If you want that copper hoop, win it: fight my warbird in Thunder Pass while the lightning is striking!"

Chief Varric lays the storm-copper hoop on the feast table before you. "You won it fairly. But a feud takes two halls to end. If Brannoch Stonepaw finishes his drum with our copper and hides behind his walls, our blood-feud continues. If he brings the finished drum up the pass himself and strikes it once at my gate, the feud is over. What word do you bring back from him?"

News of broken guest-right travels faster than any airship. When you meet Brannoch on a mountain ledge, he takes one look at the hoop and refuses to touch it. "You stole that under a host's roof after eating his bread! I won't hang dishonored copper in my hall or stretch my hide over it." He stalks away, leaving you with a crackling ring of enchanted storm-copper.

Brannoch arrives at the gates of Longhowl Hall with the drum frame on his back, hammers the storm-copper hoop into place, and strikes a single mighty boom that turns a lightning bolt aside over the pass. With the century-old feud finally ended, Brannoch turns to you. "A drum like this was made to fly in the storms, not sit under a hall roof. Mount the drum at your masthead—or take me aboard with the copper hoop wired to your guns."

In his courtyard, Brannoch hammers the storm-copper hoop over the wyrm-hide drumhead and strikes it once. The boom echoes up into the clouds, deflecting a distant bolt of lightning in midair. "A thunder drum belongs in the open sky," Brannoch admits grimly, "but as long as the feud with Longhowl stands, I cannot fly it without starting a war. My pride costs me the sky—so I will pay you for your work."