The Stonebrow Loaf

As told in the halls of Broyoto, where even bread may break bones.

The Tale:

Long before the Bloom blackened the world, in an age of firelit feasts and deep-forged peace, there lived a dwarven cook whose name still echoes through oven and anvil alike: Korrim Stonebrow, the first and greatest Battar-Khazad, or Combat Chef.

Korrim was no warlord. He bore no axe nor hammer—only a skillet, a beard dusted in flour, and the hungriest grin in Vashkelholme. But from his humble stone oven in Kaldur Hollow, he would bake a food so mighty, it could feed the heart and fell a foe.

This was the Stonebrow Loaf.

The Loaf of Legend:

The recipe was passed to Korrim in a dream from his grandmother, or so the tale says. It required:

• Flour ground from grains grown under torchlight.
• Yeast sparked with lightning during a cave-storm.
• Salt gathered from tears shed while singing a song of home.
• And a touch of basalt, powdered and folded into the dough.

When baked in a stone oven stoked with heartwood coal, the loaf emerged with a crust harder than steel, yet an interior soft as memory. It could endure the bite of time, the chill of ice, and even the ire of trolls.

The Trial of the Hundred Hands:

One dark season, when the moon’s light fled and the surface raiders crept below, Kaldur Hollow was besieged. With no warriors to guard them, the townsfolk turned to Korrim.

They begged for food… but he gave them weapons.

The legend says he raised the first Stonebrow Loaf above his head and bellowed:

“This is bread to break bones!”

With it, he led the bakers and brewers into battle. Every swing of the Loaf cracked skulls and courage alike. Ogres fled from the scent of hearth and fury. Goblins choked on crumbs of defeat.

By dawn, the stone corridors were littered not with corpses, but with crumbs.

Legacy:

Since that day, the Stonebrow Loaf is no mere food. It is a blessing baked, a symbol of dwarven resilience, and a sacred rite in kitchens across Vashkelholme.

Young cooks pray over their ovens, whispering:

“May my crust be as bold as Stonebrow’s.”

In times of siege, a loaf is placed above the door to guard against evil. And before great battles, it is said dwarves bake a Stonebrow and pass it around, each warrior taking a bite for luck and strength.

Some Say…

• The original Loaf still exists, unchanged for centuries, enshrined in the Breadvault beneath Broyoto.
• Others claim eating a perfect Stonebrow Loaf grants visions of Korrim himself, who offers guidance in war or cooking.
• And a few whisper that when the final war comes, a Loaf will rise from the oven of the world, and Korrim will return, wielding it once more to defend the mountainhomes.

Closing Blessing of the Hearth-Bound:

“By crust and crumb, by fire and flour,
Stand firm like bread baked in the hour of need.”