supporting wooden frames, and all were built solid, as if the inhabitants meant to be there for a while. Bruenor nodded his silent approval, his gaze gradually moving to the single tower that so clearly marked the town. It was a thirty-foot gray cylinder, flying a pennant of a pair of hands surrounded by golden stars on a red background. A wizard's emblem, obviously, and when the crowd before him parted and a white-bearded old man walked through, dressed in a tall and pointy hat and bright red robes emblazoned in golden stars, it wasn't hard for the dwarf to make the connection.
"Welcome to my humble town, King Bruenor of Mithral Hall," the man said, walking up to stand right before Bruenor. He swept off his hat and fell into a grand bow. "I am Withegroo Seian'Doo, the founder of Shallows and present liege. This honor is unexpected but surely not unwelcome."
"Me greetings to yerself, Withe . .."
"Withegroo."
"Withegroo," Bruenor finished. "And I'm not yet King Bruenor- well, not yet again, if ye get me meaning."
"It was with great sadness that I and my fellow townsfolk here heard of the passing of your ancestor, Gandalug."
"Yep, but the old one had himself a few good centuries, and I'm not thinking we can be askin' for more than that," Bruenor replied.
He looked around, to see the cheery and sincere smiles of the townsfolk, and he knew that he could be at ease there, that he and his friends, even Drizzt who was standing right behind him, were indeed welcomed guests in Shallows.
"Got the word in the west," the dwarf explained. "In Icewind Dale, where me and a few o' me friends were making our homes."
"Did you get lost on your journey home to Mithral Hall?"
Bruenor shook his head.
"Found me a couple o' friends from Felbarr," he explained, and he turned and indicated Tred, who gave an uncomfortable though still gracious bow. "They'd found themselves a bit o' trouble with some orcs."
He noted a shadow cross over Withegroo's wrinkled old face and long, hawkish nose. The man's enormous cars twitched beneath the bristles of his wild while hair, which was slicking out in every direction under the bent brim of his red hat.
Bruenor matched that look with a grave one of his own.
"Ye know the town o' Clicking Heels?" he asked somberly.
Withegroo looked around, to see several of his townsfolk nodding.
"Well, it ain't no more," Bruenor said bluntly. "Orcs 'n giants laid it to waste. Killed them all."
Groans, gasps, and whispers sprang up all around the courtyard.
"We been chasin' the dogs and killed more than a few," Bruenor went on quickly, wanting to put a better light on the tragedy. "Left a handful o' giants and near to a hunnerd orcs layin' dead in the mountains, but we thinked it smart to come in here and make sure that Shallows was standing strong."
"Stronger than you can imagine," Withegroo replied.
He stood up straight and tall -and he was tail, well over six feet, tall enough to look Wulfgar in the eye without bending back his head. Unlike Wulfgar, though, the man was stick lean and couldn't have weighed more than half the barbarian's three hundred pounds.
"We have suffered the likes of orcs and giants many times," the wizard continued, "but not once have any crossed the line of our strong walls."
"Old Withegroo lays 'em dead with his lightning!" one man shouted from the side, and others immediately took up the chorus of cheers for the wizard,
Withegroo smiled, somewhat sheepishly, somewhat pridefully, and turned to them, patting his hands humbly to silence the growing chorus.
"I do what I can," the wizard said to Bruenor, turning back to face the dwarf. "I am no novice to battle, and I made my name and my fortune adventuring in dark caves filled with all sorts of beasts."
"And ye bought yerself a town," Bruenor remarked, with no sarcasm in his tone.
"I built myself a tower," the wizard corrected. "I thought this a fine place to live out my days, in study and recollections of adventures past. These good folk" -he turned and swept his hand across the crowd- "found me, one by one and family by family. I believe they recognized the value of having so striking a landmark as my tower in their intended settlement-brings in the dwarf traders, you see."
He ended with an exaggerated wink, which brought a smile to Bruenor's face.
"Bet they weren't minding having a wizard lookin' over them, throwing a few bolts o' lightning at