Item
Brother's Rune
The weapon that will never kill a dwarf
Exceptionally difficult to engrave and extremely rare, this rune is considered the highest oath a smith can inscribe in metal. Weapons that bear it are called brother weapons.
The weapon refuses to strike a dwarf. The blow veers, the hand hesitates, or the edge turns aside. The attack is lost, cannot be redirected to another target, and the bearer cannot prevent it. Ignorance, coercion, charm, and domination make no difference.
The rune sees through every deception. Disguise, illusion, polymorph, or borrowed form: if a dwarf lies beneath it, the weapon knows and refuses. Conversely, it strikes without hesitation at something that merely resembles a dwarf.
It is also the most reliable way to determine who is truly a dwarf. More than one imposture has been exposed by an axe that refused to fall.