Page 65 - D&D - Player's Handbook

If you were to pass beyond the borders and into MITHRAL HALL
Ironm1;1ster itself, you would behold one of the won-
The ancestral home of Clan Battlehammer, Mithra!
ders of the world. The great Shaengarne river rushes
Hall was a place of great potential wealth when it was
through a deep canyon of rock and ice in a series of
founded in the days of Old Delzoun. Dwarves of Clan
cascades and waterfalls, throwing up freezing froth as
Battlehammer left Citadel Adbar, heading west in the
it bashes against massive spires of rock that rise from
hope of finding mithral deposits hidden in the south-
the riverbed. Ironmaster is built in these spires and
ern spurs of the Spine of the World. These they found,
into the walls of the canyon, the tunnels and towers
and so began the delving of Mithra! Hall, with Clan
strung together by high bridges and cliff-side walkways.
Ironshield founding Settlestone nearby as a means of
To hear Storn talk of the place, you would think that
buffering the market for the products of the hall's ore.
dwarves scrabbling about at such heights through the
Mithra! Hall enjoyed centuries of profit before its delv-
open air was as normal as badgers in a burrow, but I
ing permitted the shadow dragon, Shimmergloom, to
don't mind saying I set aside my ale after he spoke of it.
break through into the world. A settlement of thousands
Ironmaster owes its existence to the restlessness of
Ilgostrogue Sstar, who left Citadel Adbar long ago with was reduced to fewer than three hundred- all of them
nearly a quarter of the population of the North kingdom, too young, too old, too weak, or too ill to fight- who fled
headed for what is now Mirabar. By all accounts he was to Settlestone. There, they waited for months for word
mad, and hoped to extend a dwarven empire to the sea. from King Garumn that their lands were again safe.
When messengers to the city didn't return, it was clear
Once there, and settled, he grew restless again, and
headed farther west with his troop, finally settling his that Mithra! Hall had been lost, and its dwarves headed
nerves in sight of the sea over the Shaengarne River. north, first to Ironmaster, where they were treated with
There the dwarf leader died, and his heir demanded that such distrust that they couldn't remain, and then to
the folk that followed him build a settlement in tribute Icewind Dale.
to Clanmaster Sstar's grand vision of a dwarven empire. When Garumn's grandson, Bruenor, was old enough,
The dwarves found extensive deposits of iron in the and sure of his path, he gathered allies to retake his
hills surrounding their valley, and so named their city former homeland, and went on a great many adven-
Ironmaster. tures with the group later known as the Companions
Ironmaster proved true to its name, and the dwarves of the Hall. At the end, Bruenor slew the dragon
have been tunneling out under to tundra for centuries, Shimmergloom and reclaimed Mithra! Hall for Clan
following the veins of metal. This brought them into Battlehammer after almost two centuries.
contact with duergar of the Deepkingdom a generation After Bruenor regained the throne, his personal friends
back, and Ironmaster has been at war with them ever attracted some powerful enemies to Mithra! Hall, includ-
since. Storn was himself a veteran of many battles for ing the drow of Menzoberranzan. This is one reason, his
tunnel territory, and despite being so young that not supporters claim, that the king abdicated in favor of his
a hair of his beard was white, his knowledge of tun- ancestor Gandalug Battlehammer: to protect the people
nel-fighting tactics rivaled my own. from his personal enemies. Some of Bruenor's detractors
Their war with the duergar isn't Ironmaster's only claim it was wanderlust that made him leave, but none
secret, however. My friend Storn wielded two silvered will bother (or dare) to ask him. In any case, when Ganda-
axes, as befits any devote follower of Clangeddin Silver- lug died, Bruenor did his duty and resumed the throne.
beard, but when I returned to him an axe he had thrown Before Bruenor died, he was instrumental in gaining
in the heat of battle, I noted its remarkable weight, and dwarven support for the Treaty of Garumn's Gorge,
Storn told me that the blade was not steel beneath, but which brought peace between the dwarves and the
adamantine. I questioned him more about this, and ore Kingdom of Many-Arrows. When the ores, in time,
broke their treaty and made war on the North, he
his readiness to tell me of its origin speaks to both
the abundance of adamantine among the Ironmaster returned from the dead almost as though he had been
dwarves and of my friend's innocence about the wider summoned to rally the dwarves to defend themselves
world. Apparently, the dragon-worshiping humans of the and punish their enemies. Some say he delayed receiv-
distant island of Tuern have long given raw adamantite ing the rewards of Moradin's own Dwarfhome to return
mined from their island to the smiths of Ironmaster, and aid his fellows and kinsfolk. Such sacrifice, such
loyalty, makes a dwarf king worthy of the crown.
and they render finished works of adamantine back to
Bruenor Battlehammer, the Eighth and Tenth and
the Northlanders in return. Of course, not all the ada-
Thirteen King of Mithra! Hall, no longer leads Mithra!
mantine makes it back to the Northlanders, but since
Hall or the Battlehammer dwarves that live there.
the humans are ignorant of the means of forging ada-
Since his return to life, he has refocused his attention
mantine, they are likely none the wiser. What a trove of
on Gauntlgrym, and doesn't claim the kingship of his
arms and armor must lie hidden beyond Ironmaster's
former home. Instead, the crown has been offered to
borders! Ah well, surely they put it to good use against
General Dagnabbet Waybeard, granddaughter of Brue-
the duergar.
nor's ally, the great general Dagna.
I don't think Storn will mind my sharing his city's
When last I visited Mithra! Hall a few years ago, I
secrets. You can go and ask him if you like. He'll no
passed through the rebuilt ruin of Settlestone, where a
doubt enjoy another little "vacation" from the war in
garrison of two hundred stands to protect the approach
the tunnels.
to the Mithra! Hall. Once I reached the gates, the