Map of Karag Dronar
Although the dwarf fortresses in the Black Mountains were founded many millennia ago, they are still considered new compared to those in the Worlds Edge Mountains such as Karaz-a-Karak. These settlements provide places where men from the Empire, Tilea, and the Border Princes can easily meet the Dwarfs.[1a]
The largest of these is Karak-Hirn, the Fortress of the Horn, ruled in recent decades by Alrik Ranulfsson, a traditionalist king even by dwarfen standards. However, in times past, the fortress was the place for innovative engineers who designed the architectural marvel for which the fortress is named. Karak-Hirn is, in part, the largest musical instrument in the world. A system of furnaces and sound chambers directs the air to produce fearsome sounds that are used to send signals and scare off wandering beasts.[1a]
The best Dwarfen Engineers are incomparable, but even they would not undertake such an unprecedented project. Northeast of Karak-Hirn, not far from Black Fire Pass , is a mountain of similar dimensions where engineers built a modest version of the system they planned for Karak Hirn. This first prototype was a success and the mountain was named Karag-Dronar, the Resonant Peak.[1a]
For a time, a small community of Dwarfs inhabited the region and plans were put in place to build a network of these signaling devices throughout the Eternal Realm. But after the betrayal of the elves and the subsequent wars against the goblins, the community of Karag Dronar was dispersed. The survivors who returned to the safety of the remaining strongholds told stories of a beast that glided through the depths and caused bloody slaughter on the dwarfs.[1a]
Karag-Dronar was forgotten. In the following centuries it has been home to many tribes of the Greenskins , and its amplifying qualities are well known to the orcs and goblins that infest the Black Mountains . From time to time, they come to the mountain to scream and howl for inscrutable reasons of their own (or, greenskins being what they are, possibly for no logical reason), but they rarely reside there, as they also share stories of a dangerous beast that dwells. in the place. Only a desperate Goblin could consider making the Resonant Peak his home.[1a]
Zurgash the Deranged is that desperate goblin.[1a]
Zurgash was previously a shaman of the Night Goblin of the Blood Lance tribe. He and his tribe plagued the ancient Silver Highway, attacking the few reckless prospectors who travel there who fight the neighboring orc tribes. However, Zurgash fell from grace when he suddenly found his voice reduced to a whisper.[1a]
It is unknown whether Zurgash was abandoned by Morko or suffered a throat infection from chanting hoarse incantations while consuming fermented poisonous mushrooms, but he was unable to summon the Greenskins gods with the requisite enthusiasm and was finding it increasingly difficult to use his magic. Faced with this situation, he understood that his position in the tribe was weak.[1a]
Applying his powerful mind (for a goblin) to the problem, Zurgash deduced that clearly his magic has left him, as he can no longer scream loud enough for Morko (or perhaps Gorko) to hear. He concluded that if he could scream loudly enough for long enough, Gorko (or possibly Morko) would hear him again, and thus his magic would be restored. Recruiting the few who were still loyal to him (to be goblins ), he headed for the Resonant Peak, hoping that a good fit of screams and howls, amplified by the acoustics of the peak, would work the miracle.[1a]
The goblins of Zurgash are not the only Greenskins active in the Blackfire Pass area . After years of campaigning against the Border Kingdoms , the infamous Black Mountain Chikoz have returned to their lair on Blood Peak and have begun dispatching bands of raiders to plunder the Empire's trading posts and farms and the dwarf fortresses of the Mountains. black . These greenskins have been rewarded in the city of Grenzstadt in response to the devastation.[1a]
Description[]
The Guard House[]
A set of stepping stones leads to the entrance of the mountain, which is framed by a large sculpture of the head of a dwarf; he wears a horned helmet and is opening his mouth as if to bellow or sing. Inside the mouth, there is a small square room with a large, heavy door that is left ajar at the opposite end. There are squat stone benches on either side of the door, provided for the guards to rest on.[1a]
Zurgash has posted a couple of guards here: night goblins armed with spears and shields. Demonstrating the typical goblin lack of commitment, they often fall asleep at their posts. There is nothing else in the room except a small square hole in the ceiling. This is an attack hole that can be accessed from the Barracks weapons room.[1a]
A large, heavy door opens to the location of the Barracks.[1a]
Barracks[]
There is no light source here. The barracks served the Karag Dronar dwarfs as dormitories and an armory. On either side of the room (which is actually more of a wide corridor), the walls are lined with squat doors that lead to modest cells. There are twelve cells on each side of the room. Numbered 1 through 22 in runic script, they provided personal spaces for the dwarfs who lived here. The last two cells are marked with the runes "Az" (Ax) and "Blue" (Treasure).[1a]
In the Az room there are two large shelves made of antique mountain oak wood. The racks are designed to hold numerous types of weapons and the goblins have stored several spare spears here. Behind the scenes, you will find a small door hidden behind the one on the right side of the room. Through the door is a narrow staircase that leads to a very small room above the attack hole in the roof of the Guard House. Some wood is in one corner and there is a fireplace in the center of the room. A badly corroded wrought iron pot, half full of frozen tar, hangs over the fireplace. The attack hole is a couple of feet from the chimney, covered by a rusty iron grate.[1a]
None of the other rooms, including the promising "Blue" room, contain anything but old broken furniture, stacks of stained straw bedding, and worthless deals left by visiting greenskins. However, some of the rooms are inhabited.[1a]
In room three, a couple of snotlings are playing hide and seek on a pile of moldy bedding. In room eight, Nakka, a scrawny old infested squig, has been left here. Nakka used to be a loyal Zurgash pet, but has been infested with the same mosquito larvae that feed on the nearby boletus field. Some of the worms have made their way into the tick's brain and it has become erratic as a result. The goblins have tied him to a post on the other side of the cell, where he walks around. It can't reach people near the door, but it attacks anyone who gets close to it. And lastly, in room sixteen, a goblin grows a carpet of bright white mold here.[1a]
Altar to the Dwarfen Ancestors[]
This room is an ancient shrine dedicated to the main dwarf deities. There are three marble statues, each approximately five feet tall, designed to stand in niches along the left side of the room. The statues, representing Grungni , Grimnir, and Valaya , have been smeared with blood or worse to be more "Ork." On the proud faces of the dwarfs they have painted fangs and grimaces in the style of greenskins, and various other desecrations.[1a]
On the wall opposite the three bedrooms, there are twenty large rectangular slots arranged in four rows of five. Five of these bones contain solid granite sarcophagi and one the skull of a giant. This is where the Karag Dronar dwarfs placed the bodies of their lords. Inscriptions in Khazalid are carved above six of the six recesses:[1a]
Lord Dimzad el Delver - Lord Engineer and founder of Karag Dronar. Killed in a landslide. (In front of the sarcophagus is a small depression in which an old selection of corroded mining picks rests.)[1a]
Lord Hargin Dimzadson - Defiant before the betrayal of the elves. Killed by an arrow. (In front of the sarcophagus is a small depression in which rests an elven arrowhead, forged from ithilmar and as good as new.)[1a]
Lord Kettri the Indomitable - Taker of eighty-seven goblin heads. He died of too much beer. (In front of the sarcophagus there is a small depression: the golden cup that once rested here is gone).[1a]
Lord Thingol Kettrisson - Merely an immaculate beard when cut by orcs. (In front of the sarcophagus there is a small depression in which the remains of an orc's skull rest.)[1a]
Lord Stronnomir the Friend of Men - Bearer of the hammer of demons. Killed by Uathach, you bloody traitor. (In front of the sarcophagus there is an empty depression).[1a]
In Memory of Dumwin Tripafornida - Killed by a giant in the siege of Karaz Lumbar. (There is no sarcophagus here, but the smiling skull of a giant was placed in its place.)[1a]
The rest of the slots are empty, presumably ready to receive the bodies of the next lords. The fortress was abandoned shortly after Stronnomir's death as a result of Mydthroth. When Drumin Dumwinson returned here after the siege of Karaz Lumbar, he placed the giant's skull to commemorate the passing of his father and the restoration of this practice. Unfortunately for him, Mydthroth effectively ended up again by killing him and most of his followers, leaving their remains in an unceremonious pile in the hallway. At this moment, the magic warhammer was taken by a desperate dwarf who tried to fight Mydthroth. Its correct place is in the depression in front of the sarcophagus of Stronnomir.[1a]
A door leads from the Sanctuary to the Workshop.[1a]
Taller[]
This room was once the center of various engineering and mining projects carried out at Karag Dronar. All kinds of old equipment, tools, and workbenches are scattered around the room; other than one exception nothing works.
On one side of the workshop is an old mechanical hammer used by dwarfs in times past to smash rocks into smaller rocks. The hammer consists of a large metal base (eight feet square) to which is attached a sturdy iron scaffold, about ten feet high. The controls - a lever to release the hammer and a winch to lift it back up - are at the top of the scaffold. The whole platform is old and rusty. It's been used and vandalized by greenskins and doesn't have much life left.[1a]
The goblins have tied up two captives in the workshop. They were found in the mushroom field, they were beaten, and they were dragged here. Zurgash has yet to decide what to do with them, but they will undoubtedly meet a grisly end if they are not rescued.[1a]
The two captives are Belinda Schultz and Johan Proust, associates of Hans Blichter. Belinda is a young woman with long blonde hair tied in braids. Johan is a man in his forties with short bald hair and a very short black beard. They are both dressed in sturdy travel clothing. They have been abused by goblins and have several superficial wounds on their legs where they were hit with spears. Also, they have several scratches and bruises where the goblins hit them and one of Johan's ears has been bitten. They are crudely but effectively tied to an old workbench with a long rope, with their hands tied behind their backs. The bandits are understandably miserable and desperate. Johan, largely resigned to his fate, has become asocial and catatonic. Belinda is a little livelier and still has her wits.[1a]
An entrance leads from the Workshop to the Hall.[1a]
Hall[]
This large room was once used by the dwarfs of Karag Dronar for social occasions. Among the massive pillars that support the vaulted ceiling are the remains of long trestle tables built from thick boards of mountain oak. They have been overturned and destroyed a long time ago.[1a]
Two night goblins armed with spears and shields guard the door at the end of the hall. The door leads to the echoing chambers. A pair of snotlings tend to the roaring fire in the center of the room, fueling the flames with bits of wood and bone they have looted from the room's floor. A crude metal sculpture of an orc face sits in the fire, glowing red hot.[1a]
There is a pile of dwarf skeletons in one corner of the hall. They are centuries old and had incredibly violent deaths. This is the scene of Drumin's death.[1a]
Resonant Chambers[]
The adjoining room is another large chamber that features very strange architecture. Several holes open in the roof, funneling air from the mountain's windswept north face and out through a funnel-shaped tunnel to the south.[1a]
Beneath the floor of this chamber, accessed by heavy metal bars set inside hatches, there are several small cellars. Each of these basements has space to light a fire, and this can be done to help speed up the flow of air through the system on days when the wind is low or absent.[1a]
Zurgash is in this room with the last four of his night goblin followers. They are the source of the noise that sounds throughout the mountain: amplified by the strange architecture of Karag Dronar, the singing of the goblins and the hissing whispers of Zurgash are causing a massive roar.[1a]