Scenario #8: The Lost Forge of Power

 

Art by Larry Elmore from Companion Rules

This is a short adventure for a party of characters of levels 5-7 set in Rockhome.

A forge of power is a dwarven artifact that both offers clerical magic and also greatly assists dwarven smiths in forging magic weapons, armour and other mystic items such as the fabled Dwarven Lens. They are rare, and greatly sought after. In Rockhome there are seven great clans of dwarves - all but one have their own forges of power - only the Wyrwarf clan lacks one. Although a forge of power is not the defining point of whether a clan of dwarves is recognised as such, it certainly improves their standing and reputation. The Wyrwarf clan leaders feel they ought to have one, if only to shut up the more haughty clans such as Torkrest and Burhrodar. 

Thus when old archives were rediscovered in a forgotten basement in Dengar (the dwarves' capital city) that pointed to a forge of power last claimed by a clan over 570 years ago, the members of Wyrwarf knew they needed to act before the forge's location became widely known. The clan seniors are looking for a team of adventurers find this Forge of Power and claim it for the Wyrwarf Clan. The Lost Forge is located in the southwest mountains of Rockhome near the source of the Evemur River and about 30 miles southwest of Karrak Castle. 

There are other motives for investigating this location besides the ambitions of the Wyrwarf Clan: Firstly local cults of chaos and chaotic humanoids have been wielding surprisingly good quality weapons and armour of dwarvish craftsmanship - disrupting their supply of equipment would reduce their ability to attack civilised folk. Secondly a dwarf expert smith by the name of Barador was kidnapped from Torrak Sorros about a month ago and the captors and poor Barador were seen heading northeast. Retrieving him alive would earn favour with the dwarves of Torrak Sorros. 

Here I am only going to detail the level with the actual forge. Other levels, such as a surface level with ruins exposed to the weather or an upper dungeon level could be added by DMs if they wish.  I will assume that the PCs only find a large set of double doors set into the mountainside, with stairs leading down to area #1. 

1. Entrance and Trading Hall: Empty apart from smashed market stalls. This is where traders would come and sell iron ore and coal, and buy finished iron items. 
2. Guard Post: 3 Chaos Dwarf Guardians have their quarters here. 
3. Empty
4. Iron Ore stores. This room contains a pair of average-sized hellhounds who are in league with the chaos dwarfs. Also this room contains large piles of iron ore - to the untrained eye it looks like large piles of dull grey rocks but those who know mining and metallurgy will recognise haematite. 
5. Smelting Furnaces: This room is dominated by two huge furnaces, each about 15' across and still burning hot. This is because each one contains a captive fire elemental (AC 2, Mv 120', HD 8, hp 36, THAC0 13, Att 1 fiery fist for 1d8, Save F8, Ml 12, Align Neutral, XP 1200, magic weapons needed to hit, immune to fire damage) . Also in this room are 4 chaos dwarf smiths who will attack intruders. If the fight is not going the chaotic dwarves way they may get desperate enough to unleash the elementals from their furnaces - each furnace has a large door on the side that can be opened if needed.There is also a chest here that contains various semiprecious stones found by the dwarf workers as they break up the ore before feeding it into the smelters. The chest contains 95 gems that are on average worth 50gp (4750gp for whole chest), and are a mix of Dioptase, Citrine and Zircon (roll 2d4 x10gp for value of any one gem). 
6. Forge worker's quarters: This room has 4 beds and a table with chairs. The forge workers are in room 5. 
7. Jail cell: This room is locked from the outside and contains a dwarf, Barador (AC 9, Mv 60', HD Dw3, hp 4 (normally 12), THAC0 17, Att 1 fist for 1, Save Dw3, Ml 5, Align Neutral, XP 75). He is unarmed and seriously weakened. He is being held by the chaos dwarves because of his knowledge of smelting and smithing and they have tortured him for it. If rescued and returned to a normal dwarf settlement he will offer to become the PCs' own blacksmith (as a hireling but for half usual pay).  
8. Slag heap. In this room there is a starving rust monster.(AC2, Mv 120', HD 5, hp 10 (25 when fully fed), THAC0 15, Att 1 feeler for special, Save F5, Ml 12, Align Neutral, XP 300, Rusting attack: Any character that is hit by a rust monster's feeler will have one metal item (armour, weapon or shield) instantly corrode and disintegrate. Magic items have a 10% chance per "+" of avoiding this effect, and if they do not, rather than instantly disintegrating the item loses a + until it becomes a non-magical item that the rust monster will destroy with its next hit)  It has been surviving on scraps of iron discarded along with the slag (the waste matter from smelting). It will attack anyone wearing metal armour. The slag heap itself is just pale gray rubble like crumbly concrete. 
9. The Forge of Power. This room is dominated by the great forge ensconced into the east wall with elaborate and ancient carved stones, still roaring away. There are also 3 anvils set into the floor and many blacksmithing tools lying around including hammers, tongs and punches . In here are 3 chaos dwarf smiths, assisted by an iron living statue . 
10. Master smith's quarters: Here is Volshrok, master of these chaotic dwarves, and he will attack intruders without hesitation: AC 2, Mv 60', HD Dw6, THAC0 13, Att 1 battleaxe +1 for 1d8+3, Save Dw6, Ml 11, Align Chaotic, XP 350, equipment: Dwarf-sized Plate Mail +1, Battleaxe +1. He also has a box of treasure under his bed which holds 2500sp, 1200gp, 360pp and, most valuable of all, 7 ingots of pure Mithril worth 1000gp each (weighing 50 coins each). 
11. Coal and Charcoal store. There is over a ton of  fuel piled up on the floor here, some in burlap sacks, the rest just loose on the flagstones.
12. Food stores & dining area: This room has no monsters but has a table with 6 chairs around it, all at dwarf height. At the east end of the room are piles of boxes and barrels with various edible provisions - the equivalent of 30 standard ration meals. There are some cooking pots, and the dwarves use the Forge of Power as an oversized stove. 
13. Junior Smith's quarters: This room holds 2 chaos dwarf smiths plus 1 chaos dwarf guardian, as well as 5 beds
14. Quenching Room: This room is where red-hot iron and steel is plunged into the central cooling pool in the middle. This is filled with dirty water and is 5' deep, with a 2' high stone wall around the rim. In here are 2 chaos dwarf smiths and a pet hellhound of average size.
15. Finishing Workshop: Around the walls of this room are large workbenches laden with whetstones, grinding wheels, leather and leatherworking tools for handles, tree branches and carpentry tools for hafts. This room is well lit thanks to a Continual Light spell in the centre of the ceiling. There are 3 chaos dwarf smiths and 2 chaotic dwarf cultists (chaotic dwarf clerics) (AC 4, Mv 90', HD DwC3, hp 10, THAC0 18, Att 1 warhammer for 1d6 or spell, Save Dw3, Ml 10, Align Chaotic, XP 75, equipment: dwarf-sized chain mail, warhammer, shield, unholy symbol, 20gp each, spells: Cure/Cause Light Wounds, Light/Darkness) 
16. Workers' quarters: There are no monsters here, just 4 beds. 
17. Shrine of Chaos: This room is dominated by a mural of a strange fiery demonic figure with dwarves bowing down before it. This is the quarters of the Chaos Dwarf Curate (AC 1, Mv 90' HD DwC5, hp 19, THAC0 16, Att 1 mace+1 for 1d6+2 or spell, Save Dw5, Ml 11, Align Chaotic, XP 300, equipment: dwarf-sized Plate Mail +1, mace+1, shield, unholy symbol. Spells: Hold Person, Bless/Blight, Cure/Cause Light Wounds, Detect Magic). He has a bed beneath which is a loose flagstone. Lifting up the flagstone reveals a small hole containing a sack with the curate's treasure: 2600gp and 600pp
18. Finished Items Storage. This room is guarded by an iron living statue and a chaos dwarf guardian. It contains an unusual treasure - a large stash of finished and saleable weapons and suits of metal armour arranged on wooden racks as found in the table below
    

    Type	Quantity	Value each	Total value (gp)
    Battleaxe	20	7	140
    Mace	8	5	40
    Metal Shield	15	10	150
    Dwarf-sized Chain Mail	5	40	200
    Dwarf-sized Banded Armour	3	50	150
    Dwarf-sized Plate Mail	4	60	240
    Shortsword	10	7	70
    Normal Sword	6	10	60
    Hand Axe	10	4	40
    Warhammer	10	5	50
    Dagger	5	3	15
    		Grand total	1155

Commonly used stats

Chaos Dwarf Guardian: AC 2 (Plate mail), Mv 60', HD Dw5, hp 27 , THAC0 15  Att 1 battleaxe for 1d8+1, Save Dw5,Ml 10, Align Chaotic XP 225 Equipment: dwarf-sized plate mail, battleaxe, 2d6pp

Chaos Dwarf Smith: AC 5, (chain mail), Mv 90'. HD Dw3, hp 16, THAC0 17, Att 1 hammer for 1d6_1, Save Dw3, Ml 9, Align Chaotic, XP 75,  Equipment: dwarf-sized chain mail, warhammer, 3d6gp

Hellhound (average): AC 4, Mv 120', HD 4, hp 18, THAC0 16, Att 1 bite for 1d6 or breath weapon, Save F4, Ml 9, Align Chaotic, XP 125, Breath Weapon: Hellhound can breathe fire at an opponent for 4d6 fire damage, range 10', usable on 1-2 on d6 each round. Successful save vs dragon breath halves damage. 

Iron Living Statue AC 2, Mv 30', HD 4, hp 20, THAC0 16, Att 2 fists + special for 1d8/1d8, Save F4, Ml 12, Align Neutral, XP 125  Metal absorption: If a character hits the iron living statue with a non-magical metal weapon, the character must make a save vs spells or else the weapon is partially absorbed by the statue, and cannot be used again until the living statue is killed