The precious ore that hammer and anvil shape into tools and weapons is difficult to come by in the vales of the Great River, and commerce has grown thin in the years of ever-growing darkness. When Velthriith was younger, he and many other children his age were sent by the alderman of the clan to join the workers in the mines above Mountain Hall . There were long days as dark as winter nights, spent underground searching for the glimmer that would put swords into the hands of the warriors of his Woodland kin, and needed tools for shepherds, hunters and farmers alike.