Firehammer Hold
Demographics
Firehammer Hold proper is home mostly to shield dwarves, with some duergar. The loggers' thorp and camp north of the stronghold are home to humans and orcs, the latter of the Gory Maul and Jagged Scythe tribes.
Government
Thane Tace Stoneshield leads the stronghold, advised by Marshal Jekk Ironfist, master smith Oskar Trueanvil, and the stronghold's spiritual leader, Kathra Torunn. Kathra's sister Vistra Torunn is the stronghold's historian.
Defences
Jekk Ironfist leads the defense of the stronghold as the Marshal of the Guard, backed by a force of mostly dwarves. The nearby logger's thorp hosts a human and orc militia under the command of Captain Megged.
Industry & Trade
Officially, the Valleyhold Guild of Stonecrafters and Mastersmiths oversees mining and forge operations in Firehammer Hold, led by master smith Oskar Trueanvil and mining foreman Gordal. A trade treaty with Clan Holderhek has created a route to take the stronghold's wares to market from Waterdeep to Daggerford, thanks to their liaison Beloril Holderhek and lead teamster Arha.
Assets
In the stronghold's first year under Tace's leadership, Vistra Torunn established a teleportation circle within the stronghold. A contingent of guards watches the circle at every hour. Its sigils are known only to a select few outside the stronghold. Specifically, Firehammer Hold counts the Harpers of Moongleam Tower in Everlund as allies, and their archmage Krowen Valharrow knows the sigils.
History
Since ancient times, Firehammer Hold has been a temple-fortress dedicated to Haela Brightaxe, a dwarf hero-goddess purported to grant luck in battle. Although reduced in number over the years, Haela’s faithful maintained control of the hold up until 1491 DR, when a yuan-ti plot to capture the region began to unfold.
Agents of the yuan-ti anathema Ssilinauth made a pact with a fiendish duergar (or durzagon) named Nalifarn, asking him to lead his clan to invade Firehammer Hold, taking over its forges to manufacture armaments for orc and hobgoblin forces. With the help of elemental creatures summoned by the yuan-ti, the gray dwarves opened a passage to the hold from the Underdark and attacked. Haela’s followers, surprised and outnumbered, perished bravely but quickly. None escaped. The same fate met the human loggers at a nearby thorp, their bodies dumped in a mass grave.
With the hold captured, humanoid allies of the duergar, especially hobgoblins, supplied the gray dwarves with prisoners captured in the surrounding lands. Duergar ruthlessly forced these slaves to work in the hold’s mines. For several tendays, the duergar forged arms and supplied them to the hobgoblins and to the orcs occupying the ruins of Harpshield Castle.
Unknown to Nalifarn, the arrival of Jekk Ironfist put in motion events that would undo his occupation of the stronghold. Jekk was investigating an artifact called the Face of Gorm, which he suspected was held in the collection of the duke of Daggerford under the unlikely name "the Delimbiyr Bloke". Nalifarn captured Jekk and tortured him for information. Adventurers from Daggerford followed, and in the course of freeing Jekk, slew Nalifarn and many of his clan.
After Nalifarn was killed in Firehammer Hold, Duergar warlord Harbek Mindhammer and his friend, mind master Veit Ashcrown, saw an opportunity to advance their goal: a future in which the duergar are respected in the Realms. With a regiment of loyal troops, they assumed leadership of the stronghold.
When the yuan-ti asked their duergar and orc allies to eliminate the Urshani hobgoblins for their unwillingness to join Ssilinauth's enterprise, Harbek saw another opportunity. He used the fight to forge his own relationship with the orcs, particularly the Gory Maul tribe, and claimed some of the Urshani resources for himself in the aftermath.
When Ssilinauth's machinations in Daggerford collapsed, he was exiled by the yuan-ti of the Serpent Hills. The anathema and his followers fled to Firehammer Hold. Harbek honored Nalifarn's alliance with the yuan-ti and sheltered them, though he considered their presence a liability.
With Daggerford freed from yuan-ti influence, Jekk Ironfist assembled a party of heroes, including his friend Tace Stoneshield, to invade Firehammer Hold and free it from the duergar. Infiltrating the hold, the adventurers reached an accord with Harbeck in exchange for removing Ssilinauth. Unfortunately for the duergar, Ssilinauth's attempt to achieve godhood unleashed undead forces throughout the stronghold. Nearly all the duergar were killed, including Harbeck and Veit. Ssilinauth was destroyed by Jekk, Tace, and their allies, and the way made clear for honest dwarves to reclaim the stronghold.
Tace called forth settlers from his home town Valleyhold to launch the reclamation of Firehammer Hold. Tace was proclaimed Thane by the settlers, and under his leadership, the stronghold has grown in a short while to bring together shield dwarves, humans, duergar, and orcs in peaceful and profitable industry.
Natural Resources
Firehammer Hold sits atop rich seams of iron and other ores essential to the manufacture of arms and armor.
The Gates of Firehammer Hold
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