The Heroine and the Helm--Zephyran and South-Brodh Zellor Dwarves

For DM use only...

The Heroine and the Helm: A Module
(Here also a possbible story The Saving of Sterrensen Trondor--The Saughuagin, Zephyra, and the Ship Starrship <----also of the heroine and helm
(possibly one long session?...)
Heroes are being recruited to recover the lost artifacts of Ardra. City in Zephyr hosts the trials and the storytelling, and adventurers sent off on quests. Each adventurer would need a reason to go on such a quest in the first place, usually either a love or a debt, or both the same. The choosing of them would come before the adventure; they could each write up why they ended up there, etc. “Ardren rewards the faithful. The quest is yours; do not fail.”
This is the original story, as told by the Zephyran bards:
In the the Time of Myth, Thraina was a great hero, wearing the legendary Helm of Ardren, god of prescient wisdom, lord of ravens. Long ago, she set out from her homeland with the helm at her elbow, gazing bravely across the sea to Brohd Zellor, the stone giant’s domain. Her face held a grim expression as the sea wind passed through her red hair. The task at hand was dangerous, to say the least. The elders of Ardrensent her out this way; all of Old Zephyra knew her as a great hero, a slayer of ogres, a scourge to the orcs, a killer of giants.
But nothing quite prepared her for a final showdown with Benli the Baleful, the stone giant of Arrakis. She knew, by the divinations of her elders, that Benil had captured Ardren’s forge.. She knew he kept it hidden in the mountains of Arrakis, but the rest was a mystery. A mystery that she needed to solve. The power of Ardren’s helm traveled with her as she sailed, and she took comfort in it.
Benli boasts and brags all across the Middan; the helm is now his, and no one can defeat him.
The Elders had devined a cave–the place of the forge–and they knew only that the cave was nestled high in the mountains of Arrakis, on the south edge of Brohd Zellor, Up a trail from the southern Zelloran beaches and across the Waste of Gaard.
[land on the beach (meet dwarves?, or a ragtag encampment of Zephyran scouts, warriors–a tribe–etc.), then up into the mountains, adventure, find the cave]
But maybe, possible endings:
Possibility: Thraina was never actually defeated. She lives on as a demi-god among the giants, trolls, orcs, etc., ruling over a nation of them on the far side of the Gaard, through the Jotar Forest. Heroes will find the helm still on her head. Someone was sent back to Zephyra long ago, with misinformation, so no one would seek out the helm. Benli the Baleful is actually a powerful henchman of Thraina (a demi-god himself).
Or: She lies in state, as a trophy, her hammer shield and helm across her chest, She is in a crypt below the mountains, through the Jotari (forest), in a great complex of caves, or in a ruined city, etc. left long ago, anciently, tens of thousands of years. What else here? A giant troll etc. boasting of his lineage, the defeators of Thraina, holders of the helm ... Helm is broken, clove nearly in half… need to find the Smith of Arrak, etc.
Suggestion Party hears story Cross the sea into the Time of Myth, maybe meet Dwarves of the South Coast? and cross the Gaard Mountains of Arrakis, up and into the cave complex / ancient city / cave / fortress / mountaintop / the Jotari (forest) etc. Find the Helm, fix it (with legendary mythic dwarven Smith NPC), defeat Thraina, defeat Benli the Baleful, etc. (various possibilities) Resurrect Thraina, or bring back some important information (runic text, etc.)... Something in addition to the helm, some urgency added Get the helm back to Zephyrus
Possible further adventures to find other artifacts