Fireball Gulch

Fireball Gulch is the name of a small mining town located in the Dwarven Hills on the Golden River north of Golden Lake. The town is over one hundred years old, but was originally named after a prominent miner who found success in the area, Heidrich Blackhammer or Crowhammer (memories differ). Many of the early miners in this region were dwarves, and it is highly likely that Heidrich was also.
To call this region the "Dwarven Hills" is quite a stretch. There is a rapid rise from the high plains around Golden Lake and Hillsburg into this mountain range, and only 20-30 miles before another sharp rise into the Scarred Peaks range dominated by a volcano and rumors of Antaraxes Glavenis. These mountains are rugged and steep, long associated with a number of Dwarven kingdoms, and rich in mineral deposits, particularly gold.
Heidrich struck out into these hills 120 years ago, and labored for many years before finding a motherlode. He came down out of the hills with large amounts of gold to turn in at the nearest trading post on the river, and built a large house with his earnings. Word quickly spread of Heidrich's success, and hordes of prspectors flooded into the valley and burgeoning town, hoping to strike their own bountiful claims. The trading post rapidly evolved into a small mining town, known as Heidrich's Strike.
The size of the town waxed and waned over the next 80 years as miners came and went with varying degrees of success. Many early settlers found rich veins of gold and other minerals, but none ever matched the scale of Heidrich's find. As the years went on, more people began to suspect that Heidrich had not found a rich vein of ore, but had actually stumbled onto a remnant of one of the lost Dwarven strongholds linked to the area, and profited off their riches.
This meant a decrease in miners coming to the area, but fortune seekers come in all forms. Adventuring parties came up the river, eager to search the hills for more ready loot. Again, none of these found much success until 30 years ago. Word quickly spread downriver to Waynesburg that someone had stumbled onto a lost Dwarven kingdom. Soon, a new wave of adventurers were heading upriver to make their fortune, including one featuring John the Elf, Oliver, Leif, Roulard, and Eugene. Another adventurer named Timothy may have accompanied them, but his name has been lost among the legends of the story.
Arriving in Heidrich's Strike, the party asked around and heard rumors about a promising location about two days journey out of town. They went on their way, and located a large underground complex full of treasure, but well guarded by monsters. They explored until their resources were depleted, and their sacks were full, then returned to town to recover and cash in.
While in town, they got carried away in a local bar, and attracted the attention of the other kind of treasure seeker that flourishes in lawless frontier towns, the pickpocket. A skirmish broke out, and blades were drawn… except by John the Elf. John had recently acquired a Wand of Wonders, and eagerly brandished it. His first expended charge unleashed a cloud of butterflies that caused greater confusion and brought the entire house into the battle. He brandished it a second time, and shrunk to 1/6 his height. Undaunted, he expended a third charge, and the room erupted in an explosion of flame as a Fireball spell was set off from the wand.
Screams erupted as people fought to staunch their burning flesh, a mad rush of people pushed through the doors and windows as they struggled to get away, and the dry, exposed timber of the bar caught flame and spread quickly. Heidrich's Strike was not a large town, but it had seen several periods of rapid growth and expansion, so its buildings were roughly thrown together with the most readily available resource - wood. The bar went up in flames, quickly igniting the buildings on either side, then spreading to the next adjacent buildings, and so on. Soon, both sides of the street were a raging inferno, and people were fleeing in terror before the flames.
The fight in the bar was quickly forgotten as all involved stumbled into the street and recognized the extent of the new danger. The party quickly organized themselves and the townsfolk into a fire brigade to battle the disaster. A long night of desparate effort followed that finally got the fire under control, but not before all of the downtown and main buildings were destroyed. Fully understanding the gravity of the situation, the party slipped away in the aftermath before dawn, and made their way back to the river and south to Waynesburg.
Eventually, the lure of treasure and promise of monster-hunting brought them back to continue their exploration of the Dwarven ruins they had found. When the arrived at the sight of Heidrich's Strike, they found a prosperous new town erected over its smoldering ruins with a prominent archway spanning Main Street that proclaimed "Welcome to Fireball Gulch." John the Elf kept a low profile, and the party made sure to frequent a bar in a different part of town, but they soon realized they had little to fear. No one fully understood where the fireball had sprung from, and the notoriety that followed attracted a new wave of advenutrers and attraction seekers to visit the site and spend their cash.

Type

Town