Bogtown: Abandoned Mine and Memorial Forge

[Spearmint]

This location is approximately five miles southeast of Bogtown.

The place is actually at the head of a disused mineshaft that had previously collapsed decades earlier, trapping the Dwarven miners inside in a fatal incident.

A Memorial Forge was erected in their memory and this place acts as an occasional place of dwarven pilgrimage.

There is a resident Forgemaster Priest, Denzil, a junior cleric and two apprentices. They can smith normal gear at the forge outside of their religious vocations and helped to craft the Silver Torcs, which were used to shield guests from the Impurax shape-shifting manifestations.

The area has a surrounding stockade and the compound has also become one noted hideout or quarters for the wanted Brigandine Renata.

The mine history and erection of the Forge:

Iron and gems excavated had been over a number of decades, the mine shaft going deep under the hill and spreading laterally following a number of ore rich veins. But disaster struck and many tunnels collapsed, trapping scores of miners inside who were either crushed or slowly asphyxiated from lack of clean air. The dwarf Denzil himself a victim, hobbling upon a peg-leg from a below the knee amputation.

"Survivors erected the chapel here as a memorial when the mine closed. We couldn't get all the bodies out though we diligently tried. Relatives come from ancestral halls during feast days to remember them." The place functions for occasional pilgrimage with an active forge. The trade routes traverse other routes leaving the place quite isolated which suits them to be left to their own devices. Denzil sees his particular vocation from a pastoral point of view, stating many of the dwarves are allied with Renata and while they treat the Memorial grounds and mine with respect, he has no axe to grind against the alleged bandits. He does advise though that you 'watch your back' suggesting that while he might trust the brigandine, he has less confidence in some of her cohorts.

All dwarven forges have an intrinsic power, much the same as blessed fonts of holy water. Crafting from base bronze and minor utensils appropriates a minor ability to forge enchantments into whatever is made, an augmented Duchy broadsword, heirloom agricultural implement, shield, armour. Dedicating and upgrading the forge with more precious or dedicated compounds, alongside having a higher or more prestigiously ranked cleric, allows a greater output of divine blessings upon the works of their hand. So it is, here in this place. The forgemaster priest and his apprentices can craft enchantments into items on a limited level.

Characters may arrive here to engage either the dwarven forge for crafting or the bandits.