Connects to: 03.04, 11.01, 24.02, and 26.01.
While at the zenith of their power, before the goblin wars (24.02), the dwarven dictators ordered the construction of five great fortresses (26.01) but only one (33.00) remains in dwarven hands today. The construction of Hoth Akhbir was especially ambitious for it sought to extend dwarven power all the way to the western coast. Maybe it would have done so, but its construction was never completed.
While the orcish and dwarven work crews were still hard at work raising the stones of the towers of Hoth Akhbir ever higher, a stone giant war band fell upon the work site, heaving great blocks of stone at the surprised engineers. It was all the work of Najir Dum. This goblin hero had acquired an enchanted flute of elven make and used it to draw the gnomish children out of the walls of the castle of the Mountain King. When their parents came wailing to him asking for their children back, Najir Dum said that he would be happy to oblige if they would steal the harp of the Mountain King in return.
The gnomes sniveled and screamed but in the end they agreed and the great golden harp passed into Najir Dum’s hands. Then, riding on the back of a great bat, he took the harp southwards and secreted it within the half-built walls of Hoth Akhbir. Najir Dum made sure that the Mountain King learned of where he harp could be found and that was the end for many dwarves, orcs and gnomes (once the giants learned of the gnomes’ role in the theft their wrath was terrible). This is only one of the many stories the goblins still tell of the cunning of Najir Dum but they are not the only ones who remember the fate of Hoth Akhbir. The dwarven monastery (03.04) was later built out of its fallen stones and even today the dwarven brothers come here to drag away more of its stones.
Connection
- Goblins still tell stories of Najir Dum to this day.
Hooks
- Is there anything left in Hoth Akhbir that would make exploring it worthwhile for adventurers?
- What was so special about the harp? Where is it now?
- Where was the hall of the Mountain King? Does the stone giant kingdom still exist?
- What are the other stories about Najir Dum? Did the stone giants ever learn that a goblin had tricked them?
- Where did Najir Dum get a giant bat?
- Does anything live in the ruins today?
With Not a Soul to Hear
The ruins of Hoth Akbir are soaked by a constant downpour that helps feed rivers that run both west and east. But the water that falls from the cloud is not rain but rather a decanter of endless water that was left behind in the shattered ruins of the castle of one of the pirate kings that lies on a cloud that stays forever unmoving above Hoth Akbir.
Hooks:
- A decanter of endless water seems like a useful thing to have, why hasn’t anyone taken it?
