Clovengap
"Did
the Angmarim bring the Black Stone Anvil there, hoping to present it to
the dragon? I cannot see what use she might have for it." - Bosi
Tour Guide: When reaching the camp of Stokkset, you will be greeted by an overly-excited dwarf by the name of Gerja Defthand. He is the Master Architect and "head of the restoration project for this area of Gundabad." For the most part, he will be sending you to survey where the "dwarf-hewn stone remains solid" and report on what changed in those areas. The first place is found just north of your location "burrowed into the very mountain itself was a marketplace, Dashat-zahar." What you find are a bunch of fireflies and bees making nests in the square. Fortunately, you are able to find an intact jar behind one of the pillars. After retrieving the item for Gerja, he enthusiastically tells you that the stains "be honey or my chin is bald! It has long been thought that our ancestors here tended bees! I believe you found a jar of honey intended for sale at the market." This leads him to believe the stories of Zigilmarn, the fabled Clovengap honey-wine that were grown in the vineyards on the far shores of the Kurdushalak river. After venturing to the next camp, he asks you to checkout a location mentioned in a song from one of his ancient texts "about meeting a beloved in a lush sward of grass under the mountain, the two gazing at the stars together" which apparently resides next to a giant fountain and some broken benches at Danakh-khej.
"I don't think this bush is going to protect us." - Fanrel to Borghild right before being attacked by a warg
Now On Display: But enough about those boring sites, the cool part is when you get to see Natatharr! It isn't just a boulder, it is "The Ceiling Rock." Although much of the plaque engraved in front of the giant mass has faded over time, you can still read "a poem describing the sundering of Gundabad, and the crumbling of the ceiling of Clovengap and of Natatharr, the Ceiling Rock, crashing to the ground below alongside countless other pieces. The latter were used in the construction of the tiers and ramps of Clovengap." At Bazanmanar where outside visitors would shop for wares at tables and crates full of goods that were grown from the tiers below, Gerja tells you of how "the records speak of a grand, open-air museum, full of gems, precious metals, and stone gathered across Gundabad." Beyond that and across the bridge resides the estate of the caretakers of Garanashmar, "the ancient homestead of Forstori's Line." Our adventure isn't quite over yet! The last thing our friendly dwarf wants us to visit is Amgaruslun Falls and the ruins of Anatrad. Unfortunately, we cannot go any further north in search of the Black Stone Anvil now that the area is covered in Hrimil's rimefrost.
"Your name might be Afarr but you seem pretty close to me." - Fanrel
Follow the Stench: Do you remember Mother Amma in Elderslade as she had you hunting down a bunch of sarrowstones? Perhaps you remember picking up all those scattered pages from the madman experimenting with enchanted crystals? Well now you get to discover what the Angmarims have been up to inside the walls of Gundabad! As Amma ascertains, "I had hoped that the crystals we destroyed in Elderslade were the only ones, but scouts in Clovengap bring reports of Wargs and other creatures with the fell sarrowstones embedded in their very skin!" And it looks like the stench of the crystals have not improved either. The first journal you discover comes from Fioth who is in charge of using these crystals on the warg population. You'll find him in the upper tiers where there are a series of tents and cages. The second person Iuvár didn't get very far with his work on the sabre-tooth cats. You find one of his men dead next to a couple of drained crystals in a bowl on the upper reaches. A waggon full of the corrupted crystals can be seen from the balcony flipped over in the middle of the vineyard. His journal mentions his boss "Bruidalg insists I keep trying, no matter how many of my underlings the blasted cats devour." In addition to Bragha Fellwinder from Elderslade, it appears Fioth and Iuvar were also working under the command of Galachan. And yet another person by the name of Madath was tasked in corrupting the worms down by the bay. It seems like he is as incompetent as the others when you find him and his assistant quivering in fear behind a propped up table against one large threatening worm. Mother Amma "laughs so loudly and long at the image of Madath hiding from the worms that she can barely breath" when you tell her the story.
"Bless me, the stench you carry could shear the beard off Durin himself." - Mother Amma
Dragon Bones: All these journals you collect appear to be too much for Mother Amma to handle alone. The "foul language" that is written down needs to be deciphered by Malur Keenword. His time as an orc prisoner allows him to slowly translate the text into a list of words, names, and stories not worth mentioning outloud. If you don't have your volume up loud enough when conversing with him, you might just miss him whisper, "I am none too happy about what I found in these pages." He tells you of "unholy and fell dealings with evil creatures, muck monsters, dragons, and abominations of nature." He also informs you of a stash of "stench rock" hidden down on one of the lower tiers. When finding out that one of the journals talks about how Cragacha is using humans as test subjects, Amma has you rush over "to her hole in the ruins" to put a stop to it! When returning to camp, you find that Runi the loremaster got very excited when hearing something about dragons from the journal. "This journal is amazing! It belonged to an Angmarim by the name of Bruidalg the Bloodletter." His excitement in telling me about an ensorcelled candle whose flame would find a hidden door was going in one speaker and into the other as I paced the ground in front of him. I guess I had to go retrieve it from some Hobgoblin leader by the name of Tuzugrak in Anatrad. Eventually the whole thing leads you to a giant waterfall, a cavern full of crystals being harvested by Angmarim, the madman himself, a secret tunnel, what looks like the Sea Hag's younger brother from Dar Narbugud, giant corrupted sarrowstones, and dragons bones "or I'm beard lice" as Runi so cleverly tells you.
"Ah, welcome to Clovengap, Fanrel! There is a dragon nearby!" - Runi states with a dragon skeleton head behind him.
Another Path: Gerja and Mother Amma aren't the only two people running the show. You'll find a rag-tag team of other people wanting your attention as well. While exploring what happened to the wargs in the north, you'll come across a warg's whose mind has been cleared named Nakrovak. He will ask you to rescue his cubs from the human meanies nearby. While at Bazanmanar, you'll discover Golodhril pouting on an elvish bench since her sister Sadorwen wouldn't let her explore segments referenced in her books in "the fabled Forest Beneath the Mountains!" To keep things interesting, she decides to create a list of concoctions from a series of herbs that are located within the area. These include a cure that clears out the pollution in the water supply, a remedy that would ease her sister's sea-sickness problem before they head West, and a potion that makes dwarves' beards soft. I even made asked Fred to help clear out some of the mushrooms growing along the banks. There is a dwarf by the name of Nósni that has you hunt down some fur to try and impress Klatha. However, his attempt to woo her is shot down because of how he reassigned her further up the camp close to the gates of Bazan-medan. Eventually, you find out that this was all arranged so she could see the special fireworks he bought from Feredis of Minas Tirith high above the ground. I'm not sure about you, but I've seen better fireworks from hobbits. In any case, Klatha gives him a second chance after seeing the weakest firework display I've ever seen.
"My beard has always been gloriously soft." - Malur regarding Golodhil's concoction
2021-12-16