Chapter 5: Return to the Surface

Elfog pulls and pulls on the chain, trying to snap the links, but nothing happens.

It isn't long before you are taken to board the ferry for your long journey down the river. The trip is blissfully uneventful and you find that Lanniver is charming and straightforward, exactly what you'd expect from someone of his order.

Once you depart the ferry, there are still a couple of weeks of travel before you actually reach the gates of Gauntlgrym. The dwarves out front are obviously expecting you, and you are led in and through several long tunnels before you reach what the dwarves call the Vault of Kings.

Large enough to enclose a small town, this high-ceilinged chamber rises above a network of bridges, stone towers, and sturdy walls carved from rock and sheathed in iron and mithral. Dozens of smaller chambers lead out from the Vault of Kings, including sprawling residential areas not yet filled by Gauntlgrym's new occupants.

You are each given a very spacious room of your own, "Here be yer rooms," one of the guards says, "Glad to have ye here. It'll be a couple more days afore the rest of the groups show up, so make yourselves at home and let anybody know if ye need a thing. Try not to wander about too much, much o' Gauntlgrym is still wild, but you should be safe visiting the Great Forge or Iron Tabernacle if ye get bored."

"Uh, ye mean, like a library? Can't say that we do, but you could visit the Iron Tabernacle, lots o' magic types down there," the dwarf replies, "Eh, I'm not too sure. Probly the Harpers, and whatnot. Ye'd have to ask King Bruenor, but he won't be ready for ye til later."

You make your way to the Iron Tabernacle and find an absolutely massive chamber. It would easily hold an entire surface village within it. It obviously has lost some of its former glory, as some passages off of it have collapsed and many statues are partially crumbled. Nevertheless it is still a warm place where a number of priests mill about, seeing to the spiritual needs of the dwarven peoples.

You realize when you get there that you'd have no idea where to even start looking for info.

"If ye'd like company, I'll take ye there. It can get kinda confusin' around here until yer used to it," the guard offers, "Could always use a bit o' holy water anyway."

Elfog knows well that when a dwarf says "holy water" he really means strong ale.