Part of: Chronicles of the Lords of Bronze/Bronzemen
Ashfall was a true enclave and forging center for the Lords of Bronze. It was said to be one of their largest, and from its forges came the weapons that defeated the northern Sea-Kings and stopped the northern advance of Umbak. Ashland was named because of the fires that burnt day and night to run the forges and the ash that rained down over the town. Then town was located in a sunken hollow about 800 feet in diameter. Mud brick, stone and wood. Multiple forges, with the sound of hammering said never to stop, not even on sacred days to their people. Incessant forging, hammering, and quenching.
Ashfall stood on the frontiers of the lands the Dreadlords were seeking to conquer – in Dunstrand Vale. It was the last and greatest of the forge centers. The quenching steam was constant as it was at a low point in the region – and the water would accumulate and had to be dealt with. And so, it was surrounded by a warm mist as well, providing natural defenses. Eventually though, the Sea-Kings struck it down, sending a great wave year after year, each year bigger than before, until one finally struck the river system that fed into it. The surge drowned many but brought with it something that caused a greater calamity… Ashfall’s last forge fire was extinguished and it was covered in mud and water as a massive plume of steam rose skyward. Rumors say it the souls of the bronzemen lost rose in that plume and it settled on one of the great Sea-King sacred places, poisoning it in revenge – perhaps it was even the great Apshai Temple.
The shadowed walls of Ashland bordered on the edge of the Feywild and Shadowfell both. Those who could ‘slip the veil’ would travel into the edges of the hollow, which was deep in the heart of Saer-Vandhanj, the forest of “Gnarled Roots” of the Feywild. The forest wood grew with tin in its roots, and when the wood was burned it emitted a poisonous smoke – it could only be burned with other wood (alder and birch) to prevent the worst effects. The wood was hard and took weeks to burn. This, in turn, fueled the smelting process of Ashfall, and was one of the places where the Bronzealloy could be forged to make their weapons and armor. It would take months to burn enough of the wood and extract the tin to make the sacred bronze. The weapons with the greatest percent of this extracted tin were “Naif-Aab” – the ‘heart of bronze’. Spears, javelins, and axes were made from this, said to cleave cleanly through armor and all resistances.
Weapons: An once of the Ashfall tin would be used to make 6 arrow tips, 2 for a dagger or small ax, 3 for a short sword tip, 6 for a sabre’s edge.
Blood Rune Weapons: The greatest of these weapons were quenched in the heart blood of a living victim – an elder massive bull, bear or elk that was aged and had been a companion animal to have fought in many battle on be on the edge of death. These soaked the Blood Runes of the Naif-Aab and were so powerful they were said to split shields in two.
Amidst the twisting passages under the hollow, there stood a emerald portal. This emerald portal was said to go to enclaves of the Dreadlords. Rumors had it even going to their mysterious home. Regardless, the emerald portal operated as a conduit for getting the products out into the hands of the defenders of its towns and cities.