Keldrith
Village: Population approximately 340 (predominantly Deep Gnome, with a few Dwarves and other residents).
Government: Elected Warden advised by household elders and guild representatives.
Authority Figures: Warden Neldra Vennik; Master Mason Dorvik Krail; Scout Leader Pellin Ashfinger.
Resources: Fresh water, worked stone, gemstones, metalwork and cultivated fungi.
Location: A lower cavern system beneath Harmonias, recently connected to the upper roads by the Galsitanic Intrusion.
Keldrith is a deep-gnome settlement built around a dependable underground spring and a series of carefully worked stone galleries. Its inhabitants, the Svirfneblin, have occupied these caverns for generations, maintaining their homes through skilled engineering, cautious trade and close attention to the movements of their neighbours. Before the Galsitanic Intrusion, no direct passage connected Keldrith’s territory with the ancient road descending from Red Canyon. Travel between the two regions required a lengthy journey through other cavern systems. The Intrusion changed that geography. A steep, rough passage now links the upper roads with caverns patrolled by Keldrith’s scouts. Its discovery offered the prospect of new trade and contact with distant communities. The subsequent arrival of Shovlarog’s hobgoblin column demonstrated the danger of an approach the gnomes had neither chosen nor secured.
The Settlement
Keldrith occupies several adjoining chambers rather than a single open cavern. Homes, workshops and storerooms are cut into the rock, connected by galleries whose worn floors and carefully maintained drainage reveal generations of occupation. Its entrances are deliberately inconspicuous. Travellers may pass observation points without noticing them, while apparently unimportant side passages lead to guarded doors and concealed inspection openings. Visitors admitted to Keldrith are escorted along an approved route. Within, the settlement is orderly and industrious. Stone doors fit closely into their frames. Tools have designated places, water channels are kept clear, and repairs are undertaken before small faults become serious problems. Household carvings and geometric patterns distinguish doorways that might otherwise appear identical to an outsider. Lighting is restrained. Lamps illuminate fine work, trading counters and places used by visitors unable to see in darkness. Much of the settlement remains unlit, its inhabitants moving confidently through familiar surroundings. Sound carries between the galleries. The tapping of tools, the movement of water and occasional voices give Keldrith a quieter character than many underground markets. News of an unfamiliar footfall can travel almost as quickly as the visitor responsible.
Water and Cultivation
The spring is Keldrith’s most important resource. Its head chamber is protected, and water passes through cisterns before being distributed to households, workshops and cultivated areas. Waste water follows separate drains away from the supply. Growing caverns support breadcap and other edible fungi, with beetle pits providing additional food. Organic growing material is carefully collected and reused. Surface grain, oil, cloth and other goods arrive through trade when routes permit. Keldrith ordinarily produces enough to support its established population, but recent disruption has reduced its reserves. Some outlying growing beds became inaccessible during the Intrusion, and recovering them competes with the work of securing newly opened passages. Visitors may purchase provisions in modest quantities. Large purchases require the Warden’s approval when they would reduce supplies needed by the settlement.
People and Customs
Keldrith’s inhabitants value competence, discretion and reliability. Visitors who observe instructions, pay fairly and keep agreements can earn respect. Boasting, careless spellcasting and unexplained wandering tend to produce the opposite result. Outsiders are received in an outer trading gallery containing weighing tables, workshops and guest accommodation. Permission to trade does not confer permission to explore the residential passages. The gnomes are cautious about giving directions. They may explain how to reach a recognised junction while withholding information about routes towards their homes. Maps offered for sale generally omit Keldrith’s entrances. A small number of dwarves and other outsiders live within the community, most possessing longstanding family, professional or commercial ties. New residents require a household willing to answer for them and the agreement of the settlement’s authorities. The Intrusion has placed these arrangements under pressure. Keldrith has received displaced people from neighbouring workings while losing contact with others whose fate remains unknown.
Warden Neldra Vennik
Neldra Vennik (pictured) was elected Warden before the Intrusion and has since spent much of her time addressing problems for which the settlement’s established procedures offer little guidance. Patient, observant and direct, she allows others to finish speaking before asking questions that expose weaknesses in their proposals. She expects scouts to distinguish what they witnessed from what they suspect, and dislikes decisions based upon comforting assumptions. Neldra believes Keldrith must understand its changed surroundings. Sealing every unfamiliar passage might provide temporary security, but could also cut the settlement off from supplies, allies and information. The hobgoblins’ passage has strengthened those who consider her caution insufficient. She now faces demands to close the new descent before another armed force follows it. Surface visitors may obtain an audience if they can explain their purpose and offer useful information. Neldra is particularly interested in which authorities govern the lands above and whether they know of the new connection.
Master Mason Dorvik Krail
Dorvik Krail oversees structural repairs, waterworks and the assessment of damaged passages. His knowledge of Keldrith’s stonework is extensive, and he can identify old repairs that most residents have never noticed. The Intrusion has left him deeply uneasy. He understands fractured rock, subsidence and failing supports. A sound gallery ending abruptly against an entirely different mass of stone presents a problem beyond familiar engineering. Dorvik favours closing the new descent behind a substantial barrier, leaving only a narrow entrance that Keldrith can defend. He regards the hobgoblin column as proof that an uncontrolled connection is an unacceptable risk. His arguments can sound inflexible, but he is responsible for people working beneath damaged roofs and beside unstable walls. He has little patience for visitors who describe dangerous excavations as opportunities without offering to undertake the labour.
Scout Leader Pellin Ashfinger
Pellin Ashfinger commands the scouts surveying the altered approaches. He is accustomed to travelling unseen, observing strangers and returning with information rather than trophies. His scouts discovered the new descent and established the observation post at its lower end. Pellin supported monitoring the passage while its destination was investigated. The hobgoblins arrived before that work was complete. He remains angry about the confrontation, particularly the injuries suffered by those under his command. He also recognises that attempting to hold the post against the full column would have cost lives without stopping its advance. Pellin is likely to be the first authority encountered by an approaching company. He asks precise questions about Red Canyon, Shovlarog and the travellers’ intentions. Consistent answers matter more to him than elaborate assurances of friendship.
The Measured Rest
Proprietor: Tavra Nemmik, deep-gnome hostess.
Trade: Guest accommodation, meals and refreshments.
The Measured Rest occupies a cluster of chambers adjoining the outer trading gallery. Tavra Nemmik maintains six private guest rooms, a communal dining room and a separate chamber where an escorted travelling company can sleep on pallets. Two rooms accommodate human-sized visitors. The others have low ceilings and beds intended for gnomes, a distinction Tavra explains before accepting payment. Meals usually consist of mushroom stew, roast beetles, breadcap cakes and a modest serving of whatever imported food is available. Clean drinking water is included; alcohol costs extra. Tavra keeps a small reserve of better provisions for guests willing to pay, although shortages can reduce even the most expensive supper to a particularly generous helping of local produce. She is courteous, observant and difficult to distract. She remembers who arrived together, who paid for supper and who quietly asked questions about another guest. Visitors receive clear instructions about which galleries they may enter. Tavra expects those staying beneath her roof to respect the settlement’s restrictions and bring disputes to her before drawing weapons.
“You may sleep soundly here. We take considerable trouble to ensure it.”
Vennik and Coil
Proprietor: Berrin Coil, deep-gnome factor.
Trade: Travelling supplies, tools, imported goods and useful salvage.
Vennik and Coil consists of a substantial trading counter backed by locked storerooms. Its shelves carry rope, lamp oil, containers, preserved food, mining tools, replacement straps and waterproof wrapping. Equipment suitable for larger customers is available in smaller quantities. The Vennik name belongs to the founding partner’s household. The business does not belong to Warden Neldra, although the family connection occasionally prompts complaints about favourable treatment. Berrin Coil conducts business patiently and keeps precise accounts. He buys useful salvage after inspection, asks questions about ownership marks and refuses goods evidently taken from graves or captives. His stock reflects both local production and irregular imports. Well-made stoneworking tools may be readily available when lamp oil, cloth or surface grain are scarce. Large purchases of provisions are referred to the Warden if they would threaten the settlement’s reserves. Berrin also sells route sketches covering recognised trading passages. These are dated, qualified and carefully drawn to avoid revealing protected approaches to Keldrith.
“I can sell you twelve days’ food. I cannot sell twelve days’ food to everyone who comes through that door.”
The Third Hammer
Proprietor: Master Smith Ressik Dornal.
Trade: Metalwork, mining equipment, fittings and repairs.
The Third Hammer stands beside a maintained ventilation shaft, separated from the residential galleries. Ressik Dornal (pictured) works with two assistants, producing and repairing the equipment upon which much of Keldrith depends. Picks, chisels, hinges, brackets and waterworks fittings account for most of the smithy’s work. Weapons and armour are also repaired, although new commissions must compete with the settlement’s more immediate requirements. Ressik can replace damaged equipment, make pitons and prepare fittings for climbing or hauling. Most ready-made stock is sized for gnomes. Larger items require suitable materials, measurements and time. His work is dependable, and his estimates are frank. He dislikes customers who expect a damaged sword restored immediately while he is repairing a pump serving several households. Serviceable scrap may be accepted as part-payment. He values it according to its condition and recoverable material, paying little attention to stories about the importance of its former owner.
“Do you want it polished, or do you want it to hold?”
The New Descent
The passage towards the upper roads is steep, uneven and difficult for baggage animals. Natural fissures meet broken sections of older workings, while recent tool marks show where travellers have widened constrictions or improved the footing. Keldrith’s scouts found the connection after the Intrusion. At its lower entrance, they established a small post to observe traffic and prevent strangers moving unchallenged towards the settlement’s territory. The post consisted of a sheltered watch position, a stone-and-timber barrier and routes by which its occupants could withdraw. It was intended to challenge travellers and delay small hostile groups. It could not withstand an army.
The Passage of the Hobgoblins
Shovlarog’s column descended from the upper road with soldiers, families, laden animals and supplies. Its guides appeared to know where they were going. The gnome watch ordered the column to halt while permission to cross the territory was sought. Shovlarog’s officers refused to wait or explain their destination. The confrontation escalated when the gnomes maintained the barrier and the hobgoblins attempted to force it. A brief clash followed. The defenders used concealed positions and missiles to delay the advance, but organised hobgoblin troops broke the barrier and secured the entrance. The gnomes withdrew by routes too narrow for the column to pursue effectively. Several defenders were wounded. One hobgoblin soldier and a pack animal were killed, and damaged baggage was abandoned during the advance. The hobgoblins recovered most of their load and continued through the lower caverns. No soldiers remained to occupy the post. Their commanders kept the column moving.
Relations with Outsiders
The clash has made Keldrith suspicious of anyone arriving from the new descent. Another armed group may be mistaken for hobgoblin scouts, agents or pursuers bringing further trouble. Visitors who halt when challenged and permit an escorted meeting can explain themselves. Those attempting to evade observation or force an entrance are likely to find doors closed and defenders withdrawing into prepared positions. Neldra is willing to exchange information about the hobgoblins’ route. In return, she wants a reliable account of events above and an explanation of what may follow them underground. Practical assistance can earn goodwill. Surveying a damaged passage, recovering missing workers or helping secure the observation post would address immediate needs. Keldrith can offer shelter, modest supplies, repairs and local guidance, but its inhabitants will not readily disclose every route they know.
An Uncertain Future
Keldrith’s leaders remain divided over the new connection. Dorvik sees a breach to be closed. Pellin wants better observation and defensible approaches. Neldra believes a guarded route may eventually provide trade and allies the settlement needs. All agree that the old geography can no longer be relied upon. For generations, Keldrith’s security depended upon knowing its approaches and controlling access to them. A single steep passage has brought the affairs of the surface much closer, and the hobgoblins may only have been the first arrivals.
