XIV: Acoroc, The City of Iron

Nibell the human rogue with the double handheld crossbows, Krimp the wolfen Champion of Kym-nark-mar, Father Wronski the kobold High Priest of Kormath, and Malachi the kobold mercenary, travel out of the valley of the Northern Gate east through the forest to the mountain city Acoroc. After Nibell’s last run-in with bounty hunters, they decide to shun the roads and trade routes. Krimp takes point, even though he is now a paladin, he was first a Wolfen hunter of the Eastern Arm Tribe.

After a little over a week of travel, Iron Mountain can be seen just above the tree line. A few days later the forest begins to spread apart and farmland can be seen in the hill country ahead. These are the human run farms at the base of the great mountain. Stone fences dot the country side; barley, grain, and hops can be seen growing in the fields; and herds of cattle and sheep are tended among the rolling hills.

Iron Mountain is 14,409 feet from base to summit. Like a Juggernaut it rises from Timiro’s hilly forest country in the northeast of the kingdom. The mountain and it’s surrounding foot hills are home to several small human villages but upon it’s summit, like the mountain’s crown, rests the City of Iron, Acoroc.

As the heroes begin to exit the woods a patrol of Timiro soldiers, lead by a mounted knight, approaches them. At first the knight is harsh to the heroes. However, upon learning they are The Lords of the Northern Gate, his demeanor changes to a sarcastic courtesy. He introduces himself as Sir Bartholomew Lington, Commander of Fort Seb. Sir Lington escorts the Heroes to the base of Iron Mountain. On the way, Sir Lington’s bitter sarcasm and disdain for his position at Fort Seb becomes abundantly clear. They are glad to reach the main trade road leading up the mountain and to be rid of Sir Lington’s company.

As the heroes ascend Iron Mountain, they notice the incredible amount of wagon traffic both going up and down. The heroes recall that on a busy trade road anywhere else in the kingdom a wagon or traveler would be seen every hour or two. But here on the road to Acoroc, it seems every 20 minutes a human or a dwarf passes on horse, pony, or wagon. Along the road there are seven or eight small villages, each consisting of a few shops and an inn and each is spaced a few miles apart. Everyone on the mountain seems to be in a hurry. Both Human and Dwarf are set about their work with a fierce single-mindedness.

The heroes decide to stay the night at an inn over halfway up the mountain. To their surprise, they are warmly greeted by the locals that have set aside the days work to partake in a jovial celebration of ale and songs. The dwarves immediately assume Wronski and Malachi have come down the mountain out of Acoroc. Krimp is the only one among the party that doesn’t speak the dwarven language and finds the majority of the evening unintelligible. When Wronski inquires about a dwarven blacksmith, the dwarves inform Wronski that he is probably in the real city not the “storefront” on top. Wronski asks how deep the subterranean city delves. The dwarves perceive this as a joke and merrily laugh; Malachi kicks Wronski under the table and shoots him a look to keep quiet. Wronski takes the hint and laughs along with the dwarves.

Suddenly a human is flung through the door of the inn. He is wearing orange overalls and has is hands bound behind his back and his ankles shackled. Directly after he lands on the hard wood floor, in walks a dwarven woman with reddish brown hair in two braids, a traveling cloak and muddy boots. She surveys the inn for any signs of danger as she enters. The locals recognize her to be a bounty hunter and go back to their music and spirits.

She approaches the bar, “Stew for me and whatever gruel you have back there for him.”

“What did he do?” asks the human bartender.

“Plenty.” She flatly replies. It’s been over a week since she captured him trying to flee to the Eastern Territory. He could have made it too, start a new life, and put that senseless intoxicated night that ended in bloodshed behind him. But she took the job. Another bounty hunter could have been paid off or would have let their guard down after a week of travel, but not her. She has a methodic almost ritualistic way of maintaining control of his every action, almost as if she could read him and guess his most brilliant escape plan before he can even finish dreaming them up. Now they are already half way up Iron Mountain, and by noon he’ll be at the gallows.

In the still of the night, Krimp is restless in the cramped inn bed. Suddenly he hears dwarvish speaking outside his door. It sounds like arguing and one of the voices is distinctly Malachi’s. He hears a pouch of coins hit the hard wood floor. There is some cursing and the pouch is retrieved by the dwarf who turns and heads down the stairs to the lobby. Malachi skulks back to his room. Krimp waits till he hears Malachi’s door shut and begins to tiptoe into the hall to see who Malachi was arguing with. Except when you are nine feet tall tiptoeing is still pretty loud. Several of the inn’s patrons shout from within their rooms to quite down, Krimp quickly returns to his bed and decides to confront Malachi in the morning.


The next morning…

Malachi pops his head into inn room and shouts “Let’s move people!”

Father Wronski wipes the sleep from his eyes, “It’s still dark! What time is it?”

“Early but we can’t wait till the sun comes up, we are on the west side of the mountain. By the time the sun gets here it will be the middle of the afternoon.” Malachi slams the door and moves down the hall to Krimp’s room.

Malachi creeks open the door expecting to see a slumbering wolfen. He is surprised to see Krimp, dressed and geared up. Krimp is sitting on the side of his bed and looks very irritated. He points and motions for Malachi to enter, “You have some explaining to do.” The wolfen’s eyes narrow and his ears fold back. Malachi loudly gulps and enters, closing the door behind him.


The walls of Acoroc are like a crown at the top of the mountain. The walls are easily four stories in height and at least twenty feet thick. As the heroes approach they notice the walls are the finest masonry any of them have ever seen. Above the walls can be seen the cramped tall stone buildings of the dwarven city. They turn the final bend and see the great iron gates of Acoroc. These magnificent gates are spiked and depict the agreement between King Acoroc and the dwarves of Iron Mountain. Above the gate it reads in dwarven, “Acoroc the Last Citadel.”

As they enter the gates they see the towering buildings of Acoroc. Most buildings appear to be four to six stories in height. The architecture is a marvel! The buildings are rectangular in shape, made of stone, though they seem plain from a distance, an almost artistic flare is in the details of the buildings especially around archways, windows, and ledges. The majority of the buildings are shops or businesses. Each building on the city block has a main or front entrance and then once inside there are entrances to each of the adjacent businesses. One could wander through six or even seven shops before having to set outside.

The city is extremely packed. The noise of carts, arguing merchants, and singing clerics is almost deafening. The people of Acoroc almost seem not to notice the noise. The heroes see mostly humans, dwarves, and a surprising number of kobolds bustling about. Father Wronski notices an unusual number of clerics of varying races and pantheons hurrying about the city, he starts to wonder if there is an inter-pantheon convention he has not heard about. The lack of pollution, homelessness, and the diseased makes a striking contrast to the other cities of Timiro. The heroes are bewildered by the sights and sounds of the great city. The crowd seems to move them like a current towards the city square.

In the city square has been erected a temporary gallows for a public execution. On the gallows are three dwarves. Two of the dwarves are executioners without face coverings; the dwarves of Acoroc are not ashamed to administer justice. The third dwarf is a paladin in full plate armor without a helmet he has close to a dozen different religious symbols on separate gold chains around his neck. As the heroes approach they see the dwarven bounty hunter leading her prisoner up the wood steps to the noose.
The paladin pulls for sack of coins and says, “As always, Roxana of clan Diamondshard, you have the gratitude of the people of Acoroc and especially of the victims family.” He present the sack of coins to her, she nods, and takes her position at the bottom of the stairs to ensure nothing goes wrong at the very end. The paladin unrolls a scroll to read and looks up at the crowd and is startled by the grinning wolfen towering over the crowd. The paladin grins and motions to Krimp to meet him at the base of the platform when it is finished. He returns his focus to the scroll and bellows, “The people of Acoroc have found the accused, Vali Torati of the village Rolling Oak in the southeastern foothills of Iron Mountain, guilty of the murder of his fiancée, Malisa Gratovi. In accordance with Acoroc law, a human convicted of murdering another human is sentenced to hang by the neck until dead.” The paladin rolls up the scroll and descends the steps as the executioners position the prisoner.

After the hanging, the crowd thins out. The dwarven paladin shouts to Krimp as he wades through the crowd, “What are you doing here?! I heard you had some trouble with a haunting at Gate Manor!”

Krimp strides toward his old mentor, “Nothing we couldn’t handle.” Krimp turns to Wronski, “This is my mentor, Sir Serafim. He taught me what it meant to be a paladin.”

“Oh! I’m sorry! I want you to meet someone. Roxana this is my friend Sir Krimp, Champion of Kym-nark-mar, and the Lords of the Northern Gate. Krimp this is Roxana Diamondshard the greatest bounty hunter in all of Timiro.” The heroes nod and shake hands with the dwarven woman. “That reminds me. Roxana, the Duke wants you to stop by the castle he has a big job for you. All I know is that it is a magic-user.” At the word “magic-user” the heroes notice a serious contemplative look comes over the bounty hunter and a tension fills the air. The paladin adds, “The Duke said you might need a team for this one.” and looks toward the heroes.

“Oh we are just here to do some shopping.” Injects Father Wronski.

“Yes, we are here to look up your cousin that you told me about back in Credia, Serafim.” Krimp adds.

“Well, my cousin’s shop is in the “real” city. You’ll need permits from the Duke to go underground. You might as well travel together. Krimp, I have business at several of the temples today but I hope to see you again soon.” Krimp smiles and nods in respect to his mentor. The paladin turns and kisses Roxana once on each the cheek, “Roxana always good seeing you.” He turns before striding off, “May the gods of light be with you and evil feel the sting of your steel!”

Now Malachi, Wronski, and Roxana get more acquainted in dwarven. Krimp again is left out of the conversation and finds himself looking around the city square at the bustling people. He has noticed that the kobolds here have the same complexion as Malachi who is from the Old Kingdom Mountains, who is darker skinned then Wronski who is from Algor Mountain Range. Suddenly, he notices a kobold that looks a lot like Wronski so similar that not only could he be from the Algor Mountains but possible the same clan. Krimp abruptly interrupts the dwarven gibberish , “Wronski! Excuse me, but I think a kinsman of yours is visiting this city. I saw a kobold of your complexion that looks strikingly similar to you just enter that shop over there.”

“Really? My people seldom travel far from home, lets go say hello.” Father Wronski lets Krimp lead the way. Wronski explains to Roxana what is going on and ask if she would mind a slight detour on the way to seeing the Duke. She decides if it won’t take long she could spare a few moments. No one notices the tense look on Malachi’s face as they head towards the shop.

Everyone walks into the tea shop. There is a rotund dwarf behind the counter smoking a pipe with a scowl on his face. The room is filled with delicate ceramic tea pots, tea sets, and glass jars of dried tea leaves. As they enter they see the back of a muscular kobold wearing studded leather armor. Before a word can be uttered, Malachi suddenly pulls his sword!

Everyone’s attention is drawn towards Malachi! Wronski throws up his hands, “Malachi, what are you…”
“YOU!” comes from behind Wronski, he is almost petrified with bewilderment, Wronski looks at Malachi and realizes his angry eyes are not focus on him but on the kobold behind him. Wronski turns to face his identical twin brother, Kasimierz, that he had thought was dead. The kobolds, Malachi, Wronski, and Kasimierz erupt into shouting, pointing, and make threaten gestures towards each other.

Roxana understands some of the kobold language from her constant visits to Acoroc but they are shouting, using obsinities and talking way to fast for her to ketch everything but she listens intently to try and pull out the facts. Kasimierz is Wronski’s brother. She suspects they are identical twins but it is obvious from Kasimierz build that he was the more physical of the two. She also notices from his callus hands, bitter snarl, and weary eyes that his life has been hard and filled with bad choices. Kasimierz blames Wronski for some misfortune… prison… she thinks she hears. Something about a business deal that resulted in Wronski going into exile. Malachi is talking about a troll and a job that he and Kasimierz were on together… now they are back to swearing.

Krimp, who has not understood a word since this has begun, roars, “Will someone please tell me what is going on!”

The dwarven shopkeeper shouts, “OUT! All of you OUT!” He pulls two heavy crossbows out from underneath the counter. Nibell and Roxana exit immediately. Krimp lifts Wronski and Malachi by the back of their collars and walks out of the shop as they continue to yell at Kasimierz.

Wronski explains to the rest of the heroes that his brother blames him for being thrown in prison even though his brother did commit a crime. Kasimierz has sworn vengeance and Wronski advised them to be on their guard. Wronski hopes to leave Acoroc without a confrontation with his brother.

Roxana leads the group up the hill to Castle Acorok, home to Duke Fredric Acorok. The human personnel at Castle Acorok are very friendly and helpful. They are taken through the castle, past an empty throne room to a modest office filled with scrolls, papers, and a desk. A young human male sits behind the desk he seems intent on his work but has a calm, strength about him. He looks up at the heroes and smiles cheerfully, “How may I help?” he stands and extends his hand. The heroes are unsure and ask if they may speak with the Duke. The young man laughs. “I am the Duke! Please sit down.”

to be continued...