Iltkazar

gp limit; Assets 5,625,000 gp; Population 7,506; Mixed (shield

dwarf 78%, gold dwarf 9%, rock gnome 5%, svirfneblin 4%,

male silver great wyrm).

11); Torth Blackensteel (LG male shield dwarf expert 9);

Ruvan Stoneshoulder (LN male shield dwarf aristocrat 5/expert

4); Chemcol Stoneshoulder (LG female shield dwarf fighter 8);

Gromi Arnskull (CG male shield dwarf fighter 2/cleric 5/runecaster

2); Sturvis Riftsong (CG male shield dwarf fighter 5/bard

3); Vrona Ironledger (N female shield dwarf expert 2/wizard 7);

Elern Riftsong (LG female shield dwarf cleric 8 of Moradin).

expert 8), Master of the Forge; Dorna Riftsong (LG female

shield dwarf expert 7/wizard 3), Chief Librarian; Bresk

Stoneshoulder (LN male shield dwarf fighter 12), Warmaster of

Iltkazar; Anthan Diamondblade (LG male shield dwarf cleric 9

of Moradin), High Soulsmith.

Iltkazar numbers more than 30 clerics, including 6 of 4th level

or higher.

duty of guarding the city’s gates. This contingent includes

more than 60 clerics and 400 fighters and warriors, of whom

about 300 are 1st-level warriors.

The last surviving kingdom of

in a long, slow decline for more

than thirteen centuries. The scholarly

dwarves who live here keep

scrolls and books filled with

dwarven secrets of architecture,

engineering, armor and weaponsmithing,

archaeology, history,

and carving runestones.

Less than 2 miles under the Omlarandin Mountains of Tethyr

sits Iltkazar, a city on the edge of a bloodless

coup. The king, Mith Barak the

Clanless, spends 75 out of every 100

years sitting still as a solid mithral

statue on his throne. During this time,

the Regency Council of Iltkazar rules

the city, carrying out the edicts and

commands of their sleeping king. The

Regency Council sees its stewardship role

as one of preservation, not leadership, so

they avoid making new policies and defer

any major decisions until King Mith’s

next awakening.

The council’s ironclad devotion

to waiting for the sleeping king

stagnates the city, but it was

tolerable to the deeply

traditional dwarves until

recently. Five years ago, in 1367

DR, King Mith failed to

awaken on schedule. Since then, the Council

has dithered on substantial issues while the citizens

have grown restless.

Iltkazar is called City of Mithral for its legendary

smiths, most of whom work in rare, magically active

metals. Mithral is most common of these, but even rarer

metals are routinely worked here. Hidden mines in the

surrounding Underdark hold a wealth of hizagkuur,

good use of these. But Iltkazar’s hold on trade in these metals

does not depend upon maintaining control over their source.

Even if the enemies of the dwarves stumbled across these

deposits or discovered the metals elsewhere, the knowledge of

how to smelt and work them to full effect is known only to

Iltkazaran smiths.

Faintly glowing, silvery-blue lichen on the ceiling lights the

whole city, which is spread over a couple of dozen caverns connected

by wide tunnels to create the effect of one large cavern.

The River Dhalnadar and its tributary, the Deepflood, meet

within one of the central caverns, providing plenty of water.

The civil engineering of the city is a marvel—the river drops

about 60 feet as it flows through the city, turning dozens of

waterwheels that power hundreds of machines around the caverns.

The water also feeds into each home through an intricate

aqueduct system.

Iltkazar is probably the best-defended city in the Underdark.

Each of its three main entrances has nine doors, each 10 feet

square and 3 feet thick. The first two are solid iron; the next six

are iron sheathed in 2 inches of hizagkuur, and the last is pure

mithral, immune to magic. Strong grates block all waterways in

and out of the city. These defenses are usually reinforced with

can be triggered by the warden on watch. Runes that cover the

other surfaces of the cavern at 25-foot intervals usually contain

These last runes are unique to Iltkazar because they are triggered

by an innate tremorsense rather than sight. Thus, any movement

within 120 feet of such a rune triggers it.

King Mith Barak

Though many suspect the truth about the king, none know it for

certain. King Mith is actually Mithbarazak, a silver great wyrm

who came to the dwarves decades ago to help them guard their

immense knowledge. Mithbarazak may also have had other, more

subtle reasons to watch over the last kingdom of Deep Shanatar,

such as needing an extremely safe place to keep his body during

his travels in the Astral Plane. When the dragon sleeps, he travels

astrally and has frequent audiences with powerful extraplanar

creatures. But twenty years ago, his astral form was captured by

a servant of Tiamat. Mithbarazak has been imprisoned on the

Astral Plane ever since, and he cannot free himself.

Brief History

When Deep Shanatar ruled most of the southwestern Upperdark,

Iltkazar was a relatively small but important part of the

overkingdom. This subkingdom was the center of scholarship

and smithcraft in the realm. When the overkingdom collapsed

after the Kin Clashes against the duergar, Iltkazar survived, but

its citizens continued to fight off assaults from beholders, drow,

ground each time.

In 66 DR, a dying king and greatly reduced holdings made

for bleak prospects. On his deathbed, the last dwarven king of

Iltkazar named Mith Barak the Clanless his successor. Since his

ascension to the throne more than 1300 years ago, Mith Barak

has led the city wisely and secured the kingdom’s borders. Unfortunately,

his long sleeps do not allow the dwarves to contemplate

any great new projects for decades at a time. The council is

absorbed in fine interpretations of their sleeping king’s dictates,

and its members are fixated on maintaining the city rather than

taking initiative.

Every time the king awakens, he spends much of the next

twenty-five years overseeing attempts to rebuild the city to the

point where he left it seventy-five years earlier. King Mith has

never complained about or even addressed that problem, in the

same way that no one ever questions his mysterious seventyfive-

year sleeps. In his waking years, he rules justly and wisely.

In his sleeping years, the council rules in good faith but with

undue legalism.

In 1367 DR, the unthinkable occurred: King Mith did not

awaken at the appointed time. He continued to sit, unmoving,

despite his followers’ attempts to rouse him. For several years,

the dwarves argued over the appropriate course of action. At

last, just this year, some of the dwarves have become sufficiently

desperate in the absence of their king to act. One faction, which

calls itself the Unfurling Movement, has decided on a radical

course of action: seeking help from the surface to rouse their

king. The entire Regency Council hotly opposes this expedition,

and some have likened it to treason. Nonetheless, the leader

of the movement, Joshiah Stonefriend (NG male human Expert

6), plans to appeal for help on the surface with or without the

Council’s approval.

Surrounding Area

Most of Iltkazar’s surroundings consist of ruined dwarven holds.

Each time that waves of enemies have surged closer to the city,

the dwarves have retreated, abandoning their holdings.

Iltkazaran patrols still appear in these areas, but they don’t have

the numbers or military might to actually occupy them, so all

kinds of other Underdark denizens are free to roam in their

abandoned halls.

These tunnels are nearly the last of Iltkazar’s defended holdings

outside the city itself. Located about 2 miles from the city, these

mostly empty hizagkuur mines provide the easiest access to

Iltkazar from the surface or the west. The dwarves patrol these

passages rigorously and construct deadly and clever traps to discourage

unwanted visitors, so coming through this area without

a guide is a foolhardy proposition. Of late, patrols of gold

dwarves from the Great Rift and gray dwarves from Dunspeirrin

have become increasingly frequent visitors in this area, and

clashes between these two groups threaten full-scale warfare at

Iltkazar’s doorstep.

Though the drow in the region tend to stay in Guallidurth these

days, spiders of all sorts thrive in the outposts and strongholds

left over from the Night Wars in the Omlarandin Mountains,

directly above and to the north of Iltkazar. About once a year,

the dwarves send a few regiments up to beat them back, but far

more spiders infest the area than the dwarves could possibly

hope to eradicate.