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Great Hall

High Forge's Central Hall • Olivia's Old Neighborhood • Battleground of the Liberation

Overview​

The Great Hall is the vast hall at the heart of High Forge, running from the city's great gate to the gate of the Forge Heart. Its walls are lined, floor to cavern ceiling, with apartments carved out of the rock — Olivia's old apartment among them, at the entrance end — and at the far end a great stone-and-iron door leads through to the Forge Heart.

It was the stage for Helisanna's concert and the Iron Claws' hostage standoff in Session 36, and for the end of that battle in Session 37, when Silas ordered the besieging dragons out of the city. Helja Ungar did not die here: Silas and Bru killed her in the throne room inside the Forge Heart, reached through the hall's far door. After the liberation, High Forge is being rebuilt under Chalk Rock and Grimjaw; the hall's own condition has not been described since.

Layout​

  • A single great hall connecting the main entry of High Forge to the Forge Heart (the DM's descriptions in Sessions 33 and 35).
  • Continuous apartments carved into the rock on both sides, floor to ceiling. After Olivia fled the city, the Iron Claws assigned her apartment to a dwarf couple (Session 35).
  • A great stone-and-iron gate at the far end separates the hall from the Forge Heart; during the occupation it was guarded by patrols and two large constructs (Session 35).
  • The city maps the party took from Olivia's old precinct show the hall, the Forge Heart beyond it, and a once-hidden "emperor elevator" running to the top of the mountain (Session 35).

Events​

The Dragon Attack (Session 7)​

Fleeing the dragon attack on the Market Ward, the party blasted through the ward's gate just as a dragon clawed into the Great Hall. They crossed the emptied hall to the mine entrance and escaped the city through the tunnels.

The Concert and the Hostages (Sessions 35–37)​

Scouting the hall in Session 35, the party found ravers building a stage in the middle of it for Helisanna's concert, directed by Sandra Talks, and laborers raising scaffolding along the apartment fronts.

On the day of the concert the Iron Claws hung six hostage cages from the scaffolding over the hall's bridge — among the hostages were George, Roscoe, Lady Corwin, Will, Belvolt and a bleeding Finnwick — under the command of a resurrected Grimjaw and an undead Captain Corwin. As Helisanna's set began, her ravers swarmed the Iron Claws while the party freed the cages and pushed guards into the lava. Lady Corwin died; the other hostages were saved. Silas then faked a betrayal, stabbing Bru, and Grimjaw led the group through the far door into the Forge Heart, where Helja was killed (Session 36).

Back at the hall door in Session 37, the party found Betty the red dragon fighting the constructs and Duncan the black dragon bearing down on the stage, covered in ravers. Silas used the dragon orb, with Elspeth and Olivia's minds shielding his, to order the dragons besieging High Forge to leave; Betty obeyed. Duncan — his eyes now bright purple, Helisanna riding on his shoulders — turned on Betty and snapped her neck. The ravers came back to their senses, finished off the last golems and drifted back into the tunnels, and the Forge Heart exploded behind the party as they got out.

Session History​

  • Session 7 — During the dragon attack a dragon claws into the Great Hall, and the party crosses the emptied hall to the mine entrance to escape the city.
  • Session 35 — The party finds ravers building Helisanna's concert stage in the hall, learns Olivia's apartment has been reassigned to a dwarf couple, and takes maps showing the hall and the Forge Heart beyond it.
  • Session 36 — The Iron Claws hang hostages in cages over the hall; during Helisanna's concert the party and the ravers free them, Lady Corwin dies, and Silas is led from here into the Forge Heart to kill Helja.
  • Session 37 — Silas uses the dragon orb in the hall to send the dragons away, Duncan the black dragon kills Betty with Helisanna on his back, and the Forge Heart explodes behind the party.