Name of building: Tuir's Anvil Hammersmith (Map No. 43) Submitted by: Mark Oliva Type of building: Blacksmith and foundry Business conducted in the building: Manufacture of tools, farm equipment, large metal items, mining equipment and by special order, finely crafted metal items and weapons Owner: Davin and Rugh mac Tirnol Number and Types of employees: 2 dwarven master smiths Davin mac Tirnol (Master Smith - Shield dwarf, male, lvl 0) Rugh mac Tirnol (Master Smith - Shield dwarf, male, 2nd lvl Fighter) 3 dwarven smiths Carnghan mac Darangol (Smith - Shield dwarf, male lvl 0) Gombuldun mac Cinnith (Smith - Shield dwarf, male, 1st lvl fighter) Brighann mac Garnagh (Smith - Shield dwarf, male, lvl 0) 3 human smiths Ewing Boond (Smith- human, male, lvl 0) Lendal Numel (Smith - human, male, 1st lvl fighter) Ridley Bartsch (Smith - human, male, lvl 0) Description of buildings: Large brick smithy with a waterwheel to power the hammers and other machines, a small foundry building and a warehouse to store raw materials and finished products. Description of business: Tuir's Anvil is a relatively new business in Arylon in the mill district on the south bank of the Chionthar. Construction of Tuir's Anvil began in the Year of the Moonfall (1344 DR) and was completed in late Kythorn of the Year of the Saddle (1345 DR). The brothers Tirnol long had dreamed of establishing a large smith's hammer to once again serve as a dwarven forge, and they realized this dream with Tuir's Anvil. Almost all of the hammers and bellows in this complex are driven by a huge waterwheel which churns the lower millstream on the northern wall of Tuir's Anvil, west of the Chionthar Valley Lumber sawmill. But the pride of the mill is the great hammer - the dwarves call it Moradin's Hammer - which is one of few examples of such hammers still left in Faerūn. Tuir's Anvil is not a village blacksmith, and unlike Moradin's Forge of the Law Wielder dwarves in the River Ward, it also is little involved in weaponmaking. Rather, Tuir's Anvil is involved in metallurgy and the forging of large-sized metal objects. If a merchant wants to buy armor-plating for the prow of a river boat, the smiths of Tuir's Anvil can use the great hammer to properly shape large, single sheets of copper to fill the bill. Most of the time, however, Moradin's Hammer is busy shaping huge plows that can be pulled by teams of draft horses, shovels for river dredges, copper jackets to protect the chimneys of the noble or the rich and stamping out large, delicately rounded sheets of copper to cap the domes of sometimes strange temples in distant places. The smaller, water-driven hammers of Tuir's Anvil also sing their percussive song day in and day out, shaping the tools of carpenters, the ploughshares of farmers, the implements used in the nearby copper mines and the picks that chip away mercilessly at the walls of the quarry, while the neighboring foundry pours everything from massive temple bells to the rings of horse bridles and the horses' shoes. If a new customer comes to Tuir's Anvil seeking to have his horse shod, he will be pointedly steered toward a blacksmith, with the dour dwarven admonition that "Tuir's Anvil doesn't shoe horses, it makes horseshoes." And the dwarf also will grin at the knowledge that a profit still is to be made, because most blacksmiths buy their horseshoes from Tuir's Anvil. If a customer comes to commission the forging of a weapon, he will be referred more hospitably to the dwarven Law Wielder brothers in Moradin's Forge across the river. There is one exception, however. Some customers come discreetly to Tuir's Anvil, in possession of scandalous sums of money, and they are taken to the small forge where Davin mac Tirnol works reclusively, fashioning fine works of art with his small tools and master's hammer. Davin was one of the genuine longbeards of Earthfast City, and he knows many secrets of his art are lost to most dwarven smiths of today. His creations of art seldom are seen in Arylon. Discreet merchants from faraway places come to Arylon, and after private discussions, pay ungodly sums for Davin's artworks, taking them to the great cities of Faerūn, to resell them for even more unconscionable prices. Davin works today as an artist, but he is in truth a great dwarven weaponsmith. When the price is right, he will from time to time agree to forge a weapon of extraordinary quality for a special dwarven customer. And, if that customer is a dwarf with the blessing of Moradin upon him, it is possible that rune magic will be forged into the weapon as well (see FR11Dwarves Deep). However, little is known of Davin's work, while the products of the smithy and the foundry are famous throughout Sunset Vale and the Sword Coast. The soul of Tuir's Anvil may be Moradin's Hammer, but its heart is the waterwheel with its 8-foot diameter, turning ceaselessly with the flow of the lower millstream. The wheel is not connected directly to machinery but rather turns a complex system of gears forged by the brothers Tirnol nearly 30 years ago. The gears turn cylindrical, metal shafts mounted just along the ceilings of both wings of the smithy, which empower thick leather drive belts that stretch down from the drive shafts to turn smaller wheels. These rotate more gears that bring the mighty hammer and the three smaller hammers down upon fixed anvils. Moradin's Hammer has a mallet surface about a foot/30 cm square, and it strikes a huge anvil more than 4 feet/1 meter long and half as wide. The three smaller hammers have mallets with a striking surface of about 4 inches/10 cm square. Shift levers free the leather belts from the drive shafts above, bringing the hammers individually or collectively to a stop. The belts also can be used to drive lifts with pulleys used to move larger sheets of red hot metal to the great hammer for shaping, to turn sizable grindstones and operate other machinery in the shop. Both the great hammer and the lesser hammers have huge furnaces, water wheels and large water basins for cooling the forged and tempered metals. The furnaces are fanned by giant bellows that also are driven by the gears, shafts and belts that are moved by the ceaseless flow of the millstream turning the waterwheel. The water also drives two grindstones and a heavy metal-cutting blade. The northeastern building of the three in the complex houses a small foundry fired by an additional furnace but lacking water power. All hard work in the foundry is powered by sheer muscle. The foundry's molten metal is moved in a metal bucket which slides on tracks mounted to the stone ceiling, until it reaches the position where the metal can be poured into forms. The foundry, too, has a well and large cooling basins. The third and last building in the complex is primarily a warehouse where raw materials and finished products are stored, but it, too, has a small smithy with furnace, hand hammer, anvil and well. This is where Davin mac Tirnol works, hammering out his masterpieces for those buyers who can pay the price. Related Articles: Chionthar Valley Lumber, by Mark Oliva Davin mac Tirnol, by Mark Oliva Rugh mac Tirnol, by Mark Oliva Moradin's Forge, by Jim Millington Farak Law Wielder, by Jim Millington Ovak Law Wielder, by Jim Millington Kilaim Law Wielder, by Jim Millington [Return to Submissions] [Return to Top] [Back to Arylon]