Underground
Rowdy
Modest prices
Bell and Broken Pick
the miners' beer hall beneath Ironfold
Smoke from peat braziers bends low under the low ceiling; every surface is ringed with a soft halo of coal dust. The hall is a long, torchlit barrel of a room with benches bolted to carved stone, a raised taproom at one end and a battered bell above it that cheeps tolls when shifts end. The air smells of stale ale, hot bread, and the metallic tang miners bring with them from the tunnels. Conversation is loud and immediate: slaps on the back, bets passed in folded paper, and the occasional clang as a miner tests his temper against his empty mug. When the end-of-shift bell rings, pockets of laughter snap into fists within heartbeats; the regulars love a brawl more than they love silence, and the bar keeps enough bruises behind the register to show it. A low curtained door at the back leads to rooms and the manager's office; a hookboard beside it holds claim tickets and a small drawer for lost picks.
An iron bell lashed to a splintered miner's pick; both are blackened and hung from a chain over the door. The bell has a single deep nick and a smear of old red paint like dried wine.
Harruk Stonehelm
Dwarf
Manner
Quirk
Stats
Five-Toll Old Bell
5 spA shot of bracing dwarven spirit infused with smoked herbs; it warms the chest and steadies the hand—drinkers claim they feel steadier on their feet and bolder for the bell's ring for a short while (roleplay as +2 advantage on Intimidation or Strength (Athletics) checks for 10 minutes at the GM's discretion).
Modest (5e lifestyle: about 1 gp a day)
Bodin Marr · cook
A burly human who smokes meat over coals and tosses plates like they're part of the same trade as swinging a pick.
Kessal · barmaid
Quick-footed and quicker with a joke, she slides tankards between elbows and remembers every miner's tab by pickmark.
Murg the Gate · bouncer
A scarred half-orc who stands by the door and counts blows with one eye and coin with the other.
Grissel Ironvein
Retired forewoman who claims she sealed the Garnet Vein and wants someone brave (or foolish) to clear her conscience and reopen it.
Jorik 'Two-Finger' Senn
A fast-talking odds-maker who runs clandestine pick-fights and bets almost every night to pay off an unnamed debt.
Old Fen
A silent ex-miner who wears a bell shard on his chain and mutters about 'tunnels that still breathe'—he's looking for a piece of the old bell.
1
Garnet Vein: Grissel says she sealed the Garnet Vein after a collapse years ago; she still has the iron tag that marks the true shaft mouth and will pay a share to anyone who can clear the old supports and claim the seam.
2
Sealed Bell Shard: Old Fen will trade the location of a bell shard he swore to protect if the shard is returned to him; the shard is said to calm restless tunnel spirits under the Deepbridge workings.
3
Missing Foreman's Ledger: A rival mining company negotiator named Siren Voss (a human broker) is asking about a ledger detailing 'found' claim tickets—whoever possesses Harruk's ledger could make a fortune or make many enemies.
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