Haluluhm
Haluluhm is an ancient dwarf stronghold located in a cliffside north of Herdonia. Its entrance is completely covered by rockfall, which has allowed it to go unnoticed for centuries. Recently, however, it was found and claimed by a group of kobolds.
Purpose / Function
The stronghold was built for keeping watch over the surrounding area and providing a secure location for meetings, stops on journeys, or emergency retreats. It's far too small to host a sizable fighting force for long.
Alterations
No purposeful alterations have been made, but the same earthquakes that covered the entrance in rocks also blocked off the central passageway and expanded the back room. The kobolds who currently inhabit it dug a tunnel through an arrow slit to allow them to pass around the entrance passage. Additionally, large magical crystals have grown in several of the rooms
Architecture
Haluluhm is built in the same pragmatic, precise angular style as many dwarf structures, with rooms and passages having sharp corners and nearly perfectly rectangular rooms.
Defenses
The entrance passageway is trapped with a hidden pit and a falling stone door (which was triggered by the kobolds and remains lowered), and lined with arrow slits, allowing defenders to fire at potential intruders from near-complete safety. The rest of the rooms can have their doors locked and barred, but serve no defensive purpose.
History
Haluluhm was built in what was then the nation of Foshia, 300 years before the Great Cataclysm and during the Cyrdian Conquests when the Cyrdian Empire was expanding closer to Foshia's borders. In preparation, the Foshians built many strongholds and forts throughout their land, and Haluluhm was one of several constructed and staffed by dwarves. When the empire eventually did clash with Foshia, the stronghold saw no action, as while the fighting was fierce, it soon ended when Foshia agreed to favorable terms of annexation. After that, it remained in use for the purpose of law-enforcement, as it was in a good position to send out strike parties against monsters or bandits in the surrounding area.
When the Great Cataclysm came, the stronghold was abandoned as most humanoids died or fled to the Darklands. Earthquakes resulting from the instability the Cataclysm brought cause the stronghold to be damaged and buried in rubble. Around the year 700, a group of kobolds found the stronghold and claimed it.
0 A.C.
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