Location
Acquired during progress through the Book Return quest in Glacern.
Content
For all the natural wonders of Fedwyrr's Way, the folk of the Kingdom have wrought a number of miracles on their own while improving conditions in the Glitterdelve Mine. Chief among them was the gigantic sorcerous delving machine originally fashioned by the first mages of the kingdom to assist in underground excavations for the construction of Castle Ehb. Elevators and conveyors drawn on belts and winches allowed miners and materials to move between levels with astonishing rapidity. Sluices running melted ice and snow down from Glacern provided fresh drinking water for the miners, and a medium in which gold could be separated from the rocky silts.
Tragedy struck the mines in the Great Blast of 943, when a buildup of explosive vapors touched off a chain reaction that buried many of the more valuable veins beneath tons of rock, and reduced the delving machine to a useless pile of scrap. Since that time, the circulation of air has been maintained by a series of magically powered fans.
In many respects, the post-Blast generation of Glitterdelve miners had to reinvent the art of mining. Those who came to the Glitterdelve in search of the Kingdom's greatest source of wealth were often startled by the austerity of its camps. Aside from the base necessities of a smelting forge, mule trading barn, and the Coughing Jak Tavern, there were few permanent structures to be found.
In the decades since, little has changed in this insular community of rugged mountain-men, miners, and self-styled individualists. So long as gold still glitters in the seams of rock, and the Kingdom's tax collectors leave them with a coin to spend in the local tavern, they are content to be citizens of Ehb.