Illustration by Yans Velasquez
Each month, I try and pass along the generosity you show me by employing other artists to create a variety of illustrations, portraits, magical items and other works of art that can be used in your games at home, whether they be homebrew or official modules.
This week, I wanted to highlight one of those pieces -- the Dungeon Forge of Ironslag from Storm King's Thunder with art by Yans Velasquez.
Ironslag is a vast, ancient forge complex located in the Ice Spires beneath Mount Hamarhaas. It was originally owned by as clan of dwarves and later taken over by a clan of Fire Giants under the leadership of Duke Zalto. The forge there was originally used to create magical armor and weapons capable of forging adamantine. That forge has now been repurposed to forge Vonindod - a massive, ancient adamantine war golem designed to fight dragons.
It is a sprawling, two-level complex that features a lot of opportunities for stealth, as well as environment hazards, difficult terrain, elevation challenges and some interesting mechanical components.
Female Fire Giant Portrait (coming up this month), by HIIDRA Studios
Most of the maps provided by the module are presented with 1 grid = 10 feet, but this map was designed and scaled to be played in a 130 x 110 environment, allowing every grid to be 5 feet and really feel the size of the environment. Medium creatures moving through the space should feel understandably intimidated and small compared to the surroundings.
So, how I can use this location?
Module Adventure - if you are running the Storm King's Thunder module, then it will have all of the information you need for the encounters there.
Homebrew - If you are running a homebrew, then this location could make for an interesting home to dwarves, giants, devilkin or any number of creatures to serve as either a resource, social and combat encounter location.
Here's the original Maelstrom levels (attachment at end of post):
I hope you enjoy the piece and seeing where some of your support goes!
If you're not yet a Patron, consider joining to help support other talented artists! =)
Best,
Jeff @ Morvold