#iltkazar

Merchants argue about the qualities of metals in the Guild Halls of Iltkazar, far to the south of Menzoberranzan in the Underdark, beneath the surface realm of Calimshan. "While Iltkazarn miners are quite capable of mining common ore such as copper, iron, gold, silver, and tin, they excel in discovering and working with rarer metals." (Michael Collins, Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark by Eric L Boyd, TSR, 1999)

The sole surviving kingdom of the eight dwarven nations that once formed the mighty realm of Deep Shanatar, Iltkazar is a reclusive, conservative city-state in the upper Underdark beneath Tethyr. Located under the Omlarandin Mountains at the eastern end of Tethyr, Iltkazar is unusual among Underdark nations in that most of its connections -- both physical and mercantile -- are with the surface. As the shield dwarves of ancient Iltkazar have experienced a resurgence with the Thundering, they have reawakened old ties with the humans of Tethyr and the Lake of Steam region.

Increased activity in Iltkazar has reawakened more than that, however. Long a bastion of "the ancient ways," struggling to keep alive the traditions and lore of Shanatar in a world that has all but forgotten of its existence, the dwarves of Iltkazar still remember much that would otherwise be lost. Among the secrets that might best be forgotten is an ancient two-way portal. 

All physical trace of the portal was obliterated centuries ago, but the magic still functions, and traffic in both directions is increasing. The portal, located in an out-of-the-way cavern on the east side of the city, leads from the mind flayer city of Oryndoll -- creatures traveling from that city's portal simply step out, apparently from the solid rock. No return journey to Oryndoll is possible, however. When properly triggered, by resting one's face on the stone wall and humming three notes (a C-sharp in any octave, a C-sharp one octave lower, and the G between the two), Iltkazar's portal leads far to the north to a small cavern outpost of the ancient dwarven kingdom of Ammarindar.

No unhallowed shrine to a demon lord stands in Iltkazar, or ever has, to the best of anyone's knowledge. In a dwarven city like Iltkazar, as devoted as its people are to the traditional ways of the dwarven race, the existence of such a degenerate cult is unthinkable. One dwarf, however, has discovered that just such a cult once existed in the city -- a demon-worshiping cult of the most loathsome stripe that devoted itself to the minotaur-god Baphomet.

Durhgathu Maendrar discovered the existence of this cult not among Iltkazar's vast stores of knowledge, but beyond the portal in a place she calls the Unspoken Hall. Three years ago, she set out on the Shadow Path -- possibly the first person to tread its entire length in nearly three thousand years. She discovered Iltkazar's portal by what seemed at the time to be accident: Loitering near it, she found herself humming a strange tune she couldn't place, and pressed her head against the wall, she thought, to drive the tune from her mind. Transported to the Unspoken Hall, she explored the whole area and continued on to the Labyrinth, to Oryndoll, and at last back to where she started, returning to her home a completely transformed dwarf -- Baphomet's most rabid follower.

In the lowest depths of the Underdark, beneath the Shining Plains and somewhere between the surface cities of Lheshayl and Ormath, the City of Loretakers broods in unremitting darkness. Oryndoll is a city populated by mind flayers and their thralls, and it is known for its residents' insatiable thirst for knowledge.

Drow traders -- primarily slave traders -- from Sshamath, Szith Morcane, and distant Maerimydra make their way through miles of tunnels to the City of Loretakers, while both drow and duergar from the northeast occasionally make use of the portal in the Labyrinth to reach the illithid city. 

The portal leads to an unremarkable tunnel about a mile north of the city, with no markings indicating in which direction Oryndoll lies. Though no guards are posted at the portal's destination point, the illithids of the city are aware of its location and keep it under constant surveillance by means of clairaudience.

At first glance, Oryndoll appears as nothing more than a sprawling network of troglodyte warrens, and few nonillithids ever see more of the city than that relatively fair façade. 

Mind flayers who choose to engage these merchants in trade do so in one of these upper caverns, amid the stench of troglodyte thralls. 

The rulers of the city dwell below, in caverns arranged around tubular ring-shaped tunnels connected to the thrall caverns above by well-hidden spiral staircases. Below even these ring caverns, and accessible only through teleportation magic, ethereal travel, or similar means, are the Undervaults where the city's Elder Brain resides and where its stores of knowledge are kept.

Just south of the thrall caverns, not linked by any tunnels or other physical connections, is a small network of natural caverns where the Shadow Path continues. 

The caverns lie only 30 feet south of a large thrall cavern, so it is easy for those who know its location to reach it ethereally or via a passwall spell. Several of those illithids who use the secret caverns regularly have access to teleport or dimension door abilities, as well, and they have made themselves intimately familiar with the site's features. 

For visitors who do not know its location, of course, it is practically impossible to find.

The mind flayers who use the secret caverns are members of an order of assassins known as the Life Eaters. 

Like the baphitaurs in the Labyrinth, they are devoted to the demon lord Baphomet, which makes them a chaotic anomaly among the illithids of Oryndoll.

The main cavern contains a statue of their Abyssal patron on a platform above a pool of briny water. A narrow tunnels winds south from this cavern into a series of small cave hideaways, including the home of the Life Eaters' leader, a mind flayer named Wiirlan.