Terradym Fortress

Terradym Fortress, known as Burcherond in the Gnomic tongue, was a great underground fortress engineered and constructed by the Gnomes and Elves in harmony. It was located in the region of Needlemire, northwest of Appleheart Village, capital settlement of the Gnomes. Terradym Fortress was destroyed in the year 1420 by the power of the Rainsong.

Physical Appearance
Terradym Fortress was built beneath a mountain, inside a huge cavern. The entrance lay within a cave, which led into the cavern. The fortress itself was divided from the entrance by a massive, bottomless abyss spanned only by a bridge of old stone. The fortress was built in layers, similar to Minas Tirith from The Lord of the Rings, and was of dark grey stone. Tiers upon tiers of ramparts rose up from the abyss itself until the fortress met the walls of the cavern. Blackened windows stared out from the fortress. Across the bridge, a long corridor of barren stone lay, and then further on, a dead end. Above the corridor, a massive domed chamber lay, with a cistern of water illuminated by a beam of moonlight from above. A passageway led out of the mountain into the Thousand-League Forest.

History
Terradym Fortress was built by the Gnomes and Elves in the region of Needlemire previous to the year 2222, the Fall of Berinfell; it was forgotten to the Elves, but remembered by the Gnomes, who became the guardians of the only path to the fortress and what lay inside. But in the year 1420, after the return of the Seven Elven Lords from Earth, the Gnomes were afraid of the building, naming it Burcherond, or painful building in their own tongue. Within, there was the ancient relic that they guarded, but also something else guarded it now; a beast which they called the Keeper of the Cistern. When the Seven Elven Lords were hunting for the Keystone, they were brought as captives to Appleheart Village and there given the test of The Moonbeam, the Gnomic trial for those who sought to discover the Keystone. The Elven Lords, having completed the test, entered Terradym Fortress through the only entrance, a cave in the Thousand-League Forest. They discovered the object of their search, faced the Keeper of the Cistern, and departed with the Rainsong with the help of the great wolf Keeper. In the process of uncovering the Rainsong, they also activated the system that would bring about the destruction of the mountain that hid Terradym Fortress. Just after the Seven Lords entered the forest about two hundred yards from the mountain, it collapsed, burying the Burcherond forever under a mountain of fallen stone.

Appearances

 * Venom and Song