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Linaras, 23rd day of Darkember, 2008
Third Watch rising 18
The Palanthas Herald

Forge Devil Menaces Solamnic Village

by Tauren Kai-Jere, Staff Writer
Last Updated: Kirinor, Gildember 31, 2007

Heron's Crown - Three skilled craftspeople in the Solamnic village of Heron's Crown have been murdered during the last two weeks. Each corpse was found locked inside the victim's place of business with one hand missing; presumably chopped off with an axe. Local guardsmen have no official suspect in these grisly murders but the legendary Forge Devil.

"The Forge Devil is something I've always dismissed as a myth of our dwarven neighbors. But I can't deny that something strange is going on here and all the facts match up with the tales I've heard of this creature," said Constable Vineus uth Kalabus.

The village of Heron's Crown is less then 35 miles east of the isolated Hylar fortress of Khazardylis in the northern reaches of the Vingaard Mountains. Kalabus said that according to Hylar legend, every year during the month of Gildember a devilish mountains dwarf with a coal black beard, red eyes, and bat-like wings appears in the forge or fireplace of seven skilled craftspeople. The creature must take seven hands before the month as ended as vengeance for some wrongdoing the dwarven people are believed to have committed against him.

"The sight of the Forge Devil is supposed to be enough to paralyze the bravest warrior in place with pure terror. While his victims are too terrified to move the Devil chops off their crafting hand with his axe and then sits on the person's chest and watches quietly as they bleed to death," Kalabus said.

Although the tales claim no one has ever survived the monster's attack one Fatherless dwarf, now a resident of Heron's Crown, claims to have seen the legendary beast.

"My great-great-grandfather was killed by that monster," said former Khazardylis resident Granite Thorwallen. "When I was a beardling I walked into his forge to bring him his breakfast, but instead I saw my grandpa dead on the floor and a whole mess of blood everywhere. I saw this horrible winged dwarf with a silver axe vanish into the fireplace with grandpa's bloody hand. Everyone says I'm crazy, but I know what I saw!"

Kalabus plans to increase patrols in town until the beast has finished its annual hunt hoping that lives can be saved. Stopping the creature would be next to impossible, he said.

"If we're in fact dealing with the Forge Devil it's doubtful we'll be able to stop it. It's harassed the dwarves of Khazardylis for years. Why it could be possibly bothering us? I have no idea," he said.