Hero's & Hammers

In 1488 DR, Freya Battlehammer departed from Mithral Hall for Neverwinter with the goal of establishing a Battlehammer outpost. Upon arriving in the city, she quickly began laying the groundwork for her business in the Chasm District. Her plans took a pivotal turn about three months later when she intervened in the arrest of a gnome named Tork Gildengear , subsequently taking him on as her apprentice. This partnership led to the creation of "Heroes & Hammers," a shop that combined Freya's smithing expertise with Tork's magical artificing. By 1495 DR, "Heroes & Hammers" had become the hidden gem of the Chasm District, celebrated for its exceptional craftsmanship and fair business practices.

Heroes & Hammers stands as one of the most distinctive buildings in the Chasm District, a two-story structure that proudly blends dwarven architectural strength with gnomish creative flair. Located at a strategic corner where two main thoroughfares intersect, the shop enjoys high visibility and accessibility from multiple directions.

The building's foundation and first floor are constructed of solid granite blocks, meticulously fitted together without mortar in traditional dwarven fashion. These stones—salvaged from buildings destroyed during Neverwinter's various calamities—have been carefully selected for their durability and aesthetically arranged to create a pleasing pattern of grays, browns, and blacks that speaks to Freya's eye for detail even in structural elements.

The shop's façade features a massive oak door reinforced with decorative iron bands that form the shape of a smith's hammer when viewed as a whole. The door handle itself is a miniature replica of Freya's personal war hammer, cast in bronze and polished to a warm glow from years of use. Two broad display windows flank the entrance, their glass exceptionally clear thanks to Tork's alchemical cleaning solutions. Intricate iron grilles protect these windows, designed to be both defensive and decorative, with patterns that mimic flowing metal being poured from a crucible.

Hanging above the entrance is the shop's signature sign: a massive metal hammer suspended horizontally, its head and handle crafted from alternating bands of steel, copper, and gold. The shop's name is burned into the wooden handle in Common script, while dwarven runes decorate the hammer's head. At night, the sign is illuminated by specialized ever-burning lanterns of Tork's design that cast a warm golden glow reminiscent of forge fire.

The second story, added three years after the business's founding, features more gnomish influence with walls of whitewashed stucco framed by exposed wooden beams arranged in geometric patterns. Several small, round windows punctuate this level, their colored glass creating beautiful light patterns inside during sunny days. A balcony wraps around the southern corner of the building, offering a vantage point to observe the district's comings and goings; it's furnished with sturdy chairs where Freya sometimes takes meetings with important clients.

The roof is steeply pitched and covered with copper shingles that have aged to a distinctive green patina, making Heroes & Hammers easily identifiable even from a distance. A stone chimney rises from the rear of the building, frequently billowing white smoke from the forge within. Adjacent to the main structure stands a smaller stone outbuilding that serves as additional workshop space for particularly large projects.