House of Gems

Onaglym also referred to as the House of Gems was a small stout keep, the headquarters of the Gemcutters' and Jewellers' Guild and the center of the dwarven community of Myth Drannor during the city's renaissance period.

"To the east lay the Onaglym, its intact state a testament to the unequaled engineering talent of the dwarves who constructed it so many centuries ago. While hundreds of Myth Drannor’s lesser buildings lay ruined by the ravages of war or years, the House of Gems yet remained, a strong, silent sentinel to the changes wrought by time and mortal vanity."

- Excerpt from Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (novel)

Location
Onaglym was located to the south from the House of Song and east from Castle Cormanthor. It was also adjacent to the Glim-Gardens grounds to the south, and rose above Stillwater to its west. Carved rock stairs led from Stillwater up to Onaglym, passing directly through a small temple of Haela Brightaxe, so the traveling worshipers could bow their heads to her on the way to the House of Gems.

The House of Gems stood on a rock formation that rose it above the rest of the city. The formation eventually became the upper levels of the Dwarven Dungeons, which eventually became a sprawling busy living, administrative, and communal quarters for the city's dwarves.

Structure
The House of Gems was a relatively small square keep of noticeably ancient dwarven build. The fortified building was one of very few in Myth Drannor that had crenelations, arrow-slit windows, and a portcullis gate.

The south-eastern tower of the House of Gems had separate entrances at the first floor of the keep, the Dwarven Dungeons, and the tower's top had a trap door and a round opening in the center that let the sunlight.

Interior
The House of Gems had both main entrance on the surface, and main entrance in the Dwarven Dungeons underneath, with some secret passages that were connected to another part of the Halls of Light.

The tower of the House of Gems held the Room of Words, the magical dwarven archive where the craftsmen kept the copies of the glyphs and words of power from across the city that were commissioned from them by the rulers of Myth Drannor. Some thought that this archive was an attempt for the dwarves, who did not trust magic, to protect themselves.

The room right behind the entrance to the main part of Onaglym was known as the Safekeep Halls. The main part of the second floor was called the Hearthhame Halls, where Harldain Ironbar's office was located along with his personal stash of magical and masterwork items he rescued from the fallen city.

When the ancient water pumps were functioning, the rhythmic calming sound of the mechanism moving, akin to a slow heartbeat, could be heard throughout the keep.

Defenses
The main defenses of the House of Gems after the city's fall were countless mechanical traps on the keep's first floor, most of which remained unsprung into 1369 DR. The Safekeep Halls were defended by a powerful dwarven statue golem. The next room, past the Safekeep Halls was trapped with a huge lightning generating trap that incinerated any unwitting intruder.

History
In the early days of not yet strong Myth Drannor, Onaglym was a dwarven stronghold storehouse built to withstand the attacks of the roaming aggressive orc tribes.

Later, the structure was officially given the name Onaglym, the House of Gems and became the Gemcutters' and Jewellers' Guild hall of Myth Drannor. The city itself, and the House of Gems were protected by many magics, which attracted the dwarven gem-cutters, and crafters from all around. They arrived to the city with their good and wares ready for trade. There, the precious gems were graded and deposited for safe-keeping. The House of Gems was a big part of the city's trade and economy.

The skilled dwarven crafters of the House of Gems under the leadership of Lord Harldain Ironbar constructed complex system of water pumps that supplied the ares and fountains of Myth Drannor and Dwarven Dungeons with both mundane and magically enchanted waters. That water was pulled from deep underground freshwater sources, protecting the city from their water supplies being poisoned. They were called the Lifespring Wells. The dwarves allowed naiads to dwell in the water ways of the city for additional defense. Another wonder of craftsmanship was the sophisticated air vent systems that ran through all the levels of the Dwarven Dungeons and the House of Gems itself, called the Channels of the Earthborn Wind. The winding walkways around the Castle Cormanthor and Windrider Glade were constructed under Harldain Ironbar's supervision, as well as the ingenious "liquid fire", used for illumination of the Dwarven Dungeons and Elven Catacombs.

The dwarves of Onaglym also created the original gem of the weave used to focus the magic of the mythal.

In the final stretch of the Weeping War, the last of the surviving dwarves disabled the Lifespring Wells, stopping he water pumps, and flooded the Onaglym's gem-filled vaults.

After the fall of Myth Drannor and Harldain's death, the dwarf lords still kept an eye on the House of Gems in his ghostly state. During his life, and undeath, he accumulated countless treasures and dwarven artifacts, weapons, and armor he rescued from the ruins of the City of Song and kept safe from pillaging monsters and looting opportunistic adventurers.

In 1369 DR the Cult of the Dragons led by Kya Mordrayn took over parts of the ruined Myth Drannor aiming at corruption of the city's mythal and the pool of radiance under Castle Cormanthor. Eventually the cultist took over the House of Gems' Room of Words in order to be able to breach countless seals left behind by the retreating survivors of the Weeping War.

Rumors & Legends

 * There were countless rumors of the vast treasure of the gem-cutting guild still hidden in the depths of the ruined House of Gems.

Inhabitants

 * Harldain Ironbar - the Lord of the dwarves of Onaglym who resided there in life and haunted it in death as of 1369 DR.
 * The undead were haunting the Onaglym grounds in 1369 DR, created by the pool of radiance's  spawn pool until it was destroyed by the adventurers from Phlan.
 * Members of the Cult of the Dragon briefly occupied the round tower of the House of Gems in 1369 DR.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor
 * Video Games
 * Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor