Aefarn

Aefarn, better known as the House of Gold, was a major center of the worship of Abbathor, the dwarven god of greed, and served as a fortified vault wherein his clergy hid their massive wealth. It contained possibly the greatest assemblage of treasure to have ever existed on Toril.

Location
The temple complex lay underground deep beneath Turnback Mountain in the southeast of the Abbey Mountains of the Moonsea North.

Interior
The fortified cavern complex which served as the temple had been carved from the rock long ago by a mighty red dragon, and as of the mid-to-late 14 century DR, the caverns were completely covered in gold-leaf and studded with precious stones and gems. The vast wealth of Abbathor's worshipers was housed in heavily-defended chambers.

Defenses
Each of Abbathor's priests was responsible for defending the chambers which contained their own share of the wealth, meaning that any attackers would crash against a myriad of heavily trapped fortresses-within-fortresses as they attempted to move through the complex. Defense of the temple proper was the primary duty of the Three Coinlords, a triumvirate of the most senior priests who were the formal rulers of Aefarn.

History
This complex originally served as the lair of Ragflaconshen, a mighty red dragon, until an avatar of Abbathor slew him to claim his hoard.

Millenia later, in the, three Abbathoran priests discovered a trail of coins that led them to the lair. Believing the trail to have been placed by their god, the priests began the arduous trial of bypassing the lair's many traps, and ultimately came face-to-face with Ragflaconshen, who had been turned into a ghost dragon by the trauma of Abbathor's actions. Abbathor then spoke to his three priests and commanded them to amass a hoard great enough to appease the ghost and allow it to finally rest. To do this, the tree called upon their fellow faithful from across the Cold Lands to bring their personal wealth to the dragon's lair. When this was done and the dragon's spirit had passed on, Abbathor appeared to the congregation and bade them to found a temple in his honor within the dragon's caverns. He dubbed the three priests as the first Coinlords, and put them in charge of building the new temple.

In the centuries that followed, Abbathor's clergy would continue to bring their wealth into the temple, and the role of subsequent Coinlords evolved to focus on defending the wealth of Aefarn. By the mid-to-late 14 century DR, the temple had become a heavily fortified vault both filled with and covered in treasures. The fortress-temple still existed as of the late 15 century DR, by which time it was more commonly known as the House of Gold.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Dungeon #170, "Monument of the Ancients"
 * Dungeon #170, "Monument of the Ancients"