bon olivier (order #42065) 83.114.187.4 - Fan Modules - Free

ISENGARD
mixing rooms
The hinges of the doors to the
mixing rooms are leather, and the
great rings used to pull them open
are leather-wrapped wood. No metal
at all is permitted inside, for in them
the Fire of Orthanc is mixed by senior
Orcs entrusted with the formula by
Saruman himself, and even a single
stray spark could cause great disaster.
Large wooden tables dominate
the first mixing room, and mortars
and pestles sit atop these surfaces.
Minerals dug out of the mountainside
or mined within the caverns themselves
are brought here and ground
into fine powder, then collected in
large glass bowls. Each table but one
is assigned to a particular mineral, and
these are kept well separate to prevent
accidental combination. At the
final table the craftiest Orcs combine
the components, measuring each carefully,
mixing slowly with long wooden
spoons. The result is Blasting Fire,
which is collected into small barrels
bound with leather rather than iron.
When one cask has been filled—and
no more than one is ever open at a
time—its lid is attached and it is carried
either to the second mixing room
for further refinement, or to the fire
storage room for safekeeping. Three
Orcs transport each barrel. Only one
is needed to carry it, but the other two
march alongside to ensure no one runs
into the carrier, and that no metal or
flame nears the volatile concoction. In
the second mixing room—which contains
tools and implements similar to
those in the first—raw Blasting Fire
is refined and manufactured into Fire
of Orthanc, Brightfire, Rockets, and
Thundershells (see box).
The Orcs of the mixing rooms
receive as much respect as the Orcblacksmiths
of the forges, and perhaps
more, for their job is as important
and much more dangerous.
Mixing-orcs may not be disturbed
while sleeping, on Saruman’s direct
order, for they need all their wits
about them while working.
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fire stor age
Until Saruman had need to store
Blasting Fire and its derivatives below
Isengard, this chamber was unused
by the Orcs. It is roughly oval-shaped,
with a low ceiling. Water from an
underground stream bubbles up from
the rocks to one side and drains back
out somewhere else, but so slowly
that the floor of the room is submerged.
Because of the water the air
is very moist, and droplets bead the
walls. The room is also colder than
most of Orthanc’s underground.
In the centre of the room a large
rock juts up, its uneven surface only
a few feet above the water. Upon
this rock sits a wide wooden pallet
supported by sturdy wooden legs.
Upon this pallet are stacked casks
of Blasting Fire, Fire of Orthanc,
and other incendiaries produced
by Saruman’s Orc-mixers, for here
sparks are difficult to create, and a
cask which opened by accident would
quickly become too damp to ignite.
The Orcs must wade into the pool to
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