D&D 5E New-ish 5E GM Questions - Possible spoilers.

[ElterAgo]

Firstly, it's Storm KING'S Thunder.

Now to your first question:
Keep in mind Maegera is necessary to melt the parts of the Vonindod. That alone would force the group to travel to Gauntlgrym and possibly have a confrontation with the drow and have to earn the dwarves trust before using the forge.
Even if they were able to forge the piece into say, a suit of armor, I would have fire giants going after them all the time since they can detect traces of the Vonindod by using the rod.

Yes, you are correct on the name. I am also running Rise of the Rune Lords. And I sometimes call it Rise of the Rune Kings. {doh!}

Good point on Maegera. It also gives a good reason to lead the party around some more. They were planning on heading to Citadel Felbar assuming the dwarves there could do the work. But there they could find out it has to be the Gauntlgrym, if they still want it melted down and made into something else.

I was already considering having more giants chase them for the piece while they are traveling. If they take it that far, I would let them have a suit of heavy armor or a suit of medium armor with a weapon. That seems reasonable to me.

Thanks for the advice and ideas folks. I've been considering some thoughts on 'probationary' tasks for the various guilds.