Letters found all you, far and wide, a call for aid from the brightest, fastest, cleverest, and most unique adventurers around Golarion, beckoning you the Clockwork Metropolis...The City of Smog...Alkenstar. You each recieved a letter....
..... Eliza Baratella, minister of Alkenstar parliment and esteemed engineer seeks an audience with you to discuss potentially obtaining your services. If interested, come to the Brass Guild in Alkenstar. The matter is delicate and I can't trust going to local authorites. You renown proceeds you and I think you are the right person to aid me in investigating the suspicious malfunctioning of my clockworks, called Brass Guardians, and used to patrol Alkenstar.....
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Even though he’s of two minds on the missive, Marduk makes arrangements to head for Alkenstar. He’d enjoyed the newfound freedom that had come with his Seeker status among the Society but he was still not content. He had begun to miss the opportunities to practice his talents and worthy opponents were few and far between outside the exotic locales Society work often put him in. Within Cheliax he was bound to his handlers but he was no freer now – bound to his own thirst for a challenge. Strapping on his rune-etched shawl and his brace of arcane rods once again, Marduk leaves to meet this Eliza and her Brass Guild.
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A wrinkled, white-haired but bright-eyed gnome reads the letter between teaching language classes at Kitharodian academy. "Ah, excellent! Alkenstar; I believe they use a creole of Osiriani and Kelish, with a few dwarven elements. It will be the perfect place to research my new book Song of the Pharohs, a Treatise on the Evolution of the Osisiriani Phonology Throughout Time"
He quickly digs through his gear, trying to locate his misplaced rapier (long unused). He stops, suddenly curious to the sender.
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'The Business' was actually not doing so well for a change. Being a retired Pathfinder wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Eventually the ladies got tired of hearing the same old stories and unfortunately the super tanned half elf didn't have any new ones to impress on them. So when he got the missive, he made sure his blowout was tight and made sure Cookie was suited up. With one last fist bump into the air, they rode off to Alkenstar.
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After getting the missive, Shahorn does what comes naturally: tries to plot a course. With a little looking, he sees the city is right off a river, but having never sailed there is unsure whether he would be able to sail there... Tracing his finger back along the river's course, he comes to a large star.
"Hmmm, Quantium. I've heard of its glory, but never seen it myself. Can find more information there." With that, he sets course for Quantium.
Whether I can traverse the river in the Legacy[/i] or not, they'll know better than me... I... damn grammar.[/i]
Meanwhile, a large wolf lounges on the deck of the Pyavel's Legacy, happy to be free of its saddle.
Arriving in Alkenstar, you have little trouble finding the Brass Guild. Shown to a large chamber, an aide points out the minister. She’s busy tinkering on a partially disassembled Brass Guardian. As you approach, she looks up, wipes her oily hand on her apron and reaches out for a firm handshake in greeting. "Thank you for coming, I'm Eliza Baratella. I must apologize for not being totally forthcoming in my invitation, but I fear my correspondence is being monitored."
Handing off the spanner wrench she was holding to another aide, Eliza continues. "Whoever’s behind this plot is powerful—likely someone in the government who sees me or my creations as a threat. But I can’t go around flinging accusations of sabotage and treason without evidence, nor do I know if I can trust the authorities here to investigate. You, on the other hand, are neutral parties." She says with a thin smile.
"I’ve got a good sense of where you can start looking. When the first Brass Guardians started raging in the streets, we looked closely at their serial numbers to determine where they’d come from. In every case, the clockworks had originally been positioned in the city’s western quarters, closest to the Karggat Hills. I sent Arvanor, my assistant, to follow a series of tracks left by a guardian leaving the city’s western gates. Those tracks led north and west into the Karggat Hills, and into a mine some fifty miles away. Arvanor reported back that he was headed into the mines to investigate further, and no one has heard from him since. That was two months ago. And since then, the Brass Guardians’ attacks have only increased in frequency and intensity." She frwons and her features grow stern.
“I have secured transportation for you on the guild’s private airship, under the pretense that you are trapsmiths we’ve hired to help protect our facilities in Martel. You won’t go to Martel, however; instead, the pilot has been instructed to take you directly to the Karggat Mine. Please find out who’s behind this sabotage of the Brass Guardians and bring me evidence to put an end to the plot. The guild and I have significant resources with which to reward you, and time is of the essence.”
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Marduk, a hulking bare-chested orc with tattooed blue-grey skin and thick prominent tusks, studies the partially assembled construct. He snorts dismissively and looks back toward Eliza.
”What do your enemies hope to gain by ruining the reputation of your guild and its toys?” he asks in a growl. "And what's an airship?"
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"I would think by the name it would be obvious - a ship that goes through air! Maybe something akin to the flying cities made by the ancient Shory empire. Now clockworks; those are a bit like golems, I believe. What can you tell us about your clockworks, in case they are used against us."
Davo racks his brain for what *he* knows as well.
It would be nearly a thousand years after the end of the Geb–Nex wars before the first signs of life stirred once again in what became known as the Mana Wastes. Dread mutants—shuddering beings incomparable to any other forms of sane life—slowly trickled out of the Wastes, alerting scouts on both the Nexian and Gebbite sides of the border to the presence of a previously unknown danger. Even then, few sane humans dared to traverse the spoiled region, so plagued was it by lingering toxic auras and fell magical energies.
As time continued to ease the tensions between Geb and Nex, so too did the hostile powers of the Mana Wastes slowly fade. Criminals and outcasts from both wizardly nations fled to these shattered borderlands. To most, this escape was as good as a death sentence, so few pursued their quarries into the Mana Wastes. The fates of the people who fled to the Mana Wastes was unknown to most outsiders, and the idea of entire clans of civilized humans living there was considered a ludicrous notion at best.
This changed in 4588 AR, when the infamous engineer and supposed bandit Ancil Alkenstar fled from Quantium to the Mana Wastes, following the winding Ustradi River as far south as he could to flee from his wizardly pursuers in Nex. Few doubted the ingenuity of Alkenstar, who had contributed to many of the most spectacular inventions of Quantium in his decades of service to the Council of Three and Nine, and many saw his escape to the Mana Wastes as an event curious enough to warrant further attention.
Alkenstar, for his part, underestimated both the power of the Mana Wastes and the tenacity of the other refugees who had fled here in centuries past. Along the toxic waters of the Ustradi, he encountered forces both malignant and benign—bands of roving humanoid mutants as well as entire tribes of hardy folk who had subsisted in spite of the harsh environs to which they had been outcast. It was this latter group of people that most captivated Alkenstar’s attention, as in them he saw the potential to create a new type of society in the region he now tenuously called home.
All in all, Alkenstar counted eight clans of fellow refugees along the Ustradi River. It didn’t take him long to gather these peoples into a unified cause—all agreed that there was power in numbers, and that their odds of surviving drastically increased if they established a singular settlement. The eight leaders of these individual tribes became the first members of Alkenstar’s High Parliament, with the man himself appointed as Grand Duke by popular vote. Alkenstar continued to serve in this capacity until his death from old age in 4650 AR.
There was no sign of treachery in Alkenstar’s passing, and the High Parliament quickly and seamlessly followed protocol and appointed a new Grand Duke to take their leader’s place. Rule over Alkenstar has changed hands several more times throughout the years since Alkenstar’s death, but none so far have matched the skill and acumen with which the original Grand Duke led his city. The person closest to achieving this honor is the current ruler of Alkenstar, the Grand Duchess Trietta Ricia. But even under her watchful care, the City of Smog is a massive, writhing beast of bureaucracy and industry, and with each year additional perils and challenges reveal themselves to the Alkenstarians living within its walls. Nevertheless, it is nothing short of a miracle that the Clockwork Metropolis has become what it is today in such a short time—its booming population and increasingly wondrous technology a fair indicator of the shrewd and cunning people who reside there—and the city shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
The famous clockwork sentries that watch over and protect the majority of Alkenstar, the Brass Guardians are a wonder of technology that can be attributed almost solely to Eliza Baratella and her small coalition of like-minded engineers, the Brass Guild. Originally designed in 4685 AR to face the mounting threat of mutants crawling out of the recently abandoned Ironside Quarter, these automatons were found to be so successful in protecting Alkenstar that they are now distributed throughout the entire city. The bold move to make these constructs the primary defensive structure for the City of Smog was met with no small amount of opposition among the High Parliament. A minister herself, Baratella narrowly managed to sway her associates to her side. The most vocal opponents of the Brass Guardians’ institution as defenders of Alkenstar included High Shieldmarshal Armand Meneley (who felt his own troops would be neglected in the face of these “clockwork monstrosities”) and Minister Aredil Sultur.
Eliza smiles at Marduk. "Airships are wonderful inventions of travel, floating across the sky like a great bird!" Turning to Shahorn, she says. "You will leave as soon as possible."
Once everyone is ready, the party boards the airship, not unlike boarding a seafaring ship, except in place of sails, the vehicle has a huge, billowing cloth sack floating above it and connected to the ship.
The journey west is uneventful, and you are able to spend the 8-hour trip conversing with the ship’s pilot and engineer, who steer the vessel and keep its steampowered engine running, respectively.
During the journey, the weather begins to grow violent. By the time the airship reaches the mine’s entrance, a full fledged primal magic storm is no more than a mile away. The turbulent winds sweeping through the Karggat Hills are causing no shortage of havoc on the airship above as it makes its ascent away from the rocky landscape south toward Martel. However, on the ground in front of the mine shaft, the wind fades to a strong breeze. The pitchblack tunnel descending into the abandoned Karggat Mine howls sporadically, thanks to the Mana Wastes’ unpredictable air currents, and the gunmetal-gray clouds above indicate a tempestuous storm in the making. Once the party hits the ground, the airship’s pilot quickly departs to the south, headed for the safety of Martel’s airship docks.
Not far off, the mines dark entrance yawns before you. As you near, you notice the dank walls of the dark mine drip with condensation. Mine cart tracks from the tunnel entrance continue to the north. A wooden sign promises lower levels in the tracks’ direction. To the east, several abandoned mine carts lie strewn around the dirt, some tipped over. In an alcove to the west stands a sizable but nondescript shrine half-buried in loose stone, a heavy sheet of black soot covering the steps leading up to its weathered altar. To the south of the shrine stands a rickety wooden door.
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Shahorn tries to make small talk about the mission at hand to various members of the crew, but the talk always turns to endless questions about the airship, where he can get one, the differences between these and their nautical brethren, number of crew, &c.
Shadowpaw, unsure of the differences here, stays away from the railing of the ship and curls up to whatever passes as a mass.
Once on land, the half-elf is sad to see the airship go but quickly turns to the task at hand. Seeing the cramped conditions of the tunnels, he turns to his wolfmount. "Best I not mount up. You follow behind and keep an eye for trouble."
Twirling an ioun torch round his head, he volunteers to lead the way if no one objects.
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Though initially impressed by the size of it, Marduk is thoroughly unnerved by the airship once it takes off. It’s only the unbridled power of the primal magic storm that’s able to distract him from his phobia but once it’s passed the big orc rejoins Shadowpaw in clinging into whatever sturdy object is in sight. The moment the airship lands, Marduk’s the first to exit.
”Unnatural thing…”
With the knowledge that they might be required to battle some hostile constructs, Marduk shops around for a weapon suited for that purpose.
On the way to the mines he produces a rod and casts a couple defensive spells.
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"Hmm. If we intend to go into a mine we may wish to make so additional preparations. Do we have adequate climbing gear and light sources? If the area is subject to mines some areas might be flooded or have inadequate air supply. And... as Marduk so adroitly has acknowledged... supplies for destroying armored foes may be in order; that is, adamantine. If Kaz wishes to take his horse, he may need to use some extreme - magical, perhaps - means."
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Kaz is visibly uncomfortable while on the ship. His usual confident demeanor is replaced by unusual silence. When Davo mentions taking Cookie into a tight space, the half elf draws a scroll and attempts to use it.
And Cookie shrinks to a more manageable medium size. "I got it covered little man. Her name is Cookie by the by."
Looking around, everyone notes that the tunnels and the rail track continue north, then branch to the east and west. More immediately, you note a small side chamber with a door, to you west.
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Shahorn keeps his voice hushed to prevent echoes. "Let's check that door out and use the track as a form of bearing marker. Easier to find if we end up in full retreat, hahaha."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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"Yes, yes. Hold a moment."
Davo casts extended discovery torch and heroism on himself, and extended heroism on Lady Lumikello (if she will accept it).
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"I love Extended Heroisms! They are wonderful for your voice! Let me repay you by summoning a phantom steed. That way your gnomish legs don't have to work that hard! I'll summon one for myself as well!"
"How high are these mine tunnels and how will the accoustics be in here?"
"Knight Captain Milner, will you do the honours and explore that chamber over there?"
As the primal storm moves over the area, Davo begins casting spells!
Moving to the western door, "The Business" finds it jammed, but after a couple shoves, the door flies open. Inside you find some sort of living quarters. The furniture in these sizable living quarters has mostly rotted, but the thick wool curtain in the western corner and the furry beast hide taking up most of the floor remain in better condition. A flat portion of the northwestern wall appears to have served as a writing surface, and it bears numerous names as well as dates.
Searching the room you find, behind the curtain in the western corner of this room sits a small stone platform, atop which stands a small golden idol depicting a popular representation of Brigh, goddess of invention. The gold itself isn’t particularly remarkable, but the craftsmanship of the icon is unrivaled; its numerous moving parts are etched with runes intricate enough to impress even the most critical tinkerer. A valuable relic like this could easily be sold for up to 2,000 gp.
Nothing else of interest appears in the room, the writing on the wall appears to be names of miners and the date and location of their deaths, save for the names of three miners—Dyjas, Emori, and Issig—whose death locations are all described as “Abandoned eastern mining tunnel, upper level” and whose dates of death have been left blank.
Leaving the living quarters and returning to the main tunnel, you note a crossroads of sorts just ahead, with tunnels branching off to the north, east, and west.
Taking the other's silence as an acknowledgement of the direction chosen, the party heads down the eastern branch. Just fifteen feet in, pots and vases are strewn about in front of the collapsed wall of this dead end, and the remnants of dead flowers droop down the sides of the containers. Several mining picks lean against the crumbled stone to the east.
Davo can tell that the eastern tunnel was purposefully and quickly collapsed and would only take the party a few minutes to move the rubble aside, reopening the tunnel.
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Shahorn agrees and uses his bulk to help remove rubble. "If they took the time to cover something up, it may well be worth uncovering."
He also instructs Shadowpaw to aid the digging effort.
-Posted with Wayfinder
After a few minutes hard work, the rubble is easily cleared away, exposing a small tunnel. This short tunnel appears to have suffered a cave-in to the north, while the unfinished efforts of digging the tunnel can be seen in the various mining tools near the southern wall. As you peer in to the chamber, three skeletal carcasses pulls themselves from the ground, their bodies formed as much from earth and soil as from bones and rotting flesh. They rise and moves toward the party!
The ground around the creatures begins to shudder and ripple unnaturally as the creatures move toward the party and attack!
The creatures almost glide through the disturned earth and try to bite Kaz and Shahorn, but miss!