Most of the tracks that might once have been here have been thoroughly eradicated by the pyronite ooze's constant explosions. However, Royken does uncover some heavy bootprints that seem to indicate a few stout individuals had been here recently, dwarves most likely.
When you report your findings to Della Sangrey, the metallurgist becomes convinced that something nefarious is afoot. She explains while the Gunworks’ garrison commander is in charge of military matters, the two inventors’ towers have just as much sway on day-to-day operations. Sangrey proposes that she arrange a dinner meeting between you, herself, Master Engineer Erdrik Marth, and Garrison Commander Loy Ayton. If you can get Marth to come around to the idea, Sangrey and Marth together can outvote Ayton and force him to act against Deputy Loveless.
As thanks for defeating the pyronite ooze, Sangrey gifts you her blast suit that Royken is wearing.
Bleach thanks the lady for her kindness in gifting them the now battle-tested blast suit and for arranging the dinner. "Let us hope that the dinner will be less spicy than the encounter we just had with the ooze. If that thing had escaped the tower ... "
Lora frowns softly "Those with the power of force, rarely listen to those with the power of thought." she repeats something she read once, to express her worry that the shieldmarshal shall allow themselves to be outvoted. "Dinner does sound lovely thought."
Royken grunts. "Fine, then," and stalks off to head toward the other tower.
"Hum... these footprints seem to indicate the Leadsmiths are somewhat involved." She says to the others as she agrees with the dinner idea.
"We should hurry up and meet with Master Marth then."
Chief Engineer Erdrik Marth supervises operations within the Tower of Engineering, where the region’s best engineers design and construct large guns and siege weaponry for Alkenstar’s holdings. The engineers live in dormitories on the upper floors, while the tower’s middle floors consist of crafting workshops. The ground floor, a hangar filled with the largest weapons of war currently under development, is known as the Hall of Siegecraft. On the roof of the tower, visible from the plains outside the Gunworks, is an incredibly complex machine of winding gears and intricate mechanisms that the engineers affectionately named the Machine Ponderous.
Erdrik Marth is an excitable man, small in stature, with a habit of speaking in hurried bursts. Though suspicious of your intentions (he suspects you to be spies for the Tower of Metallurgy), he agrees to help you if you first help him. He explains that several days ago, somebody released a horde of jinkin gremlins into the tower's lowest level, where they have been causing mischief. Marth believes it to be a plot by Della Sangrey to ruin his reputation. He petitioned Loy Ayton for shieldmarshals to clear out the gremlins, but Ayton considers the issue more akin to vermin removal and beneath the dignity of a military response. He asks you to clear out the gremlins to secure his cooperation!
"Oh, for f@~#'s sake," Royken grouses, turning on his heel to walk out. It looks like he's just not going to help for a moment, then he asks, "Well, where the f&*! are they?"
"I'm glad to hear we haven't been deemed a military response." Yet, he adds in the backroom of his thoughts. "Sure, we can take a look. What's the worst that could happen?"
With her bardic knowledge, Lora knows that jinkins are sadistic tinkers who steal and sabotage items and take great pride in their power to curse precious objects. These curses either make the items unreliable, add a bizarre requirement to use the items, or impart some other curse of a similar caliber.
The lowest floor of the Tower of Engineering is a single large hangar called the Hall of Siegecraft where the engineers work on their largest creations. Two steel doors lead from the courtyard of the Gunworks into the hall.
The hangar is filled with mechanical contraptions. Four large wagons, festooned with armor plating, cannons, and mounted musket turrets, have been parked throughout the room. Overhead, the ceiling arches to a height of thirty feet.
Against one wall leans a damaged construct. From the waist up, it resembles a humanoid made of metal, but from the waist down its body takes the form of metal tops ringed with blades. It seems to be in the process of being retrofitted with dozens of guns. As you get within thirty feet of it, it suddenly whirs to life, the metal tops beginning to spin around and around. Dozens of tiny gremlins poke their heads out from holes within the construct, cackling with glee and hurling blasts of hex magic at you!
The construct fires its guns at Royken before taking a moment to reload them. The dwarf takes a critical hit!
On their way towards the lowest floor, Eva is shaking her head. "Did not want to upset Master Marth when we need his help, but isn't it silly that the ones responsible for developing weapons and defenses for Alkenstar can't deal with a bunch of gremlins?"
When they reach the Hall of Siegecraft and the construct jumps to life, Eva wastes no time in sending a megavolt at it and its hateful pilots. As an inventor herself, Eva utterly despises jinkins.
HP 84/122
AC 26
Fort +16, Ref +16, Will +14 (bravery)
Hero points: 3
Ammo: 48 rounds
Effects: misfired weapon
"Grrrr!" Royken growls as he hears his weapon misfire even though he hadn't even pulled the f*@@ing trigger yet. F!*&, he hadn't even aimed it yet!
"Fine then," he growls and charges forward toward the construct.
"Ridiculously Obsurd!" Lora agrees, as she sharp eyes take in all the wonders and... a whirling to life metal man with more cannons than sense. "OR Maybe, they are just a bit smart to cower upstairs." she admitted, a split second before running for cover as the cannons start their firing.
Lora pause in her running, her eyebrow arching at the hexes being drawn in the air. The designs nag at her brain, and she ALMOST thinks she could counter them with her own magic.
Bleach is too overwhelmed by the image of a gremlin-crewed construct and can't quite come up with a counter-hex for now.
While Bleach and Lora struggle to create counter-hexes, Eva unleashes a lightning blast. However, only some of the gremlins are injured by it as the spinning construct evades the electricity. Royken bashes the construct but misses with his follow-up attack.
The construct spins around, slashing at Royken with dull blades and reloading more of its guns.
The gremlins, meanwhile, try to hex Royken's and Eva's weapons.
Success: The item is unaffected.
Failure: The item becomes unreliable for 1 round. If a creature attempts to Activate the item or Interact with it, it must succeed at a DC 5 flat check or the action is wasted. If the item doesn’t have an active use (such a mundane cloak), the creature wearing the item must instead immediately succeed at a DC 5 flat check or become tangled with the item and fall prone.
Critical Failure: As failure, but the creature wielding or wearing the item also becomes clumsy 2.
HP 73/122
AC 26
Fort +16, Ref +16, Will +14 (bravery)
Hero points: 3
Ammo: 48 rounds
Effects: misfired weapon
"F*!# me," Royken curses, trying to bash the robot. "I'm going to f&&$ing kill you!"
Just when he thinks his thoughts are getting him somewhere, the sight of Royken being savaged by the construct causes the thought to collapse.
"Are you f@+#ing blaming me?!"
As the gremlins try to meddle with her arm, Eva becomes livid. "F@&$ OFF!" Somehow, her ire work wonders to unravel whatever shenanigans the gremlins were up to!
Lora tries to slip around some rubble, to scare the little rodents, but since she was still inspiring the others with words her ability to be stealthy was rather limited.
Eva manages to neutralize some of the gremlins as Royken batters the construct, shoving it away. It spins about and fires its guns at the dwarf before loading more small cannonballs into the weapons! Luckily its shots miss! The gremlins hurl more hexes that don't seem very effective since you aren't using magical items against them.
HP 73/122
AC 26
Fort +16, Ref +16, Will +14 (bravery)
Hero points: 3
Ammo: 48 rounds
Effects: misfired weapon
"I'm getting really f%@*ing sick of your s~$$," Royken growls, continuing to bash away at the robot.
Bleach finally figures out a way to counter-act the Gremlin hex!
Lora is still unable to find a way around that doesn't get her shot out. But she keeps her song up for the others.
Eva tries again to disable the gremlins, keeping her distance from the spinning blades.
Bleach manages to neutralize another gang of gremlins, leaving one still active. Royken hits the construct once but fails to shove it away.
Suddenly, the construct begins to spin furiously in place, firing its guns wildly! The gremlins within shriek and holler excitedly as they hold on tightly, spinning around and around!
Eva dodges most of the bullets and seeks cover while trying again to disrupt the gremlins.
HP 58/122
AC 26
Fort +16, Ref +16, Will +14 (bravery)
Hero points: 3
Ammo: 48 rounds
Effects: misfired weapon
Royken's armor locks, protecting him from the worst of the bullets. He unlocks it a moment later and closes on the stupid f*@%ing robot, and smashes it!
Lora finally gets close enough to startle the gremlins, tossing one of harmless flash bang in the middle of mass, though she had wished it was the professor's special explosives instead, after getting pelted by bullets
The gremlins shriek and scatter as Lora sneaks up on them, then Royken bashes the construct again, this time causing it to crumple to the floor and stop its incessant spinning!
Shortly after your victory, Erdrik Marth bursts into the room with an excited "Hurrah!" He thanks you profusely for dealing with the gremlins. When you present Della Sangrey's plan, he agrees with it and promises to help you convince Loy Ayton to aid your search for Deputy Loveless. He also gifts you with a special weapon: an erraticannon.
Lora mimics the engineer with her own excited "Hurrah!", she even throws in a fist in the air jump. Once the celebration is over, she adds "The gremlins were little s@#@s, you should put up traps to make sure they don't come back."
As she busies herself healing herself and her companions, "Loy Ayton? Can you tell us anything about them that will help us be convincing?"
"Ayton is an unbending man," Marth says. "Your best bet will likely be to play along with his hosting and wait until the end of the evening before asking him about Loveless."
"We'll do as you suggest if we can't find an alternative angle." She informs before asking. "Out of curiosity, are you familiar with the Leadsmiths?"
Royken growls as he checks out the gun.
"I know of their reputation, but I try to steer clear of mercenaries, if I can," Marth remarks.
***
You head back to your rooms to rest. The next evening, you prepare for your dinner party with Loy Ayton. Coincidentally, a mana storm is due to roll in this night. According to the Gunworks prognosticators, this storm is tied to transmutation magic, particularly magic that alters size. During storms such as these, the Gunworks seals and wards the doors and windows of its key structures, dampening the worst magic-altering effects. This will have the added benefit of effectively trapping Ayton with you, giving you all night to work him over with flattery and suggestion.
You meet Della Sangrey and Erdrik Marth and head over to the Garrison Tower. Approximately 300 shieldmarshals live within this large tower under the disciplined eye of Garrison Commander Loy Ayton. Many of Alkenstar’s greenest, most adventurous shieldmarshals specifically request a post at the Gunworks in the hopes of seeing action in the Western Ravage. To counteract the spirited nature of his inexperienced garrison, Loy runs operations with militaristic precision and ensures new recruits are too exhausted to even think of starting trouble for trouble’s sake. In time, recruits who prove themselves capable are recommended for promotion to the Ravage Raiders, which is where the real action lies.
You ascend to Ayton's dining room at the top floor of the tower, where the commander greets you with a smile. "Welcome, welcome! Come on in, grab a drink! Now, I know why you're here, so let's not dance around the subject all evening. Let's talk about Deputy Loveless now and be done with it."
Royken grunts in surprise. He thought they were going to have to pretend to be interested, and he wasn't sure he could manage it. Trying not to glower might have been the best he could do. But he could like this Ayton, even if he is a f#$@ing shieldmarshal.
"Right. She's more corrupt than the f~*!ing Mana Wastes," Royken says. "Her latest plan is going to blow the f~~~ing city off the map, like f$&$ing Rovagug emerging from the f$#@ing Pit."
Lora in a more muted set of skirts under armor, slips in next to their darf "While our business is as both you and our dear Royken says, enjoying the evening you prepared for us, seems the polite thing we should do, BEFORE talking about that business." while she gives Roykin a glare, the smile that accompanies it shows too much of her affection for his brashness, so the effect is lost.
"No, no, I insist," Ayton says. "Lay it on me. Tell me what you know of Loveless's plans."
Thunder rumbles outside the tower as the mana storm begins to set in. You recount what you've been able to learn, and then Sangrey and Marth tell about their experiences over the last week manufacturing pyronite components and the sinister implications all this entails. Together, they press Ayton to act and, at the very least, reveal what he knows of Loveless's plan.
Ayton grunts. "Hmph. Well, that's a lot to take in. As much as I want to keep out of Loveless's affairs, the situation doesn't look good. It's a violation of official protocol, and against my better judgment, but... I'm inclined to help you. I'll agree to temporarily arrest the Leadsmiths here in the fortress and have my shieldmarshals scour the countryside for signs of other Loveless cronies. As for Loveless herself, I believe she’s likely headed for Alken Falls with the pyronite. The night before she left, I dined with her and her guest, a wizard namd Ibrium. After a few too many glasses of wine, the Nexian accidentally let slip something about 'heading for Alken Falls' soon."
"Does she plan to blow up the f#%$ing falls?" Royken grouses. "Droskar's dick, but I guess we better go deal with that now."
He pauses and thinks for a minute.
"Speaking of dealing with s@%+, you may want to keep an eye out for Vew-slug. That one-eyed bastard is in town, and he won't appreciate what you're doing with his Leadsmiths."
"the f&#*ing falls" Lora repeats in a mutter, lowering her head and pinching the bridge of her nose. All while she thinks if such a thing is possible, or anything that would be helpful about the falls.
Bleach tries not to get stuck on the fact Loveless is planning something with the Falls, but maybe his friends are right. But why would Loveless blow up the Falls? It would surely be the end of Alkenstar! "Maybe the explanation is more mundane like say, Loveless has a hidden base in the Falls?"
Lora recalls that Alken Falls features a mechanical ship lift system, the Screw, that allows for easy travel along the Ustradi River throughout the duchy. Destroying it would sow chaos throughout Alkenstar.
"Whatever she's planning, I hope you can put a stop to it," Ayton says. "Now, shall we sit down and enjoy our diner?"
Suddenly, the sounds of gunfire erupt outside the tower, and alarm bells begin ringing throughout the garrison. Ayton swears loudly. "Dammit! The Gunworks is under attack!"
The commander rushes to the balcony of the tower and throws open the doors. Sheets of rain pour over the stone fortifications of the Gunworks, which is alive with armed shieldmarshals rushing to the ramparts. Jolts of arcane energy sizzle through the sky and a sudden flash of green lightning illuminates the landscape for miles around. In the distance, a horde of monstrous warriors is charging through the hills toward the fortress. An army approaches!
As Eva peeks at the approaching army, she sighs, feeling sorry for this Ayton guy they just met as he seems like a decent fellow.
"Hum... it looks like Loveless selected you to play the part of the failed commander." She says, showing some empathy. "From what we've discovered, Loveless's plan to rise to power requires a demonstration of how vulnerable Alkenstar is, even if she'll need to manipulate and sabotage everyone into creating the perfect storm to prove her point."
"We already know she sabotaged both towers and, to be honest, I'd not be surprised if she did something to your own troops and defenses as well. Perhaps it would be wise to do not rely on your military procedures while defending from this army, as all of them could be compromised... and this includes the Maw of Rovagug."
She then squints her eyes, trying to discern the nature of the monsters attacking.
"F%#@ me," Royken grouses. "I didn't f!%+ing sign up for this!"
Nonetheless, he starts to reach for his gun. Then looks around for something bigger.
Bleach cloaks his essence with false life to steel himself for what's to come. Sure, this might be the perfect time to finally give his newly researched 'sanguine mist' spell a try, and sure, he has learned how to siphon life essence from those he affects with his spells, but is one ever truly safe enough?
If he were a splash more selfish, he'd also keep the stoneskin spell for himself, but that one he's willing to cast on either Royken or Eva. "Do we want to stay up here, or go down and help out where trouble is to hit first?"
"We're not soldiers." Lora says with trepidation. "Fighting an army does not seem the best use of our talents and will let Loveless have time to get away."
Even with those words she also tries to remember anything about the creatures attacking.
The approaching army seems to be composed of several hundred ogres and hill giants. As you look around, you can see that an advance war band mounted on enormous flying bats has killed the shieldmarshals surrounding the massive cannon known as the Maw of Rovagug and captured the weapon, clearing the way for their brethren to approach.
"My men and I will fend off those giants for now," Ayton says. "I need you retake control of the Maw!"
Royken just growls in response. Then he shrugs, sighs, and begins making his way to the Maw. He really didn't think this would be how he'd die, but he supposes it's better than being stabbed in the back in an alley. Maybe.
You rush out along the Gunworks' ramparts, braving the mana storm as you make your way to the Maw of Rovagug. You can hear gunshots and cries of pain coming from your destination as you draw closer.
An enormous cannon, fashioned into the likeness of a snarling monster, juts from the top of this tower like the finger of an angry god. From end to end, the cannon measures roughly seventy-five feet long and is wide enough for multiple humans to stand atop. The mighty bombard rests atop a circular platform, powered by clockwork gears. Nearby, a ten-foot-wide steel hatch leads into the tower below. To the north, a single staircase winds from the courtyard of the Gunworks to the base of the cannon atop the tower, which is a hundred feet from the ground.
As you surmount the tower, you come face-to-face with four Leadsmiths. The swarves stand on the bodies of the slain ogre war party, smoking guns at the ready. Vewslog stands atop the cannon, midway up the barrel. At the far end, several pyronite charges have been lit, their fuses steadily burning down.
"You're too late!" Vewslog shouts over the thundering storm. "This cannon's gonna blow, and the Gunworks will be easy pickings! And once it falls, Deputy Loveless will have everything she needs to ensure that the conscription legislation will pass! If you're here to try to stop it, you're gonna have to go through me and my men first!"
Magical energy surges around you. Lora suddenly shrinks to the size of a halfling, while Royken swells to the size of a giant! Vewslog also shrinks, becoming human-sized, while one the Leadsmiths grows!