10 - The Smithy on the Scar

Smithy on the Scar

“We can not allow these mining operations to continue. They are funneling these dangerous rocks out of the city and sending them all over Westemär and beyond. We need to stop the spread of this corruption before it’s too late.”

- Knight-Captain Theodore Marshal

South of the city walls lies an industrial neighborhood known as the Spokes. The region was heavily damaged during the meteor shower, and a large trench cuts through the district. Nicknamed the “Scar”, this rough ravine was created by a massive boulder ejected from the initial meteor impact that collided with the walls and ricocheted south. This rogue projectile tore open the ground and levelled many buildings as it skid across the city, only narrowly missing the Spokes Smithy.

This once-humble smithy has been transformed into a fortified mining camp by an intrepid and entrepreneurial family of dwarven prospectors. The four Ironhelm siblings arrived in Drakkenheim a few months ago, and used their wondrous mechanical weaponry to lay claim to the rich deposits of delerium found within the Scar. While this has made them one of the most successful delerium extraction teams in Drakkenheim, they’ve made a loose agreement with the Queen of Thieves for protection, and now find themselves caught in the crosshairs of all five factions.

Overview

In this adventure, one or more of the factions dispatch the player characters to deal with the Ironhelm dwarves. Each faction has different goals here, so the party may be asked to drive off the dwarves or negotiate with them. Regardless, it’s up to the player characters to decide how exactly to carry out these orders: they might offer their assistance to the dwarves, attack them, trick them, or bargain with them.

Adventure Hooks

Altering the Deal

“Don’t harm one hair in their mangy beards. The miners are as valuable as the delerium itself. Don’t break their legs - just break their toys. The dwarves want to know what their money buys them, so show them. You can let them know they owe us twenty percent from here on out.”

- The Queen of Thieves

When the Ironhelms arrived in Drakkenheim, they immediately clashed with the bandit gangs who had previously been picking over the delerium in the Scar. After wresting control of the claim, they cut a deal with the Queen of Thieves: the dwarves could mine the Scar unmolested, so long as they paid fifteen percent of their profits to the Queen of Thieves each week for “protection”. However, the Ironhelms have since acquired new weaponry, and no longer feel they need to pay such a large cut for protection that has never actually materialised. The Queen of Thieves is furious, and charges the characters with stealing, sabotaging, or destroying the dwarves’ gunpowder weapons to make sure they’ll have to depend on her services. However, she doesn’t want the dwarves’ mining operations otherwise disturbed. Cracking a few skulls and roughing them up is fine, but if multiple dwarves are killed, the characters won’t be rewarded.

An Exclusive Contract

“The Ironhelm dwarves extract more delerium than anyone. We just want to put it to good use.”

- River

The Amethyst Academy wants to buy every last bit of delerium the Ironhelms collect. River explains they are willing to pay the market rate plus cover all the dwarves’ expenses in return. She emphasises that the Ironhelms must cut ties with whoever else they’re currently supplying (which would include their contract with the Queen of Thieves). She asks the player characters to approach the Ironhelms about this deal, and find out if the dwarves have any additional conditions or demands. If the characters can see to those demands as well, so much the better.

The Hooded Lanterns Offer

“The dwarves have weaponry, defences, and tactics that we could use to better fortify our camp, and make stronger pushes into the Inner City.”

- Lord Commander Elias Drexel

The Hooded Lanterns want to collaborate with the Ironhelms for mutual benefit. If the dwarves are willing to craft guns and weapons for the Hooded Lanterns, the faction is willing to send their soldiers to guard the Spokes Smithy, and let the Ironhelms take up residence with them in Drakkenheim Garrison. Elias Drexel sends the player characters as envoys to negotiate with the Ironhelms and show them the sincerity of their offer. He wants the characters to find out if the dwarves have anything else they want or need to make the deal work.

The Silver Order

The Silver Order has resolved to shut down the Ironhelms entirely. Theodore Marshal impresses that he’d rather not see the dwarves killed, but the mining simply must not continue. He charges the characters to convince the Ironhelms to abandon Drakkenheim. If they refuse, the characters must do what is necessary to drive them out: perhaps by destroying their supplies, the smithy fortifications and weapons, or even somehow making the Scar too dangerous for the dwarves to continue mining it. If the characters manage to do so without slaying any of the dwarves, Theodore Marshal promises them an additional boon, but will accept whatever solution the characters invent.

The Followers of the Falling Fire

“Our most humble and defenseless pilgrims could readily collect the holy stones found within the Scar. Not only are these dwarves defiling our sacred crystals with their shovels and mining picks, their greed has caused them to murder many innocent faithful.”

- Lucretia Mathias

The Followers of the Falling Fire are aghast at the dwarven strip mine, and want the operation to stop entirely. The delerium in the Scar must instead be put to a sacred purpose. Worse, the dwarves have killed several Falling Fire pilgrims who came to the Scar seeking delerium, as the devotees stubbornly refused to back down when threatened by the Ironhelms. Unfortunately, the dwarven guns are simply too much for their pilgrims to overcome on their own, and so the Followers of the Falling Fire need the player characters to be their instrument of wrath.

Interactions

The Ironhelm siblings have hired a company of dwarven veterans and miners to help carry out their operation. In total, the four Ironhelm siblings lead an expedition of roughly thirty individuals. The expedition consists of the four Ironhelm siblings, 8 dwarven veterans, and 12 dwarven thugs. The Ironhelms and oversee the work, while the veterans protect the campsite while the thugs work mining the scar.

The dwarves work in half-day shifts to avoid the effects of contamination and the Haze. At any given time, two of the expedition leaders are present at the camp, along with half the dwarves. The others are resting in Emberwood Village, where they have rooms at the Red Lion Hotel. Characters could opt to engage with the Ironhelms at either the Spokes Smithy or in Emberwood Village. However, because the dwarves are split up, all four need to meet personally to discuss any deal they’re presented with first. If the characters want to negotiate with the dwarves, they’ll have to wait until a shift changes (when all the dwarves are in the city).

The Ironhelm Siblings

The Ironhelm Siblings have relocated from their ancestral home in the Glimmer Mountains to stake a new claim in Drakkenheim. Their old gold mine has run dry, and so delerium is their new commodity.

The siblings share the following roleplaying characteristics:

• Ideal. If you work hard and deal fairly, you’re sure to make something of yourself in this world.
• Bond. We have to carry on the family business.
• Flaw. Words are worth horse spit. We don’t trust what anyone says, and judge them only by their actions.

Reginald Ironhelm

This dwarf mage wears a trench coat inlaid with gold buttons and has a satchel full of mechanical bits. He wears a bandolier full of bullets, a monocle over his right eye, and has many tools and trinkets hanging from his belt. His bulbous nose and beady eyes accent his huge moustache and mutton chops but, unlike many dwarves, sports a clean shaven chin. His black hair is always slicked back to keep it off his brow and face.

• Personality Trait. Reginald is all about the numbers - he trusts facts, figures, and proven results. He is not the type to make a risky decision on a hunch. He prefers calculated and educated results.

Mordecai Ironhelm

A dwarf assassin garbed in black cloak and trenchcoat, he has several daggers at the ready along his coat, and his belt contains several vials of poison. He has long black hair, a scar down the side of his face, and a black goatee that trails down to his belt buckle.

• Personality Trait. Mordecai is always looking for a better deal or a way to sweeten the pot. He has a charisma to him, even if he is a little rough around the edges. He is blunt with his remarks, but very good at reading people. He knows when to push, and when to put on the charm.

GERTRUDE IRONHELM

Gertrude Ironhelm

A dwarf gladiator who wields two golden axes, she has dark brown hair laced into three separate braided ponytails. She has long sideburns that she lets grow down, and a very stern look on her face.

• Personality Trait. Gertrude has always trusted her instincts. She listens to her gut and it’s gotten her this far. She doesn’t mind playing rough and aggressive if it helps her and her family accomplish their goals. She is highly protective of her friends and family.

Elouise Ironhelm

A dwarf priest who keeps the ancestral dwarven faith. She is dressed in common grey robes, complemented by thick leather strappings and a breast plate. She has a mechanical trinket hanging around her neck and a belt full of various hammers and tools. She has long brown hair flowing down to her knees, big bright eyes, and a kind yet cunning look upon her face.

• Personality Trait. Elouise respects tradition, and wants to preserve her family’s ancestral ways. She constantly reminds her siblings they need to stick together. She is the kindest of the siblings and will always try to find a means to peaceful resolution if possible.

Negotiating with the Ironhelms

“Promises are worth as much as pig shite. Your actions have currency with us, though. Show your mettle and we can entertain your offer. Protecting this place at night is the hardest part of the job. Prove you’ll help us by doing a night shift. Then we’ll talk about your little offer.”

The dwarves currently have three active deals:

• They pay fifteen percent of their current earnings to the Queen of Thieves as part of her protection racket.
• They spend half of their earnings on supplies, equipment upkeep, wages, accommodations, and other business expenses.
• They sell their delerium at a bulk rate to Fairweather Trades and Exports in Emberwood Village, and so only get about eighty percent of its market value.

The Ironhelms find the offers made by the Amethyst Academy and the Hooded Lanterns intriguing. Nevertheless, the dwarves drive a hard bargain on principle, and explain that if they break their agreement with the Queen of Thieves, they’re concerned she will act against them more aggressively. As such, the Ironhelms won’t accept any agreement that doesn’t include proven assurance of protection in the future. They need proof the faction can protect their mining operation from monsters, as well as anyone sent by the Queen of Thieves. They reason that since the faction dispatched the player characters to negotiate with them, then the characters should be the ones who provide this protection… assuming they are up to the task. They ask the characters to protect the Smithy during a night shift to demonstrate their capabilities.

Sabotaging the Ironhelms

“Take your demands and shove them up your arse. There’s money to be made here and we’re not leaving. If you wish to contest our claim, you’re free to do so before the barrel of a gun.”

Convincing the Ironhelm siblings to simply abandon their operation is nearly impossible. They have invested too much time and energy into fortifying the location and building a functioning business by prospecting the Scar. They laugh in the faces of those who try to tell them to pack up and leave. Instead, characters will need to resort to other tactics to get the dwarves to give up peacefully.

Characters working for the Queen of Thieves, the Silver Order, or the Falling Fire might be looking for ways to disrupt, drive off, or sabotage the Ironhelms without necessarily slaying them. A few possibilities include one or more of the following:

• Luring additional monsters to attack the Spokes Smithy or occupy the Scar
• Stealing or breaking their gunpowder weapons
• Ruining the forge or the dwarves’ supplies
• Stealing or sabotaging the dwarves’ mining equipment or wagons
• Convincing the dwarven hirelings to desert the Ironhelms
• Getting the dwarves kicked out of the Red Lion Hotel, or getting them blacklisted by the merchants in Emberwood Village
• Destroying the defenses around the smithy or even the entire building itself

Finally, slaying the dwarves is always an option, though a rather murderous one. It’s possible that if one or more of the Ironhelm siblings dies, the others might be convinced to give up.

Area Details

The Spokes Smithy is a roofed outdoor blacksmith shop with a small office. It’s been heavily fortified and overlooks the Scar.

SPOKES SMITHY VIEW PLAYER VERSION

The Scar

The Scar is three hundred feet long, twenty to thirty feet wide, and ten feet deep. The melted earth has turned to black glass and glittering obsidian sand, and the trench is now among the richest delerium veins outside the city centre.

• Most of the delerium found here are chips and fragments fused into the earth, and it requires diligent work to extract.

[1-6] Spokes Smithy

The Spokes Smithy is a relatively small blacksmith shop. It has its covered forge, a small office, a yard that now functions as a campsite, and a series of barricades recently constructed by the Ironhelms to secure the location. They have setup three gun platforms around the perimeter, each a features a massive cannon of dwarven construction..

A thunderous staccato and a whirring mechanical sound echo across the ravine. As the noise dies down, it’s replaced by a bellowing voice calling out “All clear!” in dwarven and the sound of clinking hammers and picks against stone. A field of monstrous corpses is splayed out all around: dead ratlings, mutated dregs, and other slain horrors. “Stand down.” Calls the bellowing voice “Any beastie gets a bullet, but if you’re no monster, you may pass.”

• The Day shift is taken by Reginald, Elouise, 6 dwarf thugs, and 4 dwarf veterans.
• The Night shift is taken by Gertrude, Mordecai, 6 dwarf thugs, and 4 dwarf veterans

[1] Forge. An impressive furnace and anvil rests in a covered workshop lined with hanging tools and equipment. The Ironhelms use the forge currently to manufacture bullets for their weapons and fix up their other armour and mining gear. Mordecai can often be found in the forge during night shifts making sure ammo is stocked and ready.

• Treasure: There is a set of smith’s tools and a large piece of meteoric iron here that could be worked into a weapon or piece of armour by a skilled smith.

[2] Smithy’s Office. This small office has a desk and a small iron safe. There is an old bookshelf along one wall lined with design plans, blueprints, and recipes for various forge-made gear. A book on the desk details the numbers regarding the prospecting and selling of delerium. Reginald can be found in the office during the day crunching numbers.

• Treasure: The safe in the room is locked (DC 20). It contains four gold bars each worth 1,000gp along with a box containing two delerium crystals.

[3] Campsite. Between the smithy and the scar is a makeshift camp that houses a small bonfire, a few large chunks of debris repurposed into seating, a pair of tents for those needing a short rest or privacy, and an old cooking pot that hangs over the fire. During the day Elouise can often be found here cooking a travelers stew and aiding anyone who has suffered injuries.

• Treasure: Next to one of the tents is a small satchel containing restorative ointment and a scroll of purge contamination.

[4] East Barricade. The larger of the two main barricades covers the open side of the building and exposed campsite and is composed of a small stone fence reinforced by wooden spikes and barbed wire. A makeshift iron gate sits in the middle and several burlap bags of sand and dirt are piled atop the wall where a row of muskets can be perched. Behind the wall are two boxes each containing eight sticks of dynamite that the dwarves occasionally use in the Scar, or to defend the camp. Gertrude can be found here most of the time during the night shift.

[5] West Barricade. The West Barricade is much the same as the east but covers less ground and doesn’t have a gate. Its purpose is to block the open gap between the long end of the smithy and the Scar.

[6] Gun Platforms. Around the smithy are small platforms recently constructed, with a ladder that goes down to the camp below. The platform has a reinforced barricade wall built along the side facing out towards the city and a mounted turret has been bolted to the platform here. Upon each platform is a cannon. There is a stack of cannonballs and several barrels of gunpowder next to each.

Working the Night Shift

During the night, the characters have four events. Roll 1d8 for each event to determine which hour of the night the attack occurs: if you get a duplicate result, bad luck for the players! In such a case, the two attacks happen 10d6 minutes apart.

The dwarves are reluctant to let characters use the gun themselves, but can be convinced by a character who makes a good argument or who displays sophisticated engineering knowledge (DC 18). If the character insists on more illumination, they experience an additional encounter during the evening. If the players take the night shift, the normal night shift takes a break and the characters are accompanied by one of the Ironhelm siblings as well as 4 dwarf thugs and 2 dwarf veterans.

The dwarves rely on their darkvision at night. They remind characters that at night, light sources will attract more monsters. The only light source the dwarves allow at night is their bonfire.

The mists of the Haze recede at night, and a billowing corona of octarine light appears above the crater. This creates dim illumination in the area of the camp and the Scar, but creatures and objects further than 120 feet away are totally obscured unless the characters have features or traits that allow them to see further in darkness.

Events

Swarm of the Walking Dead. As night falls and the glow of the delerium clusters that pepper the Scar cast an octarine light across the lonely smithy, the sounds of shuffling and moans begin to fill the air - distant at first, but getting closer, and coming from all directions. 12 haze husks emerge on the first round, and 1d6 more haze husks appear each round afterwards for the next minute.

Haze Hulks. A series of loud wails erupt through the streets and the sounds of lumbering limbs cascade towards the smithy - something big is coming. Three haze hulks emerge fromthe haze and charge towards the smithy.

Chimera. A chimera swoops down to attack. “We’re out of ammo!” rings out from the gun platform. None of the firearms nor the cannon are usable for any further encounters. It’s at this moment that a terrible screech is heard from above. 1d4 rounds in, 10 haze husks emerge from the haze as well.

Ratling Horde. Attracted by the sounds and chaos, a horde of 20 ratlings emerge in hopes of scavenging off the dead corpses littering the field.

Developments

Accepting the Offer

If the characters successfully defend the site during the night shift, the Ironhelms are happy to accept an offer made by the Amethyst Academy or the Hooded Lanterns. As a result, characters have won a new ally. However, Reginald and Elouise tell the characters that it’s now their responsibility to help the dwarves out if they need defenders in the future. They’ll contact the characters via a sending spell if they ever need them.

At a pivotal moment in the campaign, the Queen of Thieves (or another rival faction) might time an attack against the dwarves with another crucial event. If you want to up the stakes during an otherwise straightforward mission, the Ironhelms call for aid when the players are already stretched for time. Alternatively, they might request aid immediately after an intense battle when the characters are low on resources.

The Amethyst Academy and the Hooded Lanterns reward characters with a faction boon for their excellent work. At your option, the Ironhelm dwarves might be willing to teach the characters how to use gunpowder weapons, and give them each a gun and ammunition. Later in the campaign, the dwarves could be called up to provide weapons for a major offensive as well.

The Queen’s New Deal

If the characters sabotage the dwarven weapons but don’t otherwise cause major disruptions to the dwarven mining operation, they begrudgingly acquiesce to the Queen of Thieves demands. She rewards characters with a faction boon, and lets characters keep any guns or ammunition they might have absconded with (or remarks on how foolish the characters were if they did not purloin the weapons for themselves).

However, in the event the sabotage went too far or any of the Ironhelm siblings were killed, the Queen of Thieves is greatly displeased and informs the characters that they are now expected to make up the difference in profits. She quotes an outrageous figure, saying the characters have cost her thousands of gold. She expects them to adequately make up the difference in a timely fashion, and uses this fact to blackmail them into doing her dirty work for as long as possible.

Driving out the Dwarves

If the dwarven mining operations are extensively sabotaged, the Ironhelm siblings are financially ruined. The cost of buying new equipment, hiring new labourers, and building new defenses is simply too much to bear. Combined with the threat of further retribution from another faction, this is sufficient to convince them to leave.

However, if it seems like the dwarves could recuperate or repair whatever damages the player characters caused, they might seek out aid from another faction to protect them from future attacks. The next time the characters arrive, a strike team from a rival faction is on site as additional muscle.

Wiping out the Dwarves

Should the characters decide to simply slay the dwarves, they’re in for a bloody battle. If the tide of battle turns against them, Reginald and Elouise contact their siblings outside Drakkenheim via a sending spell. Since the dwarves work in two shifts, the characters will have to deal with both groups. If one group is slain, the other does not exact immediate vengeance - instead, the survivors seek out help from the Hooded Lanterns, the Amethyst Academy, or the Queen of Thieves. Each faction is more than willing to send a strike team of their own to help the Ironhelm dwarves.

The next time a rival faction sends out a strike team against the party, add the remaining Ironhelm siblings and 1d4 dwarf veterans to the strike team.