The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

Getting There
The easiest way to reach the peak is by teleportation.
Since nobody in the Conclave has ever seen the inside
of the factory, the Player Characters will have to teleport
to the outside of the mountain and look for a way in.
The only other option is to head overland, which is
potentially hazardous. Unless the Player Characters
come into Svarth from the direction of Ghael, they
will almost certainly encounter hostile forces: drow in
Jehannum, barbarians in Visk and roaming dragons in
the northern mountains of Svarth.
The Dolorous Peak
The installation set up to manufacture the Ironclads is
a duergar factory situated in their region of Svarth, a
small portion to the southeast. It is built under a lone
grey mountain called the Dolorous Peak, named for the
bleak, miserable look of the place.
Rannirak would not entrust the building of his Ironclads
to anyone but the duergar smiths; nobody else has the
skill and the equipment to produce them in sufficient
number. He has chosen the Dolorous Peak factories
as the manufacturing points despite their dangerous
proximity to dwarf lands because they are ideal for his
needs. The factories use experimental machinery that is
unlike anything seen elsewhere on Ashfar and Rannirak
likes industrial innovation.
The Mountain: The peak stands out like a pile of
grey mortar that has fallen from a trowel among more
picturesque hills. Nothing but a few patches of thorny
scrub grow on its barren, rocky slopes. There is no home
more fit for the grey, humourless duergar dwarves.
The Industrial Machinery: The duergar have been
employing their own hybrid of elementary steam
technology, magic and conventional smithcraft for years
now, drawing on methods that the more wholesome
dwarf races shun as unworthy. The source of power
for their manufacturing plant is a captive storm spirit
of gigantic size called Jien Zun Dum, from whom the
duergar draw lightning that they seal in glass receptacles.
This bottled lightning is then used to fuel their great
machines.
This is an ominous development for Ashfar. The era of
the elven hegemony, a time where magic, fine arts and
the crafts of the woods ruled, is long past. The machines
in the Dolorous Peak, the Ironclad spider-craft and the
Darkspears are all manifestations of something new and
threatening. Driven by their master, the Dark, the drow
have chosen to embrace machinery as well as magic in
this Equinox; and it is bringing them closer to victory
than ever before. The Player Characters should be aware
that this new fondness for machinery is symptomatic
of the drow’s whole worldview. They want a world of
predictable uniformity and abiding darkness, where
the annoyance of individual identity is suppressed – in
short, a world of soulless machines.
Non-Player Character Group: Occupants
of the Factory
There are four principal classes of people in the factory:
the duergar labourers, who operate the machinery
to make the Ironclads; the drow guards, who protect
them while they do so; the drow master craftsmen
who make the fine magical components; and the drow
divine spellcasters whose responsibility it is to activate
the Ironclads by magic and repair them if they are
damaged.
Typical members of each group are described below.
Descriptions and statistic blocks for unique creatures
are provided in the room contents where they appear.
A fifth group, much smaller than the rest, is made up
of those few specially honoured drow who are being
trained to pilot the new Ironclads. These are expected
to keep to their chambers at all times except when they
are training with the prototype craft.
Craftsman-at-Arms, Duergar Ftr10: CR 11;
Medium humanoid (dwarf); HD 10d10+30; hp 85;
Init +2; Spd 20 ft.; AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15;
Base Atk +10; Grp +13; Atk +15 melee (1d8+5/x3,
masterwork warhammer) or +12 ranged (1d8/19–20,
light crossbow); Full Atk +15/+10 melee (1d8+5/x3,
masterwork warhammer) or +12 ranged (1d8/19–20,
light crossbow); SA duergar traits, spell-like abilities;
SQ darkvision 60 ft., duergar traits; AL LE; SV Fort
+10, Ref +5, Will +3; Str 16, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 12,
Wis 10, Cha 4.
Skills & Feats: Appraise +5, Climb –1, Craft
(blacksmithing) +10, Craft (stonemasonry) +9, Listen
+4, Move Silently +1, Spot +5; Cleave, Combat
Reflexes, Dodge, Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush,
Improved Overrun, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Craft
(blacksmithing)), Weapon Focus (warhammer), Weapon
Specialisation (warhammer).
Equipment & Treasure: Chainmail armour, crossbow
bolts (10), light crossbow, masterwork warhammer.
Heavy Lifter, Duergar Ftr10: As the Craftsman-at-
Arms; however, the duergar heavy lifter is also equipped
with a magically powered mechanical suit.
Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8
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