Post by hubertbartels on Nov 13, 2017 16:21:08 GMT -5
After leaving the ruined fortress of Aldronard's Grave, all the party pushed, ever uphill, to the barren plateau of Serren Hills. Through the vast flat and dusty landscape, they walked until Scrapwall lay before them. Ahead of them, they could see a large area - 3 miles or more across - of piled up and stacked scrap, arranged into makeshift walls. Plates, flooring, metal walls and foundations have all been piled up, held together with boards, cable and rope. There seemed to be only way in - and the trail they had been following led into it.
The trail was barred with a gate made from slats of metal, tied together with rope and wire. A voice challenged them as the party approached. Erasmus answered, saying that they weren't here to loot the place.
The voice said something about asking the boss and disappeared. After a while, a woman's voice asked the party if they were crusaders, come to clean out Scrapwall. Again, Eramus answered. The gate opened.
Standing in the gatehouse was a tall, short-haired blonde woman with the sturdy look of a brawler. She told them her name was Sevroth Slaid and she wanted to talk to the party a bit more. Checking that no one was looking, she led them into a room off the gate entrance.
She explained that her gang, the Steelhawks, was once the leading gang in Scrapwall. Then the Steelhawk leader and her boyfriend, a man named, Variago was tricked into competing in the Scrapmaster's Arena. It wasn't a fair fight - an orc named Kulgara, one of the Lords of Rust slaughtered him. The Lords of Rust installed a new Steelhawk leader, an ex-Smiler named Birdfood, to control the gang. Birdfood has been winning followers to the Smilers. His goal is remake everyone in the Steelhawks into twisted freaks like the Smilers. Slaid has been pushing back against this - but the best she can do is protect those Hawks that haven't gone crazy yet. The Smiler sympathizers at the gatehouse are currently in the messhall. Could the party help her out.
The party agree and go across the gate entrance to the door of the mess hall. Kicking in the door, the party finds eight Smiler sympathizers sitting at a table - some have already been carving at their faces.
Others have massive scarring from the usage of Soothe - a drug that heals injuries but leaves bleeding scars. All have crazy eyes. There's meat of unknown origin and home-made booze on the table.
It takes a few minutes but the party finally drops the last of the Smiler wannabes - a large ugly man that was their leader. Slaid and the few remaining Steelhawk come over to look at the slaughter. While she directs her people to quietly pick up the bodies and slide them into the nearest bubbling acid pit of Scrapwall, she will talk to the party again.
In her quarters again, she explains that Birdfood, the ex-Smiler, can be found in the Steelhawk HQ. She has enough people to hold the gatehouse for now - but Birdfood has some of the loyalist prisoner, including women and children. Asked about Dinvaya, she points out where the priestess of Brigh can be found but adds that Dinvaya likes her privacy.
The sun is slowly descending in the west as the party start across Scrapwall to the Steelhawk HQ. The shadows start to lengthen. The way marked with grating and boards across the wreckage. Bubbling pits are mixed with piles of smaller scrap. Ahead, there is shouting and crashing.
The party finds a group of Smiler-wannabes and orcs beating on a battered metal casing, yelling "Come out, come out." They turn as the party comes up. Ashe promptly shoots one of the orcs, dropping him. "Damn Slaid, she let trash into Scrapwall" and "This is Birdfood's territory, get out," they yell as the fight starts. When the fight, a young girl crawls out of the metal casing. She was a Steelhawk and they were planning to kill and eat her. The party sends her to Slaid's care.
At the Steelhawk HQ, the party bluffs their way past the orcs standing on the porch, saying that they had come to join Birdfood. Attempts to ask for their weapons were ignored. The party pushed their way into the 'throne room' of Birdfood. The four smilers again demanded their weapons. The party jumped into the attack.
Aromil cast a gust of wind that slammed two of the smilers into each other while Obin smiled and took on the other two. Ashe barred the door behind them so the orcs could not join in. Niferia and Astrovel took on the two slammed smilers. The backdoor opened and Birdfood stepped out with his composite longbow. He tried to shoot Aromil but the monk caught the arrow and threw it back at him. Birdfood's hawks flew into the room to help - but a sleep spell dropped them out of the air. Aromil redirected the gust of wind against the ex-Smiler ranger, making his longbow useless. He dropped his bow and went after the monk with his sword.
The orcs were slamming at the door with their greataxes. Eramus readied to throw Thunderwave when the door was breached. Niferia and Ashe had dropped their opponents as Obin started to finish off his last target.
Ashe went to help Aromil with the Steelhawk boss as the door finally crashed open. Eramus's spell thundered, pushing most of them back. Obin and Niferia helped Aromil drop the gang boss and one of them threw the leader's head into the bunch of orcs. The orcs scattered and ran.
In Birdfood's room, they found a fair bit of coin and stuff and a few batteries. Outside, in a storage area, the party found a number of prisoners, young and old. The former Steelhawks had been afraid that they were being held to feed the new Smiler-wannabes.
So, it was onwards to the Chapel of Brigh where Dinvaya could be found. The party's path led them down a narrow crevice in the piles of junk to a small clearing. The gears and machinery of the Chapel of Brigh could be seen on the other side of the clearing but blocking the way was a large Junk Golem. When the party shouted and yelled, they got no response. Entering the clearing caused the golem to come to life - but as soon as they left it the golem returned to the center.
It was decided to not fight the golem. Obin drew the thing's attention while Aromil used his monk powers to jump onto the surrounding walls. Obin retreated as Aromil ran across the scrap onto the roof of the building. Spotting the entrance lever, the monk swung down and triggered it as the golem lurched across the clearing towards him.
Aromil opened the door and slipped inside as the golem reached the entrance. The half-elf began looking for Dinvaya as the golem returned to its watch. He found the priestess of Brigh, working on a construct piece. Finally getting her attention, he asked that the golem be turned off so that his friends could enter. As proof that they meant no harm, he showed her the letter and the sigil that Father Joram had given the party.
Dinvaya, taking a last look at her work, agreed. She walked to the entrance and gave a string of letters and numbers, turning off the golem. Then the party entered the chapel. Dinvaya was relived that the Technic League was no longer hunting for her. She sat down and tried to answer questions about the Lords of Rust and the current situation in Scrapwall. In the meantime, the party was welcome to rest here and recover.
The Lords of Rust is now the leading gang in Scrapwall, able to call on hundreds of members to defend their leaders. The members aren't all in their HQ but scattered around Scrapwall. The party have already weakened them a bit by destroying the Steelhawk renegades. Taking the Smilers down will diminish their numbers some more.
Their leaders are:
Draig, a chain-wielding ettin that fights in Scrapmaster's Arena. She is Hellion's executioner.
Helskraig, a troll that serves as the 'front face' of the Lords of Rust. She sets up fights in the Arena.
Kulgara, an orc, now the second-in-command now that Meyanda has disappeared.
Nalakai, another orc, the ranking cleric now that Meyanda is gone.
Zugmaander, Hellion's enforcer and assassin. A crimson-skinned monster that no one can identify.
Hellion, a demi-god and leader of the Lords of Rust. Only images of him have been reported.
The entrance to the Lords of Rust is in the Scrapmaster's Arena. Dinvaya will urge the party to learn more before going there.
The trail was barred with a gate made from slats of metal, tied together with rope and wire. A voice challenged them as the party approached. Erasmus answered, saying that they weren't here to loot the place.
The voice said something about asking the boss and disappeared. After a while, a woman's voice asked the party if they were crusaders, come to clean out Scrapwall. Again, Eramus answered. The gate opened.
Standing in the gatehouse was a tall, short-haired blonde woman with the sturdy look of a brawler. She told them her name was Sevroth Slaid and she wanted to talk to the party a bit more. Checking that no one was looking, she led them into a room off the gate entrance.
She explained that her gang, the Steelhawks, was once the leading gang in Scrapwall. Then the Steelhawk leader and her boyfriend, a man named, Variago was tricked into competing in the Scrapmaster's Arena. It wasn't a fair fight - an orc named Kulgara, one of the Lords of Rust slaughtered him. The Lords of Rust installed a new Steelhawk leader, an ex-Smiler named Birdfood, to control the gang. Birdfood has been winning followers to the Smilers. His goal is remake everyone in the Steelhawks into twisted freaks like the Smilers. Slaid has been pushing back against this - but the best she can do is protect those Hawks that haven't gone crazy yet. The Smiler sympathizers at the gatehouse are currently in the messhall. Could the party help her out.
The party agree and go across the gate entrance to the door of the mess hall. Kicking in the door, the party finds eight Smiler sympathizers sitting at a table - some have already been carving at their faces.
Others have massive scarring from the usage of Soothe - a drug that heals injuries but leaves bleeding scars. All have crazy eyes. There's meat of unknown origin and home-made booze on the table.
It takes a few minutes but the party finally drops the last of the Smiler wannabes - a large ugly man that was their leader. Slaid and the few remaining Steelhawk come over to look at the slaughter. While she directs her people to quietly pick up the bodies and slide them into the nearest bubbling acid pit of Scrapwall, she will talk to the party again.
In her quarters again, she explains that Birdfood, the ex-Smiler, can be found in the Steelhawk HQ. She has enough people to hold the gatehouse for now - but Birdfood has some of the loyalist prisoner, including women and children. Asked about Dinvaya, she points out where the priestess of Brigh can be found but adds that Dinvaya likes her privacy.
The sun is slowly descending in the west as the party start across Scrapwall to the Steelhawk HQ. The shadows start to lengthen. The way marked with grating and boards across the wreckage. Bubbling pits are mixed with piles of smaller scrap. Ahead, there is shouting and crashing.
The party finds a group of Smiler-wannabes and orcs beating on a battered metal casing, yelling "Come out, come out." They turn as the party comes up. Ashe promptly shoots one of the orcs, dropping him. "Damn Slaid, she let trash into Scrapwall" and "This is Birdfood's territory, get out," they yell as the fight starts. When the fight, a young girl crawls out of the metal casing. She was a Steelhawk and they were planning to kill and eat her. The party sends her to Slaid's care.
At the Steelhawk HQ, the party bluffs their way past the orcs standing on the porch, saying that they had come to join Birdfood. Attempts to ask for their weapons were ignored. The party pushed their way into the 'throne room' of Birdfood. The four smilers again demanded their weapons. The party jumped into the attack.
Aromil cast a gust of wind that slammed two of the smilers into each other while Obin smiled and took on the other two. Ashe barred the door behind them so the orcs could not join in. Niferia and Astrovel took on the two slammed smilers. The backdoor opened and Birdfood stepped out with his composite longbow. He tried to shoot Aromil but the monk caught the arrow and threw it back at him. Birdfood's hawks flew into the room to help - but a sleep spell dropped them out of the air. Aromil redirected the gust of wind against the ex-Smiler ranger, making his longbow useless. He dropped his bow and went after the monk with his sword.
The orcs were slamming at the door with their greataxes. Eramus readied to throw Thunderwave when the door was breached. Niferia and Ashe had dropped their opponents as Obin started to finish off his last target.
Ashe went to help Aromil with the Steelhawk boss as the door finally crashed open. Eramus's spell thundered, pushing most of them back. Obin and Niferia helped Aromil drop the gang boss and one of them threw the leader's head into the bunch of orcs. The orcs scattered and ran.
In Birdfood's room, they found a fair bit of coin and stuff and a few batteries. Outside, in a storage area, the party found a number of prisoners, young and old. The former Steelhawks had been afraid that they were being held to feed the new Smiler-wannabes.
So, it was onwards to the Chapel of Brigh where Dinvaya could be found. The party's path led them down a narrow crevice in the piles of junk to a small clearing. The gears and machinery of the Chapel of Brigh could be seen on the other side of the clearing but blocking the way was a large Junk Golem. When the party shouted and yelled, they got no response. Entering the clearing caused the golem to come to life - but as soon as they left it the golem returned to the center.
It was decided to not fight the golem. Obin drew the thing's attention while Aromil used his monk powers to jump onto the surrounding walls. Obin retreated as Aromil ran across the scrap onto the roof of the building. Spotting the entrance lever, the monk swung down and triggered it as the golem lurched across the clearing towards him.
Aromil opened the door and slipped inside as the golem reached the entrance. The half-elf began looking for Dinvaya as the golem returned to its watch. He found the priestess of Brigh, working on a construct piece. Finally getting her attention, he asked that the golem be turned off so that his friends could enter. As proof that they meant no harm, he showed her the letter and the sigil that Father Joram had given the party.
Dinvaya, taking a last look at her work, agreed. She walked to the entrance and gave a string of letters and numbers, turning off the golem. Then the party entered the chapel. Dinvaya was relived that the Technic League was no longer hunting for her. She sat down and tried to answer questions about the Lords of Rust and the current situation in Scrapwall. In the meantime, the party was welcome to rest here and recover.
The Lords of Rust is now the leading gang in Scrapwall, able to call on hundreds of members to defend their leaders. The members aren't all in their HQ but scattered around Scrapwall. The party have already weakened them a bit by destroying the Steelhawk renegades. Taking the Smilers down will diminish their numbers some more.
Their leaders are:
Draig, a chain-wielding ettin that fights in Scrapmaster's Arena. She is Hellion's executioner.
Helskraig, a troll that serves as the 'front face' of the Lords of Rust. She sets up fights in the Arena.
Kulgara, an orc, now the second-in-command now that Meyanda has disappeared.
Nalakai, another orc, the ranking cleric now that Meyanda is gone.
Zugmaander, Hellion's enforcer and assassin. A crimson-skinned monster that no one can identify.
Hellion, a demi-god and leader of the Lords of Rust. Only images of him have been reported.
The entrance to the Lords of Rust is in the Scrapmaster's Arena. Dinvaya will urge the party to learn more before going there.