D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Gnomish Proving Grounds: Escapement of the Unbound Artifice

# Magitech# Wilderness# Intrigue

The air reeks of ozone and scorched brass. Deep within the Shattered Cog Mountains, the Gnomish Proving Grounds—a secret complex where the brilliant and reckless Artificer's Guild tested their most volatile creations—has catastrophically failed. A cascade of magical and mechanical mishaps has unleashed a tide of rogue automatons, sentient scrap-constructs, and unstable elemental engines upon the surrounding lands. Worse, the master control keys, capable of shutting down the entire complex or enslaving its creations, were discarded in a panic. Two factions now race to claim them: one seeking to contain the disaster by any means necessary, the other believing the unleashed constructs represent a new, free form of life deserving liberation and study.

Chronicle Prelude

The party arrives at the fortified border outpost of 'Cog's End', a grim, smoke-stained garrison town on the edge of the Shattered Cog Mountains. Refugees, injured surveyors, and panicked guild functionaries crowd the streets, offering conflicting tales of metallic monsters in the foothills and flashes of arcane light from the mountain peaks. The local Watch Captain, desperate and outmatched, seeks any able-bodied adventurer willing to venture into the dangerous outer grounds to retrieve vital survey equipment and scout the situation.

Environmental Traits

The catastrophic failure of the Gnomish Proving Grounds has created a three-zone crisis: The Outer Proving Grounds are overrun with unstable, hostile constructs. The Inner Proving Grounds house the core workshops and the primary lair of the most advanced, potentially sentient, machine intelligences. The central Artificer's Sanctum, the source of the keys and the heart of the disaster, remains locked and perilous. The region is a deathtrap of malfunctioning traps, volatile energy discharges, and factions vying for control of the ultimate prize: the Activation Keys.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Watch Captain Krell
A middle-aged human woman in a battered, functional leather cuirass, her face lined with stress and lack of sleep. She wears the insignia of the Cog's End Border Watch, constantly scanning the treeline. Her posture is tense, a hand never far from the hilt of her shortsword.
Iron Covenant Liaison Vors
A tall, grim-faced dwarf with a cybernetic arm replacing his left limb from the elbow down. His face is a roadmap of scars, and he wears the heavy plate and black tabard of the Iron Covenant, marked with a white anvil. He carries a halberd with practiced ease.
Liberator Spokes-Construct Unit 7
A humanoid automaton of elegant but damaged design, its chassis a mix of polished brass and scarred iron. One optical sensor flickers erratically. It moves with deliberate, graceful motions, its voice a melodic, synthetic baritone.
Roguish Artificer Pip
A wiry gnome with wild, oil-stained hair and multiple pairs of goggles pushed up on his forehead. He wears a modified leather tool belt and a patched coat, constantly fiddling with a small, clicking device. His eyes dart nervously to every shadow.
Feral Construct Swarm-Mother
A colossal, amalgamated mass of scrap metal, wiring, and shattered testing equipment, vaguely arachnid in form. Dozens of smaller Scrap-Hound units skitter around and upon it, directly connected by thick cables. Its central optical cluster glows a malevolent red, and it emits a constant, grinding shriek.
Liberator Elder Construct 'The Archivist'
An ancient, massive data-processing unit that resembles a walking lectern with multiple articulated arms ending in precise manipulators and sensory arrays. Its chassis is dented and covered in a patina of age, and it moves with extreme slowness. A central, deep-blue optical sensor glows steadily.
Iron Covenant Shock Trooper Sergeant
A human female in full, scarred plate armor bearing the Iron Covenant's anvil. She wields a massive, energy-cell-powered maul that crackles with contained lightning. Her visor is down, her movements precise and aggressive. She leads a small squad of similarly armed troopers.
The Last Artificer's Echo
An unstable, semi-translucent holographic projection of a gnome in a pristine lab coat, flickering in and out of visibility within the Sanctum. Its expression cycles rapidly between stern authority, profound sorrow, and frantic terror. It gestures at the master console and the empty key slots.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Lost Workshop: Heart of a Raging Core

The Reignited Forge: A Crisis of Iron and Will