D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Redstone Smithy: Magma Hound Outbreaks

# Construct# Arcane# Magitech# Wilderness

The Redstone Smithy, a marvel of dwarven engineering powered by a geothermal core, has become a deathtrap. The apprentice's catastrophic error—omitting critical cooling runes from the new magma conduits—has caused the forge's guardian constructs, the Magma Hounds, to overheat and rampage. The smithy is now a hellscape of leaking lava, malfunctioning traps, and enraged constructs. But the outbreak is merely a symptom of a deeper disease: the elder smiths' desperate gamble to save their dying craft and the apprentice's heartbreaking choice to obey or defy. Veterans will navigate the treacherous, industrial labyrinth where every solution demands a sacrifice.

Chronicle Prelude

The safe, outer courtyard of the Redstone Smithy, a fortified complex built into the side of a volcanic mountain. Smoke and distant, unnatural roars emanate from the sealed main forge doors. Wounded workers and panicked engineers mill about, while a grim council of elder smiths debates their next move. The air smells of sulfur and despair.

Environmental Traits

The geothermal core is destabilizing. If not contained, the runaway chain reaction will cause a cataclysmic eruption, burying the entire mountain settlement under pyroclastic flows. The only hope lies within the heart of the overrun smithy.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Master Forgekeeper Grimgar
A stout, elderly dwarf with a braided iron-gray beard streaked with soot. His hands are covered in old, silvery burn scars up to the wrists. He wears the heavy leather apron and iron-studded robes of the Elder Conclave, and his eyes hold a weary, unyielding conviction. He stands before the sealed forge gates, arms crossed.
The 'Deficient' Apprentice
A gaunt human in their mid-twenties, with soot-stained robes and eyes wide with a mix of brilliant insight and raw terror. They clutch a journal to their chest. Their hands are unscarred, a stark contrast to the Conclave members. They are surrounded by a handful of other young, frightened apprentices in the hidden inner forge workshop.
Conclave Elite Enforcer
A powerfully built dwarf clad in masterwork half-plate armor etched with forge runes. Their face is hidden behind a menacing, heat-resistant visor. They carry a massive, glowing forge-hammer and move with disciplined, threatening purpose. They are clearly under orders to retrieve the Apprentice by any means necessary.
Golem Operator Unit-7
A warforged whose metallic chassis is covered in a layer of soot and cooling lubricant. Its single, glowing optical sensor surveys the complex machinery around it with detached precision. It wears no faction insignia, only the universal maintenance symbol of the Smithy.
Injured Apprentice Theron
A young human apprentice, their leg pinned under a fallen catwalk girder. Their robes are scorched, and they are pale with pain. They clutch a bleeding wound on their side but their eyes are alert and desperate. They are clearly one of the Apprentice Collective.
Magma Hound Alpha
A massive, six-legged beast made of cooled basalt and living magma that flows in veins across its body. Its jaws drip with molten slag, and its eyes burn with a feral, territorial intelligence. It leads a pack of lesser hounds, patrolling the magmatic channels as their ancestral territory.
Desperate Engineer Mirra
A disheveled human engineer in a torn Conclave work coat. Her face is smeared with grease and her eyes are bloodshot from toxic fumes. She nervously checks a cracked pressure gauge on the wall, muttering calculations. Her team's tools are scattered nearby, abandoned.
Core Guardian Golem
A towering humanoid construct forged from heat-resistant alloy. Its body is covered in etched cooling runes that glow with a failing, erratic light. It stands directly before the pulsating Cooling Core, its heavy, piston-driven fists raised in a defensive posture. Its programming is clear: destroy any unauthorized entity in the chamber.

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