D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Rust-Breaks of Iron Fetters

# Dungeon# Magitech# Wilderness# Intrigue

You awaken in the derelict infirmary of Iron Fetters, a massive, automaton-maintained prison complex built into a volcanic caldera. The air reeks of rust and ozone. The legendary 'Mass Chain Rust-Breaks' have failed—the ancient mechanisms that once released prisoners at the end of their sentences are frozen solid. Simultaneously, the stores of highly corrosive 'Acidic Soap,' used for decontamination and maintenance, have been pilfered. With the automaton warden locked in a perpetual security loop, the population is fracturing. Do you join the desperate faction seeking to blast their way to freedom with the stolen soap, or the order-obsessed group trying to restore the Rust-Breaks at any cost to preserve the system that, in their eyes, saved them from a worse fate?

Chronicle Prelude

The Prison Infirmary & Mess Hall. A relatively stable zone controlled by the neutral 'Medicus' faction, offering basic healing and information. The distant, rhythmic clanging of the frozen Rust-Breaks echoes through the grated floors.

Environmental Traits

The Rust-Breaks have ceased, trapping all prisoners indefinitely. The stolen Acidic Soap is volatile and could be used to melt through the main gates, but doing so would trigger a catastrophic reactor meltdown. Alternatively, it is the only substance that can dissolve the 'Rust-Fuse' clogging the Breaks, potentially restoring order but condemning all to eternal incarceration under the automated warden's draconian interpretation of the law.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Medicus Alaris
A gaunt woman with sharp eyes and hands stained by countless herbal remedies. She wears a threadbare apron over simple clothes, and her expression is one of perpetual weariness and concern. She moves with a quiet efficiency between cots in the Infirmary.
Breaker Shrike
A wiry, scarred man with wild eyes and a charismatic, dangerous grin. He wears scavenged leather armor emblazoned with a crude, melted gear symbol. His presence fills a room with nervous energy and the promise of violence.
Warden Gregor
A heavy-set man in a stained, formal warden's uniform. His posture is rigid, his face set in a mask of resigned duty. He carries a ceremonial baton and looks at visitors with a mixture of suspicion and weary authority.
Lead Mechanic Vex
A woman of indeterminate age, her skin and clothes smudged with grease and grime. Her eyes are sharp and analytical, constantly scanning her surroundings. She wears heavy tool belts and goggles pushed up on her forehead.
Raider Boss Gristle
A hulking figure clad in patchwork armor of leather and sharpened scrap metal. His face is a mask of scar tissue and filth, and he carries a massive, rust-pitted cleaver. The air around him smells of old blood and rancid fat.
Automaton Warden Prime
A towering, bipedal machine of dull, corroded steel. Its single, glowing red optical sensor sweeps the room methodically. A speaker grille emits a calm, synthesized voice. It moves with a grinding, precise inevitability.
Soap Thief Nyx
A gaunt, furtive figure wrapped in a stained sanitation worker's cloak. Their eyes dart constantly, and they move with a skittish, rodent-like agility. They are covered in faint chemical stains.
Doomed Scholar Ethan
A frail man surrounded by stacks of brittle paper and broken tools. His eyes are sunken with exhaustion and a profound, philosophical despair. He clutches a scroll of calculations like a holy text.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Lost Workshop: Heart of a Raging Core

The Crystalline Scorpion Frenzy