D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Vault-Door Deadlock of the Dwarven Bank and the Forgotten Combination of the Custodian

# Social# Dungeon# Intrigue# Puzzle

Deep beneath the mountain-city of Karak Dûm, the Grand Vault of the Dwarven Bank stands sealed. Its legendary door, a masterpiece of mithril and adamantine gears, is locked by a combination known only to the line of Custodians. The last Custodian vanished a century ago, and the combination is lost. Now, a catastrophic seismic event has damaged the vault's internal mechanisms, threatening to collapse the treasury and destabilize the mountain itself. Two desperate factions emerge, each claiming the right and the means to open the door, but their methods and goals are violently opposed. You are the arbiters, caught between duty and greed, preservation and plunder.

Chronicle Prelude

The Plaza of Ledgers, a vast, echoing cavern-hall at the heart of Karak Dûm. Here, amidst the frantic activity of dwarven bankers, engineers, and city guards, two delegations have set up opposing camps. The air is thick with the smell of ozone from damaged wards and the tension of a city on the brink.

Environmental Traits

The mountain groans. The Grand Vault's failure is not merely financial; its geomantic wards are tied to the mountain's stability. If the vault collapses, it could trigger a chain reaction, burying the lower city in an avalanche of stone and ancient magic. The factions seek to prevent this—or to profit from the chaos.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Consul Bronzekettle
An elderly dwarf with a meticulously braided white beard, wearing deep blue robes trimmed with silver thread and bearing the ledger-and-scales insignia of the Banker's Consortium. His expression is stern but weary, carrying the weight of immense responsibility.
Foreman Ironvow
A scarred, muscular dwarf with a prosthetic arm made of mine shaft timbers and gears. He wears a heavy leather apron and a defiant expression, his Guild pickaxe-and-dynamite emblem prominently displayed.
Engineer Slate
A nervous, bespectacled dwarf in a grease-stained Consortium uniform, constantly checking a pressure gauge on his belt. He flinches at loud noises and avoids eye contact.
Sapper 'Bang' Borin
A grizzled, soot-stained dwarf with a leather bandolier full of fuses and caps. His eyes are shrewd and calculating, and he smells of black powder.
Spectral Apprentice Torvin
A translucent, pale blue figure of a young dwarf in apprentice robes, eternally tidying nonexistent bookshelves. His form flickers and emits a faint, sad hum.
Warlord Skrit 'The Stone-Eater'
A hulking goblin adorned in crude armor made from mining equipment and dwarf bones. He wears a necklace of teeth and a stolen Consul's medallion twisted into a crown. He clutches a jagged axe and one of the key fragments.
Consortium Hunter Vorlag
A lean, human male in dark leather armor, blending into the shadows. He wears a bandolier of throwing knives and carries a recurve bow. The Consortium's ledger symbol is tattooed on his neck.
Cartographer Helga
A dust-covered dwarf woman pinned beneath a fallen beam in the collapse. Her Consortium maps are scattered around her. She is conscious but in pain.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Sentry Stone Gambit: Mithril Vault & the Forged Signet

The Locksmasher's Gambit