Secrets of the City-Mech

An Adventure for First Level Characters

By Joseph Goodman

Note: This is a rough draft of an unedited adventure. It’s not intended for publication, but rather as a casual freebie. Readers of The Shardsfall Quest will recognize some common elements, especially on level 1. Parts of The Shardsfall Quest were actually adapted from this adventure, which was written very early in the history of DragonMech. But this adventure still has some unique encounters, particularly area 26 (one of my personal favorites) and the locathah situation on level 2.

This adventure was written way back in late 2002 or early 2003, and still uses the 3.0 rules system. It should be fairly easy to adapt.

Secrets of the City-Mech is an adventure for 4-6 first level characters. It is designed to introduce the players to the most mysterious part of a mech: the gear forest. It will advance the characters to second level and, depending on the size of the party, possibly to third level as well.

The adventure begins with a simple investigative motivation: find out why the water has stopped flowing upward from the mech’s intake valves. But getting to the intake valves requires journeying through the gear forest, where the characters discover a complicated ecology that throws a monkeywrench in their supposedly simple investigation.

The first level involves crawling through the tiny, narrow passages of a cogling lair. It is mostly combat, with several interesting tactical encounters. There is no NPC interaction.

The second level moves faster. It begins with NPC interaction. If the characters handle it right, they gain a guide who will take them straight to the source of the water troubles: a locathah community that was accidentally sucked up the mech’s intake valves.

The adventure doesn’t provide a lot of reward in terms of treasure or magic. That is the personal preference of the author; feel free to increase the treasure rewards if you prefer.

Background

The characters are hired to find out why the one of the mech’s main water pipes is no longer producing water. Normally, the reservoirs on the mech’s lower legs and feet are filled with water whenever it passes through a river or lake. The water is then piped up the mech through several main uptake pipes. Now, however, the flow through one pipe has ceased. The upper level reservoirs are filled with a combination of rainwater (collected from gutters in the mech’s shoulders) and water piped up from below. There's been little rain lately, and the reservoirs will run dry unless they’re replenished within a week. The problem must be solved quickly.

Plot Hooks

This adventure was originally run with a hook relating to the thieves guild. This is described in detail below. Depending on the composition and alignment of your party, there are any number of potential hooks:

  • Coglayers may be sent by official authorities to discover the source of the problem. They may be instructed not just to find it, but to fix it, too. Depending on their connections with the Gearwrights Guild, the instructions may involve a few “side missions” in the gear forest for their superiors: check on a particular part, make sure a particular secret room is still undetected, eliminate as many of those aggravating coglings as possible...
  • Clockwork rangers may have heard of the problems through the grapevine. They undertake the mission in an unofficial capacity, to make sure nothing is disrupting the balance of the gear forest.
  • More traditional adventuring parties (fighters, clerics, wizards) may be sent down as hired thugs to find the problem then come back and lead official coglayers to the source.

Thieves Guild Plot Hook

The thieves guild on this mech operates a lucrative water racket by blocking the relatively few pipes on the lower, poorer levels and charging for access to them. This is totally illegal, of course, but the mech commander tolerates it because it provides leverage over the masses that keep the mech running.

The plumbing system is simple. A massive reservoir is in the mech’s shoulders. It is filled by rainwater and water pumped up from the mech’s feet when it enters waterways. Each level has two main water pipes. One brings pumped water up from the feet; the other brings gravity-fed water down from the shoulder reservoir. Some of this is used for the steam engine, but much of it goes toward human consumption. On the higher, wealthier levels, secondary pipes route water to a number of aquifers. But on the lower levels, the single downflow pipe empties into a central well shared by everyone. Residents on the edges may have their own jerry-rigged rainfall collectors, but they still need the central pipe for most of their water.

Here profits the thieves guild, in two ways. First, the lower levels are last to get water from the downflow pipe. The guild blocks access at higher levels unless “water rents” are paid by the lower levels. Second, the upper intake pipe is siphoned in small increments to create a secondary water supply, sold to individuals when an entire level can’t pay its “water rent.”

The net effect of this scheme is to enrich the guild at a very slow pace, at the expense of the mech’s poorest laborers, who are routinely punished by everyday life anyway. Lawful and good characters will surely have qualms with this, but it’s a tolerated evil on the mech.

You have been approached by Thizzik, a representative of the guild. The upward intake pipe in one leg is no longer bringing up water. This is a problem for the mech as a whole, but, per the guild’s agreement with the mechdom, it’s their job to regulate the lower levels, so they need to fix the problem – or at least ascertain the cause and recruit mechdom officials as needed.

Your job is to descend into the gear forest, find out why the water flow to the intake pipe has stopped, and get the water flowing again. You’ll be paid 100 gold pieces and be given one minor favor by the guild, to be collected at a later date.

The guild representative takes you to level 14 of the mech. It is a dingy, dirty level filled with forges, poorly lit factories, piles of scrap metal, and hard working men stuck in a world of grime and grease. You are led to a trapdoor in a locked shed. This trap door leads down to the gear forest below.

The promise of a “favor from the thieves guild” is a blatant lie. It’s Thizzik’s way to keep the characters in contact after the adventure, in case they prove troublesome (see sidebar below). Thizzik is a bad liar (low Charisma, no Bluff ranks) and comes across as dishonest to begin with, so most characters might realize he’s lying or at least hiding something.

When the characters ask for a favor, Thizzik may in fact oblige if it’s within his power and doing so will benefit him somehow. But he’s just as likely to string them along with false promises until they get fed up. Only if the characters manage to make themselves indispensable to Thizzik – or a real threat to his safety – will he consider them worth attending to.

Sidebar: Thizzik the Thief

Rog8, hp 43

Subsurface dwarves long ago overran Thizzik’s duergar hometown as they tried to escape surface world refugees swarming into their homesteads. Thizzik abandoned his people when he heard of the mechs, figuring them to be a safer bet.

During the days, Thizzik works as a garbage collector and janitor for a number of merchants. No one knows about his involvement with the guild, which pays him a modest stipend for gathering information, keeping young thieves in line, and serving as a middleman for illicit tasks.

Thizzik never steals from his employers (too high a risk that he’ll be caught). Instead, he befriends rogues that are new to the mech, sets them up with “marks” that he selects, collects half their take in exchange for his information, then hands them over to the thieves guild for violating the mech rules.

Appearance: Duergar (gray dwarf), gray skin, bald, ragged gray beard, height: 4’2”, weight: 115 lbs.

Garb: Nondescript dirty gray cloak with hood (actually a robe of blending), gloves (of dexterity +4), face almost always in shadow.

Distinguishing characteristics:

• Imperturbably humble. Always downplays his own abilities and stays out of the way.

• Inconspicuous. The only thing most people remember about him is that there’s nothing to remember.

• Thin and emaciated. Thizzik intentionally wears bulky clothing under his cloak, but his body is remarkably thin for a dwarf.

Motivations:

1. Advance in the thieves’ guild. Thizzik will gladly plunder, rob, and kill for his superiors.

2. Personal gain. He understands that the thieves’ guild is his best chance of advancement, so that’s his priority. But he’s not above a little side business.

Discussion Tree: Insofar as most early discussion with Thizzik will involve the mission, he’ll help as much as possible. He personally has no stake in it as long as he doesn’t get pressure from above that the job should be getting done faster. After the job is done, he remains a good contact, always willing to share information on good marks. But he’s fundamentally cutthroat and will always have his own interest at heart.

Tarnok, Rog8: CR 8, Medium-Size Humanoid; HD 8d6+16; hp 43; Init +5; Spd 20 ft.; AC 22 (+7 Dex, bracers of armor +3, leather armor); Atks +8/+3 melee (1d4+4, +2 dagger) or +11/+11/+6 ranged (+12/+12/+7 within 30 feet) (1d4+4, mundane dagger); SQ duergar traits, rogue abilities; AL LE; SV Fort +4 (+6 vs. poison), Ref +13, Will +3 (+5 vs. spells); Str 13, Dex 24, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8.

Skills: Appraise +8, Balance +13, Disable Device +6, Escape Artist +15, Gather Information +5, Hide +32*, Listen +12, Move Silently +22, Open Lock +12, Pick Pocket +14, Read Lips +7, Spot +12.

Feats: Alertness, Point Blank Shot, Quick Draw, Rapid Shot.

SQ-Duergar Traits (Ex): Immune to paralysis, phantasms, and magical or alchemical poisons (but not normal poisons), +2 save vs. poisons, +2 save vs. spells and spell-like effects, darkvision, light sensitivity, others.

SQ-Rogue abilities (Ex): Sneak attack +4d6, evasion (no damage rather than 1/2 damage from attacks with Reflex save), uncanny dodge (can’t be flanked or caught flat-footed).

SQ-Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day – enlarge and invisibility as Wiz16.

Possessions: 9 normal daggers, +2 dagger, gloves of dexterity +4, bracers of armor +3, robe of blending, pouch with 78 gp.

* Skills: Includes bonus for robe of blending.

Interrupting the Adventure

A first level party will probably need to interrupt their excursion in order to heal. There are a couple secure areas to rest, or the party can return to the mech’s upper levels (a short journey of only a few hours).

If the characters stop before wiping out the cogling lair, the coglings will be on their guard when the characters finally return, as follows:

• The coglings will expand the gear forest at area 4 to make the level harder to enter. For every day that the characters are gone, the area of passage covered by gears expands by 5 ft.

• Guards who were killed will be replaced from the ranks of guards in other rooms. They will be on their guard and prepped with crossbows at the ready.

Timeline

The water supply is dwindling. If the characters haven’t finished the mission in 5 days, they’ll get a visit from Thizzik. He tells them they need to have it solved “fast” or they’ll get a black mark from the guild and he’ll find someone else. If the mission isn’t completed in 7 days, another party of adventurers will be sent in, possibly with secondary orders to kill the characters (who are now a liability) if an opportunity presents itself.

Disrupting the Ecology

The characters’ foray through the cogling lair is a great lesson in gear forest ecology. After the coglings have been dispatched, there will be no one to maintain the gear forest. If the clockwork ranger on level 2 finds out about the coglings’ death, he will make this abundantly clear to the characters.

In the long term, this is an opportunity for more adventures: now that the coglings are gone, there are problems in the engine room. Coglayers are sent down to make repairs, but now it’s not just coglings living there; something mean and hungry has moved in...

Gear Forest Level 1: The Cogling Lair

Hatched areas of the map are gear forest. Traveling through gear forest terrain is slow and dangerous, as described on page XX. All gear forest areas are considered low-light conditions. Even with proper illumination, visibility is cut in half due to all the obstructions and distractions – high gears, thumping pistons, and so on. Gear forests also affect certain skill checks, as described on page XX.

Cogling Trails: The narrow, irregular tracks on the map are cogling trails. These are tiny passageways through the gear forest that the coglings have carved out for their own use. They offer safe passage through the forest’s hazards. Generally, the passages are three feet high and offer safe, regular-speed movement only to creatures of Small size. Taller creatures that follow the trail halve their chance of encountering a hazard (roll half as often). However, moving through the narrow trails counts as being prone for Medium-size creatures (-4 to melee attack rolls). The trails are well hidden and from further than five feet away can only be detected via a Spot check (DC 18).

Cogling Lair: The gear forest on this level is even more dense than usual, as the coglings have rearranged much of the machinery to make open spaces for their lair on the west side of the map.

Negotiating with Coglings: The coglings are naturally aggressive, hostile, and suspicious. They view intruders as a risk on several different levels: intruders usually have hostile agendas; they’re likely to damage the gears and bring attention from the mech administrators; and anyone who knows of the coglings and then leaves alive may bring more trouble. Unless the characters can prove they have pull with the mech’s administrators, and those administrators will come to some sort of arrangement with the coglings, here is simply no possibility of any encounter resulting in anything but combat.

Keeping Characters on Track: If characters try to cut corners by setting out through the gear forest, you can easily put them back on track by throwing hazard after hazard at them. Make it obvious that the gear forest is a dangerous place!

1. Entry

You descend the ladder into a 15x15 room. It is noticeably warm in the room. The air resounds with a cacophony of engine noise. You can hear the grinding of gears, the thumping of pistons, the whining of belts, and other mechanical noises.

The room is walled on three sides. There are passageways leading to the north and west. The southern wall looks into the intricate machinery of the gear forest.

The walls are made of metal panels haphazardly welded together. They are covered in oily grime.

Secret Door: The secret door in the northern passage is a collection of metal panels welded together that slide aside as a cogling-sized iron door (three feet tall). It can be detected via a Spot or Search check (DC 18). It slides aside easily to reveal an impassable area of gear forest. This door once opened into a normal passage leading west to room XX, but the coglings have reworked the engine room’s passageways to make it more difficult for intruders to discover them. They moved engines into the old passageways, thereby building new ones, and covered up this passage, leaving a small secret door for their own use.

Events: The cogling guard in room 3 will immediately notice the characters. Make opposed Hide vs. Spot checks to determine if the characters see the guard. If no one notices the guard, make a second Spot check (DC 18) to determine if the characters notice the clearing that makes up room 3, even if they don’t notice the guard hidden therein.

Whether or not the guard is spotted, it will fire a single crossbow bolt at an opportune moment (generally when the characters have their backs turned). Then it will run to room 7 to prepare the grease lizards for battle. If the characters have still not seen it by the time it leaves, make an opposed Move Silently vs. Listen check to determine if the characters hear it leave.

2. Pipe Room.

This room contains a five-foot wide pipe rising from floor to ceiling. You immediately recognize it as the water pipe you are assigned to investigate.

There is nothing else in this room. The coglings never come here.

3. Cogling Guard.

This small clearing in the gear forest is built to the proportions of a very small creature. The clearing is barely three feet tall and not much wider.