Cirrus Castle

Cirrus castle was a fortress built by a Homyn alchemist and heiress named Shiobhan in a misguided effort to protect Moku apostates she had taken under her wing. To protect them from the sun's deadly effects on their Helioschosis bacteria, she stole a dangerous Cloudhead designed for warfare to rain lightning on the Homyn's enemies. Her efforts to reconfigure the Cloudhead only caused it to destabilize and constantly rain lightning down on the fortress.

Shiobhan hired black market laborers and engineers at exorbitant prices that would work under dangerous conditions to construct a castle lined with lightning rods that would not only shield them from the harsh weather, but could use the lightning to power its defenses. The lightning that once decimated her new settlement came to serve as a protector. By lowering and raising lightning rods, Shiobhan could grant or deny access to the castle through a narrow channel of safety amidst the constant storm.

She also hired black market mercenaries to protect the castle exterior, paying exorbitant hazard pay rates to contend with its dangerous lightning. Their soldiers and mechs guarded the castle exterior and lower floors while Shiobhan's cult of Moku worshippers attended to her in the halls above.

Castle Exterior

The Cirrus Cloudhead renders the castle virtually inaccessible to trespassers given the constant lightning that falls around the area. Any who approach the castle are bombarded with constant thunderclaps and the smell of dead fish fried by the unnatural storm. However, Shiobhan built a narrow corridor of lightning rods creating a channel into the castle to ferry supplies and mercenaries inside. The "safe" passage is too narrow for a full ship to fit through, but smaller boarding craft can, in theory, enter and exit the castle.

Gaining access in practice is a more complicated matter, especially without permission from Shiobhan herself. The security have divided the area immediately outside the castle into twelve "strike zones", one of which are struck by lightning every six seconds. If a lightning rod is raised when lightning hits a strike zone, it will shield any who occupy it from damage. However, anyone standing in a strike zone not protected by a lightning rod will take significant damage. Lightning rods can be lowered by wear and tear, sabotage, or by the mercenaries to close off the corridor when intruders are present--so safe ingress is not guarantied even when travelling among the lightning rods. Intruders must be ready to cover their path with protection or else hazard the risk of taking serious injuries from lightning strikes. However, a clever intruder can use the castle's natural defenses against its guards by lowering or destroying lightning rods in the strike zones they occupy.

In addition to the lightning itself, the mercenaries employ several traditional means of defense including watchtowers, cannons, and small craft mounted with lightning rods to patrol the water. Caltrops line the beach around the castle as a final deterrence to anyone who tries to blitz their way inside. Additionally, the mercenary leader, Hans, wields an Arc-Bolter crossbow- a powerful artifact that inflicts anyone it hits with the static ailment--meaning that if anyone or anything within thirty feet of them takes electricity damage (including nearby lightning rods) they will automatically suffer that damage.

If anyone manages to breach these substantial defenses, the exterior offers two routes into the castle. The central route will drop them at the castle's main entrance where the majority of its fortifications lie. The side route will drop them near the barracks where a failed assault by the Lunar Brigade breached the outer castle wall. The mercenaries have established makeshift fortifications there, but it nevertheless offers a less direct route into the castle for any who manage to get past them.

When they infiltrated the castle, the Party managed to penetrate the castle's outer defenses by riding in on their zodyak Mk. 2. They spared the mercenary captain's life, but took his arc bolter as spoils when they defeated him.

Castle Interior

The castle interior houses facilities that support the structure's defense as well as maintain daily life for the mercenaries and Moku who live there. In addition to mercenary foot soldiers, powerful bullfrog mechs also patrol the castle's interior.

The castle relies on a system of lightning rods to power its various machinery. Like those outside the castle gates, lightning rods inside the castle can be raised, this time going all the way up to the castle floor. The Cloudhead's constant lightning fall ensures that any lightning rod raised to the castle roof will be struck every few seconds, providing a reliable source of power to activate and deactivated the castle's various defenses. The lightning rods used as power sources can be moved using a series of tracks in the castle base, allowing each to power multiple machines depending upon its position. Any machine that draws power from the lightning rods in this way are equipped with statically-charged prongs that will draw power from any lightning rod struck within thirty feet of them.

Central Relay Corridor

The central relay corridor is the main chamber that connects various parts of the castle together. Its front entrance is guarded by a large gate. Even with the mercenary captain's key, it requires power to activate, meaning it is usually only opened from the inside. However, by raising only the lightning rods nearest the gate, enough power can be funneled into it to force it open.

However, opening the gates will alert two bullfrog mechs who guard the corridor, as well as a large lightning rod that serves as the castle's primary source of power.

On the side opposite the main gait lies a secondary gate that guards Shiobhan's throne room. In her paranoia, she built it so that it could only be opened with simultaneous power from three lightning rods, ensuring that any who wish to ascend has the cooperation of the entire castle.

Barracks

The barracks provided housing quarters for Shiobhan's mercenaries to use during their shifts. However, they fell into disrepair when the Lunar Brigade assaulted the castle and breached the wall. Now, the barracks only serve as a structural vulnerability that requires another unit of mercenaries to defend.

The mercenaries have set up a permanent encampment around the barracks with several lightning rods. The lightning rod inside the barracks itself has been damaged, meaning any who pass into the interior best move quickly or find a way to repair it.

The surrounding beach houses several guard structures as well as the graves of the Moku who died under Shiobhan's watch while building the castle.

Those who enter through the barracks will find a stronger guard presence outside. However, the door connecting the barracks to the rest of the castle is forced permanently open. So, anyone sneaking past the guards outside or defeating them can enter the castle through the barracks and attract less notice than if they went through the main gate.

Auxillary Relay Corridor

The auxiliary relay corridor provides secondary and backup power to the castle, including the machines in Shiobhan's alchemy lab. A mote cuts through the middle of the corridor providing a source of water for the castle's occupants. They also cultivate a Stone Shark school in the mote for use as both protection and as a food source.

An overhead bridge provides mercenaries a means of crossing the mote when the water level is raised. However, the tracks connecting the lightning rod to the alchemy lab and the rest of the castle are only passable when the water level is lowered through the pump room.

Alchemy Lab

The alchemy lab is furnished with both books and a state of the art machine cauldron used for the maintenance of the Cloudhead. The alchemy equipment requires power from a lightning rod to operate, but any who manage to access it will find Shiobhan's notes--including a diary, schema for electrically powered artifacts that Shiobhan was studying to outfit the castle's defenses (notably, an Erryl Pulse Cannon), and alchemical formulae for the pulse spell that Shiobhan emplyed to repair mechanical objects in the castle.

Dungeon

The dungeon houses members of the Lunar Brigade that survived the assault on Cirrus Castle. As the castle itself was not built with housing prisoners in mind, it uses a makeshift system of cells by arranging pylons near a lightning rod power source to create walls of electricity to encase the prisoners.

One of Shiobhan's most faithful Moku, Kauila, stands guard over the prisoners. He is a master of a Moku martial art that specializes in positioning and throws called Kapu Lua, making him a dangerous foe in proximity to electrified walls.

When the Party assaulted the castle, Mara defeated Kauila with a taste of his own medicine by throwing him into the prison walls. After the battle, they freed a member of the Lunar Brigade's Greywing special forces unit, who gave them some forewarning of the defenses that protected Shiobhan on the roof.

Pump Room

The pump room contains controls for the water filtration system that the castle uses as a water supply as well as a means to ferry smaller cargo and supplies from the lower to upper levels without needing to use the main gate. A lever on the north side of the room raises and lowers the moat's water level, while a bridge can be raised and lowered on the south side providing access to all the pumps even when the water level is raised.

The pumps are falling into disrepair, and often sprout pressure leaks that spout geysers of water. A crafty intruder can take advantage of these leaks to provide cover from or distract the patrolling guards, as even a small hole from a bullet or knife will cause water to shoot from the pumps.

A damaged grate beneath the pump room has been dried out due to its eroded nature, also providing a means to infiltrate beneath the guards' feet.

Armory

The armory houses weapons and artifacts that Shiobhan's mercenaries employ to protect the castle. Its lightning rod was removed for being a hazard due to the danger it posed from the leaks in the pump room--effectively closing off the armory while the mercenaries martialed supplies for repairs.

However, some methods might avail a clever intruder to connect the gate to an existing lightning rod through mediums that conduct electricity--such as water or even people afflicted with the static status ailment--however, what treasures the armory held will forever remain a mystery, as the Party never figured out a way to get it open.

Castle Roof

Those who manage to get past the castle's exterior and interior defense will find themselves inside Shiobhan's throne room. Here, she sits with what remain of her cult of Moku adherents, in the shadow of a giant stone carving bearing her likeness and beds of sacred ash orchid flowers.

One final protector waits to stop any who get this far with ill intentions against Shiobhan or her followers. Her mercenary laborers construct a massive flying golem called the Idol of Thunder, meant to be both heavy infantry and a religious symbol for her followers to rally behind.

The idol is equipped with electrified hammers and a set of wings that allows it to fly amidst the thunderclouds. A series of lightning rods attached to its head, shoulders and arms provide it power to electrify its attacks. However, should the lightning rods become damaged, the mercenaries maintain four backup lightning rods around the roof for it to take shelter beside while it is repaired.

Luckily, the Party did not need to contend with the idol of thunder when they infiltrated Cirrus castle, as they managed to convince Shiobhan to surrender using her fiancée Justain's help, and by delivering the news that the Moku were under new leadership who would welcome her apostate followers back into their society if Shiobhan peacefully surrendered.