Welcome back to Eberron!
You wake on 12 Therendor 998 YK, having just battled Dalamar Navaris and watched him have his mind devoured by a mind flayer right in front of you. Returning to the inn, you collapsed in a heap on her bed and woke up much as you are now. The delicate snow from the night before provides a thin sheet of white that covers every surface outside your window, and the smell of fresh cooked meats invite you down to breakfast. What would you like to do next?
It is reasonable that Glittergem would know where both the House Cannith enclave and the Forgehold are. She normally pays her dues using House Sivis, paying a 5 crown surcharge for the service, but she would also know that is for standard business only, otherwise she would be expected to meet with a representative of House Cannith directly.
Daggerwatch:
Your first impression returning home is that this may be the cleanest and quietest district in Dura. The walls of the towers are heavily reinforced, as if to withstand siege weaponry. The streets are filled with guards of the Watch, both patrols and off-duty guards; it looks like a bad place to start a fight. The familiar street front is filled with lights and penants with "Home of the Race of the Eight Winds!" intermixed with bold images of different flying creatures. Though it is still early in the morning, the street has a respectable amount of people in it, some of whom are window-shopping. From where you currently stand you can see at least three Sharn Watch patrols walking amongst the civilians.
Most people of Daggerwatch wear business attire while walking the streets, and some are accompanied by servants or "personal assistants". They find unsolicited conversation with the unwashed masses to be uncouth and will look to end a conversation immediately. If they have a servant, and you are pushy, you may find yourself forcefully ejected from a conversation- this always ends up drawing the Sharn Watch.
If a native of Daggerwatch can be spoken to, they are able to answer most questions related to the politics of Sharn and Breland, and may gossip about what they have heard of politics or business from the Dragonmarked Houses or the other nations of Khorvaire.
The Burz:
The storefront of your old shop has changed a lot in the past year. As a girl you remember a storefront filled with various contraptions that delighted and amazed you. Today as you peer through the bowed glass panes you see mundane jewelry. The quality is exquisite, even you begrudgingly admit, but the products here lack the fire and imagination that captivated you in your youth.
Behind the rows of tasteful viewing stands you see a halfling woman dart between customers, deftly interrupting a conversation without seeming impertinent, and offering to assist indecisive customers with a practiced "customer service" voice that comes off as both genteel and confident. Her effective salemanship settles her customers in short order and you see each of them leave with fine boxes and paper bags. Peering back into the shop you see the halfling return to her perch near the register, turn to face you and lock you in place with a knowing grin that tells you she knew you were there the entire time.
Jo Fatrabbit Is Glittergem's rival, and is one of the finest mundane craftsmen in Sharn. Her family arrived in Sharn in the 9th century YK and found that each of the shops in Daggerwatch were owned and passed down by generations. With no opportunities in the neighborhood, the Noreen and Bobert Fatrabbit were forced to ply their wares in The Bazaar and never earned the fame that Jo thought they deserved. When Gem's mother died and Qualen began to slip into Nightshade, she petitioned the Sharn Council to purchase the property before it went to auction. How she managed such a feat is still unknown, but it angered many of the established families of Daggerwatch that had been waiting longer than the Fatrabbits for an opportunity to ply their wares in the Upper Wards.
Jo Fatrabbit has a personal grudge against Glittergem, who she saw to be an example of what was wrong in the industry- a hegemony of a fraternity of "Old Sharn" types that wouldn't make room for new blood. As such, she was extremely vindictive when she took over the "Boondiggles Burz" property, selling most of Gem's personal belongings to the local pawn shops while the gnome was fighting in The Last War.
The Cannith Enclave:
Walking into the Cannith Enclave is designed to inspire, and it has never failed in your estimation. The entrance chamber is a glass dome within Cannith Tower where any number of mundane artifacts can be found on display, dazzling guests and potential partners alike with the master craftmanship. Beyond the glass dome above you, the gears and pistons of the House Cannith fabrication engines never cease. Large pieces of machinery rotate above you, and you can see the familiar chassis of a skycoach being outfitted with ornate copper plating.
You are not the only one looking up, as you can see almost every person entering the enclave stops for a moment to gape at the modern marvel that turns and twists silently above them. The only people that seem to be immune to the awe-inspiring scene are gray suit clad members of House Cannith, each with a large (but tasteful) gorgon-headed pin on their right breast. The one standing at the information kiosk toward the center of the room looks practically bored.
The members of House Cannith that work in Cannith Tower are mostly the "business end" of the house, and only a fraction have the Mark of Making. They are conversant on production timelines and the cost of House Cannith produced craft.
The Cannith Forgehold:
A nearby pipe expells a loud "HSSSSS" as you approach the fortified walls of The Cannith Forgehold. Unlike the Enclave above, this area has very little in the way of decoration or embellishment. A flat stone wall, almost perfectly smooth extends for almost a mile in either direction as you cross the porticulus spanning the magma below. The sound of ringing metal echoes throughout the chamber, and you can taste copper on your tongue as you step within the open archway, displaying your credentials to the bugbear at the gate. One could be forgiven for believing that this lone brute was the only guard, but the senses you honed over years of combat tell you that others lurk in the shadows.
Entering the fortified grounds, you see every manner of fabrication taking place around you. Eight forges form a line along the far wall of the commons. Each forge has a human standing by it, striking varying types of metal with their hammers or treating that metal in the flames before them. Beyond them, a large domed structure bearing the gorgon-headed symbol of House Cannith above its door, is the Fabrication Hall that has the endearing name of "The Tinkertorium".
House Cannith played a major role in the development of Sharn, and as the towers of the city rose up into the sky, the Lords of Cannith sunk their roots into the ground. The enclave in Dragon Towers is used for trade negotiations and diplomatic purposes, but the Forgehold is the heart of House Cannith. This subterranean fortress includes a wide range of forges, alchemical workshops, and mystical facilities. It is an artificer’s dream, and Merrix d’Cannith spends most of his time there. The Forgehold has many secrets.
The Forgehold is one of the finest fortresses built by the House of Making. It is designed to withstand both magical and physical assaults, and a thief or spy must overcome a wide range of deadly traps to even approach its secrets. A force of warforged soldiers and Sharn’s five members of the Darkwood Watch, the elite wand adepts of House Cannith, protect the place.
The Tinkertorium:
Walking inside The Tinkertorium, you see a simple entrance hall with no attendant. Compared to the Enclave at Cannith Tower, this room is spartan- utilitarian in its design and function. Ahead, you see a simple sign with three symbols and corresponding arrows. Though the main hall is empty, you can hear faint footsteps in either direction as people mill about the adjoining chambers.
To the left are the fabricator's chambers, depicted with the universal sign of a cog. The main hallway is nearly 100 feet long with heavy metal doors on each side. Each door is locked, and a seal has been placed that notifies the guards if it is tripped. One chamber contains a
Bronze Scout with 40 HP and 2x bites/ turn. The scout has been fitted with a voice box of pre-recorded messages designed to lure enemies into attack range (
this voicebox can be removed "post mortem" and experimented with at a later date, see "Forgehold" encounter). House Cannith guards, joined by Farrah d'Cannith, enter the chamber upon the destruction of the Bronze Scout.
Farrah d'Cannith is not pleased to hear that the attendant abandoned their post in the entrance chamber, and chastises Glittergem for wandering around the Forgehold alone. Hearing Glittergem's request, Farrah brushes it off saying that administrative matters are handled at the Enclave. Before she escorts the gnome to the entrance, however, she asks Gem if she would be interested in taking on a small duty for the house in return for some form of compensation. The job is a secret unless she agrees, and is escorted to her chambers for a private discussion.
Butler is there, freshly mended from his last endeavor (which he has no memory of)
Farrah wants the two of them to head to Crank's quarters in Khyber's Gate and investigate his apartment to see what the Sharn Watch may have missed
Butler is expected to investigate, and Glittergem is there as a "living being" and protection for the warforged inquisitive
Crank the Goblin:
Khyber's Gate is the ruins of Old Sharn. The distinctly goblinoid structures line the simple main street, and the broken towers of the first city bare their shattered teeth at you, the neighborhood growling at your presence. Eyes peek out from behind corners as you walk down the path to the Goblin's residence. The denizens of this quarter are almost completely goblinoid, a collection of goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears that only barely resemble their kin in Malleon's Gate. In all your years in Sharn you would have never believed such a wretched group of people lived beneath you.
Daask members or Daask sympathizers; you'll find no friends here
Hogarth and the House Cannith badge Butler is holding are the only things keeping the partners from being jumped in the street
There is a 10% chance the two of them will encounter Ashe administering to her people; if so, she will provide assistance in exchange for alms
Crank's residence is a traditional goblin settlement: A tall wall with parapets on each corner, securing a small yard of dirt and a collection of rooms that each open to that yard (4 in total).
The door that is furthest on the left is the bedchamber, a simple straw mattress has been torn to shreds. A wooden chest of drawers, seemingly made from driftwood, lays facedown, drawers ripped out and thrown to random places in the room. Clothes, grubby books, and writing implements can be found strewn across the floor.
Trap. A Perception Check (DC 14) identifies a fishing line that was fastened four feet off the ground. If a medium or larger creature enters this room without identifying the fishing line, they hear a snap (reaction), followed by an axe swinging from the ceiling above, to strike for 1d6 slashing damage.
A complete
Cartagrapher's Kit and an empty
map case can be found in this room.
The next door on the left is a primitive bathroom, with a deep well that taps into an underground river that serves as a latrine. Diving into this latrine, make a Constitution check (DC 14) for 1d4 damage. A map of Old Sharn can be found amongst the filth, tacked to the ceiling for safekeeping.
The next door contains a Spawn Crawler, a pet of the daelkyr that Crank has "domesticated" for home defense. It attacks with a surprise round once the door is opened.
See "Crank's House" encounter.
The door that is furthest to the right is a storage room that has also been ransacked. A complete
Explorer's Pack containing a backpack, a bedroll, a mess kit, a tinderbox, 10 torches, 10 days of rations, a waterskin and 50 feet of hempen rope can be assembled from these contents.
Exploring the parapets on the high wall, you find 20 crossbow bolts and several more that are unserviceable due to poor care and maintenance. A dusty hand crossbow with a steel handle is propped against the wall in one of the parapets. This weapon is a
Hand Crossbow of Certain Death.
The Denoument:
Butler, after investigating the scene, asks Glittergem what she thinks of everything. He doesn't need (or even value) her opinion, he just likes to feel superior. He has identified the following:
The murderers knew the Spawn Crawler was here (it was the only room left untouched possibly goblinoid themselves
The perpetrators found what they were looking for (they have not returned to look again)
The Sharn Watch is complicit, but possibly only after the fact (they didn't trip the trap)
Crank was expecting a medium or larger creature to attack him in his home, but the perpetrators are small creatures (the crossbow bolt in the ceiling, and they didn't trip the trap either)
Butler has a hunch, but he'll need time to run down a few leads. He recommends that they return to Forgehold to report to Farrah.
