The keener one’s eyesight, the more impressive Brastlework is. From the raggedy edges onward, three concentric terraces rise from the center. The lowest outer ring has the feeling of a sprawling garden. Gently curving and very humble fences of woven branches and sticks denote the furthest border. They only reach about collar to chin height. Pinholes of wilted crops can be seen every few inches. A shack saddles this fence every once in a while, but no eyes watch out. The scattered farmhouses don’t look much different than those at Carp’s Wall: thatch, timber and mortar. Dirt roads connect them.

The hills incline toward the center, but drop precipitously into a moat. An imposing wall of stone and mortar presents a ring further inward. Clear guard posts and garrisons enshrine the few gates. Some tiled roofs and smoking chimneys jut beyond the wall, but their majority is nestled into the protective barrier. In the distance beyond them lay parapets of quarried stone.

Approaching the city, Akane takes a moment to relay what knowledge she has of it: "Brastlewerk is an interesting city. It's essentially split in two: the northern part is where the 'good folk' live: nobles, rich artisans, most of the humans, in nice stone houses. The southern part is where everybody else lives, and the further south you go, the more 'else' everybody becomes. Near the southern walls, the houses are made of straw, mud, and manure. The southern part of the market is where people buy and sell things that do not officially exist. Surprisingly, the gnome district is in the northern part of the city, so we don't strictly have to go to the southern districts."

Strictly speaking, the timber-framed house with wattle and daub walls in the center of the city also have walls made of mud and manure, albeit mixed with other things and placed on top of a wooden lattice, but their nice whitewashed walls have little in common with the drab, cheap shacks that house the least valued inhabitants of the county's capital.

A city of 12000 people, one quarter of them slaves, Brastlewerk is overall unexpectedly wealthy for a city its size, due to the creative influence of the gnomes living in it, and the ridiculously hard-to-breach defenses that have made it safe from attacks for many a decade.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:43, Wed 05 Sept 2018.

The gatehouse just outside the city is guarded by a group of bored-looking guards, overseeing the constant traffic of carts and people on the large ramp that leads to the drawbridge.

As Akane introduces herself, showing her badge, the guards stiffen. A few minutes and some reassurances later, the party is let into the city without further ado.

Leonia asks "shall we find an Inn in the northern section to store our excess gear? And talking to merchants and travellers might give us some basic information about the place, like important people or influential ones, at least."

Akane ponders it for a moment: "We don't know a lot about the city, perhaps we could go to the market, see if we can find something interesting; I'm sure some merchant or another has a cousin who runs an inn, or a tavern, or some other place that would be happy to take our money."

"There will never be a shortage of that, I am sure" comes the response from the spiritual compass of the group. Dakash has been trying to ascertain what sort of travelers frequent this place - are they from far-off lands like himself? Is there a cross-section of representatives from all the major and minor sentient races of the land? Or is it a drab stereotype with high percentages of humans and a smattering of other folks thrown in for good measure.

He's actually most curious to speak with some gnomes. Of all the races he's been in contact with over the centuries, he seems to recall that their inventions are often able to span several lifetimes. Hopefully, the blue priest can find something he may have interacted with in a previous incarnation, and jog some more memories loose about this whole area.

Nodding along, Kamea keeps pace with the others by sheer step count. "Merchants are great," she adds on the heels of Dakash. As much as she knows that the adults are escorting her, Kamea is excited for all the new stories around. "Merchants try and butter you up to sell you a necklace or this fruit. They do so much to please and grab you for a sale. If you're asking questions in negotiation, you can learn the best secrets for the cost of a few plums."

"This one time," the girl continues unbidden, "I was selling an old ring and was able to arrange a the best, cheapest carriage for a slight discount. As long as they're the ones getting good deal, they'll rat on anyone."

A variety of coloured awnings demarcate the edge of the market neighbourhoods. Eager to experience shade, customers bustle between outdoor stalls of thin wood, or secret away in one of many housed shops. The intermix of non-humans is surprisingly high here, with unexpected variety on either side of the counters. Especially noticeable are the colorful gnomish merchants, often standing on overturned baskets or wicker stools. Even heat cannot dissuade the fervent economy.

Akane notices a meat merchant with a slight green tinge to her skin and slightly overlarge teeth, signs of an orc heritage, and approaches her. After exchanging greetings, Akane asks about her stock of preserved meat.

The woman makes a vague gesture: "Mostly I sell fresh meat, not much demand for salted meat northwise, this time of the year most of all. But I got some fancy honey ham. Thought the nobles would like it, but it's too good for them or sum'. Give you a good deal."
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:34, Sat 15 Sept 2018.

Akane considers for a moment, eyeing the size of the proffered ham: "I'm not sure it will make for good travel rations, but I do have a friend who might like it... Yeah, why not. I'll come back to pick it up before I leave the city."

She drops a few coins on the counter, which the merchant eyes appreciatively, and then continues: "Speaking of which, I'll probably be around for a few days at least. Any good inns I could stay at? And perhaps a good tavern to wet my throat?"

The half-orc shrugs: "Depends on the side... Don't go north much, m'self, but I know a couple good ones southwise, and even one in the cloud district."

Akane raises an eyebrow: "The 'cloud district'?"

The merchant snorts: "Where the cloudheads live. You know, them noms."

Dakash scrunches his nose in confusion. "I'm afraid I don't follow. Is that a newly-discovered race of beings I'm not familiar with?" He doubts it, but also knows there is much in this wide world he has yet to experience fully.

"Them noms! Little nibblets, about so tall? Look like rainbow puked em out? YO, GOLDIE!" She yells at somebody several stalls away.

A little creature with a mane of golden hair - not just blond, but literally looking like they are made of gold - yells back: "WHAT!"

"BLUE GUY HERE DUN KNOWS YOU NIBBLE NOMS!" She yells cheerfully back, uncaring of the looks she's getting.

"GNOMES! WE BE'S GNOMES, YOU BIG THICK SKULL." The gnome girl yells back, apparently equally unconrcerned.

"See? Little nibble noms, like goldie there. Up in the clouds, the lot of 'em. Good fellas, though, been nice to orcs, especially since Great Mountain."
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:18, Mon 17 Sept 2018.

Akane cringes slightly at the wanton abuse of the Common language, but presses on: "Great Mountain?"

The merchant nods eagerly: "Oh yeh. Big fella, Great Mountain, and smart, too. They say he has human blood. Well, whisper, more like, and only when he's not around."

Akane frowns: "Huh... I thought gnomes were a rather relaxed bunch, though I guess if he has human blood..." She stops as teh merchant barks loudly, which a moment later she realizes is laughter.

"Hah! A nom! Good one! Great Mountain isn't a nom! He's an Orc-kin. Married one of the nom head wizardneers, couple decades gone, them's been nice to us orc-folkin ever since."
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:04, Wed 19 Sept 2018.

"What is the easiest method of transporting ourselves to this cloud district?" he asked, somewhat skeptically. "And by easiest I of course mean safest and least expensive, if they are the same thing.

Not a diplomatic sort herself, Leonia whispers to Akane "please get the name of this female Gnome wizardess?"

Akane politely adds: "And also, if you could tell us the name of Great Mountain's wife?"

The merchant looks at the party and bursts into laughter: "Names, they ask me! You folks ain't too observant, are you? You don't want my hints, I'm drunk as a barrel."

Akane looks at the sun, still rising in the sky, and at the merchant.

The woman bares her fangs in what is probably a smile, and adds in a low voice: "Spent ten years in the Duke's mines, before the Count found me. You think I could be nice to all of these snotty humanfolk if I weren't drunk off my head the entire day? Almost tore out the Count's throat when he bought me, would have too if he weren't-"

She shakes her head and growls: "Grog must be wearing off, I'm talking too much. Go talk to Goldie there if you want information. I need a drink, and you need to get going."

With that, she pulls out a wineskin, and unstoppers it, pointedly looking at Akane, then at "Goldie", and then taking a swig.

Unwilling to start a fight, Akane follow the hint and leads the party to "Goldie"s stand, which appears to sell mechanical devices of some sort.

The woman's eyes, light brown with specks of gold, turn to look at her new potential customers. "WELCOME! To my humble shop. LOOK! ADMIRE the gnomish craft, OBSERVE these AMAZING mechanical tools. You've NEVER seen the equal!"

Akane is taken slightly aback by the girl's enthusiasm (and sheer volume): "Ah... Yes, good day to you. These certainly look... Very interesting. Did you make them?"

The merchant nods vigorously: "But OF COURSE! I'm a TINKER! That's what I do." With a a grandiose swiping gesture at her mershandise, she exclaims: "I TINK!"

Unable to stop herself, Akane quips: "...therefore you ham?"

The merchant smiles, and proceeds to show her wares to the party, toning down the act a little. A number of the mechanisms are toys, or simple mechanical improvements on normal tools. A couple look like they seamlessly mate magic and engineering in nature, however, and the merchant confirms that she did indeed add some magic to the mechanisms.

While discussing the various items on sale, Akane gathers some information.

- The "cloud district" is not actually called thusly (the term is not exactly derogatory, but it's not entirely polite either), its official name is "Gnome District", and it's actually very easy to reach, as its entrance is at the other end of the main road.

- Unlike in most cities in Cheliash, the city guard isn't a pack of wolves hunting for slaves under the guise of punishing blasphemy. Non-humans are generally safe in the city, as long as they don't start trouble.

- Great Mountain is kind of a local hero to many non-humans, he and his wife, Rainbow of the Red Harring, managed to convince the Count to put most of the slaves under a Beholden (essentially indentured servitude) contract instead. The main difference, beside some minor rights, is that a Beholden's children are born as free men, rather than slaves.

At this point Akane inquires about this "Red Harring" gnome lady, since to the best of her knowledge House Red Harring had gone extinct, but Goldie - whose actual name is Goldshine: apparently her parent were only creative in matters of technology - only shrugs.

Still, Great Mountain and Red Harring? By the end of the conversation, Akane is ready to eat her hat if those people don't have at least some information about Terk 's Haksred.

OOC: Goldie has Masterwork tools or any normal craft available for purchase, and a weird 1000 gp technomantic multitool hat grants a +2 Circumstance bonus to most interactions with mechanical items, and a +1 Competence bonus to any Disable Device task. They include a variant Mending enchantment that prevents any normal wear and tear, and extends some of its effects to what the user works on, allowing repairs on machines to proceed five to ten times faster (one week's worth of repairs in a single day, one day in 2d3 hours, one hour in 10 minutes, 10 minutes in 1 minute, and 1 minute in 1 round). If materials are normally required, they must still be provided.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:29, Sun 23 Sept 2018.

Dakash inwardly groans at the pun, but holds his tongue; he's met many different people and societies, and they all have their quirks. some are just more painful than others.

Though he does not need any of the tools or mechanical wares the shop has to offer, he is still fascinated by the craftsmanship and detail of each item, and studies them all with rapt attention, occasionally asking a side question about use, function, or design.

Leonia shakes her head and smiles. "I'd say nobody 'hams' quite like you, Akane. Actually, I've heard it said that bards don't pun....they Cant. Miss Goldie, do you perhaps have any books on this Technomancy of yours? I believe that mathematics is universal, therefore there must be some connection at an underlying level between Technomancy and older established forms of arcane expression."

Akane shakes her head: "No, no, Thieves Cant, my friend, that's what you're thinking about. Bards are masters or lore, we can own any tale, any time." The white tip of a fluffy orange tail pokes up from Akane's trousers, and disappears again a moment later.

Goldie, on her hand, seems entirely focused on Leonia's question, and looks intently ather, biting her lip for a long moment.

Finally, she  pulls out a book that looks suspiciously like a wizard's spellbook: "Show you mine if you show me yours." She offers.

OOC: The Tinker is an NPC class based on the standard Adept, except it works more like an alchemist, and has a focus on technomagical items, with a spell list to match.

Alas, the blueprint book Goldie is holding will turn out to be more more like a formula book than a proper spellbook, which means Leonia cannot really learn spells from it.

She can, however, get some ideas, which she may turn into a prestige class path later on, if Leonia decides to go for a more craft-oriented build.

Note that Pathfinder discourages prestige classes, in that sticking to a single class tends to be more advantageous (check out the various Arcane Discoveries that high level single-class wizards gain access to).

Assuming Leonia accepts, Goldie will look at her spellbook for a minute or so, then offer her 200 gold flat to copy a few spells. That is actually a rather generous offer, since Leonia would probably make little more than that by outright selling her spellbook.

Goldie may be trying to establish a longer-term relationship with Leonia, to get more spells later on.

This message was last edited by the GM at 09:10, Tue 25 Sept 2018.

Leonia considers briefly, then pulls out her own spellbook. As they exchange books for perusal, the Elf wizardess is disappointed that nothing will translate over, but gladdened by a new branch of study for her to delve into. When Goldie makes her offer, Leonia accepts, if only to secure future dealings with the Brastlewerk gnomes. Perhaps even expand her own Knowledge of engineering. In fact, seeing these 'blueprints' has given her a nifty idea concerning golem construction....

The gnome district turns out to be completely walled off, though it is unclear whose safety the walls are intended to protect. As it is, however, there are two guards at the gate, a gnome and a human. Both looked rather bored, though the gnome appears to be amusing himself with a puzzle box of some kind, made from dark wood and a shiny metal that is probably not gold, unless guard duty pays a lot better in Brastlewerk than in most cities.

The gnome completely ignores the party, apparently focused on the puzzle box, while the man asks them for their laissez-passer, and seems thoroughly unimpressed when they explain that Leonia is a wizard and an alchemist, and has come to Brastlewerk in the hope of a mutually beneficial cultural exchange with the gnomes.

After several minutes of discussions going in ever-widening circles, finally the gnome mumbles something, and the man asks him to repeat.

Without looking up, and apparently rather miffed that the puzzle box doesn't want to reveal its secrets, the gnome replies in a low voice: "I said, they work for Naranjer. Trying to keep a low profile, looks like."

He looks up and continues: "A bit late for it, if you ask me, what with you showing that badge of yours at the gate. Rumor's been running around since you came in."

Akane promptly gives herself a mental kick for thinking that city guards would keep their mouths shut just because she was on official royal business. "We were counting on the guards' discretion. That may have been a slight... Miscalculation."

The gnome snorts: "Right. Look. since you are trying to play nice, I'm gonna let you in." He waves away the other guard's protests: "Under my responsibility. I'll deal with sunshine personally if it turns out it was a mistake."

The man mutters something that sounds suspiciously like "your funeral", but doesn't protest further.

The gnome district is subtly - and not so subtly - different from the rest of the city. Most buildings are rendered and whitewashed for weatherproofing, making it hard to tell what's underneath, but they give off a definite impression of wealth. No decaying straw huts or half-baked dung shacks in the gnome district, and though some homes do appear to be made of adobe, they are large, well-maintained abodes, a far cry from the mud wrecks in the south of the city.

Even more impressive, the roads are fully paved, and have gutters on both sides. There are no signs of horse manure, or other waste, anywhere, and indeed no signs of horse-drawn carriages.

The entire thing looks clean, obviously wealthy... And somewhat alien. The proportions seem all wrong, too: gnomes have no need for tall ceilings, and most houses have barely taller than two meters, or just shy of seven feet, per storey, and the door frames invariably require any human other than the shortest ones to duck.

Houses here have smaller doors, more stories packed into the same height. Questionable designs among the houses dot the lanes. Both convex and concave upper floors, windows that curve into the roof, and doorways of inventive make can be seen on adjacent homes.

"So... Who's this Sunshine person who might take umbrage if we don't behave?" Akane asks, trying to make conversation with the gnome guard, who has decided to accompany them.

The gnome snorts: "I just call him sunshine because you don't get to see Rainbow if he's not around. He would agree, I'm sure, but maybe don't call him that to his face."

"Great Mountain." Akane nods in understanding.

The gnome nods along: "Yup. Guy's tall as a house and half as large, try not to make him mad. He may be the most polite orc you ever meet, but he will still eat you for breakfast if you insult him. Like, literally."

"Protective or possessive?" Akane inquires.

Their guide shrugs: "Both? Neither? If we ever invent an engine that runs on hate and prejudice, we can turn the entire city into a flying island on the reactions to Sunshine and Rainbow's marriage alone."
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:39, Thu 04 Oct 2018.

Akane ponders for a moment: "Why do I have a feeling you're not only talking about the humans?"

The gnome shrugs again: "The humans mostly don't care... Other than your boss, that is. Naranjer has a giant axe to grind with Sunshine and Rainbow. He considers a mixed marriage between non-humans a perversion."

Akane shivers slightly at hearing Naranker being called "her boss": "Hey, he may have deputized me, but Naranjer is not my boss. My master is Zhorr von Carp. Naranjer tried to rope him into... Well, that's kind of a long story."

The gnome stops abruptly and looks up at her: "The new baron? You may want to lead with that when you meet Great Mountain, he's far less likely to bash your face in if you do."

"Bash my... I thought you said he's a nice guy!"

"For an orc he's downright amiable. Less so with those who threaten Rainbow, however."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 11:55, Mon 01 Oct 2018.

Leonia asks "what can you tell us about Rainbow? What style of magic does she practice? And has she found joy in her marriage?"

The guard looks at Leonia for a long moment, then sighs: "I suppose an elf would understand better than most."

He starts walking again, looking for the right words: "When Rainbow and Great Mountain met, she was thirty, and he was twenty. By gnome standards, she was a child. He was a notorious raider chieftain, respected despite rumors of his human ancestry. That was twenty years ago. By orc standards, he's now a venerable elder. And she's still little more than a child."

He shakes her head. "I've rarely seen Rainbow without a smile on her face, when Harksradu is in the room. Certainly not when he's looking at her. They are quite possibly the happiest couple I've ever met. Perhaps the flame that burns half as long burns twice as bright."

He shakes his head and continues: "As for her magic... Rainbow isn't really a spellcaster. I mean, she can cast a couple of spells if pushed, and I've seen her use her fair share of wands... But she's a brawler at heart. That's how they met, actually: she challenged him to a fight. How crazy is that?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:00, Thu 25 Oct 2018.