Her family had funded the expedition without question as it was also co-sponsored by Splendid Order of Armorers, Locksmiths, and Finesmiths who were eager to see the same results as Evangeline. Three carriages, fourteen guards, a personal servant and a cook had left Waterdeep accompanying Evangeline two months prior, a long and dangerous journey ahead of them. There were losses from banditry and the dangers of the wilds, there were new friends and mercenaries hired and as the caravan travelled, they picked up other wagons and carriages from merchants eager to travel with a well-armed group for protection. Eventually the caravan of three carriages grew to nine and a veritable moving hamlet followed Evangeline through the dangerous Anauroch desert, through wild Vaasa and finally to their destination of Damara.

But eventually her carriage arrived at Bloodstone city along with its entourage picked up on the road. By the time the caravan was settled into the city Evangeline had over a dozen merchants and peddlers to say her goodbyes to and every one of them was thankful for the companionship on the road. Even though this was likely more due to the guards that accompanied her caravan than it was for Evangeline herself. Still they provided advice on the climate, recommendations for lodgings and taverns and it was helpful to have such information in such a remote and unknown place. Evangeline already had accomodations however, notice having been sent ahead for the Hall of Frosted Tools to expect her. The small tinkers and smiths guild of Bloodstone City was expecting her and had a lavish room set up for her (by Damaran standards).

Once her belongings were packed away, she saw off her guard. A large half-orc woman, whom Evangeline was very familiar with, named Hurra had been their leader for the past two months and was now preparing for the journey back to Waterdeep. The woman was almost a personal bodyguard of Evangeline’s since she was a teenager and was the main source of her combat training, especially over the recent months of travel. She was firm and gruff with everyone except Evangeline. She saw Evangeline approach as she prepared the carriage for the trip home. "Ho Eve!" She hopped down from the carriage after strapping in the last case. "No rest for the wicked eh? Straight back to Waterdeep for us on the morrow. How you feeling?"

Evangeline enjoyed the travel, except for the feral gnolls and asabi of the Anauroch desert which frequently thought to raid the caravan. Thankfully by the time they were halfway through the desert her convoy had come together and a large number of guards accompanied all the carriages and wagons. Crossing from the desert and then through to the far north was a shock, the range of temperatures she had experienced recently made her think she would never be comfortable again. Fortunately, her travels were done and she could establish herself in this new land. That was something to look forward to, new adventure and new friends. She was excited by the potential, not only for her expedition but life itself in a frontier town so different from her cosmopolitan upbringing.

She spun a ring on her finger, a creation from the Splendid Order of Armorers, Locksmiths, and Finesmiths in Waterdeep. As a part of funding the expedition they gifted her a ring suitable to the climate of Damara, at least the cold would not bother her. She really didn't want to bundle up in furs and look like a wild woman, the gift was greatly appreciated. She walked the icy streets in her newly cleaned attire, she had been without the services of a mage for the past two months and thankfully a member of the Hall of Frosted Tools had the knowledge to magically clean her clothing. She had also taken the time to fix her hair and apply her makeup before leaving her room, generous as it was for the guild to offer her such accommodation it was still not up to her usual standards at home in Waterdeep. Still, she couldn't complain after months on the road living out of a box and sleeping within a carriage it was almost opulent and greatly appreciated.

As she arrived at the Inn her entourage was staying in for the night Evangeline gave the half-orc a smile and a hug as she climbed off the top of the carriage. "I am well... Hopeful." She peered behind the large woman and looked to her former carriage. "I don't blame you leaving honestly. This is not the place I would usually holiday to." She grinned, "But there's much riding on this expedition and what help I can get from the guild here. Father has invested much in seeing this through."

She dropped the hug and took Hurra's hand with one of her own, "Come see me tonight? One final dinner between friends?" She looked up hopefully to her old friend, for all her excitement of adventure it was a frightful thought being alone for the first time in her life.

Hurra gave a frown and moved her hand from Evangeline's to her shoulder, "A final dinner? You'll be back home before you know it." She shook her head, "Too much to do tonight, your father wants the bloodstones back without delay, I have to hire some new guards and we need a wagonwright now you've left us." The half-orc took a step back and looked Evangeline over as if just really seeing her for the first time. She gave a smirk, "All dolled up for me hey Eve?" She teased, "I got no time for that sort'a thing but promise you'll see me off tomorrow."

A call from behind the wagon drew Hurra's attention, she rolled her eyes and looked to Evangeline, "See you then." With a wink and a firm slap on Evangeline's butt the half-orc disappeared around the side of the wagon when the yelling started, "What in the nine yells are you doin'?" "Get that crate off of there you lump-brained oaf!" "I'll bury you right here in the ice if you look at me like that again!" Hurra certainly let people know when she was not happy.

It was about that time that a voice came from behind her on the street calling her name. "Miss Amcathra! Miss Amcathra! Evangeline..." Evangeline turned to see a small gnomish woman running down the street, her skirt hiked above her ankles to keep out of the mud. "Oh, thank goodness I found you. Master Pumpsprocket said he has looked over the schematics you brought with you and has come up with what he believes is a suitable ignition source." As she reached Evangeline she looked up to her, "He was most determined that you meet him immediately."

The gnome took a step back to allow Evangeline to lead the way, "My name's Lis Cobblepot, we weren't introduced earlier. It's such an honor to meet one from the Splendid Order, we never thought another member of the Order would come out to Damara. We never heard from the last after he left and that was many years ago, who was it?" She raised a finger to her chin in thought, "Oh, I had only just joined the guild at that time."

The chatty gnome did not stop talking as she waited for Evangeline to finish her business and return to the guildhall.

Evangeline couldn't hide her disappointment that her old friend would not be joining her for the night, but she understood, Hurra was on her father’s payroll and under specific instructions to return with bloodstone as soon as possible. She blushed as the half-orc commented on her appearance which then grew to a furious red at the implications of her further comment. She was about to reply that she would see her off tomorrow when the call came from the wagon and when she opened her mouth to reply she instead let out a yelp as Hurra slapped her on the butt with a wink before she left. So, Evangeline was left standing awkward, alone and as red as a beetroot in the center of the street. Still she did have a smile on her face regardless of her embarrassment, this was not the first time her friend had left her in such a state.

Lost in brief thought her eyes went wide as she heard the call of her name from behind her and quickly recomposing herself, she turned to see the gnome woman. "Yes, yes, slow down. You have found me"

She listened to Lis talk and she blinked a few times in surprise. Master Pumpsprocket had the schematics for a mere half a day and he had already solved the ignition problem. That was amazing! "Already!" Evangeline exclaimed, "That is fantastic news."

She walked back to the guildhall as Lis chattered beside her, "Oh, you mean Matton Wirespark. Yes, the gnome’s disappearance is actually the reason I am here. I heard he went chasing a source of high grade ore to the south and never returned." She frowned in thought, "I only heard of him recently when my own studies and experimentation turned in that direction. Oh, I do hope to speak with him! I hope nothing tragic has befallen the gnome."

She continued to chat with Lis as they walked the streets back to the guild.

"Ah yes, Matton." Lis shook her head sadly, "We do not know what happened to him, but some of the guild masters think they might know where he went. They can tell you more."

The Hall of Frosted Tools was a moderate sized hall with a common room, three workshops and kitchen, a second floor held personal rooms for staff and guests. The workshops downstairs were a constant buzz of machinery, sparks and smoke; inventions created and abandoned as they met their purpose or exploded catastrophically. There were no stairs, instead a series of small platforms rotated on pulleys and rope between the floors, these platforms were stepped on to access either floor on a ride either up or down. The rooms were as any inn but much cleaner and of better quality, amazingly the rooms had pipes coming from the ceiling which fed hot water to a basin and a bath which were in the room. The room itself was also heated and the stone walls were warm to the touch.

Lis happily explained that when the guildhall was created, they utilised the thermal pools above them and within the mountain to heat water through a series of metal pipes. These pipes, the 'plumbing' they called it, was ran through the walls to heat the hall as well as to supply heated water to each of the rooms for drinking, cooking and bathing. Once Evangeline had been shown where her room was and where her belongings stored Lis guided her to a workshop on the first floor, to the left of the hall entrance. The shop was not deep in the mountain and a street ran beside it, small shuttered windows were open which allowed a cool breeze in and, as was apparent at this moment, allow the smoke out of the room when creations failed.

A gnome standing on a stool was bent over a small contraption similar to what Evangeline had on her hip. He looked up, this safety goggles with magnifiers making his eyes look absurdly large. "Ah Lis, this must be Lady Amcathra." He put the goggles on his head and waved Evangeline over, "Welcome to the Hall of Frosted Tools! it is so good to have your families support."

"I had a look at the schematics of that," He pointed to the metal tool holstered on her hip, "And I have worked out a source of ignition. It has a single use, mind you, and it's not entirely reliable quite yet."

He wave his hands to the item holstered on Evangelines hip, "May I see it?"

Evangeline was surprised at the accommodation. When she dropped her belongings out the front earlier and spoke to one of the guild masters about her schematics, she was told she would be given a room but never expected anything like this. A hot bath was common enough for her back home, but she had not the luxury for her last few months travel. Something to consider for later in the evening but for now her mind was on Master Pumpsprocket and his very quick work on putting together the item from her schematics and solving an issue she had been wrestling with months prior to even considering leaving home. The gnome was a genius or had a far greater knowledge of the science behind what she was attempting than she did.

She followed Lis to the workshop and smiled to the gnome who, in his excitement she was sure, forgot to introduce himself. "Master Pumpsprocket I presume?" She smiled kindly at the gnome, "MY family is most interested in advancing this line of theory and can see the potential if certain problems can be solved."

When he pointed to her hip, she removed the creation she had been working on. "I have it mostly constructed however, as the schematics detailed, I was not able to construct a source of ignition of the appropriate size to fit inside. Nor was I able to determine a material for the propulsion. Any steam powered device I discussed with the fellows at the Splendid Order was far too large to be useful, let alone portable. Can you imagine they proposed a device the size of a house to channel the required steam pressure for the item to work." She shook her head, "Preposterous."

She handed him the item, "I am excited to see what you have been working on."

The gnome with the goggles on his head nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, sorry. Indeed I am Cobthorn Pumpsprocket."

He took Evangeline's weapon and placed it beside the one he was working on. "Ah, very good craftsmanship Lady Amcathra. Did you do this yourself?" He continued without a confirmation, "Very good. Very good. You are quite talented."

He put his goggles back on and leaned over the two weapons, "Come look, look." He pointed to the rear of the weapon, along the top. "Steam is useless. You need an explosive propulsion, and you just happen to be in the city where explosives are used constantly for excavation! Now, obviously we don't need something that large but how about on a smaller scale?"

He shifted his goggles, "Now, to the ignition. We use a simple flint and steel setup to create a spark, as with lighting a campfire." He moved Evangeline’s weapon aside and picked up his, pointing to each section. "Here, the hammer which holds the flint." He points to a piece of metal sticking above the trigger at the rear of the weapon. "And here the steel, we call a frizzen." He pulled the hammer back and pulled the trigger. The flint hit the steel and caused a spark to drop into the weapon. "See. Now this is the best part. This is the pan, where we put the explosive." He reached across the table and took a lid off a metal tin. Inside it was full of a grainy powder. "Black powder, we put in the pan to catch the spark." He put a pinch of powder in the pan and covered the metal tin with the lid. Pulling the trigger the weapon sparked and the black power burned in a flash. "That wasn't good enough see, not enough force behind the projectile."

He looked to Lis. "Workshop Two Lis, bring everything we need." Lis nodded enthusiastically.

He motioned for Evangeline to follow him to a second workshop. This shop was a longer room with a series of rocks set up about thirty feet away. "Any questions before we begin?"

Evangeline watched the gnome work, enthralled. He knew far more about this line of theory than anyone back at the Splendid Order but perhaps she would keep that piece of information from anyone here. They seemed to have a reverence for the Order and she wouldn't want to disappoint them. These ideas were only something she knew a few brilliant gnomes in the world had been working on, the most experienced lost somewhere around bloodstone many months ago. She hoped he had left to one of the villages, it was doubtful given he never sent word back to the guild hall, but she could hope.

She nodded along, following Master Pumpsprocket's details of the weapons. "Hammer, right. OK, frizzen." She watched him assemble the weapon and drop a pinch of the black powder into the pan. When the powder flared up, she instinctively turned her face away but understood enough of what was happening to predict where this line of thought was going.

Evangeline followed along to Workshop Two as the two gnomes hurried along. She grinned as she entered, she hoped this room was what it looked like. A firing range. Now Master Pumpsprocket had created ignition she was sure it would not be much longer before they had a working prototype. She could just about use what he had detailed on her own weapon to make it work, a few minor additions, a couple of alterations. She nodded to herself in thought, she was sure it would work. Although she still needed to see the rest of the demonstration to get a full understanding of where this was going.

She had questions but they could wait. She was too impatient with excitement to interrupt Master Pumpsprocket before he had finished. "No, please continue."

Master Pumpsprocket seemed thrilled to have such an attentive student. "Right. So, you got most of it right there. Now the tricky parts."

Lis set down the tin of black powder and another tin of small beads wrapped in cloth. Master Pumpsprocket pulled out another pinch of powder and put it in the pan. "Ignition you see. But how do we manage propulsion? Ah." He grinned proudly, "Another pinch of powder in the barrel. Ah, like the flight groove in a crossbow." He took a pinch of powder and dropped it into the barrel, "Now you put a projectile in, we're using lead balls, and pull the trigger nothing happens except a 50/50 chance the thing blows up in your face." Lis handed him a cloth wrapped lead ball and a metal rod.. "The cloth makes the ball sit nice and snug." He pushed the ball into the barrel as far as it could sit by using the metal rod. "And we're done!"

He handed the weapon to Evangeline, "Now, it's got a kick; and probably a 25% chance of blowing up so hold it away and aim for one of the rocks."

Evangeline frowned at the gnome as he detailed the failure rate. "Still much work to do then. It wouldn't entirely reliable in combat if half the time it's used it will explode and require repair." She turned the weapon in her hands, "And the time loading for one shot..."

Seeing the gnome, she shook her head quickly, "No. No. You have done a wonderful job. Far more than I could have imagined in a day. I am just impatient, perhaps I just need to rest. I have just arrived after a very long journey which was less comfortable that I am used to."

She looked down to the weapon, "Alright, let's try it."

She stepped forward and faced the rocks deeper in the room. Aiming the weapon, she pulled the trigger.

Evangeline pulled the trigger. Unprepared for the flash of bright light and the loud explosion the shot went wide of the rock she was aiming at and stuck the back wall. As her eyes adjusted Evangeline noticed that the back wall was pock marked with dozens of small holes like the one she just made. The weapon was not the most accurate, nor was it the easiest thing to control. It did, however, remained intact.

Master Pumpsprocket clapped his hands eagerly and took back the weapon. Handing it to Lis she began preparing it for another round. "Ah. Excellent! Very difficult to control and, I agree, currently taking far too long to load." He rubbed his chin with a hand, "I have some ideas, but I will need time. We really need Wirespark's schematics to progress further. The last we heard he was in the mountains to the south-east around a town called Barrow's Edge. Funding an expedition there may be a good idea, we have not had the capacity but with your involvement..."

Lis hands Evangeline the weapon with an eager smile, she had loaded it once more. Master Pumpsprocket put his goggles onto his head, "I'll leave you to your tests. Remember it may explode, backfire, implode, misfire, stall, stop or ignite. If you have your tools with you we have the materials required for the repair in the other workshop." He yawned, "But for me I will be retiring home after a few drinks at the Inn. Enjoy yourself and I will be back tomorrow to continue the tests."

Throwing his apron and goggles onto an empty bench he gave a wave and walked out of the Hall.

Lis gave a wave to the gnome as he left and turned to Evangeline. " Well, I'm off too. Goodnight Lady Amcathra." Lis headed to the elevator to return to her rooms.

"Barrow's Edge?" Evangeline confirmed. Perhaps that was to be her destination, if Wirespark had passed through the town someone should have noticed. She hoped so anyway, Evangeline didn't feel like exploring the mountains and tundra looking for a sign of the gnome. With any luck he had just settled down and gotten distracted by his research, she thought it was possible. If he found the ore he needed close to Barrow's Edge perhaps it was more convenient to just set up a shop there. Though that wouldn't explain why he wouldn't send word back to the Hall of Frosted Tools, surely they could have provided assistance; after all they were so very well equipped and set up for the testing of new technologies.

It was getting late and with Lis retiring to her rooms Evangeline thought it best not to continue firing off the weapon at all hours of the night. Instead she returned to the first workshop to inspect the weapon in finer detail. She spent her time pulling it apart and fitting the pieces back together, it was just a puzzle she had the pieces and just had to study it. It was all well and good that Master Pumpsprocket knew how the thing worked but without some hands on experience Evangeline was not confident enough in her understanding of the weapon.

Alone in the workshop in the evening hours it was almost silent in the Hall. The explosions, flares and sparks from earlier in the day were now non-existent as the members had retired for the night. Evangeline made good progress on her own work by comparing her own weapon with the prototype that Master Pumpsprocket had put together. She had possibly even managed to improve on the design slightly, possibly allowing for a more stable ignition. With her improvements the weapon may not malfunction with a one in four chance but without the other members of the guild to confirm her work she was not entirely sure.

It was just after she had set up her own weapon with the modifications matching Master Pumpsprocket's that Evangeline heard commotion out the back of the Hall. There was a brief shout and then a yelp of pain that came from just outside the workshop she was using. The front doors to the Hall were still open but there was a back door directly to the alley between the two main workshops which would take her out close by where the commotion was rising.

Evangeline looked up from her weapon, she had just finished the final adjusments and made the changes to copy Master Pumpsprocket's prototype. She felt fairly good about her work, her weapon closely matched the other one. Having just pulled it apart Evangeline assembled and armed it for the first time, pushing one of the cloth-wrapped lead balls into the barrel. As she heard the yelp she looked towards the window. Moving from her space by a workbench she tried to peer out the window but frowned as she realised she couldn't see anything. She picked up her weapon and walked to the back door.

Evangeline opened the door slowly and looked out into the dark alley. "Hello?"

By the time Evangeline made it to the door the alley was silent. Whatever scuffle had taken place earlier seemed to be resolved. Peering into the darkness she saw the back of a figure walking down the alley to her right, heading towards a northern tunnel.

The figure turned and it was apparently a woman, in the dim light Evangeline could see she wore a lions head pelt over her head and shoulders and held a large polearm. She spoke in reply, "Best you stay out of my business, woman. Go inside."
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:00, Fri 25 June 2021.

Evangeline frowned into the evening gloom. What a rude woman, it sounded like someone needed help and here she was telling her to get inside. Well, she had no intention of getting involved in anyones troubles. Especially not so late in the evening in a town she was totally unfamiliar with. Wordlessly she closed the door and walked back to the workshop. Sitting down she looked at her weapon and considered going back out to confront the woman but it was only an idle thought. She had never been in a fight in her entire life before leaving Waterdeep months ago but since travelling she very quickly learned to use her crossbow. Hurra had taught her well in that regard, both in her training back home and her actual combat while travelling.

She spent the next few hours of the evening picking apart and reassembling her weapon and studying the modifications made by Master Pumpsprocket before retiring to her room and turning on the taps for a bath. The pipes rattled but after a few dubious spurts water flowed freely, hot like Lis promised. Stripping down Evangeline sunk herself into the hot brass tub and enjoyed soaking out the stresses of her recent travels.

It was later than she would have liked before she was changed into fresh underclothes and slipping between the blankets of the bed and it didn't take her long to fall asleep.

The bath was just as hot as Lis had promised and aside from the earlier disturbance there was no further disruption as Evangeline laid down for the night.