Recap Chapter 1: Owl’s End
The story began with all parties converging on a factory called Owl’s End, belonging to JP Cognelius.
-Kreo was there to investigate (and support) a strike.
-Procz and Frack were there in search of a half-orc named Ilga Gyula.
-Vera, Baern, and Vecaal were there at the behest of Baz Cinderhorn to figure out what exactly was taking place there.
Cinderhorn’s crew was the first to enter the factory (by way of the engine room) where they came across the half-orc Gail, but pressing her for clues as to the factory’s purpose were stymied.
Gail:
"I wasn't kidding, what I said before. I literally can't tell you what's going on. Look: Mister Coglinton's got us building..." Her voice trailed off into a dry, choking sound, like sandpaper rubbing against the grain of rough wood.
They continued into the factory itself and quickly learned it was sentient!
The Tinkerer:
As Vecaal began scaling what remained of the staircase, the three felt what could only be described as a shift in the "mood" of the room… the two ceiling-mounted cranes abruptly halted, changed direction, and began to converge on the wreckage of the stairs and the dragonborn dangling form it, the heavy loads they carried swinging precariously as they came.
By the time things got totally unhinged inside, Kreo, Procz, and Frack (after a set-to with the Steel Resolve outside) were in the factory as well. Together, the six worked together to survive.
Vecaal successfully made it to the office at the top of the stairs, where he discovered an orb and spellbook, working together to somehow keep the factory workers in line. Furthermore, he found several other clues in the papers contained (and not contained) in the office.
The Tinkerer:
Rifling through the file cabinets provided further disappointment, though perhaps this was information that would prove useful in its own right: someone had pilfered the files already. They had been shoved haphazardly back into the cabinets, and while there were plenty of schematics detailing the workings of individual machines, of ventilation, and of steam through the factory's many pipes, Vecaal could find no blueprints of the factory as a whole.
The other notable absence was anything to do with the workers. J.P. Cognelius, like his brother, typically paid his workers in credit that could be used only at his company stores. Unlike his brother, he also deducted from their wages the cost of their training, tools, and uniforms. There ought to have been ledgers detailing all this - both Cogenlius brothers were notorious record-keepers - but they were all missing.
What he did notice, as he turned his attention back to the desk and the orb upon it, was a small symbol etched into its underside. The desk was grey metal, but someone, with some sharp instrument, had etched into the bottom the faint outline of a cog in a circle. Crude as it was, Vecaal nonetheless recognized it as the same symbol born by the necklace Veracity now wore, the one given to her by the half-orc they'd found hiding in the machine room.
The orb eventually shattered, and as disappointing as it was, it ended the hold on workers’ tongues, leading to more clues.
Donna Garnagle:
"They've had us making those monstrosities. Making the freaks that would ultimately take our jobs." She spat. "That's what they didn't want us talking about."
When the crew made it back downstairs, they found a firbolg (Crajeon), a yuan-ti (Syntus), and a clockwork dragon, all members of the Descendants, in the midst of kidnapping Gail! A battle ensued, the kidnappers escaped, but Gail was saved, not necessarily to the delight of Donna Garnagle.
Donna Garnagle:
"All this factory-coming-to-life nonsense is her doing. They brought her in to automate our replacements - them bastards upstairs. Then she got carried away. Best I can figure, anyway. Can't imagine ol' J.P. wanted a factory with a mind of its own, but hey, what do I know about what that rich prick wants?”
Gail:
"My real name is Ilga Gyula. I built this place. Not the gears and stuff. The important part. The brains. I made it work. I made it think.
“That's not what ol' JP brought me in for. Well, not exactly, but it was what they needed. I was supposed to help them make sentient machines, robotic workers who could replace the various humanoids Mister Cognelius employs now. But I figured, why stop at workers? Why not make the factory itself sentient?
“All flesh is flawed. Even the dragons got it wrong, and they were far smarter than any of us.
“But the machines... The smooth rotation of the gears, the clean interlocking of their teeth, the way the assembly line delivers the widget just as the next machine slams down to stamp it into shape then ships it along to the next station... it's the only thing that gives me hope for this steaming cesspit of a city.
"Those goons you saw hauling me off - Syntus and Crajoen - they used to be my friends. Colleagues, anyway. We called ourselves The Descendants. Guess you've heard of us. Anyway, they didn't like that talk, machines being better suited to rule us than dragons. All they wanted me to do was built and keep quiet. Well, I built alright, but I wouldn't keep quiet, so I figured it was best if we parted ways. I guess they caught wind of what I was up to here, though, and they didn't like it.”
So you’ve got the Descendants who love the dragons. Then you’ve got the followers of the Gearlord, who prefer machines to mankind. All sorts of potential enemies here! And what about Luminescent Athenaeum?
Ilga Gyula:
"So, this Luminescent Athenaeum... they think there's a, like... a library, of sorts, hidden somewhere in the Lower Slopes." She laughed a bit as she continued, "That a shadowy network of squalid sages has collected artifacts the Cogneliuses tried to get rid of, artifacts proving the existence of metallic dragons who were not as evil as their chromatic cousins. Who had all the wisdom and bravery without the avarice.”
With the Steel Resolve closing in on the factory, everyone needed a place to lay low. Veracity offered safe haven compliments of Baz Cinderhorn. With that,they were off through a network of tunnels led by Frack and then through a series of back alleys led by Vera, eventually landing on Cinderhorn's doorstep.
