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On the slopes of one of the Omen Mountains in the Bleak Reach is a fortress. At one time it was a mighty forge-cathedral, and produced some of the greatest theo-technological marvels known to man. With the war and the Shattering, it was repurposed to produce enormous divine war machines to bring victory and death. However, this was not meant to last. In the chaos following the Shattering, few were left to operate the mighty theurgic machinery, and the godly forges that produced wonders fell cool and silent. Centuries passed, the forge-cathedral falling further and further into disrepair and decrepitude. Despite that, the fortress was never looted. Its naturally isolated location kept it secluded from most would be plunderers, but even for the knowledgeable or tenacious treasure hunter, this was a place of death. Something lurks within. Aged war machines and creaking automatons roam the silent halls of this once mighty factory, while ancient defenses still crackle to life at unwanted intrusion. Say what one will of the ancients, their weapons of war remain. Any attempt to plunder this mechanical graveyard will be met with stiff opposition, though the reward may be worth it.

Ruin Locations

Exterior-the building itself is a massive steel and stone building with 4 large steepled towers at each of the corners with 4 minarets more at midpoints between the roof center and the other towers, and a huge crumbling pyramidal structure in the center. The cathedral is covered in rust and corrosion, but still maintains faint lines of magical runes and pentagrams meant to sanctify and protect the premises, though they appear to be fading. Many of the towers and minarets are fallen, and the ornate carvings have faded, though occasionally one can see the spark of magic flare and sputter along the few runic lines or between the minarets. The only way in is a pair of massive iron doors. Any attempt to open it will prompt a set of sputtering and glowing runes to appear in midair in front of the party. The runes are in O ld Din , and they are asking for passcodes and credentials. While it is unlikely the party will have those, appropriate gifts of of deception or bypassing wards will work. The structure is magical in nature, the external magical protection acting as a 1st level Empyrean Ward , so any attempt to get in will require an additional point of effort committed for the day, as the magical warding system attempts to not only protect the building but also the secrets of entrance. Crossing the threshold into the cathedral will free the party from the influence of the Empyrean Ward.

, and they are asking for passcodes and credentials. While it is unlikely the party will have those, appropriate gifts of of deception or bypassing wards will work. The structure is magical in nature, the external magical protection acting as a 1st level , so any attempt to get in will require an additional point of effort committed for the day, as the magical warding system attempts to not only protect the building but also the secrets of entrance. Crossing the threshold into the cathedral will free the party from the influence of the Empyrean Ward. Central forge chambers- the inside of this once great forge-cathedral is still a wonder to behold. A large open chamber with vaulted ceilings covered in glyphs and cuneiform, assembly line pews take up much of the room where workers would sit in worshipful toil. Beautiful stained glass frescoes line the wall, and where at one time they would be lit to show plans, schematics, and prayers, they are now dim and dusty. Rivulets line the walls, leading to a central smelting altar; a large 30 foot by 10 foot tub that is carved with various bas reliefs with 4 nodes that appear to run a magical charge through material placed inside it that now lies cool, while just beyond that is an Instrument of Auspicious Industry. A huge organ, the various pipes hook to the smelting altar to form individual pieces and parts from the material tempered on the smelting altar, which was then placed at the assembly pews to be finished and pieced together. This, like many of the pews, altar, and other machinery is in horrible disrepair. Time has taken a toll on this place. automatons the size of house cats scurry about in a vain attempt to mitigate some of the damage. Small clockwork things, many have fallen into near ruin, but still valiantly attempt to fix what they can while others have fallen into a mindless repetition of the same task, doomed to continue until the finally give out. The large room is still dimly lit, the few glyphs still there giving off a pale, feeble light. 3 steel statues of knights flank the Instrument of Auspicious Industry, the cogs inside them still ticking slightly. If the party touches the altar or the organ, there will be a flare of power as the old instruments react to the divinity of the party, and a floor panel will open up as a large brass egg rises up out of the ground. In a few moments, the egg rapidly unfolds into a humanoid shape constructed of brass, wire, and gears. Finally, a large bird skull made of brass will emerge from the torso, and 2 pinpricks of red will glow within the eye sockets. A croaking, mechanical voice will utter from inside it. “Scanning. Scan-scanning. Intrusion detected. Intrusion-ion detected. Present-present credentials or be terminated. Repeat. Present credentials-ials or be terminated. So says this-is brass-brass servant of Ivo.” After a few moments and repeating the warning, the brass automaton and the 3 iconodules disguised as brass knights will move to attack the party. If pacified instead of destroyed, the brass automaton can give its unit designation and purpose to defend this industrial-church of Ivo, in order for the grand machines of Ivo to be made. It can give the layout and purpose of the 2 lower rooms, but does not know what the vault below holds. Its logs have been purposefully purged on that matter. The facility was abandoned after the shattering to location: Chapel-Fortress Sanctuary due to intelligence that Made God designation: Dark Side was in route. Facility was to be repopulated after Dark Side was dealt with.

Initiates of Ivo- ancient theurgists and sorcerer-engineers who followed the teachings of Ivo, a powerful and knowledgeable theo-technician who pioneered several fields of automaton crafting and invocations. Their ultimate pursuit was the immortality ideal, and initiates were to put the pursuit of knowledge and immortality above all else, passing on their master’s words and ideas. Located in the Bleak Reach, the initiates were supposedly destroyed in the shattering, burying them and their greatest creations

Enemies 3 Brass Knights – A C: 3 Move: 40’ run Hit Dice: 8 Save: 11+ Attack: +8 x 2 attacks Damage: 1d8 glass razordisk thrower Morale: 12 Effort: 3. Tactics as Theotechnical Iconodules Guardian Brass Automaton – AC: 3 Move: 40’ run Hit Dice: 16 Save: 10+ Attack: +10 x 2 attacks Damage: 2d12 smash or blast Morale: 12 Effort: 4 can Act twice per round. This relic war machine was built before the Shattering by the adepts of Ivo as a guardian for their many research facilities and factory cathedrals. While unflinchingly loyal to the adepts, it was and remains merciless towards their enemies. Gifts: Faster than Thought (Alacrity) , Nine Irons Wall (sword)



D6 Guardian Automaton Tactics

1 Self-repair 1d6 hit dice of damage. This requires both of its actions for the round.

2 The Automaton’s arms split into massive curved swords. It attacks the nearest target, using both of its available actions to hammer them down.

3 Triggers The Seeking Flight against the most threatening target around the automaton, painting the foe in sorcerous glyphs

4 The Automaton splits in half horizontally as it deploys tubes from its inner workings, firing out thousands of razor sharp glass darts. The Automaton makes an attack against all targets in melee range

5 Spend an action calling for reinforcements or alerting its masters, even if they’ve been dead for centuries.

6 As one action, the Brass Automaton deploys opens hundreds of small holes in its chassis, loosing probability seeking missiles in a wide burst, dealing 3d6 damage in a 30 foot area.

Temple Command Sanctuary- with the automatons destroyed or subdued, the party will have a chance to explore the stairs to the side of the organ that lead into the upper level. The temple command sanctuary was where the acolytes of Ivo oversaw the forge-cathedral, directing the workers assembling the pieces, as well as those smelting, and those supplying materials, while also communicating with the other facilities in order to stabilize the amount geomantic energy used to avoid catastrophic damage to the surrounding area. When the party gets to the top of the stairs, they will find this room in pristine condition. The wards here are apparently still working well enough. A sizable room, it overlooks the forge chamber so the priest-foreman could more easily direct their workers, while a sleeping chamber nearby and several amenities ensured they would always be nearby. A sorcerous altar with a bowl of clear water for theurgic workings lies on one end of the room, with a workbench covered in unfinished theo-technical creations and projects a few paces away. A nearby bookshelf is filled with books on various subjects, though most covering various types of sorcery and artifice, with the majority focusing on the subject of crystalline prayer reactors, with most of the manuscripts penned by an S. Stone. The books are actually quite rare, and enough time to study them could easily make the student a master theo-technician in a few years. Nothing of major personal significance lies in the room, the occupants having left or died out many years. However, if the party examines the altar, when they get close, a last message in Old Din will flare up. The message will read “Bishop-Foreman Stone. Seal the vaults below. Let nothing escape. Bury the Inhabitant there.”

Crystallized Prayer Reactor- a secondary set of stairs leading down can be found right below the others. Heading down these dozen flights of stairs will lead the party to a curious sight. The same steel hallways pitted with age will greet the party, along with a steep drop about 60 feet down guarded by a railing. In this pit is what looks like an enormous brass oil lamp, with hundreds of cables and wires of various sizes branching out from the bottom, leading into the walls and floor. A clear glass tube running from the top of the lamp towards a brass piece in the ceiling contains a glowing rainbow hued crystal that floats low over the top of the lamp, giving off a dim and flickering light as it drops imperceptibly lower with each bob. About 2 feet tall and 10 inches thick, this is a piece of crystallized prayer and worship the initiates of Ivo used to power this facility. Without regular maintenance cycles and theological calibration, the worship inside has begun to stagnate and degrade the crystal, which will eventually burn out and shatter. The crystal could be used to give 1 dominion if shattered, but could also be recharged with dominion and worship, should the party wish to take the forger-cathedral over when they finish. Rebuilding and refitting the factory cathedral will be addressed in the aftermath. Behind the party will be the vault doors. The vault door is an enormous iron slab covered in potent runic wards that still glow with an inner light.

Vault Door- If the party attempts to open the vault, the door will prompt them for bishop level command codes, as the place was locked down by Bishop-Foreman Silas Stone. The door itself has 10 effort, and will attempt to defensively dispel if the party tries to force the door, and 2 panels will open up on either side of the door way revealing 2 of the Guardian Brass Automatons, who will attempt to bar the party’s way, and destroy them if necessary. If they can’t offer up the entrance codes, attempt it like resetting a password. If they can find a name of an initiate, like the Bishop-Foreman, then by claiming to be a representative and answering 3 security questions, the party could gain entrance. The first will pertain to the Bishop-Foreman himself, and will ask on what his field of study was (crystalline prayer reactors). The answer would be in his study. The second question would be about the original function of this place. While this one would not be obvious, any PC with the sorcery, knowledge, engineering, network, or artifice word, or any relevant facts pertaining to arcane and esoteric knowledge would know or can roll to know that this facility was originally a place to test the usage of crystallized prayer, and the reactor was later re-purposed to power the rest of the facility. The idea of crystallized prayer as an energy source was in order to shield it from the depredations of the Uncreated, as it would insulate the divine energy from the Cold Breath of the creatures from the Night Roads. The final question is to what is the true purpose of the Initiates of Ivo. This one will require a wisdom or intelligence check at -4, though someone with theological or philosophical facts would be relevant. The purpose of the initiates was to grant their master immortality by carrying on his legacy and holding to his tenets of immortality, knowledge, and domination. They were to carry on in his stead and seek for true immortality through their deeds. If the party can get all of these, then they will be able to reset the codes and open the doors to the vault.

The Deep Vault- Inside is an unsettling sight. A small woman with long brown hair in a shift who looks to be no more than 18 or 19 years old stands in the middle of the room. If the party enters, she will look up, but her eyes and wide grinning mouth are terrible yawning voids. Her head will loll to the side, then it seems like her entire body will explode as the monstrosity’s true dreadful form is revealed. A horrid 40’ tall creature of tentacles, teeth, and personified hunger waits inside. Though it has no eyes, massive blue black tentacles with suctions made of chomping maws and tipped with iron hard pincers reaches for the party, while human and animal arms lie between the tentacles closer to the core, various sensory organs and genitalia tipping the arms instead of hands. Periodically, the tentacles and arms will open and a large beak made of solid brass will poke out to open and a scaled snake body will slither out, but instead of a snake head, it is tipped with a lotus flower that blooms to reveal the rotting remains of a human head that silently laughs at the party. The sound it makes is chilling, like nothing of this dimension could make, partway between a cat’s hiss, wind chimes twinkling, and the sound of the feeling of loathing. It is an Uncreated abomination, a crawling god of the void between realities.

Nagaroth, the Skulking Prince in the Shadow of Night– AC: 3 Hit Dice: 30 Attack: +15×3 attacks Damage: 1d12 smash straight Move 50’ undulate Save: 5+ Morale: 12 Effort: 10. Can act 2 times per round. NPC lesser foes need immediate morale check upon seeing it. Cold Breath: 2 effort. Bound to the Words of Night, Alacrity, and Fear.

d6 Tactics of the Skulking Prince

1 Unleash a mental scream recalling every subconscious fear that lurks in the hearts of it’s foes that does 4d6 mental damage to all in earshot.

2 Charge the most defiant enemy present and strike with all available attacks.

3 Moves preternaturally fast as both of its actions, giving it an attack against all foes and appearing at any point within 60 feet.

4 Use tendrils of darkness to snare an enemy with one action, with an evasion save to resist their speed being reduced to 0; use the other action to attack this foe which automatically hit.

5 Utter a blasphemous, maddening phrase; all who hear it must make a spirit save or make a free attack on a nearby ally.

6 Vomits pure cosmic darkness and fear on a target for 6d10 damage. This is a Smite Action

Aftermath- once the creature has been slain, the party can look around the room. The walls, floor, and ceiling are covered with various seal and glyphs meant to seal the power of an uncreated. If for some reason the creature escapes the confines of the vault, the cold breath will go up to 3, it will gain 10 HD and another action each round as the effects of the crystallized prayer wards wear off. Powering these are various crystallized prayer structures, all leading up to a centralized and miniature version of the prayer reactor in the last room. However, this one has a Celestial Shard inside of it. This shard was apparently meant act as a failsafe to keep up the integrity and power of the secondary crystals in order to keep the beast locked away. When the vault door is open, the wards holding the abomination there will start to rapidly decay, completely failing in 12 hours time. Should the party loot this place for all that it is worth, they will gain 2 additional Celestial Shards and 4 points of wealth. However, if the party wishes to bring the facility back up to working order, it will require 10 Dominion and 2 more Celestial Shards, though if the beast below has not been slain, it will resist any dominion changes here with its full power, creating a resistance of 6. In addition, the accumulated knowledge here will give the party schematics on how to build all medium and small sized chakra engines and Metal-type components, as well as all small sized armatures. While this will certainly be a great boon to a growing pantheon of Godbound, the news of a weapons depot of this caliber will attract all manner of looters, scavengers, and fearful despots. An expeditionary force from Lom lead by anti-priests and rationalist paladins, the personal attentions of an Ulstanger Witch-Queen, or even covert operatives sent by the SRD of the Bright Republic are all possible foes to look with greedy eyes upon this new treasure.