LogFellowship - The Clockwork Prince-Jason-6

Game log for the 2026/01/11 session of Fellowship - The Clockwork Prince, as taken by Jason

The fellowship spend about a week getting rested and healthy. Near the end of that time, word comes in that the Fetid Isles are on fire. Forces of the Clockwork Prince, led by Admiral Jecks, have moved through the place, lighting everything on fire. Those Isles are a lose confederation of merchant states. Jecks was once a pirate captain, but working for the Clockwork Prince has been good for him.

One of the royal artificers asks to speak to Vestrum. Khoros, the Artificer Royal for the Kingdom of the Beshar. He wants another set of eyes on the structural integrity of the Colossus, which has not been spun up in a thousand years. He's not being pushed into this by the king, he wants to go, and he's not listening to any naysayers. Anyone opposed must not be very dedicated to the war with the Clockwork Prince, but he doesn't think there's anyone who's opposed to doing this. He's so obsessed with the question of whether they can start the Colossus that he's not pondering whether they should.

We travel a fair ways from the city, to a huge cavern with a steel door set into one wall. The door is open, and the Colossus, surrounded by scaffolding, stands there, like an eighty foot tall stone statue. Its face has a nose but no other features.

Geria and Bulgarath request an audience with King Azadar, who presents every sign of being happy to see them. The King thinks the Clockwork Prince is a knock-off version of the dark lord, and that the Colossi, which defeated the real thing, will more than suffice against the imitation. Geria explains that she wants to liberate her people, not rampage through them. One of the King's counselors points out that Tarsyna basically gave itself over to the Clockwork Prince, and needs to be punished. There's an agreement made at the end of the last great war that no Dwarven kingdom will deploy a Colossus without meeting with the kings of the other Dwarven nations, but King Azadar does not plan to do that. It would take too long and remove any hope of surprise. Geria eventually asks him to desist due to the risk that the Clockwork Prince is ready for the Colossi, but he refuses, offering instead to let her march in the vanguard of the army of liberation.

At the Colossus, the visitors can see the orifice in the middle of the chest for the flame cannon. They won't allow any non-Dwarf to get inside, but Vestrum is allowed and encouraged to climb the scaffolding and enter the inspection hatch at the waist. Vestrum finds that they're having trouble building pressure, because there are fittings that corroded through. They'll require replacement. If Vestrum needs to break it, the way forward is to overload the power plant. The Colossus is so large that any minor sabotage will impair it but leave it repairable and probably battle-capable. Overloading the power core would be the best way to break it so that it could never be repaired. Vestrum cannot see how it's controlled, or guess how the Clockwork Prince might infiltrate. Vestrum observes Khoros methodically working from the core out to test the systems, and decides to work side by side for a while to build a rapport. Vestrum does a solid day's work, proving himself worthy among the company.

Raatma calls out a willingness to help from the sidelines, while Tanis just observes. Initially the Dwarves just let Raatma help move some heavy stuff around, but as they warm up to her, she's able to start doing some proper work.

Baldric, taking in what he's allowed to see of the kingdom, gets the sense that at least a third of the nobles of the land disagree with King Azadar's plan.

Bulgarath gets sick of knowing that nobody in this meeting actually cares about his input and decides to leave. Geria and Baldric leave with him.

Khoros asks Vestrum whether he trusts Raatma. The old dwarf waxes lyrical about it, and makes sure to work side-by-side with Raatma on something before they leave.

We have a strategy session with Baron Ugnor and end up deciding to have Bulgarath try to send some warning visions to the King. Things misfire. The King orders Vestrum sent to the dungeon.