Crossroads and Zobeck
believe the Free City is slowly building an army of loyal
gearforged soldiers), and most months, a privately funded
gearforged does as well. These independent gearforged
must pay off the cost of their creation, and most do so
through service to a wealthy family, temple, or guild.
From time to time, dwarven mule trains from the
Ironcrags bring in shipments of iron and unusual alloys,
jewels for precision gearing, and offerings for the temple
of Volund. His shrine here clearly shows the dwarven
influence. An ever-burning altar and anvil stand before
his statue, and his dwarven acolytes call out his name in
Dwarvish as they tap out the rhythm of Volund’s hymns
and songs of praise. The noise of worship is often lost in
the district’s other racket.
Kobold Ghetto
The Kobold Ghetto, a warren of streets no more than 6 feet
wide (at best), lies adjacent to the Argent and Derry rivers.
Throughout most of the Ghetto, roofs meet overhead to
keep out the glare of the sun for the nocturnal inhabitants.
The Ghetto has only two official entrances, the Ghetto
Gate and the Water Gate, each carefully watched from
both sides. Multiple kobold “kings” or tribal chieftains
rule the district, retaining power only as long as they keep
their relatives and minions in line. One king, the King of
Kings or Queen of Queens, holds the others in check until
their united strength undercuts the monarch.
Five years ago, Queen Clarhida ousted Kuromak, the
7th of that name, to claim the leading position. King
Quetelmak ousted Clarhida two years later. Few kings last
more than a few years. Some barely last a year.
More than 90 years ago, the kobolds were slaves to
House Stross, and the Ghetto was their pen. They were
chattel used by the family to do the dirtiest and most
dangerous jobs so that humans and dwarves could work
at finer crafts and live comfortably. Kobold slaves mined
silver, built clever clockworks, and worked deadly steam
boilers for the constructs and automatons that fueled
Zobeck’s industry. History largely ignored them, but
some believe the kobolds helped invent the everwound
spring, the aeolipile generator (a steam engine used in
places where water or muscle power won’t suit), and the
reciprocating balance wheel, thus laying the foundations
for Zobeck’s fame. These centuries of enslavement form
an indelible part of the kobolds’ culture, and despite
their relatively short lives, no kobold in Zobeck has ever
forgotten the indignity.
Now, the Ghetto is a place of free kobolds, the legal
equal of any man or woman of the Clockwork City. They
remain a people apart, however: physically, culturally, and
habitually. The single biggest obstacle to full equality is
their nocturnal nature. Kobolds labor all night and return
home before dawn to spend the day in sleep and rest before
venturing back out shortly before sunset. Their unusual
entertainments include rat fights, owl races, and pigeon
hunts, visiting the Fierce Lynx gladiator pit, and pursuing
amateur alchemy, often with hilarious results.
Chain Bridges
Under Quetelmak, the kobolds have built several small
bridges using linked iron chains and barrel floats to
connect their territory to other districts—and even to
span the Argent over to the Margreve side at night, when
traffic is low. These chain bridges are a clear route for
smugglers avoiding the gate taxes that fund city coffers,
and they might allow passage to Mharoti spies or cultists
of the dark gods. Mayor Olleck hates the chain bridges,
but whenever the City Watch attempts to seize them, the
chains and barrels are cut loose (and later recovered).
Mayor Olleck is coming around to the position that these
bridges are useful to the kobolds, and she is negotiating
with King of Kings Quetelmak for a way to impose a new
“Bridge Tax” on smugglers. The king sees real merit in the
idea of a kobold-controlled portion of the city treasury.
Pit of the Fierce Lynx
Miles of warrens, homes, workshops, and smugglers’
tunnels run under the Kobold Ghetto—but so do less
domestic and less savory locales. One of these is the Pit
of the Fierce Lynx, a gladiatorial arena where a friendly,
scheming fight promoter named Yshka Bishka (LE
male kobold rogue 8) runs a bloody business in fighting
roosters, hounds, and humans, with occasional knife
fights or honor duels by kobold lovers for variety. Fights
are held weekly, in a round pit that is easy to sluice clean
after each evening’s butchery.
Winners at the Lynx are treated as kobold royalty for
a day or a week, and the whole ghetto finds the fights
enthralling. The setup is wildly illegal, and the mayor has
made it clear that she wants to shut it down. So far, she’s
not willing to send in the number of Watch guards required
to actually end the practice, but a recent proclamation
offers 500 gp for anyone who brings Yshka Bishka in for
“questioning or burial, for crimes against nature.” The
mayor would be perfectly happy if he showed up dead.
Other Districts
From the smallest district to the largest and even
underneath, Zobeck holds wonders—some undiscovered
even by its residents.
Cartways: A series of tunnels lies under the city. Before
the Great Revolt, the city’s wealthy used these old kobold
mining tunnels for their private highways, and noble
revelers used them to travel to and from Stross-sponsored
Winter Festival parties in the underground cavern called
Winter Hall. Although the city has officially closed the
Cartways, thieves, smugglers, and undesirable residents
use the tunnels to conduct business or lair within them.
Lower Zobeck (Ashmill): Ashmill is home to the
Free City’s poor and unskilled working classes, though a
few merchants such as the Kappa family have purchased
large chunks of space near the Moon’s Grace Temple and
the shrine to St. Charon (Charun). Lower Zobeck also
houses the Wheatsheaf Tavern, a favored drinking hole
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