Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #331

Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #331 

November 28th, 2023 

• Number: 331 

• Name: Deep Dive of Subjects of Interest: Of the Accounting by Mister Zariya Savindy, Scholar, as Requested by the Arcane Guild - Part 2 

• Location: Across the hills and dales of the City-State of Taodeas 

• Population (approx.): 313 (Village of Cestle) 

• Brief: Upon his arrival in Matumouth, Zariya checked in with the local chantry of the Arcane Guild, requesting a room if available, which fortunately it was for a man of his position and mission. The census of the chantry was completed quickly, little change recorded, and then he began to explore the town itself. Zariya was a skilled listener, good at sifting through rumors and stories to pick up bits and pieces of data of interest to his specific job. This time, in Matumouth, stories had reached this coastal town from points in the south of the Wastelands, below the Church-State of Earth and Water. The fragments appeared to concern a magician of some sort who experimented on people, tinkered with mechanical constructs and perhaps both at the same time in some perhaps unholy fashion. The next day, Zariya summons Jorgenson and announces they are to head south along the river for two days travel, to meet a Guild magician who knows a thing or two about tinkering and might be able to sift the wheat from the chaff of these stories. 

• Josys (Jos) Fiddlebit, 173, Gnome, is an expert clockwork Mage. She is small and nimble. Her hair is green and curly, and she highlights it. Jos's eyes are indigo blue, and she wears horn-rimmed glasses. Her skin is a fantastic shade of gunmetal gray. Jos wears a leather skirt, a white undershirt, and a purple leather vest. She has a magical toolbelt with many pockets, which automatically summons one of the items contained within the pocket to her hand. Jos loves peace and refuses to carry weapons or let her creations have any. 

• When she turned fifty, Jos learned clockwork magic from Panaxim Quietcraft, 230, Gnome. Always a quick learner, she soon surpassed Panaxim and ventured off alone. After wandering the world for fifty years, she settled in Cestle, a village on the Matui River. Jos rented a room and set up a shop, What a Piece of Work. Her specialty is in creating small clockwork workers who help with mundane chores.  

• Once Jos began making money, she created a group of clockwork workers who built her a house and workshop near the edge of town. One day, Merpip Thundercrag, 160, male Gnome Lamplighter walked into her shop looking for a unique clockworker to help him light the town lights at night. The two fell in love and got married. Now they have two boys, Nesni, 10, and Kaslen,7. 

• Jos's best friend is illusionist Renee Groz, 50, female Human. The two of them are avid readers of adventure stories and chat about them over tea. Jos is also interested in gardening and plants lots of herbs she can use to cook Gnome dishes she likes to make. 

• Zariya and Jorgenson arrive in Cestle and meet with Jos at her clockwork workshop. Much discussion ensues over drinks and dinner until Jos has an inspiration. She asks whether Zariya would mind a short journey over the Matui River into the Church-State? He does not and so the next day the trio, accompanied by Renee the Illusionist, board Jos’ Clockwalker, a mechanical vehicle with legs tall enough to ford the river. Over a day later, they arrive at Stonefellow a small village built around a large stone creature seated upon a lump of earth. Jos explains she came here having heard rumor of the “Stonefellow” and wanted to ponder its magical workings. They dismount outside the settlement and Jos introduces them to a local priestess of Pala, God of Earth. The priestess has heard rumors of strange ruler, a “Tinkering Lord” south of the Lost Coast. Zariya notes this seems to match the stories he heard in Matumouth and something the Guild should consider investigating. Information gathered, they return to Cestle and eventually Zariya and Jorgenson are on their way again. 

• Geography: The village of Cestle sits on the east bank of the Matui River about 30 miles due south of Matumouth (#120). It is a typical settlement built on a rise above the spring floodline, with wooden stairs down to the docks along the water. Jos’ clockworkshop and house are further inland on the outskirts. The journey by Jos’ Clockwalker takes them across the river and about 50 miles southwest to Stonefellow (#103) on the southern border of the Church-State of Earth and Water (#29). The rumors point to the Tinker King (#174) who rules a stretch of the Afale Maug hills south of the Lost Coast (#64).