#sergach

[ttrpgtreacle]

A dropped plotline in Zhuttsgraad was the underclass of Ogre that were coaxed from the hills for manual labor. The ogres were banding themselves around a brotherhood based around Everart Claire like ringleader.

The players were originally going to have to deal with them to help get in Gorodzuba. Cut because it wouldn't have been a great use of time.

[ttrpgtreacle]

The walls of Gorodzuba were created in an early era of elevated magic, by stone-melder Duerrgar, not long after the initial dwarven immigration into Zhuttsgraad. The interior of the wall is its own complex of rooms, ventilation, utility and storage.

After widespread flooding in the area triggered the unveiling of the unreflecting mirror and its resonance with the waking elemental temples, the countryside of Sergach was ravaged, and led to refugees setting up camps within small towns outside the wall. As a result, entrances into the higher part of Gorodzuba were choked with these camps, with a hastily organized lottery system to determine who gets rations.

I was going to have a combat here, but I had a headache day off so I settled for a tense interrogation, and the interior of the wall citadel was left unexplored.

Using Foundry features it's possible to draw roofs on buildings. I had a hard time getting this to work, though.

[ttrpgtreacle]

Muskraag was the first elaborate map I made for Skies of Walltestia and it went unused. The players had multiple vectors for ending up here. Getting captured by the Prince in particular, would cause the players to wake up in the prison at the center of the facility. Additionally, if the players had followed a branch of the main quest, it would have led them here to extract stores of Anastasia's venom extract, so they could formulate an anti-dote.

Muskraag is a floating island chained to the continent of Zhuttsgraad via large chains. A chain lift is how supplies make their way to the island and the motor house for it can be found in the bottom right. The facility is powered by guzzle grit, which powers many of the industrialized airships.

The island features a guest room, a visitor area, a security checkpoint, an exercise area, a kitchen, a torture room, a barracks, a venomtorium (small closet for storing extracts of wyverns, for th purpose of making individual-specific antidotes) a small pen to contain cows (the preferred food of the wyverns), a number of voice tubes, alarm stations. See if you can spot them all!

One detail I'm just now remembering: notice how there's a stretched out cow on the runway? Since Wyverns prey upon cows, it's useful to use symbology that will compel them to dive to land. Additionally, it only coherently appears as a cow from the correct angles, making landing much more smooth, especially for newer wyverns that are still undergoing training.

[ttrpgtreacle]

This Forest Grove is where the players found an eye leech in the eye of a spear deer. Using speak with animals, they were able to get consent to remove the leech from the eye, and put it into a jar. Much of the local fauna in Zhuttsgraad and infiltrated with such parasitic additions, all a part of how the Zhuttskulak, the secret police, gather their info.

They also ventured behind the waterfall, to find a space barely larger than a closet, where a meager shrine to the element of water was held. They left an offering to the water then, alighting one of the irises of Aramomni's shell.

[ttrpgtreacle]

Used in a Valve style steam pipe puzzle on the cliff pump facility.

Art-wise, this works but man is it rough. But, be honest: you can't even tell I haven't discovered brush stabilization yet. Jokes aside, Why I didn't use the circle tool!?

[ttrpgtreacle]

This map was a test of two different things, one is mechanical related to the map, and one is sitrep related. This map was a test of verticality, featuring walls with top/bottom heights, stairs that automatically adjust token height, and tiles placed at certain heights using Foundry's wall height module. The main thing this experiment convinced me is that it would be difficult to implement it at a larger scale: Maneuvering between different heights was awkward as the GM, and I was left with questions as to how I would keep track of situations with players on different layers. Also, it became clear that the art would need a new pass -- players didn't even realize the building was two stories. (Some sort of drop shadow would probably necessary)

Sitrep-wise, I think this map was a lot of fun. The players are woken up by an npc and told the secret police (the Zhuttskulak) are planning an ambush, and the best way to move would be to escape to the undercity using the well system. However, there are two wells on the map: the left well is more obscured, but the sight lines are a lot tighter. The right way is more straightforward and closer, but it's the obvious ambush direction. Being one step ahead of the Zhuttskulak means that they can have more resources and personnel than the players and still be out-manuvered as they are less flexible to change from their original strategy. And if the battle takes too long you can start depositing tallboys.

Another part of setting of this sitrep is making the players have a way of planning their route, even if they can't see the map. Therefore I had the npc who initiated the sitrep (Stasya) hand them a handdrawn map.

CW: instant telefragging of domestic animal

Yo everyone, this map featured the use of an all time great Alik Aliksvich prank item: scroll of teleport to nearest dog. A player in a dire moment needed to escape, and used the magic item sourced from the unreliable merchant to escape, disappearing in a puff of smoke and emerging in a nearby home, surrounded by fur and legs.

[ttrpgtreacle]

Gorodzuba is the town the players went to after their sojourn through the shattered archipelago. It is the home of the parents of Alcinia the lodestone merchant. It is also a place of strife: rapid industrialization has beckoned forth many of the hill giants that made the mountains their home; untrusted but necessary, their homes are restricted to the muddy districts near the dock, where the filth from sky whale processing chokes the streets, and the smell is inescapable. This industrialization was bankrolled by the struggling bourgeoisie, but they have yet to see significant returns; the products they make are licensed from Venercian merchants, who are unwilling to grant their entire process, leaving Zhuttsgraad with second order work -- forming of raw materials for basic purposes. It is Zhuttsgraad's center for tall boys, though they are already out of date compared to Venercian automechs. As indicated earlier, Gorodzuba is also a regional hub for nooceti processing.

Here's a version with out labels:

Here's a secondary view, showing the prototypes for some of the buildings/airships

[ttrpgtreacle]

This map took place as the pirate party left the Shattered Archipelago and were heading towards Gorodzuba. Upon this bridge, they met the shady merchant Alik Aliksvich, and nervously spent the night near him.

Sometimes a map is a victim of its own ambition, and sometimes it is a victim of not planning. I can't remember what is most responsible for how this map worked out. The plan was to create a map with varied terrain and to test out the wall height foundry module. But I didn't end up doing any of that. Well, they didn't end up fighting Alik anyway, so all works out for the best I suppose.