02 - Iron Kingdoms W.. - Captain Spud Is Amazing

108.1.141.197
Noted Persons
Darragh Wrathe (male Scharde Ftr10/Sor10):
Darragh Wrathe was a cruel but roguishly handsome
pirate, but the blight of his lord has not been kind.
His looks have abandoned him and his cruelty
increased, yet he is capable of speaking civilly when
it suits him. Although he is a sorcerer, he believes his
magical power flows from a mystical connection to
Lord Toruk much like a cleric’s. This may be true,
for as Wrathe’s power increased, he began suffering a
wasting affliction akin to Toruk’s priests. He eventually
had parts of his body removed by necrotechs and
replaced with mechanikal substitutes. His lungs and
heart have both been removed and replaced with foul
pumps, and his intestines and stomach now house a
small furnace and boiler to power the pumps. His
chest is covered by what looks like a brass breastplate
complete with a gorget that goes all the way up to
the bridge of his nose to hide his missing jaw, and
he speaks in a quavering buzz through a vent in
the throat. After he came to Skell to have his lungs
and heart replaced, he resigned from the fleet and
entered the service of Lich Lord Terminus. Relentless
and untiring, he now spends his days carrying out the
will of his master wherever he is required.
Master Necrotech Mortenebra (“female” Iron
Lich Amk15/Clr4): Having long purged the details
of her mortal life from her memory, Mortenebra has
fanatically dedicated her unlife to arcane research.
Operating on the outskirts of Skell, the iron lich
oversees a vast number of necrotechs and thralls
that aid her in all manner of vile experimentations.
Mortenebra has a tendency to chant prayers continually
to the Dragonfather in her hollow scraping metal
lich voice as she works. She is obsessed with seeking
artifacts from the mainland, and her agents regularly
encounter members of the Greylords Covenant at the
remote sites of Orgoth ruins. Mortenebra occasionally
purchases relics from smugglers who arrive on the
island. Rarely leaving the confines of her laboratory,
she entrusts these arrangements to her exceptionally
intelligent skarlock thrall Deryliss.
Locales of Skell
Black Temple: As the greatest house of worship
devoted to the Dragonfather, this monstrous,
sepulchral, many-domed complex is a marvel of dark
design. Dominating the skyline of Skell, the Black
Temple overlooks the city from a vast rocky hillside.
Visitors have been known to fall to their knees weeping
upon their first view of its shadow-lit interior. Obviously
designed to accommodate the Dragonfather’s vast
bulk, the dimensions of the temple instill the viewer
with a powerful sense of insignificance in the face
of such soul crushing majesty. The place is layered
with a fantastic array of sharp and twisted decorative
details lining the soaring walls as far as the eye can
see. The building always appears empty as no number
of supplicants could ever hope to fill its void. It is a
horribly blighted place, and anyone spending any
amount of time in one of its unholy services can be
sure to walk away physically or spiritually changed in
some way.
Toruk’s Citadel: This black spire of blighted metal
and bone towers far into the sky. The circling clouds
of snowy ash and soot that hide the ediface from view
gently cover the city below like a constant snowy winter.
Two enormous ebony doors stand fifty feet tall at the
spire’s entrance, never guarded or locked. There are
truly few foolish enough to enter, let alone uninvited.
The Dragonlord’s blight is like a heavy fog in the ether
around his palace, and only the strongest of wills can
bring a man’s eyes to linger on the towering spike for
very long. The only souls allowed freely into the citadel
are the Lich Lords themselves and their most trusted
servants. Toruk’s own clergy rarely enter, choosing to
allow the living god His privacy. If He needs them, He
will call.
Places of Interest
Castle Moorcraig: When Lord Toruk claimed the
Scharde Islands for His own circa 1,000 BR, one of the
pirate kings ruling on the main island refused to bow.
The remains of his once huge fortress are the blasted
and blackened rubble of Castle Moorcraig. Hundreds
perished when the Dragonfather made an example
of Moorcraig with His fiery litany. Toruk relished the
massacre which took mere minutes. The devastation
wrought that day yet scars the land and serves as a
continual warning never to raise the Dragon Lord’s
ire. Rumor has it, however, that dark things lurk
beneath the surface of the ruins, for the castle had
extensive catacombs and dungeons descending into
sea caverns containing Moorcraig’s hoard and a ship
World Guide 325