Naardor "Old Naardo" Gearsmith, an exhausted Magmatic senior crafter, Aarok and Gotnafiskr worshiper, and member of the Visus trade council who is ready to betray Root and disappear after losing his niece, Petra, to Root's machinations. Naardor oversaw Hamner and Petra's projects at Magmatic. He can help the group track Hamner Dreadfist, who has stolen plans for synthesizing shards. Naardor can also help connect the group with cels in Visus. Has the Aarok + Gotnafiskr tattoo.
The Black Mask, one of several bodyguards assigned to Root's inner circle of executive Aarok worshipers. Dissembled. Has the Aarok + Gotnafiskr tattoo
Key locations
Visus, the Bridge City, open for trade again along the Ash River from the Sootbeard Mine to the sea. Specializes in fleecing humans on "precious stones." Imports food and crystals from the homelands. The western bank has the human district; the eastern bank has the dwarven one. Each side controls half a drawbridge connecting the districts. The bridge is lowered and business has resumed now that the necromantic catastrophe is over.
Gearsmith Estate, Naardor's home and the site of a fateful dinner party.
The group's safe house, a sea cave to the west of Visus.
Key events
The group follows the dwarven trade council to a celebratory feast at Naardor's house.
Wally and Naardor strike up a conversation reminiscing about their time together at Magmatic and water cooler conversations about dwarven lore.
Naardor arranges a special menu for the feast.
Everyone stows their shards and larger weapons as a matter of decorum and etiquette before sitting at the table.
The rest of the council seems deferential to Naardor, perhaps because he represents Magmatic. They kiss up to him, though, rather than worship him.
Dinner conversation topics include Aarok and the party's adventure in the Sootbeard Mine and its hidden temple.
Naardor's servants serve 3 courses. Each course has 2 choices of dish and 2 choices of drink.
The ostentatious combinations that Naardor recommends catalyze one another into a powerful soporific that drugs all of the moguls into a deep sleep after dessert.
The other pairings carry encoded, cultural messages about Naardor's willingness to betray Root, re-purpose his assets, and negotiate a mutually beneficial deal with the group despite great personal cost.
Kilvar eats a lot of Gorma at Palada.
Each character eats and drinks some of Naardor's recommendations, but none of them consume a full course of poison. Kilvar is the worst off, while Faelin feels best.
Seeing the moguls pass out, Psalt attempts to hold his dagger to Naardor's throat. The Black Mask intercedes incredibly quickly, staying Psalt's hand.
Naardor scolds the moguls' bodyguards to drag their slovenly masters back home and then beckons the group to join him in his library. He is amused that Faelin did the best job of avoiding the poisoned plates and drinks.
After the resolution of his library encounter with the group, Naardor gifts the group several artifacts and supplies to help them on their next adventure. He can also help them establish cels in Visus before he retires in an attempt to escape Root's influence.
Kilvar gets the Aarok + Gotnafiskr tattoo.
The group recovers its shards and equipment and goes home to its sea cave safe house.
See Key understandings below to learn more about the group's after-dinner conversation.
At the end of the evening, Naardor shared these gifts with the PCs:
Shard arrows - a crystal shard with 11 arrowheads in its network that can be used to tag and track objects or prey.
Gotnafiskr's Tooth - dagger +1 damage; must draw blood whenever drawn or it will stick in its sheath forever; wielder's hand seeps blood painlessly when holding it.
Gilded echo eater in a crystal jar; break jar in case of emergency network.
A bottle of Vimdrought.
Walking workshop.
Cryptomancer's kit.
Key understandings
Naardor worships Aarok and Gotnafiskr.
He and his Black Mask have the Aarok + Gotnafiskr tattoo of concentric circles, which includes both a blue and red circle. Outer: Ochre (mountains) --> Blue (lake, Gotnafiskr) --> Ocher (volcano) --> Red (city, Aarok): Inner
Naardor warns the group not to trust people with only the red circle in the middle (plus 3 ochre circles, no blue) - they only worship Aarok.
Aarok is associated with creativity and invention and beginning new things, especially at the forge, while Gotnafiskr is associated with tempering, refining, and finishing things and bringing them from the mind to the world.
Between what Naardor knows and what the group has deduced, Aarok and Gotnafiskr may be flip sides of the same idea or deity or otherwise paired. Naardor has even read texts in which they are described as married and considered to be the parents of the dwarves.
According to Naardor, Root is the high priest of an Aarok cult that wants to raise Aarok as part of a campaign to retake the homelands.
Root and his circle do not acknowledge or worship Gotnafiskr.
Root has at least half a dozen ritual magicians working to summon Aarok back to life from wherever he or it is now. Naardor says they are using incomplete spells that also include passages of text they haven't been able to translate or understand. It's likely that the magma Golem avatar the group fought was brought to life by this magic and caused the zombie fishmuck. However, Naardor believes that the spell continues and will result in other summonings in the future until Root has a more fully realized Aarok by his side to support his plan.
When Petra and Hamner fled Magmatic, Root blamed Naardor who had been managing their projects.
Root installed Naardor on the Visus trade council to intercept Hamner and recover his stolen plans and technology.
Naardor failed. He wants the group to help him track Hamner or rescue a family member held hostage by Root. At first, Naardor is willing to coerce the party, but then Wally convinces him that Magmatic killed Petra.
Petra was Naardor's niece. Root threatened to turn her into a Black Mask if Naardor failed.
Naador now feels like he has failed entirely in losing Hamner, in losing Petra (who warned him about Root's unethical behavior), and in helping Root do bad things for so long.
Naardor does not believe Aarok would condone the creation of the Black Masks or that Root will be able to retake the homelands without being crushed by the Risk Eaters. He believes that Cineris, as it is, is what the Risk Eaters want right now. He also suspects that the shortcuts Root is taking towards the manufacture of his desired future will come back to bite him.
Naardor will help the group prepare to find the other artificers or to destroy Root before Naardor attempts to retire and escape Root's influence.
Naardor believes Root wants to create synthetic shards to mass produce camouflage cloaks for his Black Masks - elite cloaks who have volunteered or been conscripted to be Dissembled. Some serve as bodyguards for Magmatic executives inside Root's Aarok cult; others have been hidden as sleepers in Stranger communities.
Black Masks are dissembled; then their identities are broken down through extreme means; then they are initiated into the cult of Aarok and conditioned to bond with Root, one another, and any executive cultists they are assigned to guard.
Naardor theorizes that Root will use shadow chambers to train and bond the Black Masks as they help one another fight through the terrors of the shadow dimension.
Naardor thinks the best way to infiltrate Stoneshaper Keep is to shard storm it.
Naardor doesn't believe Root is essential to any of these plans or technologies.
The big idea so far, according to Naardor: Root is inventing and compartmentalizing ways to do things out of the Risk Eater's sight so he can prepare an Aarok-inspired army to retake the homelands.
Dril may be an agent of Gotnafiskr or Gotnafiskr itself.
There are 3 artificers left.
Normal risk is at 12%.
Magmatic risk is at 13%.
Key decisions
How should the group approach Dril?
What Strategic Assets should the group put into place with Naardor's help?
What should characters learn to prepare them for their next adventure?
Which artificer should the group pursue next or should the group somehow attack Root next?
Players, add your insights and questions below to get ready for session 7 on May 29th, 2018!
chadsansing
commented
6 years ago
Key NPCs
Key locations
Key events
Key understandings
Key decisions
Players, add your insights and questions below to get ready for session 7 on May 29th, 2018!