History of the Clock Tower goblins

Written by the player of Nug

History:
86 BE: Ghul creates the Steelbrood goblins from various sources of flesh and bone, along with grafted pieces of steel to fight the legions of Dwarves with Dwarven technology. The brood was led by a particularly small goblin, skilled in healing and magic, with half mechanical limbs and a magical, adamantine eye.
60 BE: Infuriated by their treatment by Ghul and his forces and enlightened by their great
goblin leader known as Gidon Steelbrood, the Steelbrood goblins rebelled against their master while he was weakened by previous battles, led by Gidon’s five leading warriors.
55 BE: The tribe retreated to the catacombs beneath what would become the city of Ptolus. Gidon then reassigned surnames for his fellow goblins, based upon their talents and accomplishments. The Oozeeater clan was so-named for their leader’s ingenuity in creating a machine to clean out an area of the catacombs for inhabitation. The Steeltooth excelled at leadership and organization, and were exceptionally kind and good. The more agile and intelligent leader was named Ironclaw; Metalmaw was the surname granted to the family of his fearless and ferocious warrior. Finally, Ironbone stemmed from the particularly hardy goblin who endured more abuse at the hands of Ghul than anyone.
1 IA: The death of Gidon. After Gidon’s passing, the goblin clans came to know him as Gidon the Steelhand. His story and legacy was passed down, though he never birthed any direct descendants.
212 IA: Gidon the Steelhand ascends, after his people begin to worship him as their great savior and the bringer of light.
650 IA: The Steelhand goblins move deeper into the sewers, after the city begins to expand. The tribe has grown slowly from a small population of about twenty-five to about seventy.
700 IA: A gnome entrepreneur stumbles upon the goblins, injured and fleeing from bandits. Promac Thimblethumbs is taken in by the Steelhand, healed, and accepted into the group, where he stays for two to three years.
703 IA: Promac opens a store in Ptolus, selling goblin wares. Members of the clan venture from the sewers cautiously to join in endeavors in the city for the first time since their retreat to the sewers almost 750 years previous.
721 IA: A group of delvers led by a Shuul member happens upon the goblins, and considers goblins undeserving of the technology they possess. He reports back to the Shuul about his findings. The Shuul plan and execute a raid and massacre of the Steelhand goblins. The unknowing and usually peaceful Steelhand goblins were left devastated. Many goblins lay dead and much of their technology was stolen. The goblins flee the sewers to the clock tower, which their chieftess and highest priest are attempting to obtain. They are met there by Promac and find refuge within the clock tower of Old Town.
Today: The goblins live safely in the clock tower, though still with a fear of the Shuul attempting another attack. A favorite goblin among Old Town, the Guard, and the tribe was assassinated only a month ago in front of their home. The restoration of the clock is nearly complete, only lacking a magical stone for power. Buzz of the Old Town Clock Tower and its occupants runs rampant through the city, as the Steelhand goblins hand out souvenirs and trinkets with the emblem of the Clock Tower and Gidon the Steelhand embossed. They can also be seen out around Old Town, cleaning up the streets, helping with chores, and handing out trinkets, but never very far from Guardsmen.

Appearance & Customs:
The azure skin of the Steelhand goblins tells them apart from the orange goblins native to the city. The Steelhand are small, with eye colors ranging from yellow to green to black. Most are pierced in their long ears and noses, with black tattoos across their ankles, wrists, necks, and sometimes backs. Clothes, shoes, and simple jewelry are necessities, as are daily baths. Children are allowed to play and expected to only do minor household chores rather than heavy work, though games that encourage learning are greatly supported. Helping one another is the foundry for the tribe, so the extension of help and caring to the Ptolus community is only natural since their ventures into the city. The tribe is still very shy, though, as the Shuul and many others show them great hostility.

Clan Specializations:
Oozeeater: Firearms and alchemy.
Steeltooth: Glass and ceramics.
Metalmaw: Mechanical and metalworking.
Ironclaw: Tanning and tailoring.
Ironbone: Carpentry and metalworking.

**These specializations become increasingly muddled as the tribe grows, since the clans are becoming quite mixed.

Goblins in tribe:
42 Adults
· 30 @ 1st lvl 15 commoners, 10 Experts, 5 warriors
· 5 @ 2nd lvl 2commoners, 2 experts, 1 warrior
· 1 @ 3rd lvl expert
· 1 @ 4th lvl rogue (Tus-Tus, member of the Ironclaw Clan)
· 1 @ 6th lvl expert (Zorm, member of the Metalmaw Clan)
· 1 @ 6th lvl paladin (Neb, member of the Steeltooth Clan)
· 1 @ 3rd lvl adept (Moz, member of the Ironbone Clan)
· 1 @ 6th lvl rogue (Wug, member of the Ironbone Clan)
· 2 @ 5th lvl warriors (Gen-Gen IronClaw & Gax Steeltooth)
With Chieftess Nug Oozeeater (7th level 6Fighter/1Kensai) and High Priest Lukugk Oozeater (7th level Cleric)
30 Children

Important familial ties:
1. Lukugk Oozeeater (7th lvl Tech-Priest) husband to Moz Ironbone (3rd lvl adept) and father to
2 boys (Sengi & Guned Oozeeater) and 2 girls (Raka & Gura Oozeeater)
**Sengi is exceptionally bright, Guned very devout & hard-working, Raka agile, and Gura charming

2. Nug Oozeeater (6th lvl figher/1st level kensai) wife of Neb Steeltooth (6th lvl paladin),
parents of 3 girls (Nuta, Gini, & Skeda Steeltooth)
**Nuta & Gini are both intelligent girls; Skeda is very shy, but alert & intuitive

3. Wug Ironbone (4th lvl rogue/2 lvl fighter) wife of Zorm Metalmaw (6th lvl expert), parents
of 2 boys (Metog & Zobin Metalmaw)
**Metog and Zobin are very agile and smart

4. Tus-Tus Ironclaw (4th lvl rogue) wife of Gax Steeltooth (5th lvl warrior) parents to 2
boys (Gonet & Mezen Steeltooth) & 1 girl (Seza Steeltooth)

5. Gen-Gen Ironclaw (5th lvl warrior) widow of Keben Ironclaw (killed in the Shuul
massacre) mother to 3 boys (Keben, Nemen, & Bono Ironclaw) and 2 girls (Keva & Baza Ironclaw)

A brief retelling of past events.....

The start of our current campaign took place outside of the city, about 50 miles away from Ptolus on the South Road. The group was much larger at that time, consisting of 7 players. They struggled through a haunted inn and battled a demon spider. Along the way they freed a caravan guard named Fred Cooperson from the clutches of the demon spider. They then journeyed to the city.

They became involved at that time with a black smith named Elias Inthower. He hired them to find a key to a vault below the city. Elias believed the key to be held by small time criminals in the Docks District. The group infiltrated a warehouse in the docks district after staking the place out and finding it to be used as a front for said criminal activity. They broke in, fought several criminals and as Ogre, and managed to acquire the key.

From there they joined the Delvers guild to gain access to the library. They researched the key and found the likely place it was held. So they traveled underground only to become embroiled in a conflict between a small kobold tribe and a group of the Plagueborn chaos cultists. They assisted the kobolds in defeating the cultists and freed their young Black Dragon queen from the clutches of a strange Chaositech mind controlling parasite. Unfortunately nearly all of the kobolds died from a horrible wasting disease. This caused the young dragon queen abandoned her small underground demesne. But not before she informed House Dallimothan of the groups actions, earning them favor with that noble house. The newly minted Delvers found the door that the key went to, but chose not to open it. It appeared to be sealed for a reason and had they had come across a small cell that most likely held a vampire at bay. They surmised that they had been duped by Elias into almost unleashing something very evil.

This is when things went from bad to worse. They gave the key over to Jevicca Nor for safe keeping in the vaults of the Inverted Pyramid. She asked them to investigate the Banewarrens after the release of a self proclaimed avatar of chaos. They made it into the first rooms of the Banewarrens before being forced to retreat. On their way out they ran into Fred Cooperson once again, he had become a Delver and been hired by the Church of Lothian to investigate the Banewarrens. The group was glad to see that he was doing well. They left Fred and his group to guard the entrance and went to look for a key to travel further into the Banewarrens. Their investigation led them to Pythonese House looking for an artifact called the All-Key. After their first foray into the house they were unsuccessful in getting the key and were ambushed by Vai Assassins hired by Elias. All but 3 were killed (this is when our group split up and got smaller). This brings us to the present.....

Npc's and Contacts

Prilmac Thimblethumbs: Male/Gnome/ The Clock Tower Goblins "face man". This affable gnome runs a shop filled with clockwork toys, compasses and the like. He sells the goblins goods for them. His shop can be found on the first floor of the clock tower. He is also a talented Machine Smith in his own right.

Skevin: Male/Human?/A strange member of the Inverted Pyramid who seems to have a plethora of knowledge in regards to the various chaos cults. This hunched and decrepit looking figure was first encountered outside of a very unwholesome brothel. He(?) seems to have an unhealthy fascination with feet and oozes. Skevin is also known to be at least 350 years old.

Ginsa Hammerblight: Female/Dwarf/ This Dwarf has a booth in the undercity market that sells guns. She has set up a business agreement with the Clock Tower Goblins to sell their wares and funnel business between the 2. The goblins are also fixing broken guns she purchases from delvers.

Heinrich Van Mach: Male/Human/ The watch captain for Oldtown. He is friendly with the Goblins and approves of what they are doing with the Clock Tower. Anything to improve "his" district is a good thing. He keeps 1 or 2 watch members near the Clock Tower to run off misguided Delvers that want to clean out the "goblin infestation" and to watch for the return of the chaos cultists.

Fred Cooperson: Male/Human/ Fred is the son of a barrel merchant in the north market. He became a caravan guard to "see the world". What he ended up seeing was the inside of the nest of a Demon Spider. He was saved by the original group of adventurers, and is still on good terms with the current group. He has come home and started making a name for himself as a Delver, and has even been joined by the clock tower goblins resident paladin.

Action Points

We use action points as described here. Thank you Hypertext D20 SRD!

Clocktower Goblins

Clocktower Goblins use different rules than regular goblins.

-2 strength, +2 dexterity, -2 charisma

Small size: +1 bonus to Armor Class, +1 bonus on attack rolls, +4 bonus on Hide checks, –4 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits 3/4 those of Medium characters.

base land speed is 30 feet

Darkvision out to 60 feet

+4 bonus to Knowledge(Machines) and Craft (Machines)

bonus feat: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Firearms)

Automatic Languages: Common, Goblin

Favored Class: Any (all races in my game get any as favored class)