what with Coal being caught between the two largest
criminal syndicates in the city).
If the characters have no place to stay in Sharn, Ger
maine puts them up at Ghallanda Hall in Middle Dura
for the duration of their investigation.HIGH WALLS
Sham's neighborhood of High Walls in Lower Tavick's
Landing is a district mostly enclosed by walls. All of the
bridges from other districts to High Walls have massive,
magically warded gates that can be sealed at a mo
ment's notice. Each gate incorporates a fortified Sharn
Watch station. The neighborhood is home to refugees of
the Last War, mainly the displaced peoples of Cyre.
When the characters arrive in the district, read or
paraphrase the following boxed text to the players:The stench of body odor, garbage, and tobacco mix to
gether in the streets. High walls cut this district's crum
bling, vandalized buildings off from the rest of Sharn,
though towers rise over the walls like imposing sentries.
Many people stand idly on street corners, eying you sus
piciously and keeping to themselves.It is a simple matter to find the Cog Carnival, and just
about any resident can give directions. It's the only war
forged bar in the neighborhood.THE COG CARNIVAL
The Cog Carnival is a dilapidated warforged dive bar.
The bar has a crumbling stone outside marred with
graffiti that says things like, "Forged Are Scrap!" and
"Leave, Metalheads!" Ingot, a neutral warforged soldier
(see chapter 6) with a carved chunk of wood replacing a
severed foot, collects a cover fe e from creatures that en
ter the room. Wa rforged can enter the building for free,
but other humanoids must pay 5 cp each.
When the characters enter the Cog Carnival, read or
paraphrase the following boxed text to the players:
Smoky, low flames in a fireplace barely illuminate the
cracked stone walls and filthy floor of this establishment.
The single-room space is crowded with warforged with
severed digits or limbs, scars, burns, and other wounds.
Other warforged in the area are gathered around tra
ditional dice, card, dart, and board games as well as
carnival competitions such as throwing metal rings
onto posts, tossing a ball at a tower of weighted iron
cups hard enough to make them fall down, and striking
a homemade machine hard enough with a hammer to
make it ring a bell.
A small bar in the corner serves cheap ale. Behind this
bar, a warforged bartender shouts jeers at patrons los
ing games.CHAPTER 4 J BUILDING EBERRON ADVENTURESSmelt, a lawful good warforged soldier (see chapter 6),
is the owner of the Cog Carnival. She wanted to create
a safe place where warforged could gather and social
ize in this district. She can't afford the city's expensive
gambling license, so she made the Cog Carnival a place
where warforged can play games for free.ANYBODY KNOW COAL?
The warforged patrons of the Cog Carnival do not freely
give information about their own to outsiders. If asked
about Coal, most of them remain tight-lipped. A charac
ter who provides a bribe of 1 gp or succeeds on a DC 13
Charisma (Persuasion) check convinces one of the pa
trons to point out who Coal is: a black, one-armed metal
warforged sitting alone near the bar.
Coal, a neutral good warforged soldier (see chapter
6), is missing her right arm. If the characters approach
her without identifying that they work for Sergeant
Vilroy, Coal immediately notifies the bartender, Smelt,
that she's being bothered by the party. If things start to
get tense, Coal gets spooked and bugs out; move on to
"Catching Coal," below.CHATTING WITH COAL
If the characters mention Sergeant Vilroy as they meet
Coal, she stays calm but still asks why Vilroy didn't
come herself. Vilroy's explanation to the party about
attracting attention soothes Coal, as does the party ex
plaining they are Vilroy's trusted confidants.
Once Coal is calmed, she hurriedly explains the kid
napping of a child from House Orien, the murder of
her friend Razor, and Daask's hunt for artifacts in Old
Sham.Just as Coal is finishing her exposition, a bolt of
fire explodes inches from Coal's head, causing bedlam
in the Cog Carnival. Coal runs for her life, shouting that
the party set her up. The chase is on!CATCHING COAL ----
Coal sprints 60 feet away from the characters into High
Wa ll's streets, intent on escape. The warforged has no
particular destination in mind. She simply wants to get
away from the characters, whom she believes set her up
to be assassinated. This chase takes place in the "the
ater of the mind," and there is no map for it.
If Coal runs away and the characters pursue her, use
the chase rules and Urban Chase Complications table
in chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master's Guide to resolve
the scene. The chase ends when the characters catch up
to Coal or after three rounds, when a Daask hit squad
intercepts Coal as she runs through an alley.DAASK HIT SQUAD
If they fail to catch up to Coal before the Daask hit squad
attacks, the characters hear the warforged scream for
help in a nearby alley. If the characters rush to help her,
they find the warforged unconscious on the ground,
but stable, surrounded by the Daask criminals. If the
characters resolve the chase by catching up to Coal, the
Daask criminals attack as soon as the chase ends, and
the warforged aids the characters in battle.
The Daask force consists of Hound, a chaotic evil
female shifter (see chapter 6), leading three cranky