Hupperdook

Hupperdook is an industrial city in the Dwendalian Empire that is largely populated by gnomes.

City description
Hupperdook is a city of industry. It is here that the majority of war machines and firearms for the Righteous Brand are forged and constructed. At the southern entrance to the city is a pointed metal archway, upon which the name "Hupperdook" is riveted.

The city is built into the side of a mountain at the eastern terminus of the Silberquel Ridge. It is organized into a lower tier and an upper tier. At the base of the mountain above the lower tier, there are two winding switchback roads, a very steep staircase, and an elevator that ascends up to the second level.

The Lower Tier
In the Lower Tier are hundreds of dark workshops and factories billow smoke from tall chimneys. Buildings here are usually built from stone, brick, or metal, leading to a drab coloration. A faint layer of soot covers the ground due to the constant smoke from the factories.

The lower tier consists almost entirely of industrial areas, and is divided into the northern Ironlot and the southern Assembly Yard.

Ironlot
The Ironlot is where war machines are developed and designed. Siege weapons here include platforms affixed with multiple ballistae, 30-foot tall siege towers, battering rams, and giant 15-foot long cannons. This is also the place the firearms are designed and produced.

Some of Hupperdook's factories use the natural volcanic activity in the Underbellows as a consistent heat source, maintaining some of their forges and furnaces beneath the city. Rissa admits that it smells "downright awful".


 * The Armavault, a heavily guarded storage area built into the Silberquel Ridge, housing most of the city's funds, as well as war machines built to defend the city from an attack. Dozens of Crownsguard are stationed outside the vault, in front of it's massive doors that stand 20-feet tall and 60-feet wide.)
 * Nima Cinnarid's house, humble abode located in the northern part of the Ironlot district.
 * Sootswallow Lodge, the largest and one of the only taverns operating below the Idleworks Shelf. A fence named Udoth who keeps a room here in the evenings is always in the market for adventuring goods, which he buys for 75 percent of their value rather than 50 percent.
 * Winch Lift, giant steel platforms lifted by impressively large chains carry heavy equipment and large groups of people between the Ironlot and the Idleworks Shelf.
 * The Prayer Foundry, a temple to the All-Hammer in the center of the lower tier, this mighty octagonal structure resembles a massive anvil atop an iron shrine.
 * The Omnismelter is a spiderweb-like formation of a dozen or so foundry warehouses that are connected by a series of hallways, allowing extraction of metals from ore on a massive scale. It smelts, purifies, and prepares a majority of the metal materials and ingots distributed throughout the Marrow Valley. Imported ingots are also melted down so they can be utilized by the Assembly Yard. Rissa says the foreman of the Omnismelter is "a bit of a tool". According to the Schuster family, Omnismelter's employee are a bunch of weird folks who doesn't have a lot of craft and skill work there.
 * The Gearhole Prison is located towards the southern end of the Ironlot. Similar to the Armavault, its entrance is also a solid iron door built into the mountain base, but smaller (only 15 feet tall and 20 feet wide).
 * Ironside Barracks, a bulding across from Gearhole Prison, lodging most of the Crownsguard and Righteous Brand soldiers stationed in Hupperdook, including Watchmaster Bram Gulchswattle.
 * The Lay of the Land Herbalist, a wedge-shaped shop of smoke-stained thatch, warped wood, and a faded signboard. It operated by Zendasa, a welcoming herbalist and a druid.
 * Neverbend Smithy, a general smithy long run by the Neverbend family of gnomes who sell arms, armors, as well as metal-based adventuring gear.
 * Silberhaul Mines, the deep tunnels of ore veins.
 * The Firemark Facility is the only sanctioned manufacturing den of black powder in the town, where the city's engineers and the Dwendalian military continue to develop the experimental gunpowder technologies and weapons. The bulding itself is plain-looking and made out of red bricks and cheap metals. The facility is managed by Sleese Firemark.

Assembly Yard
The Assembly Yard is where all the war machines are built. There is a roped section that is just pock-marked craters and scarred ground, which is some sort of a testing ground for whatever they have been working on over the numerous decades. The ground here is fairly barren and there isn't a lot of grass. But it is a pretty harsh scrub land with small bushes. Some of the bushes have a very unique-looking white bud flower in them. It is an open place, where they are building large siege engines, mobile cart powered by something odd, huge bolt throwers, battering rams, and huge cannons.

On the other side of the testing ground are dozens of dark metallic warehouses and buildings that are connected by hallways. There are small compounds that are focused on whatever their specific businesses are in these designated, delegated areas.


 * Builder's Plot

The Upper Tier
The Upper Tier is the upper part of the city, which divided into two main sections: the Idleworks Shelf and Silver Falls Grove. The Upper Tier is built one hundred feet above the Lower Tier on a wide outcropping of leveled stone. Hundreds of buildings and trees cover the area. Behind the city is the Silver Falls, a thousand-foot waterfall that cascades into a lake in the Upper Tier.

Idleworks Shelf
The Idleworks Shelf is a lively district and the center of Hupperdook culture. Most of the city's taverns, inns, and merchants can be found here. There are open pavilions decorated constantly as though for a festival. Within the center the Silver Falls can be found.


 * The Blushing Tankard is the most prominent and lively establishment in the Idleworks Shelf. It is owned by Irena Clommop.
 * Firecrackers vendor: A thin, young gnomish man sells ten sparklers and ten poppers for five silver.
 * Flower vendor: A middle aged portly looking gnome who sells flower strings for five copper pieces.
 * Bent Binders, a book store that is closed in the evening.
 * The Schusters Butcher, a small butcher shop owned by the Schuster family.
 * Steelbringers Forge, a smithy hired Fitz and Ashton as the assistants. The Might Nein went there to talk with them after they lost inventory.
 * Tinkertop Inventions, a workshop owned by Cleff Tinkertop

Silver Falls Grove
The Silver Falls is a massive waterfall that cascades from a thousand feet at the top of the mountain into a large dammed lake. The waterfall and lake feeds into a steam engine that is used to fuel the furnaces and other technology within the city.

Around the waterfall are numerous apartment buildings. These buildings are tall metallic towers that stand up to four stories high, dotted with windows and balconies. Many of the cities residents live in this neighborhood within these towers.

Society
The gnomes of Hupperdook work long shifts in the factories during the day, resulting in little activity among the streets during work hours. Steam whistles blow during the lunch break and at the end of the day, the latter of which is also marked by fireworks as the end-of-day festivities begin.

Demographics
The majority of the city's citizens and workers are gnomes, with the occasional dwarves and some humans and half-elves. Both male and female gnomes can be seen working in Hupperdook's factories and foundries. In 835 PD the population is 12,090, with 76% being gnomes, 10% dwarves, and 8% humans.

Before Campaign 2
The autonomous city of Hupperdook was originally constructed before the founding of the Dwendalian Empire in 539 PD. Around the 630s PD, the city joined the Empire via a diplomatic agreement arranged with Emma Zezbok, the leader of the city who became Hupperdook's Starosta. Through this deal, Hupperdook retained a level of autonomy greater than most other Imperial cities, including a locally appointed Starosta rather than one decided by the Crown, as well as a reduced presence of Crownsguard. In exchange, Hupperdook became the center of industry for the Empire's military, the Righteous Brand, producing all manners of weaponry, siege engines, and following its distribution in 811 PD, firearms.

A few years prior to 835 PD, the engineer Huron Stahlmast was assigned to Hupperdook to develop weapons for the Empire. There he worked with other tinkerers in the city such as Cleff Tinkertop, but was later ousted for his eccentric designs and inhumane methods of experimentation.

Tinkertop meanwhile was contracted by Starosta Zezbok to create a mechanical warden for Gearhole Prison in 833 PD, with plans to produce more as city sentinels if the design was successful. However, an unknown error in its design caused the Gear Warden to malfunction and go berserk, killing several inmates and guards before being sealed in the bottom floor of the prison. Disgraced, Cleff was fined for the loss of life and lost many future prospects for further inventions. The prison meanwhile kept the berserk automaton sealed, planning to have it destroyed but repeatedly re-prioritized.

Campaign 2: The Mighty Nein
In 835 PD, The Mighty Nein passed through the city on their way to Shadycreek Run to do a job for The Gentleman. There they found that the city in the middle of producing siege weapons for the newly declared war against the Kryn Dynasty. They were shown around the city by Rissa Tinkertop, who took them to the Blushing Tankard. There they competed in and won the Hour of Honor drinking contest against Blemmy's Crew, but woke the next morning to find their coin purses had been stolen.

While searching for the thief, Rissa took them to her father Cleff Tinkertop, where they admire his creations and agree to destroy the Gear Warden he created that had previously gone berserk in Gearhole Prison in exchange for the crossbow he made, the Tinkertop Bolt Blaster 1000. Continuing their search, they found the thief using Locate Object, targeting the drink tokens they had won, and found the thieves to be the children of the Schuster family, who had been living on their own since their parents were imprisoned for unlawful worship of Avandra.

Moved by their plight, the Mighty Nein decide to get the Schusters' parents out of prison. The party spoke with Wardenhelm Poppin Drokrusher, convincing him to let them in to destroy the Gear Warden. Upon successfully doing so, they convinced the warden to release Gilda and Wallace Schuster in lieu of payment and an additional bail fee. After taking the Schusters back to their home, the party requested they take care of Kiri, a kenku child that had been traveling with the Nein. Thankful for what the party had done, the Schusters accepted.

Months later in 836 PD, Jester Scried on Kiri, where she saw that the upper part of the city has taken some damage from a Kryn attack, but was being rebuilt.

Trivia

 * Jester noticed the town's name on the map purchased from Lochward General. She immediately wanted to go there, thinking the name sounded funny.