Stahlmast's lair

The lair of Huron Stahlmast is a subterranean compound located high in the Silberquel Ridge, above the city of Hupperdook in the Dwendalian Empire.

Description
The entrance to Stahlmast's lair is in a cave behind the top of Silver Falls, behind a locked steel door. Throughout the complex is a series of metal tubes through which Stalmast can issue orders to his minions, as well as speak to any intruders.

Eastern wing
Once entered, Stahlmast's lair opens into a crude recreation area with several dining tables, and an adjoining kitchen. To the north of this room is a jail with three cells where Stahlmast keeps any prisoners, as well as a workroom where he plotted his designs and plans to destroy Hupperdook.

South of the recreation room is an armory connected to a storage room filled with black powder. Connecting to the western wing is a hallway that doubles as a trap that when triggered will drop intruders into a pool of water, which is inexplicably filled with three reef sharks.

Western wing
The shark chamber opens into a training area where Stahlmast's kobold underlings are trained by the Kryn Dynasty ambassador Ishel Hythenos. To the north is a bedroom where Ishel stays, and a hallway with a trap that fills the room with scalding steam. This hall leads north to the Clockwork Forge. To the west of the training room is a large room that act as barracks for Stahlmast's kobolds.

To the north-east of the barracks is an infirmary and surgery room, where Stahlmast implants explosive seeds into his kobolds. To the north-west is a chamber and smithy used by Roguun. North of the smithy is a long storage chamber for various supplies that leads to the Clockwork Forge.

Clockwork Forge
The Clockwork Forge is the Centerpiece of the lair, and the main area where Stahlmast built is clockwork mecha-suit, the Stahlmaster. The room is lined with various worktables and and features a massive anvil and forge on the north wall. To the south is a pathway that leads deep into the Underdark. To the east is Stahlmast's bedroom, which he keeps lavishly decorated and has a secret door leading to his workroom in the eastern wing.

Background
Several years before 835 PD, Huron Stahlmast was a brilliant engineer assigned to Hupperdook to develop weapons for the Dwendalian Empire. However, his eccentric designs and inhumane methods of experimentation led him to be ousted from the city. During the War of Ash and Light, he made contact with Den Hythenos of the Kryn Dynasty, who hired him to create weapons for their effort in the war. With the den's funds, Stahlmast created a his lair within the Silberquel Ridge. There he amassed a following of kobold underlings and devised a plan to take over Hupperdook using his latest creation, a large mecha-suit he named the Stahlmaster, as well as using large explosives to create a landslide that would bury much of the city.

Dangerous Designs
Three weeks after Nima's capture, Stahlmast broke Sken Zabriss, a Kryn operative and prisoner of war, out of Gearhole Prison as part of his plan to take over the city. An adventuring party hired by Watchmaster Bram Gulchswattle tracked her to the Silver Falls cave, where they captured her and discovered the entrance to his lair.

Once inside, the party found that Yinra Emberwind, a bounty hunter the party had previously encountered, had been captured and was being held prisoner. She would escape if freed, but could be convinced to help fight Stahlmast.

Within the lair, the party also encountered many more of Stahlmast's kobold underlings, an inexplicable tank full of sharks that Stahlmast planned to release within Silver Falls Grove, found his blueprints for his mecha-suit and plans to bury the city, and two of his lieutenants. Training the kobolds was Ishel Hythenos, who acted as Stahlmast's liason with the den, and his blacksmith, Roguun.

If the party's presence in the lair ever became known to Stahlmast, he would taunt them over the series of speaking tubes placed throughout his lair. Once the party confronted him in the Clockwork Forge, Stahlmast attempted to convince the party to join him. Assuming they refused, Stahlmast fought the party within his giant mecha-suit, the Stahlmaster. Once Stahlmast was defeated, either by being killed or captured, the party claimed their reward from Watchmaster Gulchswattle, and was given a bonus if the party presented his plans and connections to Den Hythenos.