Hupperdook

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

City Description
Hupperdook is a city of industry, where the majority of the Dwendalian war machines are forged and constructed. There is a large metallic archway that rises into a pointed entrance. In the metal are various rivets carved in that read "HUPPER," "DOOK".

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 a hundred or more dark workshops and towers that billow smoke from chimneys and stacks. Oversized cannons and mobile siege towers are placed in the open spaces between these towers. The colors are fairly drab: browns, greys, and dark graphite metals. On the ground there is a faint layer of soot from the constant smoke.

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

Iron Lot
The Iron Lot is where war machines are developed and designed. There are large towers with large wheels that are affixed to them that are grinding. There are platforms rising up and down lifting building materials onto the higher levels. There are larger-wheeled platforms that have three or four bolt-throwers, 30 feet tall large siege towers, a giant battering ram, and a 15-foot cannon. This is also the place the firearms are designed and produced.

The Omni-Smelter 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. Imported ingots are also melted down so they can be utilized by the Assembly Yard. Rissa says the foreman of the Omni-Smelter is "a bit of a tool". A bunch of weird folks who doesn't have a lot of craft and skill work there.

Built into the far northern side of the mountain's base is the Armavault: a solid iron door (25-30 feet tall and 60 feet wide) jammed into the mountain. It is very well-protected, with the Mighty Nein observing at least two dozen Crownsguard stationed at the base of the door. Most of the city's funds are stored inside the Armavault, as well as war machines specifically set aside to defend the city in case of attack.

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 Firemark Facility is a plain-looking building made of cheap metals, where the city's engineers and the Dwendalian military continue to develop the experimental gunpowder technologies and weapons.

The Gearhold Prison is located towards the southern end of the Iron Lot. 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).

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.

The Upper Tier
The Upper Tier is about a hundred feet above the base level and is held up by a massive outcropping of leveled rocks. Along the ridge of the mountain shelf on this level lay hundreds of buildings and arches, occasionally dappled with an autumn-colored tree. Behind the city mass, there is a shimmering waterfall that cascaded from out of the center of the mountain, about 1000 feet up, that glimmered like silver-white light. The upper tier is known as the "Idleworks Shelf".

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 for an event or 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 Ireena Clawmop.
 * 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 building that is boarded up.
 * 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

The Silver Falls is a massive waterfall cascading a thousand feet from the top of the mountain, into a large lake, where columns of steam are rising up. Beside the waterfall there is a steam engine-type mechanism built into the surrounding rock that they use to fuel the furnaces and elements of the technology within this city. Around the waterfall are numerous thin, tall, and metallic, three-to-four story towers that have balconies and little windows. Inside live and sleep most of the city's residents.

Society
During the day the pavilions in the town are empty and there is nobody just taking a walk, but they are rushing from one place to another or shouting commands.

Steam whistles and oranges and red fireworks go off signaling the end of the workday. And the streets suddenly come to life as people began to rush out of buildings, taking off their work clothes and rushing off to home to unwind. Typically, citizens party until they pass out, wake up, take a couple Fuse (the local "hair-of-the-dog"), and then go back to work, and the whole process repeats.

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.

Upon getting closer to the city, the Mighty Nein were able to validate some of Beau's story: Hupperdook was very clearly a city of industry, with wood-smoke and coal-smoke rising from various towers and smokestacks. Jester was immediately disappointed that the city was nothing like she had imagined.

By the time the party arrived, the city was already in the middle of full-blown war production - constructing bolt throwers, battering rams, cannons, and other siege weapons for the Righteous Brand to utilize in the ongoing war against Xhorhas.

The Mighty Nein is shown around the city in the evening before they check in at the The Blushing Tankard, where they participate in a drinking contest. Upon waking up, they find most of their purses stolen and start a quest to track down the thief. Rissa takes them to her dad, Cleff Tinkertop, and they agree to try to destroy the Gear Warden, his creation, which has gone out of control at the Gearhold Prison. Continuing their search for the thief leads them to a boarded-up shack, where they find a group of children (the Schusters) living on their own since their parents were imprisoned for idol worship.

Jester scrys on Kiri and can see that the upper part of the city has taken some damage from a Kryn attack, but is being rebuilt.

Trivia

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