Steampunk Hold · The campaign
The Note on the Forge
The Screaming Forge was mortgaged three centuries ago. Somebody has come to collect.
The Screaming Forge
The Screaming Forge was mortgaged three centuries ago. Somebody has come to collect.
The road
Ten fields — forty miles of rail, sidings and pitheads. The Damned Covenant is the rival, and eight kingdoms stand in the way.
Chapter I · The Muster
Everything here runs hot and everything here runs loud. That is not a fault. That is the design.
- 1
The Muster · Light the beacons
Cold Boiler
The Clans have come for the machines they say you stole.
To win: 2 braziers kindled, on the warded stone. Stand at each cold brazier until the fire takes. Kindle every one — or raze them instead.
Against: Dwarven Clans.
Terms: The standing works — A spawner is already raised and already yours.
The Clans say we stole the pattern. We say we improved it. Either way the boilers are cold, and that is the actual crime. Light them.
- 2
First Blood · Bring the wain through
The Tollway
A Realm garrison on the only road that will take a load.
To win: the wain to their gate. The wain rolls only under escort. Outnumber them beside it and see it to their gate.
Against: Human Realm.
One road in this county will take forty tons. They have put a gate across it and a man in a sash beside the gate. Forty tons is going down that road today.
- 3
A Twist · Break the works
Scrapfall
Star-Fallen pickers in the spoil heaps. Break what they raised.
To win: 3 of their works down. Put their spawners down. The keep can stand.
Against: Star-Fallen.
Terms: The empty chest — You march with nothing. Everything you field, you earn here.
Sky-folk in our spoil heaps, cutting things they did not make with torches we would very much like to look at. Break what they have raised.
Chapter II · The Rival
They brought a clerk to a war. The mark on the contract is our founder’s, and it is real, which is the part that keeps us up.
- 4
The Rival · Bring the ark home
The Reading Room
The Covenant, the note, and a figure at the bottom of it.
To win: the ark, carried to your gate. The ark stands on the prize. Whoever reaches it carries it, at their own pace; it drops where they fall. Yours to your gate takes the field — theirs to their gate loses it.
Against: Damned Covenant — the rival.
A clerk, a table, and a figure at the bottom of a page. Three centuries of interest, compounded by people who never sleep. Take the page off the table and bring it home.
- 5
Adversity · Stand over it
Number Nine Shaft
The Horde has fired the pithead. Hold it until the shift is out.
To win: 100s with none of theirs on the bog. The thing at the centre is yours to keep. Every soldier of theirs inside the ring wounds it. Keep them out until the clock is run.
Against: Orc Horde.
Terms: No walls of your own — Your keep cannot be fortified. Meet them in the field.
The pithead is burning and there are two hundred souls below it. Hold it until the cage comes up. Every trip.
- 6
The Ally · Burn the toll-houses
Shrine Sidings
The Dynasty blessed your sidings and billed you. Take the works down.
To win: 3 of their toll-houses burned. While one of their toll-houses stands, half your income is theirs. Burn every one. The keep can stand.
Against: Jade Dynasty.
Terms: The war-chest — An ally has paid for this one. Spend it well.
They blessed our sidings without being asked and invoiced us for the blessing. Take the works down. Return the invoice.
Chapter III · The Long War
A key is worse than a crowbar. A crowbar is only strength.
- 7
The Siege · Take the key
The Sealed Hall
Walled, warded, and holding your paper.
To win: the key, off the marked one, to their gate. The marked one carries the key to their door. Bring it down, pick the key up, and walk it to their gate. Their keep falling ends it too.
Against: Damned Covenant — the rival.
Terms: Walled against you — Their keep was fortified long before you came.
Bring the cutting gear. There is exactly one door in this county we do not hold a drawing for, and it is ours.
- 8
The Reversal · Work the seam
Wyldwood Cut
Hold the cutting. The Court wants the trees back.
To win: 12,000 gold banked holding the high ground. Only gold banked while you hold the ring counts. Hold it and let the purse fill — or raze them instead.
Against: Elven Court.
Terms: The thin muster — Only your cheapest ranks answered the call.
Hold the cutting and keep it paying. The Court wants the trees back, and the trees are already sleepers under forty miles of rail.
- 9
The Gathering · Break the works · Eight commanders
The Muster Yard
Every banner that ever bought steam, in one yard.
To win: 6 of their works down. Put their spawners down. The keep can stand.
Against: Undead Dominion.
Every banner that ever bought an engine off us, in one yard, every one of them owing something. Take their works apart — all of them are running on our engines. Full pressure.
Chapter IV · The Crown
Settled, in the only currency this Forge has ever printed. Let the next clerk read the receipt.
- 10
The Crown · Bring the ram to the wall
The Screaming Forge
Your own forge, with their seal on the door. Before the pressure drops.
To win: the ram to their wall, then the keep. The wain is a ram. Walk it to their wall and the masonry comes down — then raze what is left standing.
Against: Damned Covenant — the rival.
Terms: Walled against you — Their keep was fortified long before you came.
Listen for the note. While it holds, the boilers are still ours; when it drops, somebody else has the valves. Put the ram to the valve-house door before it drops.
The rival
The Damned Covenant — Debtors of the Blackened Pact.
The clerk is early. It has brought the contract to us rather than waiting at the vault.
They brought a clerk to a war. It is holding a contract with our founder's mark on it, and the mark is real.
The Sealed Hall - our own vault, opened from the inside. They did not break in. They had a key.
The Screaming Forge. Whatever the paperwork says, the hammers are ours and they are still swinging.
How it ends
Crowned
Contract settled, in the only currency the Forge has ever printed. Let the next clerk read the receipt.
Broken
The Forge is theirs on paper and now in fact. Listen to it scream. That is somebody else winding it.
The Overwound boons
The branch of the boon tree only the Steampunk Hold can take:
| Boon | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| The Boilers Lit | 1 | Nothing here waits for a shift to start. |
| The Sidings | 2 | Every load that leaves the yard is billed for. |
| The Overwind | 2 | Past the safe mark, where the Hold does its best work. |
| Full Pressure | 3 | The forge never cools, so nothing costs what it should. |
| The Screaming Forge | 4 | Hull plate on everything, and the noise to go with it. |