Cauldron's Background

The slaves of the town (the Korreds) have had an underground resistance movement for generations. Their masters are extremely powerful so they have exercised EXTREME patience while they scheme and plan and wait for the opportunity to bring down their captors. They trust you both enough to have included you both in their plan to free the party who they see as crucial allies in their struggles. It is their hope that the party will help bring about the downfall of the town's guards and allow all the slave to escape.

While most of the resistance remains hidden in vast underground chambers you both are able to move freely in the town. With that said, you both have the distinct impression that the authority above is starting to suspect you both and that you are being watched carefully. It wouldn't take much for you to be arrested, quickly tried and executed if someone began to solidly suspect your involvement with the Free-Kors as they are called.

Cauldron

Population:

• 4,500 adults (large town).
• Mixed (79% Korred, 9% Azers, 5% Archons, 3% Salamanders, 2% Phoelarch, 2% other).
• Korred are slaves who have been working the steam pits for generations.

Economy:

• Mushrooms/fungi – major food export to the City of Brass
• Fire mare herds – raised for export to City of Brass
• Exotic gems, cut gemstones, obsidian
• Water – Collected from steam pits and stored under constant heavy guard.

Authority Figures:

• Lord Balrus
• male efreet karadjin
• rarely seen and VERY powerful
• rumoured to spend most of his time in the City of Brass with occasion unannounced visits to keep the town’s lords on their toes
  
• Lord Xan'klru'atzl, Chattlemaster
• Beholder
• Answers only to Lord Balrus
• Resides in “castle”
• Merciless
  
• Terseon Skellerang:
• male salamander noble
• Captain of the Chattlemaster Guard

Town Emblem:

• A blue circle wreathed in flames.

Description:

Believed to have been founded by Lord Balrus, Cauldron is the only populous area in the Cauldron Region. The Cauldron region is in a barren volcanic wasteland. The town’s buildings, tightly packed and built from volcanic rock and petrified wood, linethe inner bowl of a nameless, dormant volcano. Obsidian roads form concentric circles around a steaming pit, which fills the volcano’s basin. The steam which emits from this pit is what makes Cauldron so unique.

A 50-foot-tall fortified wall of black malachite encircles the city, tracing the outer rim of the volcano, contains only one main entrance which begins the long road to The City of Brass. The districts nearer the rim of the city tend to be occupied by upper class (mostly salamanders) and elite merchants (mostly azars). The closer one gets to the centre of town (and the closer to the pungent odours of the central steam pit), the shoddier the construction and the more dangerous the dark alleys. This is where the bulk of the cities slaves spend the time they are not working the mushroom farms in the pit’s side caverns or mining the ore and precious metals found throughout the caverns walls below. Smaller avenues connect the four main roadways (from outer to inner, the avenues are named Obsidian, Magma, Lava, and Ash), which form concentric terraces down to the pit in the centre of the town.

Cauldron is ultimately ruled by Lord Balrus. Over the years he has entrusted this duty to the beholder Lord Xan'klru'atzl. Other important individuals in the city include Terseon Skellerang, captain of the Chattlemaster’s Guard, the members of the noble families, and Cauldron’s few wealthy merchant interests.

Cauldron’s major exports come from two sources: mines and plantations. Both industries are based within the pit itself, and are managed by the various noble families who live in the area. Obsidian and diamonds are theprimary products mined in the region. Plantations – located in underground caverns running perpendicular to the pit usually produce mushrooms and other underground plants. Most of those who dwell in the city itself are slaves and those associated with running the harvesting operations. While steam issues from the mouth of the pit, there are very few places where it collects naturally. There are a few collection centres located around the mouth of the pit which are very heavily guarded as are all water sources in the Plane of Fire.