As detailed in the Guide to the Labyrinth, the Labyrinth is the “space between worlds.” Though most of the Labyrinth consists of tunnels, bridges, and stranger passageways, bottled cities and pocket dimensions lie within its twists.

Traveling the paths of the Labyrinth can be a life-changing experience, sometimes because it kills you. That’s why it is crucial to find those waystation shopping locations for the traveler in need. This time we stop in the clinking and clanking realm of Ravatet, the Demiplane of Gears.

Ralkoff Planar Shipworks

Type Private Business
Size Small Town
Location Lighthouse, Ravatet
Proprietor Vesilie Ralkoff
Notable Staff Mr. Rhodes, sizable staff of gearforged workers and 12 steam golems
Typical Goods Voidships, Shipbuilding Supplies and Crafts

Viewed from afar, the shipworks is a towering lighthouse extending up from the highest point of Ravatet. Encircling this towering structure are two ring-like platforms, one higher than the other, containing a network of building slips, docks, forges, taverns, warehouses, barracks, and workshops. While intended as an establishment for buying, selling, and repairing voidships, Ralkoffs has grown into a popular port for crews and traders alike. At any given time, there are three to ten voidships docked at Ralkoffs under repair, resupplying, or enjoying the amenities. 

The shipworks is the personal domain of Vesilie Ralkoff, a dwarf gear mage (see Creature Codex). She is a physically imposing, gruff woman with a shrewd eye for evaluating people but little in the way of politeness. A genius at her craft, she possesses no tact or personal boundaries, and feels such social mannerisms are a waste of time.

Ralkoff cares only about building and repairing voidships. People are the “necessary evil” that allow her to practice her art. She relies on Mr. Rhodes, a gearforged templar (see Tome of Beasts 1), to manage the day-to-day activities of the shipworks. Mr. Rhodes is utterly devoted to Ralkoff, leading to speculation that they were once lovers before transference into his gearforged body. The small army of staff working for Ralkoff consists primarily of gearforged, with a few mechanically savvy dwarves and halflings. Order is maintained by the Stanchions, a policing force made up of the shipworks staff on a periodic rotation, as well as about a dozen steam golems (see Tome of Beasts 1).

The Shipworks has three distinct sections:

The Docks. This upper ring around the lighthouse, includes docking facilities for visiting voidships and warehouses for their goods, forges, workshops and building slips. Here, Vesilie Ralkoff builds, repairs, and maintains voidships with her gearforged staff. Various cranes and magical winches allow goods to move to and from Feddwyn Circle below. The Stanchions patrol the Docks heavily, and any altercation also draws the attention of nearby workers.

Feddwyn Circle. The smaller lower ring around the lighthouse, the Circle is made up of three concentric streets lined with taverns, inns, shops, and other shore-leave services for the voidship docked at the shipworks. Feddwyn is solidly constructed but cruder than the Lighthouse or the Docks, since Ralkoff doesn’t concern herself with activities here. Though the Stanchions make periodic patrols, their appearances are few and far between. Law and order, such as it is, is maintained by local guards hired by groups of taverns or establishments. Currently, three figures vie for power in Feddwyn Circle. 

• Ortrud Beckete, a dwarf Cleric of the Brew (Codex), represents the Right Noble Planar Trade Company, an alliance of business owners and merchants operating out of the Marketplace and the Shipworks. Beckete wants to gain control of Feddwyn Circle to force Ralkoff to make concessions to her patrons. 

• Ilyich Foma, a human Thief Lord (see Creature Codex), runs the criminal underworld of Feddwyn Circle from a teahouse called Merk’s Fine Teas and Tisanes. Polite and exquisitely mannered, Foma nonetheless runs his thieves, murderers, and beggars with an iron fist. He seeks to control all of the businesses in Feddwyn to afford to move his entire enterprise somewhere else.

• The shadowy figure known as Psachno, a gearforged (see Tome of Beasts 1), leads a small cell of gearforged operatives working for a Void cult. Their objective is to infiltrate and corrupt Ralkoff’s gearforged staff. Until that is accomplished, Psachno brokers information and works to place corrupted gearforged agents onto as many voidships as possible.

The Lighthouse. The miles high tower of the lighthouse is off-limits to anyone but Ralkoff and her staff. The interior contains spacious living facilities and richly appointed amenities such as heated bathhouses. Much of these are not used by the largely gearforged staff, leading many to believe the tower was built for a different purpose. Running vertically up the center of the tower is the “Core,” a pulsing beam of writhing lightning and arcane energies powering the lighthouse’s light and many functions of the Shipworks. 

Secret. Vesilie Ralkoff trusts machines and the vessels she builds; she doesn’t trust people. Unbeknownst to her customers, Ralkoff installs a Disabler Rune into every ship she builds or repairs. These runes are tied to an activation rod of her own design. She can disable any rune-marked vessel by pointing the rod and pressing a button. Ralkoff has never needed to use her failsafe, but she believes in preparing for the worst.

Items From the Planes: Voidship Stats

Voidships can fly through the Void as if through air. Anyone traveling within a voidship is immune to the effects of void terrain. Here are alternate statistics for the various voidships first described in Warlock 31: Void Magic:

Aracno-Carrack

AC 15 (wood plus organic matter)
Hit Points 300
Damage Threshold 20
Speed fly 40 ft. (4 1/2 mph), voidspeed
Cargo 100 tons
Crew 25 (up to 50 passengers/prisoners)
Keel/Beam 200 ft./40 ft.
Cost 50,000 gp

Lengfolk Brigantine

AC 15 (wood)
Hit Points 400
Damage Threshold 15
Speed fly 50 ft. (5 1/2 mph), voidspeed
Cargo 75 tons
Crew 20
Keel/Beam 130 ft./30ft.
Cost 35,000 gp

Ahu-Nixta Dreadorb

AC 19 (metal)
Hit Points 450
Damage Threshold 15
Speed fly 25 ft. (3 mph)
Cargo 50 tons
Crew 30
Keel/Beam 70 ft. radius sphere
Cost 55,000 gp

What are voidships? They’re vessels that travel across the killing nothingness of the Void.
Find out more about the corruption of the Void and the heroes fighting it back in the Labyrinth Worldbook, on Kickstarter soon!

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