CRAWLers
Their full working title is Clinger to Rough Angular Walls for Locomotion, but everyone has come to just call them CRAWLers. The inventor of these vehicles is the gnome Karin Fagerberg, an engineer working for the Flamel Group. The first prototypes were already active in the last decade of the War of Flames. After centuries of further fine-tuning, they are now the most common mode of transportation throughout the Blackflame Gulch. Almost all of them are owned by the identically named guild, the Crawlers.
The newest models of CRAWLers are outfitted with six segmented limbs that can be moved independently. Their robust and armored cabin can house up to ten people, depending on the model. All of them are outfitted with seats for two pilots, while skilled and experienced drivers can pilot a CRAWLer solo. The engine powering the limbs usually concerns mundane fuel sources, while the flotation bladders are powered magically. These can be triggered automatically during an unexpected fall, or activated manually for more controlled descent into the depths of the Gulch.
To increase the travel comfort, which even for seasoned adventurers and explorers is a welcome luxury, the dwarven engineer Noah Tegler designed a system of rings and magic sensors that allowes the cabin to always align itself horizontally, vertically, or to any direction the pilot deems fitting for their particular mission, regardless of the position of the limbs and whether they are clinging to the wall or free. This allowed the vehicles to more easily traverse ceilings of caves, without the pilots passing out from hanging upside down for too long.
Nevertheless, the seats are equipped with belts (one across the legs and a crosswise belt over the torso) and padded cushions to the back and the sides of the head, the shoulders, and the hips. The Gulch is a dangerous terrain to travel and especially in the depths, the occupants of the CRAWLER have to weather rockfalls and attacks by abberations and stranded fiends.
The newest models of CRAWLers are outfitted with six segmented limbs that can be moved independently. Their robust and armored cabin can house up to ten people, depending on the model. All of them are outfitted with seats for two pilots, while skilled and experienced drivers can pilot a CRAWLer solo. The engine powering the limbs usually concerns mundane fuel sources, while the flotation bladders are powered magically. These can be triggered automatically during an unexpected fall, or activated manually for more controlled descent into the depths of the Gulch.
To increase the travel comfort, which even for seasoned adventurers and explorers is a welcome luxury, the dwarven engineer Noah Tegler designed a system of rings and magic sensors that allowes the cabin to always align itself horizontally, vertically, or to any direction the pilot deems fitting for their particular mission, regardless of the position of the limbs and whether they are clinging to the wall or free. This allowed the vehicles to more easily traverse ceilings of caves, without the pilots passing out from hanging upside down for too long.
Nevertheless, the seats are equipped with belts (one across the legs and a crosswise belt over the torso) and padded cushions to the back and the sides of the head, the shoulders, and the hips. The Gulch is a dangerous terrain to travel and especially in the depths, the occupants of the CRAWLER have to weather rockfalls and attacks by abberations and stranded fiends.
