"Now that I've tooled you up... git!" Beatrix shoos you all away. "Let me get back to my tinkering, ya kids."

Before Eman can respond, the group is shoo'd away.  Once in the hall, Emanuel turns to Trigger; "Okay big guy, our lives are in your long reaching hands. *snicker* Lead the way."

"Well, the first thing to do is to get to Cogsgate Ward in Lower Tavick's Landing. The professor recommended a sky coach, but we could also trek on foot if you all prefer."

“As much as I would like to explore the city, I am anxious to get started. Let’s fly!” Berlyn responds practically skipping down the hall. 

Trigger begins following after Berlyn at a relaxed pace. While walking he speaks aloud to both Berlyn and J'Sahriel.

"The two of you are both freshmen, right? Have either of you flown by sky coach before?"

“I have,” Berlyn replies. “When my family visited Sharn last year to tour the university. My mother wasn’t too thrilled about the lifts...”

J'Sahriel shakes her head in response to Trigger's question.

"Nope, never have.  Being so far from home means I'm always trying to save coin, even if it means walking quite a ways."

Lily smiles at Eman's continued jokes, bad as they are while the group heads out! "I have no preference either way, so whatever the leaders decide it acceptable to me!"

"I have but only for work; so it was usually crowded with coworkers." Eman looks around him at the others.  "Sorta like this trip will be." He adds a smile.

"Well then, Miss Moran, you should prepare yourself for quite the treat. Flying through the city is one of the things most unique about Sharn. I've yet to find any place where such travel is so readily available and accessible."

Trigger will take the lead on the trek to the skycoach dock since he has used this particular one many times in the past. He doesn't rush, but his stride is steady and strong.

He does not react in the slightest to Eman's attempts at humor.

You leave the school and return to the skycoach switching station on foot. The pilot is a warforged with a cross-like ghulra sigil on his forehead. When the warforged hears you are going down to Cogsgate, they instruct you to buckle up. You have barely enough time to fasten the belt around your waists when they pull a lever and the skycoach takes a nosedive and plummets thousands of feet to the base of the city. People from Sharn find this kind of trip exciting. If you are not from Sharn, you are dizzy when you hop out of the skycoach.

You leave the skycoach in Cogsgate ward switching station, in Lower Tavick’s Landing. For once in the city, there is floor connecting the towers and no bridges. The towers are wider down here than they are in the upper wards, some even merge into each other, as more towers were built over time to support everything that is above them. If you were to visit Sharn by land, this is the part of the city you would see first. The towers are so tall that there is almost no sunlight here, even at noon. Most streets are illuminated with ever-burning lamps, magical lights that require no fuel, on posts in every corner. There is a noticeable difference between the university and this place. The streets are packed with people selling stuff, working, and going from one place to the next. No one is wearing fine clothes, everyone looks either sad or tired. By their looks, everyone appears poor.

You reach an opening in the ground. Stairs lead down to a lift that brings you down to the foundations of Sharn, to the Upper Cogs, the underground infrastructure of the city. You descend about three-hundred feet. The industrial ward of Blackbones is before you. Despite being underground, it is better lit than the neighborhood above. One thing you notice is that there is a significantly higher number of warforged laborers in this ward. About half of the people you see are warforged. The roads are slanted downwards, the more you walk, the deeper you go. The temperature increases too as you move ahead.

Trigger is strolling down the streets with his sledgehammer hoisted over his shoulder, his stride still steady and strong.

"Well, from here, I believe all we have to do is find the right sewer access, correct? Is there any indication of where that might be on the map?"

Based on how the map is marked, the only clue you have to go on is the shape of the tunnel before you reach the sewer. It's possible those of you who have lived in Sharn could know where this might be...

If you lived in Sharn, roll with disadvantage for History!

Anyone may suggest a solution to this conundrum! (such as asking for directions)

A few minutes after alighting from the airship, Berlin’s equilibrium returns. She looks about with keen interest and awe, not having been to this part of the city before. She is aware that she seems a bit out of place, but does not act that way, walking with confidence, but not in a haughty, arrogant way. She nods at folks as they pass and wishes she had more time to peruse the wares being sold knowing that interesting items can find their way into all sorts of places.  

A loud "YYYAAAAAAHHHHHOOOOOOOO!!!!" can be heard emanating from the skycoach as it rapidly descends, in a voice that just might happen to be J'Sahriel's...

As she disembarks from the skycoach, J'Sahriel hesitates ever so slightly, clutching at the straps to her backpack.  Her face reveals a mixtures of excitement, nervousness, and trepidation, but also resolve.  She shakes her head once, seemingly deciding something for herself, before mostly confidently taking her first step into the lower cogs.

(OOC Note: This is J'Sahriel's first time in the cogs, but definitely NOT Jhess's.  She's been through this area a few times, just never as this persona.)

Venturing down into Blackbones itself, J'Sahriel walks just a bit closer to Trigger, her nerves and curiosity both getting to her again.

"Um...Mr. Trigger?" she begins a bit timidly, "why are there so many warforged down here?  Do you have any idea?"

When the conversation comes up about the map, she takes a quick glance at it.

History: 6

"There are many different reasons. We Warforged acclimate more readily to the conditions down here than most other races. House Cannith also has extensive influence in the Cogs due to the Foundry Compounds and other operations. I think, in part at least, my kind are not yet sure of our place in society and as such many have sought out places like this to build our own, instead of integrating into the society of the upper levels and wider world."

Trigger, who is a Warforged and has been down here a few times, gains his bearings after you all walk around for a moment. Soon, he latches onto a landmark that leads him to where three passages come together to an entrance to the sewers. 

Anyone may roll a History Check (with advantage if from Sharn) to know the following fact(s) about the Upper Cogs:

DC 10

 DC 14

 After a few minutes of walking inside the sewage tunnel, it is still hard to adjust to the poignant smell of the combined waste of the city above. The dark tunnel continues straight forward like the map describes, until you reach the first intersection. Two streams of waste connect with the one you have been following, adding to it more dirty water. The smell is even stronger this far in. According to the map, the way forward is straight east.

Before you cross the intersection, however, a figure emerges from the darkness ahead. The man is just a little above five feet tall but muscled. He is wearing rags and an old torn leather hat. His body is all covered in hair, but not enough so to cover his tanned skin. His eyes are yellow. He smiles and you can see that his teeth are long and pointy. All in all, he gives out a canine wolf-like air to himself. The shifter does not appear to be holding any weapon.

The shifter says, “Hmm, no token of passage, eh?" He lifts his nose up at you all. Those with a passive perception of 12 or better see he seems to be sniffing you. "This is Red Jackals territory, and you are not welcome unless you pay for a guide. Fortunately, I am such a guide. And the cost is a mere... thirty gold pieces,” the shifter licks his teeth and lips like a dog would and continues, “Don't try anything funny. I am not alone, and we don’t have much patience for pesky visitors.”

Berlyn stays quiet waiting for Trigger or maybe Eman to respond. Are we really going to need to pay this guy, she wonders. She rubs her shoulder and tries to get a better read on this guy. Are there really others about?

History 4 (she knows very little about the Cogs)

Insight 9 with Deductive Intuition 4 = 6