Mechanik’s Union

Burke Radliffe has made more than one fortune to last out his lifetime. He holds several lucrative firearms contracts, has expanded his formerly small Caspian shop into a grand gunwerks and has hired a host of foremen and apprentices who keep his forges lit around the clock. He has become a name in the custom firearms world and is well known for both the Quad-Iron pistol and the Radliffe Twoshot Rifle.

After spending time examining the work of his competition such as Clockwork Arms the gunsmith decided in 602 AR to outdo his previous work. After he disassembled and inspected a repeating long rifle from the Cygnaran army, which he acquired expressly for the purpose of scrutinizing its ammunition wheel, Radliffe found himself inspired to create a pistol with a revolving cylinder that could fire repeated shots before expending itself.

Radliffe’s attempts to replicate this wheel in a pistol proved expensive and difficult. It cost him one of his not inconsiderable fortunes over two years of work to design. He believes the entire experiment was ultimately a wasteful extravagance and does not expect to recover the money spent developing the prototype. One early design innovation was adopting brass shells not dissimilar from the ones used by the Cygnaran army, and the Ghordson sabot system imported from Rhul. Radliffe required brass shells made at a considerably smaller size, which made them costly to manufacture. The costs for reloading became prohibitive and convinced Radliffe the weapon would have no commercial application. He was further discouraged when the Cygnaran Army balked at his proposal because they deemed the pistol to intricate and delicate for the cost.

Burke dubbed his bitter accomplishment the Radliffe Firestorm. He attempted to solicit buyers after its completion but found little interest outside a few specialist collectors. He has given up on the pistol and moved on to more simple and profitable designs. Those who have had occasion to handle a Firestorm find this decision a tragedy and consider the weapon possibly the finest sidearm ever engineered. Radliffe crated exactly three of these exquisite pistols including the original prototype. He has no plans to make more unless commissions for a king’s ransom. Cygnaran nobles with an interest in unusual firearms and unlikely ever to use them in battle, purchased two. Lassiter Polk, master mechanik of the Cygnaran Armory, purchased the prototype and proclaimed it a masterpiece of form and function. That this pistol has fallen to the wayside shows that the buying public does not always appreciate quality nor is every great invention recognised in its day.

Each Firestorm is a masterwork military pistol that grants +1 to attack rolls. The Firestorm has a latched cylinder that unhinges to load up to five brass cartridges. After firing all five shots, a full round action and a Craft (small arms) check (DC 12) is required to release the cylinder, empty expended shells, and load fresh cartridges. This assumes that brass cartridges are accessible on a belt or bandoleer. Brass cartridges include a brass shell (costing 12-20gp each) and normal silk military pistol ammunition (costing 8-10gp). This brings the total cost of each shell to 20-30gp. Only the Radliffe Gunwerks in Caspia can make precisely machined shells for the Firestorm, but a DC 25 Craft (gunsmithing) check could replicate them from a sample.

However if the gunsmith fails the Craft (gunsmithing) check by 5 or more, but refuses to pay half again the raw materials, the shells are considered flawed. Flawed shells have a 50% chance to misfire. Misfiring jams the firing pin into the shell without firing the round and ruins the cartridge. It requires a full round action to dislodge the pin quickly and runs a 20% chance of the the damaged silk casing rupturing and causing a small explosion (1d4). Brass shells can be repaired and used again with a Craft (gunsmithing) check (DC 20). This takes 1 minutes. Using a Gunners Kit allows taking 20 on this check, meaning you can repair 3 shells per hour. Empty and repaired shells can be turned into cartridges by inserting standard silk military pistol ammunition and using a small dot of hot wax to hold the ammunition in place. readying a brass cartridge with materials on hand (empty brass shell, silk military pistol ammunition, and a lit candle) takes a move action, but the wax requires a full minute to harden.

Exotic Weapon Pistol:-

• Damage: 2d6
• Range: 70ft
• Critical: x3
• Ammo: 5 shells per wheel (20-30gp)
• Reload: 1 full round action [Craft: small arms DC 16]
• Weight: 6lb.
• Cost: 6000gp (represents the amount of money required to commission a new one from Radliffe, or the value of the blueprints on the black market)

<No Quarter #9 p29>