Deffas’ Laboratory
Havoc Way, Hive Ward
If you have good ears, you can hear a terrible cacophony in the Hive Ward (above the usual cacophony that is). If you follow it, and you’re not murdered on the way, you’ll arrive at a monstrous warehouse called Deffas’ Laboratory. When you walk inside, if the noise doesn’t drive you barmy, you will meet Deffas Gearshift, a tinker gnome from Krynn, amongst all of her mechanical creations.
A few years ago, Deffas left her gnomish brothers and sisters to find her life’s work. She had great aspirations; she wished to discover and study something that would change her people’s very life. But she didn’t know what that was.
She stumbled upon a portal quite by accident, before the portals to Krynn closed. And she found herself in the middle of the greatest machine in all of creation, Mechanus. She instantly fell in love with the plane, and proceeded to tinker, dismantle, and examine every aspect of Mechanus, coming to appreciate the very fabric of Law.
Unfortunately, the tinker gone curse was universal. Deffas immediately earned the wrath of modrons and Guvners alike, as well as any who lived and loved Law. Not only did she poke her nose in other people’s business, but she constantly worked to improve Mechanus, only to cause more chaos and damage. She was forced to relocate to Sigil, where she continues her research, oblivious to the confusion she causes to the principles she loves.
As a Krynn tinker gnome, Deffas can spend ten hours of time, ten bags of jink, and ten rooms of space to create a machine to do something that a single berk can do in one minute for free. She brings chaos to any machine or device she constructs. Lucky for her, the Xaositects in the Hive love everything she makes, since they all represent Order gone wrong. The Chaosmen once tried to sabotage one of her projects, and found that anything they did simply made it more efficient. Now, a Chaosman can always be found in Deffas’ Lab, enjoying the mechanical anarchy and ignoring her lectures on the various aspects of Law.
The warehouse has suffered more from Deffas’ hand than anyone in the Hive. Pieces of wall hang precariously between machines that work incorrectly, or not at all. She’s taken up all of the first floor, and most of the basement. Deffas has torn up parts of the floor to allow oversized machinery to rise from the basement, so be careful, you never know when a hole may drop you into a batch of moving gears.
Source: Monte Lin
