Adventures Landing - Waylayed

[Wayloss]

Waylayed
Here begins the side adventure Scout played by Trogdor and Kenyon played by Tigersrule. this is a side adventure that should wrap up rather quickly with them joining the main group. I strongly discourage current AL players from reading this adventure, as it will heighten the role-play at a future point, and may also contain spoilers as to plots within the main adventure either directly or indirectly. AS most of my players know i like to give key plot points to players as characters and have them assist in forwarding the plot as they choose. this will be one of those times.

Their adventure begins somewhere in the dense jungles and forest near Sharn...

The rain had lasted for days, the ground even under the dense canopy of the rainforest had turned to mire, pools of water and mud could hold fast anything unlucky enough to be found there. If one were to travel for a distance in this forest they would eventually smell the faint odor of smoke. A thin blue haze curling from a small stand of healthy, but young looking trees, within there is a small, carefully controlled campfire. Next to the campfire is a crude shelter, assembled of fallen branches and a weave of giant leaves to ward off the rain. Within the shelter, covered in a utilitarian blanket lays an unconscious human figure.

An observer might also have seen the comings and goings of a strange creature in the forest. A living construct, a race of magically created constructs given a heart, mind and soul all their own makes it's way to and from the stand. Most had been used as weapons of war fearsome and unrelenting fighting machines, after the war they were made free and many scattered thought the world. This one spends time occasionally standing near the unconscious figure. For the moment he is not visable'¦

[Trogdor]

The warforged spends hours watching the unconscious human, unmoving and silent. As it does so, it ponders the very concept of sleep '€" that a mind could somehow turn off for a time, allowing the body to enter into a restorative state. It appreciates the idea and accepts it. But even after years of consideration, it does not fully understand it.

The man shifts slightly, a low groan escaping his lips. And as if this were a cue, the warforged quickly and quietly begins to move. It walks over to the man and leans over him. Alive, it muses, holding its mithral hand under the man's nose and seeing it fog over. And doing far better than he was when I found him.

The creature of metal and wood recalls the battle field where it found the man, the sole survivor, and the bodies of those who were not so lucky littered across it. All of the others at that battlefield were now food for the crows and other scavengers, their belongings stripped and left for the priest at a nearby shrine of Balinor The warforged knew the priest as one who respected nature and cared for the local residents. He would dispose of the equipment and money properly. 'Better that these supplies and wealth go to a good cause,' it thought, 'œthan have them litter the jungle floor.'

Looking back down at the man, the warforged wondered what more it could do. It had healed the man's physical wounds. But perhaps he had been injured in ways deeper than a simple construct could understand. It was always so hard to understand living creatures '€" which , of course, was part of their appeal.

Patience was the answer. Either the man would wake up soon, or he would not. Until then, it would care for him and keep him safe. Thankfully patience was one thing a warforged had in great supply. And so once more it stopped moving, again watching the unconscious man sleep. And it waited.

[tigersrule]

Feeling groggy and pained, Kenyon slowly starts to regain consciousness. As he opens his eyes, he sees a warforged creature looking down at him, apparently keeping watch over him. 'What is going on here', he thinks to himself. 'It looks like it helped me and isn't planning on hurting me, as it could have easily done so while I was out.'

As he starts sitting up, he says "Thank you friend, for your help. Who are you and what happened to me? The last thing I remember was our convoy getting rushed and I was hit on the head during the battle. Are any of my companions alive?"

OOC

- Good role playing for a warforged, Trogdor. Much better than a lot of PC's have done for warforged.

[Trogdor]

'œNo, they were all killed,' the warforged says with a bluntness that might well be considered rude in ordinary circumstances. 'œYou were the only survivor.' It pauses for half a moment, tilts its head slightly, and adds, 'œbut I have cared for their bodies. You should not worry about that.'

'œAs for me,' it continues, oblivious to any insensitivity, 'œI am the one who found you and healed you. When I was made my creators called me Scout, for that was to be my function. I have kept that as a name to remind me of my past.'

'œBut I am curious as well.' Scout fixes its unblinking gaze on Kenyon. 'œWho are you, and how did you come to be attacked? They were not bandits, and they were certainly not after money. More importantly, can we expect them to return to finish the job?'

[tigersrule]

Holding his head in his hands, Kenyon says "My name is Kenyon Stryk and I am a soldier with House Denieth, I think. My mind is kind of fuzzy right now and I don't remember a lot about the trip. I was traveling with the convoy for some reason and I remember us being attacked, but I don't remember who they are or why we would have been attacked."

Looking around at the carnage around him, he grimly says "Thank you Scout, for taking care of the rest of the group and healing me. You are a good person and I guess I owe you one."

As he stands up, Kenyon says "Well, I'm not sure where we should head to, but I'd like to get whomever they were that attacked us. I want to find out who did this and punish them for their actions, but more importantly, find out why they attacked us and didn't take all of our gear, as I still have my weapons and money. Any ideas of where to head first?"

[Trogdor]

Where to head first? Scout thinks. He expects me to come with him. Why would he think I'd want to get mixed up in his problems any more than I have? It stares impassively at the man, its featured unmoving and revealing. As it does so, it thinks of how its life has been since leaving Kalthan's grove. It had spent much time in solitary thought, communing with and observing the natural world. And that had been wonderful. But Scout realized now that it was causing it to become more distant from people, and that was a problem.

Scout considers how it found itself at Kalthan's grove to begin with. It remembers the old desire to find purpose in its life, and how embracing the miracles of life in general was the first step. But now, Scout could see, was the time to take the next step. Now was the time to connect not just with the natural world, but with the world of men. And he would do so by helping Kenyon.

Why him? Scout muses. Because he called me a person, it thinks in answer to that unspoken question. And few enough are those who would think of me as a person first and a construct second.

'œWe should go to the battle site,' Scout finally replies. The pause between question and answer was much longer than it should have been. But Scout offers no explanation. 'œIt's possible that we might be able to learn something there. It's not far.'

[tigersrule]

Noting how Scout, as the warforged referred to himself, delayed in his answer to Kenyon's query, he thinks to himself 'Well, I've never dealt much with this type of being before, but there is a first time for everything. I hope I get to understand the warforged better, as having a companion that doesn't need to sleep and can stand up in a fight, couldn't be a bad thing.'

Looking around their area, Kenyon comments "Yes, let's go to the sight. I remember something about the convoy and I was hired by the Brelish government to escort the convoy, due to me being a member of house Denieth. I believe I hired the escorts myself, but I'm still not sure why we were ambushed. You may be better leading the way, as your name tells me that you are much better than I am at being on the point position."

He'll start off towards the battle area, looking for enemy dead or anythign else that could possibly show what happened. Also, he'll start looking for tracks leading away from the battle site, especially wagon tracks.

Kenyon's Spot Roll (1d20+4=9)

[Trogdor]

With a great economy of word and action, Scout strikes his camp and packs up. "Our investigation may lead us in a different direction," is all he says by way of explanation. Near the end, he whistles a curious sort of bird call and a handsome grey owl swoops down from a nearby tree. "Come Arborus," he says gently. "We travel today."

Once the camp is struck, Scout then leads Kenyon through the jungle towards the site of the battle. He is clearly not used to having company and shows a marked awkwardness towards his new companion.

[Wayloss]

GM Note

Sorry for the delay guys, I was going to post last night and got lazy and tried typing it in the browser and it got eaten. So I lost a lot of motivation but here goes.

Tigersrule just to let you know we generally have the DM's do all the rolling here, it's easier for me to keep everything in hand. If you happen to log onto the MUSH listed in the general forums we let people roll there in the rpg channel infront of the GM's. I like the idea of the site and Brennor is planning on integrating rolling into the site but obviously one thing at a time.

Kenyon rises from his bed, he is weak shaky and immediately overcome with dizziness. He spends a moment orienting himself and reaches for his sword, his hand grasps the belt to strap it on when he notices his ring missing from his finger.

Arborus descends from his spot on a branch in the thick canopy. The owl lands lightly on the construct known as scout. Obviously looking for a treat and some attention.

[tigersrule]

As Kenyon rises, he looks at his finger and says "Hey, my ring is missing. Wait, now I remember what part of my mission was. Scout, I was hired to be an envoy for House Denieth and my ring was part of me showing people that I was a member of the house. Now, some brigand has taken it. But why would they have only taken that and not my other goods?"

Seeing the owl, Kenyon takes a small piece of jerkey and hands it to him, trying to make a friendly gesture towards the owl.

"Well, let's keep searching this area, as I haven't found anything so far. If we don't, then let's continue down the path and maybe we'll pick up their trail."