The place detailed in the paper Zhorra gave Raven leads her to house Orien's stables in Sharn's outskirts. There (not without evident annoyance from the caretaker, an elf) she's offered a magebred horse, an imposing animal of reddish coat color and oversized muscles. While not beautiful, the animal does well what it was made for, as it gallops as easily as breathing. Two hours later it isn't even sweating and you've arrived at Zid. It's a small community of just several dozen houses, surrounded by farmin field and forested hills. It must be a peaceful place, since you can't see any armed soldier or guard, and the place doesn't even have a palisade.
Raven swings off her horse, exhilarated by the ride, and the excitment of her adventure.
She leads her horse towards the nearest dwelling. Somewhere here was a warforged scout. And somehow he'd sent a message by post. She would ask about a postoffice first. She knocks on the door...
Raven has little problem finding the post office: a diminutive building manned by a tanned half elf. He springs from his chair when he spots you. "I wasn't expecting you so soon." he says. "So I guess you're in kind of a hurry. I take you were looking for a warforged?" says offering you a chair.
"I'm Luar. Luar Octsar" says the half elf. And noticing Raven's surprise he adds smiling: "I'm the one in charge of the office. This place is too insignificant for a dragonmarked scion, you know"
"The warforged is a weird one. It's too small, unlike the other's I've seen, and lives like an hermit. Not that it needs too much, since it doesn't eat or feel cold; whatever little he needs, he trades for some oddjobs, furs or hunt. You're lucky, I think he's at the inn's stables right now."
"Glad to help. Mention me in sharn!" says Luar as Raven walks away.
The inn, a fairly common one in more or less the village's centre, can be seen from the post office, an the stables as you can expect aren't far away. There's a diminutive warforged there, shovelling horse manure. He tirls his head when you appear, and doesn't seem to mind you for a second. Then he raises his head and turns to you, waiting expectantly.
"I don't work here" says the warforged. "I'm just cleaning. The inn have people to do that."
Meanwhile Raven had time to have a closer look on him. Apart from his smaller size, he's built with a less bulky and lighter frame, and covered with relatively smaller plates. Also, his structure have weird signs of warping: parts of his plating is cracked, other parts seem to be fused with dirt and rocks, and some of the wood in his construction looks like it grew tiny branches that then died.
"My name is Raven Thorn. I know of you. You have performed great services. But it not yet your time to retire to this simple life."
Raven walks closer, and looks around to make sure they're alone.
"That crystal was not in Basher's chest. The search for it continues. I would see that it doesn't fall into the hands of those who would misuse it. I am helping Orerreth. Will you help me?"
OOC: Bluff +8, diplomacy +7, sense motive +6, if appropriate. She's basically telling the truth, though not exactly.
The warforged stirs and whirls, opening his eyes wildly. You read in him the intention of fighting or fleeing, but since you are taller, better armed and have a magebred horse, he finally gives in. "I don't want to fight any more" says, "Or have to do with anything about the war. I wish I was never there."
Raven smiles comfortingly. "There is no need for you to fight any more. But until that crystal is taken care of you, people will come to seek you out. I won't tell anyone else you are here. But you need to help me."
Raven looks around. If she sees another shovel, she will tie her horse, and join him in cleaning the stalls.
"Tell me a little of what's going on. Were you in league with Basher as an agent of Breland? Do you know any more about the crystal?"
"I told Orerreth already. I don't have any crystal."
"I'll tell you all I know, but you must promise to go and leave me alone. I was with Basher and his group in Cyre. We got orders of contacting someone, I don't know who, who gave him a crystal. Such things wasn't out of the ordinary in the war. Basher hid the crystal in the secret compartment in his chest, and that's all."
The warforged continues speaking in his peculiar and broken way:
"Soon after something happened; I can't remember clearly, just bits. My body was warped as it's now, and everyone but me was dead. I found Basher, and dug a grave for him, don't know why, but I only felt sorry I wasn't bigger and stronger so I could bury one deeper. Sound strange, but I wasn't functioning properly. I dropped my weapons and left the place. I wanted to never touch a weapon or go to the war again."
Raven's intuition is that the warforged doesn't trust her, and wants Raven stop making questions; for that reason she's reasonably sure the warforged told everything he knows. It's difficult to read him, though.
It makes sense to Raven. This scout worked for Breland as an agent. As such, he continued to help Orerreth, whom he knew to also be an agent of the crown. If he had sold the crystal for a profit, he wouldn't now be shoveling horse manure. If he worked for the Lord of the Blades, he'd be off in the Mournlands. It had been necessary to investigate this avenue, but it had turned out to be a dead end.
"Goodbye, my friend. I wish you peace and quiet after your dangerous service. Thank you for your help, and may the Sovereign Host bless you. Before I go, will you just tell me your name?"
Raven will then leave and ride her powerful horse back to Sharn.
Linear Mode
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