Forging Fury

[Ringmereth]

Trusting that North and Tenor can handle themselves against a single zombie, Agarndas turns away and heads towards shore. He wades in until his head can jut out amidst the water, and takes in the shoreline, scanning the Karrnathi side of the river for more zombies or other defenses.

Move... maybe 10 feet? Just enough to get a view of the shore, then spot check.

 

[Kerrz]

While Agarndas moves back to check the edge of the water, Tenor moves behind the remaining Zombie and slashes heavily across its back with his longsword. When the sword leaves the beast's body, the creature falls over, having a severed spine. In a kick of silt and sand, the two portions of the creature go motionless, ending the fight.

Agarndas heads further towards the edge of the river and continues untilr his head peeks out. Scanning the riverbank, he sees that the city of Rekkenmark looms on the high banks above, and the Karrnathi half of the broken bridge is above and to the left. There appear to be no people on the shore, though a guard is posted on the bridge above. The river continues on to the left or the right, and no guards line it.

Tenor and North remain underwater, unable to speak clearly, looking over the shattered remains of their compatriots... the first losses to Juarin's dream.

Combat[sblock]Agarndas
- Move taken. No spot check... "nothing to see here"
Tenor
- 5' step taken, see below
- Atk made d20+5-2=17, d8+3=6, Zombie dead, combat over.[/sblock]
OOC: Flanking only occurs if you're directly behind the creature. You are not there yet Bront. I'll assume you take a further 5' step to do so.

 

[Ringmereth]

Glad that the fight has ended and the shore is clear, Agarndas strides out of the water and does his best to dry his plates off. As a precaution, he opens the magical bag and retrieves his crossbow and ammunition. Sitting down on the riverbank, he snaps a bolt into the weapon and belts the quarrel case to his side. The wizard then slings his crossbow to his back, and, quarterstaff in his steel hand, beckons to the others. "Juarin will be displeased at the destruction of Shadow and Wander. Perhaps we should retrieve their soul-marks; he might be comforted by such a gesture. If their frames have anything of value, they no longer have need of it, while we do," Agarndas suggests.

 

[ShaggySpellsword]

North motions to Tenor toward the two fallen warforged. He then starts toward Shadow, gathers up his body, and begins dragging what is left of him out of the water. When he gets onto shore, he joins Agarndas, lays Shadow's body on the banks, and inspects the damage he has sustained.

"It isn't much...I will repair myself when we find a convienient place to gather our thoughts and plan our next leg of the journey. Unfortunately, I don't know that I can do anything to repair these two. Their souls have left them."

Something suddenly occurs to North and he turns to Agarndas and Tenor,

"Thank you for coming to retrieve me. Those chains were most uncomfortable. I believe I handled the situation at the rail station poorly. I must be sure to analyze that situation and come up with a better procedure. Suggestions, Tenor?"

 

[Bront]

Tenor goes to help retrieved what is left of his former companions. Once they surface, he puts their former belongings in the bag. "I believe it is tradition to burn or burry the remains of a fallen comrade. It is a tradition that few warforged have been afforded, but I believe it is what we should do." Tenor looks over to North "Fortunately, you were not lost as well."

"As for what to do now, we must move on. We shall deal with our fallen comrades and then continue on, for I hope they have not died in vain."

When next Tenor gets a chance, he spends some time composing a song in memory of fallen comrades. It eases his mind to grieve in such a way, and hopefully his song can touch others with his feelings.

 

[Ringmereth]

"Humans have curious traditions. I believe the origin of disposing of remains in such a fashion was to prevent scavenging animals from disturbing the bodies of their fellows. It is interesting that creatures who are very much a part of the processes of nature would seek to remove each other from it," muses the necromancer.

[sblock]Interesting, as well, how it draws those who would use their comrades' bodies for purposes they find much more offensive, he thinks.[/sblock]

"I say that we should continue onwards. If you wish it, we might return their bodies to the river in a method similar to a seafarer's tradition for the disposal of corpses. While I would not want my frame to slowly rust beneith the waves, it seems altogether quite similar to a body of flesh decomposing in a grave. As a more practical concern, we have no implements for digging graves, and making a fire would attract attention."

 

[ShaggySpellsword]

"And if the authorities of this land ever found the bodies beneath the river, they would just assume that they were the bodies of unfortunate runaways. Graves with warforged with-in, on this side of the river? Clearly someone is coming into the country."

North looks at Agarndas,

"I think you have the right idea about sinking them in this river."

 

[Bront]

Tenor nods "Then let us do that then. May they rest in peace."

Tenor helps set the bodies adrift in the river, and stares out at them as they begin to sink slowly.

"Well, let us be moving. This wasn't how we hoped to arive, but it seems we are here."

 

[Ringmereth]

Agarndas nods as he watches Shadow and Wander disappear into the river. "Juarin would not wish us to sit idle, despite our loses. We must find a route to our objective," the necromancer states. He turns away from the river and starts walking his measured step up the beach, looking once again for defenses on the riverside. He also retrieves the maps Juarin gave him from the bag, and attempts to locate their current position in relation to Fort Zombie, and how to reach it.

 

[Kerrz]

OOC: It only seems fair that I mention I'm reading every post, but I'm waiting for you guys to figure out how you want to enter the city before I post the next chunk. You'll be railroaded through the plotline soon enough, but you have to make a solid choice first.

Oh, and for getting this far, you each get 350xp. 150 each for the zombies, and 200 for good characterization. Feel free to make a note on your appropriate character sheets.

The group sits on the steep, rocky shoreline, with an even steeper bank rising above them towards the city. The bank comes to a head as it is built up to support the bridge, off to a few dozen yards to the left, and smooths out more over the next several hundred yards towards the right.

The map shows a lightning rail line running directly from Rekkenmark towards Fort Zombie. As Juarin mentioned, if you can find a rail cart heading that way, you can take it and get off quietly at Fort Zombie, walking/running the rest of the way to the new fort. Your purpose in Karrnath must be hidden though, because the Karrnathi do not appreciate having their slaves freed.