Forging Fury

[Kerrz]

The guard in the waiting room grunts and winces as Tenor continues talking to him. Turning to the irate warforged he says, simply, "You were the ONLY ones taken in for questioning. Leave me alone. I'm just doing my job. Deal with the captain when he comes out with your friend if you have time."

Meanwhile in the interrogation room, the portly captain has come to a conclusion and addresses North. "Alright. I won't throw your friends to the wolves, however they will be encouraged to leave town quickly. Keep in mind though that you will be THROWN. We do not deal well with spies, and we have set up a catapult to send unwelcome Karrnathi guests across the bridge. Don't worry... you should survive the toss. The welcoming comittee might be a bit... interesting though," the captain says with a grin.

Matching actions to words, he has a guard haul North out of the chair, and sets the guard with strict orders to bring the warforged to the catapult.

Upon leaving the interrogation room, the portly captain runs into an irate Tenor who has been unsuccessfully dealing with his guard. Tenor voices his concerns again in the proper direction this time, however the captain is unphased.

OOC: Diplomacy roll 11, bonus 7, total 18. DC 20. Didn't pan out... and things are going to be more fun this way!

The captain takes the other warforged aside and tells them, "If you wish, you can view your companion's deportation. However, I shall stress that we do not hold well to spies in Thaliost, and have little patience with the friends of spies. I encourage you to finish your business in town as soon as possible."

"Though to answer your question... yes. Alot of this trouble has to do with the fact that you are warforged. It is far easier to just slit a human spy's throat. We prefer to use warforged as ammunition though..."

Leaving with his captive and a guard of six trained soldiers, the portly captain leads the group towards the shattered remains of the lightning rail bridge to Rekkenmark. Standing on the jutting remnants of the bridge is a small catapult with a large basket. North's guardians ask him to curl up into a ball and proceed to run a chain tightly around his neck and the back of his knees, locking the chain with a sturdy lock.

Four strong men proceed to lift North into the basket of the already cocked and armed catapult. Being a man of little ceremony, the captain walks over to North, pats him on the back and kicks the catch with his foot, sending the catapult into motion. However, at the last moment a vital cord snaps, and the catapult misfires, sending North hurtling into the air, but nowhere near far enough to cross the gap.

With a horrid laugh the captain looks on in a mix of pleasure and annoyance. The catapult should not have misfired, however he is content with the fact that the spy will not be returning any time soon.

North, on the other hand, quickly sinks to the bottom of the river, wrapped in strong chains and staring into murky riverbed.

His companions, however, look on in absolute horror that such a cruel act could be conceived by followers of the Flame, and that it went absolutely wrong, leaving their friend at the bottom of the river.

 

[Ringmereth]

Watching the display dispassionately, Agarndas is struck by the irony of the humans' prejudice. While North sits safely on the riverbed, the men will doubtlessly be working harder to repair the catapult than he will to retrive his companion. He turns to the other Warforged. "Do any of us have buisness in town to conclude?" he asks. "If not, I propose that we retrieve North," the wizard suggests, making sure that all of his possessions that might be damaged by water are packed safely in the bag of holding, then passing the satchel to his companions.

 

[ShaggySpellsword]

[SBLOCK]As North flies through the air he thinks to himself:
Interesting...I thought surely his hatred of the warforged would cause him to deport all of us...I seem to have miscalculated. This is...unfortunate.[/SBLOCK]

North, at the bottom of the river, struggles to break the bonds of his chains.

 

[Bront]

OOC: Diplomacy roll 11, bonus 7, total 18. DC 20. Didn't pan out... and things are going to be more fun this way!

The captain takes the other warforged aside and tells them, "If you wish, you can view your companion's deportation. However, I shall stress that we do not hold well to spies in Thaliost, and have little patience with the friends of spies. I encourage you to finish your business in town as soon as possible."

"Though to answer your question... yes. Alot of this trouble has to do with the fact that you are warforged. It is far easier to just slit a human spy's throat. We prefer to use warforged as ammunition though..."

"Tread lightly then, for you were fairly warned, and have wronged an inocent man. I do not
envy what made you into the bitter man you."

Tenor turns and walks back to his friends. "Looks like we have a swim ahead of us." He begins to secure anything that might be water damaged in the bag of holding, and readies himself for a jaunt underwater.

 

[Ringmereth]

"That would appear to be the case. Come," Agarndas says, restating the obvious as he walks down towards the river. In a quieter tone, he continues: "While simply pulling North out of the river will not present a challenge, the chains that bind him may. In addition, denizens of the river may not appreciate our presence; preparation for self-defense would not be amiss," the necromancer advises.

 

[Kerrz]

The group of warforged, prepared for a journey underwater, begin to walk down to the stony riverside in search of their friend. Weighed down by the iron portions of their bodies, the warforged have no trouble staying along the bottom of the river as they wade out under the watchful eye of the guards of Thaliost. From the looks on the faces of the guards and their portly captain, it is easy to discern that returning to the city would be extremely unwise.

Wading out further into the slow-flowing river, the warforged come across several long weed-beds as the riverbanks slope quickly towards the center. As their heads submerge below the river, the group of 'forged slowly become accustomed to the murky water and spread out in a search pattern as they partly swim, partly walk across the bottom of the river. Approaching the halfway point, the ground fell away sharply, and taller weeds began to block the way.

Carefully swimming across the bottom of the river, Tenor kicks something hard in passing, and it moves, as if struggling. Turning back and signalling the others, Tenor finds that North is curled up in the same ball he started in.

Pulling out his dagger and searching along the chain, Tenor finds a link unclosed. Prying at the link with all his might, and having North press his legs out, the two open the link enough to allow Tenor to slip the link out of its brothers, setting North gratefully free.

The group gathers around North, and Agarndas points towards the Karrnathi shore, leading the group in that direction with North and Tenor close behind. Shadow and Wander bring up the tail end.

Approaching another forest of seaweed, the group plows on through, kicking up sand and obscuring the trail behind them.

Out of the dust and the weeds, Shadow and Wander do not see two sets of rotten hands grab at them. The hands cling to them, and two dishevelled, pale remnants of humans grab tight to the tailing warforged as their companions are caught unawares as well.

North, Tenor and Agarndas turn, feeling an unusual flow of water come from behind them as they see dust and weeds kick up from the weed-bed, but do not see their companions.

Suddenly, a large chunk of wood and metal floats quickly by Tenor's left side, and he sees with horror that sweet Wander's head has taken a vacation from her body. Swimming back into the weed-bed, more cautiously now, the warforged arrive just in time to see Shadow's left leg torn off. Several of the plates of his chest are already missing -- the wooden parts floating towards the surface, the metal sinking to the bottom.

Two humanoid, waterlogged corpses drop the shattered warforged and turn towards their live prey. The Karrnathi welcome wagon has greeted the party.

OOC: Initiative:
Agarndas: 16+3=19
Tenor: 10+3=13
Zombies: 7-1=6
North: 2+1=3

Map:
W 1    A          |
 S      T         |
  2    N          |

1,2 = Zombies     One Square = 5'
A = Agarndas      50' to Shore
N = North         20' to Zombies
S = Shadow
T = Tenor
W = Wander
| = Karrnathi Shore

Edit: Note, I'll be doing the rolling, if you don't mind. So just write up your actions or possible actions in a post and I'll work out the combat turn on my own. Yes, Shadow and Wander are dead. Two critical hits. Those zombies with their natural twenties on slam attacks...

 

[Bront]

Tenor draws his longsword and steps 5' forward. Pondering if his inspire will work or not underwater, he waits to strike one of the zombies if it approaches near enough.

OOC: Readied action to strike if a zombie approaches into a square he threatens. Longsword(2 Handed) +2 1d8+3 19-20x2

 

[ShaggySpellsword]

North brings his shield to bear, draws his dagger, and approaches the nearest zombie, slashing at it savagely.

 

[Ringmereth]

Agarndas, while no stranger to necromancy, has had very little experince dealing with actual undead; his knowledge is more theoretical. Nevertheless, he tries to recall information about these reanimated corpses. He moves back behind Tenor and begins casting one of his offensive spells, hoping the water will not impede his magic.

Move 10 feet behind Tenor, cast Magic Missile at zombie #1. Also, Knowledge (religion) check for information about zombies.

 

[Kerrz]

Karrnathi zombies. Since the creatures have no vital organs, crushing or piercing them does little, they must be hacked to pieces. OOC: You also know everything else you can think of about these zombies short of their real names. 26 is a pretty high roll.

Mumbling into the water and waving his hands around, Agarndas watches as a ball of energy forms and shoots off through the water, dodging the murky figure of Tenor infront of him, and hitting the zombie on the right with a blast. The pale figure of the zombie staggers slightly but continues in its relentless existence.

Infront of Agarndas, Tenor draws out the longsword from his scabbard, holding it in two hands and preparing himself for the rush of the pale figure infront of him. As the beast comes within his range, Tenor lashes out heroically and severs one of the beast's forearms... however the beast returns the favour and smashes at Tenor with inhuman strength, striking him across the chest and taking a large gash out of his chest plates.

The second zombie marches through the muggy water, drawing into view a thick piece of driftwood as it stomps through the sandy waterscape on a beeline towards North. Reaching him it draws back the soggy club and waves it wildly at him, hitting North on the shoulder. However, the piece of wood dissipates in the slowly flowing water as it shatters softly on North's shoulder.

Turning back to the creature, North draws up his shield and grabs his dagger, slashing at the creature's midsection and cutting up some rotting bones, causing a gaping hole in the beast's chest, however it remained relatively unphased.

OOC: Ding ding ding, ROUND TWO!

Combat Details[sblock]There is a constant -2 for slashing/bludgeoning attacks underwater.

Agarndas:
MM: auto-hit, 1d4+1=4 Z1 takes 4damage, 12 left
Knowledge (religion): d20+6= 26
Tenor:
Draws longsword and readies
Z1:
Charge-> Walks forward and gets attacked by Tenor, d20+2-2=15 1d8+3=5 7HP left.
Strikes at Tenor, d20+2+2-2=20 1d6+3=5dmg 2left
Z2:
Walks forward and attacks North (Charge), d20+2+2-2=8, no hit
North:
Strikes at Z2, d20+2-2=15, 1d4+2=5 11HP left.[/sblock]

Round2 Map:
W     1           |
 S     T   A      |
      2N          |

1,2 = Zombies     One Square = 5'
A = Agarndas      50' to Shore
N = North         20' to Zombies
S = Shadow
T = Tenor
W = Wander
| = Karrnathi Shore

Edit: I just realized Tenor doesn't have adamantine plates, so he doesn't get DR like I originally posted.