Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="megamania" data-source="post: 1853984" data-attributes="member: 9255">EBERRON9/25/04SEGMENT 008SHADOWS OF THE LAST WARA few weeks have passed since the party went into the dungeons below Sharn.  During this time they have sold some goods and bartered for others.  Boddynoc has attempted to create a few things and with much success.  However, as always, their collective monies are running low and Sgt. Dolom seems to be watching Cedious more and more ….Boddynoc has had no luck discovering any secrets from the journal, fake schema or the map he has.Following a hunch (and a prayer to any god that will listen) they venture to the Barmin Tower to the House Sivis office.  They are hoping against hope that Lady Elaydren has left a message of employment for them.  It has just begun to sprinkle lightly when they near the office in question.“Thunder rumbles in the distance as you cross the rain-slick skybridge that leads to Barmin Tower.  The rain falls at a steady pace, causing waterfalls to spill over the sides of the slanted rooftops and balcony railings.  Ahead, the door to the House Sivis message station hangs open at a strange angle, one of its hinges separated from the doorframe.  Lightning flashes, and you think you hear a groan from somewhere inside the otherwise quiet shop.”The warforged warriors leap to defensive positions.  Khora begins to look for trouble.  Boddynoc pulls out his crossbow and Cedious shrugs and walks into the office with little thought of consequence.  He can see small feet behind an over turned table.  Papers are scattered everywhere.  Boddynoc steps in and looks around.“The tables and stools within the message station are in disarray; some are overturned or smashed, others have been forcefully scattered from their usual places.  Behind the counter, lying atop a spilled shelf of scrolls and parchment sheets, is the gnome clerk who runs the station.  She moans, unconscious but apparently still alive.”Still flanking the door, the warforged watch the streets as the human cleric enters the room.  He looks around and sees what looks like blackish-purple footprints and looks into it.  Boddynoc tries to revive the cute gnome girl by spilling water onto her face and chest. (what has the world come to?).”The message!” she cries. “I have to check on the messages!”  …and she sits upright quickly startling the gnome artificer.  She turns over and begins to grab loose papers that are on the floor.The warforged fighter and barbarian step in now.  They look around not at the room so much as for any dangers.  They spot many pebbles and sling stones on the floor.  They note the clerk is alive and wonder what Khora is staring at.  “Kobolds.” Says Khora looking at the three toes clawed footprints made by a kobold when it stepped in over turned ink.  “..and a much bigger brother.” He says looking at footprints nearby now.  These prints were made by rain soaked feet; not ink.  They are large and two toed.  The warforged know them as they have the same foot print.  “Warforged.”  Boddynoc looks at them with renewed concern.  Cedious is checking out the now wet shirted female gnome.  She is rushing about collecting papers and muttering to herself how this will never do.“What happened?” asks Boddynoc picking up a piece of paper addressed to Mr. Nicklestone.  She grabs it in a rush dropping most of the papers she had just gathered and tried to organize.“The door crashed open and a bunch of kobolds rushed in causing a great commotion and knocking over papers to be filed.  I demanded them to leave at once but …they wouldn’t leave.”  She nearly breaks down but stifles the sob and sighs as she spots a paper addressed to Lucan Stellos from a Grilsha Stellos.  Picking up the paper she stuffs it into the middle of her armload of shuffled papers.She stops and leans on a desk touching the lump on her head.  A clear bruise has formed on her head from a pellet shot by a kobold.  “What are you here for again?” She asks quietly while trying to find some comfort in “business as usual”.“Can you describe everything to us in detail?” asks Boddynoc now getting out a piece of paper and a quill to write with.  He dips the quill into the overturned ink and begins to write notes. “What of the possible warforged?  What did he do or say?”“The stranger had a deep, rumbling voice that was strong and threatening, and the kobolds followed his direction without question.  He asked if there were any messages for you,” the clerk admits … It was an amazing coincidence,” the clerk explains. “because I had just transcribed a message for you from the speaking stone.  I must have glanced at the scroll I was holding, and the next instance the man in the cloak had snatched the scroll with one hand and hit me with the other.  That’s the last thing I remember.” “Are you sure?  It could be very important.” Asks Boddynoc with incredible concern and sense of importance.Looking down at the mess at her feet and suddenly stepping back when she sees she is standing on a letter meant to arrive at the Morgrave University that afternoon she reluctantly remembers whom sent it. “It was from Lady Elaydren d’Cannith.” She drops all of her papers to the floor as she spots the speaking stone on the floor.  She picks it up and inspects it for damage.“Anything else?” inquires Boddynoc.She melts looking at his trusting and pure innocent eyes ….“I remember something about the Broken Anvil Tavern …”The warforged wait a moment as the other three exit the office.  They are honestly expecting and hoping for trouble at this point.  They head for the Tavern to find answers to the many questions they have.“The Broken Anvil is located in the Mason’s Tower, carved into a bend in the tower wall.  Inside, everbright lanterns at either end of the room provide flickering illumination.  A round table is set to either side of the entrance, and three longer tables are scattered throughout the room.Today the Broken Anvil only has one customer, a woman in a worn brown cloak.  She sits at a table at the far end of the room.  As you enter, she raises her hands if to cast a spell, then stops and pulls back her hood.  Despite her disheveled hair and the dirt that covers her face, you recognize her.  She is Elaydren d’Cannith, the woman who hired you to explore the depths of Sharn.” Several of the party members instantly become distrustful by the Lady Elaydren’s drastic change of style and dress.  The others recognize it as cover a disguise.“ Quickly, quickly!” Elaydren calls in a strained voice.  “Thank Olladra that you’re here.  There is no time to waste.” [She and the PCs step into a private room out of sight of the main chamber.]Elaydren lifts a leather backpack off the floor and places it on the table.  The leather is worn, but its brass fittings are still bright.  It appears to be light, almost empty.  “There is no time to explain,” Elaydren says, her fear-filled eyes darting from you to the door and back again.  “Instructions, gold, and supplies are in this pack.  Take it and go.  The letter in the left-hand pocket explains everything, but you must go now!  Trust me.  If you can accomplish this task, the reward will be vast.” Cedious is thinking vast is very very large.  Boddynoc is thinking she can deliver.  Khora is quiet and the two warforged sense a fight coming.  Boddynoc tugs on the bag to check it out when…… “Suddenly the door to the street bursts open.  Four [I used eight] small figures leap through the doorway –kobolds!  They move in pairs to each side of the chamber, clearing the space in front of the entrance.  A fifth [ninth] figure steps into the doorway, a broad humanoid in a dark, hooded cloak carrying a light crossbow. “ “Find them.” The figure coldly commands to the kobolds.</blockquote>

Verification