Eberron PbP Story Hour – Chapter 4: Fight for your right to parley
Rathan cried out, “Master Geldam! Oh no! Can any of you heal? We have to help him!”
Jebber immediately knelt by Bonal’s side and laid his hands upon him. “By the Host, be well!” Jebber’s hands glowed with a white light but, unfortunately, Bonal did not move. “Wake up, friend. Wake up! Bonal? BOOOOONAAAAAAL!”
“I will call the guards,” said Ilyra, looking around for guards but not straying too far from the group.
Shrapnel started to speak. “I odd feeling of excitement ran through my thoughts. Why would I feel such a strange anxiousness when seeing a friend on the ground in such a way? I held that thought in as I held my breath, in the way that only a warforged might.”
As Ilyra made her way to look for guards, a cloaked figure suddenly sprang from below the skybridge and landed next to Jebber. The hood of the cloak slipped down to reveal a warforged with dark red eyes; a sign of readiness for battle. The battleaxe in its hand was also a dead giveaway that it wanted to kill him.
Lealani took one step forward and to her right, giving her clear site of the warforged. She cast mage armor and moved into position to prepare a color spray.
The bad warforged looked like it was about to attack Jebber and then noticed Shrapnel. It screamed out, “Die, you flesh-loving traitor!” and swung its battleaxe. It cut deeply into Shrapnel’s frame, leaving him badly wounded.
Rathan took advantage of the warforged’s attention being drawn elsewhere and slashed with his longsword. Unfortunately, the rain made it hard to see and his blow glanced off the enemy’s metal hide.
Shrapnel began to speak. “Surprise! What is this? Another attacker! These people will likely be suspicious if I don’t interpose myself!” He then tried to slam into the enemy but he, too, barely missed.
Kolthak cast swift expeditious retreat and moved around the outside to get a flank with Jebber. Unfortunately, he moved between the enemy and Lealani. He chopped at the warforged with his axe but, just like Rathan and Shrapnel, missed badly.
Ilyra moved to a clear position and cast ray of enfeeblement at the enemy but it, unfortunately, went wide. Ilyra screamed in frustration. “Damn you, stupid scrap metal!!”
Jebber touched Shrapnel and said, “Be healed, my clanky companion!” He then drew his dagger, prepared to defend himself if necessary.
Gritting her teeth at the dwarf that got in her way, Lealani casts her spell anyway, hoping the dwarf’s will is stronger than the warforged.
Kolthak yelled at her, “Ye daft elf! What do you think you’re doing?!?
“I’m continuing what I started doing, perhaps you should consider before you get in my way next time,” she replied calmly.
“Next time bloody say what you’re planning!”
Luckily, Kolthak did not succumb to the effect of the spell. Jebber, who also happened to be in the way, and the enemy were not as lucky. Both fell to the ground unconscious.
Kolthak looked at the unconscious bodies, then at Lelani. “We need to work on your aim a bit I think.” He took the weapons away from the downed enemy. “I think we’ll want to question him when he wakes up…”
Rathan quickly disarmed the bad warforged before it recovered. “What did you do? It was powerful magic it seems,” he said to Lealani.
“Tie it up!” Lealani said, obviously less calm than a few seconds ago. With rosy cheeks she knelt next to Jebber while addressing the others. “Well, I’ve actually never had to use a spell like that before, you know, in combat, surrounded by people. I’m glad it worked…,” she paused while lifting Jebber’s head off the ground and putting it on her lap, “…on him anyway.” She pointed to the fallen enemy. She gave Jebber a few light shakes, trying to wake him up.
Rathan handed Lea a waterskin. “Here, pour some water on him. Maybe it will revive him.”
“Thanks,” she smiled at Rathan, before splashing some water on Jebber’s face. It had no effect.
Kolthak started tying up the warforged. “Anyone want to give me a hand with this? And would someone take a look at the satchel Bonal was carrying while I tie this one up?” Rathan leaned over the body of Bonal and retrieved the satchel.
The satchel, obviously stylish and well made, contained quills and inks, six blank sheets of fine Karrnathi paper, a wrapped apple, and a small, leather-bound book.
As everyone was busy doing their thing, two things occurred simultaneously:
1) Suddenly, out of the back of the warforged’s head, a small metal ball popped out and seemed to sprout metal wings. It flew off suddenly and was quickly lost in the darkness.
2) Everyone heard voices over the sound of the pouring rain. “They’re over here!” and “What did they do that man?!” make their way over the air. They also heard a shrill whistle, suggesting that the Sharn watch was getting close to their location.
“I wonder who’s looking for us; perhaps friends of Bonal? The watch should be able to put this miscreant ‘forged where he belongs,” said Kolthak as he finished tying up the downed enemy.
“Oh ****, the watch! I hope they can’t recognize me. Maybe I should come up with some sort of alias! One warforged looks like another, right? Maybe I’ll claim to be tied-up-guy’s companions! Yes, that way they will suspect me of one crime! No wait… these fools won’t go along with that. I know! I’ll attack them and yell something about fleshy fleshing flesh! Then they’ll think I was in on the plan all along! Oh wait… that’s right… I’m the only one they’ve attacked! That won’t be too believable. Oh, I’ve got it! I’ll be a secret agent from House Cannith, sent here to um… um… what would a secret agent do? Assassinate someone! I’m a secret agent of House Cannith here to assassinate the woman with the dragonmark! BRILLIANT! Yes, this story will work fantastically. I’ll interject right away and start speaking before any of these buffoons can interrupt me!” Shrapnel stepped forward to the front of the group between them and the sounds of the watch and start grandiosely miming a ridiculous story without saying a word.
“And THAT is why I wanted to call the guards, before the ‘angry mob’ factor. What now? Run? Try to explain?” Ilyra said with her usual desperation in tense situations. She turned to Lealani “Are you strong with your Dragonmarked house? Enough to get us out of messy situations like this?”
“Perhaps,” Lealani answered, wiping wet hair off her forehead, “I will try to talk to them. Of course, us all meeting him here will be rather suspicious. We may want to try to hide that book, it might have a clue.” She glanced sideways at Shrapnel. “This malfunctioning warforged may get us in more trouble than us just being here. Someone should try to talk to it and ask it to stop… thinking.”
Rathan turned to the warforged, “Warforged! We need you to be silent. Do not even think. Pretend you are non-functional until we say otherwise. It will be the only way to honor Master Geldam.”
Shrapnel continued speaking. “It seems one of them doesn’t like the part about the cheese golem? Well different tastes for different folks. Maybe he’s right, I’ll sit here and mind my own business. Let’s see… I still have to clean out the lint between my armor plating, and there’s that dent that I need to pop out from that last hit, and then there’s the problems with the kneecap that haven’t been fixed in forever. Oh, and the stay-puffed marshmallow man. I always wanted to meet him. Does he live in Sharn? Hrm. Or did I just dream that? Wait, do I dream? I don’t think so? Maybe something else is broke. Damn. And just when I think Geldam is going to fix me up finally, he goes and gets killed. Why were other ‘forged after him? Maybe they wanted to get fixed. No… wait… they killed him. Thus making that harder. What the hell is up with that? Man. And they always are trying to kill me? Well, I am imperfect. Maybe they wanted to make scrap out of me….”
“Yeah, let’s try that. I believe is much easier said than done” Ilyra put Bonal’s book in her backpack. “I don’t believe anyone will bother check why a mage is carrying a book, right?”
Immediately after Ilyra put the book in her bag, they saw figures coming out of the dark rain. Two males and a female, wearing the green-and-black studded leather of Sharn’s City Watch, emerged from the rain-drenched night. The leader, a powerfully built bald dwarf with a close-cropped beard, steps forward, leveled his crossbow in your direction. The small ball of arcane light, hovering just above and behind his left shoulder, illuminated the area. To each side, a human male and female stood with halberds at the ready. “Olladra’s bloody nose!” the dwarf cursed. “By order of the Watch, drop jour weapons and explain yourselves!”
