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The same day Blade and his scouts set up camp Conrad arrived at the
scene, he met with Blade and hearing Blade talk about being a paladin of
"the one true god" mistakenly assumed Blade was a paladin of the silver
flame and agreed to help him. Blade spent a few days trying to find a
way of breaking the defenses of Vathirond. He was worried about the
smoke and dust approaching from the west and that the few scouts he'd
sent that way had all vanished. He assumed it was the Brelish army was
on it's way. He used the palantir to communicate with the Lord of Blades
and told him about the situation he was currently in and that he was
thinking of ignore Vathirond and going straight to Sharn. The Lord of
Blades told Blade that aquiring Merrix D'Cannith was now an absolute
priority. He told Blade that 'something' had damaged the mother forge to
the point of inoperability and fixing it was beyond the skill of any of
the Lord of Blades' warforged. Hearing this news Blade decided his best
option at this point was to cut his losses, leave the scouts at
Vathirond as bait for the oncoming army so he could sneak past them
easier, and simply start walking to Sharn. He had just left the camp
when a mysterious figure approached him. The figure was hooded and kept
it's face hidden at first but then seemed to relax and allowed glimpses
of it's face to be seen. It had strong feline characteristics and Blade
assumed it was a shifter.
"I understand you want to go to Sharn, if you help me I can get you and
your people instantly" the shifter said.
"Instantly?" Blade questioned.
"Yes, once you complete a small task for me, which should only take a
day or two, I will teleport you directly there" the shifter replied.
"Why do you need me, what do you get out of this?" Blade asked.
"I need two items picked up from a location I can't go, but that I
believe someone like you can. One needs to be delivered to the cogs in
Sharn. If you agree to obtain these items for me I'll send you to Sharn
to deliver the one that needs to go there."
"What are these things you need?"
"Artifacts made by House Cannith during the last war and lost during the
Day of Mourning. There were three made, two still exist. They are about
so big" the shifter said indicating with his hands "and appear misty on
the inside. You will know them when you see them."
Blade didn't really trust this shifter but felt he had little choice.
"Very well, I accept. Let me collect my troops".
Blade went back to the camp, let them know that a new quest had been
given to him by his god and they should prepare to leave immediately.
The militia scouts were disillusioned by Blades' recent failures and
although Blade tried to convince them as best he could they refused and
chose to go their own way. Only Dave and Conrad chose to go with Blade.
The shifter kept his face hidden under his hood when Blade came back but
no one really questioned it. The shifter teleported the party away.
The party appeared somewhere in the mournland. Blade didn't know the
exact location however, it was somewhere he'd never been before. They
were on the edge of a small lake full of 'water' however it didn't look
very much like water. Even Dave could tell the water smelled wrong and
wasn't tempted to try drinking it. There were stair going into the water
and they could see part of a building sticking up out of the middle of
the lake. The shifter told them there was a facility located underneath
the 'water' where the two artifacts he needed were. The water was highly
acidic and most living things can't survive in it but he believed a
warforged could withstand the acid long enough to reach the lever just
under the water and drain it. He described the artifacts to the rest of
the pary and stressed they should be very obvious when seen. He told
them that once they brought the artifacts to them he would take one and
send the entire party to Sharn to deliver the 2nd.
Blade touched the water and could feel it start to etch his armor but
deciding he could probably survive for a minute or so in it safely ran
into the water. He immediately sank and continued running down the
stairs. At the bottom he found a lever close to the entrance of the
building sticking out of the water. Blade pulled the lever and there was
a loud rush as all the water drained out. The rest of the party went
down to where Blade was and then they entered the building. Entering the
building they entered a room that they called the entrance room. On each
of the other three walls of the entrance room besides the one the party
came in were large metal doors that were partially open but heavily
corroded.
The party also noticed one corner towards their right was raised
up a bit and there was a living human, trapped under a rock. He called
out to them asking to be let free. Dave just went over and picked up the
rock. He said he had been trapped there for some time, he didn't know
how long, with only his rats for company. He made some noises and three
large mutated rats showed up, obviously under his command. The survivor
was obviously somewhat insane and didn't even remember his own name.
Blade condescendingly called him 'ratty' not having anything better to
call him. Blade decided to investigate the left hand door first. He
struggled to open and wasn't able to do so at first. Conrad came over
and working together they were open it. Blade requested that Conrad use
his blasphemous powers to cast a light spell on his sword, then took a
look down it. The left hallway went straight, with two doors on the left
and two doors on the right, before it ended in a cave in. Blade went
directly to the first door on the left and opened it. He was surprised
to see that the inside of this room was not ruined like the others.
Instead it was well lit and in perfect condition. It appeared to be some
sort of laboratory with many flasks and other strange devices that Blade
didn't understand. He also saw that there were two human researchers
working on something in the lab. Blade started to introduce himself
however as soon as he began to talk the lab immediately went dark, the
room looked ruined, most of the flasks were broken, and the few that
weren't only had dried residue at the bottom. The two lab workers
changed to a horrific appearance, partially translucent and appeared to
be a kind of ghost.
Blade drew his sword and yelled out "Conrad, your blasphemous powers are
needed" giving the alarm. Ratty had no interest in fighting and Dave
wasn't curious about what the yell was about and wanted to check out
what was behind the other doors. Dave went over to the doors directly
across from the entrance door and ripped them open. Beyond them was a
stairway going down into more 'water'. Blade swung his sword at one of
the ghosts but it passed through it harmlessly. One of the ghosts swung
at Blade with a ghostly flask in it's hand. The attack hit but did no
damage to Blade. Conrad tried turning undead on them but his power was
insufficient. Dave and Ratty wandered over towards the other door. Blade
took another swing at the ghost and again it went right through the
ghost, he suggested to Conrad that he try enchanting his weapon. The two
ghosts both swung at Blade and did some minor damage to him. Conrad cast
magic weapon on Blades's sword. Dave ripped open the right door, he
could see down this hallway went ahead a short ways and then turned
left. Blade swung hard at the nearest ghost and this time it responded
as if damaged. The damaged ghost continued to attack Blade while the
other dematerialized and flew past Blade to attack Conrad. Conrad took
some damage from the ghost as it also swung a ghostly flask at him and
hit him. Conrad took the time to cast bless. At this point the fight had
moved out of the lab enough and into the hallway that Dave could
actually see the battle across the entrance room. He charged up and
swung hard with his hammer at a ghost but it of course went right
through. Ratty hung back, uncertain about exploring on his own but also
not wanting to get involved in the battle. Blade swung at the ghost he'd
been fighting and hit it again. This time as he hit the ghost it lost
it's shape and became an amorphous orb of energy. It started floating
back towards the workbench the ghosts had started at. Conrad cast magic
weapon on Dave's hammer. Dave swung hard with his hammer and smashed the
other ghost and it instantly became an amorphous blob like the other, it
too started moving back towards the workbench. Everyone stayed out of
the room but Blade went into the room after the ghosts and tried
attacking them but even with an enchanted weapon his sword went right
through it. As the blobs both reached the workbench the room suddenly
shifted to the way it was when Blade first saw it. The room was lit, in
perfect order, the ghosts appeared to be alive and working on something
at the workbench. Not wanting to trigger the ghosts again Blade very
quietly backed out of the room and closed the door.
Conrad took the time to cast light spells on the possession of everyone
else in the party. He then went ahead and opened the 2nd door on the
left. It appeared to be a storeroom and had some old gears and other
devices but he didn't have any knowledge of engineering to know what
they were supposed to be. Dave went ahead and opened the 2nd door on the
right. As he opened this door the hallway collapsed burying Dave. Conrad
was trapped in the storeroom but he wasn't buried in the dirt. Ratty
went to the collapsed dirt and had his 3 rats start digging. One of them
to uncover half of Dave by himself. While this was going on Blade opened
the first door on the right. Inside he saw a lab similar to the one
across the hall but with the three lab workers inside. Assuming they
were also ghosts he just closed the door and didn't investigate further.
After getting half unburied by the rats Dave was able to lift himself
out of the dirt. Conrad, Ratty and the rats worked to dig out a passage
large enough for Conrad to get out of the storeroom. Seeing that the
rest of the party had thing under control and knowing he'd just be in
the way, Blade went back to the entrance room to check out the other
doors. He saw that the other doors had been ripped open and seeing one
just went to more water he went to through the other door, the one that
was to the right coming in. Going around the corner he saw a long
hallway with 3 doors on each side and ending with a large iron door at
the end. The rest of the party got themselves dug out and started
walking towards where Blade was.
Blade opened the first door on his left. Inside he saw a large furry
thing in a cage. The thing was so big it filled up the entire cage and
parts of it were poking out of the cage. Blade could tell it was still
alive somehow but it didn't seem useful or interesting so he just closed
the door. He then opened the first door on the right. Inside was a cage
completely taken up by what appeared to be a very large snake rolled up
into a ball, Blade just closed the door. The rest of the party reached
the hallway that Blade was in. Dave walked past and went to the large
iron door at the end. He couldn't open it so he started struggling to
rip it off. Ratty hung around back in the entrance room. Conrad went and
took a look inside the first door and saw the large furry thing Blade
had seen earlier. Blade opened the 2nd door on the right and saw a large
cage that had been broken open from the inside. Blade didn't see any
sort of creature but fearing whatever had broken the cage might still be
inside the room, even if he couldn't see it, he quickly closed the door.
Conrad, curious as to why Blade had closed that doors so quickly went to
the door Blade had just closed and opened it taking a look inside. He
also saw the broken cage and didn't see anything inside but both he and
Blade felt something brush by them as it slipped past them out the room
and move down the hallway towards the entrance room. Blade sighed and
considered whether Conrad was intentionally sabotaging him but
eventually decided Conrad was just foolish.
Dave, still struggling with the large iron door, eventually managed to
rip it off. Looking inside he didn't see anything of interest to him so
he started back down the hallway. Blade waited a bit and eventually
decided the invisible creature had simply left and went down the
hallway. He went into the room behind the large iron door Dave had
ripped off. Inside he saw a number of machines along the wall he didn't
understand. In the middle was a large glass container, more then large
enough to fit a human ins, with some black residue at the bottom. He
noticed a large rotten tube coming down from the ceiling to to connect
to the top of the glass container. He also noticed some black 'goo'
covering the floor of the room. Blade began searching the room more
closely.
Conrad opened the 2nd door on the left. Inside he saw a monkey with an
abnormally large brain. As soon as the monkey saw Conrad it started
reaching out obviously trying to touch Conrad. The cage was far enough
away it couldn't reach Conrad who felt it was safer to leave it alone
and closed the door. Back in the entrance Ratty heard a crunch and saw
that half of Milk was gone and something invisible was eating the other
half. He could see blood on the face of what was eating Milk and could
see it had feline features. It quickly finished eating Milk and as he
watched, the blood on the invisible creatures face started to fade and
it was soon completely invisible. Mierde and Milf were sniffing in one
particular direction and looking terrified. Ratty tried using wild
empathy on the invisible creature. Ratty sensed feelings of desire for
food from the creature. He offered the creature Mierde and Milk in
exchange for friendship. The creature apparently accepted as Mierde and
Milk were quickly torn apart and he detected a feeling of gratitude from
the creature. He decided to name the creature Puddy-tat. He started
walking down the hallway towards the rest of the party.
Conrad opened the 3rd door on the right. Inside was an empty cage that
was not broken. He then opened opened the 3rd door on the left. Inside
he saw a large number of tiny squirrels. Ratty walked up petting
Puddy-tat and looked into the room Conrad was looking at. Conrad sensed
a feeling of questioning hunger from Puddy-tat about the squirrels.
Ratty gave Puddy-tat permission and it rushed in and started devouring
the squirrels. Dave, not interested in any of the animals the rest of
the party was investigating, went back to see what Blade was doing. He
saw Blade searching the room and went in to see what Blade was looking
at. As he stepped into the room the goo on the floor began burning the
bottom of his feet. Dave roared and ran out of the room down the
hallway. The party dodged out of the way in time to avoid getting
barreled over by Dave. Blade finished searching the room he was
investigating and went back to where Conrad and Ratty were. He asked
them if they had found anything in the other doors and they told him
they had just seen more animals. They went back to the entrance room
where they found Dave sitting on the ground rubbing his feet.
Having decided they'd explored everywhere in the facility except for the
stairway that went under the water the party went back to the entrance.
Knowing he was the only one who could go down, Blade got a running start
and charged into the water. The stairs went down a little ways and then
leveled off to a long hallway. Blade saw a bright light at the far end
of the hallway and a number doors on both the left and right that
appeared to be corroded completely shut. Although this water wasn't
anymore corrosive then before, he didn't do as well withstanding the
pain and was forced back up the stairs.
Blade healed himself up then meditated until he had all spells and
abilities back. During this time Ratty performed a ceremony that turned
Puddy-tat into his official animal companion. Once Blade was ready he
psyched himself up as best he could and charged back into the water. The
water hurt badly but he managed to withstand it better this time around.
He dashed as quickly as he could down the hallway towards the bright
light. Blade was afraid he might succumb to the effects of the water
when he reached the light and walked into a bubble of air. The light
came from two large glowing orbs. In them he could see what appeared to
be swirling mist, similar to the dead gray mists of the Mournlands. The
orbs were sitting in a pedestal and he noticed there was a space for a
3rd orb that was missing. The water filled all of the room except right
around the pedestal. From the description Blade was certain these were
the artifacts he had been asked to retrieve.
Blade picked up one of the orbs, it was pretty heavy and while he didn't
have trouble carrying it he knew he wouldn't be able to sprint with it.
As he moved it he noticed the bubble of air around the water moved with
the orbs so he could carry it back safely. However he could only carry
one of them at a time. Looking around the room he didn't find anything
of interest and after considering his options carried one of the orbs
back to the party.
Blade showed the party the orb and how he needed someone to help him
carry the other one. The party suggested Dave since he could very easily
carry it but Blade refused to have Dave come with him as he didn't trust
Dave in the middle of the water. Blade chose Conrad to come with him
since he appeared stronger then Ratty. Blade and Conrad walked back to
the pedestal in the safety of the air bubble as Blade carried the first
orb. Conrad really couldn't lift the orb, especially with all of his
equipment. Blade set down his orb, picked up the 2nd one, and told
Conrade to push the first orb along the ground and roll it back to the
group. Conrad struggled to lift it up the steps at the end but he
managed to do so and the whole party was together again with the orbs.
Blade had Dave pick up the other orb and they carried it out of the
facility.
As they went out of the facility they saw the hooded figure Blade had
met before. He kept his face hidden in his hood but when he saw the orbs
he spoke up "Yes, those are what I need. Give one of them to me and I'll
create a portal to take you to Sharn where you can deliver the 2nd."
"Where in Sharn do they need to be delivered, who do they get delivered
to?" Blade asked.
"That has been taken care of, I simply need it in the cogs and you can
leave it there. The rest will has alerady been arranged."
"It is imperative I speak with Merix D'Canith right away. Can you
teleport us to him?" Blade asked.
"Merix has a factory in the cogs where he spends a great deal of time.
That place is an acceptable location for you to leave the orb for me and
you should be able to quickly find Merix from there."
"Very well" Blade agreed "Dave, carefully hand over the orb you're
carrying."
The shifter reached out with feline like hands and gleefully took the
orb. He quickly summoned a teleportation ring and then teleported
himself somewhere laughing evilly the whole time. Conrad and Ratty
looked at each other in a way that said they were getting suckered but
Blade didn't notice.
The party entered the teleportation field and were suddenly in a large
manufactory. They noticed that the orb was suddenly started to pulse.
Although Blade had promised to deliver the orb by setting it down, he
didn't do so right away as he wanted to make certain the shifter had
kept it's promise first. They went down a hallway and soon ran into a
human wearing clothing marked with the arms of House Cannith.
"How did you get in..." he started to say but then he noticed the orb
and his eyes grew wide. "How did you get that!?!" he asked in amazement.
"I need to speak with Merix D'Cannith on a matter of some urgency" Blade
replied.
"Uh... yeah... I bet. Follow me, I'll take you to Merix" the human said
his eyes never leaving the orb.
Blade was certain the shifter had kept it's promise and that this was
someone who could take him to Merix. However seeing how the human
responded to the orb Blade chose to continue carrying it with him rather
then set it down as he promised. He felt that he was more likely to
receive an audience with Merix if he kept the orb on him. The human
started running down a hallway.
"It's this way" he called out.
During this time, the party had noticed that the orb was continuing to
pulse and it was slowly starting to pulse harder. The group soon went
through a research lab where people were working. Seeing the party
following their guide one of the researchers started to speak up but
then he saw the orb and his grew wide.
"Is that?" he started to say.
"Yes, we need to find Merix fast" the guide responded.
The researchers hit an alarm and bolted back the way the party came
shouting that Merix was located in the forge-room. The guide said he
knew where that was and to follow him. The party and the guide continued
running as the pulsing of the orb grew stronger.
The area was in chaos from the alarm though everyone seemed to be trying
to run for their lives rather then respond to intruders. Even the guards
were running and none of them spared a second look at the party. A few
people, all researchers or apparently higher ranking officials, would
seem to recognize the orb and instantly run away from the party as fast
as the could. Ratty seeing this, decided that he didn't really have any
reason to stay with the party and that he should also get away from the
orb as fast as possible and at an intersection ran the other way then
the direction the party went. Blade and Conrad noticed this but ignored
him and continued following the guide. They followed the guide through
various rooms and hallways for about 20 minutes as the orb continued to
pulse even more.
Finally the guide stopped at an intersection, pointed down a hallway and
said "go down this hallway and make a left at the next intersection and
the forge-room is the third doorway, you can't miss it. I have to go
now" then he took off down the other hallway then way he told the party
to go.
Blade and the rest of party continued in the direction the guide had
indicated following his instructions.
When the party reached the room the guide had indicated they saw that it
was empty and appeared to have been cleaned out recently. However a
little further down the hallway the party saw a large group of warforged
carrying a large item being directed by a group of gnomes dressed in
robes. Blade immediately recognized the item the warforged are carrying
as being a creation forge, identical to the one the Lord of Blades had
used to create him but in much better condition. Until this point he
hadn't realized another forge even existed but the implications were
apparent. He knew that capturing a fully functional creation forge would
actually be more important to the Lord of Blades then capturing Merrix
d'Cannith. The gnomes spotted the party behind them, swore, and began
casting a spell together. Blade dropped the orb and sprinted as fast as
he could trying to reach the creation forge. Dave, in a burst of
inspiration for him, also began sprinting towards the forge. Being much
faster Dave quickly passed Blade and scooped him up then continued
running towards the forge. Dave and Blade reached the forge right as the
gnomes finished their spell. Blade, Dave, the forge, the warforged, and
the gnomes were all teleported away leaving Conrad behind.
Ratty followed a group of House Cannith employees out of the manufactory
and into the cogs of Sharn itself. He heard many of the people he'd been
following talking about how they were going to get out of the city, not
just out of the manufactory. Having spent some time in Sharn he knew
where the airship docks, the lightning rail, the waterfront, and the
main gates were located. He also knew from where he was deep in the cogs
it would take some time to reach any of them, assuming he wasn't stopped
for not having papers in the upper sections of the city. Thinking about
it, Ratty remembered hearing that the Khybers Gate district was more
then just a name when he used to live here and that there was a secret
way out of the city there. Since that was much closer then any of the
other options he went there. Reaching Khybers Gate everyone was talking
about the rumor that the Forgehold in Ashblack was about to blow. Most
felt the rumor wasn't true and if it was then it couldn't be bad enough
to affect the entire city but there were quite a few people that
believed it and were trying to evacuate. He also noticed most of the
evacuees were moving down, not up. Following them he discovered a
gateway to the Khyber, without hesitation he ran right through it.
Conrad saw everyone else teleport away and was uncertain what to do. He
looked down at the orb and began to wonder if maybe he should leave. A
human wearing the insignia of House Cannith came out the door of another
nearby room. He looked down at the orb.
"By the six" he swore "A mournbomb?!?" and before either of them could
do anything it detonated instantly destroying Conrad so completely his
soul did not end up in Dolurrh.
Blade, Dave, the gnomes, the creation forge, and the warforged all
appeared in a large stone room that was lit by magic but with no other
adornments.
"Get them!" one of the gnomes ordered the warforged.
Blade stood up and gave a speech telling the warforged that "the
fleshborn" are weak and that warforged are superior and should be the
true rulers under the benevolent guidance of the one true god. While he
didn't convince the warforged to fight for him they did listen to him
enough that they didn't attack. One of them said they had always served
the others and had never heard of warforged leading before and was not
convinced they were superior, but also had not seen a warforged such as
him that opposed the others. The gnomes seemed to be expecting the
warforged to protect them and were surprised as Blade and Dave jumped
down to attack the gnomes while the warforged just stood there holding
the creation forge.
Blade swung and hit the gnome that had tried to order to warforged. Dave
jumped down and swung at a gnome with his hammer, he enjoyed the way the
gnome splattered from the force of the blow. The gnomes moved back into
a defensive posture and most of them began casting spells. Some of them
didn't appear to do anything specific though Blade suspected they were
defensive spells though he couldn't tell for certain. The rest fired off
magic missiles which hurt Blade and Dave a bit. Blade swung at the same
gnome again, killing it, while Dave swung and splattered another gnome.
Another round of magic missiles flew out at them. Blade wasn't that bad
off but Dave was pretty badly hurt. Blade swung and hit another gnome,
disrupting the spell it was casting. Dave swung at a different gnome and
missed, his blow apparently glancing off a magical shield. The last
gnome cast a spell and then began climbing up the wall out of reach of
Blade and Dave. Blade and Dave finished off the two gnomes they were
fighting on the ground while the gnome on the wall hit them with burning
hands. Blade told Dave to throw him at the gnome. Dave picked up Blade
and threw him as hard as he could. Blade stuck his sword out directly in
front of him at the gnome. Blade skewered the gnome so hard his sword
embedded itself in the wall. The impact was so hard Blade was unable to
hold onto the sword and fell to the ground. Blade was hurt but all the
gnomes were dead.
Blade turned to the other warforged and began preaching about how the
Lord of Blades had made warforged superior to the fleshborn and as such
it was their right to dominate them. Having seen their 'masters' killed
so quickly the warforged were converted and asked Blade to teach them
more about the Lord of Blades.