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Session Report: A Search and A Discovery |  |
This is the first part of the session report for the first session of my D&D campaign. It was a long session, about 6 hours total, so I’m breaking the report into multiple parts. Anyway, this is the first one.
El was a gnomish artificer, the apprentice of a gnome named Jergan. Four years ago, Jergan had found a strangely constructed warforged, inert, on the mysterious continent of Xen’drik. He had brought the warforged back to Zilargo and repaired it, and it had chosen to serve Jergan faithfully in return. A month ago, Jergan vanished somewhere in Sharn, City of Towers. Concerned, El and the warforged with no name decided to go to Sharn in search of their missing master.
On the ship to Sharn, El and the warforged met Roy, a litorian with an uncanny ability to blend swordplay with eldritch magic, a form of magic far older than the arcane magic that dominated Khorvaire. Roy had left his tribe in the Talenta Planes a short time ago in order to explore the world, and to find his place in it. Having no specific goal at the moment, Roy decided to join up with El and the warforged in pursuit of their noble goal.
When the three reached Sharn, the sky was threatening rain and the sun was almost down. They got directions to a reasonably-priced inn called the Mermaid’s Mug from the ship’s captain, and made their way to the closest lift that could take them into the middle city.
The streets of Sharn were crowded, despite the rain that had begun to fall. El, Roy, and the warforged pushed their way through the crowd, trying not to gape at the enormous buildings and dizzying heights of the City of Towers. They finally made their way to the Mermaid’s Mug, a small but well-tended independantly-owned inn.
Inside they found hot food and a dry common room, but they also needed information. Approaching the innkeeper, the warforged asked if he had seen Jergan. The inkeeper, Japhed, replied that he had not, but directed them to Morgrave University and the House Cannith Enclave, both places that a gnomish artificer might have business. Deciding that they would visit the Cannith enclave first, the three set out into the dark, wet night once again.
On their way to the Cannith enclave, the trio stumbled across something that they did not expect: a body, lying in the middle of the bridge they were crossing. The rain and darkness had made it difficult to see the corpse until they were almost on top of it. Kneeling down, Roy searched the corpse quickly, looking for identification papers. He found them, and learned that the corpse had once been a man named Bonal Geldem, provost of pre-Galifar studies at Morgrave University. Before, he could find out anything else, the three were attacked from behind.
Their attacker was a warforged bearing a bloodied battle-axe, with the mark of Karrnath on its brow. Without hesitation or preamble, the newcomer attacked them, swinging its battle-axe with detatched precision. A heated battle ensued, during which the supposed murder weapon, the attacker’s battle-axe, was accidentally thrown off of the bridge. The enemy continued to press the attack even without its weapon, its rage apparent in its glowing red eyes. It was defeated in the end, however, by bolt from El’s crossbow, specifically enchanted to do potent damage to constructed creatures. The enemy fell face down, a smoking hole through its torso.
Not long after, three armed individuals arrived bearing the insignia of the City Watch.
“What’s going on here?” cried the leader, a stout dwarf.
Roy quickly explained the situation, being as cooperative as possible, even suggesting that they come back to the station to give full statements if necessary. All the while the dwarf examined the body and listened to various townspeople who had witnessed the battle.
“Alright,” said the dwarf. “I believe you. In fact, it looks like you’ve done a tremendous service for the City tonight. For your noble act, I award you . . . three gold each.”
Stunned by the dwarf’s unprecidented generosity, the trio watched as the guards continued to examine the bodies of both the victim and the killer. Finally the dwarf, Sergeant Dolom, told them that they could continue on their way.
Shaken but not deterred, the three eventually found the House Cannith enclave. They entered and were immediately greeted by someone whose job it apparently was to immediately greet those who entered the House Cannith enclave.
“We’re looking for a gnomish artificer named Jergan,” said Roy. “Can you help us?”
“Well, I’d have to look through the logbooks in order to find out if he was here,” replied the greeter. “That will cost you ten gold.”
“Ten gold to look? Do we get it back if you don’t find anything?”
“I’m afraid not,” smiled the greeter. “That’s the standard processing fee.”
After much convincing and arguing, the three eventually agreed to pay the ten gold. The greeter, in return, told them he’d look through the logbooks, and that it would likely take a few days before he had any information. Trying to be polite, the party told him where he could find them, and left.
On their way back to the Mermaid’s Mug, the three were stopped by a man bearing a signet ring of House Cannith. “If you would know why Bonal Geldem was murdered,” he said quietly, “come to the Broken Anvil Inn at dawn.” As soon as he had spoken, he turned and was gone.
