New Eberron story (Part 1)

Just back from a long trip, we had hung up our gear and were getting ready to test the limits of blood alcohol content when a page showed up with a summons. We were about to tell him to go away when we saw the name Merrix d’Cainnith signed on the bottom of the summons. To our credit, we still briefly discussed blowing him off. No job given to us by him was going to go well and both Rork and Kaelan knew it. But in the end we took the transport to the Cainnith tower in the Dragon Towers district of Sharn. We were taken to a very private room where the master artificer showed up. He told us one of his airships had crashed in Xen’drik and it had an item of utmost importance to him on board. It was a darkwood and adamantine black box about 8 feet by 4 feet that was sealed and locked. He said that he was hiring us because discretion was absolutely necessary with this retrieval, and because of that he couldn’t use his house’s resources or any official means to search for the downed airship. He gave us a magical wand (presumably of Locate Object and keyed to the box) and a general location. Our price was simple….no contracts, no official documents whatsoever….but we wanted an airship.

Her first conscious feeling was an irregular pounding on her skin. She was almost unaware of it at first, but it was pulling her out of the blackness and becoming more and more pronounced. Then a roaring sound that catapulted her the rest of the way into consciousness. She opened her eyes to a raging storm overhead, pouring rain and thunder and lightning from the sky. She was cold.

She looked around slowly to take stock of the situation and saw the burning wreckage of something laying all around her. It was…an airship. Yes she knew that much. But not much else came to her…no memories of who she was or even a name. She was laying in a splintered crate and it looked very odd. Gauze and fabric were molded to her exact frame, and her unclothed body was covered in a gel of some form. Together they had probably saved her from the crash.

She saw bodies around her in the wreckage and slowly stood up. She walked over to the nearest one, cutting her bare feet on the sharp rocks, and it didn’t take much to realize whoever this was did not survive. Further investigation confirmed….she was the only survivor.

Knowing she had to get warm, she gave a small apology to one of the men and dragged him towards the shore and the treeline beyond it. There she stripped the body and put on his clothes. The pants were too big, as were the boots, and the shirt was torn beyond the bounds of modesty, but she was able to use the belt and tie the shirt and get the clothes to cover her enough to function. She was about to search for some half dried wood and go back to the ship to light a fire from the still burning wreckage to get warm when she saw reptilian forms stalking from the trees further down the shore towards the bodies. Once their they began their meal. Sickened and realizing she had one of the bodies very close to her now, she snuck further into the jungle behind her. Warmth would have to wait.

Stormreach was a simple teleport from Sharn. They even set up platforms for the purpose. We appeared on one and followed Rork to an inn known for good food, soft beds and even better information. We had to find out if anybody had seen the ship crash. The bar was very full, and we found out it was because of a very special guest that evening….a dancer known far and wide in xendrik for her talents. We ordered drinks and pulled up chairs to a table. Two hill giants sat across the room, which piqued Kaelan’s interest (like any good Valenar elf, Kaelan’s hatred of giants breached the bounds of sanity), but he was reminded very firmly of the importance of our mission. Kaelan also noticed someone more interesting to watch….a human from the look of her, she was sitting alone with her hood up and nervously looking around her and drinking from a small cup like a frightened deer. But then the show began.

The dancer was exotic, and not in a dirty way (well maybe). A naga slithered out onto the stage and began to dance with a serpentine grace that was astounding and distracting to even the elf. That is until the human girl waved away another drink and the barmaid went back to the hill giants to give it to them….

The giant who ordered it for her got up with an angry look on his face as a smile came to the elf’s. He veeeeery carefully reached back and unclasped the double bladed scimitar in its cradle and got a soft whisper of a dwarven voice in his ear.

“If you get out of that chair we’re gonna be lookin’ at each other eye to eye from here on out.”

He turned back, scandalized. “Hey…the girl could be in trouble!”

“Right. Keep it in yer pants lad and keep yer sword in its sheath. Remember…we’re a bit busy to be helpin’ out every pretty girl you come across.”

The giant appeared to be getting angry with the girl’s hasty explanations of why she wouldn’t join them.

“This isn’t going to go well…”

“And that’s why this place has a bouncer. See now? He’s headin’ back to his table.”

The hill giant’s fist whirled back and smashed through the table the girl was sitting in front of. Kaelan raised an eyebrow at the dwarf, who sighed. The elf’s grin was one he’d seen too many times, and it always meant the beginnings of a headache for him.

Shadow enveloped Tianna as she stepped out from behind the girl and pulled her to safety, as Kaelan walked in front of the giant and told him very evenly that he was giving him one chance to leave. The giant looked confused at the elf, half his size if that, and reached forward to grab his head. In a moment the scimitar was out and the elf was in a fighting stance, saying “That hand comes any closer and I’ll be wearing a giant-finger necklace tonight.”

The giant pitched forward, his arm pinned by the minotaur bouncer. He told the giant to get out and it did. The minotaur glared down at the elf. “NO DRAWN WEAPONS!” then looked at the naga and apologized and asked her to continue. The elf quietly invited the girl to accompany them to their table for a bit, ordered her a drink of whatever she had, and walked back to the table, smiling and giving a polite salute to the naga. She looked at him and he stopped. For a moment the entire room faded, and she was all he could see. His jaw dropped slack as he stared…and then she looked away and went back to her dance. He shook his head and sat down.

(continued in part 2)