Prelude
Slowly you force your eyes to open, rubbing the crusted sleep from their corners. Your surroundings are dark and cool, a gentle humming emanates from somewhere beyond your senses. Gradually your eyes respond to their environment and the room you are in slips into focus. You are laid on a simple bed with a plain white gown to cover your modesty, an everbright lantern is shuttered to provide dim illumination, and you are alone.
You vaguely remember being submerged in some sort of liquid filled tank, unable to move and filled with fear, although you cannot remember why.Upon examining themselves they find that they have several wounds that are in the process of healing and they seem weak and lethargic. Their memories are clean and they have no recollection of where they are, how they got here or even who they are, beside their names….
Within a few minutes your room door is opened and you are led from your chamber, by a single heavily armoured warforged.
Warforged Awakening
A bright and sudden flare into consciousness fills your senses with overwhelming sound and colours.“This one’s awake”, comes a voice from nearby. As you begin to gather your faculties you realise that you are in some kind of workshop, submerged waist deep in a vat of resinous liquid, various metal bands hum about your arms and head infusing you with a sense of vitality and well-being.Several humans begin to scurry about you, detaching various implements before you are carefully hoisted from the vat of liquid and polished to a high sheen. Once you have been suitably cleaned and polished you see another warforged enter the workshop. The little humans who seem to have been taking a great amount of pride in their work on you take a step back with wide smiles.“This one seems to be ready now. Number 6, take him to meet the others.”With that the heavily armoured warforged steps forward, “Follow me” it says then turns and heads out of the workshop.
You travel down several clinically clean corridors into a simple square room with smooth rendered white walls and a black polished tile floor. Several comfortable looking chairs face a desk on one side of the room, and on the opposite wall from you is another door.
One by one the players are led into a plain white room by their warforged chaperone, here they are asked to take a seat, and their questions will be answered as soon as everyone is gathered. The room’s door is locked after each entry. A second door faces this one on the opposite side of the room, this too is firmly locked.
There is one other person that is brought into the room, a Kalashtar named Alatheus.
First Meetings...?
As each of the characters meet they feel a certain sense of recognition, but it is distant and dreamlike. Once all the characters are gathered they have approximately 5 minutes before the room is entered again, this time by an authoritative figure who introduces himself as Master Frehsys, artificer of House Cannith, and two armed guards, the Master speaks;
“Greetings, I am glad to see that you have all regained consciousness, you had us all quite worried for a few days. My name is Master Frehsys d’Cannith. My apologies if your memories are a little vague at the moment, do not worry they will return in a little while, we had to administer certain rare herbs and devices in order that you could fight the charms that had been placed upon you.”
“Ten nights ago you were found by a small contingent of my men within the City of the Dead. Their reasons for being there cannot be disclosed, however, they were investigating a Mausoleum that has been converted into a temple of Vol. To all intents and purposes my men were never there, I would like it to remain that way if you would be so kind. Anyway, you were found within this temple, and you were certainly rescued from a fate worse than death.”
“I can tell you little else of this situation as it may compromise my own plans….”
“I am not at liberty to reveal your current location, suffice t say that you are not within Sharn’s city limits. However you will be returned shortly.”
“The treatment you have received here was costly to say the least and once you have been returned you will be contacted with regards payment.”
“I can give you the location of the Vol temple should you wish to return there, but I would strongly recommend against that course of action for your own safety.”
“Your belongings are through the other door,” he gestures across the room, “you may retrieve them now. Please leave your gowns on the table provided.”
Leaving the Complex
You are escorted through several more clinical corridors until you arrive at a small cage that seems to be at the bottom of vertical shaft. A small control box has various dials and valves that control devices beyond your view and 2 large levers stand beside.
You are ushered into the cage and with a few tweaks and a pull of one of the levers the cage begins to rise up the shaft.
After some 5 minutes of ascent the cage grinds to a halt and you are escorted through more corridors, these seem somewhat less clinical and are busier. Eventually after many twists and turns you are taken into a large circular room, some 200 feet across, within are several strange skycoaches that look as though they should be being pulled along the lightning rail, their windows are blacked out and there is a strong almost overwhelming menthol smell.
You are ushered onto one of these skycoaches and invited to take a seat until the flight is due to commence.
Once you are all in the coach the door closes, you feel a gathering of energy and a gentle crackling sound emanates from a large crystal set into the ceiling, a moment later there is an explosive crack of sound and light, even as you reactively close your eyes you can see the powerful energy flooding through your eyelids and then there is darkness and silence.
There is the sound of the gentle voice of Frehsys in your mind, “Please remain calm, this is not a permanent effect, and once we arrive in Sharn it will be removed. I will be putting a scented hood over your heads while we travel, it is a most pleasant scent, please try to relax you will be home shortly.”
The return journey takes somewhere in the region of 2 hours when you feel the Skycoach setting down on solid ground and your scented hoods are removed
Once more you hear the voice in your head, “You are about to be subjected to an invisibility spell, please do not resist or this will only take longer, once you are invisible you will be escorted from the coach and led into the street, from there our journey together is at an end and you will be contacted at a later date by my colleagues.”
You are led out of the coach one by one and you can feel the damp humid air that is familiar to the City of Towers and as your vision and hearing begin to return you can see the skycoach that brought you is already ascending far above you.
It doesn’t take long for the PCs to find out that they are in Lower Dura, The Stores. The time is roughly 10 p.m. and the streets are practically deserted.
Upon returning to Sharn the PCs begin to regain the memories of their former life, but nothing of their abduction.
