Forged in War

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Forged in War
By Doug Beyer

The warforged are living constructs parented by both technology and magic. (For more rules and details on warforged, consult the recent Dragonshards: The Warforged Part 1 and Part 2, as well as August's Rules of the Game. Eberron's warforged now face soul-testing conditions of almost excruciating freedom, having been freed from the structure and purpose of the Last War, and they have responded by adapting to those conditions with the single-mindedness, assurance, and ingenuity that only warforged can muster. Today's forged in war focuses on these synthetic citizens of Eberron and the adventures that blossom so naturally around them.

Etched with Mystery

The dying wish of old Farlan d'Cannith is for six of his warforged creations to be reunited. Forged a few years before the end of the Last War, all have different classes and aptitudes, and many fought briefly for Breland before the Last War ended. To make them special, a hand-engraved plate was fitted on their backs, and a master engraver and scholar named Urtus Vorm created each one. Farlan d'Cannith wants to see these warforged brethren united again, so he hires the PCs to find the six warforged and bring them to d'Cannith's deathbed.

The warforged have scattered all over Khorvaire after the War. One is still in Breland, tending a glassware shop; one has taken up druidism in the Eldeen Reaches; two have found night watch work in Karrnath, but have recently become involved in organized crime; one is believed to be a hermit somewhere outside Korranberg. The last one died somewhere in Thrane during a lightning rail accident.

The plates on the backs of the warforged line up to form an intricate design. Once the PCs reunite (at least the bodies of) the six warforged, it becomes clear that the engraved design is actually a map. Although Farlan d'Cannith dies before he sees the living maps reunited, House Cannith and Farlan's estate hire the party to follow up on the map and the now-interesting metalworker Urtus Vorm.

The Escapee

As the heroes travel down a lonely road, a gaunt and badly damaged warforged stumbles into view. He utters a mechanical moan and collapses, revealing that he has been missing a leg for some time. If the PCs can revive him, he tells the story of how he has just escaped from years of illegal postwar imprisonment at a nearby military fort. He has escaped now only by partially -- and painfully -- disassembling himself so as to fit through the bars of his dungeon cell. He asks the heroes' help in retrieving the missing parts of himself, including a leg and several pieces of his once-bulky frame, and in exposing the war crimes going on at the fort.

Dreaming of an Old War Buddy

A warforged named Flail is the devious but loyal right-hand man to Bzakkus, an Inspired agent of the Dreaming Dark. Together they sow evil on the streets of Trolanport in Zilargo, dealing in mind-bending plots, information trades, and assassinations to accomplish the mysterious ends of the quori.

During the investigation of an execution-style killing of a local Trolanport magistrate, a warforged constable named Trident discovers a gold pendant near the scene of the crime (or if there's a warforged PC in the party, that PC can find the pendant instead). He recognizes the pendant as a symbol of the infantry unit under which he served in the Last War -- meaning Trident could know the killer personally. The pendant was dropped by Flail during one of his recent assassinations for his Inspired master.

Trident and his fellow Trolanport constables hire the PCs to help them find this errant warforged, which leads them to discover Bzakkus and Flail and their malevolent schemes, drawing them into a dark cloak-and-dagger-with-psionics underworld.

The Unholy Thirst

A series of gruesome blood-drainings leads the Sharn City Watch to hire the party to hunt down a vampire. However, the more they investigate, the more it becomes clear that the warforged Thirst, minion and cultist of the Blood of Vol, is instead responsible. What has caused this powerful warforged to join the side of Vol? Could Vol leaders have taken advantage of the lack of warforged goals in the wake of the Last War, filling Thirst with their own wicked aims? Could Thirst's ghulra (magical forehead sigil) have been altered, somehow rearranging the living construct's moral code? Might Vol cultists have possession of something Thirst needs, so they're blackmailing him into working toward their cause? Or is Thirst simply an evil soul, dedicated to the destruction of Khorvaire's new world order by bringing about the birth of some avatar of darkness?

Mini-Hooks

Two warforged criminals stow away on a Lhazaar merchant ship by attaching themselves to the underside of its hull, which allows them to plunder its shipment of Valenar gold.
Although not illegally creating new warforged, an evil elven wizard/artificer has been outfitting golems with components similar to those of warforged, such as wand sheaths for wands of color spray.
Merrix d'Cannith, son of the inventor of the first true living warforged, disappears -- and the Lord of Blades claims responsibility for his kidnapping.
A warforged cleric of the Sovereign Host seeks companions for an expedition into Xen'drik to gather lore about ancient sentient constructs.
Frustrated with political corruption, a small town seeks to elect a warforged mayor, and it sends delegates to larger cities seeking candidates.
A fiend somehow inhabits the battlefist of a warforged Last War veteran and leads him to commit evil acts.
Llesh Haruuc readies a warforged titan to lead a preemptive attack on the gnomes of Zilargo, to solidify his power among the goblinoid tribes of Darguun.
A war historian believes a unit of warforged troops may be buried -- alive and conscious -- somewhere under the sewers of Sharn.

About the Author

Doug Beyer spent a lot of time getting philosophy degrees until he figured out that he should just move to Seattle and become a web developer for Wizards of the Coast. Now he spends his days working on games and his evenings playing them. Doug uses the time normally allotted for sleeping to lurk on the Wizards.com message boards as his alter ego, WotC_Doog.