Chapter 1 - Awakening

You waken. Your body is stiff, as if you haven't moved in months. As you stir and attempt to open your eyes, everything is hazy; you can barely make out light from dark. Blinking a few times, your vision clears, though not entirely. It'll come in time, you assume. As you begin to stretch, trying to stand, you try to think how you got there.

...

How did you get here? Actually, where is here? Actually, nothing is coming to mind, at all. Every thought you try to pull up just brings up a blank fuzz. A bit of worry is starting to set in. Actually, there's NOTHING coming to mind. No name, no family, no history, not even a favorite food. It's only by looking down at your arms and feet that you can remember what sort of being you even are. And looking down, you notice you're wearing simple robes that look faded and worn with time, somehow both ancient and yet holding together. Your brain can't completely make sense of it.

Still blurry, you finally focus on the room you're in. A floor with only shreds of cloth in a corner... maybe once a mattress? A ceiling, smooth, as if from a single slab of... stone? 3 walls, with no seams where they meet the floor or ceiling. The floor and walls are smooth too. Is this room maybe carved from a single giant block of stone? It's not that large either... And in front of you... bars. This is a jail cell. You're in a jail cell. What did you do to get throw into jail? The bars are strange too. They're not just parallel and perpendicular beams. Interspersed are crystals in the center of intricate metal patterns, pieces of wood set into wreaths of faded, dead plants and flowers, candelabras with pictographs inscribed on them, the wax of dead candles left in them.

It's too bright to see outside the bars. The only noise you can hear is stone creaking.

You actually don't smell (bad). Given what you look and feel like you'd think you stink, but strangely, you don't.

As Jorem shifts towards the bars, he starts to make out what's outside the cell. It's very bright, but not a harsh light; perhaps a warm light? It's definitely sunlight. It's still not clear, but you see a large mass outside the cell, maybe 15 feet away. It looks sort of like a table? It's too hard to tell; you'll need to get closer to the bars to see more.

As your minds begin functioning again, you realize you know things. You know language (or maybe more than one), you know how to speak, you know what people are, what things are... you just can't remember who YOU are. What you are. Anything specific to you.

As Jorem crawls closer to the bars, as Tetsuwan stumbles forward, as Elric approaches the bars, you can more clearly make out the room. Sunlight floods in, bringing in peace and warmth, though only though a relatively small hole in the ceiling. The central mass looks like a circular slab of stone, about 15 ft in diameter, 3 ft high. Made of a smooth white stone, it has 6 circular daises on it's inner perimeter, set at equal distances, each a foot or so in diameter, raised above the central platform. Each has something on it, though you can't make it out. There is a dais directly in front of your cell. The white stone would be completely unmarred, except there is a radiating fracture from it's center, presumably caused by what appears to be a small, dark ball in it's center. Clearly, that fell through the ceiling and broke the stone.

As your eyes adjust to the light more, notice the ground and ceiling outside your cage is made of the same substance as your cage, again as if from one piece of material. Outside your cages, however, you see an intricate lattice of channels dug into the ground and ceiling. Paying careful attention, it looks like a channel originates from the dais in front of you and makes its way to your cage, splitting, forming patterns, as if a river breaking into a man-made delta. You can see small chunks of crystal, tiny broken pieces, laid into the channel randomly, the rest simply filled with dust.

Only Jorem can feel power coming from the grooves in the ground, an old, faded power. Arannis and Dwoinan can feel faded power in the aligning wards on their bars.

You can see someone who is up near their cage.

As the last of you wakes, those of you looking at the mesa see the black gem vibrate just slightly and a small pulse of light flashes out of it. All of a sudden, the bars around where Jorem's arm extends out crumble into dust, followed quickly by any of the bars any of you are grabbing.

As you approach the white stone table, you can more clearly make out the 6 raised platforms. Each is simple in fashion, little more than a small circular extension ontop the larger white stone, which you can now see is covered in intricate carvings, similar in design and variety to those that were on the bars of your cells, all originating from the center. The hole in the ceiling is right over the center of the large stone, and the black gem seems to have landed right in the middle, cracking it, fractures going out forcefully.

Atop each pedestal sits a seemingly mundane object. Across Jorem sits a dull red crystal, no more three inches in length, but well crafted. In front of Edward is a single leather bracer unadorned except for a spearhead embedded into it. Tetsuwan sees a small metal cage, a sphere with longitudinal bars twisted into into 's' shapes, as if the ball has been grasped on either end and turned in opposite directions. The podium in front of Carl contains a necklace composed of bones. Arannis's eyes catch a wooden circlet, as if grown from twisting wood. And before Dwoinan lies a silver chalice, well made and artful without being gaudy.

As Jorem approaches the black them, you all more clearly see what it looks like. It is a vaguely roundish chunk of unhewn black gem, very dull and unremarkable. If you were passing this on the road, it would have been completely ignored.

It's not very heavy, about the weight you'd expect for it's size, if not just a bit heavier.

Tetsuwan picks up the orb, quickly slotting it into it's chest, as if it was a practiced action. A small spark lights in its center, turning into a glowing yellow light, which spreads through whatever this being has for veins through it's body. It shudders for a brief second and collects itself. As the light fades to what must be normal levels, what was a shambly robot, looking near broken down, is now a much more collected being. It's as if the dust and rust that was on him is less so, but light doesn't do that, does it?

What was before a tinny, weak voice coming from the suit of armor is now a much strong, more powerful, commanding voice.

As soon as Jorem brings the red gem near his chest, he feels it being drawn into his chest cavity. His fingers brush past the hole in his chest and the gem leaps from his fingers and hovers in the center of his chest cavity, rays of energy moving about and filling him. Energy surges up his arms and legs and you see it his armor pieces bind together, cohesively.

As Carl picks up the necklace, you notice he stands a bit taller, a bit more full. It's a feeling the rest of you recognize. As he puts it on, you all think you know what he's feeling.

As you all look around the room for a way out, you notice there are no doors, just 6 cells evenly spaced around in a circle. Now that you're all more aware, you can call feel the tinge of fading magic. Closer inspection shows intricate arcane and divine carvings all over, on nearly every surface.. Those of you who have some connection to magic can feel it more acutely, but even those without any magical talent are shocked to feel it. This must have been strong magic indeed. But why? To protect you? To keep you trapped?

What happened...?

As you look for a way out, you notice the only hole, and the only source of light, is the hole above you, caused by the falling gem. The opening looks large enough for almost all of you to get out through, if barely. The larger among you may have to try to force some of the crumbling rock out of the way to get out, but it doesn't look impossible.

The ceiling is about 8 feet above you, but the hole is directly the center of the stone table, which is 3 feet high. You can easily access the hole by climbing onto the table.

As you look up into the hole, you notice it digs upward about 5'. The hole itself starts as the same stone as your ceiling, then sharply transitions into a very nice, grey stone. Looking up the hole, you can see the room above has a ceiling, with a room above it, and maybe a third room above it? The sunlight is beaming strongly, making it hard to look straight up. The feeling is amazing on your skin. You realize that the small gem lying at your feet, smaller than a person's fist, punched through at least 3 stone ceilings then a 5' stone floor.

Athletics checks

Working together, you all make it up, though Dwoinan, Tetsuwan, and Jorem need to use a bit of strength to break away at the crumbling rock a bit.

Once you get up, you find yourself in a large, almost empty, audience room, shaped like a circle was cut two thirds the way through, about 80ft at it's widest. There is a second balcony level, though you can't see a way up from where you are. You come up near the entrance, by a large set of metal doors, at the peak of the circular end of the room. Opposite at the flat end is a raised platform with long metallic table, though no chairs as far as you can see. There are two doors arches on the flat wall, each a quarter of the way in, and two doors at the widest points of the circular part of the room. You can see some pieces of decayed timber on the arches, but not enough to be called a door. There are shreds of cloth from the balcony level hanging down, faded in color. These were probably banners or flags at some point. Looking up again, you see a high ceiling, and can now make up there are two levels above you. The chamber is otherwise bare.

As you guys start looking around the room, you don't find much. The table is made of a dark stone, well constructed, unadorned and functional, but something about it is strange, almost ominous. The large metal doors behind you aren't locked, but no amount of pulling is moving them at all; you suspect they're rusted shut. But behind the table, on the back wall, you notice stone weapon racks, still with some weapons on them. You can find two long swords, two spears, and two maces, one on each side of the table.

As the group walks to the center of the room to take the full look around, Edward hears something coming from the 4 door openings.

As you all woke from your cells, Dwyn was last. Maybe playing sleep, maybe actually still asleep, Dwyn wakes to find nothing but tall folk and what look like machines about. As the rest reach for the items at the pedestals in front of them, Dwyn notices a necklace in front of them, a very dark, unhewn stone tied to a piece of dark string.

Caught.
That was the first thought the young gnome had on waking, and it’s a hard one to shake.
Dwyn watched the others introduce themselves. "Dwyn", was all she said to the strangers. She followed their lead, but tried to keep her back to the wall as much as she could.
After everyone else had taken the object in front of them, Dwyn reached out for the necklace.

She accepted help to climb up, and found herself in a room bigger than she’d ever been in. She tried to hide her unfamiliarity, but anyone near her would have heard a small gasp.While the others rifle through the weaponry, Dwyn helps herself to one of the swords. A bit bigger than I’d like, she thinks, but it’ll have to do. She notices Jorem clutching the makeshift dagger. Smart. These folks look like they can handle themselves. It’ll be good to have them onside if trouble comes.

If. Who was she kidding? When.

No sooner than when Dwyn picks up her blade, the shuffling you all heard in the distance becomes louder, and you can hear it coming from all four doors. Against the back wall where you are, you can't see the doors next to you, but you can make out humanoid shapes in the doors on the curve of the wall.

Dwyn rushes over to the side of the nearest door, her back to the wall. Her hands tremble, clutching the sword. She takes a deep breath.

"Arannis? You alright?"

Dwyn also waits, keeping an eye for the first signs of trouble.

Tetsuwan raises his blade, preparing for whatever comes through the door, as the rest of the part gather behind him. You all start to feel a chill in the air, but two globes of fire around you keep it mostly at bay.

The shuffling grows louder and clearer, you hear dragging, something against the floor. Suddenly, an instinct in Tetsuwan triggers and he swings his blade at neck level, and you hear a clunk as a skeletal head rolls through the doorway, followed by the rest of the body falling down. The shuffling noise from the door you're at continues, and you see skeletons start to exit the other 3 doors.

Dwyn presses her back against the wall by the door. If I can go unnoticed by the next skeleton to walk in through that door, I can get it from behind, she thinks. If only my damn hands would stop shaking.

Edward positions himself to the side of the door, striking another skeleton and dispatching it, the bones falling to the floor, again lifeless. As he does, Dwoinan points at the other door along the wall, and his ball of fire flies smoothly along, striking the bits of tinder remaining from the door that once stood there, sparking into a fire much larger than the fuel would allow. Two skeletons walk through, coming out charred, and fall to the floor. Arannis takes the moment to close their eyes, running their hands across the quarterstaff. It seems to grow slightly, as if coming alive, and fits more naturally in Aranni's hands. Dwyn takes advantage of the initial chaos to take position by the door, using Edward and Tetsuwan to hide. Jorem suddenly looks to the side, by the metal doors. "Do you hear that?"

More skeletons pour out each door. The fire burning at the bottom right door seems to be keeping any from massing out of that side, while another two appear at the doorway by the party. There are now 4 at each of the upper doors.

Tetsuwan's strike cleaves a skeleton in twain, leaving room for Edward to strike forward with his spear and foot, downing two more. However, he gives a small grunt in frustration as he notices the hallway behind is filled with more skeletons. Arannis and Dwyn both help dispatch the skeletons remaining around he door, giving you a moment to breath as Dwoinan continues his magical onslaught against the door next to you, taking down another skeleton.

Jorem turns to face the large metal doors with a start as a large bang strikes the doors, causing them to fly off their hinges, landing by the two upper doors, crushing everything under them. A large skeleton, at least 14' tall scrapes into the room. Looking past it however, you see an open causeway leading outdoors.

As you swarm the giant skeleton, you notice your weapons do no more than nick or scrape against the monstrosity. More skeletons clamor over the fallen doors and out the doors by the raised floor.

Noticing your attacks on the giant monstrosity are futile, your group breaks off, Arannis and Dwonain casting final spells to hold off the onslaught of incoming regular sized skeletons. With Tetsuwan the last to leave the audience chamber, you dash down a long, tall hallway, having been large enough to fit the giant skeleton, light streaming out it's end. As you pass more side passages, you see more skeletons coming at you, and those brave enough to peek back see little more than bone. As you get closer to the exit, Dwyn's sharp eyes notice trouble. "There's a metal portcullis in front of us!"

Reaching the portcullis, you look around for a way to open it, finding naught, leaving the stronger among you attempting to break it down. Just as you reach what looks like may be a dead end, the giant skeleton's quakes seem to shake it loose enough that a final heave by Tetsuwan knocks it down. You run out into the sunlight, it's warm basking over you, energizing you. Breaking into a run again, with the swarm of undead on your heels, you find yourself on what looks like dead land, little more than dirt and rotten trees, with no sign of life by your feet. But surprisingly enough, ahead of you stands a thick forest, vibrant as any you can remember seeing. There is a sharp divide in the ground, as if a line drawn, where the blighted land meets the living, two different worlds stitched together. Almost directly in front of you, on the living side of the line, are what look like 3 wagons.

You keep running, starting to tire, with the horde growing ever closer, when suddenly arrows whiz by your head, striking the skeletons behind you. You break across the line just as some of the skeletons reach you... and crumble to dust as they attempt to enter the lush grass. Undead after undead turn to powder, including the giant, as if an invisible barrier would not let them leave. You fall to the ground, exhausted.

When you finally look up, you notice the wagons look strange, and you don't see any horses or oxen in sight. You do see four armor clad people approach you, blades in hand. A older looking halfling in nice traveler's clothing breaks through them, gesturing them to lower their blades. "Clearly, they're not skeletons. Though what they'd be doing in there, I have no idea. Ok, blades back up."

As you stand, blades follow you up. "Where we are? You just ran out of a castle no one enters, in the middle of woods almost no one passes through, and you don't know where you are?" the halfling says with a look bordering between confusion and anger. He looks you each up and down. "If it weren't for the fact that only of you are that all that youthful, I'd have guessed you were a bunch of kids on some stupid dare. But judging from your clothes, teleportation spell gone wrong?"

As you grip your weapon, you notice it's turned to rusted dust. In fact even your clothing looks more worn, you think.

The halfling looks Arannis up and down, finally shrugging. "This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Dead Forest. A strange name, given it's quite alive, but I suspected it's more to do with this castle than the forest itself. The castle has no name, or if it does, no one I know know it." He walks up to Tetsuwan, looking him over carefully, inspecting the exposed mechanations. "I assume you found this mechano in there? Looks ancient. An auto right? Can't be souled?"

None of you recognize the terms he's using.

Turning, Jorem looks back to face the way you've come. Behind you, on a wide ring of dead land, stands a menacing looking, massive castle. Made of dark stones and sharp edges, rising towers and many exits. It's clearly aged, the outer walls bearing the marks of siege, the moat dried up and in some places filled in. It's look says dread, but it's clearly lifeless, and not in the undead sense. No one has been here for a long time, but whomever did could not have meant well. There is a clear contrast between the castle and the land around it, and the forest next to you, between life and death.

The halfling stands, thinking, when you hear a voice call from one of the wagons. "Tobin! You get those swords down and bring those folk over! Clearly they need our help!" You can make out the light dings of pots and pans being moved about. The halfling looks up and shrugs again. "She's right; she always is. This isn't the place for answers; we were getting ready to move on. If you join us, you work for your time. I'd charge, but you obviously have nothing on you." He motions the guards to lower their swords, and the female guard, clearly in charge, gives you a look somewhere between distrust and disgust before lowering her sword, but doesn't put it away. She waits for you to move forward, taking up the rear.

As the halfling leads you back, the first thing you notice is that the 3 wagons have some strange mechanism attached to where animal harnesses would normally go. A long, horizontal cylinder with numerous leg-like limbs coming off, you've never seen anything like it. As you approach, you hear pots and pans dinging out of one of the wagons. "I'm Tobin Fairdeal, trader extraordinaire. If you're traveling with me, you'll be working for it. In exchange, you can occasionally ride, you get the safety of my guards, and food." the halfling starts. "I've been all up and down the co..."

All of a sudden, a large spoon flies out the back of a wagon, striking Tobin in the arm. "That's Tobin Fleetfoot you mean! Calling yourself something else doesn't change your name, you olf!" A female halfling stick her head and arm out the back of the wagon, waving a ladle in the air. "Now you gentlemen and women seem to be down on your luck. I've got a pot of stew." She calls out to the other wagons and a three other halflings pop out to help her bring down a large pot and a large breadboard. Reigniting the hastily put out campfire, a hardy, simple meal is brought up in no time.

As everyone eats, Tobin lays out his proposal. "I'm heading to Cliffsedge next, and you're welcome to travel with me, as caravan workers, with whatever skills you may have. We don't have enough room for everyone to always be riding, but I'm sure we can work something out. Are any of you from Cliffsedge?" He looks around at your stoic, confused faces. "Oh right, no memory. Well, maybe some of the clerics there can help with that."

Poking the camp fire a bit, Tobin shrugs. "As I said before, no one I know has any idea what the castle is called. It's name, if it ever had one, is lost to history. I certainly didn't know anything about the undead or any power; no one enters that ruin. Almost no one enters this forest at all. But you see the ground over here. It goes from living to dead at a line, in a circle around the fell place. You don't have to be an archmage to know there's magic there, magic you shouldn't be messing with."

"There are numerous scholars there, but I'm not sure if any of them would know much. This is a topic few people are willing to think about, let alone discuss."

"There will always be people willing to talk about anything, but frankly, anyone willing to talk about that vile place are probably not people you want to associate with. And if your own curiosity drew you there, you deserve to have lost your memory." Visibly irked, he throws the stick he was prodding with into the fire and walks over to the lead wagon, tinkering with whatever is attached to it's lead.

The caravan is very quick at taking down the camp. Tobin gives each of you tasks, ranging from scrubbing pans to packing things away, with the guards keeping their eyes on you. Once packed, you notice Tobin, his wife, and the lead guard each take a seat on the wagons just behind the odd contraptions. They each take something they're wearing around their necks and place it into a compartment in front of them, with a long stick coming off it. They each push forward on the stick in turn, and the cylinder begins to turn, the protrusions acting as feet, pulling the wagon along. It's unlike anything any of you have seen before.

Tobin seems to know exactly where he's going, finding the thinnest patches of trees, large enough for the wagons to pass through. Through the trip, you find yourself walking along side the caravan, along with the guards, though on occasion some of the riding halflings will let you switch seats for a bit. The trip moves at a reasonable pace, but not strenuous. The trip through the forest takes a few days, breaking out to a well worn path wide enough to take all three wagons side by side. You can smell the wiff of salt water in the air, but the ocean is no where in sight. Over the next day of travel, the road turns away from the forest and towards a beach, with an ocean opening up in front of you. The road turns to stone-paved as the beach turns to cliff, with a large city at it's crest, going right to the edge hanging over the ocean. It's magnificent, with a large wall around it's border, guard towers, and you suspect much more. Most prominent is you notice the largest, nicest buildings are closest to the cliff's edge.

"Cliffsedge! And profit! But for you fellows, maybe some answers. Or at least a way to get back on your feet."

"An old city is the best place to start," Tobin says as he leads the caravan up the hill. "It's a diverse town; you shouldn't have trouble fitting in, even without memories. It's next to impossible for me to teach you culture; I'm not sure what you are or aren't missing. I'd say be careful of who you ask questions, but at the last, I'll introduce you to my cousin. He's a innkeep and can probably help you find some work for coin, and maybe answer questions as they come up."

As you get closer, you notice the gate you're approaching is enormous. Wide enough to take all three of Tobin's wagons in side by side twice over, and tall enough to take them stacked. There seems to be a redish haze at the portcullis, but it's not impeding people's entry and exit. Caravans of various sizes are parked outside the city, between the road and cliffside. As you look down the way, you notice very few caravans park near a portion of the wall that looks significantly more rundown than the rest of the walls.

"When you get inside, I personally recommend finding a healer. There are those who recommend priests, but I've never been one for the New Gods. I have to unpack the caravan, but I will meet you tonight at The Happy Foot in the Merchants' District." As you get down, you notice Tobin's wife walk right up to him, waving ladle in hand, apparently upset. A brief fight later, he catches up with you, a sheepish grin on his face. "She's right, you know, as always. Please, take this. It'll at least cover the registration fee if your mechano is an auto. Weeks of travel together and I'm still not sure; it doesn't talk or can't, and I'm not sure which. And obviously the clothes are yours to keep." He hands you a small bag and waves you off.

As you pass through the faint red haze at the gate, you feel a slight tingle. Looking around, no one else seems bothered, with all sorts passing in and out of the city, some traveling with caravans, others without. You see people of all races about, and the city is clearly bustling. One thing you all find strange is a number of mechanical creations about. From the gate, you can see a forge ahead. Any forges you've seen till then have had bellows powered by apprentices or slaves. Instead, you see some sort of wheel attached to the side of the bellows, attached to a box. As the wheel spins, the bellow moves up and down, feeding the furnace. Other shops have metal smoke stacks feeding out smokes of different, dark colors, and you see more than a few metallic beings walking about, most doing manual labor.

As you step the the gate, a guard comes up to you and stops you, as a man in nice robes walks out of a building attached to the wall. "Welcome to Cliffsedge," he says in a bored voice, looking down at a scroll. "As new visitors with a mechano, I must as you to register it if it is an auto. Registration costs 5 gold." He looks up, clearly uncaring, and looks Jorem up and down, but doesn't say anything.

The clerk raises an eyebrow in brief surprise. "A souled, huh? That core," he says, pointing at the orb in your chest. "Is it magic or godsblood driven?"

The clerk looks you up and down, a bit confused. Refusing the money, he says, "No, we don't register souled mechano's in Cliffsedge. Sentient's sentient. But sure, I have till the next newcomer comes, so I'll answer what I can about our city."

"If you're low on coin, you'll find the cheapest inns down by the church district. For work, that depends on what you do, of course. I'm sure you can put in to be ship hands on a trading vessel, if you have experience. Caravans are always looking for guards, though not too many I've seen recently who'll take on a group as large as yours. Otherwise, it may just be the same odds and ends you'll find in any town."

Looking in the bag, you find coins you don't readily recognize, though at this point, that's a normal thing for you. There are 10 gold coins in the bag.

Stepping into the city, you're amazed at the midday activity. All around, you see goods being moved, items being sold. Asking around, you get directions to both the Happy Foot and the Church District, both in relatively the same direction. As you walk along the road, the city is obviously clean and well-kept, complete with guards patrolling, shops edge to edge along both sides. You pass more than one troupe of performers as you make your way inward. As you get closer to the Church District, you find the activity lessen, the gleam and polish of the heard of the Merchant District fading. Where the closely packed buildings showed signs of prosperity, here it more forced. Not run down by any means, there's just something missing as you approach the Happy Foot, complete with a placard of a large halfling foot. There are still people milling about, but they seem to move with purpose here. A road to the east of you opens up into an area filled with a variety of buildings in size and decor. Fewer people move towards the area, but it's clearly the Church District. Beyond the buildings, you can see the part of the city wall that was more decrepit, an area few people appear in. with a lower wall surrounding it.