The Chain 03: A Colossal Problem

Trap!

  The Chain reels from the sudden and violent death of their former Commander, as they hear rumbling of more worms from the rest of the city. Lieutenant Chip lets out a cry from the East. "Retreat! We move south!" and he blows a quick cadence which the Chain recognizes as a retreat signal. Peacock is saved from a savage worm tail attack by some new special ability of Rook, which makes the attack teleport through the air and hit an enemy instead. The team quickly disengages from the nearby warforged worm and breaks open the mystery crate to find a metallic disc roughly 2 feet in diameter, covered in runes.   Above the rooftops to the north, a giant metallic head and shoulders begins to rise. No, not rise. It's getting closer. And bigger.   A great warforged colossus is travelling toward the town center, and unleashes a beam of sickly green energy from its mouth, incinerating several soldiers. The team decides to run. Behind them the sounds of battle continue, as the remaining Chain soldiers do their best to retreat south as well.

Out of Water

While crossing the main bridge to the southern wards of Rosehall, Seven catches the scent of humans who recently passed this way. He also finds a short blood trail leading to a poorly armed and armored commoner, who apparently died very recently. One of the spy network, Formal, catches up with the group from a side alley: "East is no good! Worms entering the city from the fields."   Rook makes a quick decision to continue south toward the Talenta Plains. Once more Seven is able to recognize the familiar scent of humans coming from a tavern on the way, and the team notices several warforged and human bodies outside of this tavern. Many of them also notice movement from inside the building.   Seven gets shot with an arrow as he opens the door, and he sees a woman with a bow looking scared toward him. A man in armor assists Everard "Peacock" ir'Gallen in calming the situation. These new folk warn the Chain that they had trouble escaping to the south, finding more worms and warforged there. But one human dressed as in entertainer's clothing realizes there still may be a ship at the Docks. The Larkspur came into port right before the initial warforged invasion from Thronehold.   Before they can solidify a plan, they are noticed by wolf-like iron defenders. A fight ensues in the tavern with several of these constructs, as well as two flying horned horrors. After sustaining several injuries, the Chain prevails! The main mercenary identifies himself as Alercu: "Please take us with you!"