Lost in the Woods

A group of inexperienced adventurers head into the woods for their first mission. Will the real adventure be the friends they make along the way?
Campaign Link: https://ddb.ac/campaigns/join/36547972892463645
Character Page: Lost In The Woods Players 
== Background ==
Your characters have been assigned, as part of a work study program at the Trista Vocational School For the Adventuring Arts, to explore the nearby Forêt d’Écureuils. The forest is nestled in the crook of the Dragon Spine and Ruedi's Gate mountain ranges, in the southeast of Gaul. The "forest cakewalk," as more experience students have called it, is the traditional first mission for teams that have been deemed ready for real-world adventuring. Your instructions are to travel deep into the forest, spend the night, and report back on the status of the flora and fauna, as well as any other things of note.
=== Timeline ===
This story takes place in the late spring, Sumna 25th of 3119, fifteen years after Cirque and five years before Scourge. (and 6 hours)
=== VG-10 and the Children of Forêt d’Écureuils ===
37 Warforge of varied shapes and styles. 
== Character Build ==
* Level 3
* Ability Scores can be Point Buy, Rolled (traditional 4d6 keep 3), or Fixed. Whatever you like.
* Level advancement will be milestone (there may not even be a level up with this short of a scenario)
* Hit Points Fixed or Rolled, at your option.
* All official content is allowed. Homebrew can be used if it's cleared with Chip.
* Preference against moustache-twirlingly evil characters. It should make sense that you're part of an adventuring team in training. As always, I'm open to fuckery, so we can discuss this if you have a fun idea.
== Pre-game Character Anecdotes ==
* Doyal & Bucky
* Sorraia & Eri
* Eri & Tetty
* Bucky & Chet
* Ganja Pete & Doyal
* Chet & Sorraia
* Tetty & Ganja Pete
== Campaign Notes ==
Session 1, 01-08-2023, Hosted by Matt and Casey
Session notes:
Our group comes to a clearing with a large tree in its center. We hear a voice, "Oh good, you've made it." A distinct face appears in the tree. "You may call me Ten." Chet:"You're like an Eight."
Vix takes the first Nat1 shot.
He introduces himself as the guardian of this forest. His face is made of the wood of the tree itself, but appears as that of a Warforged. "You were expected, and I need your help." He wants us to stop the loggers felling trees and killing wildlife on the northern border of the woods.
Ten drops rings, one to each of us. Each is adorned with a symbol, possibly elemental runes. Ganja Detects Magic on them, they are all magical. Leaf, Sun, Wings:Transmutation, Fire:Evocation, Wave:Conjuration, LBolt:Conjuration. Doyal Identifies his, Ring of Blink, does not require attunement, 5 charges. Sorraia announces that she is casting hers, and she has cast Fly.
We head north to see about this new mission, and we soon reach a river. Eri tries her ring on the water, launches a Fireball. Neat. Sorraia hears rustling in the brush, draws her weapon and points. We all hear the same rustling a moment later in another spot, and then the raptors emerge. Initiative. We destroy 8 raptors, in very in-character manners involving various degrees of violence ranging from pacifism to puree.
Ganja tries their ring on the river, finding it to be tidal wave. Chet tries the leaf ring to see if it maybe makes a bridge? Plant Growth. Crossing the river is now much more possible, if slower.
After getting past the overgrowth, we take a short rest. Ganja passes around something to toke. Sorraia cooks some raptor, Tetty some plants.
We come upon the lumbering site. Plans are discussed. Plan A, talking. Plan B, talking with magic. Plan C, the hitting.
We approach a guy. He doesn't get paid enough for our questions. Tetty suggests they don't have the legal right to be logging here. He's going to get the foreman. This guy is short but built. Tetty repeats her claim with a Deception roll, opposed with a nat1 Insight. He believes her, but he doesn't give a shit. We're told to fuck off and get some paperwork. Chet tries to intimidate them, badly, and we are rolling Initiative.
(DINNER! Casey made chili)
Battle begins, and after they strike us a little, Tetty casts Calm Emotions to attempt to pacify the bunch. "Do you really want to add manslaughter to your list of crimes today?" Despite some success, the battle continues as some resisted the spell, drawing the rest back into conflict. Eri threatens them with a Fireball, ultimately targeting their tools and equipment. Tetty, after Charm Person doesn't end the fight, shouts for everyone to STFU, uses her ring expecting Lightning to arc from it. But she instead Calls Lightning, KILLING the foreman. Tetty is mortified. The remaining opponents fail Intimidation and drop their weapons, running off.
We set ourselves to burning the rest of their logging equipment. The main tent is not yet aflame, so some take a look inside. There is a large planning table covered in maps. A brazier is set up cooking sausages. There is also a very obvious, 15-foot-wide pit.
Tetty examines the papers on the table. Partially-filled map of a maze-like area. References to strange accidents that occurred down there.
The pit is dug 5ft down, and it abruptly stops at metal. There is also a payroll naming the guys we fought, but no indication of their benefactor.
Eri takes action to prevent the fire catching to the tent, realizing that if they are actually a mining operation that there may be explosives involved. Searching the lockers does uncover mining equipment and explosives.
People examine the metal slab. There is an iron pull ring to open, and marks that suggest it was recently forced open.
Doyal Blinks past the door, summons Dancing Lights. Within is a metal corridor, old and rusty, and the air smells musty. He calls out through the door, and pushes it while Sorraia pulls, opening the entrance.
Eri grabs one of the mining lanterns and we all enter the tunnel.
Session 2, 01-15-2023, Hosted by Vix and Kiel
Session notes:
Bucky (Kiel) shows up, dropping into the underground entryway to join the rest of us. He also has a ring from Ten.
Investigation confirms a set of smaller footprints, possibly a Small creature, wearing footwear has headed in recently but not out again.
A scream of pain is heard down the corridor. Whether or not we should help them, we should at least check it out. Let's go! The passage spirals downward.
Steps lead down into a room where a medium-sized, mechanical-looking figure is chasing a smaller one. The gnome (played by Charles) calls out to us for help. Initiative!
Copulman claims to be a merchant, down here to look for ancient technologies to adapt for profit. Yeah, sure, those guys up there were his employees. But he doesn't seem to be on the level here. Some recognize his name, and they know that as a businessman he's not terribly successful. We give introductions as we see fit.
Bucky casts Knock on the chest panel of the Warforged we defeated, a panel that contained some laser-firing mechanism during the battle. A crystal and some finely-latticed metallic stuff refracting through the crystal. Bucky takes it.
Investigating the room, there is a line around the wall, broken in some places by crossed lines, looking random and yet deliberate. Tetty recognizes that this is similar to Ilithid script. Comprehend Languages! The meaning occurs to her, "The death of those who trespass has already been assured," tinged with anger and panic.
Eri wants to see what's in the corpse's head, but can't open it. Sorraia cracks it open like a walnut. Eri sees gears and wiring, now very destroyed.
Ganja wants to know if Copulman wants to buy something, NO OF COURSE NOT talktomelaterkay?
Two doors, one open and one closed. Bucky casts Knock on it, but it doesn't seem to have done anything. Some examination reveals that it's not locked in any way, but the mechanism to open it isn't operating as it is now.
We opt to take the open door.
Vents line the ceiling and the floor of the next room after a short hallway. There is another door on the opposite side. Investigation finds some green crust, possibly something caustic, but dried for a long time. No obvious sign of any way to activate it. We assume the room to be a large trap.
The centaurs hurl the Warforged corpse ten feet into the room, but nothing activates. Mage Hand is cast to try and open the opposite door from here, but the Hand is not strong enough. Chet and Bucky cross the room to wrench it open, Athletics23. Success!
The next room is decorated much more ornately. Four statues(?) with the same form as the Warforged we defeated stand completely motionless on pedestals. We see a closed door on the left, and another that stands partially open across from where we entered. That next room has some kind of machinery and controls and Dwarven script. Tetty slips past to take a look. Stronger party members wrench those doors open wider so others may join.
A base-8 math puzzle restores power to the environment. Chip wrote a weblink for us to play around with the machine's interface. It was several minutes before we recalled that Illithids, with only four fingers on each hand, do not count in base-10. (See: Seas of Avalon)
With power to the facility restored, we enter a battle against the four Warforged in the connecting room.
With power restored, that room's south door now opens upon approach. It connects directly to a larger room with bench seating along two long tables, where humanoid skeletons are slumped in their seats. Mechanical arms from the ceiling are moving randomly in a way that doesn't seem hazardous. 3 boxlike machines with buttons stand along the east wall of the room.
We take a short rest.
The skeletons appear dwarfen, possibly dead from strangulation. Closer inspection reveals evidence that their necks were snapped. Bone structure suggests they were hard laborers and their bones have sat here a long, long time.
The instructions on the boxlike machines, written in Dwarven, list foods. Vending machines! Tetty operates one, and for her trouble gets a packet containing something that decayed long ago.
A sign over the door to the north, where we entered, reads Vanguard. That same door INTO this room reads Break. The west door reads Quarters and Testing. The south door, To Exit.
Something seems off about the wall behind the machines. Tetty has Chet move one of them, and she finds a panel to open a secret room. This tiny space contains a mop, a bucket, and two large glass bottles of a green liquid and a yellow liquid. Pine and Lemon, respectively. Neat. We take a bucket of soap for potential hijinks.
We take the door west toward the Testing Chamber. It reveals a long hallway, with one door at the far end and another along the wall to the north. Tetty makes an Int save against a magical trap, but passes. There is similar engraving on the wall as in the earlier room. "I am the architect of your destruction and you will recognize me." Signs over the doors read as follows: Quarters, north, and Testing, west. We check Quarters, where we find rows of bunkbeds, neatly made. No skeletons here, but plenty of dust, not disturbed. We find no personal effects, weirdly, but a thorough search reveals a single sheet of paper under one mattress, written in Dwarven. Bucky Mage Hands it to Tetty. "I do not know how or why, but I have avoided the mental prison which has ensnared my peers. The Director thinks so little of us that he has not noticed. I don't know where I am. I don't know how I got here. I know that when I was marched into the facility, I saw flora and fauna I have never seen before. I know that we are watched constantly. I know that The Director's voice booms in my head even though he does not speak. If I just pretend for long enough, maybe I can find a way out. Maybe I can find a way back to my daughter. If I don't, let this be my last testament. I love you, Norah. - Silan Hornsplitter" Tetty keeps the note.
Before continuing west, Ganja casts Detect Magic. The next door opens as we approach it.
Beyond is a large room. Water pools in one corner, and raised wood platforms are laid out throughout the space, scarred by any manner of things. Clearly, battle occurred in this room. No skeletons. A single door sits to the far north.
Something drops from the ceiling, hitting the wood paneling with a loud CLANG. It is another Warforged, this one heavily decked out, but also appearing somewhat damaged. Initiative.
Tetty casts Minor Illusion to create the image of an Illithid motioning for the Warforged to stop. The Warforged uses its action to examine it and fails, believing what it sees. On her next turn, Tetty casts Message to try and imitate an Illithid commanding it to stand down, but fails the Deception roll.
Sorraia gets a cast of Haste from Bucky's spell ring. Copulman gets the kill steal!
The next door reads: Storage, Repair, Assembly, and Control. It opens into a small hall heading to the right. We carry on.
We enter what could be described as a giant hangar. At our floor level, we are on some kind of catwalk (Bucky:"Ha, yeah!"). Down below, spaced neatly, are some 40 motionless Warforged. Bucky sets himself to soaping the ladders to the lower level. There are three doors to the north and one to the east. Assembly, Control, Repair, Storage, in that order.
We try Control first. Tetty tries to make sense of the controls. Activation and deactivation, but nothing like self-destruct or reprogram.
The Repair room features rigging for lifting a body and tools. Doyle grabs the paperwork, which outlines different variety of Warforged soldiers, plus notes on deliveries and construction.
In Assembly stands an assembly rig and tools on workbenches. There is a partially constructed Warforged.
In Storage, there are shelves of pieces of Warforged.
Sorraia begins chucking pieces from Storage at the forty below in a slow attempt to destroy them. Chet Flies (cast from Sorraia's ring) down and grabs one of the forty to possibly present to Ten. Bucky and Eri do a thorough search of the Storage room and find a set of "inhibiters" which seem to have Enchantment magic. They look over the one Chet grabbed and find where it has an inhibiter inserted. Tetty has Sorraia stop her attacks on the Warforged on the basis that the control over them can be broken. The one is freed of its inhibiter, and it awakens. It is distinctly non-hostile and unaware where it is. Doyle Blinks down and begins pulling the rest of their inhibiters.
Wait, where is the gnome? Klaxon goes off and the Warforged awaken. Copulman is at the Control room. Eri draws her bow, "Give me a reason!" "It's too late! I've already started the sequence!" Eri shoots, and we roll Initiative.
Tetty rushes in and tries to deactivate the sequence. The Klaxons stop. "Asshole!" "No thanks, I'm full."
Bucky uses Suggestion successfully. Copulman is told to go to the Storage room to grab things of value to sell. Chet flies down to assist in the pulling of the inhibiters. On his way over, Sorraia grabs Copulman and drops him 15 feet down to the floor below. Ganja goes to him to demand an explanation, which he refuses, prompting a failed attempt to Hold Person.
Bucky joins the other two pulling inhibiter chips. Copulman tries to scramble up a ladder but fails to the soap. Sorraia moves into position to bonk with her warmaul if he tries to escape that way again. Ganja thornwhips him closer to insist again that he blab his plan, Nat20 on the attack. He still refuses. We're up to 37 either freed or disabled, and Eri takes her turn Fireballing the control panel, melting it into slag. Bucky pulls the final 3 inhibiters.
Copulman casts Chill Touch on Eri. Following this, anyone who was holding back from attacking him has reason to opt for cowabunga. Chet hooves Copulman. Sorraia brings a hammer down on him. Ganja stabilizes him.
Tetty addresses the Warforged masses, tells them we will bring them to a friend who can help them acclimate. We clean the soap off the ladders.
Eri goes over to Copulman and bites him in the throat. Ganja asks wtf and stabilizes Copulman again. Bucky and Eri make sure all the inhibiter components, those in the storeroom as well as the ones pulled from the Warforged, are destroyed.
We escape the facility without difficulty. (We don't act it out, but we avoid the probably acid trap by taking the south exit out of the mess hall.) Using explosives, we collapse the entrance after vacating. And then we march our new Warforged buddies to meet Ten.
Despite some characters' expectations, Ten was unaware of any of the goings-on that we report to him, honestly believing it was just a logging operation, and is not at all prepared for three dozen Warforged to come to his grove. We also offer to present him Copulman, as the leader of the mess, but Ten says we should hand him over to the proper authorities.
Are we doing a full report on this to the university? People think yes, but some are uncertain since the Warforged construction technology could still be excavated and recovered.
Ten invites us to stay the night in his grove.
Bucky takes Copulman's spellbook. Eri heals him. Ganja still wants to know his overall plan. Copulman tries to bribe us to no avail. He wanted to control the Warforged and apply his necromantic powers to implant within them the collected souls of his business competition to create... the world's greatest SALES FORCE! The desire to stab Copulman is strong, but the DM disallows it.
We go back the next day and level up to 5. People speculate on what becomes of their characters afterward, particularly with the onset of the demonic incursion set to occur not long afterward. Tetty is able to make contact with Silan Hornsplitter's descendants.
We are also given some background details about the purpose of this place, essentially an unused contingency plan in the Illithid war. We speculate whether the solitary Illithid falling into madness from his disconnect to the hivemind could be the same one we encountered in Seas of Avalon.