Plans for Hex

**Synopsis**: Hex's player-written backstory and Tarren Soong's notes. Austin doesn't know most of this because Hex suffers from a corrupted memory and a lot was never told to him in the first place.

* Belhaven were losing the war against Westin. The Slaad were learning how to defeat basic Modrons. Primus issued a decree to the artificers of Belhaven that they need to create powerful new constructs to turn the tide in the war.
* Years pass, and nobody is able to rise to the challenge. The youngest Senior Artificer in The Artificers' Guild and a member of The Belhaven Council, Tarren Soong, has the realization that the problem is not physical, but mental. Slaad will always be able to defeat Modrons because they can adapt and learn. He asks a friend of his who works as a professor of Artificery at The University of Torkel, Makuria Irasa, to help. She agrees to come to Belhaven to help him, and when she arrives is fascinated by the work.
* Tarren and Makuria realize that the key to a smart construct would be to give it a sentient, living soul. While they were willing to do that if it meant sacrificing the old or terminally ill, further research leads them to believe they would need to take the soul of a young, healthy sentient being. They decide to scrap the work beyond just animating the armors to be stronger modrons.
* Belhaven's highest ranking wizard, Shivae Lenoran, discovers their work and that they tried to hide it. She gives Tarren the chance to reconsider his betrayal of Primus, and promises not to out him for his treachery if he completes the project. She forces Makuria to return to Torkel.
* A young man is apprehended on supposed crimes by the Belhaven guard, brought to Tarren's laboratory, and executed. His soul is bound to the Bear Totem which is implanted into Tarren's first Warforged, who would become Hex.
* After training/raising Hex for a few months, Tarren reveals Hex at The Artificers' Guild's Master Artificer's Election, a competition held every 5 years where nominees for the title of Master Artificer present their latest inventions. The winner of the competition becomes the Master Artificer of the Guild. Tarren is the runaway winner of the competition.
* Dez and Oct, whose souls came from Belhaven soldiers who volunteered for the project, are created.
* Shivae goes against her word and spreads the rumor that Tarren refused to finish his Warforged project and that someone else did the work for him. While The Belhaven Council traditionally elects the Master Artificer to be the Chancellor, the rumors cause them to elect Shivae instead.
* Tarren, in his anger, begins going hard at work on his next great creation, both to defend his title as Master Artificer at the next Election and show the Council the mistake they made by snubbing him.
* Over the next 4 years, Hex, Oct, and Dez are sent on a number of missions under the name Delta Squad, and are a huge success in the war against the Slaad. Tarren does what he can to not just teach the Warforged trio and improve upon their designs, but to raise them like his children.
* In their campaign against the Slaad, they are eventually lured into a trap while on a mission in Limbo. Dez initiates SERE protocol [ask Austin] and sends Oct and Hex back to the material plane, but they're sent to different locations. Dez's right hand and forearm was severed in the casting and sent through with Hex. Both immediately enter Long Rest Protocol to recover from damages, and lose parts of their memory as a result of both events.
* Oct is ejected in Torkel Forest near Torkel (City).
* Hex is ejected in The Val Highlands near Shellyn.
* Dez died. I kind of don't want to do a whole "oh man character thought he was dead but here he is AND HE'S EVIL NOW." No, he died, tragically.
	+ HOWEVER it's possible that the Slaad who killed him kept his body as a trophy and don't know how to destroy a phylactery, or even that they should have to do that.

**Tie-ins:**

* Hex's long sleep protocol lasts about 8 months. His chronometer broke, so he thinks it may have been years or even centuries. Whenever Tarren realigns his chronometer to the correct time, Hex will find out that it was off by 249 days, 16 hours, 4 minutes, and 11 seconds.
* Tarren Soong is in Belhaven (City) working on his next great project, which is in its final stages of design for the upcoming Master Artificer's Election. This design is a large, Warforged-like suit designed to be piloted by Tarren himself (it's not Iron Man, please listen I'm begging you). He has no idea what happened to the Delta Squad, only that the three of them never returned and were presumed dead. He has made one more Warforged, Envoy Warforged #786119, also known as Duo.
	+ Hex knows that he is from Belhaven and that his creator should be here, so it shouldn't be too hard for them to figure out they should check The Artificers' Guild and find out that he is the Master Artificer.
	+ He is relieved and overcome with joy when he discovers that Hex and/or Oct survived. The death of Dez affects him like the death of a son.
	+ Quest idea: Shivae is going to try and sabotage Tarren's design and presentation so she can win Master Artificer and block any chance of Tarren becoming Chancellor.
	+ If the party goes to Belhaven first before Torkel, Tarren will receive a letter from Makuria Irasa after the Master Artificer's Election describing that a damaged body that looks like his Warforged was found in Torkel Forest, but she's having trouble activating it.
* Oct is discovered by Torkellian hunters, who bring him back to The University of Torkel. His damage was much more severe than Hex's, and he doesn't exit long sleep. A member of the senior staff at the College of Artificery, Dr. Makuria Irasa recognizes the design as unmistakably Tarren's work. She begins working on repairing Oct, but his design is quite different from Hex's, he has gone through years of repairs and upgrades, and his damage is severe.
	+ When the party visits Torkel, there is a chance that someone makes the connection between Hex and the Warforged body and tells either the party or Makuria about the other.
	+ If the party visits the University, it is guaranteed that someone notices.
	+ The party will have some quest to repair Oct. Maybe they're sent back to the area where he was found to look for missing parts.
		- Once Oct is repaired, he will travel with the party until they either return him to Tarren or it becomes clear that the party does not plan to return him, at which point Oct will leave and travel to Belhaven on his own.

**Future Plans:**

* When Tarren, Hex, and Oct are all together and the two Warforged are able to tell the story of Dez's death coherently, Tarren realizes that it's entirely possible that the Slaad didn't destroy his phylactery core. The party has the option of traveling to Limbo to recover Dez's Warforged Core so it can be placed in a replacement body.
* Without Tarren's knowledge, Shivea has authorized a project to in The Lostwoods that chops down sentient trees and uses them and their souls to create Warforged Juggernauts according to Tarren's specifications. The Warforged that are created this way are corrupted, their souls much more violent and chaotic.

**Endgame Item:**

* If given the right components and enchantments, Tarren can upgrade Hex's armor and add any number of attachments that Hex requests.