All things considered, it was a surprisingly nice forest to appear in. Definitely top three. Admittedly, the cloak keeping me temperature controlled helped, along with keeping the mild drizzle off of me, but still, large trees, just starting to green, and a dirt road, packed flat, helped make it remarkably pleasant to journey in.
The forest was surprisingly quiet. I'd assumed that this kind of natural-looking forest would still be full of animal sounds, bird song, and the occasional scurrying of a small rodent that hadn't noticed me, but there wasn't a creature around to be seen, not a breeze touched the leaves, and the only sounds were that of my breathing and the magic cloak brushing against my armour.
It'd been a few hours since I'd been given power and dropped into a random (nice looking, to be fair) forest, and I'd spent most of that time regretting my decisions. Not too much, given that "Hey, wanna breathe fire?" was still one of the best sales pitches I'd ever had, and I'd very much prioritised short-term survival over potential long-term power, but still, I mourned my dreams of being an archmage and reshaping reality to my whim.
Admittedly, short-term survival and comfort was a useful thing to have. Any typical build for a D&D character assumed that there was a DM to slowly dole out level-appropriate encounters, providing steady levels, and that there would never be anything too powerful trying to kill you. (Well, except for first edition. Balance was more of a suggestion there than anything else) After all, having your shiny character with an epic backstory getting wiped at level 1 due to running into a vampire in the middle of the night wasn't particularly fun. Unfortunately, disembodied voices coming out of the darkness at midnight when you're trying to sleep don't exactly strike me as the most trustworthy of DM's. My mumbled, sleep deprived agreement had lead to a fairly frantic character creation, but I was reasonably sure I'd not come out of it too badly.
My long term build may end up being incredibly unoptimal, and any decent power gamer might want to grab me and shake me repeatedly for making mistakes, but given that I didn't know if I'd ever make it past level 1, I figured being more difficult to hit and being able to ignore a decent amount of the damage that being hit with a weapon would cause, to the point of being able disregard the threat of the average peasant with a dagger, was kind of worth it. I'd needed a couple more feats working with those synergistically to get them to that point, but being able to see in the dark is a thing that seems like a useful skill to have, and the Otherworldy Counternance feat was absolutely chosen for the synergy and practical reasons and not at all me shoring up my low self-esteem by making myself inhumanly beautiful. Honest.
Snorting at my own internal monologue, I pulled my cloak in tighter and whispered the magic word required by my ring, concentrating to clean up the few wisps of sweat that had built up while walking. A thousand gold starting money had been generous, and I probably could have spent it on a wide variety of useful adventuring gear. A command-word activated Ring of Prestigitation, for instant cleaning and food flavouring, and a Travel Cloak, providing temperature control, rainproofing, food and water, and a handy tent at night, however, would provide day-in, day-out use, and make sure I'd never have to worry about food or toilet paper again, especially given the fact that I had no clue where I was or what supplies I could get my hands on.
It had taken a little bit of quick thinking, and abuse of the item crafting rules, to manage to fit them both into the one grand I had to start with, but I'd managed it at the cost of not letting anyone other than me use them (well, technically, any Chaotic Good Gestalt Dragonfire Adept/Rogue with four ranks of Knowledge: The Planes could also use them, but they didn't exactly grow on trees. Walk into them, maybe, given how disoriented I'd been when first waking up in the forest, but that probably doesn't count). A couple of bits of gear to help me not die to the first rabid wolf or desperate bandit had rounded out my purchases, and I was still left with a decent chunk of loose change to last me until I could find a source of income. Breathing fire at people was cool, but it was only marketable in specific circumstances, and I didn't know if I'd run into any of them anytime soon.
Pulling some trail rations (consisting mainly of dried berries and some nuts, the latter of which I gave a sharp salt-and-vinegar flavour) from a cloak pocket, I idly munched on them as I wandered down the path. The path was too well made to be a forest trail, so it implied there was at least some level of civilisation around here. Hopefully one that welcomed random travellers wearing a year's salary of magical items on their back as opposed to immediately trying to murder them for it, but I'd see what came up.
An indeterminate time of walking before the forest I was walking through suddenly gave way to a stumps. It looked like there had been some heavy clearing, the cart tracks in the path that started near the tree line suggesting regular passage of quite heavily but evenly laden carts implying a lumbering operation, and wow it was a rush to feel information suddenly click together. I sat heavily on a stump. Cart tracks I'd have never noticed before had suddenly sprung to my attention, and I'd put together the information and come up with a reasonable explaination without even thinking about it. I wasn't sure if it was one of my new knowledge skills, setting my Intelligence to 14, or even just being a D&D character and rolling well, but that was simulataneously mildly disorienting and one hell of a rush.
I took another minute to get my thoughts in order, then pushed off the stump and starting walking again. After a few minutes, I could spot what looked like some kind of fortification, potentially a wall of some kind. Whatever it was, it was starting to get towards late afternoon, judging from the position of the sun (and wasn't that a rush to suddenly be able to figure out), and given I hadn't actually been to sleep when I'd been dumped here, I'd been awake for a while now. I knew my cloak could turn into a tent, but sleeping in a bed was much more preferable, so I picked up the pace slightly.
The stumps gave way to sparse grassland at about the point I was able to make out the features of the fortification. It was some kind of wooden walled compound, from the looks of things, a trench dug out around almost all of it, only breaking for where the path that I was on lead up to a gate. A couple of minutes walking later, and a hundred or so metres away from the gate, I was able to pick out the shapes of two armoured and armed guards standing on either side of the gate, both of whom had grabbed their weapons (polearms of some kind, with too big a head to be spears, not long enough to be pikes, and not symmetrical enough to be partisans. Halberds, I decided) and, while not obviously wielding them, had made sure that they were close to hand. Upon seeing this, I decided to do the first sensible thing that popped into my head.
I waved at them, and continued walking forwards. Unless this was some kind of bandit fortress, I doubted they'd be immediately hostile, and it was probably unlikely that bandits would go for logging. Waving would hopefully show that I wasn't hostile, and that I wasn't trying to hide. Open and honest was the plan here. In-as-much as there was a plan, anyway. Winging it was the strategy that had normally worked for me in the past, might as well double down.
I was about 20 metres away when I called out to them, desperately hoping that Common and English were the same thing. I'd spent skill points, I now spoke 11 languages, but it if turned out they were French or something I was fucked. "Hello! How, erm, are things?" I was off to a great start.
The two guards, dressed in, now that I was close enough to pick up details, what I was pretty sure was scale mail, quite rugged padding underneath that, and spangenhelms, shared a glance, before the one on the left spoke up. "Who are you, and what is your purpose here?" The words were brusque, but the tone was more confused than anything else. Still, despite the fact that I couldnt' recognise the accent, it was English, so that was a win. I ignored the fact that she hadn't answered my question, and responded.
"My name's Mahziron." The lie slipped easily from my lips. So much for being open and honest. I wasn't even sure why I'd lied, but answering with that name was almost automatic. I refocused on the conversation. "I guess my purpose here is to be less lost? To be honest, I have no idea where I am, or what this place is, but you're the first people I've seen all day."
They shared another glance, before the guard I was talking to took a moment to look me up and down, and another couple of moments to look over my face before speaking up again. "You're lost? How did someone like you end up lost around here? Shouldn't you have a bodyguard of some sort?"
Wow, rude. I didn't think that I looked that incompetent. Sure, I was kind of pudgy around the waist, and a life of being an IT nerd hadn't exactly given me an amazing physique, but I was hoping my new stats would deal with at least some of that. Also, I could breathe fire, damn it. Right, shite, been asked a question, time to come up with an answer that was as true as I could resonably get, without telling the actual truth, which would make me sound like an incompetent moron (I ignored the little voice in the back of my head). Let's hope magic is a thing around here.
"I got, teleported? Plane shifted? Whatever, I got on the bad side of a mage, and they decided that I would be much better somewhere else. Woke up in the forest over there," I gestured with my hand "A few hours ago, and followed the path." As I spoke, the somewhat ready stances the guards were in softened slightly. "Ended up here. Where is that, by the way?"
"You're at the edge of the Sennian Kingdom, with this frontier village here," The guard that had been doing all of the talking (I mentally named her Verbose) pointed a thumb over her shoulder "being Logging Camp Five. Yeah, the name's a temp until someone gets their shit together and comes up with a better one." Verbose answering the question that I hadn't asked, but I guess was displayed on my face. "Does that help?" Her tone had taken an almost sympthatic tone, my bluff apparently having hit home.
"Not as much as I'd like, unfortunately. I have no idea where that is." I shook my head. "Still, it's more than I had before, thank you." I was about to continue, before the guard on the right (mentally tagged Not-Verbose, bow before my naming skills) interrupted.
"How'd you piss off a mage? Ya steal something from them? Were they after a little, ya know..." She made some kind of hand gesture, and I was pretty sure I could feel myself failing a roll as I completely failed to figure out exactly what the fuck it was supposed to mean. The closest thing I could think of was some kind of drunken camel. There was a decent chance of it being explicit in some way, though, given the expletive Verbose hissed out between her teeth at her fellow guard.
"I'm not entirely sure, given that I didn't steal from them, or commit any other crimes, but I don't think this is something you do to someone you like, you know?" I hurried on before I was interrupted again, and had to concoct more backstory on the fly. "Is there anywhere to stay the night in the Camp?"
Verbose took a second to prop her halberd up against the wall, and removed her helmet. Taking off the arming cap, she ran a hand through her sweaty, close cropped hair, and looked at me. "There is an inn, yes. It's a bit, well, rough for someone like you, though. I'm sure we can find you somewhere to stay the ni-"
"Ooh, he can always stay at my place! I can make room." Not-Verbose eagerly piped up, giving me an overdramatic wink that involved her entire head moving up and down. I looked at her for a second, briefly thought about it, had the paranoid part of my brain chip in with the thought that anyone that enthusiatic about letting random strangers live with them probably has an organ harvesting room in their house, and turned back to Verbose.
"I'm pretty sure I can handle a rough inn." Fatigue had started to set in, by this point, and I just wanted to collapse into a bed and let all of this be a problem for future me. I steadfastly ignored the muttered "I bet you can handle it rough" coming from Not-Verbose with the willpower granted to me by the mental image of being strapped to a bed and having my kidneys removed, and just kept looking at Verbose.
She looked conflicted for a second, before slumping. "Alright, the inn is the Logger's Rest, it's at the end of the main road. I get off shift at sundown, if you run into any problems, come to the barracks and ask for Julie, alright? The barracks is the building just to the left when you walk in." I wasn't entirely sure what kind of problems I'd run into, but I guess if anyone tried to steal from me, I might at least have some kind of legal recourse.
I thanked Verbose (or Julie, presumably), nodded to Not-Verbose, and watched as Julie opened the gate up. The fairly simple slab of logs swung open, and I stepped into Logging Camp Five. Damn this place had a stupid name.
Mahziron
CG Human Gestalt Dragonfire Adept 1 / Rogue 1 (32 point build)
Medium Humanoid
Int:+2 Senses: Darkvision 30ft
Languages: Common, Celestial, Draconic, Abyssal, Infernal, Aquan, Ignan, Auran, Terran, Demodand, Phanaton
AC: 18 Flat-footed: 16 Touch: 12
HP: 11
Damage Reduction: 4/Lawful
Saves: Fort +4; Reflex +4; Will +2
Spd: 30ft
Attacks: Breath Weapon (15ft cone || 30ft line; 1d6 fire damage, Reflex save DC13 half); Dagger (-2, 1d4 p/s)
Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft
Base Attack: +0 Grp: +0
Abilities: Str 10; Dex 14; Con 14; Int 14; Wis 10; Cha 16
Special Qualities: Breath Weapon 1d6, Sneak Attack +1d6, Trapfinding, Beguiling Influence (+6 Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate);
Feats: Dragontouched (+1hp, +1 Listen, Search, Spot, +1 saves vs paralysis & sleep), Bestial Instinct (Flaw) (-2 on weapon attacks), Free Spirited (Flaw) (half carry cap, double armour check pen), Cloak of the Obyrith (Abyssal Heritor) (DR 4/Lawful), Demonic Skin (+3 Natural AC) (Abyssal Heritor), Eyes of the Abyss (Abyssal Heritor) (+4 Search & Spot, Darkvision 30ft) Otherworldly Counternance (Abyssal Heritor) (Beauty)
Skills: Bluff +13; Diplomacy +11; Intimidate +13; Knowledge (Arcana) +6; Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +6; Knowledge (The Planes) +6; Perform +7; Spellcraft +6; Tumble +5; Use Magical Device +7; Speak Language (Abyssal, Infernal, Aquan, Ignan, Auran, Terran, Demodand, Phanaton)
Items: Studded Leather (+3AC, Armour Check pen -2), Travel Cloak, Ring of Prestidigitation, Dagger x 2, Masterwork Explorer's Outfit
24gp 9 sp
Ranks (Bluff 4; Diplomacy 4; Intimidate 4; Knowledge (Arcana) 4; Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 4; Knowledge (The Planes) 4; Spellcraft 4; Tumble 4; UMD 4; Speak Language 8)
