from the Journals of Morningstar, Warforged Wizard

by rsmyth

An account of the wanderings of Morningstar 776 Series C, Warforged Wizard, in the time after the Treaty of Thronehold in the D&D setting of Eberron.

2. Chapter 2

from the Journals of Morningstar 776 Series C, Warforged Wizard

by Richard Smyth

CHAPTER TWO

Date: 13 Vult 996YK

After two weeks of deliberating the meaning of the word freedom, I moved into action. Freedom, I concluded, is the ability to make decisions and to take action based on one's own volition. As a warforged construct, I have never had the luxury of making my own decisions; I was made to follow orders. So making decisions was an alien concept. I decided to go to Cragwar, the nearest city, and "go from there" (as I heard my human officers say).

Being free, I realized during those days of uncertainty, means not knowing what's going to happen next. It's like being in the middle of a story with no way of knowing how it will end, or where the next plot-twist will lead. Being free was being alive. I was truly alive for the first time in my life.

There were others of my kind on the field of battle, fighters who weren't granted the level of intelligence I required as an aide de camp. I tried to reason with them, but reason was not programmed into their training. They awaited orders from commanding officers who were gone from the field of battle forever. I left them standing there, dumb, mute, useless.

In Cragwar, I wandered the busy streets filled with people, carts, marketing stands, animals, dung. None of the people was in battle garb, bore weapons, or marched in formation. It was total chaos, and the noise—of salesman yelling, cows lowing, dogs barking, children shouting, pigs grunting, chickens squawking—was cacophonous. I saw a placard with a griffin in a storefront: HOUSE JORASCO: WARFORGED RELIEF CENTER. I made my way there.

Inside were a few of my kind, sitting in chairs, staring blankly. Behind the desk were Halflings tending to my comrades. When I finally spoke to a counselor, I was informed about the Heroes of Breland Land Grant Program. She filled out an application for me and told me to check back in a month.

I followed one of the warforged who finished just before I did to a squatter's camp east of the city, in a small wooded area.