Game Session #2: Morgrave University

Several years past, a few months prior to the destruction of Cyre and the creation of the mournlands, Puck went by an entirely different name. His family's name, in fact, and studying architecture at Morgrave University in Sharn. His class in Applied Mechanics gave him no end of trouble this semester. Puck had noticed a peculiar goblin helping a few other classmates complete their assignments in the library and the same determined goblin would show up every other day to pester the professor after class. With nothing left to lose, Puck struck a bargain with the goblin that called himself Geekz. He would put in a good word for the goblin to his professor and in return the goblin would help him pass his next exam.

The day of the exam came and went. The next class period grades were handed out. That nasty little goblin! Puck had trusted that ferret-faced little wretch! He fumed until class ended, but what luck! The tiresome green menace showed up to bother the professor once again as the classroom emptied. Puck slipped out of the room and down the hall where he spotted a security guard pacing. It didn't take much convincing before several guards showed up to detain and question the unkempt cog-denizen. With luck he'd be convicted for some paltry crime, locked up in some dark cell forever, and he'd never see the little scamp again! With luck....

The next week the nation of Cyre was destroyed. Along with Puck's entire family.

The loss struck something deep in Puck and he eventually surrendered himself and all his belongings to a monastery in a remote part of western Breland. There he cast off his old name, all rights to his family belongings, and chose a new name for himself, Puck. Several years he spent in contemplation and training. There the monks taught him of the Path of Light, the pursuit of perfection in both mind and body. The day of his final trial had come. He stood before the monastery elders and told to gather all his belongings. Having none he stood before them in only his grass-spun tunic and pants. The elders placed a sack of rations and a broad-brimmed hat to keep the rain off his back. He was told that for 1 year and 1 day he would travel the outside world and discover what fate, if any, it held for him. If his teachings served him well and he followed the path of light, it would return him safely to the monastery. Only then would he be taught the final lessons and secrets of the old masters.

Puck left the monastery and began his journey. The last year at the monastery Puck had made a vow of silence. It was his master's orders that he was to assist those as needed whenever he could but it was the individual that made Puck involuntarily break his vow that he would be destined to aid wherever their endeavers took them. After a time, he found himself stowing away on the lightning rail. Eventually he found himself riding atop a rail car and gazing at the towering metroplex of Sharn in the distance. It was there that he visited his old school and spotted a peculiar goblin darting onto campus.

The curiosity nagged at him and Puck found himself following. Could this be the same goblin? It wasn't possible but perhaps this goblin knew the one he had wronged so many years back. The goblin was wary and kept searching to be sure he wasn't being followed. Puck followed the goblin into an older poorly kept section of the university. Sneaking down a hallway the goblin leaped out of a side room and stuck a loaded crossbow-like mechanism at him. Firelight flickered behind Puck as several rooms down the hall caught fire. Before he realized it Puck had spoken an exclamation, his eyes closed as he silently cursed himself. It WAS the same goblin!

Alarmed, the goblin screamed at him to leave him alone and ran down the hall towards the flames, reaching into his bag and pulling out a small mechanical dog. Puck shook his head and ran after only to see Geekz' mechanical dog slice a part of its head off as it narrowly escaped a deadly razor-wire trap strung across the hall! Smoke poured from the adjacent rooms as the doorways burned. Geekz pulled out a pair of shears and carefully clipped the nearly invisible wire. They were almost out! Just then a clay jug swirled in the air and cracked on the cobblestone floor, spilling out its oily contents. Scraps, the mechanical dog, sprawled alongside Geekz. Droplets of flame sizzled as the oil slick spread closer. Puck charged down the hall.

Geekz scrabbled in the oil trying to grab Scraps and pull them to safety when he noticed a human standing in the entrance to the hall raise a crossbow and fire. Geekz belly-flopped onto the floor and the bolt shattered against the wall behind him. Puck dived onto the oily floor with precision and grabbed both occupants as he slid past, his momentum carrying him into a corner wall where kicked off and slid down the adjoining hallway and towards their attacker. Rolling to his feet Geekz pulled out a wand and fired it at the attacker but it was Scraps that ran up to the assailant and chomped the man's arm with his bear-trap jaws that finished him. Geekz had to reach around and hit the release button in order to remove Scraps from the body. Puck looked a little queasy between watching the oil slick light suddenly behind them and the blood splattered about the hall. In the distance an alarm bell was ringing.

They left quickly, again Geekz telling him to leave and Puck refusing, saying he still owed a debt to the goblin. They managed to get off campus just before the guards sealed the gates and sat in a small bakery on the corner. The smell of cinnamin rolls wafted through the air. A young half-orc waitress took their order of water and a roll. Geekz spoke briefly of an incredible need to leave the city that night and a need to find his friend Strossler. Puck could see the goblin clutching protectively at a scroll case just beneath his coat and quietly shook his head again. Just great, he thought. Wherever this leads, it already had an auspicious start. Puck wondered if he would ever see the monastery again...