It began on a beach.

It began on a beach.  It was a quiet day, not like the previous two weeks.  Strong winds, storms and quakes had dominated the world but now all was calm again.  The the ides of Panamos had finally ended and the season of Thesmophorios had begun.  Upon this beach a creature phases into existence.

Shiffit, a bronze warforged behemoth of a humanoid, materializes along with a large canine companion, Fiona.  Once completely formed, Fiona starts running around Shiffit in circles of excitement.  Shiffit slowly scans his surroundings enjoying the sights of the land and plant life.  Trees and bushes greet him from the north with mountains looming behind them.  The sea to the south brings with it a cool breeze, not that Shiffit could feel.  He notices a trail leading into the thicket from the beach.  Then, Fiona starts barking at the waves.  A boat lazily approaches the shoreline.

Shiffit watches as the boat softly beaches itself, unguided except by the waves, into the sand.  Shiffit stares silently as Fiona loses attention and sniffs her new surroundings.

Shiffit is not the only eyes to have noticed the derelict vessel.  Zyva, a golden pixie, spies the ship as she explores her new environment.  She flutters toward the coast and abruptly halts when she sees the giant metal figure on the beach.

After a good long time, Shiffit wanders toward the ship, curious as to what it is.  He attempts to climb the side of the ship and magnificently rolls a natural 1.  Womp!  Shiffit is embedded into the sand, slowly flailing like a beetle on its back.  "Teeheeheeheehee!" cries the pixie.  Shiffit rises to his feet and attempts to locate the source of this sound.  He rumbles toward the foliage to investigate.  

Zyva, clearly invisible... takes the opportunity of Shiffit's new location to fly over and look inside the boat herself.  She discovers two humans passed out upon the deck of the ship.  One man in golden armor and the other, a much older man with grey hair wearing a fine royal garb.  She attains some seawater and dumps it upon their heads.  Glaucus the Seer is unaffected but Hesperose bolts to attention, confused but alert.  He stands up and rolls a natural 1 spot check completely unaware of Shiffit.  He awakens Glaucus and tries to learn how the seawater jumped up on the boat and into his face.

 Glaucus regains some composure and dust off his clothes.  "Food, food.  I require sustenance," he orders.  It is then that Hesperose realizes they have come upon land and quickly descends a rope ladder onto the beach.  He finally discovers that he is not alone on this shore.  He raises his shield and sword in a threatening way toward the warforged.  "What sort of creature do you be?" he fumbles out after the sudden shock of viewing the heaping figure.  Shiffit turns his head and then his entire body to face the soldier squarely.

"Are you my friend?" the warforged questions putting up a hand as a greeting.

"Are you my enemy?" the man in gold replies, inching forward with sword ready to stab forward.

"Wait!  Wait!  Wait!" Zyva yells, trying to halt the hostility of the human.  "He is good.  There is no trouble here."

"Get your voice out of my head you bewitching monster!" "Drop your weapon!" Hesperose orders once he notices a scimitar and club on the metal hulk.  Shiffit stares as a reply.  Fiona sits by Shiffit's side, happily panting with tail a wagging.

Zyva becomes visible and tries to position herself between the two men of metal.

Glaucus by this time has decided to look upon the island and sees the three on the beach.  "Food... food.  Do you have food and drink?"

"Yes, yes!  We can all eat and drink and be friends," Zyva quickly replies.  Hesperose heeds his grumbling stomach and agrees to parlay, still wary of mighty humanoid's movements.

After some discussion about how they are all somewhat lost the humans request the pixie to find a settlement, which confuses the warforged.  "We need food, and supplies, and women," Hesperose replies.  "Yes, the women!" Glaucus agrees.  Before departing, Hespersose goes back aboard the ship to secure what little is left on the ship.  Shiffit tries to assist but, bam, another natural 1.  Climbing is not his strong suit.

It turns out the trail leads to the nearby wood elf town of Madea.  The town is abuzz with energy and the party learns of an upcoming invitational in which a winning team is allowed access to the Oracle at Premulus, a port city on the far side of the island.

The party goes to a nearby tavern.  Glaucus and Hespersose quickly find an open table and order food and drink.  Shiffit stands in the doorway.  His experience is that of having food or insult thrown his way in such places.  The crowded tavern becomes deeply silent but no one challenges the warforged.  They slowly go back to conversations keeping an eye on the metallic creature that slowly lumbers to the table.  

"Welcome strangers,"  as Aramil, the elf, introduces himself.  Glaucus and Hesperose erringly attempt to order food from Aramil.  Aramil corrects them and points out the service in this bar is horrible, saying he has been there two hours waiting for just a simple glass of water.

The party asks Aramil, who has been in town for an unknown amount of time, about the Madea Invitational.  He shares what knowledge he has and announces that he is a wizard.  Glaucus says that he knew that.  He professes to be an prophet to which Hesperose retorts, "Ha!  You can't tell the future.  Karpothos has been destroyed.  You said I would father five children in Karpothos and I have none"

"That you know of..." Glaucus responds knowingly.

Eventually Zyva points out that most teams consist of six members and currently the party stand at five.  She asks Aramil if he knows anyone who may add more "diversity" to the group, as is the suggested theme of the Invitational.  "A diverse group can handle many unforeseen situations."

Aramil asks the party to wait at this jovial, cordial and all around elven bar as he travels across town into a less inviting and sortid tavern.  Here he finds his acquaintance, Kita the kenku, slamming a shot, taking the glass on the tip of his beak and wrenching his neck back like a stork swallowing a fish.  Kita agrees to join the team in order to meet with the oracle of Premulus.

They all meet up at the original bar and decide they should enter the tournament ASAP since only eight teams are allowed to compete.

As they near the entrance to the King's hall, they spot a group of six humanoids walking to the entrance from the other direction.  They quicken their pace as does the opposing group.  It increases until both are at a sprint to the entryway.

Failure!  The other group easily enters the hall before the party. The guards at the entrance bar the entryway with crossed spears.  "The eighth team has entered.  No other teams may enter."  The party, dejected, plead their case upon deaf ears.  Kita, not one to be ignored, plumes his feathers and squawks an elaborate mating dance.  The King sends a messenger to the entrance to investigate the commotion.  All over the great hall Elven heads strain out to see what is at the door.

The King allows the two parties to stand before him and make their case as the final competing team for the invitational.  The party points out how diverse they are compared to the other team consisting of only humans and elves.  The competing team points out that these strangers are unproven and may be an embarrassment and a waste of time to the tournament.  "We deserve to be the final team."  To which Kita sharply mimics, "We deserve to be the final team."  The audience erupts in laughter.

"As the King of Madea Thicket, I decree these strangers to be the final team entry for the Madea Invitational.  What is the name of your team?" asks the monarch.

The party, dumbfounded in silence, look at each other without an answer.  Then Zyva proudly decrees, "Team Shiffit!"

Shiffit - played by Clint
Zyva - played by Ron
Glauca - played by Maija
Hesperose - played by Scott
Aramil - played by Eric
Kita - played by Shawn

[All images are from google image searches for "warforged," "sail ships," "athenian general," "city in the trees" and "kenku."  They will be replaced with original artwork in the future.]