Skill Challenge: Find and Repair the Warforged Scout (Part 2)

In Find and Repair the Warforged Scout (Part 1) the PCs undertook a mission to scour a battlefield in search of the components of Obsidian, a Warforged scout thought destroyed during the war. Newly discovered information led some to believe that Obsidian was not completely destroyed and that with the right ritual he could be reactivated. If this happens information the scout possesses will be incredibly valuable and potentially damaging to very important people in many different nations.

Setup

Part 2 of the skill challenge begins after the PC recover the missing Warforged components. Now that they have the components they can attempt to put Obsidian back together and try to reactivate him. But this is delicate work that requires a coordinated effort from the entire party.

Complexity

4 PC level +0 (requires 10 successes before 3 failures)

Primary Skills

Heal, History, Insight, Thievery

Other Skills

Arcana, Endurance, Perception

Reconstructing the Warforged

Before the PCs can even attempt to reactivate Obsidian, they need to reassemble his components. This will take a combination of brains, brawn and luck.

Each time the PCs make a successful check they manage to reconnect another component or reinforce an existing connection. All the components need to be reconnected before the reactivation ritual can begin (5 successes). If the PCs only have four components then they only need to achieve four successes.

If a skill check is failed while attempting to reconstruct Obsidian the overall task takes longer and becomes more difficult. That component needs to be removed and reattached correctly. The number of successes required increases by one for each failure.

Artificers and PCs with the Mark of Making feat get +2 on all checks during this part of the skill challenge.

Heal (hard DC, maximum 3 successes)

Although Obsidian isn’t a living, breathing life-form in the traditional sense, your familiarity with anatomy is still useful.

History (moderate DC, maximum 4 successes)

You’ve spent significant time among Warforged or have studied them in order to better exploit their weaknesses in battle. You’re able to figure out how to correctly reconnect one of the components. Warforged PCs gain a +4 bonus to History checks made to reassemble Obsidian. Artificers may use Arcana or History to make this check.

Insight (hard DC, maximum 1 success)

Better lucky than good. You don’t really know what you’re doing, but it seems to make sense if this goes here and that goes there. A failed Insight check means that you’ve forced something that shouldn’t have been forced. The next check to reassemble Obsidian suffers a -2 penalty.

Perception (moderate DC, assist)

By standing back and taking in the whole picture you can better assist those doing the delicate tasks. +2 to the next check to reconstruct Obsidian. If a Perception check exceeds the DC by 10 or more you see and correct something extremely subtle that is out of place and it negates one failure (if the party has any).

Thievery (hard DC, maximum 2 successes)

Your deft fingers find small, nearly undetectable catches, latches and hooks. You’re able to reconnect another component.

Reactivating the Warforged

Before setting out for this mission your employer provided you with a ritual specifically designed to reactivate Obsidian. It requires that Obsidian’s body be intact and not move while the casting is underway. Many of the components are barely holding together so at least three PCs need to hold them in place during the ritual.

Artificers and PCs with the Mark of Making feat get +2 to their Arcana checks during this part of the skill challenge.

Each failed attempt to reactivate Obsidian counts as one failure towards the overall skill challenge regardless of how many checks were failed during the attempt.

Arcana (moderate DC, maximum 2 successes)

Two successful Arcana checks are required to complete the ritual successfully: one at the beginning of the ritual and the other at the end of the ritual. The same PC must make both checks. If either check fails the ritual is unsuccessful.

If the PCs only have four of Obsidian’s components (including the head) then the reactivation ritual is more difficult. Add +2 to the DC.

Endurance (easy DC, maximum 3 successes)

Some of the connections keeping Obsidian together are tenuous at best. It might be a good idea to hold them in place during the ritual. You have to make sure that you don’t move anything while the casting takes place or else the ritual will fail.

At least three PCs must work together and each make successful Endurance checks. The ritual is unsuccessful is even one Endurance check fails.
The DC for this check increases by +2 every time the ritual is attempted.

PCs trained in Endurance who make their own check successfully can then opt to assist one other PC with his check. PCs can only assist once during each ritual attempt.

Assisting with Reactivation

To complete this section of the skill challenge one PC must perform the ritual while three others hold the Warforged together. PCs not performing the ritual or holding the Warforged may assist in one of the following ways.

• A DC 10 Arcana check to assist with the ritual.
• A DC 10 Endurance check to assist a PC holding the Warforged components in place.
• Use a power or item that that allows an ally to spend a healing surge. In this case you spend the healing surge rather than the target and you do not regaining any hit points. Instead, the PC performing the ritual gains a +10 bonus to the second Arcana check.

Success

When the PCs complete the reactivation ritual Obsidian awakens. He is disoriented, but functional. Initially he has a difficult time remembering the events that led to his destruction, but in time his memory returns. He is grateful for the PCs assistance and will willingly accompany them to whatever destination they choose. He is too weak to fight but can walk under his own power (assuming the PCs found the lower half of his body). He is willing to answer questions, but will not divulge any information he learned during the war. His response if pressed is that he can only reveal his findings to a superior officer. Attempts to convince him that one of the PCs is a superior officer meet with failure.

Failure

You try to reactivate Obsidian but you just can’t seem to reignite the spark necessary to bring life back into his body. You’ll have to carry his components back to town and enlist the help of an Artificer or one of the House Cannith Tinkers. Be careful on the road home, others are still after Obsidian’s remains and the secrets it may reveal.