Buddy

I think I'm without mind. There is no time left. I'm not him.

Overview

Buddy is a warforged the party rescued during the fall of Heron, a fellow construct to EMBR. Like EMBR, he does not sleep and stood watch with him the night after the escape. But Buddy is deteriorating — mentally as much as physically. He has good days and bad days: sometimes lucid, more often muttering about lost bones, failing to recognize his surroundings, and speaking in fragmented, disjointed phrases.

He was shot in the back of the head with a rifle during the Heron escape and brought back from the edge by Valdren's lay-on-hands.

Significance

Buddy is a living echo of the mystery around EMBR's own origin. In Session 04, Harland Ashworth's sketches of a warforged frame with a chitin arm that "integrates" the skeleton — like EMBR's "Lefty" — cast Buddy's deterioration in a darker light. Whatever is happening to warforged in this world, Buddy may be further along the road than EMBR.

Role in Session 04

• Traveled with the party from Heron to Halvaran.
• Left in Orvin's care there — deemed too much of a liability, in his condition, to bring toward the surveilled Fold. EMBR confirmed Buddy felt safe staying behind.

Relationships

• EMBR — Fellow warforged; kept watch together. EMBR looks out for him.
• Orvin — Current guardian, in Halvaran.

Status

Safe in Halvaran with Orvin. Alive but mentally deteriorating, with only rare lucid moments.