Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Errant 07-19-07, 10:37 AM	I'm working on an idea for a high-level (L16-18ish) adventure for my group and I'd be grateful for some ideas to flesh out the plot. I thought about bringing my dilema to the general "Campaign Workshop" forum, but the creative minds I most want to tap are those familiar with the factions and plots of Eberron (if only there was an Eberron specific Campaign Workshop forum!), so here I am. Apologies to anyone who feels I chose wrongly. Here's my request: Imagine you're powerful and ruthless inhabitant of Eberron. Some might call you a villian, but they're beneath your notice. Personally or through your faction/group you have the power to command others to the point of life and death missions. You want an end to the peace that most of Khorvaire has enjoyed since the Treaty of Thronehold ended the Last War. You have become aware although Khorvaire's period of peace is widely believed to be tenuous at best, it has been greatly nurtured through the little known efforts of ambassadors from nations all around Khorvaire who have tirelessly continued diplomatic negotiations in Thronehold even after the signing of the Treaty. Since the resumption of war would suit your interests those negotiations must stop and it is time you, or your minions, took action. Naturally, since you want to re-start the war, you want others to be blamed for your actions. What would you do? My adventure idea involves the PCs being called to Thronehold in response to the assassinations of several ambassadors representing their nations in the onging talks at Thronehold. Talks that have ground to a halt amid mutual suspicion and growing international tensions. The Throne Wardens of House Deneith, entrusted with maintaining the castle and the island around it have been proven embarassingly understrength and (so far) unable to stop the murders. The PCs' are going to be Khorvaire's last, best hope of continued peace (which should give you a clue as to my inspiration). I'm hoping the creative genius's hereabouts can, at least, give me some inspirations for differing ways in which ambassadors may have been murdered before the PCs arrive. Anything else that would help me round off my adventure idea would also be gratefully received. I'm confident that I can prepare appropriate encounters and settings for my group, but I'm struggling to think of different ways in which the (many) different power groups with reason to want an end to peace, might take action. Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer some ideas.
Rechan 07-19-07, 01:50 PM	Well really, if we're looking at opponents with that kind of power, were I them, I would just possess a few target ambassadors and start raising hell, bringing the peace talks to a screeching halt and trying to spark a war by having them be utterly rude. Can you imagine what would happen if Thrane's Ambassador started a fistfight with Karnath's in the middle of the diplomatic meeting? On the same line of thinking, if I were the Dreaming Dark, I'd mindseed an agent of one country, kill the agent of another, and make it LOOK REALLY OBVIOUS who did it. However, none of this really answers your question. How does this sound: Imagine if one of the corpses was found in a room in Thronehold that exhibits all the traits of the Mournland. The mist, the corruptive influences (maybe the plants in the room are altered?), and the murderer was actually a creature native to the Mournland, or a second person who was mutated by the concentrated effect of the room and turned on the Ambassador. All the effects stop at the room's doors and windows, so it's a completely isolated event. This would suggest that the murderer(s) are capable of recreating the Mournland with such finesse that they can fit it all into one room. It would scare the Khyber out of everyone involved, because not only would it be a horrid way to die and pollute the room itself, but it would scream loud and clear The Culprit Likely Caused the Mourning. If you're a sadist, once the PCs are on the case, have the entire floor they're in get hit. Perhaps the effect is similar to when a manifest zone is very powerfully linked to the Material Plane, where anything in the Mournland could accidentally just walk into the effected area. So you could have the PCs strolling around doing the detective work and now they have to contend with the random inhabitants of the Mournland. Which would be ugly real fast because you have innocents you need to protect, and you can't heal them if they get hurt. And naturally the culprits have went to the nines with this: they're protecting the exits with enchantments so that people outside 1) Don't know what's going on, 2) Can't get in (powerful version of Arcane Lock), and 3) Might get sucked in anyhow. Or even more subtly, they cast something like a Mirage spell; anyone trying to come onto that floor gets the impulse to leave, or seems to forget why they came and goes the other way for some other reason ("Did I leave the oven on?"). It goes without saying they'd have some means of keeping the PCs in too. In fact that might be a great way for the culprit to deal with the PCs: have any (or all) of the exits actually lead into the Mournland itself. The PCs must have access to teleportation magic to get them back to Thronehold, but I don't expect a PC who expects to be in Thronehold all week to have Teleport memorized. They could be ambushed in the Mournland once they "escape" the Thronehold floor, or they could be dumped into somewhere very inhospitable in the first place (the Lord of Blade's encampment for instance). And while the PCs are wrestling with the Mournland, the murderers make another move or at least put things into motion.
Syltorian 07-19-07, 02:01 PM	Should there be many different ways? It sounds more interesting, but there should be a theme that links them. After all, I want someone specific to be blamed for it. So, I think that's what I'd do first. Find out who I'd want to blame. Probably one of the four surviving of the Five Nations. If I blame Cyre, people will not restart a war; if it's one of the minor nations, the Big Four will squash them pretty rapidly. So I'd try to blame Aundair, Thrane, Karrnath or Breland. Let's say I want to blame Aundair. So, with sufficient power at my disposal, I will not merely blame them, I will make sure it actually was them: blackmail, dominate, or otherwise control the Aundairian ambassador, or someone high enough in the Royal Eyes to give the right orders. The best would be to subtly influence such people, so nobody finds out the murders were not sanctioned from high above. Of course, I know Aundair would want to be subtle, too. They would have no interest in being obvious about this. Too many clues pointing towards them would make their guilt look rather less convincing; they are not that sloppy, after all. So the first murders will be accidents and mishaps, and may not even look like murders. Thronehold is an old castle, and probably hasn't been looked after much in a hundred years. One could easily fall down a crumbling step, lean against the wrong part of a parapet, or have a part of the ceiling cave in. There could be a fire that breaks out, with enough smoke that the ambassador never wake up in time. Then there are accidents that could happen outside. A hunting or riding accident (influence the horse somehow; better yet if it's a pegasus or something of that kind that flies). A coach that has an accident in a bad street (nobody really had any interest financing Throneport's upkeep, either), and goes down the cliffs. A riot in one of the quarters of Throneport, and the ambassador gets hit by a rooftile. To make it even more confusing, the Aundairians would most likely try and blame someone else, so I'd try to have some more obvious murders pinning the crimes on the Reachers and the Thranes. For the first, manipulating animals could work, and one could even convince the Ashbound to do something. Perhaps someone gets strangled by their pot-plants which have been animated or replaced with assassin vines... And then, do I have to murder them all? If I could use some of the ambassadors? Anything from holding their family hostage, or at least their youngest daughter currently studying in Wynarn or Arcanix, even if it's only suggestions that I can reach her and not actually keeping them prisoner as such, to using spells such as Call Forth the Beast (Heroes of Horror, p.127; turns people into homicidal maniacs) could be amongst my arsenal. Of course, I'll not only use the ambassadors, but also the Deneith Guards. And then, some murders will never be discovered (hopefully), because the ambassadors are still there. Well, the changelings that impersonate them are, or the devils that possess them, or the mindseeded versions, or whatever, really. I'm not merely going to stop the proceedings, I want to sabotage them. I want to make sure war happens, not give it a chance to do so. So the murder(s) that call the PCs on the scene are likely the few that are either discovered by chance, or that have been meant to spread dissent...
Rechan 07-19-07, 02:12 PM	Syltorian, I would say that you could also take that a step further: Heavily implicate one of the Houses along with your fall guy. For example agents of Deneith (with access to all of Thronehold) working with the Aundairians. Can you imagine what would happen if the Four Nations turned on the Dragonmarked Houses and likewise? It wouldn't necessarily destroy nationwide peace, but it would tear out some of Khorvaire's economic foundations right at the root. And I imagine the various nations would freak if the culprit had their Headquarters sitting in one of that nation's cities; that nation might see the DM House as a trojan horse, poised to stage an attack from the comforts of their main enclave. Or they may not think that, but with some clever mental manipulation, they might. ;) That makes me think of A Tangent. Vol did it. For one simple reason: get back at Aerenal, and by proxy, the Houses of Shadow. All she has to do is implicate Aerenal as those behind the murders, coupled with operatives from the Shadow Houses, and let the other nations act as her cat's paw for vengeance
AntiSean 07-19-07, 02:24 PM	Have the bodies of one ambassador from four of the Five Nations be discovered over time, each one missing a different limb. An ambassador from the fifth of the Five Nations goes missing; after a time, their head and torso are found with the limbs from the other four ambassadors crudely stiched together. Clearly, the murderer is stating that the country represented by the 'head' ambassador is the one which should rule over a reunified Galifar! -- or, the Cyran ambassador is found strangled with a tin crown violently forced onto the corpses head, mocking Mishaan's claim to the throne long ago. -- a body/bodies shot full of arrows with fletching made from dragonhawk feathers to implicate Aundair.
Kungfu_Elvis 07-19-07, 04:05 PM	Things to have "Misunderstood Warmonger's" Minion to remember. 1) Make it look like an all to convenient accident. Generally no matter how natural it looks people suspect it wasn't an accident. 2) Don’t forget to clean up all the evidence....except the one clue that you purposely leave behind to frame your patsy. Of course you can’t leave the "clue" in the open you have to make the Chump….err investigator think they have outsmarted you. 3) Make sure your patsy doesn't have an alibi or has one that he cant mention cause it will make him look more guilty. Try to get him to be some where alone, or even better make it look like he was meeting someone that was going to be selling him information about the victim. 4) Bribe/blackmail one of your patsy's underlings into doing something that will make the patsy look guilty. then make sure to eliminate the underling in a fashion that again points the finger at your patsy. 5) Just when it looks like your Patsy is going to crack and finally reveal that it couldn't possibly be him, assassinate him so it looks even more like a cover up from some where further up the food chain. Conspiracy theories are a good motivator. 6) Have your own minion who is doing all these things carrying information that continues to link the chain back to your patsy. That way should they need to be eliminated themselves it supports your continued frame job. Of course you have to have some clue that pops up at some point that will make people start to question the frame up otherwise no one will every see your clever DM plan except yourself.
Syltorian 07-19-07, 04:23 PM	Syltorian, I would say that you could also take that a step further: Heavily implicate one of the Houses along with your fall guy. For example agents of Deneith (with access to all of Thronehold) working with the Aundairians. Possible, especially if it is all initiated by that faction in Deneith which wants the House to take over control from the aristocracy. That way, the House would be almost forced to adopt that position as a whole, if only to defend itself, and the precedent of one House being attacked by the nations could rally all of the Twelve behind them. It also depends on what your actual aims are with the war. If you are believing that your nation can win it, you don't want to force Deneith to ally exclusively with the framed nation. On the contrary, you want to frame that nation for killing members of Deneith, so the Bladeguard refuses their services to them, and the Sentinel Marshals declines chasing their criminals. However, if you intend to weaken Khorvaire entirely (e.g. because you are the Inspired), it's a good plan. Couple Vadalis with Aundair. It's plausible: Aurala is married to the patriarch's brother. You will have war amongst the Twelve when they try to debate how to react to that one. And while Vadalis is a minor player compared to other houses, people could quickly reassess their opinion of that once they realise just how many rats, birds, stray dogs and other creatures dwell in the cities. This could also give you a theme for the murders. The city animals of Thronehold did it. People thrown off horses, bitten by rats, driven off the cliffs by flocks of birds... If you are from a dragonmark house opposed to your victim, but still with something to gain from a war, you've got a good plan too. Tharashk could implicate Deneith this way. The other nations would turn to them for their mercenaries. It might even be a ploy set up by Droaam: Tharashk is unaware, though they do benefit, but it will be Droaamite mercenaries who end up serving the other nations. Carefully played, this will make the Valenar and Darguun mercenary revolts mere footnotes. It could be Cyrans with a grudge against House Cannith (responsible, perhaps, for the Mourning?), House Deneith (they got the goblins to the point where they could revolt!) and House Lyrandar (supporting the Valenar!). Cyrans would obviously be happy to see the other nations destroy each other again, instead of enjoying peace brought about by the loss of Cyre. * But back again to what I said before: don't only frame one nation. People will expect that. What they won't expect is the second framing wrapped up in there. Pretend to be the Aundairians framing the Eldeen or the Thranes. That way, people uncover clues of apparently random deaths, and eventually find out that these clues, carefully placed to be not too obvious, point towards Thrane. People will suspect someone else is behind this, so further investigation shows that, indeed, it's Aundair. At that point, most people will be satisfied they have solved the mystery. They won't see that it's Tharashk behind it all, trying to reignite the war and discredit Deneith while they are at it, all the time believing it was their own idea when actually the Daughters of Sora Krell are behind it, to place their mercenaries into a position where they can take over the weakened continent in fifty years time.
Rechan 07-19-07, 06:15 PM	Another factor is if your Framed Nation has a program that coincides with the method of death. Using the Localized Mourning I presented as an example, maybe a trail of clues lead to the framed nation doing extensive studies on the Mournland, either ordered by the government, or by an arcane college in close relation with the government (Aundair is good here, given how big they are on arcane magic).
Rechan 07-20-07, 08:50 PM	Any of these ideas jiving, Errant?
Errant 07-20-07, 09:25 PM	Awesome ideas, thanks all. Very helpful. Some responses in case you're still curious... :) Well really, if we're looking at opponents with that kind of power, were I them, I would just possess a few target ambassadors and start raising hell, bringing the peace talks to a screeching halt and trying to spark a war by having them be utterly rude. Just as in the real world international diplomacy generally has a high level of security, with diplomatic staff vetted at the highest possible levels, I was working on the assumption that in a magic-rich world where possession, charm and suggestion are well known threats, steps would be taken to protect ambassadors (and any assistants likely to be present during negotiations) from those dangers. The ambassadors' household servants would be fair game of course. Espionage and counter-espionage goes on always. Imagine if one of the corpses was found in a room in Thronehold that exhibits all the traits of the Mournland. I like the idea of replicating the Mists of Mourning effects, very scary and very "Eberron". But, I don't see how it could be accomplished by anyone except the faction that actually was responsible for the Day of Mourning. As one of the greatest mysteries of Eberron I hesitate to use that as anything but the focus of a campaign in and of itself. Plus, even if you were only "faking" the effects, nothing would unite Khorvaire faster than something suggesting the risk of another repeat of that disaster. Should there be many different ways? It sounds more interesting, but there should be a theme that links them. After all, I want someone specific to be blamed for it. There should be because while there will be one main "villain" behind the murders, with so many factions having an interest in de-railing peace I think other groups should also be taking some kind of action as well. A red herring or two if you will. a body/bodies shot full of arrows with fletching made from dragonhawk feathers to implicate Aundair. Done! Thanks everyone! :)
Errant 07-20-07, 09:39 PM	Any of these ideas jiving, Errant? Most definitely, I simply didn't get a chance to get back online long enough to reply until this morning. Apologies if I didn't seem appreciative. :D
Samotep 07-20-07, 09:48 PM	Do your PCs have access to Inquisitives or other CSI-ish investigation techniques? If your players are like minded, you could have a series of assassinations where the weapon in question seems to leave very little evidence at all. You could take it a step further... at each crime scene there is a different element involved. One man has a hole punched through him, but nothing around but a puddle of water. One man seems to have died from asphyxiation (lack of oxygen), but no strangulation marks on the body. One man, whose office was on the ground floor, is found somehow crushed into a 3 inch crack in the floor. Elemental assassins would point them toward someone with Summoning ability, or perhaps Dragonshards that have bound elementals... Or you can introduce some assassins that have some really interesting abilities...
Errant 07-21-07, 08:38 AM	Do your PCs have access to Inquisitives or other CSI-ish investigation techniques? My group has kind of a collaborative campaign style, a few of us take turns DM'ing and while most of the PCs remain the same, some get swapped out at each change of the helm. When I'm ready to run this adventure and the current DM is finished running our current adventure, I'll give the players an extra-brief primer, such as "You're appointed to help respond to a series of assassinations that have brought diplomatic negotiations at Thronehold to a standstill. If you can't at least identify the primary culprit(s) and protect the surviving ambassadors war across Khorvaire is imminent". So even if the group doesn't currently have a strong investigator I'm confident there will be one when the dice hit the table. My current plan is that when the PCs are first recruited there will have been four assassinations and one disappearance. When they are met by the Throne Wardens on arriving at Throneport they will learn of a fifth assassinatin the night before. Of the five, one or two will not be the work of the "primary" villains. I figure while many would be happy to see war re-ignited, few would be willing or able to take serious action, fewer still will have the resources to penetrate the level of security likely to surround ambassadors, especially after the first couple put everyone on alert. That said, with chaos growing, the odds of someone acting on a personal grudge or a one-off opportunity become increasingly likely. Over all, my goal is to emphasise through this adventure that Khorvaire is still vulnerable to an outbreak of all-out war, that there are powers out there willing and able to call on dark, powerful magic to make that happen, and that it is always hard to know friend from foe.