Post/Author/DateTime	Post
treehouse916 03-20-05, 10:47 AM	So I'm trying to get used to the multi-layered, deceptive nature of Eberron story arcs for my upcoming campaign. I really love the campaign world, and I don't want to blow it on my first attempt. I've come up with an example story arc that I may or may not use. Would you all rate its devious factor for me? A rogue Karrnathi general who still believes the Last War is going on has taken control of a sizeable unit of undead soldiers leftover from Karrnath's old legions. He has an outpost somewhere on the western end of the Karrnwood, which he is using as a springboard for 'recruiting' operations in eastern Aundair's poorly defended farmland. Queen Aurela of Aundair has placed a bounty on the general's head, as has King Kaius III of Karrnath. Queen Aurela is outwardly furious at Kaius for preventing her from seeking out the rogue general with her own military forces. King Kaius insists that he should be the one to handle this internal affair; he also has no desire to see her armies on his own soil. Aurela feels (rightly) that the military leader Kaius has placed in charge of tracking down the rogue general is doing a poor job. Meanwhile, the body count in east Aundair is rising and diplomatic relations between the two countries are deteriorating. Secretly, Queen Aurela is not displeased with how things are going. She has a bit of a warmonger's spirit, and if King Kaius cannot contain the situation soon, she will have a perfect excuse to invade Karrnath without reprisal from the other nations who signed the Treaty of Thronehold. In fact, she believes Thrane and Breland will be honorbound to aid her in crushing Kaius' still-weary armies and assuming control of the entire region. This, she believes, would be the first major stroke in her quest for the crown of Galifar. She is unaware that she is being manipulated by the Order of the Emerald Claw (and ultimately, Vol). This group has placed several secret agents in the Karrnathi military over the last few years, and one of them just so happens to be the 'inept' commander of operations against the rogue general. This Emerald Claw agent is sabotaging his own operation is subtle ways, sending his better lieutenants to guard the passages south of Karrnwood 'just in case our quarry tries to flee down the river'. Meanwhile, his less-experienced officers are sent into Karrnwood, where their troops are slaughtered by the rogue general's forces and then turned into undead, further bolstering his own army. The Order of the Emerald Claw is trying their very hardest to cause a war between Aundair and Karrnath. The lich Vol believes that Queen Aundair will be much easier to manipulate than Kaius has proved. There may be other reasons, as well.
Von Ether 03-20-05, 11:27 AM	This is a good start. It's also a fun example of how pulply ficiton can produce "conveinent villians." "Realisticly" there would be plenty of Karrn officers who would bungle such a mission on purpose. Here the Claw makes everyone one else innocent and the heroes get to save the day. On the other hand, another level of deviousness is that the King is finally tired of being manipulated and he knows who's really behind the raids. He won't tip his hand out of fear of his own secret being exposed, but he needs someone to go in and uncover the Claw and their true agenda. It's a razor's edge he dances on in almost causing a war, but that will ultimatiely help press his case on how dangerous the Claw is when exposed.