Githyanki Invasion Campaign - Suggestions Please? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Githyanki Invasion Campaign - Suggestions Please? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
sus323
08-10-05, 05:59 PM Hi folks,

I've been running a Eberron game for a short while and my group has just finished with Grasp of the Emerald Claw.

So I'm about to launch them into a non-module campaign and I'd love to hear people's thoughts/advice/suggestions. Warning, this is kind of long.
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If you are in Bart's Eberron Game, do not read!!!!!
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Campaign Backstory:

When the Coualt imprisoned the Rakshasa Rajah in Khyber they channeled their "souls" if you will, through a massive dragonshard.

Meanwhile, the daelkyr conquered the homeworld of the Gith, making some into slaves and others into Mind Flayers. During the Daelkyr War, the Mind Flayers brought their soldiers (Githyanki) and their personal servants (Githzerai) with them.

In order to repel the daelkyr, the dragons split the massive dragonshard and created an artifact out of one half called the Child of the Dragon. Using this artifact, the Gatekeepers were able to push Xoriat away and seal the daelkyr in Khyber.

With the Mind Flayers either banished to Khyber or without their masters, the Gith rose up and threw off the bonds of slavery. The Githyanki then began to carve a new kingdom out of the lands occupied by the daelkyr. Of course, they came into conflict with the Dhakaani and the Gatekeepers. Just when a Gith victory seemed imminent, the Githzerai, unable to stomach the thought of conquering the world of the people who freed them from the daelkyr, turned on the Githyanki. With the Githzerai's help, the Gatekeepers once again used the Child of the Dragon to banish the Gith from Eberron. The Githyanki fled to the Astral Plane while the Githzerai went into voluntary exile in Kythri.

To safe guard the artifact, it was broken into several smaller items (the Children of the Dragon) and hidden away. However, during the War of the Mark, the artifacts were discovered by an adventuring party. Each took one artifact and vanished into the chaos of the war.

Though the Gatekeepers searched for the Children of the Dragon, they could find no trace of them. That is, until the Day of Mourning. One of the Children, it is not known which, was used in some fell experiement that destroyed Cyre.

Far worse than that, the inclusion of one of the Children in that experiement, has weakened all of the seals created by the artifact. Thus, the daelkyr and the Rajah are trying to break free while the Githyanki are preparing a new invasion of Eberron.

The Campaign Plotline:

The PCs are in a race with the minions of the Githyani, the daelkyr (Dragon Below), the Rajah (Lords of Dust) and well as other groups. Whoever gathers the pieces of the Child of the Dragon and rebuilds the artifact can repair the Great Seals, or open them fully.

DM Plans:

If everything goes according to plan (Ha Ha, yeah right), the Party will fail and the Githyanki will get their hands on the Child of the Dragon. They remove the seal preventing their portals and invade.

The game should move from a standard "get each artifact" type of missions to a full-scale war between the Githyanki and the forces of Eberron.

Does this sound too cheesy?

Does anyone have any thoughts/suggestions/objections that will help?

Thanks,

Sus323
Charles Phipps
08-10-05, 06:31 PM Does anyone have any thoughts/suggestions/objections that will help?

Thanks,

Sus323

Hmmmmm...

First of all, I'd make sure that the PCs are able to cripple the Githyanki invasion somehow. I suggest allowing them to destroy some of the shards and thus making their 'banishment breaking' far less of a rip off to their hard work and effort. The Githyanki instead of a full entry into Eberron must enter through only limited numbers of tears through space and also giving the people of Eberron a chance to fight back.

Otherwise, you might as well just have the PCs not involved in the Great Shard's recovery at all, they'll feel their timing is better spent if the Githyanki just attack to begin with and start wrecking the place.

I suggest for the Githyanki's invasion climax that the PCs go to the astral plane and confront their Lich Queen before destroying her. Either that or they recover the original Gith whose held imprisoned by Erandis Vol/Cultists of the Dragon Below (which may or may not be a good idea)

Other adventures may include somehow developing a way to get the Githzerai to come to Eberron full time to aid the scattered armies and also uniting the Five Nations under a new King.
makeshiftwings
08-10-05, 07:32 PM I agree with Charles. Having a plot that includes, "So then, I try to make sure the players fail.." is usually a bad idea. The players are bound to come up with something clever that you didn't think of, and then you're left either saying "Uh.. ok... you manage to stop the invasion", and throw out half your campaign, or you come up with a lame excuse that angers all the players, since they'll see that you're just going to ignore everything they did and make events play out however you want.

Edited to add: Also, officially, the Gith aren't trapped on the Astral the way the daelkyr are trapped in Xoriat or the Quori are trapped on Dal Quor. Xoriat and Dal Quor are remote, and thus unreachable, but the Astral just takes some mid-level magic. I'm not sure I see why the Gith would need to break the seals on Xoriat just to bring in more Gith from the Astral.
Charles Phipps
08-10-05, 07:56 PM Edited to add: Also, officially, the Gith aren't trapped on the Astral the way the daelkyr are trapped in Xoriat or the Quori are trapped on Dal Quor. Xoriat and Dal Quor are remote, and thus unreachable, but the Astral just takes some mid-level magic. I'm not sure I see why the Gith would need to break the seals on Xoriat just to bring in more Gith from the Astral.

Meh, sometimes logic bows to dramatic necessity.

Adding that the Gith are trapped in the Astral only gives them a reason to be even more annoyed when they escape it. In this case, I believe he's suggesting that other magic bound the Gith inside the Astral plane and only a small number can escape at a time thanks to the seals weakening.
sus323
08-10-05, 08:04 PM Thanks for the reply, Charles.

I like your idea of fixing it so that it is not a total success, but not a total failure either.

Perhaps the Githyanki figure out a way to use the remnants of the shards to open a few portals or something.

I had planned on the party going "behind the lines" to infiltrate the Lich Queen's palace (espically since I got my hands on Dungeon Magazine #100).

I was also thinking that a cool mission would be for the PCs to go find the Githzerai and convince them to help the people of Eberron.
sus323
08-10-05, 08:08 PM thanks for the responce, Makeshiftwings.

I agree with both of you, setting the players up to fail is probably only going to result in me failing, looking really stupid, or both.

In regard to the "trapped in the Astral plane thing"...

In-game it's not so much that they need to break the seals on Xoriat, but more that the Gatekeepers have created a "seal" that prevents Gith from entering Eberron. Or that is how is was supposed to work before it was damaged during the Day of Mourning.

The practical reason? Like Charles said, it is dramatic nessessity.
Charles Phipps
08-10-05, 08:34 PM Things I recommend...

1. The Players have at least one meeting with a "friendly" Githyanki who is hunting Illithids and basically explains their history to the party while they go against their mutual enemies in Khyber.

(And probably have to kill their friend later or perhaps their friend comes to him because he's reached 11th level and must be absorbed by the Goddess)

2. The Githyanki immediately start reinforcing their army with humanoid slaves taken from Droam and make an Alliance with the Dhakaani. They also enforce an ancient pact with Red Dragons that REALLY makes the war problematic.

3. The Lord of Blades will join the fight but the Players have to figure out whether his demand is worth it, all the remaining forges so he can make new warforged to aid in the fight against them.
Cordus
08-15-05, 04:46 PM Don't forget the dragon marked houses. Having the Astral Brigs and the other Gith ships in a fight above Stormhome with House Lyrandar Airships would be sweet. The House ships could lead the invaders south to Arcanix to have the wizards open up cans of high-powered, long range whip ass from their floating citadel.

I really think a Vol/Lich Queen union spells much disaster! Perhaps you could have Kias become an ally to the PC's to fight against Vol...

Remeber what Dungeon 100 says, "Githyanki don't have clerics of their own." So maybe everything starts with a Gith raiding party kidnapping random dragonmarked members of House Jorasco.

As for the big LoBster, I think he would be more likely to wait out the devastation and be the big threat after the "war." He would sweep into Breland as soon as the war is over and attempt an assault starting on Vathirond and ending in Sharn, current seat of power for House Cannith.

I ran the invasion in a homebrew and it rocked. LOTS OF WORK!!!

:invasion::invasion::invasion::invasion:

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
sus323 08-10-05, 05:59 PM	Hi folks, I've been running a Eberron game for a short while and my group has just finished with Grasp of the Emerald Claw. So I'm about to launch them into a non-module campaign and I'd love to hear people's thoughts/advice/suggestions. Warning, this is kind of long. . . . . If you are in Bart's Eberron Game, do not read!!!!! . . . . . . . . Campaign Backstory: When the Coualt imprisoned the Rakshasa Rajah in Khyber they channeled their "souls" if you will, through a massive dragonshard. Meanwhile, the daelkyr conquered the homeworld of the Gith, making some into slaves and others into Mind Flayers. During the Daelkyr War, the Mind Flayers brought their soldiers (Githyanki) and their personal servants (Githzerai) with them. In order to repel the daelkyr, the dragons split the massive dragonshard and created an artifact out of one half called the Child of the Dragon. Using this artifact, the Gatekeepers were able to push Xoriat away and seal the daelkyr in Khyber. With the Mind Flayers either banished to Khyber or without their masters, the Gith rose up and threw off the bonds of slavery. The Githyanki then began to carve a new kingdom out of the lands occupied by the daelkyr. Of course, they came into conflict with the Dhakaani and the Gatekeepers. Just when a Gith victory seemed imminent, the Githzerai, unable to stomach the thought of conquering the world of the people who freed them from the daelkyr, turned on the Githyanki. With the Githzerai's help, the Gatekeepers once again used the Child of the Dragon to banish the Gith from Eberron. The Githyanki fled to the Astral Plane while the Githzerai went into voluntary exile in Kythri. To safe guard the artifact, it was broken into several smaller items (the Children of the Dragon) and hidden away. However, during the War of the Mark, the artifacts were discovered by an adventuring party. Each took one artifact and vanished into the chaos of the war. Though the Gatekeepers searched for the Children of the Dragon, they could find no trace of them. That is, until the Day of Mourning. One of the Children, it is not known which, was used in some fell experiement that destroyed Cyre. Far worse than that, the inclusion of one of the Children in that experiement, has weakened all of the seals created by the artifact. Thus, the daelkyr and the Rajah are trying to break free while the Githyanki are preparing a new invasion of Eberron. The Campaign Plotline: The PCs are in a race with the minions of the Githyani, the daelkyr (Dragon Below), the Rajah (Lords of Dust) and well as other groups. Whoever gathers the pieces of the Child of the Dragon and rebuilds the artifact can repair the Great Seals, or open them fully. DM Plans: If everything goes according to plan (Ha Ha, yeah right), the Party will fail and the Githyanki will get their hands on the Child of the Dragon. They remove the seal preventing their portals and invade. The game should move from a standard "get each artifact" type of missions to a full-scale war between the Githyanki and the forces of Eberron. Does this sound too cheesy? Does anyone have any thoughts/suggestions/objections that will help? Thanks, Sus323
Charles Phipps 08-10-05, 06:31 PM	Does anyone have any thoughts/suggestions/objections that will help? Thanks, Sus323 Hmmmmm... First of all, I'd make sure that the PCs are able to cripple the Githyanki invasion somehow. I suggest allowing them to destroy some of the shards and thus making their 'banishment breaking' far less of a rip off to their hard work and effort. The Githyanki instead of a full entry into Eberron must enter through only limited numbers of tears through space and also giving the people of Eberron a chance to fight back. Otherwise, you might as well just have the PCs not involved in the Great Shard's recovery at all, they'll feel their timing is better spent if the Githyanki just attack to begin with and start wrecking the place. I suggest for the Githyanki's invasion climax that the PCs go to the astral plane and confront their Lich Queen before destroying her. Either that or they recover the original Gith whose held imprisoned by Erandis Vol/Cultists of the Dragon Below (which may or may not be a good idea) Other adventures may include somehow developing a way to get the Githzerai to come to Eberron full time to aid the scattered armies and also uniting the Five Nations under a new King.
makeshiftwings 08-10-05, 07:32 PM	I agree with Charles. Having a plot that includes, "So then, I try to make sure the players fail.." is usually a bad idea. The players are bound to come up with something clever that you didn't think of, and then you're left either saying "Uh.. ok... you manage to stop the invasion", and throw out half your campaign, or you come up with a lame excuse that angers all the players, since they'll see that you're just going to ignore everything they did and make events play out however you want. Edited to add: Also, officially, the Gith aren't trapped on the Astral the way the daelkyr are trapped in Xoriat or the Quori are trapped on Dal Quor. Xoriat and Dal Quor are remote, and thus unreachable, but the Astral just takes some mid-level magic. I'm not sure I see why the Gith would need to break the seals on Xoriat just to bring in more Gith from the Astral.
Charles Phipps 08-10-05, 07:56 PM	Edited to add: Also, officially, the Gith aren't trapped on the Astral the way the daelkyr are trapped in Xoriat or the Quori are trapped on Dal Quor. Xoriat and Dal Quor are remote, and thus unreachable, but the Astral just takes some mid-level magic. I'm not sure I see why the Gith would need to break the seals on Xoriat just to bring in more Gith from the Astral. Meh, sometimes logic bows to dramatic necessity. Adding that the Gith are trapped in the Astral only gives them a reason to be even more annoyed when they escape it. In this case, I believe he's suggesting that other magic bound the Gith inside the Astral plane and only a small number can escape at a time thanks to the seals weakening.
sus323 08-10-05, 08:04 PM	Thanks for the reply, Charles. I like your idea of fixing it so that it is not a total success, but not a total failure either. Perhaps the Githyanki figure out a way to use the remnants of the shards to open a few portals or something. I had planned on the party going "behind the lines" to infiltrate the Lich Queen's palace (espically since I got my hands on Dungeon Magazine #100). I was also thinking that a cool mission would be for the PCs to go find the Githzerai and convince them to help the people of Eberron.
sus323 08-10-05, 08:08 PM	thanks for the responce, Makeshiftwings. I agree with both of you, setting the players up to fail is probably only going to result in me failing, looking really stupid, or both. In regard to the "trapped in the Astral plane thing"... In-game it's not so much that they need to break the seals on Xoriat, but more that the Gatekeepers have created a "seal" that prevents Gith from entering Eberron. Or that is how is was supposed to work before it was damaged during the Day of Mourning. The practical reason? Like Charles said, it is dramatic nessessity.
Charles Phipps 08-10-05, 08:34 PM	Things I recommend... 1. The Players have at least one meeting with a "friendly" Githyanki who is hunting Illithids and basically explains their history to the party while they go against their mutual enemies in Khyber. (And probably have to kill their friend later or perhaps their friend comes to him because he's reached 11th level and must be absorbed by the Goddess) 2. The Githyanki immediately start reinforcing their army with humanoid slaves taken from Droam and make an Alliance with the Dhakaani. They also enforce an ancient pact with Red Dragons that REALLY makes the war problematic. 3. The Lord of Blades will join the fight but the Players have to figure out whether his demand is worth it, all the remaining forges so he can make new warforged to aid in the fight against them.
Cordus 08-15-05, 04:46 PM	Don't forget the dragon marked houses. Having the Astral Brigs and the other Gith ships in a fight above Stormhome with House Lyrandar Airships would be sweet. The House ships could lead the invaders south to Arcanix to have the wizards open up cans of high-powered, long range whip ass from their floating citadel. I really think a Vol/Lich Queen union spells much disaster! Perhaps you could have Kias become an ally to the PC's to fight against Vol... Remeber what Dungeon 100 says, "Githyanki don't have clerics of their own." So maybe everything starts with a Gith raiding party kidnapping random dragonmarked members of House Jorasco. As for the big LoBster, I think he would be more likely to wait out the devastation and be the big threat after the "war." He would sweep into Breland as soon as the war is over and attempt an assault starting on Vathirond and ending in Sharn, current seat of power for House Cannith. I ran the invasion in a homebrew and it rocked. LOTS OF WORK!!! :invasion::invasion::invasion::invasion: