Help! (Dragonmark of Death) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Help! (Dragonmark of Death) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
The Necromancer King
12-15-05, 02:05 PM I had a great idea for a campaign; three brothers, country folk from the north of Breland, are forced to move to Sharn so that their mother can benefit from the full attentions of House Jorasco. The medical treatments are expensive, though, and to help make ends meet, they accept work (occasionally of dubious morality) from a mysterious halfling benefactor.

So we started making characters. My players decided on humans. The two older boys had trained for service in the Great War, but the Treaty of Thronehold had been signed before either of them saw deployment. The youngest was too young for military duty, and had a bad habit of getting into trouble. Two fighters and a rogue. When we finally got to feats, however, the campaign took on a slightly different note. They all wanted to take Least Dragonmark. The same Dragonmark: Death.

I could have refused. I hadn't read anything on the Blood of Vol yet. I didn't know that the Dragonmark of Death was an exclusively Elven mark, or that they would become the enemies of Dragons and the Aereni. Besides, they seemed genuinely interested in how it would affect the world, to have the Dragonmark of Death resurface in the world.

For a while, we've ignored it. They have their abilities, sure, but they're nearly paranoid about using them. But now the campaign is shifting focus, right onto their mark, and there are some bits I could use some help with.

I know there's a book out now that deals with one other individual with the mark, and the second in the series is comming out right away. The party is aware of that person's existence, but I know almost nothing about her; who is she? What does she look like? When they find her, what kind of state is she going to be in? Does this have anything to do with the Lord of Blades? (I'd prefer to keep my players away from him at the moment...) Is she with anyone else? (I don't want her accompanying the players...) I'd read the books myself, but I don't have time to find, buy and read them before this information is going to be vital. I've been looking, but if it's not Forgotten Realms, it's tough to get a hold of in the boonies. :(

Once I get this bit out of the way, it should be smooth sailing. A bit of an adventure in Karrnath, doing it pirate-style in the Lhazaar Principalities, a meeting with Erandis d'Vol, a jaunt over to Aerenal, another jaunt to Argonessen, back to kick d'Vol's butt, and we'll see how things run from there.

Any advice, hints, secrets, tips, or additional text (like what you did for powers on the Mark of Death, d'Vol's stats, how I can reconcile humans having the Mark, etc.) would also be greatly appreciated.

Your loving necromancer king,
Dekrain Kole
cmanos
12-15-05, 02:13 PM the character in the Marked for Death novel is a 10 year old elven girl. At the end of the book she is being taken to Karrnathy by a changeling with a winged symbiont, and she is being followed by her father Justicar (I believe he actually is a Justicar), a warforged artificer and maybe some knights of the silver flame. I forget who survived the battle with the Juggernauts on the Lord of Blades mobile city.

I believe that the MoD is exclusively elven, but since the only person who has it right now is a dead chick, the prophecy may have it come back into existence in a different race. Granted that isn't canon. But you're the DM.

You seem to have the right villians in mind. Once word of their marks gets public. Vol and the Claw will be all over them, as will bounty hunters, and academics wanting to study them, and dragons and Aereni elves....
The Necromancer King
12-15-05, 04:21 PM Ok... That spoiler textbox was something like the coolest thing I've ever seen on a forum. Must learn how to do that...

What is the marked individual's name? Race? A brief description? She's likely to become a fairly important NPC later in my game, as she's the only other living recipient of the Mark. Her family and the individuals looking for her would also be great to have. If there's a good summary of the book somewhere, or someone's written a book report on the first Marked for Death novel, that would be prime. If someone's got character sheets made up for the big-name characters from the books, that would also be prime. In the best of all possible worlds, Matt Forbeck is a saint and wants to send me his novel summaries. ^__^

I don't really want to involve the Lord of Blades just yet. As villains go, he's not the sort that fits in with how the campaign has run thus far. It's been a very civilized campaign; the bad guys want the good guys dead, for sure, but they're not going to be standing on a battlefield screaming "Let's get it on!!!" They're going to poison the good guys in their sleep. Send ninjas and assassins. Pay their airship captain to make sure they never get where they're going. They're going to the mournland, and they're going to face warforged, but I think the LoB is a bit too... Brutal... Right now. Not to mention, we're only sitting around eighth level, so a CR 13 encounter seems a bit much. More like CR 15 when you can't heal normally.

As an asside, we now have the following player characters: a human rogue/assassin, a human fighter/cleric, a human fighter/wizard (who is looking to prestige to Pale Master), an elven fighter/wizard with the saint template (who wants to prestige to Annointed Knight when he earns out his saint levels), a gnome artificer, and a changeling rogue/shadowdancer. We may be trading out the artificer for a ranger at some point before we enter the mournland. We're averaging eighth level, and will be around ninth when we get into the mournland (progression has been pretty fast in this campaign, as I'm fairly liberal with the XP). Is the group powerful enough? Are they too powerful? Am I going to need to buff up or tone down some enemies? Ideas from folk who have run the Mournland before would be great.

And if you could post how you make those spoiler textboxes, I'd be hugely appreciative. It would keep me from being so incredibly vague...
Urko
12-15-05, 04:28 PM {sblock}Text you wish to hide{/sblock} (but use [ and ] instead of { and })

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
The Necromancer King 12-15-05, 02:05 PM	I had a great idea for a campaign; three brothers, country folk from the north of Breland, are forced to move to Sharn so that their mother can benefit from the full attentions of House Jorasco. The medical treatments are expensive, though, and to help make ends meet, they accept work (occasionally of dubious morality) from a mysterious halfling benefactor. So we started making characters. My players decided on humans. The two older boys had trained for service in the Great War, but the Treaty of Thronehold had been signed before either of them saw deployment. The youngest was too young for military duty, and had a bad habit of getting into trouble. Two fighters and a rogue. When we finally got to feats, however, the campaign took on a slightly different note. They all wanted to take Least Dragonmark. The same Dragonmark: Death. I could have refused. I hadn't read anything on the Blood of Vol yet. I didn't know that the Dragonmark of Death was an exclusively Elven mark, or that they would become the enemies of Dragons and the Aereni. Besides, they seemed genuinely interested in how it would affect the world, to have the Dragonmark of Death resurface in the world. For a while, we've ignored it. They have their abilities, sure, but they're nearly paranoid about using them. But now the campaign is shifting focus, right onto their mark, and there are some bits I could use some help with. I know there's a book out now that deals with one other individual with the mark, and the second in the series is comming out right away. The party is aware of that person's existence, but I know almost nothing about her; who is she? What does she look like? When they find her, what kind of state is she going to be in? Does this have anything to do with the Lord of Blades? (I'd prefer to keep my players away from him at the moment...) Is she with anyone else? (I don't want her accompanying the players...) I'd read the books myself, but I don't have time to find, buy and read them before this information is going to be vital. I've been looking, but if it's not Forgotten Realms, it's tough to get a hold of in the boonies. :( Once I get this bit out of the way, it should be smooth sailing. A bit of an adventure in Karrnath, doing it pirate-style in the Lhazaar Principalities, a meeting with Erandis d'Vol, a jaunt over to Aerenal, another jaunt to Argonessen, back to kick d'Vol's butt, and we'll see how things run from there. Any advice, hints, secrets, tips, or additional text (like what you did for powers on the Mark of Death, d'Vol's stats, how I can reconcile humans having the Mark, etc.) would also be greatly appreciated. Your loving necromancer king, Dekrain Kole
cmanos 12-15-05, 02:13 PM	the character in the Marked for Death novel is a 10 year old elven girl. At the end of the book she is being taken to Karrnathy by a changeling with a winged symbiont, and she is being followed by her father Justicar (I believe he actually is a Justicar), a warforged artificer and maybe some knights of the silver flame. I forget who survived the battle with the Juggernauts on the Lord of Blades mobile city. I believe that the MoD is exclusively elven, but since the only person who has it right now is a dead chick, the prophecy may have it come back into existence in a different race. Granted that isn't canon. But you're the DM. You seem to have the right villians in mind. Once word of their marks gets public. Vol and the Claw will be all over them, as will bounty hunters, and academics wanting to study them, and dragons and Aereni elves....
The Necromancer King 12-15-05, 04:21 PM	Ok... That spoiler textbox was something like the coolest thing I've ever seen on a forum. Must learn how to do that... What is the marked individual's name? Race? A brief description? She's likely to become a fairly important NPC later in my game, as she's the only other living recipient of the Mark. Her family and the individuals looking for her would also be great to have. If there's a good summary of the book somewhere, or someone's written a book report on the first Marked for Death novel, that would be prime. If someone's got character sheets made up for the big-name characters from the books, that would also be prime. In the best of all possible worlds, Matt Forbeck is a saint and wants to send me his novel summaries. ^__^ I don't really want to involve the Lord of Blades just yet. As villains go, he's not the sort that fits in with how the campaign has run thus far. It's been a very civilized campaign; the bad guys want the good guys dead, for sure, but they're not going to be standing on a battlefield screaming "Let's get it on!!!" They're going to poison the good guys in their sleep. Send ninjas and assassins. Pay their airship captain to make sure they never get where they're going. They're going to the mournland, and they're going to face warforged, but I think the LoB is a bit too... Brutal... Right now. Not to mention, we're only sitting around eighth level, so a CR 13 encounter seems a bit much. More like CR 15 when you can't heal normally. As an asside, we now have the following player characters: a human rogue/assassin, a human fighter/cleric, a human fighter/wizard (who is looking to prestige to Pale Master), an elven fighter/wizard with the saint template (who wants to prestige to Annointed Knight when he earns out his saint levels), a gnome artificer, and a changeling rogue/shadowdancer. We may be trading out the artificer for a ranger at some point before we enter the mournland. We're averaging eighth level, and will be around ninth when we get into the mournland (progression has been pretty fast in this campaign, as I'm fairly liberal with the XP). Is the group powerful enough? Are they too powerful? Am I going to need to buff up or tone down some enemies? Ideas from folk who have run the Mournland before would be great. And if you could post how you make those spoiler textboxes, I'd be hugely appreciative. It would keep me from being so incredibly vague...
Urko 12-15-05, 04:28 PM	{sblock}Text you wish to hide{/sblock} (but use [ and ] instead of { and })