Post/Author/DateTime	Post
cthulhu42 01-13-05, 05:19 AM	Help me build my campagin, that is. Heres the deal: Its my turn to DM this coming sunday after a long hiatus. I havn't DMed in about a year (anything long, at least). I'm excited to get back at it, but quite frankly I'm a little short on inspiration, not to mention prep time. So I thought maybe some of you bright folks could lend me a hand and some ideas, hooks, etc. Obviously the campagin is set in Eberron. This is our first try at the Eberron setting, and we're all pretty excited to give it a whirl. That said, none of us could be considered Eberron experts. I've skimmed the book pretty well and read in depth where it seemed appropriate, but its a lot of information to digest. My players knowledge of Eberron range from sparse to reasonably well informed. I'm not worried that most of my players are ignorant of the details of the setting. Part of the attraction of Eberron was the promise of hitting my jaded group with something new and to give them that thrill of discovery. Anyway, what I'm wanting to accomplish is a very loose game that takes the desires of the PC's into account, to sort of let them write their own campagin based on their choices rather than giving them set paths and preplaned plot lines. No of course I do need hooks and short plot lines to get them started. I've got a few, but none of them are really getting me off that much. Basicly I need a reason to bring them together, then some really juicy hook to get them adventureing together. After that I'm hoping that I can incorperate their specific goals into the hook. As a strong secondary goal, I want to introduce them to the wonders of Eberron and let them experience such things as the lightning rail and elemental ships and all that. I want them to meet the important NPC's, maybe learn something about the prophacy, visit the cool cities and deal with the schools and acadamys. The PC's are all 1st level, and they are... Goblin Wizard from Dargunn, male. Was a crew member in the goblin Navy in the Last War but was just a lad (PC is based loosely off the young character in Master and Commander, the one who loses his arm). A goblin wizard sees promise in him and takes him on as an apprenece. After the war the pair move to Sharn whereupon the master dies of natural causes. The PC finds work with a nobel house as a servant, but at this point his wish is to leave their employ and strike out on his own in an effort to become the best wizard he can be. He is a good sort, gives money to the poor, helps those in need, etc. He is currently in Sharn. Shifter Ranger from Q'barra, male. This guy has a specific goal, which is to make it to the Eldeen Reaches and recieve training from the Ashbound, with his ultimate goal of taking on an Eldeen/Ashbound type prestige class. Other than that, I really havn't gotten much histroy from him. He is currently enroute to the Eldeen Reaches. I believe he is NG. Elf fighter from Valenar, male. During a raid into the Talenta Plains toward the end of the Last War, his war band took a group of halflings prisoner. During their return trip to Valenar this fellow came to know the halflings fairly well, so much so that he ultimatly helped them escape. He was busted and exiled from the war band and Valenar. This is probably a good five o'clock shadow having dark hero. He is generaly good, but obviously he has issues with his kin. He could be anywhere at this point, except Valenar. By the way, what sort of mark might the elves give to an exile? A tatoo? A brand? Maybe cut off the tip of an ear? His goals are to perhaps clear his name. He is NG. Human Druid from Q'barra, female. I don't have much info on her yet, other than she would like to make it to the Eldeen Reaches and maybe meet with the Great Tree. She is of the Wardens of the Woods sect, is basicly good (NG I think). She could be anywhere at this point, but may be on her way to the Eldeen Reaches. Human fighter from Cyre (Mournlands), male. This is probably our tank. He watched his family and town be wiped out by a contingent of warforged during the Last War, and has since developed a serious predjudice against warforged, and will probably try to goad them into a fight if he meets them. I believe he fought with the Cyrian army during the last war, though he would have been pretty young (think he's 20 now). He fled when Cyre got wiped out and has not been back since it became the Mournlands. He probably fled to Breland, but he could be anywhere right now. His goals are to raise cash with which he dreams of raising an army of some sort to slay warforged. I think he'll probably take the syberis marked PrC when he hits 12th level. I think he's NG and basicly a decent fellow, but he has a hatred for warforged. So first things first: I need to get them together. I have the Sharn book, so that seems like a good place to start, especially since the wizard is already there. I figure the ranger and the druid would probably want to travel by ship along the south coast until they reach Sharn, with an eye toward then traveling overland to reach the Eldeen Reaches. They could certainly have met at some point on the journey, so they may already be established as friends or at least traveling companions by this time, especialy since they have quite a bit in common. The two fighters could be in Sharn for any number of reasons, the easiest of which would be to make thier respective fortunes I guess. They are fighting men, and Sharn is probably a good place for them to find work. I'm thinking of a plot line that will lead them to the Eldeen Reaches, since thats where two of the PC's want to go, whilel I don't think the rest of the PC's have any specific destination in mind and probably will not mind going there. Maybe something to do with the Ashbound. However, I want the goblin wizard to be a pivitol character, as in, he is the learned scholar with a mission and the rest of the PC's are his friends and guardians. I think if I can give him a pressing reason to go to the Eldeen Reaches the rest will follow happily. I need a way for this crew to meet and hook up and then get swept into an adventure that will facilitate the wizards departure from his nobel house. I would like to incorperate one of the academies here as well, somehow get the wizard involved with them, perhaps Margrave U. Oh, and just in case it matters, none of these PC's are dragonmarked. OK, there you have it. Any questions, just ask and I'll tell you what I can. Thanks in advance for any input. I should also mention that, as a side reward for any help on this game, you might get to read about it on the Once Upon a Time boards, as I believe one of the players will be keeping a pretty detailed record of the campaign and posting it there.
DJDave 01-13-05, 06:25 AM	Well the long term goal would probably end up with a major confrontation with the Lord of Blades' warforged as your tank will want to slay some warforged. You might be able to change the tank's anti-warforged attiude over time (a nice NPC warforged) but it's likely he'll fight zealously against the Lord of Blades effectively colonising his homeland.
Isran_Imrador 01-13-05, 06:46 AM	Well what if Morgrave want party to go to El.R for some reason, can be anything realy... get them all together in the same place ( a tavern from the sharn book) have a Mo.U scout talk to to keeper of the bar they hear he is planing a trip to El.R to find a book of secrets...they will take the mission at once.... Or se this thread! For DMs: Adventure Seeds http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=275225
Just another user 01-13-05, 06:58 AM	I'll post other comments when I'll have more time but for now, why the shifter want to join specifically the ashbound. No reason why he should not, of course, but with their philosopy he should have a good reason to pick them over other druid groups.
Endless_Helix 01-13-05, 03:18 PM	What I'm doing to get the group together is to have them all thrown in jail for a murder of someone important or someone important's significant other, and then have this person offer them a deal. Get the real murderer at the feet of the VIP in a month or rot in jail. Yes, I'm a nice DM.
Khopesh122 01-13-05, 04:21 PM	Since you're giving your PCs free reign about their character's histories, places of origins, and goals, let them construct pre-existing relationships for you. Choose a PC at random, PC 'A'. PC A chooses PC 'B' and describes where and when the two of them met in the past, and something the two of them did together that created some sort of tie between them. Perhaps they had each other's backs in a barfight. Maybe 'A' saved 'B's life somehow. Make sure only you, A, and B are present for the story, so as to give other PCs something to discover. Next, B chooses another PC, 'C' and repeats the process. C chooses 'D', who chooses 'E' and 'E' decides how he or she tied to 'A'. While this is going on, listen to the stories, and pick one that has potential for long term repercussions. This is your hook for your first adventure. Say it's the hook for C and D. Make sure either C knows that B or D knows that E is in town. Arrange a chance meeting between A, B, and E, where A gets to introduce his or her friends to each other. Now hook C and D with the event from their past. Either C asks B for help or D asks for E's help, which will most likely bring along all three. Now your party is together and aren't quite a random selection of strangers.
cthulhu42 01-13-05, 06:02 PM	Thanks for all the replys thus far. Re: Lord of Blades I was thinking along the same lines, but I also think I might try to give him the oppertunity to see warforged in a different light. It would be all well and good for the tank to go after the LOB, but I don't know how the rest of the crew would see it. They may decied they have nothing against warforged/LOB which would split the party. Re: Ashbound and the shifter I think the PC is attracted to the ashbound because he has been persecuted by most folk and sees the ashbound as a sect that not only might accept him but activly works against industry. Re: Jail start I've done this before and I can already see their eyes rolling if I try it again. Re: PC's A,B,C Hmmm, not bad. I think I like it. I may have to tinker with it a little, but not a bad idea at all. I'm going to give it some thought. So what do you all think would be a really good and exciting reason to get them headed north? I'd like something to sort of sweep them into the action. I want to avoid the old, "Your sitting at the inn when a dude comes in looking for stalwart adventurers" thing. I was thinking maybe having some important item thrust upon them by a dyeing currior with a plea to deliver it to so-and-so of the Ashbound with a promise of reward/declaration of the items importance. I think the currior might be connected to Morgrave U. So the question is, what is the item and what is the connection between the ashbound and Morgrave U? And actually, the main NPC from Morgrave U could have his own agenda, unknown by the administration of MU, i.e., he could be a bad guy who buys into the ashbound notion of no civilization. Maybe he even seeks to destroy the magical field that keeps Sharn's towers standing? But how does the item the PC's must deliver tie into all of this? Do the ashbound know of his ultimate plan? What do you think?
Ohtar Turinson 01-13-05, 11:11 PM	Getting them in one place is hard, I would think... I'm in an Eberron game which began with the "Forgotten Forge" adventure. We rationalized the group as all being contacts of my character, an ambitious wizard who's got a minor position at Morgrave. He needed a criminal contact to watch the black market for a druidic artifact (and the halfling rogue needed someone to help shield her activities from the crime lords and the guard). He was also meeting with a half-elf mercenary as a bodyguard (a veteran of the last war) and a changeling Child of Winter druid (who he had requested info about the artifact from). My character didn't give any direct pay to the rest of the group, but he's served as the brains of the operation, and helped them establish a hideout and base of operations. All of them have profited. Maybe the Goblin promises adventure and profit to the others if they help him? On the other hand, maybe one of the others comes to the goblin for information or help, and he in turn hunts down the rest of the group to act as additional aid for the goal. This could tie in with the Ashbound quest idea you have.
maijstral2 01-14-05, 12:58 AM	you could start with a shipwreck. Have the druid and shifter ranger traveling from Q'barra to sharn by ship and the ship is just within sight of sharn when its attacked and boarded or a mysterious storm comes up or someting like that. the goblin wizard with his seafaring background could be on a rescue ship or a member of the crew on the ship the other two are on. the elf fighter,trying to lay low while figuring out what to do, is working in the dock area when all this happens so is around when the survivors arrive or when a rescue party is mounted. Maybe the human fighter from cyre is working security on the docks or on the ship itself. The party could meet in the midst of battle as they all try to fight off raiders or just band together to survive the storm and sinking of the ship. In either case they end up on the docks of sharn broke with little idea of what exactly just happened and if your into a little noir' action they could come under suspicion themselfs because they are the only survivors of the shipwreck. If you go on for a long campaign you could work in the attack on the ship as part of a much bigger plot to stop the party from reaching the Eldeen reaches.
N'wah 01-14-05, 02:02 AM	It may be a bit difficult to get a ranger follower of the Ashbound sect and a wizard together for anything- one of the biggest aspect of the Ashbond's beliefs is that arcane magic is an abomination. I suppose if the character didn't know that and was out looking for a sect to join, he may have just heard that the Ashbound hate the encroachment of civilization into nature. However, once he finds out about their distrust of arcane magic, he'll have to make a personal choice- abandon his friend or leave the Ashbound. The Children of Winter are similarly aligned, in my mind- civilization will lead to the end of the world- they just believe the apocalypse is inevitable. They're a bit more cynical (nongood alignment is a requirement), but few people persecuted from birth feel compassion toward their fellow humanoids. The Children of Winter have a foothold in Sharn- if you decide to make the character a CoW he's got built-in contacts to send the group here and there. I believe the ranger of the two is a shifter as well- a perfect mentor character. Actually, ptretty much any of the druidic sects would take in a skilled survivalist outcast- I'd avoid the Greensingers, though, unless the PC wants to find more in common with fey than humanoids. The Wardens of the Wood defends nature from domesticated lands, and they have nothing against arcane magic, so they would work well, too. Plus, there's already a Wardens druid in the group- if they met along the way to Sharn, amybe having to fight a few battles together, they could easily be your first allied PCs. Besides, nature-lovers in the biggest city in Khorvaire need to stick together. Of course, there's good ol' "No Affiliation", giving the PC acceptance in the form of a self-taught duid buddy and the freedom to be who he wants to be. I don't believe the goblins had a navy in the Last War- I could easily see a goblin deckhand or some similar minor task on a Brelish (or Aundairian, or whoever- but Breland offers more opportunity to get to Sharn) boat. Reason enough, methinks, to sneak off the human-controlled ship when it docks to resupply in Sharn, eventually coming under the tutelage of an elderly wizard. The rest is history. I like the shipwreck idea- I could see the goblin plying his skills as a sailor to pay the bills for his burgeoning spellcasting career- and the LoB being a major player sounds great. I may add more later- see what everyone lese has to say. Good luck and good gaming!
cthulhu42 01-14-05, 05:01 AM	you could start with a shipwreck. Have the druid and shifter ranger traveling from Q'barra to sharn by ship and the ship is just within sight of sharn when its attacked and boarded or a mysterious storm comes up or someting like that. the goblin wizard with his seafaring background could be on a rescue ship or a member of the crew on the ship the other two are on. the elf fighter,trying to lay low while figuring out what to do, is working in the dock area when all this happens so is around when the survivors arrive or when a rescue party is mounted. Maybe the human fighter from cyre is working security on the docks or on the ship itself. The party could meet in the midst of battle as they all try to fight off raiders or just band together to survive the storm and sinking of the ship. In either case they end up on the docks of sharn broke with little idea of what exactly just happened and if your into a little noir' action they could come under suspicion themselfs because they are the only survivors of the shipwreck. If you go on for a long campaign you could work in the attack on the ship as part of a much bigger plot to stop the party from reaching the Eldeen reaches. OK, now we're talking. This I really like and will probably use in some form. It will be a good way for the wizard to get noticed by the NPC from Morgrave U who is looking for people unaffiliated with the school to do his dirty work. Maybe that NPC is actually aboard ship when it is attacked, returning from someplace where he got another piece of his diabolic engine with which he intends to do bad things. So he's on his way back to Sharn when the attack comes. The PC's pull his fat out of the fire, and there you have it. I like it! It may be a bit difficult to get a ranger follower of the Ashbound sect and a wizard together for anything- one of the biggest aspect of the Ashbond's beliefs is that arcane magic is an abomination. I suppose if the character didn't know that and was out looking for a sect to join, he may have just heard that the Ashbound hate the encroachment of civilization into nature. However, once he finds out about their distrust of arcane magic, he'll have to make a personal choice- abandon his friend or leave the Ashbound. Hmmm, I hadn't thought of that. Right now the ranger has yet to immerse himself in Ashbound philosophy. This may make for interesting inner-player conflict when the ranger must choose between ashbound principals and friendship. I doubt that, currently, the ranger has any real beef with arcane magic. I think he's just been driven in an anti-social direction by persecution, probably by the Silver Flame. With any luck he and the wizard will get along and he will be forced to question his ultimate beliefs when he is finaly initiated into true ashbound philosophy. The real question, at this point, is: What does the ashbound have that my Morgrave U NPC wants? How does he intend for the PC's to get it? I can't really have them sent to steal it because the ranger would probably not go for that. Heres my thought: The MU NPC (lets call him Rufus until I tag a name on him) has discovered a diabolic engine, a machine cabable of amplifying certain magics, though only with the use of specific dragonshards which are used as "lenses" of sorts. Think of a massive machine. The user must fule the thing with varias magical items which are destroyed during the process. The user must insert a proper dragonshard of significant size into the machine which will be used to focus the effect and, in turn, amplify it. The user then sets dials and twists knobs according to a hefty users manual which outlines all of the varias magical effects the machine can produce. For example, with the proper amount of "fuel", the right dragonshard, and the correct dial/knob settings, the user can produce a fireball or gigantic proportions, or a lightning bolt that will zap a small town 500 miles away. So, since Rufus has some sort of grudge against Sharn, he intends to produce an anti-magic field within Sharn big enough to bring down the cities towers which are held up, in part, due to the cities magical field. A truely evil and diabolic plan, and one that the PC's darn well better stop, or otherwise my Sharn book is going to be pretty useless! So heres a few questions... 1) Would the ashbound be supportive of such a stunt? Sure, they don't like civilization, but would they help facilitate the murder of tens of thousands of people? Perhaps one particularly fanatical Ashbound druid would be willing to go that far. You think? 2) Nothing to do with the plot, but just to re-ask the question: What would Valenar elves do to an exile to mark him as such? Tattoo? Brand? Cut off the tip of an ear? Being a Cthulhu fan, I like the ear thing! 3) I'd like to get a warforged involved in some way. He must be important enough for our tank not to immediatly try to kill. Any thoughts? 4) I'm thinking that some other force is out to stop Rufus. Maybe they are the ones that attack the ship. They could also end up being the good guys in the long run, the ones that eventually tip off the PC's as to Rufus' true intent. Any thoughts as to who they could be? Thats plenty for now. Thanks for all the input! I'm reading and thinking about it all.
Beleriphon 01-14-05, 09:36 AM	3) I'd like to get a warforged involved in some way. He must be important enough for our tank not to immediatly try to kill. Any thoughts? 4) I'm thinking that some other force is out to stop Rufus. Maybe they are the ones that attack the ship. They could also end up being the good guys in the long run, the ones that eventually tip off the PC's as to Rufus' true intent. Any thoughts as to who they could be? Thats plenty for now. Thanks for all the input! I'm reading and thinking about it all. Well for #3 you can alway go with the total pacifist warforged. Unwilling to fight after seeing so much death and destruction. I thing that a basically NG character would have a hard time committing outright murder. As for #4, kobolds. They are traditionally evil and malicious but perhaps this a group of druids that a all about having civilization and nature coexist, as such they don't really like the idea of destroying Sharn, since to do so would require and unnatural method.
Just another user 01-14-05, 02:06 PM	about the druidic sects, ashbound and CoW, like everything in Eberron are not so black and white, there are gradation inside their organizzation. While is sure that some ashbound think arcane magic as a whole is an abomination and any wizard, sorcerer and c. should be killed on sight, there are other that think only that magic is dangerous in excess, (using Light to see at night or a magic sword is acceptable, the problem is when you start doing thing like using shape Earth to change the course of the rivers or creating living constructs en masse, expecially if you don't fully understand the process) The same is true for the Children of Winter, essentially they are just extreme darwinists, survival of the fittest, the strong win, the weak die,etc, etc, but not all of them think that the weak should be helped to die faster, or that the strong should kick the weak in the groin.
cthulhu42 01-17-05, 05:44 AM	Figured I'd keep ya'll updated. So tonight marked our first session. First, let me thank all those who posted. Your ideas germinated into what happened tonight. First, the PC's now have names. Goblin wizard - Irving Kingsly Human fighter (tank, warforged hater) - Garranth Anison Shifter Ranger- Talek Human druid - Chaia Elf fighter - Gawst One minor note, after someone pointed out that Dargunn had no navy I reread the section on Dargunn, and yeah, I had to admit that the likelyhood was pretty slim, so it was decided that Irving had been among the mercenaries at a very young age and had been put to work as a cabin boy for the Breland navy. Irving curretnly works for a spoiled nobel named Francis Calobra who treats Irving with far more disdain than he treats his human servants, and generaly gives him the worst jobs. Recently he decided to send Irving from Sharn to Dargunn (first time Irving has been there since he was eight years old) to retrieve a mysterious package from a mysterious address in Rhukaan Draal. Since Dargunn is still so dangerous, even for a goblin, Calobra hires a human fighter to bodyguard Irving. This fighter is Garrath, who has been bumming around Thrane and Breland for the past two years until he finaly ended up in Sharn where he earned a reputation as an able and discreat bodyguard. The pair sail to Wyvernskull and then make the dangerous trip to Rhukaan Draal where Irving gets the mysterious package. They then return to Wyvernskull to await a west bound ship. In the meantime, Talek and Chaia have boarded a ship in Q'barra, both of them headed for Sharn, and eventually, the Eldeen Reaches. Given that one is a ranger and the other a druid, and that there are only three other passengers aboard the small vessel, they quickly get to know one another and spend most of the journey in each others company. The ship is small, and in more for cargo than human passengers, so there are only 20 sailors aboard, along with the captain. The captain has recently befriended an elf with a checkered past. Gawst, after having been exiled (and leaving the tip of his left ear behind) has spent the last two years traveling the Talenta Plains and the Q'barra where he found work as a mercenary fighting lizard folk. He made his way to Adderport where he was befriended by the captain of our ship, who offered him passage to Sharn for the use of his sword should there be any trouble at sea. Gawst agreed, eager to go west without passing through Valenar or the Mournlands, and thus, he too, was aboard the ship when it left Q'barra. There are three other passengers on the ship. Two are a couple headed for Sharn to set up shop of some sort. They are unimportant. The third person, however, is Prof. Theodore Milford of Morgrave University, recently returned from a specimin collecting expidition into the jungles of Q'barra. He is a friendly and talkative fellow in his fourties, and it is not long before he befriends Talek and Chaia. The journey takes a couple of months, including stops in Valenar (a nervous Gawst stayed below decks). They planed to dock in Wyvernskull to exchange some cargo. Most fortunate for Irving and Garrath, for they had been waiting a week already for a ship. The ship docks at Wyvernskull and the captain motions for Gawst to look after the passengers while he attends to business. Meanwhile, Irving and Garrath stand with tickets in hand, ready to go. The ship, however, will not leave until the morning. They have a final night to spend. Gawst, Talek and Chaia head into the town to check it out. Irving and Garrath board ship, ready to stay there for the night, but they meet Prof. Milford, who is quite excited to meet residents of Sharn. The three have much in common, and they, too, decied to explore Wyvernskull. In due course, all six of them meet up, and the professer offers to treat them all to one last good meal before they head back out to sea. They dine at the Bloody Herring, a dockside inn. All goes well until a group of surly hobgoblins give them some lip. Tensions mount as our heroes face off with seven well armed hobgoblins. The lead hobber draws steel and so does Gawst. Talek shifts form and Chaia quickly casts magic fang on her wolf companion. But it is Irving who takes matters in hand, and promptly puts four of the hobbers to sleep with a spell. Garrath steps forward and kills one with a single blow from his two-handed sword. Talek and Gawst take another one below 0 hit points. The leader is baddly wounded as well, and suddenly finds himself utterly alone. Garrath offers him quarter and the hobber throws down his sword. The hobgoblins depart, leaving their dead companion behind, muttering about revenge. The group figures its time to get aboard ship. They depart the following morning, but not before six new passengers buy passage aboard ship. There are six of them, able bodied men. But it is their cargo that is most interesting. They carry with them a coffin. They spend the next two monts at sea, hugging the southern coast, stopping twice in Zilargo, before finaly sighting the mouth of the dagger river one summer day. The six men who boarded with the coffin have been very tightlipped throughout the journey, and have rarely talked with anyone, though several have tried. They seem to prefer the company of each other and their coffin, and will give no information about themselves or their luggage. With only a day left to sail, nature turns nasty and a summer storm slams into the ship that night. It is a rough gale, but Prof. Milford wishes to experience it. He goes on deck and lashes himself to a rail. The party joins him, riding out the storm. Chaia's wolf sees them first, the six men, on deck and walking slowly toward them. Chaia glances at them and notices that they wear armor beneath their cloaks. She utters a warning, but the men are already in motion, two of them chargeing straight for the professer while the rest appear ready to run interferance should anyone try to stop them. The PC's, of course, try to do just that, and a fight ensues on the rocking, rainswept vessel. The professer is struck with two longswords and he goes down, hanging on the railing, near death as the party join combat with the rest of the assassins. Gawst spots yet another figure, this one quite broad, cloaked in black and standing at the entrance to the hold. The captain of the ship crosses in front of this new figure, intent upon helping the party. The dark figure steps behind the captain and runs him through with a wicked sword. The figure tears its cloak off and reveals himself to be a warforged! Garrath sees this as well and breaks from combat to charge at the warforged, but the warforged ignores him, instead closeing to where the professer lays, obviously intending to finish him off. Irving has already used his sleep spell to knock a couple of the assassins out. Desperate to save the professer, he casts a Grease on the warforged's sword, and the blade slips from his grasp and flies into the sea! Enraged, the warforged draws a short sword and hacks at the Irving, only to fumble and get his sword stuck in the wood of the rail! Gawst takes a crit from one of the assassins and goes down. Talek is toe to toe with another assassin. Chaia is able to cast minor healings on both the professer and Gawst, and at least stabalizes them. Garrath pounds away at the warforged, unable to make any real contact, and at last, the ships crew begin to close in on the assassins, hammering away with clubs and knives. Three sailors die, but one by one the assassins are overwhelmed. Garrath finaly smacks the warforged a good one, and even Chaia slams him with her staff. The warforged is wounded, and has been able to do little, having had to spen a round extracting his sword from the rail, and another doing nothing due to Irvings Daze spell. With the party bearing in on him, his men all dead, and himself badly wounded, the warforged throws himself into the angry sea, sinking like a stone, escapeing the group. And that is more or less where we ended up. I'll add more later, and I welcome any input into what all this could mean. Thus far there is plenty I dont know. I don't know the real reason Prof. Milford was in Q'barra. I dont know if he is a good guy or bad yet. I don't know who the warforged and his band of assassins are or who they were sent by. I dont know what is in the mysterious package Irving is carrying for his employer. So, if any of you have any ideas, feel free to toss em out!
Just another user 01-17-05, 08:04 AM	Nice story, I like the addition of the typical absent-minded professor(tm). Keep us updated, please, I want to know what happen next.
cthulhu42 01-21-05, 04:25 AM	Thus far there is plenty I dont know. I don't know the real reason Prof. Milford was in Q'barra. I dont know if he is a good guy or bad yet. I don't know who the warforged and his band of assassins are or who they were sent by. I dont know what is in the mysterious package Irving is carrying for his employer. OK gang, sunday is closeing in and I still have the above questions knocking about in my head. I have a few ideas, but I'm really hopeing for fresh and/or more informed ideas. I'd like to introduce one of the more shady power groups of Eberron, but I'm not sure which one and I'm not quite satisfied with any of my current thoughts as to what, exactly, their connection is, and for tht matter, WHO their connection is with. At first I was thinking about having Prof. Milford be a bad guy, but I've done the whole get-the-party-to-trust-the-NPC-and-then-betray-them thing way too much. Besides, they need a friendly contact in Sharn, and besides that, I like the guy. So maybe the Prof. has a boss, a higher up, who sent the Prof. to Q'barra. But why? What hs Prof. Milford got? Does he know its true power? Lets say, no. Obviously, though, the warforged and his band of assassins were sent to kill Prof. Milford, either to silence him or to retrieve whatever it was that the Prof. procured for his boss. OK, heres an idea: The boss is a bad guy, but he will not reveal himself to the PC's. Instead, he will continue to have the unwitting Professor Milford do his dirty work under the mistaken assumption that the boss has scientific/benificial motivations. The payoff, of course, is when the PC's finaly believe that the Prof has been screwing them, whereupon will they believe the Prof. when he professes his innocence? If they do, this reveals a whole new lair of the conspiricy. SO lets have the boss (any ideas for names for this guy will be considered) working for one of the power groups. Which one? Which means that the warforged, whose name is, Gear, by the way, is probably under the employ of another of the power groups, or at the very least, one of the kningdoms. Lets have them be good guys, which spins nicely; sets up a situation where the PC's won't know who the good guys and bad guys really are. I smell good role-play potential as they have to decied who to trust. It will also be a nice way for Garranth to face his predjuidice against warforged when it turns out that the one he really wants a piece of is actually on the good-guy team. So then: Who does Prof. Milford's boss work for? What has Prof. Milford procured in Q'barra? How does whatever it is get the party to the Eldeen Reaches, and how does it tie into the Ashbound (remember, we're trying to get the ashbound involved here as well)? Who is Gear working for? I also want to introduce some more NPC's, some important, some minor. If any of you have any good ones, please feel free to drop them here. As a sub plot, I think that Irving will come back to Sharn to find his nobel employer dead, murdered! So, Irving will be left with the mysterious package. What is it? I was thinking about some illicit drug, perhaps, which means that a criminal organization within Sharn has murdered the nobel. Do they know about the package? Do they want it? Probably. If anyone wants to tackel that particular thread, fell free. Thanks for any and all input.
maijstral2 01-22-05, 11:27 PM	How bout this.. prof. Milford is a good guy who doesn't know he's working for a bad guy. He's exactly who he seems to be an absent minded professor working for the morgrave university, or so he thinks. He is sent on various missions to sites around the continent to do research and pick up artifacts. someone saw this as an ideal courier cover so now when he goes on his archaeological digs he is unwittingly acting as a courier for information and items. he was in Q'barra to pick up something recovered from the jungles and bring it back for study. what he didn't know was that the thing was from one of the sites that sealed up one of the daelkyr. the druids of the eldeen reach discovered this and fearing the worst want to stop him and recover the item. one of the lords of dust( possibly the profs boss after many many cutouts) want the item as do any number of the cultists of the dragon. the thing is nobody know what it is or even if its of any use at all, so far its just rumors that have started all this activity. Gear could be working for the gate keepers sect of the druids( I thought maybe the ashbound to work them in but I'm not sure they would work with warforged. up to you I suppose). He felt so bad about the destruction wrougt by war he is working for them to help make up for it. he tried to kill the prof because hes a little fanatical about things now and was told that the prof. was doing something that could create another day of mourning.
cthulhu42 01-23-05, 03:25 AM	Hmmm, I think you may be on to something! Thanks for the reply, I'm going to chew on it a not.
Just another user 01-23-05, 09:45 AM	I have some problem see Gear as good after he skevered the captain. Kill the professor it could still fit with being good, it is the typical misunderstanding, he work for a bad guy, so ..., the same could apply to the PC by association, but the captain seemed to be the classic innocent bystander.
cthulhu42 01-27-05, 05:39 AM	They don't have to like Gear. In fact, he may ultimatly be an enemy that they have to work with, at least for awhile. I want him to be a complex NPC, maybe hated by some and possibly liked or respected by others. We'll see how it plays out. A quick update... The following day the storm has passed and they are only about ten hours from port now. Chaia manages to bring Gawst around (he was unconcious), but cannot do the same for the professor, who is very badly hurt indeed. They make port and have to go through the process of reporting the incedent to the harbormaster and then the watch, but finally they head into Sharn, still carrying the professor on a makeshift stretcher. They decide to head for House Jerasco in order to heal the professor, but things go arwy almost immediatly. Garranth, seething with anti-warforged rage after the recent battle, decides to vent his rage on the first forged he sees, which just happens to be an innocent bystander, a warforged painters apprentice, buisily painting an awning on the outside of a tavern. Garranth does his level best to pick a fight, much to the chagrin and disgust of the rest of the party. Chaia, especially, is absolutly mortified. Garranth persists, despite the crowd that begins to take interest, and the warforged finally stands up for himself and tells Garranth to take off his sword and they can go at it. Garranth, however, wants no part of a fair fight and states his intention to simply cut the fellow down. About that time the watch shoes up and breaks up the confrontation. Garranth argues his case (warforged are just things, shouldn't be in the city, etc), but eventually he backs down and bloodshed is narrowly averted. They make it to House Jerasco and have the professor healed. He is very thankfull and tells them to check the message stations in two or three days as he is going to try to find work for them. He then catches a skycoach and heads off for Morgrave, leaving the crew to fend for themselves. Irving decides to check in with his employer to give him the mysterious box and the rest of the PC's follow in tow. They don't know the city, after all, and Irving is an excellent guide. Still more drama awaits them when they get to Francis Calabra's home. The door is roped off and a guard of the watch stands on the stoop. He explains to them that Calabra has been murdered three days ago, stabbed by assaliants unknown! Irving's nobel employer is dead and he is now stuck with the mysterious box. They head for an in to get rooms and talk things over. In Irving's room, Garranth (who obviously will not be paid for his bodyguarding services) and Irving decide to see whats in the box, hopeing that something of value might be in there that will make their journey worth it. The box is, however, locked, and rather than risk breaking whatever is in there with Garranth's offer to smash it open, Irving says that they will wait until tomorrow and go to a professional locksmith to have it opened. But such is not to be. That night Irving is awakened by a knock on his door. He opens it to find a darkly clad human leaning in the doorway, a shortsword swinging from his hip. The man introduces himself as Santiago Church and tells Irving that he has come to discuss the mysterious box. A very nervous Irving lets Santiago inside and the two of them sit down. Church explains that the people he works for, as well as several other groups, are pretty serious about the contents of Irving's mysterious box. Serious enough to have been watching the docks for Irving's arrival back from Dargunn. Church has been sent here to seek a non-violent trade for the box and offers Irving 500gp in Sharn platinum for its contents. And whats in the box? Irving allows Church to work on the lock and he pops it open easily, breaking the wax seals and opeing the lid to reveal at least a dozen vials of a liquid that Church explains is Abstentia(sp?), a powerful and expensive drug that is highly illegal. He also tells Irving that many others will be more than willing to take the box by force. Int he end, Irving parlays a little and Church throws in a 100gp ring, and the deal is settled. Irving takes the cash and Church leaves with the box. The next mornign Irving calls the crew together and explains about the box and the abstentia and Santiago Church and the deal and everything. He offers an even split of the gold, but all save Garranth declines, each having their own reasons. So Irving gives Garanth 200gp and hangs on to the remaining 400. The day is a busy one for the crew, who immediatly split up. Chaia and Gawst set out to explore the city a bit. Garranth heads out to spend his loot on a new set of armor. Irving has to go to the Sharn watch headquarters and answer some questions from the investigator in charge of the Francis Calabra murder. She is a half-orc named Elsa Ramshorn, and is a sergent in the watch. Talek heads for Morgrave university to find the professor. Talek find Prof. Milford giving a lecture and sits in until class is dismissed, whereupon he tells Milford that if he has a job for them he'd better set them to it right away, because he, Talek, wants the heck out of Sharn. When the professor asks him why he is so eager to leave Talek spills the beans about Irving and the mysterious box and the abstentia and Santiago Church and the murder of Farancis Calabra and everything else, in the process painting Irving in a really terrible light, which upsets the professor badly. Milford tells Talek to tell Irving to come see him right away, a request that Talek promptly gets wrong. Irving goes to see Elsa Ramshorn and she interrogates him about his former boss and any enemies he may have had, and then she asks him about the box. How does she know about the box? She isn't telling! Irving spins a tale about the box being stolen just last night, a plausable story, given the amount of people who appantly want the thing. Ramshorn doesn't really buy it, but she has nothing to hold him for, so she lets Irving go, though she tells him that she may have more questions for him later. That evening they reconvene back at the inn. Talek is downstairs having a beer. Gawst and Chaia are in her room talking about the city. Irving is in his room, but decides he needs to see the professor and out he heads. He doesn't get far though, for seven men have entered the inn and have reached the top of the stairs. The leader of the men sees Irving and, with no warning, draws a short sword and charges. Irving just has time to cry out for help before the man cuts him down! Irving drops like a sack of dead batteries, but his cry has been heard. Garranth had just entered the inn, resplendant in his new armor. He and Talek see Irving get hit and the two of them charge. Gawst and Chaia also hear the cry and they fling hewr door open. The fight is brutal and short. Gawst takes a sneak attack and goes down, but not before he kills one of the men. Talek cuts down another, and even Chaia (with the help of her wolf) kills another with her staff. But it is Garranth who cleans house. The rogues can't pierce his new armor, and his two-handed sword cleaves through them like so much ripe wheat. The leader of the men is searching Irving's body and just has time to look up to see Garranth's sword hit him between the eyes. Irving and Gawst each have to spend action points to stabalise. When its all over the watch arrives and reports are taken. A quick search reveals that each of the dead men wear a silver pinky ring with a crude "D" inscribed on the inside, which identifies them as members of Daask, a Sharn gang. A halfling from Jorasco is called and the wounded are healed. Talek tells Irving (erroniously) that Prof. Milford wants irving to come see him TOMORROW, so Irving heads back to his room to wait. And thats where we wrapped.
Xyrcai 01-27-05, 09:31 AM	Just a suggestion, but if you're new to Eberron.. Run the modules. They're really nice, and let the DM and players alike get a great feel for Eberron play. (It'll also give you time to make your own) Forgotten Forge(I think) from the Eberron Campaign Setting is great. And it is first level. It'll help everyone understand Eberron far better. And it's fairly challenging, atleast for my party of four it was. Edit: btw.. I'd love to meet Garranth with my 'forged.. -grins- He'd feel the wrath of my Spiked Chain.. Also, with his obvious disdain for Warforged.. And extreme mistreatment. You could always have the Lord of Blades send henchmen after them. I mean, he's all about Warforged being supreme.. Someone going out of his way to mark them as inferior is going to provoke him I'm sure.
cthulhu42 01-27-05, 05:42 PM	I thought about running some of the moduals, and even read a few, but in the end I decided to do it myself since moduals sometimes have a tendency to railroad, and I wanted the PC's to feel that they had the freedom to either take or leave the hooks that are out there. I've always found that the best adventures are the ones the PC's themselves help write. W/r/t LOB, Garranth probably hasn't done enough yet to catch his attention, but if he continues in this vein he just might, and at that point, yeah, I may have LOB make an apperance. What I really hope to do, however, is force Garranth to reappraise his feelings about warforged based on NPC's he deals with. If I do my job right he will have to face the facts that warforged are every bit as complex, unique and sentient as any of the born races. We shall see.
chimpman 01-27-05, 06:07 PM	Hey Cthulhu! I'm glad to see you in Eberron. Sounds like things are going well for your group so far. I really like this line of thought, so I thought I'd throw my two coppers in as well. Hope to get more creative juices flowing ;). Who does Prof. Milford's boss work for? Milford doesn't really have a boss... though he is working for someone... kinda. Unfortunately for the poor professor (who really is a good guy at heart), he ran afowl of something rather nasty while spending time in Q'barra. Most of the time the prof is himself, but thanks to a little trinket he picked up during his journies sometimes he is actually possessed by one of the Lords of Dust. The demon is trapped in whatever item the prof found, and can only interact with the world when possing the prof. The demon can only do this infrequently, so uses his time in control to steer the prof in the direction it wants. This has the nice side effect of making the prof look a little absent minded. "You told us about X the other day, prof!" "... I did? I don't remember that..." ;) What has Prof. Milford procured in Q'barra? A bad case of possession ;). How does whatever it is get the party to the Eldeen Reaches, and how does it tie into the Ashbound (remember, we're trying to get the ashbound involved here as well)? Not so sure about this one, but perhaps the demon possessing the prof is interested in an artifact pilfered by the Ashbound from across the mountains (in the Demon Wastes). Some overzealous Ashbound are going to wreak havoc using this item, but the demon can use it to free himself from his prison. This would be bad. Who is Gear working for? Dum dum dum... Gear is actually working for some hot-headed junior member of the Chamber. A dragon who has caught wind of the LoD's plan to free himself and has taken it upon herself to stop the demon single handedly (thus proving herself to her comrades and peers). Gear may be a nasty sort of fellow (running in captains and such), but he has spent all of his time since the Last War delving into the draconic prophecy and is totally devoted to it and his new mistress. This should allow Gear to interfere with the PCs plans, but also give him a good reason to spare their lives if needs be... they are afterall important to the unfolding of the prophecy (or so his mistress tells him). Keep us informed of how things are going!