Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Blue Sky 06-06-05, 02:47 AM	Ok, my group is heading to the realm of the dead to rescue a pc's father. Anyone have any ideas as to what kind of encounters would be in there? The pc's father died in the Mourning, so I was thinking that they would have to make their way through a twisted reflection of the real world landscape. Starting from Flamekeep, they'd have to make their way to where her father died, in the middle of the Mournland. Once they get there, they'll see a shaft driven into the ground that reaches to the sky. Around the shaft they'll see the thousands of people that died in the Mourning, pushing a massive, horizontal wheel around the shaft. (When the Mourning hit, it disrupted the plane of the dead, and now the dead push a grindstone for all the souls that come through, grinding the souls into the next life. Or some thing like that.) So, what kind of encounters do you forsee for this group? 4-5 people, 7-8th level. I give my pc's a boost in the ability scores, so a higher el than normal is OK, but not much (keep in mind, that they probably won't be able to rest until they escape.) So, give me your ideas, my fellows!
Sarlax 06-06-05, 05:25 PM	I was thinking that they would have to make their way through a twisted reflection of the real world landscape. This just changed the entire way I think of Dolurrh. I'd conceived of the whole place as just one vast gray emptiness in all directions, with the dead just floating about as insubstantial shades. Here's my new idea. Maybe it could help. When a person dies, his memory takes with him images of his surroundings. Typically, he remembers the location in which he died, but some of the dead instead remember locations which were important to them, such as the location in which they were married, the site of their first brawl, or where they met a good friend. Whatever the area, this area is recreated by the death impulse of the deceased in Dolurrh. When a soul arrives in Dolurrh, he intuitively and subconsciously recreates the location which was strong in his mind. This locus merges with the existing landscape of the Realm of the Dead. The result is a plane which is a patchwork of unrelated locations, the majority of which are reflections of the places in which the dead have passed. The manner in which the dead arrive in Dolurrh is not known, but it appears somewhat random. There exists only occasional correspondence between locations in the Realm of the Dead and in Eberron. That is to say, a person who dies in Sharn will not wake from death to find himself in "Ghost Sharn." Rather, he is just as likely to create his locus in near other Dead of Sharn as he is to manifest near Dead from Valenar or Xen'drik or the Sahuagin Nations. Despite the frequency of death in Eberron and the resulting common appearance of new dead and their loci, each fades quickly, leaving a lifeless and decaying world of fading memories and wandering shades. The landscape slowly roils and changes around the deceased, but few have the will to pay any attention. There are exceptions. The destruction of Cyre created a bizarre, nation-sized collection of loci in Dolurrh. Millions died, and the energies of the disaster linked their deaths so significantly that Cyran cities and villages were nearly recreated whole in the Realm of the Dead. Most of the land itself, though, is absent - since most people were concentrated in settlements, it is towns and cities that were replicated. The open farmland, hills, lakes, and forests were largely forgotten in the death of the nation. The sheer number of dead Cyrans has created a collective locus of great strength and durability. The various replicas of cities are populated by the dead of that nation, and while they have already forgotten most of their memories from life, the dark strength of the Cyre of the Dead has instilled within these deceased a sort of patriotism for their land. The power of this Unchanging Land, as it is now called by the dead of Cyre, draws other shades to itself, who seek it for the passion it can instill within them. Those who wish to uncover the cause of the Mourning might venture to the Unchanging Land in Dolurrh to seek one of the dead whose memories of the disaster have not yet faded. But travelers must be cautious: the Unchanging may have largely forgotten their lives, but they exist with a fierce passion for the nation-locus and resent intruders. Also, sleep more than 1 hour for every 23 you're awake.