Make My McGuffin (Eldritch Machine) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Make My McGuffin (Eldritch Machine) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
zoombaba
07-16-05, 02:29 PM I've running an Eberron game tomorrow, and it's almost all set except for one crucial piece: what exactly does my mcguffin do?

Heres's the skinny: a gnome wizard (working for the Esoteric Order of Aureon) recovered an artifact that is a missing piece for an eldritch machine ~ now the bad guys (a cult of irvhir kobold sorcerers) have captured him and the artifact. The PCs are assigned to find the missing wizard.

My eldritch machine, I mean McGuffin, was a doomsday device suppose to end the Last War. It never got used, because the essential artifact was lost in a airship crash in the Seawall Mountains.

The artifact is from Xen'drik. The kobolds have been in possession of it since it was lost, and have been using its massive dragonshard as a magical focus for their blasphemous rituals.

The eldritch machine is still in the Mournland. It was a joint Brelish/Cyran venture to thwart Karrnath. The Esoteric Order of Aueron and House Cannith had worked together to create it.

Ok, so doomsday device is really vague. What does this thing do?
MarkB
07-16-05, 03:13 PM Creates a wide-area manifest zone to Mabar, the Endless Night, complete with multiple planar portals, and sends out compulsion signals to draw the plane's deadliest denizens (more-or-less everything listed under Mabar Inhabitants on page 97 of the ECS) onto the material plane to wreak havoc. After a set time, the signal switches to a repulsion, to drive most of them back, and the device deactivates.

Basically, you smuggle it into enemy territory, switch on a delayed activator, then get the khyber out of there.
Fraction Jackson
07-16-05, 03:15 PM Well, I can see two really fun paths

1. Your McGuffin is a device that controls planar conjuction in a localized area. This device could be used for good or evil, as it could cause Irain to become coterminous, causing plant life and healing to flourish in a mile circle. However, the shard loaded into this device is one of the only shards attuned to the dread Dolurrh, killing all in the specific area and sucking up their souls. The blasphemous rituals of the Kobolds only strengthened it horrible power.

2. For a more subtle, "Did it work?" device, you could have this device send a magical ripple throughout Khorivare, causing Dragonmarks to become immensly powerful or to weaken. Also, this ripple causes Dragonmarked folk to go mad. Destabalizing Global economics and opening up a string of adventures.

Hope this Helps
Earthbinder
07-16-05, 04:35 PM 3. The device when activated causes all beings who have sworn loyalty to the activator to become invunerable to all weapons, immune to all magic and unable to eat or drink. this creates the ultimate warrior, who if mortal will die a lingering death in about 3 days. but that wont become clear until three days after the device is activated and the hunger pains begin.

History of the device: - copied from a Schema found in the same ancient ruin as the warforged Schema, this was developed by the giants to enhance the Warforged warriors they were creating (no need to eat or drink) unfortunately the original device was activated by one of the "Leaders" of the giant civilization as a political gesture, thus condemming millions of his subjects to a slow death (its up to you whether he was knowledgable of this and in fact working for the Quori at the time), the warforged still lie inert and unkillable in various locations across xen'drik

4. when activated the device creates 13 simultaneous manifest zones in a 5 mile radius warping and twisting reality, destroying any dimensional seals up to 500 miles away

history: - the device's designer was seduced and driven insane by Vorulath (a mind flayer re-shaped into the form of a sultry gnome maiden, she still likes to eat brains) The "voice" of the Daelkyr, he was given the designs and even told where to find the Dragonshard with which to power the device (the dragonshard is in fact a Daelkyr crystaline egg, the worship of which by the kobolds has begun to awaken into its new form Kel-urgrat Kobold Lord of Madness) the whole design is intended to free the daelkyr and grant them a foothold from which they can begin the conquest of not just this plane but all others as well (at the same time, well they are mad after all)

5. the device creates spheres of anihilation, one life must be sacrificed for each sphere but some of the sentience of that life is transfered into the sphere, i.e. if a loyal soldier of Cyre sacrificed his life to the machine then the sphere will try to protect "Cyre" and its people.

History: - ummmm.... the original design was made by dragons during the war against the fiends, when a dragon sacrifices their life to the machine they retain all their powers and sentience in the new form, this was how they defeated the Rajahs, in fact even now in the Heart of argonessen the remaining 12 dragons out of the thirteen who sacrificed themselves are preparing to re-write the prophecy by Editing out the abberation Errandis d'Vol. the thirteenth waits with those he created during ancient war, his underlings, his network of schemers those who are known as ... "The lords of Dust"
Gurv
07-16-05, 05:50 PM A perfectly valid possibility is that your McGuffin does...nothing. It simply doesn't work. If I read your backstory correctly, this eldritch machine was never completed, and therefore never tested. I mean, if it requires some barely understood piece from Xen'drik to function, that means that the whole process is barely understood. Barely understood things rarely work the way they are expected to.

As to what it was supposed to do? Against Karrnath? Have the designs predict a disruption effect (as per a disruption weapon), spreading from the machine in a shockwave like a EMP wave. If it worked, entire legions of Karrnathi skeletons and zombies would go down in an instant, and commanding vampires, mummies, etc might be taken out as well.

Of course, if that gets in the newspapers, then a lot of people are going to be after it. The whole Blood of Vol/Emerald Claw camp would see it as a threat. Kaius might see it as a weapon to be used against Erandis, dispite the danger to himself. Silver Flame paladins can likewise become awful demanding when they see something like this.

So there you go. An entire campaign based around a set of plans that won't even work.
AvonRekaes
07-16-05, 07:06 PM And undead destroying machine can also be seen as a horrible religious blasphemy by the every-day-good-and-neutral worshipers of the BoV.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
zoombaba 07-16-05, 02:29 PM	I've running an Eberron game tomorrow, and it's almost all set except for one crucial piece: what exactly does my mcguffin do? Heres's the skinny: a gnome wizard (working for the Esoteric Order of Aureon) recovered an artifact that is a missing piece for an eldritch machine ~ now the bad guys (a cult of irvhir kobold sorcerers) have captured him and the artifact. The PCs are assigned to find the missing wizard. My eldritch machine, I mean McGuffin, was a doomsday device suppose to end the Last War. It never got used, because the essential artifact was lost in a airship crash in the Seawall Mountains. The artifact is from Xen'drik. The kobolds have been in possession of it since it was lost, and have been using its massive dragonshard as a magical focus for their blasphemous rituals. The eldritch machine is still in the Mournland. It was a joint Brelish/Cyran venture to thwart Karrnath. The Esoteric Order of Aueron and House Cannith had worked together to create it. Ok, so doomsday device is really vague. What does this thing do?
MarkB 07-16-05, 03:13 PM	Creates a wide-area manifest zone to Mabar, the Endless Night, complete with multiple planar portals, and sends out compulsion signals to draw the plane's deadliest denizens (more-or-less everything listed under Mabar Inhabitants on page 97 of the ECS) onto the material plane to wreak havoc. After a set time, the signal switches to a repulsion, to drive most of them back, and the device deactivates. Basically, you smuggle it into enemy territory, switch on a delayed activator, then get the khyber out of there.
Fraction Jackson 07-16-05, 03:15 PM	Well, I can see two really fun paths 1. Your McGuffin is a device that controls planar conjuction in a localized area. This device could be used for good or evil, as it could cause Irain to become coterminous, causing plant life and healing to flourish in a mile circle. However, the shard loaded into this device is one of the only shards attuned to the dread Dolurrh, killing all in the specific area and sucking up their souls. The blasphemous rituals of the Kobolds only strengthened it horrible power. 2. For a more subtle, "Did it work?" device, you could have this device send a magical ripple throughout Khorivare, causing Dragonmarks to become immensly powerful or to weaken. Also, this ripple causes Dragonmarked folk to go mad. Destabalizing Global economics and opening up a string of adventures. Hope this Helps
Earthbinder 07-16-05, 04:35 PM	3. The device when activated causes all beings who have sworn loyalty to the activator to become invunerable to all weapons, immune to all magic and unable to eat or drink. this creates the ultimate warrior, who if mortal will die a lingering death in about 3 days. but that wont become clear until three days after the device is activated and the hunger pains begin. History of the device: - copied from a Schema found in the same ancient ruin as the warforged Schema, this was developed by the giants to enhance the Warforged warriors they were creating (no need to eat or drink) unfortunately the original device was activated by one of the "Leaders" of the giant civilization as a political gesture, thus condemming millions of his subjects to a slow death (its up to you whether he was knowledgable of this and in fact working for the Quori at the time), the warforged still lie inert and unkillable in various locations across xen'drik 4. when activated the device creates 13 simultaneous manifest zones in a 5 mile radius warping and twisting reality, destroying any dimensional seals up to 500 miles away history: - the device's designer was seduced and driven insane by Vorulath (a mind flayer re-shaped into the form of a sultry gnome maiden, she still likes to eat brains) The "voice" of the Daelkyr, he was given the designs and even told where to find the Dragonshard with which to power the device (the dragonshard is in fact a Daelkyr crystaline egg, the worship of which by the kobolds has begun to awaken into its new form Kel-urgrat Kobold Lord of Madness) the whole design is intended to free the daelkyr and grant them a foothold from which they can begin the conquest of not just this plane but all others as well (at the same time, well they are mad after all) 5. the device creates spheres of anihilation, one life must be sacrificed for each sphere but some of the sentience of that life is transfered into the sphere, i.e. if a loyal soldier of Cyre sacrificed his life to the machine then the sphere will try to protect "Cyre" and its people. History: - ummmm.... the original design was made by dragons during the war against the fiends, when a dragon sacrifices their life to the machine they retain all their powers and sentience in the new form, this was how they defeated the Rajahs, in fact even now in the Heart of argonessen the remaining 12 dragons out of the thirteen who sacrificed themselves are preparing to re-write the prophecy by Editing out the abberation Errandis d'Vol. the thirteenth waits with those he created during ancient war, his underlings, his network of schemers those who are known as ... "The lords of Dust"
Gurv 07-16-05, 05:50 PM	A perfectly valid possibility is that your McGuffin does...nothing. It simply doesn't work. If I read your backstory correctly, this eldritch machine was never completed, and therefore never tested. I mean, if it requires some barely understood piece from Xen'drik to function, that means that the whole process is barely understood. Barely understood things rarely work the way they are expected to. As to what it was supposed to do? Against Karrnath? Have the designs predict a disruption effect (as per a disruption weapon), spreading from the machine in a shockwave like a EMP wave. If it worked, entire legions of Karrnathi skeletons and zombies would go down in an instant, and commanding vampires, mummies, etc might be taken out as well. Of course, if that gets in the newspapers, then a lot of people are going to be after it. The whole Blood of Vol/Emerald Claw camp would see it as a threat. Kaius might see it as a weapon to be used against Erandis, dispite the danger to himself. Silver Flame paladins can likewise become awful demanding when they see something like this. So there you go. An entire campaign based around a set of plans that won't even work.
AvonRekaes 07-16-05, 07:06 PM	And undead destroying machine can also be seen as a horrible religious blasphemy by the every-day-good-and-neutral worshipers of the BoV.