Cult of the Dragon Below Ideas [Archive] - Wizards Community

Cult of the Dragon Below Ideas [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Augurer
04-12-07, 08:13 AM I'm interested in running a campaign starting at 1st level around the Daelkyr and Xoriat, and figured a few various Cults would work very well. However, I'm having a hard time coming up with suitably "mad" themes for Cults.

What have you used for the basis of your "belief system" for a Cult of the Dragon Below? What were the motivations and/or actions of the "leader"?

If this has been discussed elsewhere, a link would be awesome!
Sereno
04-12-07, 09:10 AM In most cases, the leaders of my Cults of the Dragon Below have been near-psychotic ... illusions of grandeur, paranoia, god complexes ... stuff like that.

In most cases they simply believe (for whatever reason) that the Dragon Below is going to grant them the power they need to (choose: take over the world, conquer a nation, become a god, defeat the gods, free a daelkyr, free a rajah ...) so long as they show their devotion strongly enough.

Of course, showing strong devotion often means sacrificing innocents in gruesome ways....
Just another user
04-12-07, 05:29 PM I don't know if you are familiar with the comic but personally I found Rasputin from Hellboy a perfect fit for a Dragon Below Cult cell leader

"Chained in Khyber are they. Seven is their number. Bred in depths of Xoriat, neither male nor female are they. They are as the howling wind, which knoweth not mercy, which knoweth not pity." :)

another possible good plot is that from Ghostbuster, a cult of the dragon below years ago built a special tower in Sharn, this tower will start ot attract all sort of spirits and ghosts and at the end will summon Gozer the gozerian a shepeshifting daelkir that will proceed to destroy Sharn (unless stopped, of course) (note, he is also called sometime the Traveller, but apparences notwithstanding I don't think it is the same god we know, love and try to avoid gifts from.)
NthDegree256
04-13-07, 01:30 AM I don't know if you are familiar with the comic but personally I found Rasputin from Hellboy a perfect fit for a Dragon Below Cult cell leader

"Chained in Khyber are they. Seven is their number. Bred in depths of Xoriat, neither male nor female are they. They are as the howling wind, which knoweth not mercy, which knoweth not pity." :)
Following up on that, Rasputin's whole belief system (if I recall correctly) was that the Ogdru Jahad would destroy the world and then reshape it, making him the leader of this new world in gratitude for his efforts in bringing them out from their prison.

And even if that wasn't Rasputin's belief in particular, it was definitely something a few folks in Hellboy believed, and I think it's a great way to rationalize the beliefs of the cultists.

So, a list:

- They could believe that the daelkyr will destroy the world, and that the destruction of the world is just and necessary, due to whatever unforgivable sins they believe the current ruling powers have committed.
- They could believe that the daelkyr will reshape the world, making it better for everyone that doesn't resist.
- They could wish that the daelkyr would transform them into some new, powerful creature.
- They could think, like Rasputin above, that the daelkyr will destroy the world, rebuild it, and reward those who have been faithful.
- They could decide that the success of the daelkyr is inevitable and that postponing it further will only make things worse.
- They could be opposed to the daelkyr returning, but eager to learn their secrets (I think Mordain the Fleshweaver is one of these.)

Just a few off the top of my head. :) And don't forget that the cult leader could have very different goals from the rest of the cultists.

- Maybe the cult leader believes he IS a daelkyr in human form.
- Maybe he's constructed an eldritch machine, following instructions found deep underground, that psionically dominates many of the other cultists (leading to some ethical conundrums when the PCs learn that many of the cultists they've been fighting have been dominated!)
- Maybe the cult leader had a brush with a daelkyr in Khyber, was twisted and warped, gained new and terrible powers, and is now trying to impress that same daelkyr and gain his favor (and more power.)

Also, read Hellboy.
KidChainsaw
04-15-07, 02:40 AM HP Lovecraft's work is loaded with ideas for that sort of thing, and Hellboy is chock full of Eberron-y goodness both for villains and a general "neo-pulp" vibe.

Just keep in mind Eberron is about shades of grey, not moral absolutes. Drooling lunatics who want to destroy the world just because simply don't happen, and crazy always has a motive.

Some people are arrogant enough to think that they can control the varied forces of Khyber.

Some are so frightened that they wish to placate those forces.

But the scariest can be those who think that they must sweep aside this world to make way for a better one.
Yorath_theWolf
04-15-07, 11:36 AM Just keep in mind Eberron is about shades of grey, not moral absolutes. Drooling lunatics who want to destroy the world just because simply don't happen, and crazy always has a motive.

actually it _does_, it's just those particular lunatics are either just an annoyances or the signs of greater problems that lead you to the real underlying cause of everything.
Melvin the Mediocre
04-16-07, 03:51 PM Based loosely on a post I saw on these boards a while back, your cultists could believe that Khyber was the good guy, and Eberron and Syberis infected him with all manner of fiends and what not in order to weaken him. Now it is the duty of the faithful to pry these weakening infection out of him so that he can return to rule the world in all his glorious goodness. Being insane and all, they give little thought to what those losed fiends will do to the world at large.
Ront Iron-Roar
04-18-07, 08:41 AM You could always go the way of Dah'mir from the Dragon Below series. High CR monster of non-abberation descent corrupted and devoted to the service of a Daelkyr Lord.

I always liked the idea of a Radiant Idol with the Corruption domain serving as the head of a Cult of the Dragon Below. He's serving a Daelkyr Lord in hope that the being can restore his ability to fly.

It could also be interesting to have slowly changing NPCs.

Have the low-level Cultist be maddened members of the normal races but as the CR rises they become warped physically and mentally more and more. Till eventually your fighting NPCs who have been warped into the monsters they venerated and respected.

For roleplaying reasons thing of the Fly...Cultist with rotting sores and such. Shedding skin, unnatural bulges under the flesh, and etc. Heck maybe even throw in some Roach Thralls...

A nice gruesome scene where a cultist sloughs off his skin as he shows his true nature.
Vharuck
04-18-07, 04:20 PM Remember, Xoriat and the daelkyr are only called mad, insane, and horrifying by those not from Xoriat. To themselves, the daelkyr probably seem normal, rational, and correct. The madness comes from the idea that, since they are so alien, we can predict their nature and actions only as much as we can predict those of a raving lunatic who eats his own waste one day and says he's a divine being the next.
Rauric
04-26-07, 10:00 PM There is a Cthuthulu being named the King in Yellow or the Yellow King. There was an adventure in Dungeon about his attempt to open portals to the Far Realm by using mortal pawns. These portals would allow creatures from the Far Realm easier access to the Prime world. He has a bunch of culitsts lurking around. Google his name for more info.
Rekko
06-14-07, 12:30 AM Recently, I watched a few movies to get adventuring ideas. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was one of them, and I think that the cultists of the movie would nicely fit the role of Dragon Below cultists.

To blend it into Eberron, one could say the cultist are sacrificing people to Khyber itself so that the great Dragon provides them with Khyber dragonshards. The dragonshards, along with the hearts of the sacrificed victims, would be important spell components to transform natural beings into aberrations of all sorts. In rule terms, it would could give a base creature aberrantion templates, grafts, symbionts, or transform it into an existing aberration.

Moreover, the cultists would plague the world above by kidnapping young children to mine the Khyber dragonshards.

Just my two coppers
Rekko
naturax
06-14-07, 09:30 AM The Cults of the Dargon Below versus the Gatekeepers is by far my favourite theme in Eberron.

I ran a cult in one of my games that simply believed that everyone else in the entire world was insane. They went so far as to call themselves "The Sane". They considered themselves to be perfectly lucid and aware, while everyone else was suffering a terrible mass delusion. The Daelkyr were only perceived as invaders because the people of Khorvaire are so very very sick, but in reality (their reality) the Daelkyr came to this realm to educate and cure everyone. Freeing them from Khyber is the most benevolent and humane thing one could possibly do.

These cultists are very patient and calm, as they understand that it is impossible to reason with the insane. They simply do the work they can, without bringing the wrath of crazy people with swords and spells, to bring about the change that they think will be best for everyone. They do not, however, tolerate the Gatekeepers, who they consider to be extremely dangerous: the Gatekeepers know the truth and yet fight actively to prevent it from coming about, like a group of prisoners that are trying to prevent the other prisoners from escaping.

When talking to these cultists, they will ask "how can you prove that your perception of reality is more valid than ours?" and "how do you know for sure that you aren't completely insane or delusional?". These cultists might do extremely dangerous and violent things, but when confronted with their actions they will be shocked that any rational person would have a problem with what they are doing. Clearly everyone must be COMPLETELY INSANE if they think that freeing trapped aberrations is somehow an evil act.
Rechan
06-14-07, 07:12 PM I'd like to point out a few things, just for creativity's sake.

1) The Daelkyr aren't the only critters in Khyber. Remember, Khyber first birthed fiends, the Lords of Dust. So really, some of the cults could venerate the FIENDS of Khyber, and also the Rajah who are trapped down there. In fact, you could have cults to the Rajah battling cults to the Daelkyr, since it's a turf/religious war.

You have tribes in the Shadow Marches, and likely other worshipers of the Dragon Below, that have no connection to the Daelkyr, Xoriat, or Aberrations. Khyber is a powerful being, and its worshippers likely believe that it has powers that they can be granted. Or, it's sort've like appeasing - they sacrifice someone to Khyber so nothing bad happens to them. A community near a large opening into Khyber might throw someone in it every year in hopes that it will satisfy Khyber's blood lust, preventing creatures from coming from below to prey upon them.

2) Cults do not actually have to be RELATED to the Daelkyr to be effected by them. Xoriat is madness and anyone toying with it could very well get sucked in. Psions or wizards trying to tap into the very nature of madness for power can get corrupted.

In my game, the PCs are going to run across a cult of Dragonmarked Heirs who have access to an artifact of Xoriat. They believe that Erandis d'Vol was capable of unlocking the true power of her Dragonmark because she was half-dragon. Therefore, they are using the Xoriat artifact to try and become half-dragons by mutating themselves into dragons. It's... not working, but they don't realize that.

The real culprit is a Dragon who is doing research on the effects of Xoriat on the Prophecy, seeing if any of the Daelkyr Lords' powers might influence the prophecy or Dragonmarks in any way. So he feeds them a false notion about Erandis and hooks them up with the Artifact, and just watches.

4) There are more to the Daelkyr and opposing them than just the Gatekeepers. I think an interesting dynamic would be a Cult against the Dreaming Dark. Given that the Dreamign Dark are LE and want to create ORDER, eventually invading (again). They would completely ruin the Daelkyr's beautiful creations (and to the DD see the Daelkyr as their biggest threat aside from the Kalasthar). Same thing with the LoD; the LoD have the power to fight the Daelkyr, and those crazy guys are messing up our playground.

Another player in this area might be Mordain the Fleshweaver and Droaam. He might back the PCs, because he wants knowledge of the Daelkyr without directly dealing with them. Or they might be putting unbenounced pressure on him - he may have unlocked some of the keys to their tricks, and so they're harassing him for not joining wtih them/doublecrossing them. This is putting pressure on Droaam because the Daelkyr's children are drawing too much attention to Droaam/destablizing it with their uncontrollable monsters, and the Sisters want this handled Pronto, putting pressure on Mordain.

As for other cults/plots, Vharuck over on the People and Places board had this (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=771642&page=2):
Night in the Swamp

A small, isolated village deep within the Shadow Marches called Brownglade has known relative peace under the guidance and protection of its council of six Gatekeeper druid elders. These elders are part of a long tradition in the village; they willingly contracted the curse of lycanthropy. This tradition is rumored within Brownglade to have been started by the same dragon who taught the first Gatekeepers for the same reason: to battle the extraplanar threat from Xoriat and protect Eberron. Each one has his or her own unique animal form, passed on by the elder he or she succeeded. The current elders are Saska (TN female half-orc werewolf druid 6), Hagun (NE male orc wereboar druid 5/fighter 3), Gerren (CN male human wererat druid 4/rogue 2), Imska (TN female orc werecrocodile druid 7), Bokun (NG male orc werebear barbarian 3/druid 6), and the senior elder Domu (LN male orc weresnake druid 12).

While violence is no stranger in the mostly lawless swamps, gruesome nocturnal events have occurred with terrifying frequency of late. The villagers, previously always having found solace in their protectors' ability, grow more nervous and frightened after each mauling. To make things worse, the bodies show signs of having been torn to shreds by a massive animal. The elders, once looked to in times of trouble, are now the ones under the scrutiny of the villagers' paranoid distrust and suspicion. Each night, anywhere in Brownglade one can hear a terrible sound, one that is neither man nor animal but a vile blend of the two.

Who or what is behind the murders? Did one of the elders defect to a nearby Cult of the Dragon below, or even directly to a daelkyr lord itself, and gain the ability to shift into a twisted mockery of his or her animal (I'd suggest the DM use the pseudonatural template from Complete Arcane, or just give the animal form tentacles and other weird stuff)? Did a fervent and psychotic Silver Flamer, angered that the village's elders survived the Lycanthropic Inquisition due to their isolation, frame the beloved druids? Or did one of the elders, maybe even wise old Dumo himself, attempt to pass on his or her role to a disciple who proved incapable of dealing with the curse's beastial urges? If so, why hasn't the elder stepped forward and admitted the mistake?

Hooks:
#1. The Church of the Silver Flame, who left Brownglade alone during the Inquisition, has caught wind of the recent deaths. The church is now hiring secular adventurers to enter the village and investigate the elders' possible connections to the murders.
#2. A druid player is approached by a messenger from his or her druid circle with a command to look into Brownglade's elders. Whether the player is meant to clear them of blame or find their faults depends on the druidic organization to which the player belongs.
#3. The players, having found temporary refuge in Brownglade unfortuitously the same night as the first killing, find themselves suspects as well. Being a stranger in the Shadow Marches is tantamount to being guilty. They must clear their name before one of the elders (or all of the elders) has them killed as scapegoats. Conversely, the players may be so renown as to be free from prejudice but are begged by one of the more suspected elders (probably Gerren, the odd human out) to find the true killer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~

Personally, I'd do something different from my suggestions: I'd have elder Saska be the newest elder and, with Gerren's command of respect for having proved himself so worthy as to be inducted as a human into the elders' circle, the least respected due to her non-orc blood. Instead of proving them wrong, she strikes a deal with an illithid cult leader and gains terrible new forms and power. Her brother, a half-orc ranger who also suffered from racial discrimination in the village, begs her to let him get vengeance as well, and Saska complies and bites him to give the gift of the aberrant lycanthropy. Now the two reap the villagers who mocked them in their youth and continue to stare icily at them to this day.

Why do I want this? Because I'd want the players to fight two werewolves with tentacle arms and worm-like heads with fanged, lamprey mouths. I just envision them crouched and drooling before the wispy swamp trees with the moons shining behind, and I smile.

And if you don't have it, check out The Speaker of Dreams. It's really easy to drop into Eberron. Sure it's 3.0, needs some updating, but with a little tweaking it fits perfectly in Passage.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Augurer 04-12-07, 08:13 AM	I'm interested in running a campaign starting at 1st level around the Daelkyr and Xoriat, and figured a few various Cults would work very well. However, I'm having a hard time coming up with suitably "mad" themes for Cults. What have you used for the basis of your "belief system" for a Cult of the Dragon Below? What were the motivations and/or actions of the "leader"? If this has been discussed elsewhere, a link would be awesome!
Sereno 04-12-07, 09:10 AM	In most cases, the leaders of my Cults of the Dragon Below have been near-psychotic ... illusions of grandeur, paranoia, god complexes ... stuff like that. In most cases they simply believe (for whatever reason) that the Dragon Below is going to grant them the power they need to (choose: take over the world, conquer a nation, become a god, defeat the gods, free a daelkyr, free a rajah ...) so long as they show their devotion strongly enough. Of course, showing strong devotion often means sacrificing innocents in gruesome ways....
Just another user 04-12-07, 05:29 PM	I don't know if you are familiar with the comic but personally I found Rasputin from Hellboy a perfect fit for a Dragon Below Cult cell leader "Chained in Khyber are they. Seven is their number. Bred in depths of Xoriat, neither male nor female are they. They are as the howling wind, which knoweth not mercy, which knoweth not pity." :) another possible good plot is that from Ghostbuster, a cult of the dragon below years ago built a special tower in Sharn, this tower will start ot attract all sort of spirits and ghosts and at the end will summon Gozer the gozerian a shepeshifting daelkir that will proceed to destroy Sharn (unless stopped, of course) (note, he is also called sometime the Traveller, but apparences notwithstanding I don't think it is the same god we know, love and try to avoid gifts from.)
NthDegree256 04-13-07, 01:30 AM	I don't know if you are familiar with the comic but personally I found Rasputin from Hellboy a perfect fit for a Dragon Below Cult cell leader "Chained in Khyber are they. Seven is their number. Bred in depths of Xoriat, neither male nor female are they. They are as the howling wind, which knoweth not mercy, which knoweth not pity." :) Following up on that, Rasputin's whole belief system (if I recall correctly) was that the Ogdru Jahad would destroy the world and then reshape it, making him the leader of this new world in gratitude for his efforts in bringing them out from their prison. And even if that wasn't Rasputin's belief in particular, it was definitely something a few folks in Hellboy believed, and I think it's a great way to rationalize the beliefs of the cultists. So, a list: - They could believe that the daelkyr will destroy the world, and that the destruction of the world is just and necessary, due to whatever unforgivable sins they believe the current ruling powers have committed. - They could believe that the daelkyr will reshape the world, making it better for everyone that doesn't resist. - They could wish that the daelkyr would transform them into some new, powerful creature. - They could think, like Rasputin above, that the daelkyr will destroy the world, rebuild it, and reward those who have been faithful. - They could decide that the success of the daelkyr is inevitable and that postponing it further will only make things worse. - They could be opposed to the daelkyr returning, but eager to learn their secrets (I think Mordain the Fleshweaver is one of these.) Just a few off the top of my head. :) And don't forget that the cult leader could have very different goals from the rest of the cultists. - Maybe the cult leader believes he IS a daelkyr in human form. - Maybe he's constructed an eldritch machine, following instructions found deep underground, that psionically dominates many of the other cultists (leading to some ethical conundrums when the PCs learn that many of the cultists they've been fighting have been dominated!) - Maybe the cult leader had a brush with a daelkyr in Khyber, was twisted and warped, gained new and terrible powers, and is now trying to impress that same daelkyr and gain his favor (and more power.) Also, read Hellboy.
KidChainsaw 04-15-07, 02:40 AM	HP Lovecraft's work is loaded with ideas for that sort of thing, and Hellboy is chock full of Eberron-y goodness both for villains and a general "neo-pulp" vibe. Just keep in mind Eberron is about shades of grey, not moral absolutes. Drooling lunatics who want to destroy the world just because simply don't happen, and crazy always has a motive. Some people are arrogant enough to think that they can control the varied forces of Khyber. Some are so frightened that they wish to placate those forces. But the scariest can be those who think that they must sweep aside this world to make way for a better one.
Yorath_theWolf 04-15-07, 11:36 AM	Just keep in mind Eberron is about shades of grey, not moral absolutes. Drooling lunatics who want to destroy the world just because simply don't happen, and crazy always has a motive. actually it _does_, it's just those particular lunatics are either just an annoyances or the signs of greater problems that lead you to the real underlying cause of everything.
Melvin the Mediocre 04-16-07, 03:51 PM	Based loosely on a post I saw on these boards a while back, your cultists could believe that Khyber was the good guy, and Eberron and Syberis infected him with all manner of fiends and what not in order to weaken him. Now it is the duty of the faithful to pry these weakening infection out of him so that he can return to rule the world in all his glorious goodness. Being insane and all, they give little thought to what those losed fiends will do to the world at large.
Ront Iron-Roar 04-18-07, 08:41 AM	You could always go the way of Dah'mir from the Dragon Below series. High CR monster of non-abberation descent corrupted and devoted to the service of a Daelkyr Lord. I always liked the idea of a Radiant Idol with the Corruption domain serving as the head of a Cult of the Dragon Below. He's serving a Daelkyr Lord in hope that the being can restore his ability to fly. It could also be interesting to have slowly changing NPCs. Have the low-level Cultist be maddened members of the normal races but as the CR rises they become warped physically and mentally more and more. Till eventually your fighting NPCs who have been warped into the monsters they venerated and respected. For roleplaying reasons thing of the Fly...Cultist with rotting sores and such. Shedding skin, unnatural bulges under the flesh, and etc. Heck maybe even throw in some Roach Thralls... A nice gruesome scene where a cultist sloughs off his skin as he shows his true nature.
Vharuck 04-18-07, 04:20 PM	Remember, Xoriat and the daelkyr are only called mad, insane, and horrifying by those not from Xoriat. To themselves, the daelkyr probably seem normal, rational, and correct. The madness comes from the idea that, since they are so alien, we can predict their nature and actions only as much as we can predict those of a raving lunatic who eats his own waste one day and says he's a divine being the next.
Rauric 04-26-07, 10:00 PM	There is a Cthuthulu being named the King in Yellow or the Yellow King. There was an adventure in Dungeon about his attempt to open portals to the Far Realm by using mortal pawns. These portals would allow creatures from the Far Realm easier access to the Prime world. He has a bunch of culitsts lurking around. Google his name for more info.
Rekko 06-14-07, 12:30 AM	Recently, I watched a few movies to get adventuring ideas. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was one of them, and I think that the cultists of the movie would nicely fit the role of Dragon Below cultists. To blend it into Eberron, one could say the cultist are sacrificing people to Khyber itself so that the great Dragon provides them with Khyber dragonshards. The dragonshards, along with the hearts of the sacrificed victims, would be important spell components to transform natural beings into aberrations of all sorts. In rule terms, it would could give a base creature aberrantion templates, grafts, symbionts, or transform it into an existing aberration. Moreover, the cultists would plague the world above by kidnapping young children to mine the Khyber dragonshards. Just my two coppers Rekko
naturax 06-14-07, 09:30 AM	The Cults of the Dargon Below versus the Gatekeepers is by far my favourite theme in Eberron. I ran a cult in one of my games that simply believed that everyone else in the entire world was insane. They went so far as to call themselves "The Sane". They considered themselves to be perfectly lucid and aware, while everyone else was suffering a terrible mass delusion. The Daelkyr were only perceived as invaders because the people of Khorvaire are so very very sick, but in reality (their reality) the Daelkyr came to this realm to educate and cure everyone. Freeing them from Khyber is the most benevolent and humane thing one could possibly do. These cultists are very patient and calm, as they understand that it is impossible to reason with the insane. They simply do the work they can, without bringing the wrath of crazy people with swords and spells, to bring about the change that they think will be best for everyone. They do not, however, tolerate the Gatekeepers, who they consider to be extremely dangerous: the Gatekeepers know the truth and yet fight actively to prevent it from coming about, like a group of prisoners that are trying to prevent the other prisoners from escaping. When talking to these cultists, they will ask "how can you prove that your perception of reality is more valid than ours?" and "how do you know for sure that you aren't completely insane or delusional?". These cultists might do extremely dangerous and violent things, but when confronted with their actions they will be shocked that any rational person would have a problem with what they are doing. Clearly everyone must be COMPLETELY INSANE if they think that freeing trapped aberrations is somehow an evil act.
Rechan 06-14-07, 07:12 PM	I'd like to point out a few things, just for creativity's sake. 1) The Daelkyr aren't the only critters in Khyber. Remember, Khyber first birthed fiends, the Lords of Dust. So really, some of the cults could venerate the FIENDS of Khyber, and also the Rajah who are trapped down there. In fact, you could have cults to the Rajah battling cults to the Daelkyr, since it's a turf/religious war. You have tribes in the Shadow Marches, and likely other worshipers of the Dragon Below, that have no connection to the Daelkyr, Xoriat, or Aberrations. Khyber is a powerful being, and its worshippers likely believe that it has powers that they can be granted. Or, it's sort've like appeasing - they sacrifice someone to Khyber so nothing bad happens to them. A community near a large opening into Khyber might throw someone in it every year in hopes that it will satisfy Khyber's blood lust, preventing creatures from coming from below to prey upon them. 2) Cults do not actually have to be RELATED to the Daelkyr to be effected by them. Xoriat is madness and anyone toying with it could very well get sucked in. Psions or wizards trying to tap into the very nature of madness for power can get corrupted. In my game, the PCs are going to run across a cult of Dragonmarked Heirs who have access to an artifact of Xoriat. They believe that Erandis d'Vol was capable of unlocking the true power of her Dragonmark because she was half-dragon. Therefore, they are using the Xoriat artifact to try and become half-dragons by mutating themselves into dragons. It's... not working, but they don't realize that. The real culprit is a Dragon who is doing research on the effects of Xoriat on the Prophecy, seeing if any of the Daelkyr Lords' powers might influence the prophecy or Dragonmarks in any way. So he feeds them a false notion about Erandis and hooks them up with the Artifact, and just watches. 4) There are more to the Daelkyr and opposing them than just the Gatekeepers. I think an interesting dynamic would be a Cult against the Dreaming Dark. Given that the Dreamign Dark are LE and want to create ORDER, eventually invading (again). They would completely ruin the Daelkyr's beautiful creations (and to the DD see the Daelkyr as their biggest threat aside from the Kalasthar). Same thing with the LoD; the LoD have the power to fight the Daelkyr, and those crazy guys are messing up our playground. Another player in this area might be Mordain the Fleshweaver and Droaam. He might back the PCs, because he wants knowledge of the Daelkyr without directly dealing with them. Or they might be putting unbenounced pressure on him - he may have unlocked some of the keys to their tricks, and so they're harassing him for not joining wtih them/doublecrossing them. This is putting pressure on Droaam because the Daelkyr's children are drawing too much attention to Droaam/destablizing it with their uncontrollable monsters, and the Sisters want this handled Pronto, putting pressure on Mordain. As for other cults/plots, Vharuck over on the People and Places board had this (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=771642&page=2): Night in the Swamp A small, isolated village deep within the Shadow Marches called Brownglade has known relative peace under the guidance and protection of its council of six Gatekeeper druid elders. These elders are part of a long tradition in the village; they willingly contracted the curse of lycanthropy. This tradition is rumored within Brownglade to have been started by the same dragon who taught the first Gatekeepers for the same reason: to battle the extraplanar threat from Xoriat and protect Eberron. Each one has his or her own unique animal form, passed on by the elder he or she succeeded. The current elders are Saska (TN female half-orc werewolf druid 6), Hagun (NE male orc wereboar druid 5/fighter 3), Gerren (CN male human wererat druid 4/rogue 2), Imska (TN female orc werecrocodile druid 7), Bokun (NG male orc werebear barbarian 3/druid 6), and the senior elder Domu (LN male orc weresnake druid 12). While violence is no stranger in the mostly lawless swamps, gruesome nocturnal events have occurred with terrifying frequency of late. The villagers, previously always having found solace in their protectors' ability, grow more nervous and frightened after each mauling. To make things worse, the bodies show signs of having been torn to shreds by a massive animal. The elders, once looked to in times of trouble, are now the ones under the scrutiny of the villagers' paranoid distrust and suspicion. Each night, anywhere in Brownglade one can hear a terrible sound, one that is neither man nor animal but a vile blend of the two. Who or what is behind the murders? Did one of the elders defect to a nearby Cult of the Dragon below, or even directly to a daelkyr lord itself, and gain the ability to shift into a twisted mockery of his or her animal (I'd suggest the DM use the pseudonatural template from Complete Arcane, or just give the animal form tentacles and other weird stuff)? Did a fervent and psychotic Silver Flamer, angered that the village's elders survived the Lycanthropic Inquisition due to their isolation, frame the beloved druids? Or did one of the elders, maybe even wise old Dumo himself, attempt to pass on his or her role to a disciple who proved incapable of dealing with the curse's beastial urges? If so, why hasn't the elder stepped forward and admitted the mistake? Hooks: #1. The Church of the Silver Flame, who left Brownglade alone during the Inquisition, has caught wind of the recent deaths. The church is now hiring secular adventurers to enter the village and investigate the elders' possible connections to the murders. #2. A druid player is approached by a messenger from his or her druid circle with a command to look into Brownglade's elders. Whether the player is meant to clear them of blame or find their faults depends on the druidic organization to which the player belongs. #3. The players, having found temporary refuge in Brownglade unfortuitously the same night as the first killing, find themselves suspects as well. Being a stranger in the Shadow Marches is tantamount to being guilty. They must clear their name before one of the elders (or all of the elders) has them killed as scapegoats. Conversely, the players may be so renown as to be free from prejudice but are begged by one of the more suspected elders (probably Gerren, the odd human out) to find the true killer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ Personally, I'd do something different from my suggestions: I'd have elder Saska be the newest elder and, with Gerren's command of respect for having proved himself so worthy as to be inducted as a human into the elders' circle, the least respected due to her non-orc blood. Instead of proving them wrong, she strikes a deal with an illithid cult leader and gains terrible new forms and power. Her brother, a half-orc ranger who also suffered from racial discrimination in the village, begs her to let him get vengeance as well, and Saska complies and bites him to give the gift of the aberrant lycanthropy. Now the two reap the villagers who mocked them in their youth and continue to stare icily at them to this day. Why do I want this? Because I'd want the players to fight two werewolves with tentacle arms and worm-like heads with fanged, lamprey mouths. I just envision them crouched and drooling before the wispy swamp trees with the moons shining behind, and I smile. And if you don't have it, check out The Speaker of Dreams. It's really easy to drop into Eberron. Sure it's 3.0, needs some updating, but with a little tweaking it fits perfectly in Passage.