Post/Author/DateTime	Post
naturax 09-07-07, 03:26 PM	In my ongoing RL solo Eberron game (which probably seems like it's being run by committee if you've been following my numerous requests for ideas on these boards) my player has to smuggle Merrix d'Cannith to Xen'drik. Please skip the last paragraph if you're unconcerned with the context of my question. Once you're done your double-take, I'll explain: Merrix was building a secret creation forge (though in my game its only half-complete) when a Prophet of the Lord of Blades broke in, dominated the Baron, extracted all of the secrets of building Creation Forges and has learnt that the original Cannith Creation Forges were built on stolen technology from Xen'drik. My PC with the team of good warforged eventually stormed the Creation Forge and rescued Merrix, but the Prophet used Magic Jar (plot device: permanent duration) to steal the body of the leader of the good waforged and dimension door'ed it out of there. Now the PC wants to prevent the Prophet from discovering how to build Creation Forges AND wants to get her friend's body back (she found the jar with her friend's soul and needs to do the old switcheroo, but I'll deal with how she'll figure that out later... will probably involve "wizards/Merrix determine how to reverse magic jar") AND House Cannith is going to use Merrix as a scapegoat (read: public excoriation) when people find out that a Creation Forge was being constructed in violation of the Thronehold Accords. So, it makes good sense for the PC to smuggle Merrix out of Sharn to Xen'drik and they'll help each other out for now. SO. How to smuggle a wanted Baron out of Sharn before the huge bounty set by House Cannith has serveral teams of mercenaries plus House Tharashk hunt you down and drag you away? I decided that the Golden Dragon would be leaving that night to Stormreach but the PC has opted to give Merrix the time to just make a Teleport scroll. In order to buy time and prevent detection, my PC has convinced me that if an artificer lab is setup in a Portable Hole then Merrix can work in there to make the Teleport scroll and divination a la Locate Person won't work because she's on the Astral Plane. Let's grant her that and then put the real challenge into: where in Sharn does one find a Portable Hole with about 8 hours before teams of bounty hunters descend on you like in that Smoking Aces movie? A friend of mine suggested that Morgrave would have one in order to store some monster or something for research. I think that Morgrave is far from a secure facility and any 12th level character can practically waltz in without too much trouble, so I want the current occupant(s) of the Portable Hole to be where the challenge in this encounter is. (Unless of course you can think of how to make it cool/fun/challenging to break into some professor's research lab.) The basic idea is that I don't want the monster or whatever inside the hole to be a big fight, but I want it to be something that Should Be Contained Or Else It Will Eventually Wreak Havoc, like I don't know, a beholder or something. I don't want to do a living spell because I want to save those for the eventual Fight Through the Mournland In Order to Defeat El Lord o' Blades. Maybe a lycanthrope? A horrid dinosaur? Some undead plant from the Gloaming that will start a cult? THIS is where I ask you, oh patient reader who has tolerated my verbosity thus far, for your suggestions. The big requirement is that the thing escape and create plot for later, because the PC is about to teleport to Xen'drik. Thanks!
Rechan 09-07-07, 07:43 PM	The first thing that jumps to mind is something that can break enchantments. It eats magic, for lack of a better term. Imagine if something like that got loose in Sharn, breaking the enchantments that hold the towers up. It would be Very Bad News.
Shady314 09-07-07, 08:14 PM	You know you can't close the portable hole right? It has a finite amount of air. I doubt Morgrave would have one. At least not to store dangerous critters. They aren't equipped to deal with such things. You know who might have made a portable hole? Cannith. Maybe even Merrix specifically. Where's it kept? Locked and guarded by House Kundarak... In for a penny in for a pound you know.
naturax 09-07-07, 10:42 PM	The first thing that jumps to mind is something that can break enchantments. It eats magic, for lack of a better term. Imagine if something like that got loose in Sharn, breaking the enchantments that hold the towers up. It would be Very Bad News. Capital suggestion! I love the idea of this - is there an existing monster that does this? Also, why doesn't it eat the enchantment on the Portable Hole?
naturax 09-07-07, 10:47 PM	You know you can't close the portable hole right? It has a finite amount of air. I doubt Morgrave would have one. At least not to store dangerous critters. They aren't equipped to deal with such things. You know who might have made a portable hole? Cannith. Maybe even Merrix specifically. Where's it kept? Locked and guarded by House Kundarak... In for a penny in for a pound you know. You can throw a Bottle of Air in with the critter or put it in temporary stasis or something. I agree that an item that costs 20k seems far beyond the means of Morgrave but I'm willing to stretch Morgrave's typical access to this sort of thing for the sake of an exciting story. Putting it in the Cannith Forgehold is my Worst Case Scenerio and I want to see if I can think of anywhere else. My PC has already broken into a Kundarak Bank a few games ago, so I'd like to do something else just for the sake of keeping the game exciting. I bought the Dragon magazine that talks about Dreadhold for good ideas about what kinds of defenses the Forgehold would have so I *can* do that with a lot of planning, but if anything else at all comes to mind... like maybe an extremely rich member of the Sixty who likes showing off with weird magic items or monsters or something? Anything else at all?
Shady314 09-07-07, 11:17 PM	like maybe an extremely rich member of the Sixty who likes showing off with weird magic items or monsters or something? Anything else at all? Wouldn't he have Kundarak security? ;) How about an auction house that is about to put one up for auction? But instead of Kundarak they've contracted with Vadalis and maybe Tharashk for guard beasts and monstrous mercenaries.
Rechan 09-08-07, 01:19 AM	Capital suggestion! I love the idea of this - is there an existing monster that does this? Also, why doesn't it eat the enchantment on the Portable Hole? A spellgaunt (MM2) eats magical items. It looks like a giant spider. It also has an Int 13, and might realize that if it eats the Portable Hole, it might get sucked into the Astral Plane. Maybe it's tried to eat things like bags of holding before, which had a REAL BAD effect, and so it knows what 'those awful dimensional magic items smell like' and avoids eating it.
naturax 09-08-07, 11:37 AM	Wouldn't he have Kundarak security? ;) How about an auction house that is about to put one up for auction? But instead of Kundarak they've contracted with Vadalis and maybe Tharashk for guard beasts and monstrous mercenaries. Good thinking! I don't mind Kundarak security as long as it's not a Kundarak bank again. But an Auction House is also an extremely excellent idea! Sharn is the place to make big money on your Portable Hole that you found... somewhere... from someone that might want it back one day. I also love the idea of Vadalis guard beasts as something a little different, since my PC has been fighting the Daask a lot lately too. Any ideas on where the seller of the Portable Hole found the thing in the first place? Dhakanni ruins? Who would make a Portable Hole in the first place?
naturax 09-08-07, 11:54 AM	A spellgaunt (MM2) eats magical items. It looks like a giant spider. It also has an Int 13, and might realize that if it eats the Portable Hole, it might get sucked into the Astral Plane. Maybe it's tried to eat things like bags of holding before, which had a REAL BAD effect, and so it knows what 'those awful dimensional magic items smell like' and avoids eating it. I took a look at the Spellgaunt and it's... weird. I'm really starting to like the auction idea. Any suggestions for a good map? Say the PC wants to just steal it from whoever buys it, any interesting NPCs that would fit the bill?
Shady314 09-08-07, 05:59 PM	Good thinking! I don't mind Kundarak security as long as it's not a Kundarak bank again. But an Auction House is also an extremely excellent idea! Sharn is the place to make big money on your Portable Hole that you found... somewhere... from someone that might want it back one day. I also love the idea of Vadalis guard beasts as something a little different, since my PC has been fighting the Daask a lot lately too. Any ideas on where the seller of the Portable Hole found the thing in the first place? Dhakanni ruins? Who would make a Portable Hole in the first place? Xendrik of course. The auction house specializes in goods from Xendrik. That's why it is in Sharn and why the protection around it is so vicious. Do you have S:CoT? There's a whole list of interesting people that might buy it. Members of the Boromar clan, the Aurum, someone on the Council, maybe the Mayor, maybe an agent of the Citadel or Dark Lanterns, an agent of the DD, etc. I'd say they must steal it during the auction or something. Much more fun that way than the millionth locked and guarded building which really all start to look the same.