Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DrunkMonk 08-28-07, 09:15 PM	I don’t get to play anymore, but I still help our DM run the games. Help work through ideas and maybe run a NPC if I can make it to a game. The guys have been playing for a while and they are back in Xendrik. I think there are going to be 5 players at 13th level (not that it matters, but it looks like it is going to be: a shifter barbarian/fighter, a half-elf windwright captain, a warforged gish, a human scout/ranger, and a human marshal/paladin). Which means that we can use up to 14th CR monsters. That will be fun. We have talked about the game a little and we are going to send the guys underground. The idea is that there is a new kind of manifest zone. An intermediary, who asks if they are willing to save an entire hidden city in the deepest, darkest jungles, contacts the players. The new zone is an expanding zone (Risia) that is following a river that starts from an underground location. The manifest zone is turning the waters of this river black and dropping the temp below freezing (even though the water is not freezing solid). The new black water is heading towards a hidden ex-giant city that is now inhabited by drow (yuck – I hate drow, but my DM likes them in Eberron). All of the drow’s attempts to discover the source have failed and none of the parties sent to explore the problem have returned. The river run straight to the city and is the best source of water that they have. A human artificer (CN – artificer 12) and her stone giant allies have corrupted the underground source. The drow killed her husband and now she has built a device based on giant magic that is expanding the manifest zones along the river. The stone giants are worshipers of the Dragon Below now. They have been fighting a losing war against the drow for a while. They are desperate and will stop at nothing to destroy the drow that inhabit their former home. We are going to work out the details, but right now we are wondering if we way we should go. 1) Drow as the good guys, who need help to save their innocent city full of bouncing baby drow. And prevent the manifest zone from spreading and destroying all life along its banks. 2) giants as the good guys. Drow are out of control and about to attack everybody else. The guys are going to have to turn coat and help the giants set up a device in the drow city to stop the drow army from assaulting the stone giants. 3) everybody is evil and everybody needs a good kick in the butt. DM
OctaviusIII 08-29-07, 06:10 AM	3b) Everyone is evil but all are redeemable: just because evil is about to occur to an evil city doesn't mean it is good. And just because evil was done doesn't justify the victim's evil revenge. What might be the source of the evil? There are those in power that would like to see the war continue and have whipped their respective races into fascist fervor to remain in power. Or perhaps forces from Risia have seen the relative successes of the Daelkyr and Quori and want to use the war as an "in" to stake a claim in Eberron.
Alex_ 08-29-07, 10:45 AM	1) Drow as the good guys, who need help to save their innocent city full of bouncing baby drow. And prevent the manifest zone from spreading and destroying all life along its banks. 2) giants as the good guys. Drow are out of control and about to attack everybody else. The guys are going to have to turn coat and help the giants set up a device in the drow city to stop the drow army from assaulting the stone giants. 3) everybody is evil and everybody needs a good kick in the butt. There is option 4) Both guys are the good guys, and neither are really bad. This is all just a conflict of interests. The Drow have a city full of bouncing babies, but need to raid and pillage to support their growing population. The Giants, realizing the the threat the Drow are now presenting, are trying to cull their population, as well as get back their home, which the Drow stole from them in the first place. They also have children and innocents who need a place to live, and want to do so in their ancestral homes. No matter which side the PCs take, the ending won't be pretty.
DrunkMonk 08-29-07, 03:56 PM	Very cool. I sometimes forget what a good resource this board is. The idea that war is "more real" here than in other game settings is one of the reasons why I like it. Both sides are good and evil at the same time. nobody and everyone is right. Maybe I will suggest to our DM that the players are best off trying to change the powers that be in both camps while trying to uncover what is hiding behind door number three (covered in ice). DM