Breland-Droaam escalation - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Breland-Droaam escalation

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
darkwarlock
Jun 23, 2012 16:55:00 Recently I began running my group through a heavily revamped H1: The Keep on the Shadowfell set in the foothills of the Graywall Mts in Breland. The conversion draws heavily upon the Orcus conversion linked to through these boards and all over the internet and the Eberron conversion from Dungeon 155, though refitted for Breland.

To make a long story short, the heroes, mentees of a King's Citadel agent and archeologist Douven Staul, arrived in Stonehaven (aka Winterhaven), 5 days' march west of Ardev. They uncovered and defeated (pending one more session!) a cult of Orcus, one of the ancient and bound Lords of Dust, that sought to open a planar rift to Mabar, flooding the region with undead and worse. This cult employed Rhukaan Taash hobgoblin slavers located in nearby Thunderspire Mountain (in the Graywalls) as muscle, and the mercenaries have a sideline in slavery, shipping abducted villagers back to an underground (literally and figuratively) border settlement in the Graywalls known as Thunderspire Labyrinth, where the adventure will continue, beginning with a search for the missing villagers.

I, however, am looking for ideas and inspiration beyond the scope of the adventure path itsel,f dealing with what the political fallout of the activity so far might be. The local lord of the town has seen the adventurers uncover a cult of Orcus within his domain, and 22 villagers (some of them cultists, some innocent) were killed and another 12 abducted and sold into slavery. Among the villains were a doppelganger and hag, so added to the cultists and goblins, this clearly is tied to an assault from Droaam from his perspective.

So he will notify the King's Citadel, clearly. And they will likely take the situation seriously, especially as two of their agents (Douven Staul and Eilian the Old) were casualties of the events. But what will their response be? Will they simply send additional troops to the area? Will Breland see this as an act of war and respond in kind?

As I said, this is largely beyond the scope of what the adventurers will engage with, but I want to present a living world, where events they are embroiled in have broad and impactful consequences, perhaps longterm consequences that shape the greater story in meaningful ways.

I welcome any suggestions you may provide!
#2
Ogiwan
Jun 24, 2012 13:06:10 Well....are the Daughters of Sora Kell the BBEGs? Or could someone, perchance, be framing the hags to lure Breland into a war?
#3
darkwarlock
Jun 28, 2012 9:31:33 Thanks, Ogiwan, both for your response here and your creative and knowledgeable responses throughout this forum. I like the idea of the DoSK and their forces in Droaam being framed to draw Brelish attention their way and away from the true culprits.

The BBEG, loooong down the road, will be Orcus himself, a rakshasa raja released, but that's in the upper 20s level range and the characters just hit fourth! I plan to continue down the published WotC H1-E3 arc, though adapted by the Orcus Demon Prince of Undeath conversion aforementioned, which draws much stronger connections between the adventures, and heavily refitted for Eberron, of course.

Political implications of the nature I propose in my first post are outside the scope of these published adventures, at least as far ahead as I have read, but I would like to enmesh the characters in a story that spans beyond their actions into the world as much as possible.

Again, thanks for your input, and I welcome future suggestions from you and other posters, especially as they relate to those with knowledge of the adventure arc and ways of adapting it to Eberron.
#4
Ogiwan
Jun 28, 2012 16:14:04 Well, one of the things I remembered reading in one of the books is:

1.) Borenal personally slew the ogre chieftan who was leading the attack on the Brelish civilian columns as they were leaving Droaam
2.) Borenal is not a fan of Droaam because of that, and beacuse of the raids sporadically launched on Breland by Droaamish types
3.) Borenal's wife was assassinated, and if the finger ever points to Droaam, stuff is going down.

Now, if you're doing Orcus as a raksasha raja, that means that your big bads are the Lords of Dust, which means you have space for some crazy convoluted plots.

So, why does Orcus want a fight to go down between Droaam and Breland? Maybe there's some sort of Prophecy that hints at that. Heck, if you want to do a bit of a detour, there is, by canon, an Aurum op in...that little span of land east of the Blackcaps, I think, that is trying to establish its own state. Aurum looks like the baddies, PCs wipe them out eventually...then, the Big Bad can say, 'Ah ha! Exactly as I had planned!" and launch the next step of the plot.
#5
darkwarlock
Jun 29, 2012 13:17:17 Certainly, there is no lack of convulted plot turns for the PCs with the Lords of Dust, etc. involved. But I'm still curious as to how others would view what Breland's response would be to the situation I originally presented. Will Brelish troops mass at the Droaam border? Will they send that flying citadel? Would Boranel, looking for a reason for vengeance for the reasons Ogiwan outlines, declare war immediately, even without direct proof that this is an organized effort by the forces of Droaam to test his borders (it's not). Or would it develop into a shadow war, with Dark Lantern agents infiltrating beyond Breland's border to investigate what's happening?

Again, these are the events that develop around the PCs and do not directly affect the adventure arc. Nevertheless, they complicate the PCs actions and make the players realize their characters and their actions are only a part of what transpires in a vast and complicated domain.
#6
mutedfaithe
Jun 29, 2012 14:47:09 My general impression has always been that everyone is kind of "warred" out right now. Boranel would certainly send some Citadel agents to investigate, but he wouldn't commit troops to a war without proof. Especially not into Droaam, which has never been completely subjugated even during the age of Galifar, if I remember right. So I would see an increase in shadow activity.
#7
Ogiwan
Jun 30, 2012 5:25:54 ....why are we assuming that Borenal runs Breland?

Why not have ir'Clarn assassinate Borenal, blame it on Droaam, and have Breland unite under his Prime Ministership?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 darkwarlock Jun 23, 2012 16:55:00	Recently I began running my group through a heavily revamped H1: The Keep on the Shadowfell set in the foothills of the Graywall Mts in Breland. The conversion draws heavily upon the Orcus conversion linked to through these boards and all over the internet and the Eberron conversion from Dungeon 155, though refitted for Breland. To make a long story short, the heroes, mentees of a King's Citadel agent and archeologist Douven Staul, arrived in Stonehaven (aka Winterhaven), 5 days' march west of Ardev. They uncovered and defeated (pending one more session!) a cult of Orcus, one of the ancient and bound Lords of Dust, that sought to open a planar rift to Mabar, flooding the region with undead and worse. This cult employed Rhukaan Taash hobgoblin slavers located in nearby Thunderspire Mountain (in the Graywalls) as muscle, and the mercenaries have a sideline in slavery, shipping abducted villagers back to an underground (literally and figuratively) border settlement in the Graywalls known as Thunderspire Labyrinth, where the adventure will continue, beginning with a search for the missing villagers. I, however, am looking for ideas and inspiration beyond the scope of the adventure path itsel,f dealing with what the political fallout of the activity so far might be. The local lord of the town has seen the adventurers uncover a cult of Orcus within his domain, and 22 villagers (some of them cultists, some innocent) were killed and another 12 abducted and sold into slavery. Among the villains were a doppelganger and hag, so added to the cultists and goblins, this clearly is tied to an assault from Droaam from his perspective. So he will notify the King's Citadel, clearly. And they will likely take the situation seriously, especially as two of their agents (Douven Staul and Eilian the Old) were casualties of the events. But what will their response be? Will they simply send additional troops to the area? Will Breland see this as an act of war and respond in kind? As I said, this is largely beyond the scope of what the adventurers will engage with, but I want to present a living world, where events they are embroiled in have broad and impactful consequences, perhaps longterm consequences that shape the greater story in meaningful ways. I welcome any suggestions you may provide!
#2 Ogiwan Jun 24, 2012 13:06:10	Well....are the Daughters of Sora Kell the BBEGs? Or could someone, perchance, be framing the hags to lure Breland into a war?
#3 darkwarlock Jun 28, 2012 9:31:33	Thanks, Ogiwan, both for your response here and your creative and knowledgeable responses throughout this forum. I like the idea of the DoSK and their forces in Droaam being framed to draw Brelish attention their way and away from the true culprits. The BBEG, loooong down the road, will be Orcus himself, a rakshasa raja released, but that's in the upper 20s level range and the characters just hit fourth! I plan to continue down the published WotC H1-E3 arc, though adapted by the Orcus Demon Prince of Undeath conversion aforementioned, which draws much stronger connections between the adventures, and heavily refitted for Eberron, of course. Political implications of the nature I propose in my first post are outside the scope of these published adventures, at least as far ahead as I have read, but I would like to enmesh the characters in a story that spans beyond their actions into the world as much as possible. Again, thanks for your input, and I welcome future suggestions from you and other posters, especially as they relate to those with knowledge of the adventure arc and ways of adapting it to Eberron.
#4 Ogiwan Jun 28, 2012 16:14:04	Well, one of the things I remembered reading in one of the books is: 1.) Borenal personally slew the ogre chieftan who was leading the attack on the Brelish civilian columns as they were leaving Droaam 2.) Borenal is not a fan of Droaam because of that, and beacuse of the raids sporadically launched on Breland by Droaamish types 3.) Borenal's wife was assassinated, and if the finger ever points to Droaam, stuff is going down. Now, if you're doing Orcus as a raksasha raja, that means that your big bads are the Lords of Dust, which means you have space for some crazy convoluted plots. So, why does Orcus want a fight to go down between Droaam and Breland? Maybe there's some sort of Prophecy that hints at that. Heck, if you want to do a bit of a detour, there is, by canon, an Aurum op in...that little span of land east of the Blackcaps, I think, that is trying to establish its own state. Aurum looks like the baddies, PCs wipe them out eventually...then, the Big Bad can say, 'Ah ha! Exactly as I had planned!" and launch the next step of the plot.
#5 darkwarlock Jun 29, 2012 13:17:17	Certainly, there is no lack of convulted plot turns for the PCs with the Lords of Dust, etc. involved. But I'm still curious as to how others would view what Breland's response would be to the situation I originally presented. Will Brelish troops mass at the Droaam border? Will they send that flying citadel? Would Boranel, looking for a reason for vengeance for the reasons Ogiwan outlines, declare war immediately, even without direct proof that this is an organized effort by the forces of Droaam to test his borders (it's not). Or would it develop into a shadow war, with Dark Lantern agents infiltrating beyond Breland's border to investigate what's happening? Again, these are the events that develop around the PCs and do not directly affect the adventure arc. Nevertheless, they complicate the PCs actions and make the players realize their characters and their actions are only a part of what transpires in a vast and complicated domain.
#6 mutedfaithe Jun 29, 2012 14:47:09	My general impression has always been that everyone is kind of "warred" out right now. Boranel would certainly send some Citadel agents to investigate, but he wouldn't commit troops to a war without proof. Especially not into Droaam, which has never been completely subjugated even during the age of Galifar, if I remember right. So I would see an increase in shadow activity.
#7 Ogiwan Jun 30, 2012 5:25:54	....why are we assuming that Borenal runs Breland? Why not have ir'Clarn assassinate Borenal, blame it on Droaam, and have Breland unite under his Prime Ministership?